Good morning.
I am Chad Holmes.
It is the WXCO morning report part of mornings with Pat Crichtlow on 98.9 WXCO online at wxco.fm mobile devices and Alexa by searching WXCO and on the civic media app Across the way behind the glass is our in-studio engineer Ian Welsh Ian.
Good morning.
Good morning Chad.
Well, you will have more from you in just a little bit but first
Time to again talk a little history, historical landmarks.
It's always fun to be able to talk to friends of WASA historic landmarks and Christine Martins and Carl Martins as well.
Christine and Carl, thanks for coming back in.
Thank
you for having us.
Time of the year.
We're heading towards the end of 2025 and into the holiday season, but you don't slow down during this time of year, do you?
You got a lot on the plate, don't you?
Yeah, this year we decided to keep going.
We were having so much fun.
And you never you never run out of great sites to go around in Central Wisconsin, do you?
Well, that's true.
There is a lot of really great architecture out there to talk about.
Of course, fun history out there.
Yeah.
So and you know, sometimes we do.
Jump across the border a little bit So there's a lot of land out there to cover
well the thing about it is and again, I've always enjoyed history myself.
I love reading about history and I think that
And especially, you find, I think, little gems that maybe people don't even know about.
Even if they've lived here their entire lives.
I imagine that's a fun aspect where you're able to say, hey, you may not know this about a certain part of Los Angeles, Wisconsin.
There's a lot of those kind of areas around, isn't there?
There is.
And, you know, our what?
What is it?
Wassa Historic Architecture Tuesday?
What?
What, yeah.
Our what post every Tuesday on Facebook hits those a lot.
The buildings we can't get to.
Yeah, that's about it.
They
don't let you
in?
They see us coming.
We just did one, what was it?
A Jim's Tap.
I was going to say the Dewey Wright House.
Or the Dewey Wright House.
Yeah, the Dewey Wright House is just off of Grant.
It's on Grand Avenue, but it's set back.
People don't know it's there, or they know it's there, and they've never seen the inside.
We had a photographer join
our group.
Our photographer,
John Anderson.
He joined a group.
Let
me ask you.
I mean, I'm going to show my ignorance here.
Who's Dewey Wright?
Dewey Wright.
was actually, he had a music store in town, Dewey and his wife Julia.
And then they bought a small radio station.
Oh, geez.
I should have known that.
A WRIG.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, Duke.
I thought you said Dewey.
I know Duke, right?
Oh, of course.
Dewey, right, is the dad.
Dewey is the son.
Oh, I see.
OK.
So there's history down here.
Well, I tell you, I learned something here this morning.
And of course, with the radio, I mean, I've been in this business around here for...
way too long.
But no, Duke Wright, obviously a legend.
But do we?
Oh, wow.
And a legend with polka music.
There you go.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, the rights.
Yes.
The polkas.
And it's just been a many, many decades of the polka music area.
So no, I feel I feel smarter already.
There you go.
Their house sits on Grand Avenue 904, I think it is.
It's just set off of Grand Ave.
It's tucked away.
You can't see it.
way.
A lot of trees in the way.
You don't know it's there.
John Anderson, who is part of our group, he's a photographer.
He, uh, stepped in, he contacted them, took pictures of the inside and the outside.
We posted those.
Um, oh my goodness.
How many views did we have Carl?
Like 30,000 plus.
Wow, that's still going up.
It's crazy, but you don't get to see that house.
A Jim's Tap, which I mentioned, you see it, but you don't know the history of it.
That also did very well.
Lots of people say, I know Jim's Tap.
It's just across the street from Colby windows.
Oh, OK, very
good.
It's a neighborhood standard.
And I guess that's where you go for Blackberry Brandy.
Yes.
Oh, come on.
Don't try to hide here.
Come on.
You're there.
Sometimes you got to check.
Check your sources.
But yeah, so that's been.
Really popular like like I said, and that's when we get to pull out some of the
jobs
in addition to our tours during the summer.
Fantastic.
That's a lot of fun.
I mean When you say the 30,000 hits for the I mean and I know even with what I do and I look at you know like we put a podcast somebody how many people are that's got to make you say hey we there are people that really do enjoy what we're
Doing and what we're providing here.
I imagine that is just it's uplifting for because you guys do a lot of work I mean talking to you set up the buses and and and you do these Journeys with a bunch of folks and you find these hidden gems.
I imagine that kind of positive reinforcement It's probably not what it's all about, but it's got to be great that you know that you're reaching quite a few people
It does feel good.
Can't lie.
It also shows that people do have a great interest in our history in Central Wisconsin.
They do.
They got, people got upset about the
AAA building.
Yeah.
The AAA building that just came down, the brown cabin.
That was also a warming station, but started out as the AAA place to go to find out where to go up North.
When it came down, we.
I saw it being taken down and I took a couple of quick shots.
And
said like sad.
Yeah.
All we said was this is, this is sad.
And
it.
And we will have more with Christine Martins and Carl Martins from Friends of Marathon County Historic Blandmarks.
in just a little bit.
It is Monday morning, the 24th day of November of 2025.
I am Chad Holmes with Ian Welsh.
Coming up at the top of the hour, we'll have an information update.
Get you up to speed as we start off the new work week with what's going on in news, weather and sports.
And then after that, we'll get you back to a more of mornings with Pat Critelow.
And we'll be back again with another WXCO morning report starting at 7.22 again, four times during the course of mornings with Pat Critelow.
Well, we have our WXCO morning report at 6.52, 7.22, 7.52, and 8.22 every weekday morning.
It is the WXCO morning report, part of mornings with Pat Critello here on 98.9 WXCO.
WXCO Morning Report, part of Mornings with Pat Crite Low on 98.9 WXCO.
I'm Chad Holmes, along with Ian Walsh, and today we're talking historic monuments here in the Wausau area.
Friends of Marathon County Historical Landmarks, Christine Martins, and also Carl Martins joining us as we continue our conversation.
People do connect with their history.
I think that that's the bottom line in that.
The thing about it is sometimes in those situations, you don't really realize it until it goes away.
Exactly.
And that's why one of the things about your group, I think, does is that you don't wait till it's too late.
We try not to.
You try to celebrate it.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Document these things.
Even on our website, we have some very cool updates coming up on documenting buildings that are with us.
and current photos.
And again, John Anderson comes up, our photographer friend here, and he's out taking photos and documenting some of these buildings that may go away at some point that you just never know.
So it's exciting to be able to document these buildings.
Well, more than just documenting, not with John, but...
We like to landmark, push for landmarking.
What was it last month?
We pushed for the full landmarking of the youth building over in Marathon Park because they want to just do the granite, but we said the whole building is important because it is.
Yeah, I mean everybody, it is one of those sites that anybody that's grown up around here and gone to events at Marathon Park, you just
you see it, and sometimes you just see it and it rolls over you, but folks like you make sure it kind of penetrates us.
Oh yeah, it stays there.
Exactly.
For future generations to enjoy.
Again, we're talking to Christine Martins and Carl Martins, friends of what's got WASA historic landmarks here on 98.9 WXCO.
Well, let's jump into what's going on because we kind of got into a lot of what you've been up to, but you got a lot of things that you want to talk about that are coming up here in the very
near future as well.
Where do you want to start?
Well, we have a new thing that we're doing on December 6th at the Marathon County Library in Wausau.
At 1.30, we will be doing the first of our architect, well, architect... Talks.
Lectures, talks.
It's too cold for the tours.
We will be starting with an in-depth look at Oble and Oppenheimer.
They are...
architects that pretty much designed a lot of wassa's skyline
downtown
yeah exactly
neighborhoods
a lot of residents yeah
over a hundred buildings just in wassa well the list here that you provided in your description is incredibly impressive I mean when you think about some of the the great
places of downtown Wausau.
I mean, the Grand Theater, which of course, they're getting ready for their second century.
You got the Elks Club, you got the YWCA, the very poor chapel, St.
Mary's Hospital.
I mean, a lot of Wausau history right in that list, isn't there?
There is.
And, you know, even some of the buildings that they didn't design from the ground up, they helped with St.
Mary's, they did a wing of it.
which is over in Forest Park, for those who don't know that.
So even buildings, they did completely the design, they helped.
update it in some manner.
They did a ton of schools.
Holy cow.
The list of schools that they had their hand in
is just
amazing.
Just amazing.
And you're going to find out basically about these folks.
Yes.
A little bit because you have the name, but sometimes you don't know a lot about who they are, right?
Right.
And in our tours, you know, it's pretty much quick hit kind of things.
We don't get in depth.
We don't connect the dots of
Well, this was created by this architect, but they also did these things over here.
And so this gives us the chance to be able to talk about the architects a bit more.
Although I have to say, Mr. Oppenheimer has been a bit elusive.
It's been very hard to find out a whole lot about him.
Interesting.
But finally came across a picture of him.
I was
excited.
It's a little thing.
So that is coming up on December the 6th, that 1.30 p.m.
Again, it will be on the second level, the Marathon County Public Library in Warsaw.
Is there any pre-registration or anything that we should know about that?
Nope, just come on in kind of like our tours, only no walking and less cold as
Carl mentioned.
And I'm sure the library has nice, comfortable chairs to enjoy it.
So that sounds like a very, very fun and interesting presentation coming up in just a few weeks time.
Anything else that as we get
into the holiday season that your folks are going to be working on?
Well, we will be doing Sweet Landmarks Gingerbread, which we have done in the past as a contest.
This year there's a little different twist on it.
It will again be in conjunction with the Historical Society's Holiday at the Houses, which is December 13th.
But this year we call it a showcase.
It will showcase a...
A wonderful masterpiece by Patrick Bacher, who...
Every year has entered and every year does a wonderful job.
He also sits on our board But he
I was I'll jump in right here that probably makes it much better not to have a competition when you have a board member
Well, it started out he was entering and then he became a board member and we never ever involved him
and the
he does not know what goes on with the with the planning and
execution of that.
Very good.
So we kick him out for a month off
the board and
he comes back.
Yes, we do kick him off the board
for one month.
No part of those meetings there.
That's very close to him.
That that's like his, how did he say it?
Super Bowl.
Yeah.
So he is designing a very special building this year.
We can't tell you what it is.
He always keeps it a secret.
But we also have a selection of buildings from Wasa West coming.
Every other year, they have a class in which they include Sweet Landmarks Gingerbread as one of their projects for extra credit.
So we are welcoming them back.
So we will have four or five, I would assume, of their buildings as well.
So folks can come check out Holiday at the Houses and see our Gingerbread Masterpieces.
Holiday at the Houses is Saturday, December 13th, so the week after our talk, they will be on display at that time and throughout the holiday season.
Christine, Carl, again, thank you for both coming in and we look forward to seeing you again.
Thank you.
It is the WXCO morning report part of Mornings with Pat Crite Low on 98.9 WXCO.
Good morning and welcome back.
It is the WXO morning report part of mornings with pack right low on 98.9 WXO online at WXO dot FM mobile devices and Alexa by searching WXO and on the civic media app right now in downtown Wasa.
The time is 753 35 degrees under overcast guys.
It is Monday morning.
It is the 24th day of November as we are into a holiday week.
Yep, it is a holiday week.
It is Thanksgiving week.
I am Chad Holmes.
We are broadcasting live from our studios in downtown Wasup at the corner of Washington Street and or Third Street.
Along the way behind the glass is our in studio engineer Ian Welsh.
Ian, good morning.
Good morning, Chad.
How did the weekend go for you?
Yes, weekend was a really nice weekend.
Yesterday I got to do something a super fun with a few of my friends is that at Marcus and theaters yesterday at the Syracuse Mall, they were having a Wicked a double feature event with where in addition to playing the first part of Wicked we get to see the second part on the same day So I got to spend a lot of time, you know seeing a fantastic musical made into a movie and just
Had a great time with my friends and the theater was pretty full.
I'm not surprised because looking at the box office numbers this weekend, it blew away.
I mean, it was by far, I think, the biggest movie open that we've seen in a very long time.
I would agree with that.
I did play six different theaters.
Oh, jeez.
I did hear, however, that it was not getting as well-reviewed as the
last one.
Would you compare them?
Would you say that this one was any better or worse than the previous
one?
Well, honestly, I enjoyed both movies, but I do think the first one was, you know, a little more popular because it was, the first part was, you know, more lighter, more, you know, focused on the, you know,
It had more of a positive outlook on it, and the second part was, you know, it was more emotional, more dramatic, but it wasn't bad.
It was just, you know, the two sides of the same coin, but, you know, honestly, I enjoyed both movies, and it was really, I think it really did a justice.
for the stage, the musical.
I think it did it in justice and even had some new material that fit well with the story of two.
Packers were victorious yesterday.
The Packers defeated the Minnesota Vikings by a score of 23 to six.
It was a rather, once I did a fair, the Packers rarely came out and they were able to take it to the Vikings.
The only Vikings points came on a pair of long field goals.
Otherwise they were not able to do much of anything against the Green Bay defense.
Vikings dropping away from the rest of the pack in the NFC North.
It's quite a battle right now at the top of the division.
The Bears who were able to beat Pittsburgh, who was missing Aaron Rodgers yesterday because of a broken bone in his left wrist.
Well, the Bears were able to hold off the Vikings.
I should say the Bears were able to hold off the Steelers by three points.
So Chicago remains in first place in the NFC North at eight and three.
Then come the Packers at seven, three and one.
And Detroit, they got
fortunate yesterday for some reason late in regulation the New York Giants did not kick a field goal that would have given them a six-point lead they had a fourth and goal from about the four yard line and the last couple of minutes of the game instead of kicking the field goal making the lion score a touchdown in their final possession without any timeouts and having to go the full length of the field
New York decided, well, we're going to go for the jugular.
We're going to go for the touchdown.
They threw an incomplete pass.
The Lions got it back.
They were able to kick about a 58-yard field goal.
if they would have just taken the field goal, the Giants, the Lions would have had to score a touchdown instead.
The 58 yard field goal at the very end of regulation tied it up and Detroit won it in overtime.
I mean, boy, that was a gift for Detroit.
So they're still right there at seven and four.
So the Bears eight and three, the Packers seven three and one and Detroit seven and four.
And of course, on Thanksgiving Day, the Packers go to Detroit for a massive, massive game.
In fact, the next two games are incredibly big.
The Packers still
have.
two games left with Chicago, including their first matchup, not this week when they take on Detroit, but the following week they take on the Bears, and then they play the Bears again later in the season.
They still have that Detroit game.
The Packers, of course, beat Detroit back on opening day, and they have one more trip into Minnesota.
So still plenty of divisional games for the Green Bay Packers, but I'm annoyed both the Giants does letting that game get away.
They had that game if they were, for some reason, these coaches,
don't want to kick field goals anymore, even when they should be kicking field goals.
Why aren't they kicking field goals anymore?
Yeah,
that was not a good
move.
It was not a good move.
I mean, they would have won the game.
It was just a pure gift for Detroit.
Instead of being seven and four, Detroit should have been six and five, and the Packers should have been a game and a half ahead.
Instead, now it's a half a game difference.
And if Detroit beats the Packers on Thanksgiving, they would pass them in the NFC standings.
But...
Packers win there'll be a game and a half ahead so big big game kickoff at 1130 a.m Thanksgiving Day part of the big holiday.
So about a pressure
big yep big games coming up indeed coming up at 822 we'll have our next WXEO morning report we will have Ian with the number of the day quiz and a whole bunch more
That's right.
Coming up on the top of the hour, information update, news, weather and sports coming up.
And then after that, more of Mornings with Pat Critello here on 98.9 WXCO.
Welcome back it is the WXCO morning report part of mornings with Pat Critello on 98.9 WXCO online at wxco.fm mobile devices and Alexa by searching WXCO and on the Civic Media app we're up a few degrees we're now at 41 degrees under overcast skies in downtown Wasaw live from our studios at the corner of Washington Street and or 3rd Street in downtown Wasaw
Coming up tomorrow morning on the program, we will have an opportunity to sit down with the Brenton Canis of the Wasa Conservatory of Music.
They will be holding its annual Winter Wonderland Cabaret in December.
The casual open house event will be held from 6-9pm on December 5th at the Conservatory at 404 Seymour Street in Wasaw.
Feature appetizers, treats, hot chocolate, and four rooms of entertainment with featured performances by Conservatory students and ensembles, the Central Wisconsin Jerry Ensemble, Brass Patina Flute Loops, and more.
So we'll learn more from Brent and Kanise about that.
Real simple.
very, very inexpensive as well.
General admission tickets are $5.
Children five and younger are admitted for free.
And you can get more information and buy tickets by visiting wassaconservatory.org slash wonderland.
So again, we'll have more on that and talk about the great work that the wassaconservatory does with Brent and kines tomorrow morning here on this program.
In fact, coming up as well later this week, there's another event coming up on Friday and Saturday with the Central Wisconsin Children's Theater, and they have an event
Coming up Madagascar Adventure, Jr.
Yes,
and that will be coming up on Friday and Saturday and We will have members of the cast coming in We'll either be on Wednesday or Friday.
We'll be hearing our conversation.
I've not locked it down quite yet But so more entertainment coming here to the wasa area for the kids again Madagascar a musical adventure, Jr
coming up on Friday and Saturday.
There will be two shows on Friday, two on Saturday, so 2 p.m.
and 7 p.m.
each day, so it's only two days, but four stores, because I was looking at their Facebook page, and there was a person that said, I really wish there was more than two shows on Thanksgiving weekend, and then they came back and said, yes, there are!
There's two shows on Friday and two shows on Saturday.
There you go.
It should be a very busy weekend indeed.
It will be indeed.
So again, there's always some great entertainment going on when it comes to the arts here in North Central Wisconsin.
Absolutely.
In
fact, you were just saying the other day, I think it was on Friday that it's been weird because you have not had any rehearsals to have to go to.
Nope.
My evenings have been pretty free since I
I'm not doing a show at the moment, but there's plenty of opportunities to go out and see shows, absolutely.
My evenings are not as free nowadays because now with the start of winter high school sports,
many
of the evenings, I will be off and doing games.
And in fact, this week, tomorrow, we have not one but two games because both I and Tom Weaver will be out.
I will be seeing the Central Wisconsin Storm who made it to the state championship game a year ago.
They will open up their season against the Lakeshore Lightning on Tuesday night, tomorrow night at Marathon Park, 635 for the pregame seven.
o'clock for the opening face off right here on 98.9 WXCO.wxco.fm mobile devices and Alexa by searching WXCO and on the civic media app.
Tomorrow night as well Newman Catholic at Marathon in High School Girls basketball the Marrowwood Conference South Division opener Tom Weaver will be over at Marathon for that one Seven o'clock for the pregame that game could be heard live on the sports to stream of WXCO.
FM and the Civic Media app again That's the sports to stream if you go to either WXCO.
FM or the Civic Media app You have your primary stream your sports to stream and sports three stream that game will be on the sports to stream and also on and
delay after the hockey game as well.
That's right.
Well, it's time for our number of the day quiz.
Sort of a brand new week.
Yep.
I
think
only four chances this week.
So get right at
it.
Short a
week.
Nothing evokes feelings and memories of Thanksgiving quite like a turkey fresh out of the oven with some stuffing and cranberry sauce on the side.
But are
these
foods being served each year more out of habit and tradition than anything else?
A new study revealed what percentage of folks have grown weary of the usual Thanksgiving food options and would like to see some new cuisine on the menu this year.
So what percentage would like to see something different than say turkey and ham and stuffy and cranberry sauce?
What percentage would like to see something different?
All right, your choices are.
16% would like to see something different.
Okay, 26% would like to see something different 36% would like to see something different
People who like to see something different for Thanksgiving dinner 1626 or 36% Okay Okay, I'm gonna say final guess I'm gonna say 26
percent of people want something different.
Final answer, let me say twenty-six.
The amount of folks that would like to see something different for their Thanksgiving food options is twenty-six percent.
Yes!
One for one.
Always good
to start off the week with a one.
That makes it a lot easier, doesn't it?
That's actually quite a bit of people.
It's not quite half, but it's still quite a few.
All right, well, way to go.
Thank you.
We will see you
tomorrow.
Absolutely.
Happy Monday, everybody.
Stay tuned.
More of Mornings with Pat Cricklow coming up here on 98.9 WXCO.
We're all set over here.
All right.
Let me
see here Why don't we start it up at straight 855 you got it.
All right, very
good.
Stand by
Good morning and welcome to the WXCO morning report part of mornings with Pat Cricklow on 98.9 WXCO online at wxco.fm mobile devices and Alexa by searching WXCO and on the Civic Media app.
I am Chad Holmes along with Ian Welsh.
Ian, good morning.
Good morning, Jen.
We will have more from Ian in just a little bit, but first we are very happy to welcome back
to the program from the Wausau Conservatory of Music, Brent and Kanise.
Brenton, good to see
you.
Good morning, can't get to see you.
Absolutely, and I think last year we talked about this event as well, the Wausau Conservatory of Music in its annual Winter Wonderland Cabaret in December.
I know it's a very important event.
Before we talk about this event though, I was peeking around on your Facebook page and a little bit more.
and recently we've had the the opportunity to speak to a number of area performers from our high schools and I saw a posting recently last few weeks actually was like less than two weeks ago talking about the number of the performers at these different high school productions at Everest and at West and at East and other local performers that have
Studies at the wasa conservatory music.
It really jumped out.
I mean it's not just a few I mean there are a lot of these performers that are being trained at the conservatory isn't there
absolutely it's a lot and musical theater in Marathon County is huge which is kind of surprising but You know last week I think two weeks ago.
There was five high school shows in the area.
That's crazy I've never seen that many at once, but I think it shows that
there's a need for the arts in the area and what the conservatory does is it welcomes students who want to take their talent to the next level so we have private lessons and We had a voice teacher who just started with us last year and her studio is full this year She has 37 students since she started with zero so to go from zero to that many students is
Wonderful to see the amount of students who want to Excel and their talents and grow and you look at these lists and a lot of these students who study with us Whether they're in musical theater or they're in band.
They're highly recognized for their talents So if you if you have a child and you see the potential them or if you personally feel like you want to explore an instrument or
maybe develop an old hobby you had.
The Conservatory was a perfect place for you to take a half hour out of your day and just enjoy what you love to do in life and display your talent to the community.
I know that
you've been around here for a while.
I've been around here for a while.
In fact, many, many years ago, I could put my toe into some performing, but every time I go now is I'm amazed by the level.
It really is and it's not just saying oh, it's much more talented people I think what you said is actually important that There is a want to really maximize the talent that they're willing to do The hard work in order to be as good as possible and that's where the conservatories come in and you mentioned the number of students for a new instructor being signed up I imagine that if you look back maybe at the last decade the numbers
I imagine have exploded over the last number of years.
Yes.
Well, the conservatory in 2026, we'll be celebrating 45 years.
Now, that's a long time to be in central Wisconsin.
But, and there's always been growth.
Absolutely.
But within the past couple of years, voice especially has really taken flight and expanded.
A piano is our number one instrument that people will take, which makes sense.
But voice is the strong second.
So being able to see the shift, I think what a positive side effect of what COVID did was and made people want to do more with their life because, you know, inside all day, and then they have the opportunity to do stuff.
So why not try something new?
And I think with being able to explore, like I said, old hobbies once again, or maybe just try something new, we have
ukulele choir we have a guitar choir a lot of these are new classes and they've we've seen