Gary Sadlemyer's Last Show

The Nebraska Broadcasters Hall of Famer signs off one final time as the regular host of NewsRadio 1110 KFAB's morning show.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is it the last day Gary Saddlemeyer will host
the morning show full time. Don't leave us Gary. You'll
still hear lots of Gary in twenty twenty six, but
we'll miss having him here with us every day on
News Radio eleven ten kfab.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
So onward here on this Friday morning. Hey, Baby's Morning
News is December twelfth edition. I'm Gary Saddlemyer. There's Jim Rose,
Jim Rose, Well and Tera gave me merciless late through
the morning. Lucy chappin time Saver, Drabbit, Greg at the
akerdask how you doing, James in the morning.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
We've been waiting forty nine years for this being on air,
roast for three and a half hours.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
How is that? What it is?

Speaker 2 (00:41):
It's not going to be that at all. Everybody knows
what's going on. The countdown has come down to lift off.
That's today and yeah, after forty nine seasons on the
old radio station, on the old torch, Gary's not going
to shut her down, but he's stepping back and we're
not going to have him every day anymore. He's going
to be on from time to time, which will make
it like a hot However, I will have you every day.
You will have us every day, Lucy stays I stay

(01:03):
Orhes moves up, and I'll.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
Be listening and critiquing.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, which we anticipate, which is why all of us
will be shutting off our phone.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
You just need to remember to leave your phone on
and bring it to the studio so I can harass you.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
Yeah. So people have asked if you know we we
had a parade of important people and uh, in all
shapes and sizes that wanted to come on and give
Gary a little bit of a send off, and we
were afraid it might evolve into a wake and that's
not what this is.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
I don't want that.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
And and technically you're not retiring. You're still going to
be on the dole around here, which what do they
call it?

Speaker 3 (01:34):
Semi? I mean I say I retired, Yeah, but you're
really you're really not. It's more of a some I
guess what they call semi. Yeah, you're you're stepping back.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
There are many ways to do it, and in some
cases and broadcasters like you will cut it back to
three four days a week first, or maybe come in
an hour.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
Or so later.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
You didn't want to do that, so, uh, this is
really more of a I'm not going to do the
morning show anymore on a regular basis, but you're still
going to have me around, which we're excited about. That said,
for thirty years you've been doing this one. You started
out on nights, and then you went to afternoons, and
then you did this one for thirty years, so people

(02:12):
have sort of grown accustomed to waken up to you.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
And it is going to be a little bit of
the sworn our costumes.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
So what we're gonna do here today up until nine
o'clock is just sort of have a little conversation. Think
of in the Actors studio, you know that famous am
celebrick where he'd sit there and just ask questions of
the celebrity of the director of the movie star, and.

Speaker 3 (02:34):
He would just intimidate people.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
He was really good and I enjoyed that program, and
I don't know what happened to him. Might have to
ask Bruce Crawford about that. But we're just going to
sit around and talk to you and sort of light
a cigar and pour a cocktail and look back on
forty nine years of serving the community, but also a
little bit about the saddler that people may not know
this is the thing they know you, but they don't

(02:59):
know much about it.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
Would they not know?

Speaker 2 (03:01):
Well, that's what I mean. You know, they know who
you are, and you know you've become a very very
good friend.

Speaker 3 (03:05):
But anything you want to know Studio, I know about
Gary Studio at kmfpab dot com.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Right, what's his favorite food? And you know who's his
favorite movie star? What was his favorite TV show? All
that sort of off. So we're going to get into that,
and uh and I'm excited about it. And obviously the
first thing we want to know and a lot of people,
probably because you've referenced it many times, you're from the
state of Minnesota. You grew up on a farm. So
what was it like growing up on the farm.

Speaker 3 (03:32):
It's great. I loved it. I look back on it
very fondly. You know, out in the wide open space,
there's a lot of fresh air and beautiful part of
the country, central Minnesota, a lot of lakes, beautiful crop land,
friends and neighbors and all of that. Dear hearts and

(03:52):
gentle people in my hometown. You know.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
So did you loved it? Were you into four h
did you like.

Speaker 3 (04:00):
Yeah? F f a band, choir, football, basketball, baseball. The
nice thing about a small town, I thought, a small
school you can you can learn a little bit about
a lot of different things. The big towns, the big schools,
you pretty much need to specialize if you're even good
enough to make it in one sometimes, you know. So
I appreciated that.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
Did you did you ever want to be on the farms?
You ever want to stay on the farms? You ever
want to you know, take over?

Speaker 3 (04:27):
And no, I recognized pretty early that I I didn't
have that. I didn't have that gene. Person is a
wise man. One said, you need to know your limitations.
And while I loved it, and I learned from my dad,
my brother and so on, I didn't have that gene

(04:50):
to really make that work. It's a very spec it's
a very special you know. People talk about, oh there's
no farmer. Yeah, well farmers are really high level operator. Yeah,
even back then, and and so I had my eye
on other things. But I love going back there. My
brother still lives there on our home place.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
And so your dad also owned a business in addition
to farm, And said, what did you grow on the farm?
You know, the regular crop grow crops up there to
have some animals yeah, cow's pigs.

Speaker 3 (05:21):
Horse, yeah, chickens, chicken. Yeah, he had. He had a
trucking business that he he started himself and was a
really smart businessman. His his first love was wheels and farming,
and so it was a perfect fit for him. And

(05:42):
when he had a chance, he'd be on he'd be
home working on the farm. But most of the time
he was working the business, you know. And I grew
up doing that too. I thought my baptism by fire
was driving a forty foot semi in downtown Minneapolis when
I was seven. Team you did that, Yeah, you have
a license. This is pretty real now they had what

(06:04):
they called a chauffeur's license. Back then, it wasn't a
you know, you knew how to drive a semi truck
through downtown Minneapolis.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yeah, by that time. I was a senior in high school,
you know. But you had I loved it all. You
had some training, you've done all.

Speaker 3 (06:20):
Well.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
It just grew up doing it. It was not like today.
Could you drive one today?

Speaker 3 (06:24):
Uh not?

Speaker 2 (06:24):
These trucks. Probably you may take some training. You'd make
a lot more money. Yeah. Yeah, see, but he did
great with the business, really smart guy. And your brother
took over that business too or eventually.

Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yeah, eventually, and now he's retired up there. They just
I thought you were going to do the tournament of rosies.
Well he and his wife just celebrated sixty years. Yes, yes,
and we're going to do that one next week. Because
I didn't want I wanted that to be a lot.
I didn't want that one.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
To be with the others.

Speaker 3 (06:54):
So yeah, but I loved all of it. It was
just a wonderful way to grow up. And of course
I would be jealous from time to time of my
friends who lived in town because they got to do
things during the summer that I didn't get to do,
like what they could go to swimming lessons, They could
play legion baseball. You didn't do them out in the field.

(07:17):
You couldn't play legion baseball as a kid. No, you
didn't play the high school ball. Yeah, but a little
town ball because those were you know, maybe a couple,
you know, a week night and a weekend. But no,
but that's okay, that's okay. They learned to swim and
I didn't. So and I'm still alive. I haven't drowned yet.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
Do you know how to swim?

Speaker 4 (07:39):
No?

Speaker 2 (07:40):
You still don't know how to swim? No, really, right, well,
you actually go over the Jewish when you're a little
kid or a young kid, you take swimming less. That's
the time to do it. That's the time to learn anything.
But you were surrounded by ten thousand lakes, yes, and
I jumped in a lot of them. Really, but you
didn't know how to swim.

Speaker 3 (07:57):
I didn't jump in ten feet, but I jumped in
a lot of them to the beach and stuff.

Speaker 2 (08:01):
Okay, but you never learned how to swim. That's something
you need to put on. I'm not the only one.
So then you go to high school. Now you went
to a community high school or was it a consolidated
high school? Was just Eagle Bend High? Yep, it wasn't public,
wasn't consolidated yet? No. Now back then, well, let's pick
this up. This is going to be an ongoing that's

(08:23):
actually we're having a little dialogue here. I guess we'll
do a that's a broadcast ease when we come back.
Gary gets to high school.

Speaker 3 (08:30):
Yeah, five forty six, And I knew this was the
last day and everything. But I was just going about
my routine like I always do. Sure, and I come
in and I could barely get in my office for
all the stuff that people had put up on the
door and in front of the door, and then the
gift bags.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
That great, holy cow, I have to say, ladies and
gentle people. One of the reasons that Gary's so popular
and has become really just beloved in the community is
because he doesn't think he's a big deal. And I
know that seems strange, especially in an industry with maniacal egos,
and you know, for example, I see one in the

(09:08):
mirror every day, but he really you were taken aback
by the response to your retirement. You didn't realize. I
showed you all of the social media posts and you
got really For example, at nine o'clock last night, before
I hit the pillow, I posted this on my Facebook page,
and I've got, you know, ten thousand followers on my

(09:30):
Facebook page, and by six o'clock this morning, there were well,
by five o'clock this morning, there were five hundred responses
to it. Lord, and that's just on mine. That's overwhelming
kfas or Scots or anybody else.

Speaker 3 (09:44):
So it really is.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
But we're gonna be talking about Gary all through the morning,
and by about nine. We'll get to today.

Speaker 3 (09:50):
You're gonna get me in a high school next day. Yeah,
all right, we'll be An Australian skydiver was pulled from
a cessna when his reserve shoots snagged on a wing,
but he he was able to cut himself free mid
air landed safely with minor injuries. I give that story

(10:11):
four out of five. Kranky's that one right there, that
would that would get your attention? Good heavens, Hey baby's
morning news. I uh, I love saying that. I love
sidling up to the magic mighty kababy microphone.

Speaker 2 (10:28):
Well, run out of phones ringing, everybody wants to get in.
You want to see who that is? No, well we're
talking about Gary. You're gonna do a little interview Gary.

Speaker 3 (10:36):
Morning, Lucy, Lucy chapin time, Saber traffic. Now, this massive
gift bag in here. I was busy doing prep, you know. Yeah,
do you want me to open that in here now
or what?

Speaker 2 (10:47):
I don't know?

Speaker 3 (10:48):
It was not yours?

Speaker 2 (10:49):
Okay, okay, no, but we will left a card at
your desk. Did you get that?

Speaker 3 (10:53):
Well, you've been doing that all week. I know you
can't believe what was around my No, I saw it
trying to wade through everything. But it's pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (11:07):
I'm gonna be Was that on your chair in there?

Speaker 5 (11:10):
The gift bag?

Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yeah, that's from great the big red one. They're everywhere,
Ernie Goss, Right, yeah, that's from Ernie Goss. Who was that, James?
I don't know, you don't know, wrong number? All right, Sadler.
Uh so we were talking about Sader getting high school. Now,
were you one of those really model students there in
high school? Or were you? Were you in trouble all
the time.

Speaker 3 (11:31):
I was a combination of because you can be more
than one thing in a small school, you know. It
was a combination of class, clown jock. It wasn't clique
at all. I liked everybody did okay in class. You know.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
I wasn't religious about it. You played all the sports. Yeah, Now,
how many kids were in your class? Thirty three? We
graduated thirty three. How many are left? Probably ten fifteen?
How many were left? Okay, So now he's answering the phone.
We tried to tell him not to do that because

(12:12):
we've got people calling in all the time. We don't
want we don't want that. Yeah, we got an old
friend on the phone. Okay, Well that's different.

Speaker 3 (12:22):
So what was your what was your question?

Speaker 6 (12:23):
What?

Speaker 2 (12:24):
It doesn't matter keep me. Who's on the phone now,
Mike McKnight. But you asked me.

Speaker 3 (12:27):
You asked me a question.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
How many people were in your class?

Speaker 3 (12:30):
Thirty three? How many our ten year reunion? Twenty three
of them showed up? That's not bad.

Speaker 2 (12:34):
But about your twenty year reunion, I didn't what about
your thirty years? I don't know we got ten.

Speaker 3 (12:38):
I didn't go. I didn't. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (12:41):
You didn't get they're dwindling. Several are are going to
the Rainbow Bridge, and I don't like that.

Speaker 3 (12:46):
You didn't.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
You see, you don't care about them anymore? Yes, I do.
Who's your favorite teacher in high school?

Speaker 3 (12:50):
Missus Nauman?

Speaker 2 (12:52):
What did she teach?

Speaker 3 (12:54):
She taught English Lit? Remarkable woman? Yeah, Michael, good morning. Wow.

Speaker 4 (13:01):
I had six hundreds in my class. So I know
you're an Omaha guy.

Speaker 3 (13:06):
Lincoln Lincoln, Yeah, Lincoln, which Northeast. So so you and
Rosie could get along?

Speaker 5 (13:14):
Well?

Speaker 6 (13:14):
No?

Speaker 2 (13:14):
Yeah, well yeah we were okay with Northeast people, not
just not East East people. We had no tolerance for them.

Speaker 3 (13:20):
Yeah. Well, Michael McKnight, it's great to hear from you.
Are you kind of retired but not really right because.

Speaker 7 (13:26):
I still I still see you.

Speaker 4 (13:27):
Sei, Yeah, semi retired.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
How's that going, because that's kind of what I'm doing.
How's that going?

Speaker 4 (13:33):
Not bad?

Speaker 7 (13:34):
It's not bad.

Speaker 4 (13:34):
It's not bad, you know, as long as you you know,
usually though, I sleep in on Fridays, except oh, I
was telling my wife only three things get me up
this early.

Speaker 3 (13:44):
In the morning.

Speaker 4 (13:44):
That's a fire at drug bus.

Speaker 3 (13:49):
Well.

Speaker 2 (13:49):
I appreciate you calling man, Thank you. Yeah, we're.

Speaker 3 (13:54):
Our generation radio, our generation and radio and TV people.
A lot of retirement, John Nicely, Rob McCartney last day
week from yesterday, Mike here and Dave wingerd I don't
know anybody else. They still do well. Kent does basketball,
Kent still does basketball. And Wingy yeah, wingy so wingy.

Speaker 4 (14:17):
Yeah, that's right. Well, we're all pushing fifty years.

Speaker 2 (14:20):
In the business, right yep, which is isn't it in
and of itself. That's a milestone to be in this
industry that long. You probably are not going to see that.
They're dropping like flies. Well, Michael, thanks, thank you. I
appreciate your goal. In Well, anytime you got number, you
call me anytime.

Speaker 3 (14:38):
We'll do lunch or coffee or something. Mike McKnight, Channel six. Yeah,
so thirty three of us. And that was enough though,
because you asked me earlier about the sports. You know,
you played eleven every every town back then. Back then
you played eleven man sixties.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
Yeah, so you had seventeen kids guys playing eleven man football. Well,
we probably twenty or so on the team we had,
so you only had like thirteen girls in a class
of thirty three. Oh no, no, I'm thinking the whole
year the old school. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

Speaker 3 (15:07):
Yeah, but every little town was vital back then because
the farms were every quarter mile there was a farm, right,
every farm family had between two and twelve kids, really
and uh, and they populated the school and they and
they and they patronized the businesses, and the towns were vital.
And yeah, you could have eleven man football and basketball

(15:29):
and baseball. We didn't have hockey, no really, yeah, the
real towns didn't accept up on the Iron range. So
it's where it's a religion, right, And then you played
your high school baseball. So what like you were like
Class C or Class C two if you were in
the break. If we'd have had classes, which we didn't,
then we'd have probably been D. I suppose I don't

(15:50):
know C or D and but no, there was no
there were no players. The state basketball tournament was wonderful.
It's open it. There were eighteen eight teams, that's it,
eight regions.

Speaker 2 (16:02):
I love those.

Speaker 3 (16:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
Uh so what were you? So? You were you? What
were your best sport? What did you play? What positions
did you play? I was probably best at football. I
enjoyed baseball more than anything else. The position did you
play football?

Speaker 3 (16:18):
Offensive line and kicker really, and of course defensive line
because you had to play, you know, because let's see,
let's face it, if there's twenty guys on the team,
some of them aren't exactly domin going to sue r.
You know, so you'd play both ways.

Speaker 2 (16:30):
You were offensive guard? What kind of offense? Did you tackle?
A tackle?

Speaker 3 (16:33):
Yeah, you were like a wishbone or no, it doesn't matter.
It was well were you hand the ball off and
try to get somebody's way?

Speaker 2 (16:40):
Because you could have been a pass pro. If you
had been a pass pro tackle, you might have made
it to the big time.

Speaker 3 (16:46):
I wasn't big on it.

Speaker 2 (16:47):
You weren't protecting the quarterbacks blindside? You were on the
right side. Yeah, and I knew my ticket was kicking.
You were a kicker, yeah, square toed, straight on came now. No, No,
I didn't like the square toe, but anyway, you're a
straight You were a straight on kicker.

Speaker 3 (17:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (17:02):
Did you ever have one blocked?

Speaker 3 (17:04):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (17:05):
Was it your fault or I don't know. Did it
cost you the game? I only know my buddy let
this guy through blocked it. I got this on the email. Uh, Gary,
you ask for questions. Who is Bubbles? Uh, well, the

(17:25):
playful nickname Bubbles my girlfriend. That's Bubbles. Really not her name,
that's just the fictitious pseudonym that he uses or has
used on the hu hilarry.

Speaker 3 (17:35):
And he says, you won't believe I'm busy. You'll be
in retirement. Others will help you fill in your time. Really, Yeah, okay?
Who is Bubbles? Yeah, she's my girlfriend. She's a very
wonderful woman. Person.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
Wonderful woman puts up with some of your mayhem which
leaves us all breathless.

Speaker 3 (17:51):
Well, I don't. I don't publicize her name because the
fact of the sad fact of the matter is there
are some weirdos. No in the world. Don't believe it.

Speaker 2 (18:01):
No, there are no. Well, we'll talk about bubbles a
little bit later. That's part of the its awesome, that's
part of the sadamyer Opus that were this morning. She
comes along a little bit later.

Speaker 3 (18:14):
In the well. I think, I think I'll look forward
to that, Lucy.

Speaker 8 (18:19):
You will, Gary Gary, Gary Gar, it's wingy. I'm sure
the tribute. So I've heard the tribute supporing and as
they should to you and your retirement. Ah as you say,
I'm sure we haven't heard the last of you on
the radio. I sure hope not. So I wanted to

(18:42):
just tell this little story about twelve years no, no, no,
twenty two years ago when I was sitting in Seattle
twiddling my thumbs, and you called me, said, Ling, why
don't you come come back to Omaha visit. I'll put
you on the air Saturday. That's what started this last
chapter in motion. I wouldn't be here, I wouldn't be

(19:05):
over a boomer. So I just wanted to say to
your listener that you are such a mensch the Yiddish
word meaning a real human being. And I love your heart.
I love your talent, all the gifts that you've given
us through the years, the gifts of your talent along
with Rosie. What a team. And I happen to love you.

(19:30):
And I know that's uncomfortable for guys to hear, but
get over it again. Saddy will do a terrific job
in the morning. And anyway, I know that we'll stay
in touch. But I just wanted to call and add
my name to the add my voice to the tributes
which you all, you so richly deserved this week, all right,

(19:51):
signing off wingy XOXO was a hugs and kisses, right,
all right, take care.

Speaker 2 (19:58):
Babe, beautiful right there here, t Yeah, great friend. We're
walking through the saddler opus this morning. Here through high school.
Right now, you're through high school. Somehow you managed to graduate?
Now did you want to play sports in college? And
did you have a shot go to the IVY League?
You were obviously a Stalwarts student. I had a shot
to go to Dartmouth. And after I did the s

(20:21):
A t or act, whichever the hell one it was,
I don't remember, I finished really high and so I
all of a sudden, I'm getting letters from all of
these nice university Dartmouth the IVY League.

Speaker 3 (20:33):
Wow. Yeah, And and that was a partial scholarship to
play football. And even even with a partial scholarship, my
dad looked at the numbers, said, son, I don't think
Dartmouth isn't I can't pull it off it. I mean,
the cost was unbelievable. That that's even worse. Yeah, Oh sure,

(20:54):
what about U of M? How about the go I won?
That's where I wanted to go.

Speaker 2 (20:57):
You didn't go.

Speaker 3 (20:58):
I got talked out of it. You got talked to
by who state school, some advisors.

Speaker 2 (21:04):
Really?

Speaker 3 (21:04):
Yeah, yeah, this is when this is when I learned,
you know. And I mentioned this over the years. I
always understood, well, because you've heard these kids that come
to Nebraska and walked on over the years and then
made it, And they said they they say over and over.
I didn't ever want to wonder if I could have

(21:25):
made it. I know exactly what they mean. But I got,
I got you would have walked on to play football
for the Gophers. Good for you. So I went to
small college up in Moorhead, Minnesota, Concordia, where my high
school coach was had been a star, and where the
coach up there was a former Viking, and I got

(21:45):
my eyes pretty big. So I went up there for
a couple of years, and then I got itchy.

Speaker 2 (21:52):
What do you mean you got itchy?

Speaker 3 (21:54):
I didn't. Well, I see, I wanted to I wanted
to be a coach and a teacher. And then the
first thing we heard we got there was oh, there
aren't going to be any teaching jobs and you guys graduate.
Oh that's that's a pretty good deal. Well that's not true.
Well it was then they were reading the tea leaves. Okay, Well,
I'd like to be a landscape architect. Well we don't

(22:15):
have that. Oh you wanted to be a groundskeeper. Yeah,
So I'd like to be a broadcast Well we don't
have that here. Why am I here? So I left
and I went to Brown Institute in Minneapolis, got married.
Radio school, yeah, and I got radio training a little.
Mostly I got a chance to get started in the business.

Speaker 2 (22:37):
So you wanted to be a teacher, coach, landscape guy,
broadcaster all at the same time.

Speaker 3 (22:42):
No, no, not the same I wanted to do one
of those thing.

Speaker 2 (22:44):
Of those, you were equally passionate about each of those.
And I also wanted to be a lawyer. So that's about.

Speaker 3 (22:50):
I mean, there were several things that I would have
been happy.

Speaker 2 (22:52):
I think people at Concordia were very frustrated by you.

Speaker 3 (22:55):
They wanted you to I was frustrated by them. So
you can find those hippies and the Speech and Drama department.
Good lord, Now what about the Vietnam War? Did you
do you have your draft card? What draft number were
ninety five?

Speaker 9 (23:06):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (23:07):
You don't ever. Let don't ever let Bill Clinton or
anybody else tell you they don't remember what they're doing.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
They five that would have put you in the Mekong
builta You know what.

Speaker 3 (23:15):
You know what happened? They do They do this lottery,
and they announced that morning or the week that week
that they were going to take night they were going
to take ninety five numbers. There's three hundred and sixty
five numbers for three hundred and sixty five dates in
the year, right, they were going to take ninety five,
and July twentieth came up number ninety five. I say,

(23:37):
you have got to be kidding me, so right away, greetings,
come down for the physical which I did over in
Saint Paul. And that was that was a day at
the beach. That physical but they found something that they
want to re examine me. And okay, in the meantime,

(23:57):
BE believed that pieces at hand reached an agreement at
the Paris Peace Accords and the winner of nineteen seventy three.

Speaker 2 (24:05):
And you swept the sweat off your.

Speaker 3 (24:07):
Brow pretty quickly, because then I got a notification nexton
called off the draft. I got a notification right away
from the draft board. Don't worry about don't show up.
That's how close it was.

Speaker 2 (24:18):
You could have been. I was going to go, Yeah, sure,
ninety five. Absolutely, you'd have been working tet.

Speaker 3 (24:23):
I wasn't going to go to Canada. I wasn't gonna
run away. I was going to go. And the only
thing that worried me was not getting killed, but worried
me was getting maimed, you know, disfigured or something. Anyway,
so that's how I'm getting captured. Maybe he went down
and finished radio school. You might have been in the
Hanoi Hilton with John. Might have been Yeah, you know,
it might have been. Na I think he's a little

(24:45):
older than me though.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
Well, all right, so that gets you to the broadcasting chapter,
which we will resume later this half hour. And now
the fun begins because the good Gary Satimaire stuff starting
with Krgi and Grand Island.

Speaker 3 (24:58):
All right, coming.

Speaker 2 (24:59):
Up, camp Biggy Camp Biggy Care Piggy. It's the Morning Watch,
pet having lapping start a happy day.

Speaker 5 (25:11):
The Morning Watch has everything to make your day, honey,
and music with the happy swing Cops.

Speaker 2 (25:18):
Keep you riding, Sonny, camp Baby, Campby care Baby, It's
the Morning Watch, Wake Up, get out, come on to
then listen to Camp Baby.

Speaker 10 (25:30):
The Morning Watches on the air on the day.

Speaker 3 (25:39):
Wow, somebody plug that into our digital audio system. Unbeknownst
to me, Rosie, I loved that stuff. That was before.
That's a little bit earlier than you. That was before
I was here. Yeah, ken Headrick, Yeah, Lucy, you grew
up here. And I'm honey, you remember that.

Speaker 2 (25:59):
I vaguely do because my grandmother listened all the time,
so I don't remember this. I remember that famous news
they had.

Speaker 3 (26:12):
I remember that they got our good friend Richie and
Papillion on the line here for a second, Richie, good.

Speaker 2 (26:19):
Morning, Really, guys, how are we doing good?

Speaker 3 (26:22):
What's up?

Speaker 10 (26:24):
Congratulations? You made it. I just wanted to.

Speaker 7 (26:26):
Say congratulations, enjoy it.

Speaker 10 (26:30):
Uh you know we're doing twenty years together, and you've
made me a better person and that really yes you
have YouTube, Jim, really you know, yes, yes, I am
a better person. When I first started with.

Speaker 7 (26:42):
You guys, that was all angry and yelling and everything.

Speaker 10 (26:44):
Now a little bit more like we.

Speaker 3 (26:46):
Like the angry Richard.

Speaker 2 (26:47):
That's why we put you on.

Speaker 8 (26:49):
I know.

Speaker 7 (26:50):
But you know you taught me how to how to how.

Speaker 10 (26:53):
To be better and to actually analyze stuff. And I'm
a better.

Speaker 7 (26:56):
Person because of you, And you know, I appreciate that.

Speaker 3 (26:58):
I was very kind of you. And you've got several
coaches successfully got several coaches fired now.

Speaker 10 (27:05):
And well yeah, well you know, now we just got
to get that big defensive line coach and uh, get
him out of LSU. I think you're supposed to be
going there and we'll be all set to go. So
things are looking good. And I hope we keep the quarterback.

Speaker 7 (27:17):
I really do.

Speaker 2 (27:19):
I hope we keep both of them. That's probably on.

Speaker 10 (27:21):
Yeah, yeah, but you know, look, you know they all
I mean right now, he is the better quarterback, and
just give him the money and let let him come
back for another year and let the chief kind of
you know, learn and stuff, and then keep recruiting and.

Speaker 3 (27:37):
You know what, Richie, you know what, I might I
might come back for football Fridays just for that. I
just love that for Richie.

Speaker 10 (27:44):
So that means I'm signing up for another year.

Speaker 2 (27:46):
Yeah, well that's up the Scott. Your contract's been renewed
for another year.

Speaker 10 (27:50):
Bee.

Speaker 3 (27:51):
Okay, apparently Rosie's making a decision now I didn't taking charge.

Speaker 10 (27:55):
Okay, Heyie, definitely definitely.

Speaker 3 (27:58):
Thanks for all hers in a friendship. I do appreciate it.

Speaker 10 (28:00):
Thank you too.

Speaker 7 (28:01):
Maybe go to the game together, you know, I'd love to.

Speaker 3 (28:03):
Do that, all right, but thanks. Richie and Papillion are
official Oscar fan seven to eleven. Now, Okayfab's Morning News.

Speaker 2 (28:10):
Another one of your little proteges that has done well. Yeah,
like Brinker Harding for he's a beauty brinker herding it
only hoped to get to where he is in life.
Listening to you and look he's made it city council,
the city council, and he had a run for he's
running for Congress.

Speaker 3 (28:27):
Wants to be in the Congress. That real estate guy,
and then Senate and then the white House, White House
Nobel Prize winner. No doubt he'll be uh, he'll be
on with as shortly, and I really admire him now
because of what I'm holding in my hand. Here the
Brinker brought in. That's a beautiful bottle right there, Rose,
That's a beautiful.

Speaker 2 (28:46):
I don't think people understand just how much of a
contribution they're making to your alcoholic affliction. I don't have
an affliction, but all of this booze that's stacking out,
you can start.

Speaker 3 (28:55):
I don't have an affliction. I talk a much better
game than I play.

Speaker 2 (28:58):
You don't drink as much as in say you do,
or you've led us to believe that you're in your
Foster Brooks to take us back to the seventies. You
know that famous Hollywood drunk.

Speaker 3 (29:07):
Studio dot com email? You want to fire one in
kfab's Morning Mews, Gary Saddlemyer Here, Lucy Chapman, Jim Rose
and Brinker Harding the esteemed city council member District Sex.

Speaker 2 (29:22):
Brinker six, good morning, good morning.

Speaker 3 (29:24):
Good brings you in. Thank you for the whiskey, by
the way, what's that? Thank you for the whiskey? Very
nice parting gift.

Speaker 2 (29:32):
The least I could do.

Speaker 9 (29:34):
Do you know what the guy that was that let
me in the door with the black headed cape and
the sickle.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
Yeah, that was a nice touch. That's Dundee.

Speaker 9 (29:42):
Before that, Gary, I wanted to come in and on
behalf of the city council had a proclamation wanted to read.
I'm not going to read all of it. It's kind
of long because how do you cover fifty years in
the proclamation? But I'm going to read parts of it.
I've got the official acclamation for you here too, and
then I've got another little gift at the end.

Speaker 3 (30:03):
Oh wow, So here it goes.

Speaker 9 (30:05):
Whereas Gary Sadelmeier will retire on Friday, December twelfth, twenty
twenty five, from regular daily broadcasts and his illustrious radio
broadcasting career spanning almost fifty years, and whereas Gary first
served as kfab's program director and hosted the station's first

(30:25):
live daily talk show before hosting kfab's morning news for
more than three decades and captivated generations of listeners as
the color voice of the Husker football broadcasts from nineteen
eighty to nineteen ninety five. Captivated and whereas Gary has
dedicated his life and career to serving the community through

(30:47):
interviews with city and state political and business leaders, providing
breaking news and severe weather coverage at all hours of
the day and night, and raising millions of dollars for
local charities by leading radiothons like the annual Hope for
the Hungry Event. And now, therefore, we the City Council

(31:07):
the City of Omaha, do hereby proclaim Friday, December twelfth,
twenty twenty five, as Gary Saddlemyre Day in witness, whereof
we have set our hands and caused the official seal
of the City of Omaha to be fixed on this
eleventh day of December twenty twenty five. Wow, congratulations and

(31:27):
thank you very much. That sounds very official. You know,
it is very official Gary saddle Meyer Day. And there's
a key to the city. How about that. It's a
key to the city. But it's a little The locks
have probably changed a few times since because it's the
key to the city from hal Don, I've had the locks.

Speaker 2 (31:45):
Changed many times since I was in there. But as
the key, since it's the key to the city, that
means you can get in anywhere. Yeah, I mean you
you just show that and if people have to let
you in.

Speaker 3 (31:54):
If I put this in and turn and does the
street car start up or yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 9 (32:01):
That's beautiful. A personal notek Gary, I want to thank you.
It's interesting, you know, kmfab's one hundred years old and
you have been here for half of that time, which
is absolutely incredible in a testament to what you mean
to the community. And we are forever grateful for what
you've done for us, and we'll miss you. We be

(32:24):
back on occasion, but truly, truly thank.

Speaker 2 (32:27):
You very well.

Speaker 3 (32:28):
You're one of the people that I've gotten to meet
leaders of all kinds in this job, and many have
become dear friends, and you're certainly among them, Brinker, and
thank you for that and for your accessibility.

Speaker 2 (32:42):
Thank you.

Speaker 9 (32:43):
Now you've heard the opportunity to come in and respond
to certain issues, and.

Speaker 3 (32:50):
Sure, well it's important. You know some people's are you
know he has a softball interview. What do you want
me to All I can do is ask the question
I know I asked.

Speaker 9 (33:00):
You've always been I think you've asked the great questions,
but you've always been fair. That's that's That's really what
I take away from it.

Speaker 3 (33:07):
If you antagonize people, you typically don't get them back
for one thing right now, But anyway, I appreciate all
of this and when was that? Was that Tuesday? At
the Tuesday meeting?

Speaker 2 (33:18):
It was at the Tuesday meeting.

Speaker 3 (33:20):
They had to they had to vote yes. Did anybody vote? Know?

Speaker 2 (33:23):
Uh? It passed unanimously.

Speaker 3 (33:25):
Oh geez, really we had.

Speaker 2 (33:27):
To do some late minute lobbing.

Speaker 3 (33:29):
And you've got when you've got some Commonists on the county,
which did you have?

Speaker 2 (33:33):
We don't have any Communist? What did you what did
you have to give up to get this to be
a unanimous proclamation? I know well the things I will
do for Gary. Yeah, this is we don't want to
go into I haven't got the communists to vote for Yeah,
I mean you don't want to get into the sausage
making down at the city County. We don't. We don't
have any. We have a we have a we have
a really good group.

Speaker 3 (33:52):
You don't have any communists, brink or thanks so much,
appreciate it. Let's get together soon, garys Adlmi are here
one more day And Jim Rose, Lucy Chapman, Rosie your
predecessor was Kent Pavelka on this show.

Speaker 2 (34:06):
As you know, tough fact to follow morning.

Speaker 4 (34:09):
Can big are man? What a day? Can I say
a few things as quickly as I can. How fast
time goes on these segments that I wish I could
be in there in the studio. We're going to Illinois
for a game tomorrow and I had to Lincoln in
a minute. But you know, uh so much to say here.

(34:31):
This is where the intersection of maybe wistfulness and enjoy
and meet At this moment. I can't tell you what
my heart is feeling right now. You know, you and
I started there long, long time ago, and all these
things are coming to mind, all the things we shared,
all the people. You know, you're talking to brinker Herding

(34:53):
about city leaders. Just think about all those people back then,
and how you know there misters in our lives together
in politics and sports and and the stuff at the
radio station. The people, the personalities and the bits and
the and the and the you.

Speaker 3 (35:13):
Know, incredibly rich, Yeah, an incredibly rich experience. Gem and
I talked about that a lot, either the people we've
gotten to know and I had the privilege to get
to know and become friends with over the years.

Speaker 2 (35:25):
Kat Less. I mean you were here when I got here, and.

Speaker 4 (35:29):
Yeah, yeah, by a couple of years, and you know
when it became I feel like I feel like I
haven't left Gary, I mean, and you'll feel the same way.
I mean, you know, I like to say.

Speaker 7 (35:39):
All we are is what we leave behind.

Speaker 4 (35:43):
And there's a couple of different meanings to that. And
so you know, you have touched the world, you touch
the community, and you know, those things ripple through in
subtle ways. And that's the that was the delight of
this profession. And gosh, I'm sure glad I walked hand
in hand with you. Thank you.

Speaker 3 (36:02):
I really appreciate it. Kent, we bet. Yeah, we had
a pretty close bond from the beginning, came up the
ranks with the same mentors and and I know we
we appreciate those guys. And you've got a heck of
a basketball team right now to call. You know, everybody,
everybody is excited about that.

Speaker 4 (36:22):
And yeah, this is this pretty special group. It kind
of reminds me of of those special football teams that
we you know, we're together for and and represented and uh,
you know, there's just something magical about the athletics. And boy,
how about those days.

Speaker 3 (36:39):
Back yeah, oh man, yeah, the highlight for sure. Well
can I know, you know, we see each other regularly,
so let's continue that appreciate the call this morning. Love
you man, Yeah you too. Have a safe trip to
Illinois and bringing back another w.

Speaker 2 (36:56):
They are good. I think they're pretty good. Only one
other Husky team has started at ten and zero. This
thing on Saturday at Illinois will be a real barometer.
We can either hang in there or win that one.
Now you can start thinking big, but.

Speaker 3 (37:10):
Well I think you can anyway. I mean, you're going
to You're not going to go undefeated.

Speaker 2 (37:13):
Well that's what I mean. They haven't won the conference
championship outright since nineteen seven, So that's.

Speaker 3 (37:18):
Yeah, look it, Liz and Oz one hundred and some
years and we're still thinking, yeah, this is this is
gon Be the year.

Speaker 2 (37:24):
Hey, you got to be optimist anyway. So that was
good for Kent to call in and yeah, you guys were,
you know, extraordinarily popular on the air, and I was
fortunate to work with you for three seasons and we
did have a lot of fun on the football games.
We'll talk about the football next hour, but we're talking
about Gary's opus here on eleven ten kf Ahbe. It's
the last day he's hosting the mornings. You got me

(37:45):
through Legend Radio. So now you're You're at k RG
I in Grand Island, Okay, fourteen thirty, which is a
legendary Nebraska station. How did you get there? How did
you go from the Twin Cities to Grand Island.

Speaker 3 (37:59):
The radio school, Brown Institute had a placement service, which
was its finest feature. Actually guaranteed placement service. Well, they
would get you a job, yep, so if you graduated.
So I did. And I'm sleeping it off one morning
and my ten I'm an apartment in northeast Minneapolis. It

(38:22):
is now occupied by Somalis, but that's probably probably and
and the phone rings and it is Hugh Phillips. Hugh
Phillips was the placement director of Brown. He said, I
got a deal for you. Harry Kaplan, the general manager
and Grand Island a KRG. I need somebody right away,
and I recommended you Grand Island, Nebraska. Yeah, I said,

(38:44):
Grand Island, ren What did you know about the state
of I didn't know much. Did you know anything about
the state of n I didn't know anything about Grand Island,
I thought, don't really, Okay, I said fine, So I
called him and and he informed me that it was
a town of thirty five thousand, very family people. I'm thinking, Wow,
I get to start thirty five because you didn't start
at thirty And so I said, great, accept it over

(39:09):
the phone, and be there on the twentieth of July,
which was my birthday, And that's when.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
I drove out here. Harry seventy three. Did Harry remind
you that you have to bring your own money? No? No,
I learned that quickly though. So you're doing mornings on KRGI.

Speaker 3 (39:25):
So my wife was. She stayed behind for a week,
finished her job and then she took a bus out
there and we had a little bitty apartment everything, and
that was I just absolutely loved it. But I almost
didn't make it.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
You almost didn't make it two Grand Islands.

Speaker 3 (39:40):
I almost didn't last last three months in not even
three months in Are you doing mornings? Yeah? No, no, no,
not then I was. I was doing like midday whatever, learning,
just learning. Less than three months. In October tenth, the
Vice President of the United States, Spiro Agnew, resigned under

(40:01):
a cloud of scandal. October seventy three, correct, yeah, October tenth.
What they actually got him on was tax of Asian
But they had the goods on him for all kinds
of scurrell of stuff. So I'm and this was over
the lunch hour, and I'm sitting there playing records I
don't know, Anne Murray or three dog Mate or whatever,

(40:21):
and there was a indicator light, big red light outside
the studio that was hooked to the ap wire machine
and it would start flashing.

Speaker 2 (40:31):
If there was a bulletin, like shots fired in Dallas.

Speaker 3 (40:36):
So it starts flashing. Then I run in to the
newsroom and I'm whipping through this copy and I don't
see any bulletin. Bulletins were always triple spaced, So I
reset the light, went back to the studio and introduced
Al Martina or something, and then it started flashing again.

(40:56):
Well what the hell? So I go in there and
now I see triple spacing and it says Agnew bullet
and take two and now there's all kinds of details,
So it's triple space the original bullet and just said
Vice President Agnew has resigned. So there was no triple spacing,
and which is what I was looking for because I
was in a hurt. And by this time the building

(41:16):
is filling up with managers and news directors and programmer
of all kinds. What the hell? Is going on. You
got to get this on the air. And I was
called on the carpet that afternoon the general manage, Yeah,
in his office with the with the program director and
the news director and the sales manager.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
You're twenty four years old years old and you're you're
in this gig for three day.

Speaker 3 (41:41):
Let me have it.

Speaker 2 (41:41):
And rightly, so what it was a big screw up,
So you needed to stop what you were doing put
that on the air. As that was saying, I thought,
this was it, this is it, this is it, gonna
get fired. And but but he let me survive, Harry,
let me survive that. You know, I always say you
learn more your first couple of month. It's on a
real job, and you're do in school, no doubt. So

(42:03):
all right, So one of those moments that I survived,
they said, now, luck if the red light goes on. Well,
everybody was talking about I don't care what you have
on the air, drop it in massive story. There were
no TV monitors, you know, and so I missed that
by about one, I guess ten or more minutes, which
was a big deal.

Speaker 3 (42:22):
The hell are you doing? Geez?

Speaker 2 (42:24):
So I have a Lucky Day calendar number that's what
I'm doing.

Speaker 3 (42:28):
How about if we bring in the greatest princess of
the money minute of all time and a dear friend
of ours, Courtney Dona, live from New York City. Courtney,
good morning.

Speaker 6 (42:39):
Oh Harry, what a big day today. I woke up
and I started to cry thinking about it.

Speaker 2 (42:44):
You started to cry.

Speaker 6 (42:46):
Yes, because you mean so much to me and so
many folks out there.

Speaker 2 (42:51):
I'm not dying, I know, as far as I know.

Speaker 6 (42:56):
I want to tell you on a professional note, you
are the most amazing mentor. I mean, you talked about
yours before, but you are definitely mine. You took me
under your wing and you made me better each and
every day.

Speaker 3 (43:08):
Oh sweetie, thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (43:10):
You're so amazing.

Speaker 6 (43:11):
It was like being in a masterclass of broadcasting every
single day.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
And she's still crying. I know, you better knock it
off or we're all gonna start crying.

Speaker 6 (43:22):
Well. Also, second, you raise your listeners up, and that's
why people want to tune in. I mean, I've been
on the radio with so many stations over the years,
and so many anchors just take what they call the kicker,
the fun story at the end, and they run with it.
We went in depth on the Federal Reserve, the bond market.
We broke down bankruptcies, earnings reports. You have done such

(43:43):
a service to educate your audience on the markets, and
that is amazing. You don't get this anywhere else except
for you. We also want a lulle O brow of course,
the we we can't forget the Slingshot Report. Actually I
do have you cued up doing the Slingshot Report. Here
hold one second.

Speaker 3 (44:02):
Okay, well, I mean you've probably got your sling shot, you.

Speaker 2 (44:06):
Got the grannies, you got I mean, you're all kinds
of but I suggested they go. That was that was
the Lingerie Report. Yeah, they do look like sling shots
branded you.

Speaker 6 (44:24):
Oh my god. It was so so funny. But but
on a personal note, I've been through a lot over
the yes you have, yes, divorce, a major flood of
varying cancer, and you've been with me, holding my hand.

Speaker 4 (44:37):
Through at all.

Speaker 3 (44:39):
Happy too, and so sweet of you to say, Courtney.
And by the way, by the way, I'm so happy
to report and I have mentioned it before, when you
got back to me that everything was negative and everything's
looking good, that was the best news of all.

Speaker 6 (44:53):
Yeah, exactly, exactly you've I mean, you have held my
hand through through everything, and even for listeners who are
not aware, behind the scenes, Gary is so wonderful and
he's so good. I was badly hit by Hurricane Ida.
For some listeners who weren't aware, I was in tears
back then once again, and I had no idea how

(45:15):
I was going to start to rebuild my home. And
the next day popping in my Venmo after the storm
was money from Gary. I mean, it just shows what
an amazing and loving person he is. I mean, you're
one of the greatest and broadcasting because you are you
every single day and always in the back of my

(45:36):
mind and everything I do, I always say to myself
with Gary, think that's good. With Gary, think that's interesting,
and I say that every single day.

Speaker 3 (45:45):
Well thank you, baby. Gee. I don't think I can
leave now, Yeah, I don't think I can leave. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (45:50):
I mean, the only person crying more than Courtney is
the sales manager because that's not true. Well, yeah, you know,
I'm sorry. This this is what it takes to keep
you around. Then we'll all start crying now. Nine good lord, No, Courtney,
that's such a wonderful and warm and loving message, and
I know this audio. The community loves you, sweetie, they

(46:10):
really do. And uh, you know, you're the one that
tells us what's going on, and you know everything from
Up's merger to Quest getting sold, I mean, all of
the stuff that affects all the hot.

Speaker 3 (46:21):
And I explained at the time why why you couldn't
be on Live with us anymore. And again I'm sorry
that happened, but we understand and the vagaries of the
corporate decisions.

Speaker 6 (46:32):
But we have I do have a big goodbye though,
from a lot of the people at Bloomberg, the village Idiot,
John Tucker, John Donagher, Dan Schwartzman, all the folks at Bloomberg,
we love you and we are we are so happy
for you. I mean, we all wish you joy, happiness,
and and of course most of all, no alarm clock

(46:52):
which we all get in the morning.

Speaker 3 (46:55):
No kidding, Well, Corney, God bless you. Thank you so
much for having time for us this morning.

Speaker 6 (47:00):
I love you so much, happiness and.

Speaker 3 (47:03):
Will be in touch. We'll be in touch.

Speaker 6 (47:05):
Of course you're going to come and visit me now.

Speaker 2 (47:07):
To do that, well, we'll all invade your place, you know.
Just we're not bringing ros the eastward. They'll come in waves.
You arned for a week, and then I'll come in
for a week.

Speaker 4 (47:15):
Then.

Speaker 6 (47:16):
Boy, my family loves Rosie, so he's always welcome to man.

Speaker 3 (47:22):
I wish blue skies and rainbows for you not going forward,
because you've been through the Valley of the Shadow and
it's looking things are looking up.

Speaker 6 (47:31):
And thank you for being there to always prop me
up and prop so many others up over all the
years and being a wonderful mentor wonderful friend and wonderful teacher.

Speaker 3 (47:42):
Thank you, Courtney. Yeah, I gotta get out and visit you.
I'll bring Bubbles. You got to meet Bubbles. Oh yeah,
he's wonderful, so excited. Yeah, all right, Courtney, Thanks.

Speaker 6 (47:54):
Love you, Congratulations, congrats Gary if the Swanson just wanted
to say thank you so much for all of your
years of service to the state of Nebraska.

Speaker 11 (48:02):
There's nobody like you. I don't think there ever will
be anybody like you. When I joined KFAB, I was
so nervous because you're such a legend. Everyone in the
state knows who you are.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
You set such a high bar.

Speaker 11 (48:13):
And I walked in your office and introduced myself and
you looked me in the eye, shook my hand and said, hey,
welcome to the team.

Speaker 3 (48:18):
Kid.

Speaker 11 (48:19):
You'll do great. That's the kind of guy you are.
That's what we're going to miss every single day.

Speaker 3 (48:24):
We love you. Gary.

Speaker 11 (48:24):
Congratulations.

Speaker 3 (48:25):
Oh wow, thanks Anne from the talkback Mike Well, I
got on the ladder and looked him in the eye.
He's about six eight. Ian was our afternoon host prior
to Emory. Now, Jean's father's on the line. Oh boy, morning,
former mayor.

Speaker 2 (48:42):
Farther how much longer.

Speaker 12 (48:45):
Am I going to be called the former mayor?

Speaker 2 (48:46):
I don't know that's up that you are to run again.
I guess Jean.

Speaker 12 (48:50):
Is fine right now. The Gary, congratulations on your retirement
and thank you for forty nine stellar years and broadcasting.
You know, I will say, in the past twelve years
I served as mayor, you must have interviewed me hundreds
of times, and many times very complex issues. You would
always give me at least sixty seconds to talk about things,

(49:13):
and you cut me off. But you know what, that's okay,
that's the radio. But you know, in all those interviews
you have told me many times that I.

Speaker 8 (49:22):
Only made you mad once.

Speaker 12 (49:25):
So I think i'd take that into conference, and we
have a pretty good run at it. So in many
of those interviews, I know we talked about a lot
of things, but we talked a lot about the streetcar.
We talked a lot about potholes. So I want to
leave you with two things. First of all, this is
my formal invitation for you to ride the street car

(49:45):
with me on opening days. All right, we're going to
be right there, front and center, and we're going to
ride that thing right down Harney Street. And second, about
the potholes or the ice or the snow. I want
you to put this in your context mayorscotline four four
four five five five five, and please call often, like
multiple times every day. I'm sure you're going to get

(50:07):
really good service.

Speaker 2 (50:09):
Now, well you should got there.

Speaker 3 (50:10):
You should get the coffee cup I got from Lucy
and Gina yesterday. It says every sip tastes like it's
not my problem anymore.

Speaker 12 (50:18):
You know, I have used that phree several times. Like
I said, my favorite Christmas song right now is let
it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow. Don't care,
it's not my problem anymore.

Speaker 3 (50:28):
Well, Gane, it's been great, and it took us a
while to come to an agreement on what this the
format of this program was like when we were trying
to do brief interviews on complex subjects. But we finally
got there, didn't I?

Speaker 12 (50:43):
Yeah, we got there. The Gary retirement is going to
be the best job you've ever had. You're such a
pro and you made this job look really easy and
everybody knows it's not. And you have a gift and
you will certainly be missed.

Speaker 3 (50:55):
Thank you, Jane very much, appreciate the call.

Speaker 2 (50:58):
You bet we'll do lunch.

Speaker 3 (50:59):
All right? There she has Jean Stoddard, former three term
mayor of Omahona, brask and a good friend. All right, yes, no,
no doubt. Yeah, I think of I think of the
years I've been here. I think of PJ. Morgan, Haldo
and Jeans South as the best.

Speaker 2 (51:19):
Three good ones. I got a lot done during their
time as mayors. O Zorro was pretty good.

Speaker 3 (51:25):
Okay, now we're moving on to Well, there was one
more thing at KRGI you wanted me.

Speaker 2 (51:28):
Okay, the people know about the Nixon Kissinger White House,
but you started in on Richard Nixon when he was
still in office.

Speaker 3 (51:35):
Yes, so nineteen seventy six, right before I came here
on an election day, seventy six November, or maybe it
was a day before. Anyway, I put I went in
the production studio and I recorded this thing with America
the Beautiful in the background. I did Richard Nixon get

(51:55):
out the Vote speech, and I just as a gag.
I knew it would never get on the air. But
I went in and played it for the general manager
and he's laughing. He said, oh my god, when's that
going to be on? He said, oh, well, I guess
about seven. So I played it on election day and
it was don't worry about the rules. I found they're

(52:16):
not necessarily the most important thing. Vote as many times
as you want. Just stuff like.

Speaker 2 (52:21):
That, you know, something Nixon would say, And holy cow,
holy cow, the blowback from that. Some of the old
guard Republican Nebraskans with juice and money got on the
horn to Governor Throne, who got on the horn to
his good friend Dick Chapin, who was the president of
our company. And then he got on the horn to

(52:43):
my boss, what the hell's going on out there? And
Roger told him, and thank god, Dick thought it was great. Yeah,
he loved radio. Yeah, he said that's hilarious.

Speaker 3 (52:57):
Yeah, because I could have They could have thrown me
out of there if he didn't like it. Sure, you
never know what's going to happen. I've survived a few things,
so you've.

Speaker 2 (53:06):
You've never gotten the guillotine, which is maybe one of
the things about your career that is the most remarkable,
because in this business, there it is right there. If
you're in it long enough, it's like a badge of hones.
You know, it's been close three times probably, but to
those of us who have you know, had to go
find our head and put it back on a couple
of times. The fact that you've never been kneecapped in

(53:27):
the business is hard. You've been through a lot of
general managers, a lot of owners, a lot of program directors,
a lot of athletic directors.

Speaker 3 (53:35):
I've been blessed and really, you know.

Speaker 2 (53:37):
Partly because you're good and partly because you've never teed
it up with people. I mean, you've always been hey,
you know, I'm just to get along guy here, and
you didn't. You didn't step out of bounds, which in
an egocentric business is usually what gets you nailed.

Speaker 3 (53:53):
This will sound self serving, but I don't mean it
that way. This to me, I never got into this
for the usual look at me reasons. So a lot
of people in broadcasting, look, I've known a lot of them.
A lot of them are egomaniac.

Speaker 7 (54:06):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (54:06):
Yeah. The attraction to me was never that. The attraction
to me was as a young kid. I'll bet that's fun, right,
I'll bet look at that. I wanted to be that guy.
I've listened to him, you know, very well said, and
it is fun. It's just as fun today doing this
as it was in nineteen seventy three in Grand Island.

(54:26):
I got an email earlier. Do you remember the first
record you played on KFAB No, I don't, but it
was probably Tammy Whyett or something or Berry Mantel. And
do you remember the last one you played before you
switched to talk And yes, I do. It was the
day the music died? Ha ha, I did perfect? Is that? That

(54:47):
was November of eighty nine. Yeah, I think.

Speaker 2 (54:50):
Well, your enduring optimism and sunny outlook was in stark
contrast to the perfunctory nature of talk radio, which is
I'm going to challenge you, and I'm going to argue
with you, and I'm going to start an argument. You
never started arguments. Now, the rest of us all started arguments.
You you looked at it like, Okay, I'm not going to

(55:11):
start an argument. I'm just going to have a conversation.

Speaker 3 (55:13):
Let's discuss it.

Speaker 2 (55:14):
And that's that's amazing.

Speaker 4 (55:16):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (55:17):
Now, the industry itself rewards arguments. So you were able
to thread that needle nicely when you were doing a
talk show. I didn't mind having disagreements, but I wasn't
a screamer, and you weren't disagreeable. Or that's the big
thing is we were mostly trained in our industry to
be disagreeable. You just said, that's not me, right, I'm

(55:38):
going to have it. You can't be it.

Speaker 3 (55:39):
You can't be if I you know, young people sometimes
have come and ask for ask me for advice. The
only thing I can tell you, don't try to be
anything that you're not right when you crack the mic,
because you can't sustain that. I would never know how
to do that. Well. All right wing concern No, that's
just my opinion on things. When we talk politics, that's all.

Speaker 2 (56:01):
But there's more.

Speaker 3 (56:02):
Not an act? What about sports? What about entertainment? What
about funny stuff? What about pop culture. What about the
street is not all politics?

Speaker 13 (56:10):
Gary, Congratulations from your official KFAB Evil Insurance Man.

Speaker 2 (56:16):
It's a special kind of courage and maybe brilliance to
retire while you are on top.

Speaker 3 (56:21):
You are a.

Speaker 2 (56:21):
Legendary broadcaster and we've all benefited by your wisdom and
good natured, awesome humor. Best wishes for your many adventures
to come.

Speaker 3 (56:31):
Ah, thank you Art. That's our jetter.

Speaker 2 (56:33):
Yeah, the official evil insurance He rose to start him
during the Obamacare origins.

Speaker 3 (56:39):
Yeah, where they trash the insurance. Yeah, mystry and anybody
associated with it. So we needed an official evil insurance man.

Speaker 2 (56:47):
All right's eight thirty seven eleven ten kV B. So
we've left Grand Island. How did you get the gig here? Well,
when I decided it was time to leave KRGI KRGI
summer of seventy six, I was not thrilled as much anymore.
Wh why is that?

Speaker 3 (57:06):
Various things happening? But I didn't want to do that.
I didn't want to do the market hopping, which was
very common. Sure, okay, you go to this down a
little bigger of the station, then you go to the neck. No, no, no, no,
I knew the KFAB was a rocket Gebraler and it's
like the station I grew up with in Minnesota, WCCO.

(57:28):
And so I had been befriended by a man in
Grand Island, my dad's generation, who was a real character
and Charlie Winkler, and he was a friend of Lyle Bremser's.
He was a great Husker fan and he knew Lyle
and I was talking to him and he said, well,
I'll put in a good word for you. So so

(57:50):
who he did? He did, and I called and Mary
put me through to mister Bremser himself.

Speaker 2 (57:57):
Do you have a tie on?

Speaker 3 (57:58):
Yeah, this is probably August. And he said, well, I'll
tell you here. You're doing good work out there in
Grand Island. I said, well, I hope so, mister Bremser,
thank you. Well, I don't know if we have anything
right now, but you should talk to ken Headrick Ken
was the station manager. Thank you. So I called him again,

(58:20):
man who I still consider my radio dad to this day,
and he said, send a tape that's how you did
it back then, a little reel of tape and a resume.
He said, we don't have anything right now, but i'd
like to keep it on file. So I did, and
didn't think that much more about it. This was probably
August of September. I'm thinking, and lo and behold one

(58:43):
of the evening announcers left here in early December or
late November, whatever it was. And I get a call
from Ken like you to come down for an interview. Okay, key,
now it's moving. Yeah, And so he and I came
in here in this building. It was right around Thanksgiving,

(59:05):
I remember that a little before, and met Walke cavan
On all these people and and interviewed with Kennon. He
offered me the job on the spot, and so I said,
let me give it a little thought.

Speaker 2 (59:24):
Of course, that took fifteen minutes.

Speaker 3 (59:26):
So I talked it over with my wife and talked
to some other people out Grand Island, calling him back
and happy to accept. Then. So that's how that happened.
And I came here and well, tomorrow will be forty
nine years tomorrow at thirteenth December thirteenth.

Speaker 2 (59:40):
Now, who were your influences? You talked about WCCO, which
for many years was the number one station in the country. Huge, Well,
who were your broadcasting influence and we know your sports influences,
but what about on the air guys Roger Ericsson, Czo, Yeah,
Charlie Boone up there, Howard Bike and just it was

(01:00:01):
it was like you know the Courtney talked earlier about
a masterclass. They have the opportunity to listen to those
guys and and how they they they were all about
communication and not being the high everybody, and here we
got you know, I mean they actually talk to people
and wonderful, wonderful station. That's what I and of course

(01:00:22):
our local stations when they were playing records and you know,
and I'd listen to that and I would imagine doing that,
And like I said earlier, Rosie, it was all about
I think this will be fun. Did you ever want
to get back there? I mean you're a Minnesota guid, Yeah,
I want to get back to see.

Speaker 3 (01:00:35):
For a while. Yeah, I did for a while.

Speaker 2 (01:00:38):
All right, now we have a parade of people coming
in here.

Speaker 3 (01:00:40):
This is a studio doors opening up. Oh my gosh,
looky here and all these people. What's left of a
staff here at the blowtorch is the food is across
the hall and.

Speaker 2 (01:00:52):
Wow, hi everybody, let me turn that mic on over there,
having that one on? Who are who are these people?

Speaker 3 (01:00:59):
Well? There's Jonny.

Speaker 2 (01:01:01):
Obviously we opened the door and just let anybody in. Right,
are we getting pictures? Were getting video here? Got it?
We only hope, So, yeah, we're gonna need something. There
was I Well, you're talking about wanting to get back
to the CCO. But that never happened. No, I didn't.

Speaker 3 (01:01:16):
It didn't. It came close once, but no, So you
had a chance. Yeah I did, Okay, but by that
time my family was all my kids were born here
and I loved it here, and so I just never
never connected. But that was the origin that station. That
was an unbelievable place to have an opportunity to listen to.

Speaker 2 (01:01:37):
Did you think you'd make it forty nine?

Speaker 3 (01:01:39):
I never thought about it. You just come to work
every day, you know. That's really the thing. That's why
you all. God bless you. I love you all. You
think this is a much bigger deal than I do,
because all I did was come to work every day. Scott,
you understand.

Speaker 13 (01:01:55):
Yeah, since everyone's here and I don't mean to interrupt,
oh please, biography has been going on throughout the morning.
All of this will be posted on the podcast length
morning show good Lord Real fab dot Com later, but
with everyone here. I just wanted to tell you Gary,
obviously you know how much you not only mean to
us here in the building, but to all the listeners
of this radio station over the decades. And that is why,

(01:02:18):
just like it's tom osburn Field at Memorial Stadium, we
have a sign down the hall. We'll be putting it
up later this morning. This studio is now here toofore
dedicated the Gary Sadlemeyer Studio here at NewsRadio eleven kfab Really.

Speaker 3 (01:02:36):
Is it a real sign, which is there's something you
wrote on a piece of paper.

Speaker 2 (01:02:41):
But just so you know, the letters will be easy
to remove, so it's not like we're gonna chisel it
into you know, granted or anything. So if you know
that's if you hop the corral and pull a Sharon
Moore or something on us, we can pull those letters
right off.

Speaker 3 (01:02:54):
Sharon Moore. Man, how can you screw up a career? Well,
I think Gary, I think they have official charge will
be laying pipeing and unauthorized vagiant. I think when they
go to court, I think that, well, they got to
reign him and there's got to be some charge that's
a fireable offense right there. So I shouldn't have said
that you needed to go another seventeen minutes. Okay, Scott,

(01:03:19):
thank you so much, Scott, I appreciate.

Speaker 2 (01:03:21):
It was nice. Well last year we'll take a sign out.
Besides we had a misspelled anyway, so well, thank you everybody.

Speaker 3 (01:03:31):
We got to move on here and got a minute here.
But our good friend Greg Wagner from Nebraska Game in
Parks Gregory thirty years, huh, thirty years, thank you?

Speaker 5 (01:03:42):
Congratulations. You know you and I have been doing this
thirty years since nineteen ninety five. Yep, every morning, every
Friday morning.

Speaker 3 (01:03:48):
Friday, except when you were out on a duck blind
or something.

Speaker 5 (01:03:52):
Yeah, but you always had a grasp of the outdoor community.
You're from Eagle Bin, Minnesota, I mean, but you got
it and people appreciated it, and you understood the doresca
landscape as well.

Speaker 2 (01:04:06):
So many thank yous. I can't think.

Speaker 3 (01:04:08):
I can't thank you. You're very kind of you to
say and people.

Speaker 2 (01:04:11):
Ask me, what's that?

Speaker 5 (01:04:12):
Gary Settlemer, I really like Rosie. I tell him he's
the nicest guy you'll ever meet.

Speaker 2 (01:04:16):
That's true. What you hear is what you get, what it.

Speaker 3 (01:04:19):
Is what it is?

Speaker 5 (01:04:20):
Well, but many things very kind from the outdoor community
to you.

Speaker 3 (01:04:24):
Well, you've been a terrific ambassador for well I don't
know about outdoors and outdoorsmen and fisher people, fisher men
and women and campers and hikers. And you're great, Greg,
Thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (01:04:36):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:04:37):
Yeah, you'll still do the Friday with Scott.

Speaker 2 (01:04:39):
Oh yeah, Scotty even continue. I get a bug Rosie.
You got to keep him going.

Speaker 3 (01:04:43):
Very good, very good. Well let's get to the Rosie
de genoi. On that note, it's eight fifty Jim, all right, Sat,
Good morning everybody.

Speaker 2 (01:04:49):
So what does it say about a guy who has
been at the same place, doing essentially the same thing
for forty nine years. Well, it says a lot. Maybe
he's managed to channel his inner George Costanza and how
the fictitious seinfeld Schlub strategically moved his car around the
parking lot each day, duping his dim witted bosses into
thinking he was working twenty four to seven, or what

(01:05:12):
he does here is so remarkably insignificant nobody ever noticed.
Or maybe and I think this is it. Each day
for forty nine years, he sets such a standard for
excellence it is impossible for anyone else to duplicate it
much less exceeded even if he didn't know it. So
we simply wouldn't let Gary Sadlemayer go. But now it's

(01:05:34):
time warning. This daily attachment won't be easy to break.
Forty nine December thirteenths ago when Gary introduced himself, it
was in kfab's heyday. In those times, one third of
every radio in use at any time of day or
night had it tuned to this station. In some cases
more like half the radios. Kfab's nickname at that time

(01:05:58):
was your good neighbor, and anybody on the air better
sound like one or the bosses back then would get
new neighbors at the time they needed a night guy.
Nights were a good gig. Fifty thousand watts signal when
so many other stations turned off at sundown meant that
our signal beamed from Dundee all the way to the

(01:06:18):
Pacific Ocean. Suddenly Gary was the next door neighbor to
a lot of people, which explains the geographical expanse of
listeners not very happy about today. From that very first moment,
we were glad he moved in at first day, just
as now every day we heard a smile in that
warm and wonderful voice. For forty nine years. That voice

(01:06:39):
kept us up to date on things and made us
laugh with a joke or a line, or a celebrity imitation.
Always funny, never stung. This was the neighbor with which
you'd like to spend time after work, or over a
beer or a cocktail or glass of wine. You got
the feeling if you needed help shoveling the snow, or
raking the leaves, or watching your house while you are

(01:07:01):
on vacation. Gary is the first neighbor that you'd ask
for forty nine years. He's been right next door with
the light always on for forty nine years. Gary shared
that voice in times of great joy, the Miracle on Ice,
the hostages home from Tehran, the fall of the Berlin Wall,
and national titles from High Top Memorial Stadium. His neighborly

(01:07:24):
voice is also the one that we turned to when
John Hinckley fired at the President, the Challenger didn't come home,
and when the planes struck the towers. But somehow, even
in times of great pain and fear, it was our
neighbour's warm and reassuring voice that said to us, yes,
this hurts, but we'll get through this together, just like
a good neighbor. He's been here each spring when our

(01:07:45):
kids graduated from high school, there each day before Christmas,
reminding us it wasn't too late to pick up one
more gift. For forty nine years, he's told us who
won the election, and what great movies are in theaters,
the cops caught the bad guy, and you've got to
try this new restaurant, or send us a check so
we can give somebody without a Thanksgiving dinner. For forty

(01:08:08):
nine years, Gary has nagged us to remember a light
jacket before heading off to work and keep close because
we might have a tornado this afternoon. How lucky for us,
the most talented broadcaster also just happened to be our
best friend. And that's what makes this bond and attachment
between this nice man and this audience so unique and

(01:08:29):
lasting every day for forty nine years, proving how much
more powerful it is to be appreciated than glorified, to
be respected than celebrated, to be understood and loved than idolized.
Gary Sallamayer made us realize that friendship will always be
more important than fame. Yes, it has been forty nine

(01:08:50):
December since our friend, our mentor, our leader, our inspiration,
our living example. Gary moved in next door. Well, that
doesn't sound like a good neighbor. That sounds like the
best one. And Gary, your life and career has been
a blessing and a gift, and your work is done.

Speaker 3 (01:09:08):
Not you too.

Speaker 2 (01:09:10):
I told Courtney you are loved and cherished and will
be forever in the hearts of all of your neighbors.

Speaker 3 (01:09:17):
Thanks, thank you, brother Jim Rose. I love it. Well,
that's it. I don't know what to say for my
last words here on as the daily host of the
morning show except a heartfelt thanks to everybody, Jim and
Lucy and Scott Craig and everybody here and and this

(01:09:42):
wonderful radio audience. I just really have loved every minute
of it. And Scott needs a break. I'll come back
maybe and fill in. I have a wonderful day and
a wonderful life. It's eight fifty six.