November 19, 2024 • 38 mins
We kicked off the program with four news stories and different guests on the stories we think you need to know about!
Charles Ro – Owner of Charles Ro Supply Company has become the Worlds Largest Lionel Dealer and the Number One Train Dealer in America.
Ben Noll – Meteorologist with WaPo explained to Dan why the U.S. has gotten so dry, so fast — and what could reverse it?
Jillian Young – Director of Public Relations for AAA Northeast joined Dan to discuss the nearly 80 Million Americans Expected to Travel over Thanksgiving.
Jeffrey Schaffer - RN w/ Outer Cape Health Services checked in with Dan. World AIDS Day, coming up December 1st – The Importance of Screenings & Treatment Options.
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio and listen to NightSide with Dan Rea Weeknights From 8PM-12AM!
Charles Ro – Owner of Charles Ro Supply Company has become the Worlds Largest Lionel Dealer and the Number One Train Dealer in America.
Ben Noll – Meteorologist with WaPo explained to Dan why the U.S. has gotten so dry, so fast — and what could reverse it?
Jillian Young – Director of Public Relations for AAA Northeast joined Dan to discuss the nearly 80 Million Americans Expected to Travel over Thanksgiving.
Jeffrey Schaffer - RN w/ Outer Cape Health Services checked in with Dan. World AIDS Day, coming up December 1st – The Importance of Screenings & Treatment Options.
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio and listen to NightSide with Dan Rea Weeknights From 8PM-12AM!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's Nightside with Dan Ray on WBZY, Boston News Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Thank you very much, Nicole, as we start a Tuesday
night edition of Nightside. Step in a little bit of
a technical issue here, which I'm sure we will be
able to clear up at some point, but welcome on
in everybody. Nonetheless, we fly this plane on whatever number
of engines we have at any given time. Let me
(00:30):
tell you, welcome everybody. My name's Dan Ray, as Nicole indicated,
the host of the program, and Rob Brooks is back
in the control room at Broadcast Central, all set to
begin our conversation tonight. I will tell you that later
on this evening we are going to talk about the
effort to put offshore wind off the coast of New England.
(00:51):
We're going to be talking with Dustin Delano of the
New England Fisherman Stewart Steward Ship Association. That's at nine o'clock.
And then later on tonight we'll talk about tackling the
Thanksgiving Turkey dinner and the conversations that may or may
not occur around the family gathering, the annual family gathering.
(01:13):
I think we can try. I think we can try
to have decent conversations with each other. Call me an optimist,
but we'll try. First off, we're going to have a
great conversation with a gentleman by the name of Charles Row.
This was suggested to me by one of our listeners
in South Carolina. Pete in South Carolina said, have you
ever done anything on Lionel trains? And we haven't, so,
(01:35):
of course we're approaching the Hanukah and the Christmas season
and many people are train officionados, and I'm told that
Charles Row, of a company right here in Massachusetts, is
really ground zero for Lionel trains and people who are
interested in that. Charles, welcome to night, said how are you, sir.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
I'm very good, Thank you Dan, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
So all of us, all us vintage, remember lilying on
the trains as we were kids, and have they gone
out of style or it sounds to me based upon
with my pal Pete in South Carolina tells me there's
still a lot of people who love the idea of
(02:18):
a train set, an actual train set that's different from
some of the stuff that we see, the plastic sets
or the wooden sets. These are trains that actually run
on tracks. And I looked at your website tonight. It's
an amazing it's an amazing experience. It brought me back
(02:39):
to Christmases of long time ago. Tell us about it.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
You know, Christmas, you know, the tradition of Christmas is
always about a train. I mean, people have trains around
the trees for many, many years, and it's still popular today.
I mean, what more could you see. You walk into
a room and you see the beautiful Christmas tree and
you see a train running around it. It just brings
(03:06):
everything to life. And it's been like that for years,
and there's many, many, many people who still put the
trains around the tree. Line now sells thousands of train
sets every year, so it keeps going and going, you know,
since since we were kids.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
So how is it possible for someone who wants to
rekindle that spirit and that joy that trains seem to bring.
I mean, describe the train. A lot of people think
about trains and they got little wooden trains which are lovely,
or plastic trains or whatever. But these are real. They
(03:45):
look like trains. They're they're there, there's made of steel,
they're heavy, they run on tracks, they have whistles. Just
explain to the audience who's never seen a Lionel train exactly.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
What it like, what it sees when we when we
were kids many years ago, a lot of kids had
trains that would you know, they run like you say,
they run on tracks. You plug them into the wall
and they go around on tracks. Like years ago. Today's
trains are more modern. They make a lot more noise,
(04:20):
better smoke, there's a lot more for the kids that
there's even a little hand controlled that they can use
to control the trains. There's you can run them from
your iPhone now. So they've made great you know, they've
kept up with technology. You know, when we were kids,
we would just turn to trans farmer on or go
around the train and we get all excited. And the
(04:41):
smell of the smoke, now they got smoked that smells
like pine trees and trains run around and talking and
you know, all aboard the train, says the kids get
all excited. And of course you have Pole Express the
great movie, and they Lionel makes a Pole Express train.
So that's the most part. That's how most popular set.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Okay, So so the question that I have and you
can you can be you in general, don't give me
a specific answer, but how much of an investment? And look,
if they go to your website, they'll see these magnificent trains.
You must have mounted some sort of a camera on
the front of the train so it shows it from
the perspective of the train going through tunnels and pass trees,
(05:26):
and you know, just it's it's it's it allows your
imagination to run wild. But how much does a family
have to spend to you know, sort of get a
good starter. You know, you're not going to get the
first you know, they're not going to build in their
basement or or in wherever a magnificent set like you
(05:49):
that you have. But what are you talking about in
terms of a financial commitment to start.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Three or four hundred dollars you can buy a beautiful
Lionel set or the last years it's just like when yeah,
it's awesome, it's it's really a bogain. I mean, I
think to spend that kind of money and have a
tradition that you can run for many years, I think
I think it's a good deal.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Now folks have to have is it advisable to have
them on a table so that you know, a sturdy,
solid table. You know, maybe with a green tablecloth or
something like that, or can you just also just put
them on the floor and let them run on the carpets.
(06:36):
I mean, you know, you you have to have the tracks,
but I assume that they're better on a table and
a solid uh sound no line.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Linel's gone to what they call fast track and it
snaps together so it's sturdy, it stays together. You could
put on a hot wood floor. You could put it
on a carpet and stay together when you when you
put when you put on a table or something, that's
well for the hobbyist, you know, that's like.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Face, that's maybe.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Yeah, maybe your child's interested in the trains. So okay,
you know what I'm gonna put in the board. I'm
gonna put out in the garage or down the basement.
We'll do a little four by eight. We could put
some mountains and you know, think some gates that go
up and down and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Right, So the more complicated that you that you want
to make it, you can make it. Okay, Where are
you guys located? Whereabouts in You're in Massachusetts right, we're.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
In We're in Maldon, four miles north of Boston.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Oh, I know Maledon apps absolutely and you you have
the retail store in Maldon as well. I mean, or
do they do it now? Now?
Speaker 3 (07:42):
We have a we have a we have a retail
store where people can come in. We have our operating
layout which is sixteen by thirty two, runs six trains
at once and multiple size of size of trains. Or
they can do mail order. We could ship it to them.
They'll they'll have it within a reasonable amount of time,
you know, a couple of days, three or four.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Days, so well in time for Christmas. Okay, absolutely, Look
how many how many how long you've been in business?
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Fifty two years? It's nineteen seventy two.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Fifty two years, and you probably over that time have
sold Do you just sell Lionel trains or there are
other competitive trains? I always think of Lionel. Are there other.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Products all Linel? Yes, Lionel is the big name and trains,
of course, because they've been around for one hundred and
twenty five years, the one hundred and twenty fifth anniversary
coming up this year. But we do sell h O
which is a smaller trains, or we do the train
that got what they call Godden Train g Skill, which
is even bigger than Lionel, and we also manufacture that
(08:52):
also inside our facility. Plus we manufactured in China also.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Okay, well we'll leave that aside selling China. If you
want to do the man, I'd rather have your manufacturer here,
Charles Row looks. I appreciate your call very much. Uh
and I hope that some of our listeners will go
to you whiz give us the website so that people
might want to maybe that some people don't even know
(09:18):
what we're talking about. But what's the website? Charles?
Speaker 3 (09:22):
W w W don't need that.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Anymore, Charles, You never need the everybody's go ahead, Charles,
go ahead.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Charles, Charles Row, and that's r row dot com.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
They couldn't be they couldn't be easier. I knew that
wasn't what it was, but I wanted you to say it,
Charles Row.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
And Row is our row, simple.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Yep, I got it. Yeah, believe me. You know that's fine.
That works great, Charles, Thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
All right, we help. We hope to see you in
the store in a few days.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
You might not be surprised if I was in the
store in a few days. Trust me, I have a
coming in Okay, well, I sure will. Child's pleasure to
pleasure to talk with you. And again a big shout
out to your your customer and and our listener Pete
in South Carolina, Pete D as we call him in
South Carolina.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Thanks John having me on having you have a good evening.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
My pleasure. Thank you. All right, I enjoyed that. That
was fun. When we get back, we're I talk about
something not so much fun, and that is why has
the US gotten so dry so fast? And what could
reverse it. We're gonna be talking with a Washington Post
meteorologist who tonight joins us from off All Places, New Zealand.
We'll get to that part of the story and the
big story and other topics coming up. We're gonna talk
(10:41):
about World's AIDS Day, which is coming up on December first,
and also of course the big travel day in advance
of Thanksgiving, with a Jillian Young of Triple A Northeast.
We got a lot to cover, and then we get
to the to the nine o'clock hour and topics and
issues and uh, stay with us. We're gonna have a
great night tonight on Night Side.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Now back to Dan Ray Mine from the Window World
Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Well, I think all of us in New England know
that we're in a drought. We've seen the fires here
in New England, which we normally don't have. We generally
have some, but it has been a very different falls.
We are now passed halfway past the month of November,
which is incredible with us. Is Ben No, meteorologist with
the Washington Post, who tonight is in New Zealand? Then
(11:30):
what the heck you doing down in New Zealand?
Speaker 5 (11:34):
Hi, Danny, thanks for having me tonight. I am calling
for about nine thousand miles away in New Zealand. Actually
have lived down here for the last nine years, but
recently took up a new job with the Post as
a meteorologist within their newsroom. So I'm transitioning back to
the States right now. It's actually a beautiful late late
(11:55):
spring day here in New Zealand. We have the opposite
seasons to the Northern Hemisphere, so it's dry, much like
you guys have it right now in New England. It's
dry down here.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Too, So you selling here in American originally, I mean,
where'd you grow up. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
Yeah, So I grew up in New York State, about
an hour north of New York City in the Lower
Hudson Valley. Went to school in New York.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Yeah, how'd you get to New Zealand? I'm going off
beat here, but I just have always fascinated and no
relation I assumed to the great Chuck Noll, the coach
of the Steelers for many years.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
Right, no relation to Chuck Nol though my family does
kind of hail from Pennsylvania, so maybe there's some distant
connection there that I'm unaware of. I went to I
worked at Akiweather for a couple of years in Pennsylvania.
Then a job offer came up in New Zealand. I
was in my twenties. I'm like, well, you know, if
you're ever going to travel and see the world, now
(12:52):
is the time to do it. And yeah, it was
a great choice at that time of my life. Beautiful country.
If anyone in New England is looking for a vacation spot,
highly recommended, friendly people, nice coffee, pretty good food too.
Speaker 6 (13:04):
Well.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
You know, I wish that I knew you back then
because Scott Brown, former Cenator from Massachusetts and a longtime
friend of mine, was our US ambassador to New Zealand,
and I almost went down there for a visit. But
let's talk weather. What's going on here. I know that
you know a lot about more weather, a lot more
about weather than I do. This is a problem for us,
(13:27):
but I guess in other parts of the world. Reading
your most recent piece, I think in the post suggested
that there's parts of the world that did have drenched
at this point. You think of the floods in Spain
and elsewhere. Tell us, is this just part of a
normal cycle or is it something more pernicious than that.
Speaker 5 (13:46):
Yeah, it's been an interesting one, Dan, I mean, we've
watched this pattern over the last i'd say a couple
of years toward what I describe as actually global moistening.
You know, we hear about global warming and the warming
trend toward warmer temperatures across the globe. Well, part and
parcel with the warming world is an atmosphere that can
hold more water vapor. And we've seen from several very
(14:08):
impactful storms, whether it was the hurricanes like Helene and Milton,
the recent floods in Spain, there's been kind of a
litany of flooding rain events across the planet, and they
have probably outnumbered the parts of the planet that have
been experiencing dryness and drought. However, the US has been
probably one of the few standouts for being really dry
(14:31):
and widespread dryness across the planet as a whole. And
we've actually seen about eighty seven percent of the United
States experience abnormally dry conditions here in the month of November,
and that is the highest number on record since such
records began back in the year two thousands. So you've
(14:51):
certainly felt that in New England, but it's been widespread
across the United States, kind of bucking that trend toward
internationally conditions that are actually very wet.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Okay, So what normally would be the if the figure
is eighty seven percent dry, I'm assuming that we're never
one hundred percent perfect normally in a normal November, what
would that figure.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
Be if you know, yeah, looking back, I mean it
ebbs and flows, but I mean I look back to
you know, say, November of twenty twenty three, and you know,
you'd be looking at conditions that are more you know,
closer to fifty percent sixty percent kind of in that ballpark.
So to have you know eighty seven percent. That that's
a record for all months, not just November. That's the
(15:35):
highest number that that that drought index has seen, so
it is it is pretty pretty pretty notable, I'd say
from a record keeping perspective.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Notable and obviously very anomalous, which which is another concern.
But at the end of the year, will it kind
of even out? I know, we had a fairly wet
spring of at least here in New England, and my
focus is on New England obviously, is it going to
even out by the end of the year. We have
some rain coming in here according to our weather forecasters,
(16:07):
fairly significant rain Wednesday into Thursday, maybe even into Friday.
I'm sure you probably gave a peek at the forecast.
Will it? Will it? You know, will it? Do you
think even out towards the end of the year, maybe
get us close to normality or are we looking at
something that that's really going to be a problem that
(16:27):
you think is going to continue going forward?
Speaker 5 (16:32):
Yeah, I mean, we've seen deficits across Massachusetts as high
as eight or more inches across parts of the state.
I mean, I'm looking on the eastern flank of the
state toward the cape, I mean places there eight to
ten plus inches in deficit, and then out towards the
Berkshires as well, eight to ten inches in deficits. So
these are these are pretty significant rainfall deficits. When you're
(16:53):
talking about you know, a magnitude of that high, that's
two to three, you know, months worth of rain that
you're you're needing to kind of make up. Now, you know,
you do have that rain event coming in on Thursday,
and that looks to bring maybe about an inch of
rain give or take to the state. You know, some
areas higher, some areas maybe a little bit lower. You know,
that'll help. But you know, when you're talking about deficits
(17:16):
that are you know, eight to ten times that amount,
it's going to take some time. So you know, I
think at this point we are seeing that pattern of
dryness start to ease back a little bit. That's the
good news. And I suspect there will be some more
storm systems to come as we enter December that will
bring some beneficial rain. But what you don't want is
a whole heap or rain in a short period of time.
(17:38):
You know, we all love pumpkin pion Thanksgiving, but you
eat too much of it. You know, you come away
with a stomach ache the next morning. Same ghoast for rain.
You don't want too much rain in one big storm
because that'll lead to flooding and the opposite problem. So
we want kind of gentler, sustained rainfall that's going to
bring you back. And we'll make a stride in that
direction here on Thursday, but indeed we will, we will
(17:59):
definitely need more to break through this drought.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Well, Ben, it was a pleasure to talk to you.
Learned a lot. I really mean that. Honestly, you seem
like a rock solid guy. The Washington Post love to
use you more often, particularly when you get back here
to the East coast of America. We could check in
with you sometime. How soon will you be back? Will you,
you know, take up residents in the DC area?
Speaker 5 (18:26):
Yeah, so, as you can imagine, it's a quite a journey,
and it's quite a process, so, you know, selling a house, relocating,
getting you know, my feet on the ground there probably
next year, twenty twenty five is what I'm aiming for.
But it was great to be on with you tonight, Dan,
And yeah, I look forward to touching base in the
future and hoping for an easy transition into winter and
(18:46):
exactly the right amount of rain for your listeners there
in the Boston area.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Ben no of the Washington Post meteorologists of the Washington Post,
thanks very much. I appreciate your time and hope you
have a great Thanksgiving. I don't know if they celebrate
Thanksgiving down in New Zealand, but maybe you'll find some
Americans to celebrate it with.
Speaker 5 (19:02):
Okay, thanks Dan, I'll be heading to Taco bell as
all Americans do here in New Zealand on that big day.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
It's the tradition Thanksgiving then. Okay, I think the Pilgrims
did that too. Actually, hey, Ben, thanks very much. Talk
to you soon. Yeah, okay, we're going to thanks thanks Ben,
Ben Knowell of the Washington Post in New Zealand. And
now after the news at the bottom of the hour,
we're going to talk about the fact that eighty million
(19:30):
Americans we'll be traveling over this Thanksgiving holiday, which of
course is now a little more than a week away.
Jillian Young, director of public relations for tripa A Northeast,
will be with us. We'll talk with her, and later
on during this hour we'll talk about World Aid's Day
coming up on December first, my name is Dan Ray.
Listen to WBZ Boston's News Radio ten thirty on your
(19:51):
AM dial, and of course you also more than welcome
to download the iHeart Radio app. Just go to your
app store and get the iHeart Radio app and you
can listen to WBZ and iHeart stations across the country
three hundred and sixty five days a day a year
and twenty four seven Back on Nightside right after the
news at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
You're on night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's
News Radio.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
All right, welcome back everyone. Well, of course, as I
think all of us know, one of the busiest travel
days of any year, and maybe this one is going
to be Thanksgiving with us is Julian Young, director of
public relations for TRIPAA Northeast. Julian, the figure is eighty
million Americans expected to travel over Thanksgiving. What do they
(20:41):
mean by that? Not eighty million Americans on airplanes? What
is the is it if you travel more than fifty
miles you get counted into this number of eighty million.
Speaker 7 (20:51):
It's a great question, Dan, so yes, the projection of
nearly eighty million travelers. Is anyone who is heading fifty
miles or more from their homes over the Thanksgiving qualiday period.
So those are folks who are traveling by car, some
are going to travel by air, and then we're also
factoring other forms of transportation like trains, buses, and even crewies.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Okay, now, how does that breakdown? I know that one
of the things you always hear is that the Wednesday
before Thanksgiving is our busiest travel day of the year
or something like that. How does this break down? Does
does it count like eighty million people go somewhere and
then the same eighty million people come back or is
(21:35):
it forty million people go and then forty million trips back.
I always get confused by that number.
Speaker 7 (21:42):
So it's eighty million travelers total. So that's the total
number of people who are going to take trips. And
you mentioned Wednesday as the busiest day, and that is
certainly what we used to see. I think anyone who
has tried to get on the road the Wednesday before
Thanksgiving us in some pretty frustrating traffic. But what we've
(22:03):
seen over time, especially in the past few years coming
out of the pandemic, is that the traffic patterns and
the travel patterns have shifted a little bit, and we're
now looking at also the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and the
Monday after the holiday as among the busiest travel days
in that travel period.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
So that sounds to me like the Thanksgiving weekend, like
most of our wastelines on Thanksgiving, is it.
Speaker 7 (22:32):
Has expanded. Yeah, we've seen those. We've seen those travel
patterns expand over the last couple of years, partially because
people might have some more flexibility with work. They might
have the chance to travel on a Monday or Tuesday
and work remotely and not have to pack their travel
into that day before the holiday and the Sunday after
(22:52):
when it used to be that everyone was really traveling
on those days.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
How does this compare Obviously, in the last few years,
you know, with twenty and twenty one, the COVID pandemic
was at its height, and a lot of people stayed
close and there was probably less less big family dinners
and people were isolated and all of that, and then
the economy and COVID sort of has diminished. It's still there,
(23:18):
but it's diminished, and the travel picked up a little
bit in twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three. How
does this Thanksgiving compare to maybe the Thanksgiving before COVID,
which would have been Thanksgiving of twenty nineteen, because that
seems to me to be the only two recent Thanksgivings
(23:38):
that are comparable.
Speaker 7 (23:41):
Yeah, you're absolutely right, Dan, And when we look at
the projection for this year compared to twenty nineteen, that
last Thanksgiving before the pandemic hit, we're looking at a
projection of two million more travelers this year than in
twenty nineteen. So we are breaking that pre pandemic record
or expected to for this year. And it's an increase
(24:04):
of one point seven million people from last year, so
we're really on the up if you compare simply to
last year or to twenty nineteen pre pandemic.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
You know, that's kind of interesting because well, when you
think about it, our population as a country has I'm
sure grown substantially from twenty nineteen. That's five years. It
seems like every year when you hear the pop we
now have three hundred and twenty million. No, it's three
hundred and thirty million, And I kind of thought that
(24:37):
I'm surprised that it was that high back in twenty nineteen,
to be honest with you, I mean that's a pretty
significant number if it was seventy eight million back in
twenty eighteen and we've only grown two million over period
to five years.
Speaker 7 (24:50):
Yeah, that's a good point. You know, we haven't looked
at it against pop like greater population trends, but you've
sparked an idea, and I think now we might have
and make that comparison to see how those patterns align
or don't align. But what we've seen over the years
is that Thanksgiving has really always been the busiest holiday
(25:13):
for travel, and we've just seen travel demand really continue
to store post pandemic, and Thanksgiving is one of those
holidays where folks are looking to reconnect with family and friends,
maybe take a fun trip to a new destination, maybe
do both. And He've got a mix of those kind
of traditional road trips to family that we might think
of when we think of Thanksgiving, and also some folks
who are headed to a warmer destination and getting out
(25:35):
of dodge just as things get a little chilly around here.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Well, it's interesting, and I'm always trying to figure this
stuff out, but Thanksgiving is on the calendar perfectly situated
in that most parts of the country are not going
to be impacted by a big weather event, whereas a
Christmas our New Year's you can almost count and there'll
be some parts of the country which will a big
(25:59):
one the events. So therefore no one has deterred from
making plans. And as you said, Thanksgiving is a lot
simpler than Christmas. You get in the car and you go,
you know, over the river and through the woods to
grandma's house. Uh and and connect with your high school
buddies or your high school gal pals, and you can
do all you know it's and of course family is
(26:21):
going to want to bring the kids back to see
the grandparents. It just seems to me that Thanksgiving, which
is such a great holiday, no pressure about give, gift
giving or anything like that. Fun family food, football, It's
all good. You know, throw a couple of extra bottles
of wine in the car so that you get an invitation,
last minute invitation. Always bring a bottle of wine. You
(26:43):
don't have to do a whole lot. I mean, what's
there not to like about Thanksgiving?
Speaker 7 (26:49):
You're so right, it really is the quintessential travel holiday.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Yeah, well, look, I know you folks are going to
be keeping up with it. Jillian triple A does a
great job. I'm a member of Triple A. I pay
my dues every year, and I want you to know
that Triple A has bailed me out on several occasions
with a dead battery or a flat tire. So's it's
one organization I'm very proud to be a part of
and I feel that I get my money's worth. And
(27:16):
I advise anyone to consider becoming a member of Triple A.
And that's a that's an unpaid promotional announcement. That's one
that I truly do believe it. I mean that seriously.
Speaker 7 (27:27):
Well, thank you so much for saying that, and I'm
so glad that we have been able to help you
in those times when you need it. That is certainly
one of the great benefits of Triple A membership. I've
been I've been helped myself.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Yeah. No. And they'll they'll almost tell you if they
say that someone's twenty minutes away, you can take that
to the bank. If they tell you it's really busy
and it's going to be two hours, you can take
that to the bank as well. But they do not
they do not over promise. They promise accurately and they
(28:01):
deliver so anyway, I just wanted to say that I
haven't never had a chance to mention that on the air,
but it's a I think it's a wise It's one
of the probably the wisest membership that I've been involved in.
So thank you very much. We talking again. Happy Thanksgiving, Jillian.
Speaker 7 (28:17):
Happy Thanksgiving to you, Dan. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
All right, we come back on to talk about another
subject which was a huge news story in the nineteen eighties,
a's and thank god, thank goodness that even though World
Age Day will come up again on December first every year,
it seems that the AIDE story about the number of
people impacted, et cetera, is heading in the right direction.
(28:41):
Let's put it like that. I be talking with Jeremy Shaefer,
registered nurse with outer Cape Health Services, right after this
break on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
On December first, the world will recognize once again World
Age Day with us as Jeffrey Schaeffer. He's a registered
nurse with out a Cape Health Services. Jeffrey, in all
the big stories of recent years, have people started to
forget about AIDS?
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Thanks for having me, Dan, I think that I think
that it's probably a good thing that it is not
on the forefront of news, and that means that it's
not what it.
Speaker 4 (29:29):
Was in the eighties and nineties.
Speaker 6 (29:31):
So I think I think it's tempered with a little
bit of good news. That it might not be getting
the attention, but it's not quite the threat that it
was back then.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Okay, so let's talk. Let's just bring people up to
date here. I assume that you know a lot more
about this than I do, So I'm gonna ask some questions.
It might be dumb questions, but feel free to tell
me that questions or answer whatever that is. Is age
age as prevalent today amongst you know, we'll just talk
(30:09):
to the American public. We can talk worldwide, whatever way
you want to talk about it, and it might be different.
Is it as prevalent today as it was at its
height in the late eighties early nineties.
Speaker 6 (30:22):
No, And I mean I'm going to go geographically. You know,
there are different places, but there's a lot more in
our toolbox now than there was back then. And so
back then we only had abstinence either from whatever puts
you at.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Risk or.
Speaker 6 (30:44):
Also and condoms, you know, and now we have things like,
you know, like we test the blood, you know, so
if you're you know, feliac, you know you're not going
to get it from the blood supply. You There are
treat Also, if you're HIV positive and you're on treatment
(31:08):
and you get down to undetectable, then you cannot transmit it, uh,
sexually to another human being, so you're not at risk
of transmitting it. And then there are other biomedical interventions
either post or pre exposure, you know, to prevent transmission.
So there's a lot more in our toolbox uh than
(31:30):
there was back then.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
Okay, so it's interesting the term undetectable. Does that mean that? Well,
let me phrase the question this way. Obviously there's been
a lot of people are much more careful who, you know,
engage in certain sexual activities. I suspect because obviously when
(31:55):
AIDS came, no one knew what it was, no one
knew where it came from, and people were in a
total panic. Okay, so the situation age is much more
controlled at this point. Undetectability could that could could that
uh sort of provide a resurgence that if people think
(32:16):
that's undetectable and you can't transmit it. Therefore, maybe people
allow their guards to drop down. Is there is there
any potential downside to that in a longer.
Speaker 4 (32:28):
In in the long run, well, it's an interesting question.
Speaker 6 (32:32):
I don't know if there's a downside to not getting
h I V. I think that if what I'm.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
Saying is that if you if you're undetectable and therefore
you become you know, more active, does that put you know,
you know, does that put you again you're in a
comfort zone, more of a comfortable set of circumstances. That
that does that put you at at a at a
risk of being reattected.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
Is what I was trying to get at.
Speaker 6 (33:04):
No, if you're undetectable, you still have it. And so
there and so in the what they call reservoirs, which
are you know, basically in the DNA of some of
the white blood cells, is still the code for HID.
But if you stop taking your medication, it starts replicating again,
and so you do get the virus, and so that
(33:27):
what that does, that keeps it at bay and so
you you know, if you have a house full of zombies,
you know, and then you've got locks on the house.
If you take those locks away.
Speaker 4 (33:42):
And they get out, you know, like there's more.
Speaker 6 (33:44):
But if you get it back in there, they're still
in there, you know, and they're still ris But what
what it's doing for you? Let's so being undetectable as
advantage in two different ways. One of them for the
person who's living with HIV is that it your body
(34:04):
is not constantly fighting the virus and so there's less inflammation.
There's less things that cause you to get other comorbidities
or other things that might lead to AIDS and being
sick and getting opportunistic infections if you are. The benefit
to others is that it's one of the methods of
(34:26):
prevention is called treatment is prevention, meaning that the more
people that are on treatment and are undetectable, the less
chance it is of spreading. And so kind of like
you know, if you have herpies and you're taking valve cyclopear,
you know, it keeps it depressed so that you know,
if you don't get an outbreak and you don't transmit
(34:48):
it leads.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
How long has undetectability been possible? Is that a relatively
recent breakthrough?
Speaker 6 (35:02):
I think the I don't know exactly it was coined,
but more and more studies have shown that it's probably
been more than ten years that we've known this, and
probably around the same time. I mean, I can't see exactly,
but I would say at least ten years or more
(35:23):
that we've known it for sure because we've done They've
done studies with couples who are monogamous and who one
is living with HIV but does not have a viral load.
The other person is not living with HIV and they're
not using barrier protection. There's been no transmissions. So that's
(35:47):
the way that they've proved it.
Speaker 4 (35:51):
And it is Yeah, is.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
There I only got a minute left, as they say
in anticipation of World Aid's Day. Yeah, is there? Is
there a hope that this virus can be isolated and eliminated?
Speaker 6 (36:06):
Uh, you know, they're always, you know, looking into different things.
It's a little bit more difficult than like, you know,
we've been able to cure HEC, but HIV is still
elusive because of where it's hidden in the reservoirs. But
I think that if enough people get you know, there's
so much stigma about having HIV that you know, it's
(36:29):
really important to you know, reduce the stigma about having
it because if you happen to have had, you know,
gotten it. It's important to get tested either through your
primary care it's part of primary care now, or at
a local testing resource, which you can get by just
doing HIV testing near me. You can find some confidential
(36:50):
places and there's even some over the counter things that
you can find, you know, so whatever, Well.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
A lot, a lot, a lot of progress in a
in a battle that now has been decades against AIDS,
AIDS HIV. Yeah, thanks very much Jeffrey for your time.
And what you do is do you want to is
there a point that you would reference somewhere that people
can get information easily just google it and I assume
at this point it's so much so.
Speaker 6 (37:15):
Yeah, you can. You can google HIV testing near me
out in Cape cod. You know, there's the program that
I run tests and treat runs out of our provincetown location,
and there's other Uh, if you googled HIV testing near me,
you're going to find some places that are near you
that can provide confidential testing. And and also yep, no.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Just saying thank you very much, Jeffrey. We're run up
against the nine o'clock news. Thank you for the work
you do and continued success.
Speaker 4 (37:45):
My friend, thanks for having me, Dan, You're very welcome.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
When we get back here on nice side, right after
nine o'clock news is going to be talking about the
possibility of offshore wind off the coast of New England,
and Dustin Delano of the New England fisher and Stewardship
Association is very much opposed. We'll talk with Dustin right
after the nine o'clock news on nightside
It's Nightside with Dan Ray on WBZY, Boston News Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Thank you very much, Nicole, as we start a Tuesday
night edition of Nightside. Step in a little bit of
a technical issue here, which I'm sure we will be
able to clear up at some point, but welcome on
in everybody. Nonetheless, we fly this plane on whatever number
of engines we have at any given time. Let me
(00:30):
tell you, welcome everybody. My name's Dan Ray, as Nicole indicated,
the host of the program, and Rob Brooks is back
in the control room at Broadcast Central, all set to
begin our conversation tonight. I will tell you that later
on this evening we are going to talk about the
effort to put offshore wind off the coast of New England.
(00:51):
We're going to be talking with Dustin Delano of the
New England Fisherman Stewart Steward Ship Association. That's at nine o'clock.
And then later on tonight we'll talk about tackling the
Thanksgiving Turkey dinner and the conversations that may or may
not occur around the family gathering, the annual family gathering.
(01:13):
I think we can try. I think we can try
to have decent conversations with each other. Call me an optimist,
but we'll try. First off, we're going to have a
great conversation with a gentleman by the name of Charles Row.
This was suggested to me by one of our listeners
in South Carolina. Pete in South Carolina said, have you
ever done anything on Lionel trains? And we haven't, so,
(01:35):
of course we're approaching the Hanukah and the Christmas season
and many people are train officionados, and I'm told that
Charles Row, of a company right here in Massachusetts, is
really ground zero for Lionel trains and people who are
interested in that. Charles, welcome to night, said how are you, sir.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
I'm very good, Thank you Dan, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
So all of us, all us vintage, remember lilying on
the trains as we were kids, and have they gone
out of style or it sounds to me based upon
with my pal Pete in South Carolina tells me there's
still a lot of people who love the idea of
(02:18):
a train set, an actual train set that's different from
some of the stuff that we see, the plastic sets
or the wooden sets. These are trains that actually run
on tracks. And I looked at your website tonight. It's
an amazing it's an amazing experience. It brought me back
(02:39):
to Christmases of long time ago. Tell us about it.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
You know, Christmas, you know, the tradition of Christmas is
always about a train. I mean, people have trains around
the trees for many, many years, and it's still popular today.
I mean, what more could you see. You walk into
a room and you see the beautiful Christmas tree and
you see a train running around it. It just brings
(03:06):
everything to life. And it's been like that for years,
and there's many, many, many people who still put the
trains around the tree. Line now sells thousands of train
sets every year, so it keeps going and going, you know,
since since we were kids.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
So how is it possible for someone who wants to
rekindle that spirit and that joy that trains seem to bring.
I mean, describe the train. A lot of people think
about trains and they got little wooden trains which are lovely,
or plastic trains or whatever. But these are real. They
(03:45):
look like trains. They're they're there, there's made of steel,
they're heavy, they run on tracks, they have whistles. Just
explain to the audience who's never seen a Lionel train exactly.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
What it like, what it sees when we when we
were kids many years ago, a lot of kids had
trains that would you know, they run like you say,
they run on tracks. You plug them into the wall
and they go around on tracks. Like years ago. Today's
trains are more modern. They make a lot more noise,
(04:20):
better smoke, there's a lot more for the kids that
there's even a little hand controlled that they can use
to control the trains. There's you can run them from
your iPhone now. So they've made great you know, they've
kept up with technology. You know, when we were kids,
we would just turn to trans farmer on or go
around the train and we get all excited. And the
(04:41):
smell of the smoke, now they got smoked that smells
like pine trees and trains run around and talking and
you know, all aboard the train, says the kids get
all excited. And of course you have Pole Express the
great movie, and they Lionel makes a Pole Express train.
So that's the most part. That's how most popular set.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Okay, So so the question that I have and you
can you can be you in general, don't give me
a specific answer, but how much of an investment? And look,
if they go to your website, they'll see these magnificent trains.
You must have mounted some sort of a camera on
the front of the train so it shows it from
the perspective of the train going through tunnels and pass trees,
(05:26):
and you know, just it's it's it's it allows your
imagination to run wild. But how much does a family
have to spend to you know, sort of get a
good starter. You know, you're not going to get the
first you know, they're not going to build in their
basement or or in wherever a magnificent set like you
(05:49):
that you have. But what are you talking about in
terms of a financial commitment to start.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Three or four hundred dollars you can buy a beautiful
Lionel set or the last years it's just like when yeah,
it's awesome, it's it's really a bogain. I mean, I
think to spend that kind of money and have a
tradition that you can run for many years, I think
I think it's a good deal.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Now folks have to have is it advisable to have
them on a table so that you know, a sturdy,
solid table. You know, maybe with a green tablecloth or
something like that, or can you just also just put
them on the floor and let them run on the carpets.
(06:36):
I mean, you know, you you have to have the tracks,
but I assume that they're better on a table and
a solid uh sound no line.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Linel's gone to what they call fast track and it
snaps together so it's sturdy, it stays together. You could
put on a hot wood floor. You could put it
on a carpet and stay together when you when you
put when you put on a table or something, that's
well for the hobbyist, you know, that's like.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Face, that's maybe.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Yeah, maybe your child's interested in the trains. So okay,
you know what I'm gonna put in the board. I'm
gonna put out in the garage or down the basement.
We'll do a little four by eight. We could put
some mountains and you know, think some gates that go
up and down and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Right, So the more complicated that you that you want
to make it, you can make it. Okay, Where are
you guys located? Whereabouts in You're in Massachusetts right, we're.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
In We're in Maldon, four miles north of Boston.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Oh, I know Maledon apps absolutely and you you have
the retail store in Maldon as well. I mean, or
do they do it now? Now?
Speaker 3 (07:42):
We have a we have a we have a retail
store where people can come in. We have our operating
layout which is sixteen by thirty two, runs six trains
at once and multiple size of size of trains. Or
they can do mail order. We could ship it to them.
They'll they'll have it within a reasonable amount of time,
you know, a couple of days, three or four.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Days, so well in time for Christmas. Okay, absolutely, Look
how many how many how long you've been in business?
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Fifty two years? It's nineteen seventy two.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Fifty two years, and you probably over that time have
sold Do you just sell Lionel trains or there are
other competitive trains? I always think of Lionel. Are there other.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Products all Linel? Yes, Lionel is the big name and trains,
of course, because they've been around for one hundred and
twenty five years, the one hundred and twenty fifth anniversary
coming up this year. But we do sell h O
which is a smaller trains, or we do the train
that got what they call Godden Train g Skill, which
is even bigger than Lionel, and we also manufacture that
(08:52):
also inside our facility. Plus we manufactured in China also.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Okay, well we'll leave that aside selling China. If you
want to do the man, I'd rather have your manufacturer here,
Charles Row looks. I appreciate your call very much. Uh
and I hope that some of our listeners will go
to you whiz give us the website so that people
might want to maybe that some people don't even know
(09:18):
what we're talking about. But what's the website? Charles?
Speaker 3 (09:22):
W w W don't need that.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Anymore, Charles, You never need the everybody's go ahead, Charles,
go ahead.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Charles, Charles Row, and that's r row dot com.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
They couldn't be they couldn't be easier. I knew that
wasn't what it was, but I wanted you to say it,
Charles Row.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
And Row is our row, simple.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Yep, I got it. Yeah, believe me. You know that's fine.
That works great, Charles, Thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
All right, we help. We hope to see you in
the store in a few days.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
You might not be surprised if I was in the
store in a few days. Trust me, I have a
coming in Okay, well, I sure will. Child's pleasure to
pleasure to talk with you. And again a big shout
out to your your customer and and our listener Pete
in South Carolina, Pete D as we call him in
South Carolina.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Thanks John having me on having you have a good evening.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
My pleasure. Thank you. All right, I enjoyed that. That
was fun. When we get back, we're I talk about
something not so much fun, and that is why has
the US gotten so dry so fast? And what could
reverse it. We're gonna be talking with a Washington Post
meteorologist who tonight joins us from off All Places, New Zealand.
We'll get to that part of the story and the
big story and other topics coming up. We're gonna talk
(10:41):
about World's AIDS Day, which is coming up on December first,
and also of course the big travel day in advance
of Thanksgiving, with a Jillian Young of Triple A Northeast.
We got a lot to cover, and then we get
to the to the nine o'clock hour and topics and
issues and uh, stay with us. We're gonna have a
great night tonight on Night Side.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Now back to Dan Ray Mine from the Window World
Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Well, I think all of us in New England know
that we're in a drought. We've seen the fires here
in New England, which we normally don't have. We generally
have some, but it has been a very different falls.
We are now passed halfway past the month of November,
which is incredible with us. Is Ben No, meteorologist with
the Washington Post, who tonight is in New Zealand? Then
(11:30):
what the heck you doing down in New Zealand?
Speaker 5 (11:34):
Hi, Danny, thanks for having me tonight. I am calling
for about nine thousand miles away in New Zealand. Actually
have lived down here for the last nine years, but
recently took up a new job with the Post as
a meteorologist within their newsroom. So I'm transitioning back to
the States right now. It's actually a beautiful late late
(11:55):
spring day here in New Zealand. We have the opposite
seasons to the Northern Hemisphere, so it's dry, much like
you guys have it right now in New England. It's
dry down here.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Too, So you selling here in American originally, I mean,
where'd you grow up. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
Yeah, So I grew up in New York State, about
an hour north of New York City in the Lower
Hudson Valley. Went to school in New York.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Yeah, how'd you get to New Zealand? I'm going off
beat here, but I just have always fascinated and no
relation I assumed to the great Chuck Noll, the coach
of the Steelers for many years.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
Right, no relation to Chuck Nol though my family does
kind of hail from Pennsylvania, so maybe there's some distant
connection there that I'm unaware of. I went to I
worked at Akiweather for a couple of years in Pennsylvania.
Then a job offer came up in New Zealand. I
was in my twenties. I'm like, well, you know, if
you're ever going to travel and see the world, now
(12:52):
is the time to do it. And yeah, it was
a great choice at that time of my life. Beautiful country.
If anyone in New England is looking for a vacation spot,
highly recommended, friendly people, nice coffee, pretty good food too.
Speaker 6 (13:04):
Well.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
You know, I wish that I knew you back then
because Scott Brown, former Cenator from Massachusetts and a longtime
friend of mine, was our US ambassador to New Zealand,
and I almost went down there for a visit. But
let's talk weather. What's going on here. I know that
you know a lot about more weather, a lot more
about weather than I do. This is a problem for us,
(13:27):
but I guess in other parts of the world. Reading
your most recent piece, I think in the post suggested
that there's parts of the world that did have drenched
at this point. You think of the floods in Spain
and elsewhere. Tell us, is this just part of a
normal cycle or is it something more pernicious than that.
Speaker 5 (13:46):
Yeah, it's been an interesting one, Dan, I mean, we've
watched this pattern over the last i'd say a couple
of years toward what I describe as actually global moistening.
You know, we hear about global warming and the warming
trend toward warmer temperatures across the globe. Well, part and
parcel with the warming world is an atmosphere that can
hold more water vapor. And we've seen from several very
(14:08):
impactful storms, whether it was the hurricanes like Helene and Milton,
the recent floods in Spain, there's been kind of a
litany of flooding rain events across the planet, and they
have probably outnumbered the parts of the planet that have
been experiencing dryness and drought. However, the US has been
probably one of the few standouts for being really dry
(14:31):
and widespread dryness across the planet as a whole. And
we've actually seen about eighty seven percent of the United
States experience abnormally dry conditions here in the month of November,
and that is the highest number on record since such
records began back in the year two thousands. So you've
(14:51):
certainly felt that in New England, but it's been widespread
across the United States, kind of bucking that trend toward
internationally conditions that are actually very wet.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Okay, So what normally would be the if the figure
is eighty seven percent dry, I'm assuming that we're never
one hundred percent perfect normally in a normal November, what
would that figure.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
Be if you know, yeah, looking back, I mean it
ebbs and flows, but I mean I look back to
you know, say, November of twenty twenty three, and you know,
you'd be looking at conditions that are more you know,
closer to fifty percent sixty percent kind of in that ballpark.
So to have you know eighty seven percent. That that's
a record for all months, not just November. That's the
(15:35):
highest number that that that drought index has seen, so
it is it is pretty pretty pretty notable, I'd say
from a record keeping perspective.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Notable and obviously very anomalous, which which is another concern.
But at the end of the year, will it kind
of even out? I know, we had a fairly wet
spring of at least here in New England, and my
focus is on New England obviously, is it going to
even out by the end of the year. We have
some rain coming in here according to our weather forecasters,
(16:07):
fairly significant rain Wednesday into Thursday, maybe even into Friday.
I'm sure you probably gave a peek at the forecast.
Will it? Will it? You know, will it? Do you
think even out towards the end of the year, maybe
get us close to normality or are we looking at
something that that's really going to be a problem that
(16:27):
you think is going to continue going forward?
Speaker 5 (16:32):
Yeah, I mean, we've seen deficits across Massachusetts as high
as eight or more inches across parts of the state.
I mean, I'm looking on the eastern flank of the
state toward the cape, I mean places there eight to
ten plus inches in deficit, and then out towards the
Berkshires as well, eight to ten inches in deficits. So
these are these are pretty significant rainfall deficits. When you're
(16:53):
talking about you know, a magnitude of that high, that's
two to three, you know, months worth of rain that
you're you're needing to kind of make up. Now, you know,
you do have that rain event coming in on Thursday,
and that looks to bring maybe about an inch of
rain give or take to the state. You know, some
areas higher, some areas maybe a little bit lower. You know,
that'll help. But you know, when you're talking about deficits
(17:16):
that are you know, eight to ten times that amount,
it's going to take some time. So you know, I
think at this point we are seeing that pattern of
dryness start to ease back a little bit. That's the
good news. And I suspect there will be some more
storm systems to come as we enter December that will
bring some beneficial rain. But what you don't want is
a whole heap or rain in a short period of time.
(17:38):
You know, we all love pumpkin pion Thanksgiving, but you
eat too much of it. You know, you come away
with a stomach ache the next morning. Same ghoast for rain.
You don't want too much rain in one big storm
because that'll lead to flooding and the opposite problem. So
we want kind of gentler, sustained rainfall that's going to
bring you back. And we'll make a stride in that
direction here on Thursday, but indeed we will, we will
(17:59):
definitely need more to break through this drought.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Well, Ben, it was a pleasure to talk to you.
Learned a lot. I really mean that. Honestly, you seem
like a rock solid guy. The Washington Post love to
use you more often, particularly when you get back here
to the East coast of America. We could check in
with you sometime. How soon will you be back? Will you,
you know, take up residents in the DC area?
Speaker 5 (18:26):
Yeah, so, as you can imagine, it's a quite a journey,
and it's quite a process, so, you know, selling a house, relocating,
getting you know, my feet on the ground there probably
next year, twenty twenty five is what I'm aiming for.
But it was great to be on with you tonight, Dan,
And yeah, I look forward to touching base in the
future and hoping for an easy transition into winter and
(18:46):
exactly the right amount of rain for your listeners there
in the Boston area.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Ben no of the Washington Post meteorologists of the Washington Post,
thanks very much. I appreciate your time and hope you
have a great Thanksgiving. I don't know if they celebrate
Thanksgiving down in New Zealand, but maybe you'll find some
Americans to celebrate it with.
Speaker 5 (19:02):
Okay, thanks Dan, I'll be heading to Taco bell as
all Americans do here in New Zealand on that big day.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
It's the tradition Thanksgiving then. Okay, I think the Pilgrims
did that too. Actually, hey, Ben, thanks very much. Talk
to you soon. Yeah, okay, we're going to thanks thanks Ben,
Ben Knowell of the Washington Post in New Zealand. And
now after the news at the bottom of the hour,
we're going to talk about the fact that eighty million
(19:30):
Americans we'll be traveling over this Thanksgiving holiday, which of
course is now a little more than a week away.
Jillian Young, director of public relations for tripa A Northeast,
will be with us. We'll talk with her, and later
on during this hour we'll talk about World Aid's Day
coming up on December first, my name is Dan Ray.
Listen to WBZ Boston's News Radio ten thirty on your
(19:51):
AM dial, and of course you also more than welcome
to download the iHeart Radio app. Just go to your
app store and get the iHeart Radio app and you
can listen to WBZ and iHeart stations across the country
three hundred and sixty five days a day a year
and twenty four seven Back on Nightside right after the
news at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
You're on night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's
News Radio.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
All right, welcome back everyone. Well, of course, as I
think all of us know, one of the busiest travel
days of any year, and maybe this one is going
to be Thanksgiving with us is Julian Young, director of
public relations for TRIPAA Northeast. Julian, the figure is eighty
million Americans expected to travel over Thanksgiving. What do they
(20:41):
mean by that? Not eighty million Americans on airplanes? What
is the is it if you travel more than fifty
miles you get counted into this number of eighty million.
Speaker 7 (20:51):
It's a great question, Dan, so yes, the projection of
nearly eighty million travelers. Is anyone who is heading fifty
miles or more from their homes over the Thanksgiving qualiday period.
So those are folks who are traveling by car, some
are going to travel by air, and then we're also
factoring other forms of transportation like trains, buses, and even crewies.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Okay, now, how does that breakdown? I know that one
of the things you always hear is that the Wednesday
before Thanksgiving is our busiest travel day of the year
or something like that. How does this break down? Does
does it count like eighty million people go somewhere and
then the same eighty million people come back or is
(21:35):
it forty million people go and then forty million trips back.
I always get confused by that number.
Speaker 7 (21:42):
So it's eighty million travelers total. So that's the total
number of people who are going to take trips. And
you mentioned Wednesday as the busiest day, and that is
certainly what we used to see. I think anyone who
has tried to get on the road the Wednesday before
Thanksgiving us in some pretty frustrating traffic. But what we've
(22:03):
seen over time, especially in the past few years coming
out of the pandemic, is that the traffic patterns and
the travel patterns have shifted a little bit, and we're
now looking at also the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and the
Monday after the holiday as among the busiest travel days
in that travel period.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
So that sounds to me like the Thanksgiving weekend, like
most of our wastelines on Thanksgiving, is it.
Speaker 7 (22:32):
Has expanded. Yeah, we've seen those. We've seen those travel
patterns expand over the last couple of years, partially because
people might have some more flexibility with work. They might
have the chance to travel on a Monday or Tuesday
and work remotely and not have to pack their travel
into that day before the holiday and the Sunday after
(22:52):
when it used to be that everyone was really traveling
on those days.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
How does this compare Obviously, in the last few years,
you know, with twenty and twenty one, the COVID pandemic
was at its height, and a lot of people stayed
close and there was probably less less big family dinners
and people were isolated and all of that, and then
the economy and COVID sort of has diminished. It's still there,
(23:18):
but it's diminished, and the travel picked up a little
bit in twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three. How
does this Thanksgiving compare to maybe the Thanksgiving before COVID,
which would have been Thanksgiving of twenty nineteen, because that
seems to me to be the only two recent Thanksgivings
(23:38):
that are comparable.
Speaker 7 (23:41):
Yeah, you're absolutely right, Dan, And when we look at
the projection for this year compared to twenty nineteen, that
last Thanksgiving before the pandemic hit, we're looking at a
projection of two million more travelers this year than in
twenty nineteen. So we are breaking that pre pandemic record
or expected to for this year. And it's an increase
(24:04):
of one point seven million people from last year, so
we're really on the up if you compare simply to
last year or to twenty nineteen pre pandemic.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
You know, that's kind of interesting because well, when you
think about it, our population as a country has I'm
sure grown substantially from twenty nineteen. That's five years. It
seems like every year when you hear the pop we
now have three hundred and twenty million. No, it's three
hundred and thirty million, And I kind of thought that
(24:37):
I'm surprised that it was that high back in twenty nineteen,
to be honest with you, I mean that's a pretty
significant number if it was seventy eight million back in
twenty eighteen and we've only grown two million over period
to five years.
Speaker 7 (24:50):
Yeah, that's a good point. You know, we haven't looked
at it against pop like greater population trends, but you've
sparked an idea, and I think now we might have
and make that comparison to see how those patterns align
or don't align. But what we've seen over the years
is that Thanksgiving has really always been the busiest holiday
(25:13):
for travel, and we've just seen travel demand really continue
to store post pandemic, and Thanksgiving is one of those
holidays where folks are looking to reconnect with family and friends,
maybe take a fun trip to a new destination, maybe
do both. And He've got a mix of those kind
of traditional road trips to family that we might think
of when we think of Thanksgiving, and also some folks
who are headed to a warmer destination and getting out
(25:35):
of dodge just as things get a little chilly around here.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Well, it's interesting, and I'm always trying to figure this
stuff out, but Thanksgiving is on the calendar perfectly situated
in that most parts of the country are not going
to be impacted by a big weather event, whereas a
Christmas our New Year's you can almost count and there'll
be some parts of the country which will a big
(25:59):
one the events. So therefore no one has deterred from
making plans. And as you said, Thanksgiving is a lot
simpler than Christmas. You get in the car and you go,
you know, over the river and through the woods to
grandma's house. Uh and and connect with your high school
buddies or your high school gal pals, and you can
do all you know it's and of course family is
(26:21):
going to want to bring the kids back to see
the grandparents. It just seems to me that Thanksgiving, which
is such a great holiday, no pressure about give, gift
giving or anything like that. Fun family food, football, It's
all good. You know, throw a couple of extra bottles
of wine in the car so that you get an invitation,
last minute invitation. Always bring a bottle of wine. You
(26:43):
don't have to do a whole lot. I mean, what's
there not to like about Thanksgiving?
Speaker 7 (26:49):
You're so right, it really is the quintessential travel holiday.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Yeah, well, look, I know you folks are going to
be keeping up with it. Jillian triple A does a
great job. I'm a member of Triple A. I pay
my dues every year, and I want you to know
that Triple A has bailed me out on several occasions
with a dead battery or a flat tire. So's it's
one organization I'm very proud to be a part of
and I feel that I get my money's worth. And
(27:16):
I advise anyone to consider becoming a member of Triple A.
And that's a that's an unpaid promotional announcement. That's one
that I truly do believe it. I mean that seriously.
Speaker 7 (27:27):
Well, thank you so much for saying that, and I'm
so glad that we have been able to help you
in those times when you need it. That is certainly
one of the great benefits of Triple A membership. I've
been I've been helped myself.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Yeah. No. And they'll they'll almost tell you if they
say that someone's twenty minutes away, you can take that
to the bank. If they tell you it's really busy
and it's going to be two hours, you can take
that to the bank as well. But they do not
they do not over promise. They promise accurately and they
(28:01):
deliver so anyway, I just wanted to say that I
haven't never had a chance to mention that on the air,
but it's a I think it's a wise It's one
of the probably the wisest membership that I've been involved in.
So thank you very much. We talking again. Happy Thanksgiving, Jillian.
Speaker 7 (28:17):
Happy Thanksgiving to you, Dan. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
All right, we come back on to talk about another
subject which was a huge news story in the nineteen eighties,
a's and thank god, thank goodness that even though World
Age Day will come up again on December first every year,
it seems that the AIDE story about the number of
people impacted, et cetera, is heading in the right direction.
(28:41):
Let's put it like that. I be talking with Jeremy Shaefer,
registered nurse with outer Cape Health Services, right after this
break on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
On December first, the world will recognize once again World
Age Day with us as Jeffrey Schaeffer. He's a registered
nurse with out a Cape Health Services. Jeffrey, in all
the big stories of recent years, have people started to
forget about AIDS?
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Thanks for having me, Dan, I think that I think
that it's probably a good thing that it is not
on the forefront of news, and that means that it's
not what it.
Speaker 4 (29:29):
Was in the eighties and nineties.
Speaker 6 (29:31):
So I think I think it's tempered with a little
bit of good news. That it might not be getting
the attention, but it's not quite the threat that it
was back then.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Okay, so let's talk. Let's just bring people up to
date here. I assume that you know a lot more
about this than I do, So I'm gonna ask some questions.
It might be dumb questions, but feel free to tell
me that questions or answer whatever that is. Is age
age as prevalent today amongst you know, we'll just talk
(30:09):
to the American public. We can talk worldwide, whatever way
you want to talk about it, and it might be different.
Is it as prevalent today as it was at its
height in the late eighties early nineties.
Speaker 6 (30:22):
No, And I mean I'm going to go geographically. You know,
there are different places, but there's a lot more in
our toolbox now than there was back then. And so
back then we only had abstinence either from whatever puts
you at.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Risk or.
Speaker 6 (30:44):
Also and condoms, you know, and now we have things like,
you know, like we test the blood, you know, so
if you're you know, feliac, you know you're not going
to get it from the blood supply. You There are
treat Also, if you're HIV positive and you're on treatment
(31:08):
and you get down to undetectable, then you cannot transmit it, uh,
sexually to another human being, so you're not at risk
of transmitting it. And then there are other biomedical interventions
either post or pre exposure, you know, to prevent transmission.
So there's a lot more in our toolbox uh than
(31:30):
there was back then.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
Okay, so it's interesting the term undetectable. Does that mean that? Well,
let me phrase the question this way. Obviously there's been
a lot of people are much more careful who, you know,
engage in certain sexual activities. I suspect because obviously when
(31:55):
AIDS came, no one knew what it was, no one
knew where it came from, and people were in a
total panic. Okay, so the situation age is much more
controlled at this point. Undetectability could that could could that
uh sort of provide a resurgence that if people think
(32:16):
that's undetectable and you can't transmit it. Therefore, maybe people
allow their guards to drop down. Is there is there
any potential downside to that in a longer.
Speaker 4 (32:28):
In in the long run, well, it's an interesting question.
Speaker 6 (32:32):
I don't know if there's a downside to not getting
h I V. I think that if what I'm.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
Saying is that if you if you're undetectable and therefore
you become you know, more active, does that put you know,
you know, does that put you again you're in a
comfort zone, more of a comfortable set of circumstances. That
that does that put you at at a at a
risk of being reattected.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
Is what I was trying to get at.
Speaker 6 (33:04):
No, if you're undetectable, you still have it. And so
there and so in the what they call reservoirs, which
are you know, basically in the DNA of some of
the white blood cells, is still the code for HID.
But if you stop taking your medication, it starts replicating again,
and so you do get the virus, and so that
(33:27):
what that does, that keeps it at bay and so
you you know, if you have a house full of zombies,
you know, and then you've got locks on the house.
If you take those locks away.
Speaker 4 (33:42):
And they get out, you know, like there's more.
Speaker 6 (33:44):
But if you get it back in there, they're still
in there, you know, and they're still ris But what
what it's doing for you? Let's so being undetectable as
advantage in two different ways. One of them for the
person who's living with HIV is that it your body
(34:04):
is not constantly fighting the virus and so there's less inflammation.
There's less things that cause you to get other comorbidities
or other things that might lead to AIDS and being
sick and getting opportunistic infections if you are. The benefit
to others is that it's one of the methods of
(34:26):
prevention is called treatment is prevention, meaning that the more
people that are on treatment and are undetectable, the less
chance it is of spreading. And so kind of like
you know, if you have herpies and you're taking valve cyclopear,
you know, it keeps it depressed so that you know,
if you don't get an outbreak and you don't transmit
(34:48):
it leads.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
How long has undetectability been possible? Is that a relatively
recent breakthrough?
Speaker 6 (35:02):
I think the I don't know exactly it was coined,
but more and more studies have shown that it's probably
been more than ten years that we've known this, and
probably around the same time. I mean, I can't see exactly,
but I would say at least ten years or more
(35:23):
that we've known it for sure because we've done They've
done studies with couples who are monogamous and who one
is living with HIV but does not have a viral load.
The other person is not living with HIV and they're
not using barrier protection. There's been no transmissions. So that's
(35:47):
the way that they've proved it.
Speaker 4 (35:51):
And it is Yeah, is.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
There I only got a minute left, as they say
in anticipation of World Aid's Day. Yeah, is there? Is
there a hope that this virus can be isolated and eliminated?
Speaker 6 (36:06):
Uh, you know, they're always, you know, looking into different things.
It's a little bit more difficult than like, you know,
we've been able to cure HEC, but HIV is still
elusive because of where it's hidden in the reservoirs. But
I think that if enough people get you know, there's
so much stigma about having HIV that you know, it's
(36:29):
really important to you know, reduce the stigma about having
it because if you happen to have had, you know,
gotten it. It's important to get tested either through your
primary care it's part of primary care now, or at
a local testing resource, which you can get by just
doing HIV testing near me. You can find some confidential
(36:50):
places and there's even some over the counter things that
you can find, you know, so whatever, Well.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
A lot, a lot, a lot of progress in a
in a battle that now has been decades against AIDS,
AIDS HIV. Yeah, thanks very much Jeffrey for your time.
And what you do is do you want to is
there a point that you would reference somewhere that people
can get information easily just google it and I assume
at this point it's so much so.
Speaker 6 (37:15):
Yeah, you can. You can google HIV testing near me
out in Cape cod. You know, there's the program that
I run tests and treat runs out of our provincetown location,
and there's other Uh, if you googled HIV testing near me,
you're going to find some places that are near you
that can provide confidential testing. And and also yep, no.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Just saying thank you very much, Jeffrey. We're run up
against the nine o'clock news. Thank you for the work
you do and continued success.
Speaker 4 (37:45):
My friend, thanks for having me, Dan, You're very welcome.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
When we get back here on nice side, right after
nine o'clock news is going to be talking about the
possibility of offshore wind off the coast of New England,
and Dustin Delano of the New England fisher and Stewardship
Association is very much opposed. We'll talk with Dustin right
after the nine o'clock news on nightside
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!