Good radio, good tV

In Wisconsin, you are only a short drive from a big change in cultures. You can drive 2 hours out of Milwaukee and hit a much bigger city in Chicago, hit a lot of farmland out west, or feel like you are in a totally different culture by heading into the Northwoods. The transformation from city to country happens before you realize it. The highway signs change from hospitals and emergency crash zones to deer crossings and no passing zones. 6 lane freeways become 2 lane highways. Harley dealerships disappear and Polaris snowmobiles and ATVs show up.

And the radio becomes hilarious!

I am not much of an AM listener. I prefer to listen to music rather than someone blabbing on. But with our trip on Saturday morning, it was natural to have the Wisconsin Badger football game on the radio. When we went searching in vain for food on Sunday, Packer pre-game was on.

So when we left to come back to the city on Monday, the radio was still on an AM station. And the program? The Trading Post!

The concept is quite easy. People call in, explain what they have to sell, how much they are asking, and a phone number you can call if you are interested.

All kinds of things were being offered. Cars. Shotguns. '39 Chevy parts. Weight set. Skis- the really good kind or so the guy claimed. Lawn ornaments. Power tools. All kinds of stuff. I was tempted to call in and offer the CDs in the truck but didn't feel like giving out my phone number.

Most of the people calling had this nice Northwoods accent as well. The became da. There became der. Gutters became eve troughs. Once you understood the translation, it sounded somewhat normal.

There were also some crazy sounding people calling in. One caller rattled off what he had and gave out his number. The host repeated everything back to ensure he had it correctly. As the host was thanking him, suddenly you heard "Hey, did ya watch da game?" The host was a bit surprised and asked if he meant the Packer game and if so, yes, he did watch. The caller kept going "Ya, it was a goot game. But I know you don't like da Packers so, it must have been hard for you." The conversation was so out of place that it had us rolling. But there would be more of this.

Another guy calls up and tells of the junk he wants to unload. When he is done, he tells the guy, "you know who this is right, call me later." The host tries to be funny and says "Yeah, this is Bill Clinton." The caller giggles and says no, you know The radio guy gives a couple more names and they laugh and laugh. Ha! Great slapstick radio! I don't think the host had a clue who the guy really was.


But my favorite had to be the lady who had stuff to sell, but then expected people to give her stuff for free. She rattles off a half dozen items and their prices. One of them was her wheelchair. Um...did she just say a wheelchair? Then she goes on to say that if anyone would like to donate furniture to her, she would like that. She could really use a new chair to sit in! Also, she wants an end table, but not just any end table. It cannot be a multi level table. Has to be small and not too big. It cannot have different levels for the lamp to be on one level and other stuff like magazines on another. She went on and on about not wanting a two leveled end table. How did the host not hang up on this crazy old bat?

Now that is some good radio up der, eh?

Now on to good TV. O.J. Simpson is a freakin' genius. Apparently he will have a special on Fox (surprise!) called "O.J. Simpson: If I Did It, Here's How It Happened," on Nove 27 &28. He will prove that he could not have committed the crime by showing what he would have done if he was in fact doing the killing. "See, I couldn't have killed them because if I did, I would have used a big huge knife, instead of any little knife. Plus, I am partial to using a candlestick in the libray. "

Genius. Freakin' genius!