Radio, radio
Our first morning in Milwaukee, I started scanning radio stations and came across something you won't find many places outside of Europe and Wisconsin: polka music on the radio. YES! This could only be good. (Keep in mind that the father-daughter dance at our wedding was basically a polka to "If You Want to be a Badger.") So that's how WTKM 104.9 FM in Hartford, Wisconsin became one of our pre-set stations. (They even have streaming audio, so I'm rocking out to polka as I type. I think I'm ready for Gretchen and Baby to come home if this is what constitutes an entertaining evening.)
Thinking we could hear some polka, I switched to it while we were driving up north. Little did I know they would have something even better than polka music: the Open Line show, which is described on the website as a "Telephone talk show with general topics, recipes & frequent guest interviews." This wasn't obnoxious talk radio with angry white men ranting about immigration, liberals and gays. No, this was mostly older women with simply awesome Wisconsin accents. During the brief time we still had reception, we heard discussion of the following important topics:
--A woman called to complain that her raspberries just weren't as juicy this summer as they were last year, and was anyone else having this same problem? The host empathized, especially since the strawberries were so good this year.
--Another woman called because she was having problems with woodchucks and remembered that there was a recent discussion of how to deal with woodchucks on this show, and could the host remind her what people suggested? His response: "well, some of our callers said you could shoot 'em." This prompted another caller (the sole male caller, I think) to chide the host (who of course wasn't personally suggesting shooting them, but was simply passing along other listeners' ideas) because it turns out state law says you can't shoot woodchucks. So don't be getting any funny ideas the next time you're in Wisconsin and someone asks you if you want to go woodchuck hunting.
--Yet another woman was looking for a recipe for rhubarb muffins (I swear you can't make this stuff up).
--Finally, an older-sounding lady had some work done at her house a year or so ago, and was trying to find the number of the contractor because they evidently moved. The host very cheerfully got out his phone book to look it up for her, which she was very grateful for because, as she put it, "the phone book is just so big, you can't find anything in it."
Sadly, not long after this the signal began to fade. Had it not, we definitely could have listened to it all morning--definitely small-town America at its finest. (And I'm telling you, you absolutely owe it to yourself to listen to some top-notch polka music -- just see their programming schedule.)
Thinking we could hear some polka, I switched to it while we were driving up north. Little did I know they would have something even better than polka music: the Open Line show, which is described on the website as a "Telephone talk show with general topics, recipes & frequent guest interviews." This wasn't obnoxious talk radio with angry white men ranting about immigration, liberals and gays. No, this was mostly older women with simply awesome Wisconsin accents. During the brief time we still had reception, we heard discussion of the following important topics:
--A woman called to complain that her raspberries just weren't as juicy this summer as they were last year, and was anyone else having this same problem? The host empathized, especially since the strawberries were so good this year.
--Another woman called because she was having problems with woodchucks and remembered that there was a recent discussion of how to deal with woodchucks on this show, and could the host remind her what people suggested? His response: "well, some of our callers said you could shoot 'em." This prompted another caller (the sole male caller, I think) to chide the host (who of course wasn't personally suggesting shooting them, but was simply passing along other listeners' ideas) because it turns out state law says you can't shoot woodchucks. So don't be getting any funny ideas the next time you're in Wisconsin and someone asks you if you want to go woodchuck hunting.
--Yet another woman was looking for a recipe for rhubarb muffins (I swear you can't make this stuff up).
--Finally, an older-sounding lady had some work done at her house a year or so ago, and was trying to find the number of the contractor because they evidently moved. The host very cheerfully got out his phone book to look it up for her, which she was very grateful for because, as she put it, "the phone book is just so big, you can't find anything in it."
Sadly, not long after this the signal began to fade. Had it not, we definitely could have listened to it all morning--definitely small-town America at its finest. (And I'm telling you, you absolutely owe it to yourself to listen to some top-notch polka music -- just see their programming schedule.)
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