July 31, 2025 • 39 mins
We kicked off the program with four news stories and guests on topics we thought you might like to learn more about!
In this episode we chatted with:
Emily Sweeney, Boston Globe Cold Case Files Reporter & Blotter Tales columnist, about the disappearance of Cathy Malcolmson in 1985.
Google Trends Expert Molly McHugh-Johnson about what topics fascinated Americans during the month of July!
Richard Johnson, Senior Fellow in the Tax and Income Supports Division at the Urban Institute, about why so many retirees are filing for Social Security benefits early?
ESPN broadcaster Sean McDonough about the upcoming Sean McDonough Celebrity Draw Party and Golf Classic to raise funds for research and treatment of cardiac amyloidosis, a rare and often fatal heart disease. The event honors his late father, legendary Boston Globe columnist Will McDonough, who died suddenly in 2003 from undiagnosed cardiac amyloidosis.
You can hear NightSide with Dan Rea, Live! Weeknights From 8PM-12AM on WBZ - Boston's News Radio.
In this episode we chatted with:
Emily Sweeney, Boston Globe Cold Case Files Reporter & Blotter Tales columnist, about the disappearance of Cathy Malcolmson in 1985.
Google Trends Expert Molly McHugh-Johnson about what topics fascinated Americans during the month of July!
Richard Johnson, Senior Fellow in the Tax and Income Supports Division at the Urban Institute, about why so many retirees are filing for Social Security benefits early?
ESPN broadcaster Sean McDonough about the upcoming Sean McDonough Celebrity Draw Party and Golf Classic to raise funds for research and treatment of cardiac amyloidosis, a rare and often fatal heart disease. The event honors his late father, legendary Boston Globe columnist Will McDonough, who died suddenly in 2003 from undiagnosed cardiac amyloidosis.
You can hear NightSide with Dan Rea, Live! Weeknights From 8PM-12AM on WBZ - Boston's News Radio.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's night Ray. I'm going in razy Boston's news radio Madison.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
That is some really good advice. I am not in
the building, as you know, and where I am it's
pretty dry. Let's put it like that. I am not
in the middle of these downpours. But Rob Brooks get
caught in a lot of traffic tonight and he still
made it in tonight. He was not in the midst
but he was in the aftermath of that crazy wild
(00:29):
police chase and shootout and shot fired everything that Madison
just informed you about. So we are ready to go.
My name is Dan Ray. I'm the host of Nightside.
I am indefatigable here every Monday through Friday night from
eight until midnight. And we will start off with four
great guests, a couple of whom are close friends of mine.
(00:50):
By the first and the fourth guest going to talk
with Sean McDonough about a big event this weekend in
honor of his late dad, the great sports writer for
the Boston Globe. And I'm going to talk first with
Emily Sweeney of the Boston Globe. She the Cold Case
(01:11):
Files reporter. She also is the columnist for Blaughtertails. She's
the columnists that we're going to talk about. It disappears
that I actually remember, Emily the disappearance of Kathy Malcolmson
back in nineteen eighty five. I mean, we're coming up
now on what is that the fortieth anniversary of the
disappearance of what was then a sixteen year old child,
(01:34):
young girl?
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Yeah, so whoa it forty years I know it's had
to believe, But it was August thirteenth, nineteen eighty five, Dan,
that Kathy went missing and still.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
You know, no trace of her husband.
Speaker 5 (01:49):
Sound they did.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Find her bicycle. She was working. I refreshed my recollection
a little bit in Rediopece. She was working as a
sixteen year old in those days at a grocery store.
I guess she had had lunch with her dad in
the backyard, very uneventual day, and she rode off in
a bike which would have been a short three and
(02:11):
a half mile jaunt and never got to work. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
Yeah, So she left their home and still it was,
you know, sunny Tuesday afternoon. She left to go to
work at the IgA that was over in Hudson at
the time, and you know, she hopped on her bike
and was never seen alive again by her family.
Speaker 6 (02:32):
She never made.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
It to work. It was about eighteen months later, and
you're right, like, you know, they did find a bicycle.
It was over in Hudson on Route sixty two, which
would have been the route that she would have taken
on her bike, and it was a little banged up,
but it was her. They identified it as her bicycle.
And to this day, you know, again she hasn't been found,
(02:56):
and you know, police are holding out hope that maybe
somebody know something. You know, what were kids to disappear
like that?
Speaker 2 (03:03):
What was the status emily of DNA technology? Obviously the
family I'm sure confirmed and corroborated it was her bike.
Uh In the article that you wrote, I guess one
of the tires was walked, was warped. Do you think
it's possible that someone hit her by mistake and they
totally panicked and they decided to abscond with her body
(03:27):
and dispose of it somewhere.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
Are being kidnapped, It's a possibility, you know, Dan. When
I first hearned about, you know, the bike being found,
my first thought was, you know, maybe somebody even hit
her on purpose, you know, if somebody was looking to
take somebody off the street like that. It's you know,
they formed a task force last year but Still police
(03:52):
departments and to look at the case file and all
the evidence, what little evidence they have in this case.
They called in investigators were assigned to the case when
it happened back in the eighties. They were looking at
everything just to see, you know, you know, any technological advances,
they test something from the bike, anything at all. And
(04:13):
they do have a tip line set up and they're
still actively looking for tips. And you know, I just
encourage anybody you know to, you know, if you have
any information or maybe you heard of something, anything at all,
to contact the Still police departments because they're still actively
investigating this, if you know.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
And again, I know sometimes I ask questions. We don't
script these interviews in advance. Is her mom or dad?
I mean I assume that they must be well into
this seventies at this point, she would be forty six.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
Yeah, yeah, so, I mean this happened forty years ago.
For the article that I wrote, you know, I talked
to her cousin, you know, and you know obviously that
her disappearance changed the family forever, you know, and I
was really happy that you know, he was willing to
talk to me, and she had so many photos of
(05:08):
her and you know that we have up on the
Globe website with her story and again, you know, just
trying to spread the word for the family. You know,
all these years have gone by, you know.
Speaker 5 (05:19):
What I mean, And I mean it has to leave
a whole a seat at the dinner table, the Thanksgiving table,
holiday tables.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
What I don't understand that I've said this to you before,
that if some person was deranged, and I guess there
was a potentially even a connection with another case over
in Whaleen. We'll mention that in a second. But I
still don't understand what people can be in their deathbed
and you think they would call someone and say, look,
you know, I got to get this off my conscience,
(05:53):
get it off my mind, I did this whatever. But
people take this stuff to their grave.
Speaker 7 (06:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
Yeah, it's scary, you know, and it's just and there's
so many cases like this. You know, you mentioned you know,
I think you were alluding to Sarah Pryor. Sure everybody
remembers her name coming up. You know, it was not
long after Cathy disappeared. Is that Sarah Pryor disappeared. And
that was in October of nineteen eighty five, and she
(06:24):
went for a walk from her home in Whaland and
was never seen again. And she was only nine years.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Old, was she was? She got on the bike as well.
I for some reason remember that case, the Sarah prior cases,
she was on a bike as well.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
You know, I have in my notes here that she
went for a walk. But you know, I'm not sure.
I'm I'm going to look into that.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yeah, that's big enough, that would be a commonality. But
maybe I was. I'm mixing mixing it up. Boy, I'll
tell you you're doing great work. If folks want to
follow you, what is the best way for them to
get really involved in some of this because people can
remember things, What was the best way that they that
they can follow you? Emily.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Yeah, we put out a newsletter. You can sign up
for it. It's Globe dot com slash Cold Case Files.
And and Dan, I got to say some of the
stories I've done. My next story is going to be
a big one because a former investigator has connected some
dots in some of the cases I've written about, and
I can't wait to tell you about it.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Yeah, we can't wait to hear. And I want to
emphasize that that would you sign up to the Globe,
You don't have to be a subscriber, and ASIG understand
that it's a it's a it's a free of charge email.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Yes, exactly, so you sign up if you haven't already.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
That's great. Emily, you do great work. You are you.
You're one of my heroes. And some of these were
gonna You're going to break.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Them, and that's hope.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Dan. You should get some awards for the work you've
done here. This is the sort of work that newspapers
are supposed to do. Follow up, follow up, follow up
on lead. It's great work, Emily.
Speaker 6 (08:07):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Dan, you bet you. We'll talk to you soon. Emily Sweeney,
Boston Globe, Cold Case Files reporter and Blodder Tails columnists.
She would have been a great detective too, but she's
doing detective work in her own right. And if any
of you remember this case, you can check it out.
And if anyone out there has a recollection of this case, look,
(08:33):
you know, sometimes the slightest thing that you might recall
can lead a good detective to a conclusion and an
arrest or or just a conclusion. Even if the person
who either kidnapped Kathy Malcolmson or or hit her while
(08:53):
she was on her bike, it would be some immense value,
immense value to her family. Anyway, when we get back,
we're going to talk about Google trends, and we have
a Google Trends expert. I think I'll just take a
minute to remind you that we have this very cool
way that you can become another part of the Nightside broadcast.
(09:17):
You become a part of the Nightside broadcast by listening,
by calling, but you now can utilize our new talkback
feature on the new and improved iHeartRadio app. All you
have to do is pull that down, put it on
your laptop, on your desktop, on your smart watch, on
your tablet, wherever you can put it, and make sure
(09:38):
that when you do it and you're listening to Nightside
Live on News Radio eight to midnight ninety two Friday,
there's a red microphone talkback button in the top right
corner of the app, and you can send us a
personalized audio message and we will play it back for
you during Nightside. I believe you can send it at
any time during the day when you're on the app.
(10:00):
It's that simple. Once again, hit the red microphone button
in the top right corner of the app while listening
to Nightside, or even when you're not listening, and send
us your audio message. It can be a compliment, we
take compliments, can be a criticism, it can be a
constructive criticism. Just remember keep it clean. Because this is
FCC monitored radio. My name's Dan Ray. This is Nightside.
(10:21):
I'm going to talk about Google search trends with Google
Search trends expert Molly McHugh Johnson. Coming right back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
All right, we are going back to the phones and
we're going to talk with a Google search trends expert,
Molly McHugh Johnson. Molly mchu Johnson, Welcome to WVZ, Welcome
to Nightside.
Speaker 7 (10:47):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
So you work for Google and your job is to
track trends. Is that the deal?
Speaker 7 (10:57):
Yes, that part of my job is working with the
search team to see what is trending, take a look
at it, and then if there's any interesting correlation or
kind of get an idea of what people are interested in.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Okay, now, since we're doing this, can you get our
interview posted on Google tomorrow so that people can hear
what you have to say.
Speaker 7 (11:23):
I you know, I bet it will end up on
YouTube somewhere, so I guess I can. I can assure
you it will be there.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Sure, Okay. So so some of the areas, some of
the trends and talking points, as I understand it, deal
with entertainment and culture. So I see what you've identified.
I'm not even sure what labor bus is plus and plus.
Speaker 7 (11:50):
Teaching you you are you are not the only one.
They are pronounced la boo boos and they are little
all plush key chains that kind of look like they
sort of remind me of furbies. Honestly, not to date myself,
but they are these little key chains. They're plush, and
people are super interested in them. California is actually the
(12:15):
top us date searching for plush keychains last months. And
then there are different kinds of plush chains that we're
seeing get really popular, and the number one kind is
the e walks one. But yeah, these plush keychains. It's
at a global all time high, which is really interesting.
It's not just national, it's everywhere in the world. People
(12:37):
are searching for this more than they ever have before.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Here's a dumb question, and I get paid a lot
of money to ask questions, both dumb and otherwise. Why
does that guy want a plush keychain in his pocket?
I have a key chain. Yeah, I have key in
my pocket. I have a key chain. And the keychain
is really really simple.
Speaker 7 (13:00):
It's it's the it's the minimalist. I can't even imagine.
I can't imagine either for too much of a practical purpose.
I think there's sort of a fashion statement, but I
they are also I am not of the labuobuo age.
I don't think. I think it's a different generation. But
(13:23):
I see people putting them on their on their genes,
and yeah, I think they're a little bit of a
fashion station.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Okay, I had a lot of laboo boos when I
was a kid, but generally I was from falling down
when I was trying to learn French and top search
term in July. This, this is kind of what surprised me.
Speaker 7 (13:44):
Oh sure, I think what you're talking about is coffee
and some of our or are you talking about the
gen z scare? I guess we could go either.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
No, no, I'm talking. I'm talking about it, says the
top search term in July was do I really need it?
Speaker 8 (14:00):
Oh?
Speaker 7 (14:00):
I see, yeah, I'm gifting ahead and letting you know
about some of the others, but I really stare.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Yeah, we could talk. I didn't know what that was either.
But so people are searching as opposed to searching for something,
This searching with the question and do I really need it?
Speaker 7 (14:19):
Right? And we think that this is probably related to
no by July, which is sort of this challenge of
like how long can you go without purchasing anything in July?
So it's sort of a financial fast scene. But we've
seen some other top trends kind of related to this
as well, where no Buy and then Project Pan, which
(14:41):
I hadn't heard of and found out that it's it's
it's about makeup products and it's you don't buy any
new makeup until you hit the bottom of that pan.
So I thought that was really interesting. And if you
are somebody who is trying to, you know, maybe save
a little bit of money, there's actually I have to
recommend it. It's this new feature where you can track prices,
(15:02):
you can Google shopping, but you put in how much
you want to pay for a certain item, and then
you don't have to look and tell that's happening. So
once the criteria is met, you'll get an email saying
that jacket is finally twenty dollars or whatever. I think
it's like going to help people not spend randomly.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
I could put in for example, I could put in
Lamborghini and put down fifteen thousand.
Speaker 7 (15:24):
Dollars exactly, okay, And.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Then under odd news you have the gen z Stare.
We have an hour on this the other night, and
I think I understand what it is. But for those
who missed our show the other night, we did the
gen z Stare. Gen Z people born between nineteen ninety
six and twenty twelve, which essentially means right now they're
(15:51):
either teenagers are in their twenties. It's as simple as that,
and a lot of them give you, I guess the
gen z stare.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Right.
Speaker 7 (16:01):
So this is uh. It's the idea that people who
are in gen Z have a tendency to stare blankly
when you ask them a question. And I think some
of the ideas around this are oh, COVID and growing
up with phones and but yeah, the term gen z
scare is being searched at an all time high, more
than ever uh. And then some like maybe related trends
(16:25):
that we saw getting a lot of search traffic over
the past months were email etiquette and meeting etiquette. Those
were both searched more than ever before. And then we're
seeing people look for things like classes on meeting etiquette
and gen z etiquette. Coach was even a breakout there.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
That's good to hear. That's good to hear. And then
I'm finally under food coffee aesthetics. I have no idea
and fairly literate, fairly literate, I know what coffee is
and I know what aesthetics are. How does that work together?
Speaker 7 (16:56):
Coffee aesthetics, I mean, everybody loves the beautiful coffee. Think
of the things people post to social media, and coffee
aesthetic is definitely up there. But one of the top
search coffee with the word aesthetic searches was Latte book aesthetic,
So that I don't know if this is for sure
(17:16):
what it is, but it makes me think, are people
looking for like really beautiful books about coffee. But some
of the other searches around coffee really surprised me. The
one that just kind of blew my mind with that
search interest in coffee shop is at an all time high.
I kind of thought, maybe, you know, when we were
all working from home more or when there was like
(17:37):
a big push for coffee shop culture, it would have
been at a high. But no, it's right now, So
that's pretty surprising.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
You know, my coffee is that is basically are a
dunkin medium, five creams and three loves, three three splendors.
That's pretty simple.
Speaker 7 (17:53):
Maybe that looks a lot like a Vietnamese ice coffee
if I've heard it kind of like is an in
between medium color and was actually searched more than ever
before as well.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
So there's a lot of people in America who are
spending a lot of time searching on Google. Every time
I do this, I'm convinced. I'm convinced of that. Thanks
so much, Molly McHugh Johnson. How can folks get more
information from you if we have not totally fascinated them
already with the conversation here?
Speaker 7 (18:22):
Yes, visit trends dot Google dot com, and you can
find all sorts of things that are trending in a moment,
and you know that's refreshing all the time. So you
can learn something new.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Yeah, the only thing I was looking for today was
a number two uh starter for the Red Sox, and
I didn't get it with it at the trade deadline.
You probably have no idea what I'm talking about, but
everyone in my audience is a Red Sox fan knows
exactly what I was searching for today. Hey, thanks, thanks
so much.
Speaker 7 (18:49):
In the future, thank thank.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Thank you so much. All Right, we got the news
at the bottom of the hour, and we're going to
come back and we are going to talk about a
lot more people jumping on old security. And then later
I'm going to talk with great ESPN broadcaster, longtime broadcast
legendary here in Boston, Boston Globe columnist Will McDonough, who
(19:11):
passed away, and we're going to back in two thousand
and three, are going to talk with his great son,
the ESPN broadcaster Sean McDonough of this event, the Sean
McDonough's Celebrity Draw Party and Golf Classic coming up this
Sunday and Monday. We'll get to both of those topics
right after the news at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on w b Z,
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
All right, interesting trend. Richard Johnson, a senior fellow in
the Tax and Income Supports Division at the Urban Institute,
joins us. Welcome, Richard. How are you explaining to us
exactly what is the Urban Institute?
Speaker 6 (19:51):
So we are an economic and social policy research organization
in Washington, DC.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
All right, every research organization and policy they're all in Washington.
How welcome to night side. So you have spotted a
trend of more people claiming their Social Security benefits so
far this fiscal year. I guess it's the end of
(20:17):
fiscal year. Fiscal year twenty twenty five ended on Well,
I guess we're still in the federal fiscal year of
twenty twenty five. It doesn't end until September thirtieth.
Speaker 6 (20:29):
Correct, that's right.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Okay, Yeah, our fiscal er in Massachusetts end differently. Okay,
So a whole bunch more people, about thirteen percent more
a filing for SOB security benefits, and some of them
are filing early. What's the implication. I understand the implication,
But what is the implication from your perspective? What is
(20:50):
the cost? I want to remind people of It costs
you money to if you can file later in the
long run, it's better. But but you go ahead and
explain it in terms that you're comfortable with.
Speaker 6 (21:03):
Yeah, so you know, the full retirementated for Social Security
is sixty seven, so if you retire at that age,
you get one hundred percent of your benefits every month.
If you claim early, and you can claim as early
as sixty two, then you get reduced benefits every month
for the rest of your life. So if you can.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Also, if you wait until you're seventy, you actually can.
I believe you can increase your benefit.
Speaker 6 (21:30):
That's right. So you get an extra eight percent for
every year you delay beyond age sixty seven up to
age seventy, right.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
And you can do a calculation. You can do a
calculation and have a financial person do a calculation for you.
You know, if you need the money, obviously you know
take it at sixty seven. But if you're in a
position where you're still working and you're okay, you should
think about delaying until seventy. That's what I did, and
(21:57):
I think that that's a smart thing for some people
who like me is still talking on the radio or
whatever you happen to be doing. But the concern that
you folks have identified is that people were kind of
panicking this year, and they were they were grabbing social
security benefits as soon as they could or immediately after
(22:18):
some of the economic turmoil of early April.
Speaker 8 (22:23):
That's right.
Speaker 6 (22:24):
So you know, we saw a big increase in the
first six months of this year, and it seems to
be that people are just very concerned about first the
turmoil at SSA, the Social Scurity Administration in April, as
you said, but also concerns about the financial status of
social security, the financial problem the social security is having
(22:45):
concerned that if they wait, there may not be benefits
left for them to claim. I think that's a misplaced
that's a misplaced fear, but that seems to be with
serving this bag increase.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
I agree with you, Richard, and I'm so glad to
hear you say that because social security has become, i'm
a political issue, for better or worse. It's been a
political issue since I think nineteen sixty four when Barry
Goldwater was running for president, and I think that the
Democrats actually said, oh, if go Wa gets elected, you'll
lose your social Security, and a lot of people believe
(23:17):
that so security is there, it will be funded, it
would be political insanity for any political leader or political
party to say we're taking away so security. They may
move the retirement for full social security up a few
months here and a few months there over time because
(23:37):
people are living longer. But that program, you'll hear it's
funded through twenty thirty two, and immediately people think, well,
it's going to end in twenty thirty two. It won't.
It will be it will be funded along along the way.
And I feel badly if people make bad decisions, bad
(24:00):
personal decision What can we do to besides telling people
the truth about SOB security.
Speaker 6 (24:07):
Yeah, I mean, I think we need to highlight just
why that could be a bad decision for people that
you know, you might need that money, that those additional
benefits monthly payments when you're in your eighties and you
need long term care, or you have expensive health problems,
or you need a new roof. You know, you just
don't know. And and when people don't realize that decision
(24:31):
today is could haunt them for the rest of their
life because this is a permanent decision that you're making
to claim now pretty much permanent.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Well, I don't think you can change it once you start.
If you say I'm going to take so security at
sixty two. Now, if you really need it, you should
talk with your family. You should review your financial circumstances.
If you have the ability to have a financial advisor,
or if there's someone that advises your family, a lawyer,
(24:58):
talk to someone if you have a brother in law
who who happens to be a tax guy. I mean,
people reach out and uh and and talk to other
people and and don't just rely upon newspaper headlines or
or or our newspaper stories. Uh and now and now
it's even worse on the internet. I think that the
major newspapers tend to present things on the newspages fairy fairly, honestly.
(25:24):
But you can get lost on the internet. And uh,
I'm sure you've seen some of the things that that are.
They're just to scare people, and you have to worry
about scams. I mean, it's it's not easy.
Speaker 6 (25:36):
Yet old oh, I know, it's a lot of misinformation
out there, you know. I think it's iportant for people
to to write down a budget and to just see,
you know what the implications are of claiming early.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Yeah, uh, and do do the math. Just all you
need is are calculated. This is not uh, we're not
talking about trigonometry here or or or calculate. Basically, you
calculate with the calculator. You know how many years you
hope to live or you think you live, and think
(26:09):
about how long you know what your own situation is
and make the best decision for your own situation. Because
once you lock in, I think you're locked in for good.
I don't think you can go back after a couple
of years to say, you know what, I'm going to
stop receiving Social Security. I know I took it at
sixty two. I'll stop at sixty four because I'm now
(26:29):
working again, and I'll pick it up at something. I
don't think you.
Speaker 6 (26:32):
Can do that correct, Well, you actually can. They do
recalculate so to go back to work, and then you
make over a certain amount to social Security benefits are
automatically suspended. It looks like you're losing them, but then
they just recalculate it. So so there is that, But
you know, it's hard to go back to work. We
(26:53):
know that older people face a lot of age discrimination
out there when they're unemployed. It takes it much longer
to find a job. Younger people so you can't just
assume that, well, I'm just gonna take a break and
then get a nice job and you know sixty seven.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Well, thank you for that correction, and I do appreciate that.
But the idea is, when you make that decision, have
all the information in front of it, because it is
a lifelong decision for the for the most part, Richard,
how can folks you get in touch with the Urban
Institute if they would like to follow you or get
some information. I'm sure you have since your research organization.
(27:29):
I'm sure that you make information available to people free
of charge.
Speaker 6 (27:33):
Yeah. So R plus are available online at urban dot org.
That's U R at b A N dot org And
there's just a wealth of information.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
You know. Some of that is a great website urban
dot org. Five letters you are BA N dot og.
That's great, Richard, Thank you, thank you so much for
the information tonight, and hopefully some folks who might be
contemplating about getting the soci security because they're afraid it's
gonna it won't be there. It will be there. It
(28:03):
will be there, but take it when you need it,
take it when it is most advantageous to you, and
do that in consultation. If you can with a financial planner,
that would be my best advice. Richard, thank you so
much for your time tonight.
Speaker 6 (28:16):
Thanks so much having me.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
You're welcome. We get back on a talk with ESPN
broadcast of course for a long time. It's Red Sox
broadcaster Sean McDonough talking about the tournament this weekend, this
Golf Classic on Sunday and Monday, honoring his late dad,
Boston Globe sports columnist Will McDonough, who died from a
(28:38):
very I think we're maybe not so we're of an
undiagnosed cardiac set of circumstances. And we'll talk with Sean
McDonough about his dad's legacy and about this fundraiser that
Sean and his sister Aaron host every year. Called her
sister Aaron Hope that let me. It is in honor
(29:03):
of his dad, Will McDonough, but it's co hosted by
Sean and Erin Will's children, the Sean McDonald Celebrity Draw
Party in Golf Classic. We'll give you all that information
if you want to play a little bit of golf
on Monday. On Sunday and Monday, have we got a
deal for you? Coming back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
It's nice Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Well, I am delighted to welcome back to night Side
longtime broadcaster Sean McDonald. Hey, Shawn, welcome back to the show.
Speaker 8 (29:40):
Oh, thank you, Dan. Always a pleasure to be with you.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
You are still keeping busy. Give us just a quick
rundown of what you're doing for the next few months
or what you've done for the last few months. You're
a busy guy. Every time I turn on something. The
only thing I've never heard you broadcast actually like is
a poll ball championship.
Speaker 8 (30:01):
Well, thankfully, this is a little bit of my downtime
here in the summer. You know, I broadcast a couple
of Red Sox games on the radio this time of
the year, but for the most time, this is my downtime.
I'll get started back up on ESPN and ABC on
Labor Day weekend when college football starts up again and
go through the season, which takes us into January. We'll
(30:22):
start up with the National Hockey League in October. Those
two overlap for a while and then face them on
the road for about nine or ten months from the
start of the college football season until when the Stanley
Cup playoffs end usually in June.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Well, hopefully the Bruins will be there at some point
in the future, but we.
Speaker 8 (30:44):
Know they have a little work to do. They're kind
of in rebuild mode, but you know they're they're heading
back in the right direction.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Yeah, I want. I want to get Johnny Busick back
in the ice. Just put him in front of the
net and score a few goals, you know, Johnny.
Speaker 8 (30:56):
Nice to watch him play again. And Bobby or and
all the great from that era when we were kids,
no doubt.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
No doubt. So you and your sister Erin host every
year the annual Sean McDonough Celebrity Draw Party in Golf
Classic to raise funds in honor of your dad, Will McDonough.
So let's get the specifics. There's still some openings for
folks who would like to support the cause and play
(31:24):
some golf.
Speaker 8 (31:26):
Unfortunately, no, you know, we've been doing this now in
conjunction with the hospital, with bringing Me Women's Hospital since
twenty eighteen and really grateful to a loyal band of
supporters who come and participate every year, not just in
the golf and many of them come to the party
Sunday night. The golf is on Monday. Excuse me, so,
(31:47):
as you said, Dan, we started this in honor and
memory of my dad. He died twenty three years ago
now almost which is hard to believe, from a rare
disease called cardiac amyloidosis, and some of the foremost research
in the world is being done at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Been some really exciting advances here in the last seven
(32:09):
years or so since we've been doing that. You know,
we first started in twenty eighteen. There weren't any FDA
approved therapies for this, and now there are three, and
a lot of that is coming from the great work
that is being done at the Brigham with some brilliant doctors.
So it's really important to our family, you know. We
want to make sure that people don't go through what
we went through when we've lost my dad, and the
(32:30):
doctors are making great progress, but there's still more to do.
And answer your question, you know, if people do want
to contribute to participate, if they went to Sean McDonough
Golf Classic dot org, there are ways that people can
donate and get in touch with us and we'll put
them on the list for next year. We get some
spots but open up.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
Okay, so, but just for the fun of it, people
can be aware of it. Have you been at the
same course for every one of the events? So have
you moved around?
Speaker 8 (32:57):
Yeah, we played down at Boston Golf Club and hanging
them where. I'm greatly privileged to be a member. It's
just a wonderful place. I think it's one of the
best golf courses in America. And what makes it much
more special to me is the people. You know, a
lot of the people who play in this tournament are
already members, and now they're paying money to play it
a course they already belong to and paid money to joint.
(33:18):
So it's a wonderful place. It's the people who really
make it special, and it's a real drawing card for
the tournament. You know, we have a lot of the celebrities.
You know, Matt Ryan, the great quarterback. When he came
for the first time last year, he told me, you know,
I'm happy to support the cause, but I've always wanted
to play at Boston Golf Club.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
So you also have Charles Barkley playing. I know Barkley
loves to play golf.
Speaker 8 (33:42):
Loves to play golf, and he is such a wonderful guy.
Dan I mean obviously when he's at an event, when
he's in a room, he kind of captivates the room,
takes the whole thing over, and he does that every year.
You know, He's been incredibly loyal to this cause. When
he first came, he used to joke that he couldn't
even pronounce cardiac amaladosis, but he was happy to support it,
you know. And one of the reasons that we've been
(34:03):
able to raise so much money is because the people
like Charles I mean, one of the the last auction
it and that we do Sunday night, the night before
the tournament every year, is if you don't want us
to blind draw your celebrity out of the Will McDonald
Winners Cup, you can make the highest bid and you
can pick your celebrity, and we probably auction off six
(34:24):
or seven of the top celebrity. So when a guy
like Charles is there, people pay a lot of extra
money to play with him. You know. Last year we
raised almost eight hundred thousand dollars with this event, and
we're hoping to get back there again, if not even
surpass that.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Well, just hit a couple of more names so people
will get a sense in a flavor. But I know
you got the Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swainman.
Speaker 8 (34:48):
Yeah, Jeremy's coming for the first time, and that's great.
You know, he's such a great guy. You know, people
ask me all the time all you know, how do
you pick the celebrities, and really the most important thing.
You know, it's wonderful their big name celebrity, but we
want people to have a great experience playing golf with
them and you know, leave feeling like I just spent
five hours with a wonderful person. So they're all wonderful people.
(35:10):
You know. We have Bill Murray is coming back. He's
come almost every year. Joe Buck, the great Monday night
football announcer, the son of my one of my idols,
Jack Buck, who used to work with my dad, so
there's a great connection there. Johnny Wahlberg's been a great
supporter year in and year out. A lot of my
(35:30):
ESPN colleagues. This year, Tom Gladman, the great Hall of
Fame pitcher from Bill Rick who played Billanna Brace for
a long time. He's coming for the first time. We
have twenty five celebrities, and you know they're all nationally
known people who are wonderful at what they do, but
even better human beings.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
What a great event. Your dad would be so proud
of you. I mean, your dad was a legendary columnist.
He always said what he believed in and occasionally even
got into disagreement with I remember the Patriots player that
he had a little bit of a dust up with
in the locker room Raymond, Yes, yes, yes, and handled it,
(36:10):
handled himself. Yeah, very well, very well.
Speaker 8 (36:14):
He was a guy. And you know, and that's why
when if he was battling in this cardiac emmelitosis, we
didn't know Daniel. He knew he was having heart problems.
He was in and out of the hostel a couple
of times. They actually told him on the day he died,
January ninth, two thousand and three, after he distressed us
that they thought he was fine and he could resume
normal activity, and he went home and you know, dropped
(36:36):
dead that night. So it was the doctors who really
begged us to allow for an autopsy because they were
mystified and felt terrible and they wanted to figure it out.
It was only in the autopsy they discovered he had
cardiac ammelitosis, so it's uh, you know, rare. It's a
thickening of the heart muscle because of an abnormal build
up of protein. So it's very hard to diagnose, and
(36:57):
that is one of the areas that they've made. There
are great advances in recent years. It's it's easier to diagnose.
It's still not as easy as it should be. But
I appreciate you having us on a show with such
wide listenership because a lot of times people go to
the hospital they have cardiac amyloidosis and even the doctors
don't know what it is. You know, it's still relatively
(37:19):
new in terms of the awareness.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
So well all of us have at some point.
Speaker 8 (37:24):
You have to figure it out.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
Good medical care and you take a stress test and
you're told you're in good shape. See you a couple
of years from now. But you always wonder did they
catch everything? And I'm sure you're blessed with good doctors.
I'm blessed with good doctors, but not everybody has access
to great doctors. And they got to make sure that
if they don't feel right, they got to tell somebody,
(37:47):
and they because if you don't, if you if you
keep it to yourself. Sometimes it could be a fatal mistake.
Speaker 8 (37:54):
Literally, yeah, one hundred percent. And you know that's why,
you know, I think they are in the awareness of
this disease is important. So they used to say it
wasn't that common. Well, now they're discovering that it's more
common than they thought because they can diagnose it better
and they don't have to wait till someone dies and
does an autops. In many cases, that is an ALIS case, right.
(38:14):
You know, I'm so grateful to the doctors at the Brigham,
and people are coming from all over the world to
see them. There are a lot of wonderful success stories
and it's been really uplifting to our family to meet
these people and see the patients come back to the
event the next year looking healthier and feeling better than
they did the year before. And that's really largely because
(38:36):
of the work that's been done by doctor Rodney Fock
and his team at the Brigham. And it's been great
to be a small part of it.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
Well, if you're a big part of it, thanks so much, John,
and congratulations to your assist keeping Wills, your dad's legendary
name alive in basically trying to help out with a
difficult medical set of circumstances. Have fun Sunday, you will
and have a ball on Monday and hit him straight.
Speaker 8 (39:02):
Okay, Tank you Dan, really an honor to be on
your show. You're a legend in our business as a
person and as a broadcaster, and I really appreciate you
giving us.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
You're the legend. I'm just a guy doing a talk show.
Will rather Sean. Trust me, You're a nationally known and
you have always reflected such great honor on your family
and in our city. Thanks, thanks so much, Seawan. We
will talk soon. Okay, appreciate it.
Speaker 8 (39:26):
Thank you, Dan, very welcome.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
We got the nine o'clock news coming right at us.
We get back on the other side. We're going to
talk to a great doctor about cancers above the neckline,
where it's important
It's night Ray. I'm going in razy Boston's news radio Madison.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
That is some really good advice. I am not in
the building, as you know, and where I am it's
pretty dry. Let's put it like that. I am not
in the middle of these downpours. But Rob Brooks get
caught in a lot of traffic tonight and he still
made it in tonight. He was not in the midst
but he was in the aftermath of that crazy wild
(00:29):
police chase and shootout and shot fired everything that Madison
just informed you about. So we are ready to go.
My name is Dan Ray. I'm the host of Nightside.
I am indefatigable here every Monday through Friday night from
eight until midnight. And we will start off with four
great guests, a couple of whom are close friends of mine.
(00:50):
By the first and the fourth guest going to talk
with Sean McDonough about a big event this weekend in
honor of his late dad, the great sports writer for
the Boston Globe. And I'm going to talk first with
Emily Sweeney of the Boston Globe. She the Cold Case
(01:11):
Files reporter. She also is the columnist for Blaughtertails. She's
the columnists that we're going to talk about. It disappears
that I actually remember, Emily the disappearance of Kathy Malcolmson
back in nineteen eighty five. I mean, we're coming up
now on what is that the fortieth anniversary of the
disappearance of what was then a sixteen year old child,
(01:34):
young girl?
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Yeah, so whoa it forty years I know it's had
to believe, But it was August thirteenth, nineteen eighty five, Dan,
that Kathy went missing and still.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
You know, no trace of her husband.
Speaker 5 (01:49):
Sound they did.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Find her bicycle. She was working. I refreshed my recollection
a little bit in Rediopece. She was working as a
sixteen year old in those days at a grocery store.
I guess she had had lunch with her dad in
the backyard, very uneventual day, and she rode off in
a bike which would have been a short three and
(02:11):
a half mile jaunt and never got to work. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
Yeah, So she left their home and still it was,
you know, sunny Tuesday afternoon. She left to go to
work at the IgA that was over in Hudson at
the time, and you know, she hopped on her bike
and was never seen alive again by her family.
Speaker 6 (02:32):
She never made.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
It to work. It was about eighteen months later, and
you're right, like, you know, they did find a bicycle.
It was over in Hudson on Route sixty two, which
would have been the route that she would have taken
on her bike, and it was a little banged up,
but it was her. They identified it as her bicycle.
And to this day, you know, again she hasn't been found,
(02:56):
and you know, police are holding out hope that maybe
somebody know something. You know, what were kids to disappear
like that?
Speaker 2 (03:03):
What was the status emily of DNA technology? Obviously the
family I'm sure confirmed and corroborated it was her bike.
Uh In the article that you wrote, I guess one
of the tires was walked, was warped. Do you think
it's possible that someone hit her by mistake and they
totally panicked and they decided to abscond with her body
(03:27):
and dispose of it somewhere.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
Are being kidnapped, It's a possibility, you know, Dan. When
I first hearned about, you know, the bike being found,
my first thought was, you know, maybe somebody even hit
her on purpose, you know, if somebody was looking to
take somebody off the street like that. It's you know,
they formed a task force last year but Still police
(03:52):
departments and to look at the case file and all
the evidence, what little evidence they have in this case.
They called in investigators were assigned to the case when
it happened back in the eighties. They were looking at
everything just to see, you know, you know, any technological advances,
they test something from the bike, anything at all. And
(04:13):
they do have a tip line set up and they're
still actively looking for tips. And you know, I just
encourage anybody you know to, you know, if you have
any information or maybe you heard of something, anything at all,
to contact the Still police departments because they're still actively
investigating this, if you know.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
And again, I know sometimes I ask questions. We don't
script these interviews in advance. Is her mom or dad?
I mean I assume that they must be well into
this seventies at this point, she would be forty six.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
Yeah, yeah, so, I mean this happened forty years ago.
For the article that I wrote, you know, I talked
to her cousin, you know, and you know obviously that
her disappearance changed the family forever, you know, and I
was really happy that you know, he was willing to
talk to me, and she had so many photos of
(05:08):
her and you know that we have up on the
Globe website with her story and again, you know, just
trying to spread the word for the family. You know,
all these years have gone by, you know.
Speaker 5 (05:19):
What I mean, And I mean it has to leave
a whole a seat at the dinner table, the Thanksgiving table,
holiday tables.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
What I don't understand that I've said this to you before,
that if some person was deranged, and I guess there
was a potentially even a connection with another case over
in Whaleen. We'll mention that in a second. But I
still don't understand what people can be in their deathbed
and you think they would call someone and say, look,
you know, I got to get this off my conscience,
(05:53):
get it off my mind, I did this whatever. But
people take this stuff to their grave.
Speaker 7 (06:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
Yeah, it's scary, you know, and it's just and there's
so many cases like this. You know, you mentioned you know,
I think you were alluding to Sarah Pryor. Sure everybody
remembers her name coming up. You know, it was not
long after Cathy disappeared. Is that Sarah Pryor disappeared. And
that was in October of nineteen eighty five, and she
(06:24):
went for a walk from her home in Whaland and
was never seen again. And she was only nine years.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Old, was she was? She got on the bike as well.
I for some reason remember that case, the Sarah prior cases,
she was on a bike as well.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
You know, I have in my notes here that she
went for a walk. But you know, I'm not sure.
I'm I'm going to look into that.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yeah, that's big enough, that would be a commonality. But
maybe I was. I'm mixing mixing it up. Boy, I'll
tell you you're doing great work. If folks want to
follow you, what is the best way for them to
get really involved in some of this because people can
remember things, What was the best way that they that
they can follow you? Emily.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Yeah, we put out a newsletter. You can sign up
for it. It's Globe dot com slash Cold Case Files.
And and Dan, I got to say some of the
stories I've done. My next story is going to be
a big one because a former investigator has connected some
dots in some of the cases I've written about, and
I can't wait to tell you about it.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Yeah, we can't wait to hear. And I want to
emphasize that that would you sign up to the Globe,
You don't have to be a subscriber, and ASIG understand
that it's a it's a it's a free of charge email.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Yes, exactly, so you sign up if you haven't already.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
That's great. Emily, you do great work. You are you.
You're one of my heroes. And some of these were
gonna You're going to break.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Them, and that's hope.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Dan. You should get some awards for the work you've
done here. This is the sort of work that newspapers
are supposed to do. Follow up, follow up, follow up
on lead. It's great work, Emily.
Speaker 6 (08:07):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Dan, you bet you. We'll talk to you soon. Emily Sweeney,
Boston Globe, Cold Case Files reporter and Blodder Tails columnists.
She would have been a great detective too, but she's
doing detective work in her own right. And if any
of you remember this case, you can check it out.
And if anyone out there has a recollection of this case, look,
(08:33):
you know, sometimes the slightest thing that you might recall
can lead a good detective to a conclusion and an
arrest or or just a conclusion. Even if the person
who either kidnapped Kathy Malcolmson or or hit her while
(08:53):
she was on her bike, it would be some immense value,
immense value to her family. Anyway, when we get back,
we're going to talk about Google trends, and we have
a Google Trends expert. I think I'll just take a
minute to remind you that we have this very cool
way that you can become another part of the Nightside broadcast.
(09:17):
You become a part of the Nightside broadcast by listening,
by calling, but you now can utilize our new talkback
feature on the new and improved iHeartRadio app. All you
have to do is pull that down, put it on
your laptop, on your desktop, on your smart watch, on
your tablet, wherever you can put it, and make sure
(09:38):
that when you do it and you're listening to Nightside
Live on News Radio eight to midnight ninety two Friday,
there's a red microphone talkback button in the top right
corner of the app, and you can send us a
personalized audio message and we will play it back for
you during Nightside. I believe you can send it at
any time during the day when you're on the app.
(10:00):
It's that simple. Once again, hit the red microphone button
in the top right corner of the app while listening
to Nightside, or even when you're not listening, and send
us your audio message. It can be a compliment, we
take compliments, can be a criticism, it can be a
constructive criticism. Just remember keep it clean. Because this is
FCC monitored radio. My name's Dan Ray. This is Nightside.
(10:21):
I'm going to talk about Google search trends with Google
Search trends expert Molly McHugh Johnson. Coming right back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
All right, we are going back to the phones and
we're going to talk with a Google search trends expert,
Molly McHugh Johnson. Molly mchu Johnson, Welcome to WVZ, Welcome
to Nightside.
Speaker 7 (10:47):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
So you work for Google and your job is to
track trends. Is that the deal?
Speaker 7 (10:57):
Yes, that part of my job is working with the
search team to see what is trending, take a look
at it, and then if there's any interesting correlation or
kind of get an idea of what people are interested in.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Okay, now, since we're doing this, can you get our
interview posted on Google tomorrow so that people can hear
what you have to say.
Speaker 7 (11:23):
I you know, I bet it will end up on
YouTube somewhere, so I guess I can. I can assure
you it will be there.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Sure, Okay. So so some of the areas, some of
the trends and talking points, as I understand it, deal
with entertainment and culture. So I see what you've identified.
I'm not even sure what labor bus is plus and plus.
Speaker 7 (11:50):
Teaching you you are you are not the only one.
They are pronounced la boo boos and they are little
all plush key chains that kind of look like they
sort of remind me of furbies. Honestly, not to date myself,
but they are these little key chains. They're plush, and
people are super interested in them. California is actually the
(12:15):
top us date searching for plush keychains last months. And
then there are different kinds of plush chains that we're
seeing get really popular, and the number one kind is
the e walks one. But yeah, these plush keychains. It's
at a global all time high, which is really interesting.
It's not just national, it's everywhere in the world. People
(12:37):
are searching for this more than they ever have before.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Here's a dumb question, and I get paid a lot
of money to ask questions, both dumb and otherwise. Why
does that guy want a plush keychain in his pocket?
I have a key chain. Yeah, I have key in
my pocket. I have a key chain. And the keychain
is really really simple.
Speaker 7 (13:00):
It's it's the it's the minimalist. I can't even imagine.
I can't imagine either for too much of a practical purpose.
I think there's sort of a fashion statement, but I
they are also I am not of the labuobuo age.
I don't think. I think it's a different generation. But
(13:23):
I see people putting them on their on their genes,
and yeah, I think they're a little bit of a
fashion station.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Okay, I had a lot of laboo boos when I
was a kid, but generally I was from falling down
when I was trying to learn French and top search
term in July. This, this is kind of what surprised me.
Speaker 7 (13:44):
Oh sure, I think what you're talking about is coffee
and some of our or are you talking about the
gen z scare? I guess we could go either.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
No, no, I'm talking. I'm talking about it, says the
top search term in July was do I really need it?
Speaker 8 (14:00):
Oh?
Speaker 7 (14:00):
I see, yeah, I'm gifting ahead and letting you know
about some of the others, but I really stare.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Yeah, we could talk. I didn't know what that was either.
But so people are searching as opposed to searching for something,
This searching with the question and do I really need it?
Speaker 7 (14:19):
Right? And we think that this is probably related to
no by July, which is sort of this challenge of
like how long can you go without purchasing anything in July?
So it's sort of a financial fast scene. But we've
seen some other top trends kind of related to this
as well, where no Buy and then Project Pan, which
(14:41):
I hadn't heard of and found out that it's it's
it's about makeup products and it's you don't buy any
new makeup until you hit the bottom of that pan.
So I thought that was really interesting. And if you
are somebody who is trying to, you know, maybe save
a little bit of money, there's actually I have to
recommend it. It's this new feature where you can track prices,
(15:02):
you can Google shopping, but you put in how much
you want to pay for a certain item, and then
you don't have to look and tell that's happening. So
once the criteria is met, you'll get an email saying
that jacket is finally twenty dollars or whatever. I think
it's like going to help people not spend randomly.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
I could put in for example, I could put in
Lamborghini and put down fifteen thousand.
Speaker 7 (15:24):
Dollars exactly, okay, And.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Then under odd news you have the gen z Stare.
We have an hour on this the other night, and
I think I understand what it is. But for those
who missed our show the other night, we did the
gen z Stare. Gen Z people born between nineteen ninety
six and twenty twelve, which essentially means right now they're
(15:51):
either teenagers are in their twenties. It's as simple as that,
and a lot of them give you, I guess the
gen z stare.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Right.
Speaker 7 (16:01):
So this is uh. It's the idea that people who
are in gen Z have a tendency to stare blankly
when you ask them a question. And I think some
of the ideas around this are oh, COVID and growing
up with phones and but yeah, the term gen z
scare is being searched at an all time high, more
than ever uh. And then some like maybe related trends
(16:25):
that we saw getting a lot of search traffic over
the past months were email etiquette and meeting etiquette. Those
were both searched more than ever before. And then we're
seeing people look for things like classes on meeting etiquette
and gen z etiquette. Coach was even a breakout there.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
That's good to hear. That's good to hear. And then
I'm finally under food coffee aesthetics. I have no idea
and fairly literate, fairly literate, I know what coffee is
and I know what aesthetics are. How does that work together?
Speaker 7 (16:56):
Coffee aesthetics, I mean, everybody loves the beautiful coffee. Think
of the things people post to social media, and coffee
aesthetic is definitely up there. But one of the top
search coffee with the word aesthetic searches was Latte book aesthetic,
So that I don't know if this is for sure
(17:16):
what it is, but it makes me think, are people
looking for like really beautiful books about coffee. But some
of the other searches around coffee really surprised me. The
one that just kind of blew my mind with that
search interest in coffee shop is at an all time high.
I kind of thought, maybe, you know, when we were
all working from home more or when there was like
(17:37):
a big push for coffee shop culture, it would have
been at a high. But no, it's right now, So
that's pretty surprising.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
You know, my coffee is that is basically are a
dunkin medium, five creams and three loves, three three splendors.
That's pretty simple.
Speaker 7 (17:53):
Maybe that looks a lot like a Vietnamese ice coffee
if I've heard it kind of like is an in
between medium color and was actually searched more than ever
before as well.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
So there's a lot of people in America who are
spending a lot of time searching on Google. Every time
I do this, I'm convinced. I'm convinced of that. Thanks
so much, Molly McHugh Johnson. How can folks get more
information from you if we have not totally fascinated them
already with the conversation here?
Speaker 7 (18:22):
Yes, visit trends dot Google dot com, and you can
find all sorts of things that are trending in a moment,
and you know that's refreshing all the time. So you
can learn something new.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Yeah, the only thing I was looking for today was
a number two uh starter for the Red Sox, and
I didn't get it with it at the trade deadline.
You probably have no idea what I'm talking about, but
everyone in my audience is a Red Sox fan knows
exactly what I was searching for today. Hey, thanks, thanks
so much.
Speaker 7 (18:49):
In the future, thank thank.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Thank you so much. All Right, we got the news
at the bottom of the hour, and we're going to
come back and we are going to talk about a
lot more people jumping on old security. And then later
I'm going to talk with great ESPN broadcaster, longtime broadcast
legendary here in Boston, Boston Globe columnist Will McDonough, who
(19:11):
passed away, and we're going to back in two thousand
and three, are going to talk with his great son,
the ESPN broadcaster Sean McDonough of this event, the Sean
McDonough's Celebrity Draw Party and Golf Classic coming up this
Sunday and Monday. We'll get to both of those topics
right after the news at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on w b Z,
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
All right, interesting trend. Richard Johnson, a senior fellow in
the Tax and Income Supports Division at the Urban Institute,
joins us. Welcome, Richard. How are you explaining to us
exactly what is the Urban Institute?
Speaker 6 (19:51):
So we are an economic and social policy research organization
in Washington, DC.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
All right, every research organization and policy they're all in Washington.
How welcome to night side. So you have spotted a
trend of more people claiming their Social Security benefits so
far this fiscal year. I guess it's the end of
(20:17):
fiscal year. Fiscal year twenty twenty five ended on Well,
I guess we're still in the federal fiscal year of
twenty twenty five. It doesn't end until September thirtieth.
Speaker 6 (20:29):
Correct, that's right.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Okay, Yeah, our fiscal er in Massachusetts end differently. Okay,
So a whole bunch more people, about thirteen percent more
a filing for SOB security benefits, and some of them
are filing early. What's the implication. I understand the implication,
But what is the implication from your perspective? What is
(20:50):
the cost? I want to remind people of It costs
you money to if you can file later in the
long run, it's better. But but you go ahead and
explain it in terms that you're comfortable with.
Speaker 6 (21:03):
Yeah, so you know, the full retirementated for Social Security
is sixty seven, so if you retire at that age,
you get one hundred percent of your benefits every month.
If you claim early, and you can claim as early
as sixty two, then you get reduced benefits every month
for the rest of your life. So if you can.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Also, if you wait until you're seventy, you actually can.
I believe you can increase your benefit.
Speaker 6 (21:30):
That's right. So you get an extra eight percent for
every year you delay beyond age sixty seven up to
age seventy, right.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
And you can do a calculation. You can do a
calculation and have a financial person do a calculation for you.
You know, if you need the money, obviously you know
take it at sixty seven. But if you're in a
position where you're still working and you're okay, you should
think about delaying until seventy. That's what I did, and
(21:57):
I think that that's a smart thing for some people
who like me is still talking on the radio or
whatever you happen to be doing. But the concern that
you folks have identified is that people were kind of
panicking this year, and they were they were grabbing social
security benefits as soon as they could or immediately after
(22:18):
some of the economic turmoil of early April.
Speaker 8 (22:23):
That's right.
Speaker 6 (22:24):
So you know, we saw a big increase in the
first six months of this year, and it seems to
be that people are just very concerned about first the
turmoil at SSA, the Social Scurity Administration in April, as
you said, but also concerns about the financial status of
social security, the financial problem the social security is having
(22:45):
concerned that if they wait, there may not be benefits
left for them to claim. I think that's a misplaced
that's a misplaced fear, but that seems to be with
serving this bag increase.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
I agree with you, Richard, and I'm so glad to
hear you say that because social security has become, i'm
a political issue, for better or worse. It's been a
political issue since I think nineteen sixty four when Barry
Goldwater was running for president, and I think that the
Democrats actually said, oh, if go Wa gets elected, you'll
lose your social Security, and a lot of people believe
(23:17):
that so security is there, it will be funded, it
would be political insanity for any political leader or political
party to say we're taking away so security. They may
move the retirement for full social security up a few
months here and a few months there over time because
(23:37):
people are living longer. But that program, you'll hear it's
funded through twenty thirty two, and immediately people think, well,
it's going to end in twenty thirty two. It won't.
It will be it will be funded along along the way.
And I feel badly if people make bad decisions, bad
(24:00):
personal decision What can we do to besides telling people
the truth about SOB security.
Speaker 6 (24:07):
Yeah, I mean, I think we need to highlight just
why that could be a bad decision for people that
you know, you might need that money, that those additional
benefits monthly payments when you're in your eighties and you
need long term care, or you have expensive health problems,
or you need a new roof. You know, you just
don't know. And and when people don't realize that decision
(24:31):
today is could haunt them for the rest of their
life because this is a permanent decision that you're making
to claim now pretty much permanent.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Well, I don't think you can change it once you start.
If you say I'm going to take so security at
sixty two. Now, if you really need it, you should
talk with your family. You should review your financial circumstances.
If you have the ability to have a financial advisor,
or if there's someone that advises your family, a lawyer,
(24:58):
talk to someone if you have a brother in law
who who happens to be a tax guy. I mean,
people reach out and uh and and talk to other
people and and don't just rely upon newspaper headlines or
or or our newspaper stories. Uh and now and now
it's even worse on the internet. I think that the
major newspapers tend to present things on the newspages fairy fairly, honestly.
(25:24):
But you can get lost on the internet. And uh,
I'm sure you've seen some of the things that that are.
They're just to scare people, and you have to worry
about scams. I mean, it's it's not easy.
Speaker 6 (25:36):
Yet old oh, I know, it's a lot of misinformation
out there, you know. I think it's iportant for people
to to write down a budget and to just see,
you know what the implications are of claiming early.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Yeah, uh, and do do the math. Just all you
need is are calculated. This is not uh, we're not
talking about trigonometry here or or or calculate. Basically, you
calculate with the calculator. You know how many years you
hope to live or you think you live, and think
(26:09):
about how long you know what your own situation is
and make the best decision for your own situation. Because
once you lock in, I think you're locked in for good.
I don't think you can go back after a couple
of years to say, you know what, I'm going to
stop receiving Social Security. I know I took it at
sixty two. I'll stop at sixty four because I'm now
(26:29):
working again, and I'll pick it up at something. I
don't think you.
Speaker 6 (26:32):
Can do that correct, Well, you actually can. They do
recalculate so to go back to work, and then you
make over a certain amount to social Security benefits are
automatically suspended. It looks like you're losing them, but then
they just recalculate it. So so there is that, But
you know, it's hard to go back to work. We
(26:53):
know that older people face a lot of age discrimination
out there when they're unemployed. It takes it much longer
to find a job. Younger people so you can't just
assume that, well, I'm just gonna take a break and
then get a nice job and you know sixty seven.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Well, thank you for that correction, and I do appreciate that.
But the idea is, when you make that decision, have
all the information in front of it, because it is
a lifelong decision for the for the most part, Richard,
how can folks you get in touch with the Urban
Institute if they would like to follow you or get
some information. I'm sure you have since your research organization.
(27:29):
I'm sure that you make information available to people free
of charge.
Speaker 6 (27:33):
Yeah. So R plus are available online at urban dot org.
That's U R at b A N dot org And
there's just a wealth of information.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
You know. Some of that is a great website urban
dot org. Five letters you are BA N dot og.
That's great, Richard, Thank you, thank you so much for
the information tonight, and hopefully some folks who might be
contemplating about getting the soci security because they're afraid it's
gonna it won't be there. It will be there. It
(28:03):
will be there, but take it when you need it,
take it when it is most advantageous to you, and
do that in consultation. If you can with a financial planner,
that would be my best advice. Richard, thank you so
much for your time tonight.
Speaker 6 (28:16):
Thanks so much having me.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
You're welcome. We get back on a talk with ESPN
broadcast of course for a long time. It's Red Sox
broadcaster Sean McDonough talking about the tournament this weekend, this
Golf Classic on Sunday and Monday, honoring his late dad,
Boston Globe sports columnist Will McDonough, who died from a
(28:38):
very I think we're maybe not so we're of an
undiagnosed cardiac set of circumstances. And we'll talk with Sean
McDonough about his dad's legacy and about this fundraiser that
Sean and his sister Aaron host every year. Called her
sister Aaron Hope that let me. It is in honor
(29:03):
of his dad, Will McDonough, but it's co hosted by
Sean and Erin Will's children, the Sean McDonald Celebrity Draw
Party in Golf Classic. We'll give you all that information
if you want to play a little bit of golf
on Monday. On Sunday and Monday, have we got a
deal for you? Coming back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
It's nice Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Well, I am delighted to welcome back to night Side
longtime broadcaster Sean McDonald. Hey, Shawn, welcome back to the show.
Speaker 8 (29:40):
Oh, thank you, Dan. Always a pleasure to be with you.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
You are still keeping busy. Give us just a quick
rundown of what you're doing for the next few months
or what you've done for the last few months. You're
a busy guy. Every time I turn on something. The
only thing I've never heard you broadcast actually like is
a poll ball championship.
Speaker 8 (30:01):
Well, thankfully, this is a little bit of my downtime
here in the summer. You know, I broadcast a couple
of Red Sox games on the radio this time of
the year, but for the most time, this is my downtime.
I'll get started back up on ESPN and ABC on
Labor Day weekend when college football starts up again and
go through the season, which takes us into January. We'll
(30:22):
start up with the National Hockey League in October. Those
two overlap for a while and then face them on
the road for about nine or ten months from the
start of the college football season until when the Stanley
Cup playoffs end usually in June.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Well, hopefully the Bruins will be there at some point
in the future, but we.
Speaker 8 (30:44):
Know they have a little work to do. They're kind
of in rebuild mode, but you know they're they're heading
back in the right direction.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Yeah, I want. I want to get Johnny Busick back
in the ice. Just put him in front of the
net and score a few goals, you know, Johnny.
Speaker 8 (30:56):
Nice to watch him play again. And Bobby or and
all the great from that era when we were kids,
no doubt.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
No doubt. So you and your sister Erin host every
year the annual Sean McDonough Celebrity Draw Party in Golf
Classic to raise funds in honor of your dad, Will McDonough.
So let's get the specifics. There's still some openings for
folks who would like to support the cause and play
(31:24):
some golf.
Speaker 8 (31:26):
Unfortunately, no, you know, we've been doing this now in
conjunction with the hospital, with bringing Me Women's Hospital since
twenty eighteen and really grateful to a loyal band of
supporters who come and participate every year, not just in
the golf and many of them come to the party
Sunday night. The golf is on Monday. Excuse me, so,
(31:47):
as you said, Dan, we started this in honor and
memory of my dad. He died twenty three years ago
now almost which is hard to believe, from a rare
disease called cardiac amyloidosis, and some of the foremost research
in the world is being done at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Been some really exciting advances here in the last seven
(32:09):
years or so since we've been doing that. You know,
we first started in twenty eighteen. There weren't any FDA
approved therapies for this, and now there are three, and
a lot of that is coming from the great work
that is being done at the Brigham with some brilliant doctors.
So it's really important to our family, you know. We
want to make sure that people don't go through what
we went through when we've lost my dad, and the
(32:30):
doctors are making great progress, but there's still more to do.
And answer your question, you know, if people do want
to contribute to participate, if they went to Sean McDonough
Golf Classic dot org, there are ways that people can
donate and get in touch with us and we'll put
them on the list for next year. We get some
spots but open up.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
Okay, so, but just for the fun of it, people
can be aware of it. Have you been at the
same course for every one of the events? So have
you moved around?
Speaker 8 (32:57):
Yeah, we played down at Boston Golf Club and hanging
them where. I'm greatly privileged to be a member. It's
just a wonderful place. I think it's one of the
best golf courses in America. And what makes it much
more special to me is the people. You know, a
lot of the people who play in this tournament are
already members, and now they're paying money to play it
a course they already belong to and paid money to joint.
(33:18):
So it's a wonderful place. It's the people who really
make it special, and it's a real drawing card for
the tournament. You know, we have a lot of the celebrities.
You know, Matt Ryan, the great quarterback. When he came
for the first time last year, he told me, you know,
I'm happy to support the cause, but I've always wanted
to play at Boston Golf Club.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
So you also have Charles Barkley playing. I know Barkley
loves to play golf.
Speaker 8 (33:42):
Loves to play golf, and he is such a wonderful guy.
Dan I mean obviously when he's at an event, when
he's in a room, he kind of captivates the room,
takes the whole thing over, and he does that every year.
You know, He's been incredibly loyal to this cause. When
he first came, he used to joke that he couldn't
even pronounce cardiac amaladosis, but he was happy to support it,
you know. And one of the reasons that we've been
(34:03):
able to raise so much money is because the people
like Charles I mean, one of the the last auction
it and that we do Sunday night, the night before
the tournament every year, is if you don't want us
to blind draw your celebrity out of the Will McDonald
Winners Cup, you can make the highest bid and you
can pick your celebrity, and we probably auction off six
(34:24):
or seven of the top celebrity. So when a guy
like Charles is there, people pay a lot of extra
money to play with him. You know. Last year we
raised almost eight hundred thousand dollars with this event, and
we're hoping to get back there again, if not even
surpass that.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Well, just hit a couple of more names so people
will get a sense in a flavor. But I know
you got the Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swainman.
Speaker 8 (34:48):
Yeah, Jeremy's coming for the first time, and that's great.
You know, he's such a great guy. You know, people
ask me all the time all you know, how do
you pick the celebrities, and really the most important thing.
You know, it's wonderful their big name celebrity, but we
want people to have a great experience playing golf with
them and you know, leave feeling like I just spent
five hours with a wonderful person. So they're all wonderful people.
(35:10):
You know. We have Bill Murray is coming back. He's
come almost every year. Joe Buck, the great Monday night
football announcer, the son of my one of my idols,
Jack Buck, who used to work with my dad, so
there's a great connection there. Johnny Wahlberg's been a great
supporter year in and year out. A lot of my
(35:30):
ESPN colleagues. This year, Tom Gladman, the great Hall of
Fame pitcher from Bill Rick who played Billanna Brace for
a long time. He's coming for the first time. We
have twenty five celebrities, and you know they're all nationally
known people who are wonderful at what they do, but
even better human beings.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
What a great event. Your dad would be so proud
of you. I mean, your dad was a legendary columnist.
He always said what he believed in and occasionally even
got into disagreement with I remember the Patriots player that
he had a little bit of a dust up with
in the locker room Raymond, Yes, yes, yes, and handled it,
(36:10):
handled himself. Yeah, very well, very well.
Speaker 8 (36:14):
He was a guy. And you know, and that's why
when if he was battling in this cardiac emmelitosis, we
didn't know Daniel. He knew he was having heart problems.
He was in and out of the hostel a couple
of times. They actually told him on the day he died,
January ninth, two thousand and three, after he distressed us
that they thought he was fine and he could resume
normal activity, and he went home and you know, dropped
(36:36):
dead that night. So it was the doctors who really
begged us to allow for an autopsy because they were
mystified and felt terrible and they wanted to figure it out.
It was only in the autopsy they discovered he had
cardiac ammelitosis, so it's uh, you know, rare. It's a
thickening of the heart muscle because of an abnormal build
up of protein. So it's very hard to diagnose, and
(36:57):
that is one of the areas that they've made. There
are great advances in recent years. It's it's easier to diagnose.
It's still not as easy as it should be. But
I appreciate you having us on a show with such
wide listenership because a lot of times people go to
the hospital they have cardiac amyloidosis and even the doctors
don't know what it is. You know, it's still relatively
(37:19):
new in terms of the awareness.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
So well all of us have at some point.
Speaker 8 (37:24):
You have to figure it out.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
Good medical care and you take a stress test and
you're told you're in good shape. See you a couple
of years from now. But you always wonder did they
catch everything? And I'm sure you're blessed with good doctors.
I'm blessed with good doctors, but not everybody has access
to great doctors. And they got to make sure that
if they don't feel right, they got to tell somebody,
(37:47):
and they because if you don't, if you if you
keep it to yourself. Sometimes it could be a fatal mistake.
Speaker 8 (37:54):
Literally, yeah, one hundred percent. And you know that's why,
you know, I think they are in the awareness of
this disease is important. So they used to say it
wasn't that common. Well, now they're discovering that it's more
common than they thought because they can diagnose it better
and they don't have to wait till someone dies and
does an autops. In many cases, that is an ALIS case, right.
(38:14):
You know, I'm so grateful to the doctors at the Brigham,
and people are coming from all over the world to
see them. There are a lot of wonderful success stories
and it's been really uplifting to our family to meet
these people and see the patients come back to the
event the next year looking healthier and feeling better than
they did the year before. And that's really largely because
(38:36):
of the work that's been done by doctor Rodney Fock
and his team at the Brigham. And it's been great
to be a small part of it.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
Well, if you're a big part of it, thanks so much, John,
and congratulations to your assist keeping Wills, your dad's legendary
name alive in basically trying to help out with a
difficult medical set of circumstances. Have fun Sunday, you will
and have a ball on Monday and hit him straight.
Speaker 8 (39:02):
Okay, Tank you Dan, really an honor to be on
your show. You're a legend in our business as a
person and as a broadcaster, and I really appreciate you
giving us.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
You're the legend. I'm just a guy doing a talk show.
Will rather Sean. Trust me, You're a nationally known and
you have always reflected such great honor on your family
and in our city. Thanks, thanks so much, Seawan. We
will talk soon. Okay, appreciate it.
Speaker 8 (39:26):
Thank you, Dan, very welcome.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
We got the nine o'clock news coming right at us.
We get back on the other side. We're going to
talk to a great doctor about cancers above the neckline,
where it's important
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