Good morning.
It is Thursday, October the 16th of 2025.
The time is 6.53 dark outside getting later and later where the sun comes up here in North Central Wisconsin, but not a bad morning right now.
Overcast guys 50 degrees is the temperature at our downtown studios at the corner of Washington Street and North Third Street.
I am Chad Holmes.
It is the WXCO Morning Report, part of Mornings with Pat Crite Low, here on 98.9 WXCO, online at wxco.fm mobile devices and Alexa by searching WXCO and on the Civic Media app.
Coming up this morning in about half an hour at 7.22, we'll be joined by Nancy Stensel, who is the
Executive, I should say, the chairperson of the Marathon County Democratic Party.
We'll talk about some of the issues going on in politics, including a big story from yesterday as the WASA Ethics Committee made its decision concerning WASA Mayor Doug Dinney.
We'll talk about that coming up, plus a whole bunch more with Nancy Stenzel in just a few minutes, again at 7.22 a.m.
Cross the way it's our in-studio engineer and our in-studio producer Ian Welsh Ian.
Good morning.
Good morning chat Coming up as well Later on this morning.
We're gonna see whether or not you can figure out how to get one right in the number for the day quiz
Got some work to
do.
It's Yeah, so we will have that coming up at the end of the program as well But today it's gonna be a very exciting day
Got a lot going on right now.
It's pretty calm here because it's still very early and it's just me and you here and the sun hasn't risen and things are getting off to a you know a quiet start here in downtown Los Angeles.
I should just see a little
bit of the sunrise as I was hanging into the building.
Little bit of
orange
over
there.
Yep.
I when I was driving in this morning I was pretty cool to see that to the east and you could see You know some area where the clouds were breaking to the east where you could see some against a very cool colors as the Sun's starting to make its presence felt Very little so far, but it will be pretty dark out there.
Like you said exactly but coming up today
It will be a very exciting day here at our WXCO Studios as it is our 98.9 WXCO station open house.
It will officially kick off at 10 a.m.
We will open up the doors till everybody to come on by between 10 a.m.
and 4 p.m.
this afternoon.
We'd love for you to come on by, take a look around.
We will have some finger food courtesy of the Mint Cafe, which is here in downtown Wasa.
have some beverages, we have some special WXCO swag, got some cool new notebooks with our WXCO logo, got some stickers and some other stuff that you can take to show your support to our radio station as well.
So again, and we'll just let you into our studios, let you take a look at what, how it's all set up, you know, how do we make this all happen each and every day with programming?
both here in our studio and also the program that we get from our civic media compatriots down in the Madison area and also down in Racine as well and also coming up this afternoon now from 2 until 4 p.m.
Come on by because you'll be able to see Todd Alba do his show live if you
Come on in, you'll see him in our studio.
He will be doing the Todd Alba show from two until four PM this afternoon.
I will be with him on the first segment of the show and maybe who knows what else after that.
But we would love for you to come by, say hello to Todd Alba as well.
And also, we just love to hear what you think.
What do you like about what we're doing?
Maybe some areas that you'd like us to be better at, some ideas, or just want to talk about the different things going on.
So again, really would love for you to hop on by.
Again, we're not asking to stay all day to see, even if you just come by to say hello, pick up maybe a little bit of our swag, maybe grab a quick bite with our stuff in the mint, but try to...
No swing on by sometime today between 10 a.m.
and 4 p.m.
To join us for our community open house is something that we have wanted to do Give you an opportunity to meet us a chance to meet our new news reporter Isabella Nieto Also a chance to talk to our salesperson
Leo Royal.
So again, we all just want to say hello and meet up with you here at our studios in downtown Wausau.
Again, if you're not familiar, we are located right downtown at the corner of Washington Street and North Third Street.
Our address is 301 North Third Street and it's right across from the new foundry on 3rd.
So if you know where all that construction has been going on, we're right across the street from the foundry on 3rd, right across the street as well from the Washington Square and just down the
about a block or so for the 400 block as well.
But again, very exciting day.
And again, we're very excited to open up our doors to you and everybody here in downtown.
As an added bonus, if you have your own number of the day that you'd like to test
me with, feel free to
bring them in and I'll see if I can do my best to get out of this.
Run and try to get some wins.
Give you some batting practice, right?
So I could use that extra practice throw some fastballs in there get your swing back.
Yeah, but yeah, that's
what the brewers need to do
Yeah, and they got this yet.
Nope.
They play later this afternoon in LA so game number three of the national it's not over yet.
It's a National League championship series.
It's best of seven.
I get the four
Sort of like the number for the day.
You're not out of it yet to get a couple W's today and tomorrow.
You get a passing grade.
Yes Brewers need a couple of W's in LA get the series back to Milwaukee for games six and seven Coming up top of the hour information update news weather and sports then at 722 We'll be back with our next WXCO morning report with Nancy Stencil
And we'll talk about, again, the big news concerning the mayor and the dropbox situation and a whole bunch more.
But then coming up at 7 0 6, more of Mornings with Pat Crichtlow here on 98.9
WXCO.
Good morning, once again, everyone and welcome back.
It is the WXCO morning report part of mornings with pack right low on 98.9 WXCO.
I am Chad Holmes along with Ian Welsh.
The time is 722 overcast guys 50 degrees here in downtown Wasaw.
And once again, we are very happy to welcome back to the program the chairperson of the Marathon County
Democratic Party Nancy Stencil.
Nancy, good morning.
Good morning.
Where are you today?
Well, I'm just heading down to Steven's point today.
It just seems like it's Union Conference Month.
This is the second one.
Last week I was in Washington, DC, and we were lobbying, and this week we're just having our little state convention.
I saw a lot of pictures from your travels in the last week, and I would ask
What is what is your feeling in terms of these discussions?
Because you talk to a lot of folks out there and we are at such a, I don't know, call a tipping point in our country right now.
What have you been hearing?
Are you optimistic based on who you've talked to or not?
What's what's the sense?
I'm hopeful.
I really am.
You know, we started my union sister has their fan organ in the third CD.
So we started there.
And of course,
He's not there, but his staff was extremely rude.
When they walked in, they said, hey, you want a beer?
Want some cheese?
They were very condescending, kind of sassy, smirking.
And the staff of the week took absolutely no notes, nothing.
Then we went off to see Ron Johnson.
And again, we saw staff.
They were decent.
They were polite, whatever, engaging.
Um, he did take notes, but he kept referring to their stakeholders.
And I'm thinking, you know, we, the voters are your stakeholders and he's talking to the hospital association.
It's his stakeholder.
So, um, definitely profits over people there.
And Tom Tiffany's office had refused to even see us.
They never responded, but we did do a drop in and then we left information.
I left my card saying, you know, I want to hear from you.
I expect an answer here.
And then we went to Tammy Baldwin's office and talked to her staff.
And it's funny how you can walk into a room and feel welcome.
And, you know, it's like, you know, they shake your hand.
We're glad you're here.
The girl that took care of us took a lot of notes.
I'll make sure that these notes get to this one and this one that works out these things.
We will follow up with you.
That part was really, really great.
I gotta ask you, last night's word came down.
The WASA ethics board has decided that the mayor, Doug Denney, violated the city's ethics code when he removed that ballot drop box from outside city hall back in September of 2024.
Initial response.
Nancy?
Yep, I'm there.
Yeah, your response to that.
My original response is I'm glad that so far justice was served.
I mean the vote was unanimous and it sends a strong message that you have no right to do that to take away the rights of every voter in the city of Wausau.
I'm very happy to see that and then we will see what comes down from the State Justice Department yet on this.
You and I have talked before that this is not the first time that something like this has happened in the state of Wisconsin.
There were two other incidences that I know about where this was done and a ballot box was removed.
And so I'm pleased with the outcome.
And I know the Epic Committee, I felt really stuck to the facts and did their job.
So I'm very happy to see that.
Isn't that an example of how government works?
Because there was a lot of pressure being put on the ethics committee from the mayor and allies of the mayor and everybody else in terms of trying to push them.
So basically, hey, there's nothing here.
Let it go, let it go.
And yet they showed, I thought, incredible courage against political pressure.
And that's something that we've seen not just from here in Warsaw, but you'll see it around the...
Elected officials around the state of Wisconsin.
I think Van Orden's very good about you know, putting these putting people in very tight spots putting pressure on and of course We see the president of the United States as well.
I think what the what the people on this ethics committee did deserves incredible Thanks because it was not easy
It does.
Yeah, they really did a fine job and like I said, I I think that they they're very professional about it.
They stuck to the facts
happened and made their decisions from there.
And they should very much be applauded for that.
I am very thankful for them.
It's a bottom line that it needed to be ruled that this was wrong or else it would happen again, correct?
Correct.
Correct.
It is a clerk's job.
It's not, it was out of his scope of duty.
And I feel justice was definitely served in this and it was served for the people of Wausau.
What about the state DOJ investigation?
Is there anything in particular you'd like to see from that?
I am really very hopeful that Maybe they were waiting until the city of wasa made their decision before you know, they would go ahead and make theirs on that level, but I I'm very confident that they are going to be the same that this was out of the mayor's
Nancy
oh
Yeah, there you are again.
He kind of broke up there, but we can they kept no no I Yeah, we understand that completely and I guess we got about 30 seconds before we have to take a break, but Isn't it good to see?
Government work because right now we have so many folks that seem to be Going in the opposite direction trying to prove that government doesn't work
It can work with the right people who believe in it
and it and it takes people to really make that government work and you know, and I'm very hopeful for spring elections that that again, we can get some great people to step up and run and That we can get back to normal.
Oh We will talk about that and a whole bunch more at the 822 more with Nancy Stencil then the time is 730 on WXCO
WXCO morning report part of morning to the pack right low on 98.9 WXCO I'm Chad Holmes along with Ian Welsh and again We are joined by the chairperson of the Marathon County Democratic Party Nancy Stencil Nancy welcome back
Good morning again.
Well coming up Saturday another No Kings rally and not just around here, but around the country as well But I wanted to give you a quote.
I wanted your response here
to what our, our former congressman, the man who succeeded Dave Obey, Sean Duffy had to say about the No Kings rally when he was speaking earlier this week on Fox business.
He said, quote, the No Kings protests, Maria, really frustrating.
This is part of Antifa pay protesters.
It begs the question who's funding it.
Nancy.
Sean Duffy wants to know about who's funding this rally.
Could you inform him?
Nobody is funding it.
Um, the only people funding it is like, you know, people like you and I have to go out and buy our own poster board and markers and things like that.
There is nobody funding this at all.
The thing that's frustrating about it is that this is again, the American people standing up to say, we don't like.
This aspect of what this administration is doing and yet they have really focused this time around even much more than the last time around What was it in June?
I believe it was the last time in that general area that I mean Republican after Republican after Republican are basically saying that no these are nobody nobody believes this nobody Nobody is out there actually saying no Kings.
We know we this creep of authoritarianism
That
is wrong.
Our numbers are really growing.
Um, no, there's nobody is paying us to do this.
This is strictly, you know, volunteers, um, people, you know, you and I, who have stepped up to say, we've had more than enough.
We're not going to put up with this anymore.
And that, you know, it's, it's time, it's time to stop.
We're calling it for what it is.
And.
You look in the state of Wisconsin alone, how many of these rallies there, there are going to be.
Um, I mean, I feel bad.
I, I was asked to speak at the Rhinelander once.
So, you know, I probably won't even make it back down in time for the Wausau one, but, um, every little city there is, is having a rally this Saturday and the numbers are huge.
The last time that the rally occurred, it was raining and still in rib mountain.
the folks were out there they stayed out there yeah i mean it
was like 600 and something almost 700 people last time and i i'm sure it's going to be a much larger number this time and and then you look at there's even more rallies this time
and when you
look at at donald trump too and the fact that
You
know,
yesterday, Higgs said in cutting the press from the White House.
So I guess my thought is you don't want the people to really know what's going on, do you?
You want to be able to control the press, control everything so that you can ram your agenda down people's throats.
People are tired of it.
It's not going to happen.
And frankly, and I want...
One point that I think is important to be made here is that this is democracy in action.
We are coming up on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
2026 is supposed to be a celebration of what this country is, but it's gonna be very difficult when you see what this administration is doing.
But this is about what the people are supposed to do.
And also people like Sean Duffy and Donald Trump and the rest of them
They're supposed to listen to the people, not just the people that vote for them, not just the person that kissed their rear end all the time, all the people.
That's frustrating.
You work for everybody, and it's very clear in this administration that they're not.
Like I told you in the first segment where Ron Johnson's office is saying they have to talk to their stakeholders, and their stakeholders are some hospital association that is a for-profit, let's make some money
at whose expense, yours and my health.
I am
the
voter.
I am your stakeholder.
And the Snow King is basically, this is what we're saying.
This country is ran by the people, not by rich billionaires.
And again, the No Kings Rally here in the Wausau area will be on Saturday from 12 noon until 2 p.m.
again at Ribb Mountain Drive.
So again,
correct between Sardine Lane and Parrot.
And we're asking people to please be respectful.
Park on side streets.
Do not plonk driveways.
Some of the parking lots between Hobby Lobby and Michaels are those are not public.
parking lot and i mean if there was one or two cars that would be fine but we think a big rally like that we don't want to uh... irritating the businesses we do business with them and uh... you know we want to we want to be respectful to the area businesses so please park where it is a public lot or on a side street try to carpool uh... things like that so that that we're not
you know, being in anybody's way.
And there won't be a booth for us to put in our vouchers to get paid, will there?
No,
no, no.
There's no time clock.
Nobody's punching the clock.
Nobody's getting paid for this.
But, and one of the, the, the greatest things is, is the camaraderie that is in these events.
And again, you know, I asked the people out there that, that are coming to these events, consider stepping up and running.
Um, like just recently we had the appointment for school board and whereas, I mean, I was disappointed.
It's very, um, not balanced gender
one
again, but I am thankful to the people that do step up and run for these positions.
And, and I certainly hope the ones that didn't make it run again.
It's so important.
Real quickly about that Nancy, the thing that's frustrating about that vote was they made it a secret ballot.
That's not right.
No, that is not right.
It should be, I mean, it is a public school.
It is our school board and they are again accountable to us.
And, you know, we should be able to know why.
And very honestly, I was not happy with, with how the vote turned out because like I said, the gender balance is not there.
And the person that was elected was quite controversial last time when he had ran.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But again, it's about the fight for real democracy, isn't
it?
It is.
And we will keep fighting.
That's all we can do is keep fighting.
Show up, people.
Just show up.
Thank you, Nancy.
Have a great speech.
I think you're getting ready to go, right?
Yes, I'm getting ready
to go.
But we'll catch you in two weeks.
OK, sounds great.
Bye-bye.
And we'll be right back here on 98.9 WXCO.
morning report part of mornings with packs right low on 98.9 wxco online at wxco.fm mobile devices and Alexa by searching wxco and on the civic media app Overcast guys in downtown wasa 50 degrees is the temperature.
I am Chad Holmes along with Ian Welsh and again We want to remind you that if you have the opportunity Sometime today between 10 a.m.
and 4 p.m.
We would love to see you
because today it is our 98.9 WXCO open house.
We will have food, we will have beverages, we will have some cool WXCO stuff to give away.
And also just a chance to take a look around, just see our studio, see how it works.
If you have any questions in terms of how we do what we do around here, we get the audio from all over the state of Wisconsin and also how we do it here in our studios as well.
We'll just show you around and we'd love to talk to you.
find out what you like about the radio station, maybe again, things that you would...
like to see us do better.
But we just really love to have you stop on by.
We're opening up our doors.
Have not done that here since we moved to this studio a couple of years back.
Thought it would be a good idea.
We got a couple of new employees here.
Isabella Nieto, who is our new news reporter.
We'd love for you to meet her.
Also, Aliyah Arroyo, who is our salesperson.
Love to have you meet her.
And also talk to Ian Welsh and talk to myself as well.
So again, between 10 a.m.
and two and 10 a.m.
and 4 p.m.
and again from two until 4 p.m.
as well.
Live, right here
in our studio,
Todd Olbo.
He'll be paying a visit.
The Todd Olbo Show, which airs every weekday from two until 4 p.m.
on the Civic Media Radio Network, including 98.9 WXEL.
He'll be doing the show live here from Wausau.
We're very excited to see Todd later this afternoon as well.
So, again, big day.
Very big day.
And I want people to say hello to Ian Welsh and as you said you
have a number throw a few numbers on me You love
those numbers don't you you just you fall into it and it's like how you handling this lump though.
I mean this has got to be tough I
mean you weren't from your mistakes.
I think that's gonna pay off eventually yesterday
My dad was telling me that it was not often you said like an imperfect record.
I mean, you've gotten a 13 in a row wrong.
I mean, that is hard to do.
Is that a compliment or an insult?
Well, it's a lot.
It's a lot easier to get it wrong than get it right because we give you three choices every day to which are wrong.
So there's always going to be a twice as good a chance of you being wrong than being right.
So I mean, it's not easy.
But it is hard to
do it rock every single
day for two and a half weeks, but But yeah, so yeah, come on by again.
We really would love to see you as I said earlier It's really something that we wanted to do we just want you to pop on in and again We'd love to meet you and you know here again your thoughts on what we do and again we really are open to any ideas in terms of what we could do better and
as we move forward.
I mean, we're going into a 2026, which is going to be a big year.
We have elections, midterm elections.
We have a lot of big news stories.
I mean, downtown Wassa right now
is being changed.
250th anniversary of America.
There you
go.
So again, we just love to have a chat and again, just say hello and thank you for stopping on by and listening to us as well.
So again, that starts at 10 a.m.
today.
We'll have the delivery from the Mint with some of the really tasty items.
for you to check out.
We have, again, beverages for you.
We have soda and water.
What are
the immersions, Ice?
We got the immersion.
We got some stickers.
We got these cool new notebooks that just came in yesterday.
Shirts as well.
Yep.
We have some of our 98.9 WXO t-shirts as well still available So again lots of great stuff and again 10 till 4 p.m Stop on by and then between 2 and 4 even you can walk in here and see Todd do his show and that should be a lot of fun So lots on the plate here on this Thursday
Well, let's jump in.
Let's see if we can't get you a win here in the number for the day to wrap things
up.
Or at the very least a passing week.
Well, I just want to get you a win today.
We'll worry about tomorrow.
Tomorrow.
Today is October the 16th.
Yes.
It is dictionary day.
It's basically created a special day to encourage us to acquire and use a dictionary.
And dictionaries are very important.
Yes, they are.
So your number for the day today is how many words are in the Oxford English Dictionary?
Oh gosh.
So how many words are in the Oxford English Dictionary?
Okay,
what are my choices for
today?
And these are approximate.
Approximately 400,000 words.
Approximately 600,000 words.
Approximately 800,000 words.
Is
this the
dictionary for this year or just all together?
This
is the dictionary you'd pick up today.
If
you
picked up an Oxford English dictionary, the number of words are in it.
Approximately 400,000, 600,000.
or 800,000 words.
There is a lot of words in the English.
Certainly.
I haven't looked at a dictionary in a while, so I'm going to update approximately 400,000 and the Oxford
English dictionary contains words that are currently in use.
And they also have some obsolete words as well.
This is the big one.
Final guess.
I'm going to say.
Approximately 600,000.
If I don't answer, I'm going to say about 600,000.
All
right.
Here on Dictionary Day, October the 16th, the Oxford English Dictionary contains about 600,000 words.
Oh, thank
goodness.
Our long national nightmare is over.
The losing streak has come to an end.
What does that feel
good?
And now you have a chance for a passing grade tomorrow.
I'm good with that.
All right,
folks.
Again, make sure you stop on by between 10 a.m.
and 4 p.m.
We'd love to see you for our WXCO open house.
Ian, have a good rest of your day.
You too, Chad.
Happy Thursday, everybody.
Don't forget to stop on by.
More of Mornings with Pat Cricklow coming up on 98.9 WXCO.
