April 13, 2026 • 41 mins
1 Hour of Gary Sadlemyer + Jean Stothert talk radio to get your week started on a Monday. Casual life discussions mixed with local topics. You will not want to miss this.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I am so lucky to have a special guest with
me today. Gary Sadelemeyer is here. Welcome back to your
your home.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Morning time. I had to ask you, don't want to
be called mayor anymore?
Speaker 3 (00:13):
You know, I'd never correct people.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
If I see him out on the street and they
say hi, Mayor, I don't correct them.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
But it's kind of an honorarium for life.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Twelve years it is, and it's just like a president
or a governor. But you know what, I I don't
use it around here, and I hope people can stop
doing that.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
I didn't.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I told Scott at the very beginning, quit calling me
the former mayor. Everybody in Omaha knows I'm not the
mayor anymore.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
So well, it's good to be here, thank you.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Yeah, it's good to have you here.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Such a familiar face in the studio and a familiar
voice on the air.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
But this was a turn about here. How many times
did I interview you?
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Probably? Well, I was going to say probably hundreds of times.
In fact, I told Peyton, who's here, our producer, I
told him there were plenty of times that you probably
didn't want me on the show that I was calling saying,
can I be on the show because you interviewed me
plenty of times, and I remember one thing you said.
Is one criticism you had of me, as I talked
too much.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
No, I would, I would. I would text you from
time to time say the segments relatively short.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Yeah, so keep it short. I know it, and I
tend to do that.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
This morning show format is different, you.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Know, yes it is.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
And you have to jump to commercials all the time.
And you're going to stay with us a whole hour.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Or whatever you want. Okay, he kicked me out.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Well that is good because it's nice.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
To meet you. By the good morning.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Yes, we met for the first time in the hallway.
You would believe that that wouldn't be the case.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
I've been listening and he he.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Knows you're the legend around here. Obviously we come in
and sit in the Gary Sattlemeyer studio every day. But
Peyton's doing a really good job. He's a he's a
producer of my show. And then the long four hours
in the afternoon every day with that Chris Baker, that
dear Chris.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
In fact, I did.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
A couple of emails to him with a Dear Chris,
and he uses my voice every now and and I
had to say one day, are those really real? And
they really are real those emails, so are good for
him for reading them. But Gary, I know you've been
on Scott's show already, but I think people are glad
to hear your voice again. But once again, I'll walk
(02:13):
down memory lane. Forty nine years in broadcasting.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Yes, almost to the day here at KFAB.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
At CAFAB for over three decades. But you've been anchoring
the KFAB morning news. That's pretty amazing.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Yeah. Well, you know, I started out nights and weekends
and then that afternoons.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
For years, and then you did Nebraska football in the
eighties to mid nineties, right.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Early eighties to mid nineties, nineteen eighties through ninety five.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
And the reason that you decided to retire at this
time in your life is you wanted to spend more
time with your kids, with your grandkids.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yeah, travel, all all the usual things, and another big one,
as I mentioned on air at the time, was just
to have some When you do a morning show, you're
really a slave to your schedule because you' getting up
in the middle of the night. Absolutely, And so the
time I had away from here, a lot of it
(03:12):
was spent in preparation and then going to bed again.
So and I needed some time to do other things.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yes, did you do after being in broadcasting as long
and doing the show as long as you did, did
you have to do? I'll seal a lot of prep
every night before the next morning show.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
I've always said this about this format, news radio, talk radio.
Preparation is NonStop, whether it's formally sitting down, reading something,
taking notes, doing more research. That's part of it too.
But you just always have to have your radar up
because these issues are going to be up the next morning, right,
(03:52):
and you have to have a grasp, have an idea,
and you.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Have to be able to talk about it and answer questions.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yeah and so, and which is for for me because
I like that. I wouldn't say I'm a news junkie,
but I like to pay attention to what's going on
locally and nationally.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
And you know, I find that too, because even as mayor,
as a city council member, I always would read the newspaper,
I'd read the Wall Street Journal, I would I would
look at what's going on in Lincoln. I would listen
to the news all of those things because I wanted
to keep up with what was going on. So I
did those things anyway, I pay a little bit more
attention to them now than I did.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
You get into more detail when you know you're going
to go on the air with it.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Now, do you find when you're out in public? Do
people recognize you? They recognize your voice.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Once the world went digital and there are pictures of
people everywhere on the internet, you're easy to look up.
What I love is when somebody will recognize me because
they hear my voice. I love that one. I always
loved it before the Internet and all that, where you
could really be anonymous. If you're a radio person, you
(04:56):
can go be an idiot or just be you know,
have a nice to inter and arrest tro and be private.
Not so much anymore.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Do you have people come up to you and say,
what are you doing with all this free times?
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (05:06):
I get that too, and I think I'm busy.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
All the time.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
I know that, isn't that weird?
Speaker 3 (05:10):
I know it well.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
I told you Gary and I met after I wasn't
maryor anymore, but before you had actually retired, and.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
I told you, I said, you're gonna love it.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Retirement's the best job I've ever had, and you know,
it really is. Actually we kind of both come from
the you know, a background of doing something every day
and being busy every day and have to be preparing
every single day. And I really like, for me, I
really wanted to be Mary again. I really did. And
I thought, you know, we had a good thing going.
(05:39):
We were we were, I had a great team. I
enjoyed going to work. But now that I'm not, I'm
enjoying this too. I mean, it gives you this new freedom.
I love it.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
It is incredible, though, how not in a bad way,
but how busy. I didn't didn't really expect that I
do this today, that them are the planner becomes pretty important. Yeah, okay,
I gotta check the planner. What do I have today?
I know, I kind of like that because there's not
there was not pressure with.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
It, right, I've mastered my Google calendar. I think I
was putting everything. I had somebody do it for me
for twelve years, and I was putting everything in on
the wrong dates, like being.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Busy on my own terms. You know, like you do.
I'm sure you didn't have to do this right, but
you enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
And I go to things in the evening that I
want to and not that I have to. Now.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I remember I talking interrupting, speaking of that as a mayor.
I remember talking to PJ. Morgan one time, but back
when he was mayor, and he said it literally, and
I don't think I don't think his wife cared for
it much. That there was every night, almost every night,
and you kind of had to be there, and there
(06:49):
were multiple things.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Yeah, and Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday too, Like I mean,
it was something almost every single day. And if I
would turn somebody down because I already made a commit demanding,
they would get mad, you know. And so but you know,
I think with you and me here, we are of
the age we're about. Of course you're so much a
(07:10):
lot like a year. But maybe if I was, or
we were in our fifties our forties, it might be
it might be quite different. But I think now I'm
enjoying this. I love to travel. I love you know.
I have one My son is in Cincinnati. I have
two little grandsons there. I didn't get to see them
that much.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
I get to your home in St. Louis. Yeah, come
up here every morning.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Isn't that the most aggravating thing that you have heard
about me, and I still have people say, well, I'm
surprised you're doing that show. Is it from your home
in Saint Louis? And you and I have talked about that.
We couldn't shake that, I mean, and it was so
ridiculous because I haven't lived in Saint Louis since the
nineteen eighties, nor has my husband. People would say, well,
(07:54):
her husband lives in Saint Louis. My husband lives in Omaha.
He's lived here for four years now, but he had
been in the on the east coast in Maryland for
the last fifty years. That's where he lived, not in
Saint Louis.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Carnisan politics take it ruins things. It's really unfortunate because
the folks who didn't like you politically, and you know
what I like it to what's going on and has
for the past several months with ICE, immigration and customs
enforcement and the fact that they're wearing masks. It's been
(08:29):
said five thousand times minimum that the reason for that
is so that they're not identified and their homes get
attacked or their family they get docked. Absolutely, if you
say that five thousand and one times will people believe
it now because they hate they hate the organization, and
they hate Trump and all that. It just drives me crazy
(08:50):
when you can't explain something and people just refuse to
hear it.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Horrible. The whole, the whole Saint Louis thing is probably
the one that I I said, I think I'm going
to put on my tombstone.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
She does not live in Saint Louis.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
My goods, And you know what, I lived in Saint
Louis less than ten years of my entire life. I
didn't move to Saint Louis. I was born and raised
in Illinois. I didn't move there till after I graduated
from nursing school because my first job was at Saint
Louis University, and I moved there to live in an
apartment near the hospital. I lived there less than ten
years of my entire life. But everybody says, mm mmm,
(09:25):
you live in Saint Louis.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Your mom was there, right?
Speaker 1 (09:28):
My mom was, I would say the Saint Louis area,
because she was in Illinois too. I was born in Alton, Illinois,
raised in Wood River, about twenty minutes from Saint Louis.
But if I said I'm going to Wood River, Illinois.
People would go, huh, and so I just say, it's
back in the Saint Louis area. So no, I mean,
And I spent some time going back and forth in
(09:49):
like twenty twenty because she was old, yeah, near the yes,
and we were trying to you're going to move around
of the house I grew up in into did living.
So I went back and forth quite a bit. My
sister and I were trying to move her. But people
just assumed that's because I live there. But anyway that
you know, that's neither here nor there. Now, let me
(10:11):
ask you a few questions because you used to ask
me all these hard questions. But I was going to say,
you know, Peyton is in here with us today. He's
an aspiring radio maybe TV personality in the future. What
is one piece of advice that you would give to
someone who is starting in this field? Run No, but really,
(10:39):
I mean, what's your advice? Because I'm going to say
on the air, what advice you gave me? I ask you, Well,
I said, if I'm going to do this show, give
me some advice, and you said, just be yourself.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Well, I think so if you're doing now, if you're
back in the day when there were a lot of
jocks playing records and stuff, you're not really yourself. But
if you're doing spoken word radio talk show particularly, I
don't think you can fake it. Maybe some people can,
but I don't know how you do that. I think
(11:08):
you have to be who you are when these issues
come up, say what you think, and people agree or
disagree or whatever, correct you. But you have to be
And Peyton, I think is great at this. I've been
listening Peyton since you've been on here, and if you
want to pursue this, you you're going to do great.
And yeah, he's got to face he could do TV too.
I never had that problem.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
He's got it right. Yeah, that's good though.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
I mean that's good that somebody like you has recognized
that because I think you've got to be quick too,
you know.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
I always you got to be paying attention.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Yeah, right, you got.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
To be paying attention. You got to be quick.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
I always.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Oh, well, here's another thing, Peyton and Gene. Interviews suffer
if they don't become a conversation. And the way they
become a conversation is you actually listen to what the
guest is saying, you know, and then respond to that
if it's required. Some people say, Okay, I'm gonna go
to my next question. Now, wait a minute, she just
(12:05):
said the Woodman Tower is going to be demolished. You
didn't catch that.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Yeah, you have to actually listen.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
I think they always say that there's two kinds of people.
There's people that listen and there's people that talk. But
the successful people can do both right, and you have
to listen. You have to be able to talk and
you have to be able to listen to be successful.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Did you in.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Your career did you have anybody that was real influential
that was like a role model to you?
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Many many. I was fortunate growing up in Minnesota to
have what I still to this day consider to be
the greatest, the greatest radio station in America during the
sixties and seventies, w CCO in Minneapolis to listen to,
(12:56):
and I lived a couple hours away from there, the
big stay. It's like oka kfab of Minnesota. And those
guys were awesome. Really, they're still in my head today,
all of them. And then to come here and to
be mendored by the likes of Lyle Bremser and Ken
Hendrick and Jack Payne Walkavanaugh and learn from them absolutely.
(13:18):
And I think for most people in any occupation or
any walk of life, you take what you can from
those who are experienced, and if your ego doesn't override it,
you learn from that. And yeah, so yeah, but those
guys back then Boone and Ericson, Howard Vike and Steve
Cannon for those from Minnesota of a certain vintage will
(13:41):
recognize those names. It was like a masterclass every day
just listening to them. One of the reasons I want
to get into this was listening to people. And I
remember I remember at some point as a kid, I
realized I wasn't listening to the radio the way other
people do, you know, It's just kind of on and
(14:02):
I'm like, Okay, what's he doing in there? What's that like?
Speaker 1 (14:05):
And you said that you wanted to be in radio
from when you were a kid.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Yeah, really, it was one of the things I wanted
to do.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Yeah, right, So let me ask you this, of all
the people you ever interviewed, did you have a favorite
besides me?
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Well, yeah, besides you, that's right about that. Yeah, If
I had to pick one, I would say the hour
I spent with Barry Switzer, Okay, the Great Oakline and
he's still ticking down there in Norman, Oklahoma, the great
Oklahoma coach, and Tom Osborne Contemporary and those great battles.
(14:43):
And when he published his book and they are go
on a book tour and he came around Bootlegger's Boy
as a book. I recommend it if you haven't read it.
And I was doing the afternoon show and this would
have been Yeah, she whis nineties, somewhere in the nineties,
(15:04):
and he came in and just sat down in the
studio with me. We just talked for an hour. Because
I had interviewed him I don't know how many times
over the course of my football broadcast, you know, but
they would be short by the ten minute interviews about
the upcoming game. But here was a real conversation. I
love that. Very memorable to me, very memorable.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Excuse me.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
I always get this thing in my throat every and
everybody's trying to tell me how to get rid of it,
because a minute I walk out of this studio at eleven,
it goes away.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
It's my allergy.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
I'm with you, I have that too.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
I'm just picking your.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Brain a little bit here if you could how about
this question, if you could do an interview with any
historical figure anybody? Oh boy, who would that be?
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Bring him back alive? Other than Jesus, which I do
hope to have.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
That chat someday, I'm we will.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
What about that? Other than that, I would probably say
George Washington to me, Rosie and I used to have
this argument all the time. He was the greatest president
ever and he thanks Lincoln, and I think Washington. You
can't lose with either one. Most of the historic historians
are with Rosie on Lincoln. But George Washington, if you
(16:26):
if you've really ever looked at what happened back then
and what he did and what they did, and he
was the indispensable man to be able to sit down
and really just talk. You know, I've never been a
big one for can only of your autograph? I don't
you know? Or just how do you do that? That
is never. But if you can actually have a conversation with.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Somebody, wouldn't that be he would?
Speaker 2 (16:49):
I think probably? And there's so many to choose from,
but he would probably be a number one.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
And I know you know you were you were so
familiar like with broadcasting and with interviewing people.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Just give me your thoughts on this.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
So that we've been I've been debating for the last
several weeks that the directors that I hired, every one
of them except the police chief, touch Matter and public
Works director Stuby. I've hired and worked with him for
twelve years. And now the current mayor, John Ewing is
saying they will all be declined to be on my
(17:24):
show because I won't be objective and they would have
to defend him. To me, that is one of the
most absurd things I've ever heard, because number One, I
know what they're doing, and I support what they're doing.
I'm just I want to bring them on to give
the public information, and I think the public deserves to
be able to hear from these public employees that are
(17:46):
paid with taxpayer dollars. If there's a snowstorm, have public
works on, if there is a big development project, have
planning on, if there's a public safety issue, have the
police chief on.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
And now he's saying no, they can't. What's your thoughts.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
I don't like it, Jane. I think now if you
brought somebody on and it turned out that you were
doing an ambush interview and attacking the mayor. Then I
could see him instituting this policy. But you're right, you
have a long form show here where important information can
be transmitted to citizens of Omaha. People are saying, yeah,
(18:25):
what about this? What about that? We'll go to the
department head and get those answers. That's what we do
and our various shows all the time. And it was
not an adversarial there was an informational thing.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
And that's all I would do.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
In fact, I've had one director on so far before
he did this order, and that was the fire chief,
Kathy Bossman, Chief Bossman, and I had her on to
talk a number that the fires in western Nebraska. I mean,
I wasn't asking her to defend anything or to I
wasn't being non objective, but to just say, come on
and inform the people of current issues that people want
(19:00):
to know about, get facts about.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Okay, Well, I'll ask you if you had won and
John and we invited John Ewing to do the comment
line for an hour every day, and he accepted because
it wasn't a fun campaign. You guys weren't, none of
them were. No. But what your what would your posture
have Ben. If you suspected then apparently he does that
(19:24):
it would be a way for him to get back
at you somehow.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
See. I like the challenge.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
And I have been in so many forms and debates
with John Ewing, with my other opponents, you know, I mean,
Heath Mellow was an opponent of mine in twenty seventeen.
We're best of friends. Taylor Royal was an opponent of mine.
We're best of friends. I mean, you get over it,
you move on. But I have been in so many
debates with John Ewing and heard things he said critical
(19:54):
of me, and you know that's kind of how campaigns go.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
But I like the being able.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
To stand up there and say no, that's not accurate,
or here is what is accurate.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
I wouldn't mind it. I would like the challenge of it.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Yeah. Yeah, I think it's unfortunate.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
I think it is too four.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
I mean, whatever is between you two, to me.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
It should be water.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
The bridge side. The point for folks listening who want
to know about that big project.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Absolutely why is this bridge out? And that is something
I would never set with the directors. Well, before we
go into break, I want to say, well, talk about
one thing that I've been talking about a lot, and
then I'm going to bring up a few other things
and then let's open up the line for question. But
Artemis two landed exactly at the minute they said it
(20:42):
was going to land, right off the coast of San Diego.
Unbelievable what they did. They were two hundred and fifty
two thousand miles from Earth, more further away than any
human has ever been, and everything about that whole light
was just absolutely perfect. It was amazing to me, except
(21:04):
a malfunctioning toilet, and I guess that they got to
fix that, that's for sure if they're going to be
in space longer. But all those astronauts back, and the
one of the funniest things that I saw is when
they were showing them still on board the capsule with
that jar of Natella that floated, that floated in front
of the camera, and I thought it was so funny
(21:25):
because Nutella couldn't ask for a better commercial for the
rest of their lives. But good job to the four astronauts.
They're they're back on Earth now. I guess they're getting
used to gravity again, and what a what a perfect
flight that was, And now they're going to do they'll
have Artemis three about landing on the moon and then
onto what the goal is.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
There is a reason we say it's not rocket science.
Those people are unbelievable. They are unbelievable. We would have
a very short conversation, Yes, one of those one of
those NASA guys in me that would ad. I mean,
how do you do this? It's unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
How do you do it?
Speaker 1 (22:01):
And how do you know that you're going to come
be coming back in a ball of flames at five
thousand degrees temperature?
Speaker 3 (22:09):
At what were they at?
Speaker 1 (22:10):
At twenty five thousand miles per I mean, oh, good lord,
but they're back. It was successful, and I'm happy about that.
See it's like, I don't want to be called the
I don't want to be called the former mayor. You
don't want to be called the former host. Everybody knows
you're not the current host. I said, there's not one
living creature in Omaha that doesn't know I'm not the
(22:32):
mayor anymore, including my six year old grandson. So we
got to quit calling me the former mayor. But Gary,
one thing I didn't bring up.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
You're engaged to Linda.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
You're going to get married again.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
That is wonderful.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Well, that's a thing, and I've met her. She's great, Yeah,
she is. Huh. Engagement is one thing. Wedding isn't. I
mean that's down that's down the road. So I mean
we're not really we're not really talking about setting a
date or making those kind of plans yet, but we
wanted to, I guess formal as a commitment. And she's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
She is.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
She's bubbly.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Yeah. And as I'm sure you know, if you have
so much in common with somebody in common, that's huge.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
It is huge.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
We have so much fun, and you.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Know, you and I and Linda are all in a
group of people that we never thought we would be.
And that is we lost our spouse, right, And I
did it a little bit differently because I knew Kevin,
who I'm married to now years and years and years ago.
I dated em years and years ago, forty five years ago.
But we didn't even get engaged. We just said we
(23:42):
had that much. Yeah, we just had that much in common.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
And is he cheap?
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Yeah no, But you know he was living far away.
Linda's here. He was living in Maryland for the last
fifty years. That's where he did his residency at Johns Hopkins.
He's an anesthesiologist, and so I wanted him, you know,
and we started talking on the phone and then everything,
you know, the rest was history. But we just went
(24:07):
and got married. Yeah, and I knew I wanted to
be with him, so we went and got married. Of course,
people criticized us for saying I didn't wait long enough,
but you know, it's it's your life. And again at
our age, Gary, again you're so much older that lot. Yeah,
but decades like a year.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
But anyway, well, good for you and Linda.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
I'll tell you what. Since Roseanne passed and it'll be
nine years this summer, I've had a friend or two
who've lost their spouses and they'll ask me about, you know,
the process and when you get over it and all that.
I said, I don't give anybody any advice except except
(24:48):
don't let anybody tell you.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
How to do this exactly.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
And if you read books on I grief and mending,
that is the one common thread that individuals are and
how I mean I know, I know one one friend
who lost his wife and he was attached again within
well inside a year, and then married. Most are not,
(25:17):
but as far as how you handle that loss, I
can't tell. Everybody does it in their own way.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Everybody's different. Everybody handles grief and death differently. Even my
kids handled it.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
You know.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
I have two kids, and they handled it differently. So
you can't tell anybody when this is when they're going
to get over it.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
You can't say over it again. And I don't actually
like that term.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Oh I don't either.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
You don't.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
You never do right.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
No. Time is a great healer, There's no doubt about that.
But you still have your moments, there's no doubt. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
So agree, I was.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
I was fortunate, very fortunate, dated a little bit done
with that, and then here comes Rosie introducing me to this.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Lady, Rosie. I was going to ask you how you
met Rosie introduced.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
You twenty twenty three.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Rosie's a matchmaker.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Well I owe him and Jenna for this. One did
a listener cruise. He does a holiday vacations cruise, and
they had They did a Ryan cruise in October of
twenty twenty three, and the previous spring he'd been, you know,
promoting it. The deadline for signing up was coming, and
(26:31):
Linda happened to be listening that morning and she'd lost
her husband and she said that sounds like fun. And
she and her daughter went on this cruise and they
hit it off with Jem and Jenna and they would
talk every day. And so Rosie starts in, you, hey,
you're dating anybody? I got somebody who should meet. She
(26:52):
wasn't really interested, but he starts selling me to her.
And then he comes back here and he starts selling
her to me. You need to meet. Yeah, well whatever,
you know, and then he said, he said, okay, here's
the deal. Nebraska, Wisconsin, November eighteenth, twenty twenty three. It
was a night game. You come over, I'll have Linda
(27:15):
come over, and that way you can you can meet.
So that's how we met.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
He really is a matchmaker.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Yeah, And we texted the next day and decided, yeah,
we should maybe go out, and we went out a
couple of weeks later and just so hit it off.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
You know, yeah, that is great, that's great, that's.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
That's how So. Yeah, I owe Rosie, there's no doubt.
And Jenna, Jim and Janna, they were very and Linda
says that to you, we got it. We got to
always remember whenever he gets over the top, annoying that
he's the one, you know, Jim not always right, but
never in doubt. That's Rosie.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Well, I'm happy for both of you. And you know,
like I said, mine was different. I dated Kevin forty
five years ago, dating him for about a year. I
was a nurse, he was a medical student, and nothing
bad happened. We just kind of drifted apart and he
ended up going to Too Lane in New Orleans for
his residency, and we.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Just kind of drifted apart.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
I got married to somebody else and was married forty
one years, yes, and then we got back together. So
it was it was somebody I knew in the past.
You know, I had met his parents and I knew
his sisters.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
It's just a full story. I remember you introduced me
when we were down to the press.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Club for some of them, and yeah, he's a great guy.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
And it wasn't long after that that that you were
a married. He is a great guy. Yeah, he is.
How's old Kevin doing.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
He's old Kevin. If he's listening, Old Kevin is doing.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
He's a golfer.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
He was glued to the Masters all weekend. But he
is just he's keeping himself very very busy. And by
the way, for all you Facebook doubters, he loves living
in Omaha and he's been here for four years now.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Why wouldn't you.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Yeah, really, he sold his house in Maryland and you know,
moved here and he lived a block away from Chesapeake
Bay and I said, you know, you traded chest Peak
Bay for the Missouri River in I eighty that's where
we but you got me, So there you go.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Hey, a couple of things I wanted to bring up,
and then I hope we have some calls for you, Gary.
But the spring cleanup, I always have to bring that
up because that's something I worked on starting a spring
cleanup and a fall cleanup for the city of Omaha's
coming up. And I would love to have Public Works
on to talk about this, but they are not allowed
to be on this show. But I just wanted to
(29:39):
bring that up because it's a real convenient and freeway
for people to dispose of large items that don't fit
in your weekly trash ninety six gallon trash cart. Remember
before we got the new trash pickup, you could literally
put a sofa in a barbecue grill out on the
on the curb, and the City of Omaha would pick
it up. Well, we can't do that anymore because it's
(30:00):
got to fit into the cart. But the cleanup will
run from nine am to two pm on these Saturdays.
It's April eighteenth, April twenty fifth, May second, May ninth,
and May sixteenth. But you can get all that information online.
It's called Cleanup dot Wastelines ark HERB. You can Well,
there's drop off places. There's drop off places everywhere, and
(30:24):
there's things, I mean, they'll take mattresses, furniture, appliances, yard waste,
they'll take just about anything. They won't take things like concrete.
But it's a really good time for people to get
rid of stuff that they don't want and that they
don't want, you know, they can't dispose of on the
(30:44):
curb anymore. One thing is about that I want to
bring up is about recycling and when now we have
those ninety six gallon carts in the City of Omaha
for recycling, and the recycling has gone up huge amounts
since they started doing this. But one thing that people
can and you to put in a recycle bind. I'm
just going to say this are diapers don't do that.
(31:07):
Dirty diapers do not go and recycle binds either do
greasy pizza boxes. But there's but the recycling that's going
on in Omaha is really really increased too. So, like
I said, if you're interested in that, there's this is
a great chance to get rid of a lot of
the things that you don't want anymore. But it's cleanup
dot waistline dot org. And you could read about that online,
(31:30):
which is a great service at the City of Omaha provides.
And again it's free. And another thing I wanted to
bring up is that new library. Lots of people have
a lot of thought. What do you think about the
design of that library?
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Spectacular image as you drive it is through that intersection there.
I haven't been outside yet.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
It's pretty amazing. What the architects did. I mean, it's
it's it's a toss up about what people think about
the outside of it.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Yeah, I'm not sure myself. I mean, it is I
want it every day because it was I'd come through
seventy second dodge. It is every day during construction. That's
really interesting. I got to be frank with you, I'm
not sure. I like the front.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
It's different.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
I love that that the I don't know if candle
lever is the right word, but the stairstep design on
the windows of the glass on the side.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Is really cool.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
It's the front.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
I'm not sure what I'm.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
Looking at there, and I've had a lot of people
say that. And you know, it's changed from the beginning
because the beginning design from the architects, it looked like
an open book.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
It was supposed to look like an open book.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
And it changed from the original design, but it's still
it's got all that on the outside is glass, but
you ought to see the view.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
From the inside.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
I can imagine it's pretty spectacular. But next Sunday, April nineteenth,
the new Omaha Public Library Central Library at seventy second
in Dodge will open and it will be open to
the public. Now, recall that the central Library, or a
main what we used to call it, was a Clark
downtown that was demoed for the new skyscraper that Mutual
(33:06):
of Omaha is building there. But there was a new,
smaller downtown library built and open and it's very very popular.
A lot of people are in there, and it's more
fit to a downtown who the clientele is downtown. But
the old Dale Clark Library, a lot of people were
upset with that, but it was outdated, it wasn't safe.
(33:26):
Even the library staff was very unhappy with it. So
this library is really going to be something and I
hope everybody does come and look at it. If you recall,
it used to be in that corner was the due space,
which was a converted.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
From an old border. Yeah in Barnes and Noble.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
They're still on the second floor of this new library.
There is still a due spased area that has the
three D printers and on laser cutters and all that,
and then there's also a children's area on second floor.
The third floor of the new library has got a
lot of genealogy and local history collections. You know what
I wonder though, beautiful.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
With the location. Pardon me the next the next riot
we have, but it is it is that is that
glass strong enough?
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Well?
Speaker 2 (34:19):
And the doors will be opened probably and a lot
I don't ad a riot in a while. We have
a lot of protests and thank goodness, no kings, but
we haven't at a riot in a while.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
And nope, and that was quite a while ago.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
That was in the summer of twenty twenty, and they
usually if there's protests, they start at seventy second in Dodge,
and then the one in twenty twenty, it moved downtown.
But as they are now developing the crossroads, and that
after many slow downs, not starts and stops, that slow downs,
that is underway the corner, the northeast corner of seventy
(34:54):
second Dodge where pet COO is that the northeast corner
across from Crossroads that is and purchased by an individual
or or company, and that is going to be redeveloped too,
So that whole corner is going to be redeveloped, and
I think you're going to see a lot more activity there.
Hopefully no more protest, but well yeah, but.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
This grounds there. Although I suppose you could say geographically
now ninetieth and Dodges closer to the geographic center, But
there's something about seventy second and Dodge. This is where
we're going to be.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
And the traffic is a big concern there because that's
a busy intersection anyway, and when all that development happens,
you know, we talked a lot when we were working
on the new library. Is there going to be a
need for a pedestrian overpass there, something to get people
safely from one north side of the street to the
south side of the street. So that's all pretty exciting.
(35:47):
Now thing's going on here in Omaha.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
Well, I'm glad to hear that the Omaha mud Flats, sir,
I mean crossroads development is progressing.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
I drive by it every time I come here, and yes,
I mean they're grading it. You know, they have a
new development for now and the Woodberry's out of Salt
Lake City.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
They're great. They do this all over the country.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
So they take old malls and they redo them, and
so I think you're going to see a great development there.
We're going to take a lot of calls. I thought
there'd be some directed at Gary, but you know, I
think they're just so interested in listening to you. That
must be I guess that's it.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
Maybe you'll just have to come back.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
I got one for you, Jean, Yes, okay, we got damon. Damon.
Thank you for calling the KFAB comment line. You're live
here with Jean Stouthart and Gary Stdomayer.
Speaker 4 (36:31):
Good morning, Yes, yeah, good morning. I've enjoyed today. I
don't listen a whole lot, but I do live in
the Dundee area.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Gary.
Speaker 4 (36:40):
We moved down as young kids from Minneapolis in the
early seventies and then I travel a lot up there.
And when you bring up WCCO and Cannon Meschel, that
is some some good memories. And Cannon and Steve was
one of a kind, as you mentioned, well all of
those all his mean with all his voices.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Yeah, he was. He was a piece of work. He
would do just quickly for those that don't know, he
had three main characters and he did all the voices himself.
He was so good at it, practically interrupt himself and.
Speaker 4 (37:19):
Yeah, yeah, and Jeane. Many years ago, my mom was
involved highly with the Assistance League, which does a phenomenal
job for the children and needs. And I remember I
brought my dad and he was struggling with a few
things and I said, Dad, I'm I gotta go over here,
(37:42):
but please don't stand up. He kind of had some
balance issues. I come back and I said, Dad, why
did you stand Why are you standing?
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Well?
Speaker 4 (37:51):
I had to the mayor. The mayor just walked in
and I had to and yeah, and that was you,
respectful to you and anyway, just was kind of a
fond memory and you know what do I do? Yeah,
my dad for that, but of course I did it.
I did, and I didn't story. I'm a the public library.
(38:14):
Last thing we're we're uh, we've been in a dying
industry for years, were book binding and we live in
in Omaha, but we've kept the bindery out in Utica, Nebraska.
So the public library is sure nice to see from
you know, the downtown that you explained that was just
just worn out. So it is exciting to see that
(38:35):
new building and looking forward to to the growth of that.
And I think, again I'm dating myself. My sisters got
married there or they catered that corner. I think wasn't
it Gary? You'd know, wasn't that Kenny's? Was it Ken? Yeah?
He did pretty well.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
Well.
Speaker 4 (38:56):
Anyway, I've enjoyed the day. Just wanted to say hi
and well thanks for just kind of follow up with
some of your nice topics.
Speaker 1 (39:03):
Well, thank you, I appreciate the call. You know, the
legislature Gary is just about to end. April seventeenth will
be the final day of this session. There's going to
be thirteen lawmakers that will I guess they call it
graduate they are termed out, but after they had over
(39:25):
a thousand bills to consider this year. At the last
minute on Friday, they pass more than sixty bills just
on Friday to try to wrap it up. Holy col
I'm telling.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
You, I know, you wonder when we're going to feel
from that. Well, hopefully some of them are good. You
know what, I haven't been digging as deeply into the
legislation of the state as since I retired.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
Well, you know, we had Brad von gillern On, Senator
von Gilleran just a few weeks ago, who's very good.
You know, he used to be his family business was
Leader Construction and he's chair of Revenue Committee. And there
was one bill, it was eleven sixty five that finally passed,
and that was a bill from Pillen and Senator von Gilleran,
(40:15):
and that was basically meant to attract and retain major
employers like Union Pacific, and it kind of got that
nickname of the Union Pacific Bill, but it was for
all big businesses and it provides tax incentives for companies
that meet certain criteria to try to keep them here.
(40:35):
And you know, since a Union Pacific had the merger,
I know there's a there's a fear that they could
move down to Atlanta, and we don't have a lot
of business incentives here in Omaha, and so this is
something that I think is really going to help our
businesses here and hopefully keep the businesses here. There were
(40:56):
some that were opposing it, but anyway, he had since
I was married, when we had ConAgra moved their headquarters,
one of our Fortune five hundred companies moved their headquarters
to Chicago. There wasn't anything we could do to keep
them here because we couldn't offer them much. But we
don't want Union Pacific as another Fortune five company. We
(41:16):
don't want them or any of our others, or any
of our businesses leaving. So hopefully we'll find more out
about this bill, but hopefully this is going to be
very very good. Gary Settlemyer, thank you so much, ferbying
here today. Thank you for all of you who are
listening today. We're glad you are with us and hope
you join us again tomorrow
I am so lucky to have a special guest with
me today. Gary Sadelemeyer is here. Welcome back to your
your home.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Morning time. I had to ask you, don't want to
be called mayor anymore?
Speaker 3 (00:13):
You know, I'd never correct people.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
If I see him out on the street and they
say hi, Mayor, I don't correct them.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
But it's kind of an honorarium for life.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Twelve years it is, and it's just like a president
or a governor. But you know what, I I don't
use it around here, and I hope people can stop
doing that.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
I didn't.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I told Scott at the very beginning, quit calling me
the former mayor. Everybody in Omaha knows I'm not the
mayor anymore.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
So well, it's good to be here, thank you.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Yeah, it's good to have you here.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Such a familiar face in the studio and a familiar
voice on the air.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
But this was a turn about here. How many times
did I interview you?
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Probably? Well, I was going to say probably hundreds of times.
In fact, I told Peyton, who's here, our producer, I
told him there were plenty of times that you probably
didn't want me on the show that I was calling saying,
can I be on the show because you interviewed me
plenty of times, and I remember one thing you said.
Is one criticism you had of me, as I talked
too much.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
No, I would, I would. I would text you from
time to time say the segments relatively short.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Yeah, so keep it short. I know it, and I
tend to do that.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
This morning show format is different, you.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Know, yes it is.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
And you have to jump to commercials all the time.
And you're going to stay with us a whole hour.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Or whatever you want. Okay, he kicked me out.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Well that is good because it's nice.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
To meet you. By the good morning.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Yes, we met for the first time in the hallway.
You would believe that that wouldn't be the case.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
I've been listening and he he.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Knows you're the legend around here. Obviously we come in
and sit in the Gary Sattlemeyer studio every day. But
Peyton's doing a really good job. He's a he's a
producer of my show. And then the long four hours
in the afternoon every day with that Chris Baker, that
dear Chris.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
In fact, I did.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
A couple of emails to him with a Dear Chris,
and he uses my voice every now and and I
had to say one day, are those really real? And
they really are real those emails, so are good for
him for reading them. But Gary, I know you've been
on Scott's show already, but I think people are glad
to hear your voice again. But once again, I'll walk
(02:13):
down memory lane. Forty nine years in broadcasting.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Yes, almost to the day here at KFAB.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
At CAFAB for over three decades. But you've been anchoring
the KFAB morning news. That's pretty amazing.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Yeah. Well, you know, I started out nights and weekends
and then that afternoons.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
For years, and then you did Nebraska football in the
eighties to mid nineties, right.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Early eighties to mid nineties, nineteen eighties through ninety five.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
And the reason that you decided to retire at this
time in your life is you wanted to spend more
time with your kids, with your grandkids.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yeah, travel, all all the usual things, and another big one,
as I mentioned on air at the time, was just
to have some When you do a morning show, you're
really a slave to your schedule because you' getting up
in the middle of the night. Absolutely, And so the
time I had away from here, a lot of it
(03:12):
was spent in preparation and then going to bed again.
So and I needed some time to do other things.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yes, did you do after being in broadcasting as long
and doing the show as long as you did, did
you have to do? I'll seal a lot of prep
every night before the next morning show.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
I've always said this about this format, news radio, talk radio.
Preparation is NonStop, whether it's formally sitting down, reading something,
taking notes, doing more research. That's part of it too.
But you just always have to have your radar up
because these issues are going to be up the next morning, right,
(03:52):
and you have to have a grasp, have an idea,
and you.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Have to be able to talk about it and answer questions.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yeah and so, and which is for for me because
I like that. I wouldn't say I'm a news junkie,
but I like to pay attention to what's going on
locally and nationally.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
And you know, I find that too, because even as mayor,
as a city council member, I always would read the newspaper,
I'd read the Wall Street Journal, I would I would
look at what's going on in Lincoln. I would listen
to the news all of those things because I wanted
to keep up with what was going on. So I
did those things anyway, I pay a little bit more
attention to them now than I did.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
You get into more detail when you know you're going
to go on the air with it.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Now, do you find when you're out in public? Do
people recognize you? They recognize your voice.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Once the world went digital and there are pictures of
people everywhere on the internet, you're easy to look up.
What I love is when somebody will recognize me because
they hear my voice. I love that one. I always
loved it before the Internet and all that, where you
could really be anonymous. If you're a radio person, you
(04:56):
can go be an idiot or just be you know,
have a nice to inter and arrest tro and be private.
Not so much anymore.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Do you have people come up to you and say,
what are you doing with all this free times?
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (05:06):
I get that too, and I think I'm busy.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
All the time.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
I know that, isn't that weird?
Speaker 3 (05:10):
I know it well.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
I told you Gary and I met after I wasn't
maryor anymore, but before you had actually retired, and.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
I told you, I said, you're gonna love it.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Retirement's the best job I've ever had, and you know,
it really is. Actually we kind of both come from
the you know, a background of doing something every day
and being busy every day and have to be preparing
every single day. And I really like, for me, I
really wanted to be Mary again. I really did. And
I thought, you know, we had a good thing going.
(05:39):
We were we were, I had a great team. I
enjoyed going to work. But now that I'm not, I'm
enjoying this too. I mean, it gives you this new freedom.
I love it.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
It is incredible, though, how not in a bad way,
but how busy. I didn't didn't really expect that I
do this today, that them are the planner becomes pretty important. Yeah, okay,
I gotta check the planner. What do I have today?
I know, I kind of like that because there's not
there was not pressure with.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
It, right, I've mastered my Google calendar. I think I
was putting everything. I had somebody do it for me
for twelve years, and I was putting everything in on
the wrong dates, like being.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Busy on my own terms. You know, like you do.
I'm sure you didn't have to do this right, but
you enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
And I go to things in the evening that I
want to and not that I have to. Now.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I remember I talking interrupting, speaking of that as a mayor.
I remember talking to PJ. Morgan one time, but back
when he was mayor, and he said it literally, and
I don't think I don't think his wife cared for
it much. That there was every night, almost every night,
and you kind of had to be there, and there
(06:49):
were multiple things.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Yeah, and Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday too, Like I mean,
it was something almost every single day. And if I
would turn somebody down because I already made a commit demanding,
they would get mad, you know. And so but you know,
I think with you and me here, we are of
the age we're about. Of course you're so much a
(07:10):
lot like a year. But maybe if I was, or
we were in our fifties our forties, it might be
it might be quite different. But I think now I'm
enjoying this. I love to travel. I love you know.
I have one My son is in Cincinnati. I have
two little grandsons there. I didn't get to see them
that much.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
I get to your home in St. Louis. Yeah, come
up here every morning.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Isn't that the most aggravating thing that you have heard
about me, and I still have people say, well, I'm
surprised you're doing that show. Is it from your home
in Saint Louis? And you and I have talked about that.
We couldn't shake that, I mean, and it was so
ridiculous because I haven't lived in Saint Louis since the
nineteen eighties, nor has my husband. People would say, well,
(07:54):
her husband lives in Saint Louis. My husband lives in Omaha.
He's lived here for four years now, but he had
been in the on the east coast in Maryland for
the last fifty years. That's where he lived, not in
Saint Louis.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Carnisan politics take it ruins things. It's really unfortunate because
the folks who didn't like you politically, and you know
what I like it to what's going on and has
for the past several months with ICE, immigration and customs
enforcement and the fact that they're wearing masks. It's been
(08:29):
said five thousand times minimum that the reason for that
is so that they're not identified and their homes get
attacked or their family they get docked. Absolutely, if you
say that five thousand and one times will people believe
it now because they hate they hate the organization, and
they hate Trump and all that. It just drives me crazy
(08:50):
when you can't explain something and people just refuse to
hear it.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Horrible. The whole, the whole Saint Louis thing is probably
the one that I I said, I think I'm going
to put on my tombstone.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
She does not live in Saint Louis.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
My goods, And you know what, I lived in Saint
Louis less than ten years of my entire life. I
didn't move to Saint Louis. I was born and raised
in Illinois. I didn't move there till after I graduated
from nursing school because my first job was at Saint
Louis University, and I moved there to live in an
apartment near the hospital. I lived there less than ten
years of my entire life. But everybody says, mm mmm,
(09:25):
you live in Saint Louis.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Your mom was there, right?
Speaker 1 (09:28):
My mom was, I would say the Saint Louis area,
because she was in Illinois too. I was born in Alton, Illinois,
raised in Wood River, about twenty minutes from Saint Louis.
But if I said I'm going to Wood River, Illinois.
People would go, huh, and so I just say, it's
back in the Saint Louis area. So no, I mean,
And I spent some time going back and forth in
(09:49):
like twenty twenty because she was old, yeah, near the yes,
and we were trying to you're going to move around
of the house I grew up in into did living.
So I went back and forth quite a bit. My
sister and I were trying to move her. But people
just assumed that's because I live there. But anyway that
you know, that's neither here nor there. Now, let me
(10:11):
ask you a few questions because you used to ask
me all these hard questions. But I was going to say,
you know, Peyton is in here with us today. He's
an aspiring radio maybe TV personality in the future. What
is one piece of advice that you would give to
someone who is starting in this field? Run No, but really,
(10:39):
I mean, what's your advice? Because I'm going to say
on the air, what advice you gave me? I ask you, Well,
I said, if I'm going to do this show, give
me some advice, and you said, just be yourself.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Well, I think so if you're doing now, if you're
back in the day when there were a lot of
jocks playing records and stuff, you're not really yourself. But
if you're doing spoken word radio talk show particularly, I
don't think you can fake it. Maybe some people can,
but I don't know how you do that. I think
(11:08):
you have to be who you are when these issues
come up, say what you think, and people agree or
disagree or whatever, correct you. But you have to be
And Peyton, I think is great at this. I've been
listening Peyton since you've been on here, and if you
want to pursue this, you you're going to do great.
And yeah, he's got to face he could do TV too.
I never had that problem.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
He's got it right. Yeah, that's good though.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
I mean that's good that somebody like you has recognized
that because I think you've got to be quick too,
you know.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
I always you got to be paying attention.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Yeah, right, you got.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
To be paying attention. You got to be quick.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
I always.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Oh, well, here's another thing, Peyton and Gene. Interviews suffer
if they don't become a conversation. And the way they
become a conversation is you actually listen to what the
guest is saying, you know, and then respond to that
if it's required. Some people say, Okay, I'm gonna go
to my next question. Now, wait a minute, she just
(12:05):
said the Woodman Tower is going to be demolished. You
didn't catch that.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Yeah, you have to actually listen.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
I think they always say that there's two kinds of people.
There's people that listen and there's people that talk. But
the successful people can do both right, and you have
to listen. You have to be able to talk and
you have to be able to listen to be successful.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Did you in.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Your career did you have anybody that was real influential
that was like a role model to you?
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Many many. I was fortunate growing up in Minnesota to
have what I still to this day consider to be
the greatest, the greatest radio station in America during the
sixties and seventies, w CCO in Minneapolis to listen to,
(12:56):
and I lived a couple hours away from there, the
big stay. It's like oka kfab of Minnesota. And those
guys were awesome. Really, they're still in my head today,
all of them. And then to come here and to
be mendored by the likes of Lyle Bremser and Ken
Hendrick and Jack Payne Walkavanaugh and learn from them absolutely.
(13:18):
And I think for most people in any occupation or
any walk of life, you take what you can from
those who are experienced, and if your ego doesn't override it,
you learn from that. And yeah, so yeah, but those
guys back then Boone and Ericson, Howard Vike and Steve
Cannon for those from Minnesota of a certain vintage will
(13:41):
recognize those names. It was like a masterclass every day
just listening to them. One of the reasons I want
to get into this was listening to people. And I
remember I remember at some point as a kid, I
realized I wasn't listening to the radio the way other
people do, you know, It's just kind of on and
(14:02):
I'm like, Okay, what's he doing in there? What's that like?
Speaker 1 (14:05):
And you said that you wanted to be in radio
from when you were a kid.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Yeah, really, it was one of the things I wanted
to do.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Yeah, right, So let me ask you this, of all
the people you ever interviewed, did you have a favorite
besides me?
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Well, yeah, besides you, that's right about that. Yeah, If
I had to pick one, I would say the hour
I spent with Barry Switzer, Okay, the Great Oakline and
he's still ticking down there in Norman, Oklahoma, the great
Oklahoma coach, and Tom Osborne Contemporary and those great battles.
(14:43):
And when he published his book and they are go
on a book tour and he came around Bootlegger's Boy
as a book. I recommend it if you haven't read it.
And I was doing the afternoon show and this would
have been Yeah, she whis nineties, somewhere in the nineties,
(15:04):
and he came in and just sat down in the
studio with me. We just talked for an hour. Because
I had interviewed him I don't know how many times
over the course of my football broadcast, you know, but
they would be short by the ten minute interviews about
the upcoming game. But here was a real conversation. I
love that. Very memorable to me, very memorable.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Excuse me.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
I always get this thing in my throat every and
everybody's trying to tell me how to get rid of it,
because a minute I walk out of this studio at eleven,
it goes away.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
It's my allergy.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
I'm with you, I have that too.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
I'm just picking your.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Brain a little bit here if you could how about
this question, if you could do an interview with any
historical figure anybody? Oh boy, who would that be?
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Bring him back alive? Other than Jesus, which I do
hope to have.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
That chat someday, I'm we will.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
What about that? Other than that, I would probably say
George Washington to me, Rosie and I used to have
this argument all the time. He was the greatest president
ever and he thanks Lincoln, and I think Washington. You
can't lose with either one. Most of the historic historians
are with Rosie on Lincoln. But George Washington, if you
(16:26):
if you've really ever looked at what happened back then
and what he did and what they did, and he
was the indispensable man to be able to sit down
and really just talk. You know, I've never been a
big one for can only of your autograph? I don't
you know? Or just how do you do that? That
is never. But if you can actually have a conversation with.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Somebody, wouldn't that be he would?
Speaker 2 (16:49):
I think probably? And there's so many to choose from,
but he would probably be a number one.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
And I know you know you were you were so
familiar like with broadcasting and with interviewing people.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Just give me your thoughts on this.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
So that we've been I've been debating for the last
several weeks that the directors that I hired, every one
of them except the police chief, touch Matter and public
Works director Stuby. I've hired and worked with him for
twelve years. And now the current mayor, John Ewing is
saying they will all be declined to be on my
(17:24):
show because I won't be objective and they would have
to defend him. To me, that is one of the
most absurd things I've ever heard, because number One, I
know what they're doing, and I support what they're doing.
I'm just I want to bring them on to give
the public information, and I think the public deserves to
be able to hear from these public employees that are
(17:46):
paid with taxpayer dollars. If there's a snowstorm, have public
works on, if there is a big development project, have
planning on, if there's a public safety issue, have the
police chief on.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
And now he's saying no, they can't. What's your thoughts.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
I don't like it, Jane. I think now if you
brought somebody on and it turned out that you were
doing an ambush interview and attacking the mayor. Then I
could see him instituting this policy. But you're right, you
have a long form show here where important information can
be transmitted to citizens of Omaha. People are saying, yeah,
(18:25):
what about this? What about that? We'll go to the
department head and get those answers. That's what we do
and our various shows all the time. And it was
not an adversarial there was an informational thing.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
And that's all I would do.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
In fact, I've had one director on so far before
he did this order, and that was the fire chief,
Kathy Bossman, Chief Bossman, and I had her on to
talk a number that the fires in western Nebraska. I mean,
I wasn't asking her to defend anything or to I
wasn't being non objective, but to just say, come on
and inform the people of current issues that people want
(19:00):
to know about, get facts about.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Okay, Well, I'll ask you if you had won and
John and we invited John Ewing to do the comment
line for an hour every day, and he accepted because
it wasn't a fun campaign. You guys weren't, none of
them were. No. But what your what would your posture
have Ben. If you suspected then apparently he does that
(19:24):
it would be a way for him to get back
at you somehow.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
See. I like the challenge.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
And I have been in so many forms and debates
with John Ewing, with my other opponents, you know, I mean,
Heath Mellow was an opponent of mine in twenty seventeen.
We're best of friends. Taylor Royal was an opponent of mine.
We're best of friends. I mean, you get over it,
you move on. But I have been in so many
debates with John Ewing and heard things he said critical
(19:54):
of me, and you know that's kind of how campaigns go.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
But I like the being able.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
To stand up there and say no, that's not accurate,
or here is what is accurate.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
I wouldn't mind it. I would like the challenge of it.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Yeah. Yeah, I think it's unfortunate.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
I think it is too four.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
I mean, whatever is between you two, to me.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
It should be water.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
The bridge side. The point for folks listening who want
to know about that big project.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Absolutely why is this bridge out? And that is something
I would never set with the directors. Well, before we
go into break, I want to say, well, talk about
one thing that I've been talking about a lot, and
then I'm going to bring up a few other things
and then let's open up the line for question. But
Artemis two landed exactly at the minute they said it
(20:42):
was going to land, right off the coast of San Diego.
Unbelievable what they did. They were two hundred and fifty
two thousand miles from Earth, more further away than any
human has ever been, and everything about that whole light
was just absolutely perfect. It was amazing to me, except
(21:04):
a malfunctioning toilet, and I guess that they got to
fix that, that's for sure if they're going to be
in space longer. But all those astronauts back, and the
one of the funniest things that I saw is when
they were showing them still on board the capsule with
that jar of Natella that floated, that floated in front
of the camera, and I thought it was so funny
(21:25):
because Nutella couldn't ask for a better commercial for the
rest of their lives. But good job to the four astronauts.
They're they're back on Earth now. I guess they're getting
used to gravity again, and what a what a perfect
flight that was, And now they're going to do they'll
have Artemis three about landing on the moon and then
onto what the goal is.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
There is a reason we say it's not rocket science.
Those people are unbelievable. They are unbelievable. We would have
a very short conversation, Yes, one of those one of
those NASA guys in me that would ad. I mean,
how do you do this? It's unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
How do you do it?
Speaker 1 (22:01):
And how do you know that you're going to come
be coming back in a ball of flames at five
thousand degrees temperature?
Speaker 3 (22:09):
At what were they at?
Speaker 1 (22:10):
At twenty five thousand miles per I mean, oh, good lord,
but they're back. It was successful, and I'm happy about that.
See it's like, I don't want to be called the
I don't want to be called the former mayor. You
don't want to be called the former host. Everybody knows
you're not the current host. I said, there's not one
living creature in Omaha that doesn't know I'm not the
(22:32):
mayor anymore, including my six year old grandson. So we
got to quit calling me the former mayor. But Gary,
one thing I didn't bring up.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
You're engaged to Linda.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
You're going to get married again.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
That is wonderful.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Well, that's a thing, and I've met her. She's great, Yeah,
she is. Huh. Engagement is one thing. Wedding isn't. I
mean that's down that's down the road. So I mean
we're not really we're not really talking about setting a
date or making those kind of plans yet, but we
wanted to, I guess formal as a commitment. And she's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
She is.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
She's bubbly.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Yeah. And as I'm sure you know, if you have
so much in common with somebody in common, that's huge.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
It is huge.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
We have so much fun, and you.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Know, you and I and Linda are all in a
group of people that we never thought we would be.
And that is we lost our spouse, right, And I
did it a little bit differently because I knew Kevin,
who I'm married to now years and years and years ago.
I dated em years and years ago, forty five years ago.
But we didn't even get engaged. We just said we
(23:42):
had that much. Yeah, we just had that much in common.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
And is he cheap?
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Yeah no, But you know he was living far away.
Linda's here. He was living in Maryland for the last
fifty years. That's where he did his residency at Johns Hopkins.
He's an anesthesiologist, and so I wanted him, you know,
and we started talking on the phone and then everything,
you know, the rest was history. But we just went
(24:07):
and got married. Yeah, and I knew I wanted to
be with him, so we went and got married. Of course,
people criticized us for saying I didn't wait long enough,
but you know, it's it's your life. And again at
our age, Gary, again you're so much older that lot. Yeah,
but decades like a year.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
But anyway, well, good for you and Linda.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
I'll tell you what. Since Roseanne passed and it'll be
nine years this summer, I've had a friend or two
who've lost their spouses and they'll ask me about, you know,
the process and when you get over it and all that.
I said, I don't give anybody any advice except except
(24:48):
don't let anybody tell you.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
How to do this exactly.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
And if you read books on I grief and mending,
that is the one common thread that individuals are and
how I mean I know, I know one one friend
who lost his wife and he was attached again within
well inside a year, and then married. Most are not,
(25:17):
but as far as how you handle that loss, I
can't tell. Everybody does it in their own way.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Everybody's different. Everybody handles grief and death differently. Even my
kids handled it.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
You know.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
I have two kids, and they handled it differently. So
you can't tell anybody when this is when they're going
to get over it.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
You can't say over it again. And I don't actually
like that term.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Oh I don't either.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
You don't.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
You never do right.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
No. Time is a great healer, There's no doubt about that.
But you still have your moments, there's no doubt. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
So agree, I was.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
I was fortunate, very fortunate, dated a little bit done
with that, and then here comes Rosie introducing me to this.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Lady, Rosie. I was going to ask you how you
met Rosie introduced.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
You twenty twenty three.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Rosie's a matchmaker.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Well I owe him and Jenna for this. One did
a listener cruise. He does a holiday vacations cruise, and
they had They did a Ryan cruise in October of
twenty twenty three, and the previous spring he'd been, you know,
promoting it. The deadline for signing up was coming, and
(26:31):
Linda happened to be listening that morning and she'd lost
her husband and she said that sounds like fun. And
she and her daughter went on this cruise and they
hit it off with Jem and Jenna and they would
talk every day. And so Rosie starts in, you, hey,
you're dating anybody? I got somebody who should meet. She
(26:52):
wasn't really interested, but he starts selling me to her.
And then he comes back here and he starts selling
her to me. You need to meet. Yeah, well whatever,
you know, and then he said, he said, okay, here's
the deal. Nebraska, Wisconsin, November eighteenth, twenty twenty three. It
was a night game. You come over, I'll have Linda
(27:15):
come over, and that way you can you can meet.
So that's how we met.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
He really is a matchmaker.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Yeah, And we texted the next day and decided, yeah,
we should maybe go out, and we went out a
couple of weeks later and just so hit it off.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
You know, yeah, that is great, that's great, that's.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
That's how So. Yeah, I owe Rosie, there's no doubt.
And Jenna, Jim and Janna, they were very and Linda
says that to you, we got it. We got to
always remember whenever he gets over the top, annoying that
he's the one, you know, Jim not always right, but
never in doubt. That's Rosie.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Well, I'm happy for both of you. And you know,
like I said, mine was different. I dated Kevin forty
five years ago, dating him for about a year. I
was a nurse, he was a medical student, and nothing
bad happened. We just kind of drifted apart and he
ended up going to Too Lane in New Orleans for
his residency, and we.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Just kind of drifted apart.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
I got married to somebody else and was married forty
one years, yes, and then we got back together. So
it was it was somebody I knew in the past.
You know, I had met his parents and I knew
his sisters.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
It's just a full story. I remember you introduced me
when we were down to the press.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Club for some of them, and yeah, he's a great guy.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
And it wasn't long after that that that you were
a married. He is a great guy. Yeah, he is.
How's old Kevin doing.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
He's old Kevin. If he's listening, Old Kevin is doing.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
He's a golfer.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
He was glued to the Masters all weekend. But he
is just he's keeping himself very very busy. And by
the way, for all you Facebook doubters, he loves living
in Omaha and he's been here for four years now.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Why wouldn't you.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Yeah, really, he sold his house in Maryland and you know,
moved here and he lived a block away from Chesapeake
Bay and I said, you know, you traded chest Peak
Bay for the Missouri River in I eighty that's where
we but you got me, So there you go.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Hey, a couple of things I wanted to bring up,
and then I hope we have some calls for you, Gary.
But the spring cleanup, I always have to bring that
up because that's something I worked on starting a spring
cleanup and a fall cleanup for the city of Omaha's
coming up. And I would love to have Public Works
on to talk about this, but they are not allowed
to be on this show. But I just wanted to
(29:39):
bring that up because it's a real convenient and freeway
for people to dispose of large items that don't fit
in your weekly trash ninety six gallon trash cart. Remember
before we got the new trash pickup, you could literally
put a sofa in a barbecue grill out on the
on the curb, and the City of Omaha would pick
it up. Well, we can't do that anymore because it's
(30:00):
got to fit into the cart. But the cleanup will
run from nine am to two pm on these Saturdays.
It's April eighteenth, April twenty fifth, May second, May ninth,
and May sixteenth. But you can get all that information online.
It's called Cleanup dot Wastelines ark HERB. You can Well,
there's drop off places. There's drop off places everywhere, and
(30:24):
there's things, I mean, they'll take mattresses, furniture, appliances, yard waste,
they'll take just about anything. They won't take things like concrete.
But it's a really good time for people to get
rid of stuff that they don't want and that they
don't want, you know, they can't dispose of on the
(30:44):
curb anymore. One thing is about that I want to
bring up is about recycling and when now we have
those ninety six gallon carts in the City of Omaha
for recycling, and the recycling has gone up huge amounts
since they started doing this. But one thing that people
can and you to put in a recycle bind. I'm
just going to say this are diapers don't do that.
(31:07):
Dirty diapers do not go and recycle binds either do
greasy pizza boxes. But there's but the recycling that's going
on in Omaha is really really increased too. So, like
I said, if you're interested in that, there's this is
a great chance to get rid of a lot of
the things that you don't want anymore. But it's cleanup
dot waistline dot org. And you could read about that online,
(31:30):
which is a great service at the City of Omaha provides.
And again it's free. And another thing I wanted to
bring up is that new library. Lots of people have
a lot of thought. What do you think about the
design of that library?
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Spectacular image as you drive it is through that intersection there.
I haven't been outside yet.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
It's pretty amazing. What the architects did. I mean, it's
it's it's a toss up about what people think about
the outside of it.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Yeah, I'm not sure myself. I mean, it is I
want it every day because it was I'd come through
seventy second dodge. It is every day during construction. That's
really interesting. I got to be frank with you, I'm
not sure. I like the front.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
It's different.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
I love that that the I don't know if candle
lever is the right word, but the stairstep design on
the windows of the glass on the side.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Is really cool.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
It's the front.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
I'm not sure what I'm.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
Looking at there, and I've had a lot of people
say that. And you know, it's changed from the beginning
because the beginning design from the architects, it looked like
an open book.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
It was supposed to look like an open book.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
And it changed from the original design, but it's still
it's got all that on the outside is glass, but
you ought to see the view.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
From the inside.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
I can imagine it's pretty spectacular. But next Sunday, April nineteenth,
the new Omaha Public Library Central Library at seventy second
in Dodge will open and it will be open to
the public. Now, recall that the central Library, or a
main what we used to call it, was a Clark
downtown that was demoed for the new skyscraper that Mutual
(33:06):
of Omaha is building there. But there was a new,
smaller downtown library built and open and it's very very popular.
A lot of people are in there, and it's more
fit to a downtown who the clientele is downtown. But
the old Dale Clark Library, a lot of people were
upset with that, but it was outdated, it wasn't safe.
(33:26):
Even the library staff was very unhappy with it. So
this library is really going to be something and I
hope everybody does come and look at it. If you recall,
it used to be in that corner was the due space,
which was a converted.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
From an old border. Yeah in Barnes and Noble.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
They're still on the second floor of this new library.
There is still a due spased area that has the
three D printers and on laser cutters and all that,
and then there's also a children's area on second floor.
The third floor of the new library has got a
lot of genealogy and local history collections. You know what
I wonder though, beautiful.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
With the location. Pardon me the next the next riot
we have, but it is it is that is that
glass strong enough?
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Well?
Speaker 2 (34:19):
And the doors will be opened probably and a lot
I don't ad a riot in a while. We have
a lot of protests and thank goodness, no kings, but
we haven't at a riot in a while.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
And nope, and that was quite a while ago.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
That was in the summer of twenty twenty, and they
usually if there's protests, they start at seventy second in Dodge,
and then the one in twenty twenty, it moved downtown.
But as they are now developing the crossroads, and that
after many slow downs, not starts and stops, that slow downs,
that is underway the corner, the northeast corner of seventy
(34:54):
second Dodge where pet COO is that the northeast corner
across from Crossroads that is and purchased by an individual
or or company, and that is going to be redeveloped too,
So that whole corner is going to be redeveloped, and
I think you're going to see a lot more activity there.
Hopefully no more protest, but well yeah, but.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
This grounds there. Although I suppose you could say geographically
now ninetieth and Dodges closer to the geographic center, But
there's something about seventy second and Dodge. This is where
we're going to be.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
And the traffic is a big concern there because that's
a busy intersection anyway, and when all that development happens,
you know, we talked a lot when we were working
on the new library. Is there going to be a
need for a pedestrian overpass there, something to get people
safely from one north side of the street to the
south side of the street. So that's all pretty exciting.
(35:47):
Now thing's going on here in Omaha.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
Well, I'm glad to hear that the Omaha mud Flats, sir,
I mean crossroads development is progressing.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
I drive by it every time I come here, and yes,
I mean they're grading it. You know, they have a
new development for now and the Woodberry's out of Salt
Lake City.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
They're great. They do this all over the country.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
So they take old malls and they redo them, and
so I think you're going to see a great development there.
We're going to take a lot of calls. I thought
there'd be some directed at Gary, but you know, I
think they're just so interested in listening to you. That
must be I guess that's it.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
Maybe you'll just have to come back.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
I got one for you, Jean, Yes, okay, we got damon. Damon.
Thank you for calling the KFAB comment line. You're live
here with Jean Stouthart and Gary Stdomayer.
Speaker 4 (36:31):
Good morning, Yes, yeah, good morning. I've enjoyed today. I
don't listen a whole lot, but I do live in
the Dundee area.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Gary.
Speaker 4 (36:40):
We moved down as young kids from Minneapolis in the
early seventies and then I travel a lot up there.
And when you bring up WCCO and Cannon Meschel, that
is some some good memories. And Cannon and Steve was
one of a kind, as you mentioned, well all of
those all his mean with all his voices.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Yeah, he was. He was a piece of work. He
would do just quickly for those that don't know, he
had three main characters and he did all the voices himself.
He was so good at it, practically interrupt himself and.
Speaker 4 (37:19):
Yeah, yeah, and Jeane. Many years ago, my mom was
involved highly with the Assistance League, which does a phenomenal
job for the children and needs. And I remember I
brought my dad and he was struggling with a few
things and I said, Dad, I'm I gotta go over here,
(37:42):
but please don't stand up. He kind of had some
balance issues. I come back and I said, Dad, why
did you stand Why are you standing?
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Well?
Speaker 4 (37:51):
I had to the mayor. The mayor just walked in
and I had to and yeah, and that was you,
respectful to you and anyway, just was kind of a
fond memory and you know what do I do? Yeah,
my dad for that, but of course I did it.
I did, and I didn't story. I'm a the public library.
(38:14):
Last thing we're we're uh, we've been in a dying
industry for years, were book binding and we live in
in Omaha, but we've kept the bindery out in Utica, Nebraska.
So the public library is sure nice to see from
you know, the downtown that you explained that was just
just worn out. So it is exciting to see that
(38:35):
new building and looking forward to to the growth of that.
And I think, again I'm dating myself. My sisters got
married there or they catered that corner. I think wasn't
it Gary? You'd know, wasn't that Kenny's? Was it Ken? Yeah?
He did pretty well.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
Well.
Speaker 4 (38:56):
Anyway, I've enjoyed the day. Just wanted to say hi
and well thanks for just kind of follow up with
some of your nice topics.
Speaker 1 (39:03):
Well, thank you, I appreciate the call. You know, the
legislature Gary is just about to end. April seventeenth will
be the final day of this session. There's going to
be thirteen lawmakers that will I guess they call it
graduate they are termed out, but after they had over
(39:25):
a thousand bills to consider this year. At the last
minute on Friday, they pass more than sixty bills just
on Friday to try to wrap it up. Holy col
I'm telling.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
You, I know, you wonder when we're going to feel
from that. Well, hopefully some of them are good. You
know what, I haven't been digging as deeply into the
legislation of the state as since I retired.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
Well, you know, we had Brad von gillern On, Senator
von Gilleran just a few weeks ago, who's very good.
You know, he used to be his family business was
Leader Construction and he's chair of Revenue Committee. And there
was one bill, it was eleven sixty five that finally passed,
and that was a bill from Pillen and Senator von Gilleran,
(40:15):
and that was basically meant to attract and retain major
employers like Union Pacific, and it kind of got that
nickname of the Union Pacific Bill, but it was for
all big businesses and it provides tax incentives for companies
that meet certain criteria to try to keep them here.
(40:35):
And you know, since a Union Pacific had the merger,
I know there's a there's a fear that they could
move down to Atlanta, and we don't have a lot
of business incentives here in Omaha, and so this is
something that I think is really going to help our
businesses here and hopefully keep the businesses here. There were
(40:56):
some that were opposing it, but anyway, he had since
I was married, when we had ConAgra moved their headquarters,
one of our Fortune five hundred companies moved their headquarters
to Chicago. There wasn't anything we could do to keep
them here because we couldn't offer them much. But we
don't want Union Pacific as another Fortune five company. We
(41:16):
don't want them or any of our others, or any
of our businesses leaving. So hopefully we'll find more out
about this bill, but hopefully this is going to be
very very good. Gary Settlemyer, thank you so much, ferbying
here today. Thank you for all of you who are
listening today. We're glad you are with us and hope
you join us again tomorrow
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