December 24, 2025 • 24 mins
Merry Christmas from all of us at NewsRadio 1110 KFAB!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to the studios the uh. I think he
used to work on this radio station and host this
program for the better part of the last thirty years.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
It's Gary Saddlemyer.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Make it thirty five, Good morning boys.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
On the Morning Show? Did we finally deteine thirty on
the Morning Show? Nearly fifty with the station? And we
promised when you left regular broadcast a week and a
half ago that you pop in here from time to time.
Welcome to the festest, festering Christmas even Street I do
(00:33):
of Nebraska's morning news.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
Merry Christmas, my friend, Merry Christmas.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Boys.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
You're sitting in the wrong chair. Have you rethought your
decision to retire?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Just this morning, I've roused myself. I'll tell you what
week and a half. Yeah, you can get used to sleep.
You can get used to sleeping later. Yeah, yeah, well
later for you. Well, I've made it to five every morning,
that's really and then and then Friday I made it
to six, and then six thirty or so. So I
(01:05):
had to set the clock. Yeah this morning, and it
started acting at me at five point fifty and said, man,
I don't know, Oh yeah, that's right, that's right. I'm
going in with the boys. Yeah, well so I'm a
little tardy. But you wouldn't want me to not shower
before I came in here. It'd be a switch. We didn't,
(01:27):
can I are you guy. I gotta tell you, I
really enjoyed listening. I'll thank you. I really am.
Speaker 5 (01:32):
It's whenever we're carrying on, you screwing it up. But
I know I look at it.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
There's there's been a lot of this in the Zonker's
Custom Woods inbox.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Over the last week and a half.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
I miss Geary.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
It's just one email after the other.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
I miss Geary.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
It just never stops and its fine. And I replied
to everyone and say yes I miss him too. You
remember we didn't fire him. This was Gary's decision, wrong
as it was fired myself. Yeah you you retired. I
want to point out one thing that we didn't talk
about while you were in here for not just the
last show a week and a half ago, which is all.
(02:09):
It's still posted on the morning news podcast link at
kfab dot com. Still getting a bunch of clicks that
leading up to that show, and especially on that show,
Gary Sadelemeyer was sick as a dog.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Yeah, I really was I had a rare double header
right around Thanksgiving. Yeah, I got what I thought was
a regular cold, you know, head cold, and then it
morphed into this massive congestion. So I got on some
antibiotics and then that went away. And then right away,
(02:45):
like a week later, I get fleu. They swapped me
and it was influenza A. And there were several mornings
where I should not have been You could not have
been in here, but you were out of town. Well
Thanksgiving Giving? Yeah that, but I mean double header, that
doesn't happen.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Yeah, you went through all the influenzas A, B, C, D,
the one to one. Did you get M?
Speaker 3 (03:08):
No? I got the A. A is bad enough. Doctor.
Doctor told me that if you get influenza A, remember this,
it's trying to kill you. Wow. Yeah, the flu is
trying to kill the host. That's what it killed.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Back in the day when they called it something else,
it killed millions.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah, COVID.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Well, I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 5 (03:27):
Bonic plague is now known as influenza, So I don't
know about.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
The flu shot anymore. I mean, I got mine.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
I'm fine.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Are you telling me they didn't have influenza A? And
that flu shot.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Antibody's but you powered through.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
I did well.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
I had to you were you were like, I wonder
if I need to call in sick on my last show.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
We've been building this up for weeks.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
No we made I'll tell you it was so much fun.
People were unbelievable, unbelievably kind. You had a chance to
respond all the no I killed Sorry, I can't. Yeah,
there's no way. I'd have to have two secretaries and
then we'd get an we all know what happens.
Speaker 5 (04:04):
Secretary HR was created as a result of Gary and
his secretary.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Hey Gary, what are we doing now on the morning show?
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Oh? I think it's time for Rosie, Jim Rose.
Speaker 5 (04:15):
All right, Sather, all right, Scott. The whole group's back
together again.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Got Jim Rose, Craig Evans here, I am Scott for
he is, and Gary Sadlemeyer is back here in the studio.
Though so we noted you're in the wrong chair. We
are both in the wrong chair on so many levels
here physically and professionally. But it's great to have you
back in the studio, my friend. I know that our
Christmas spirit was dampened yesterday with the news about our
(04:41):
friend and former Nebraska Senator Ben Sass And certainly a
diagnosis is one that you take personally.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Yes, when I went when he posted metastasize metastasized stage
four pancreatic cancer echoes and when my wife Roseanne got
exactly the same diagnosis, and the first thing that the
doctor at YOU and MC said when she came into
the room and confirmed it, said it's incurable. You need
(05:13):
to know this, And Ben said that now they have
made some progress since, but it is the toughest one.
I think. Can't detect it until well, yeah, that's the thing.
If you happen to get a stage one diagnosis, you
got a shot, but you rarely do because there aren't
any symptoms until it's advanced. And it's hard to see.
(05:37):
It's hard to see. I mean, the first scan that
Roseanne had after treatment showed nothing, but it was still there.
So it's very hard to detect. The pancreas is kind
of hiding among the other organs. But I know they've
made some progress, and I don't know where Ben, I
don't know for sure where he lives now, where he'll
(05:58):
be going for treatment. They have war old class treatment
at U and MC so he's it's just it's just
totally sad.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Still down there in Florida. He's a he's a full professor.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
So he's still living there. Yes, I know it's back.
Speaker 5 (06:12):
And forth he goes, but yeah, he's he's a full professor.
So he is an employee of the University of Florida.
He was the president for a relatively brief amount of
time and and exited there to be I think at
the time, if you recalled, he wanted to spend more
time with Melissa. His wife has been struggling with significant
health problems for most of our adult life. Uh, and
(06:33):
this allowed him the flexibility to do that. So I
presume he's got some sort of residency in Florida still
so as to maintain that. I will say this, but
it would be great if he came back to Nebraska
somehow made it back to Nebraska.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Every case is individual, of course, I will I will
say this if it's similar to what my wife had,
if he is able to tolerate the treatment she she's
twenty two months and much of it was pretty good.
You know, some people can't tolerate the chemotherapy. That's just
(07:07):
a sad fact. Some can Rosanne was able to do that.
It wasn't easy.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Their treatment options for pancreatic cancer are pretty much limited
to chemo therapy pretty much. But also they're seeing more
and more diagnoses like this among younger adults like your wife,
like Ben Sas he's fifty three.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
It doesn't really respect age much well, But I want.
Speaker 5 (07:29):
To tell you the more the more I hear about
these cancer cases, whether it's stage four pancreatic or whatever,
to me, it goes back to the food. It goes
back to the fifty years of the food that we've
been consuming in this kind of the incidence of childhood cancer,
the incidents of childhood diseases, I believe, and I'm not
(07:51):
saying it's somebody's fault, but when you look at what
we've been doing to the food production chain in this
country since the early seventies, I just can't help but
believe a lot of these stems from the food.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Well, I'll tell you what. The doctors at UNMC are saying.
A story here from k e TV News Watch seven
that says about seventy five percent of people with pancreatic
cancer also have diabetes. They also have links to a
history of smoking, heavy alcohol consumption, pancreatitises, and then diabetes,
which in the people we're talking about, I don't know
(08:23):
that we're talking about people who for whom that this
was their life, the all of that was true.
Speaker 5 (08:30):
Saturd be the eternal flame.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Well, one of the difficult issues with pancreas cancer is
that they don't really have a real bead on causes. Yeah,
there may be this link. There may be that link,
Rosie suggested, diet I have. They don't really know. There
is some indication that there may be an hereditary factor. Yeah,
(08:54):
there's some indication that it may be with a history
of there's a lifestyle or that. But it's not like
some cancers where they say, okay, there's a direct link here.
It's just it's horribly difficult. It's a difficult to attack them.
By the time you do, it typically advanced to other organs.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
I remember the first time I met Ben is when
you guys, as host of this program, said they were
having the president of Midland University right there, Fremont Ye
come in here, and I'm thinking, why why we've never
talked to the president of the But he sat down
and we had a great conversation.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
Well, at a time, if you remember, he had taken
in he had created a special program for kids from
Dana College and Blair Dana College had closed down, and
the wise, you know thinker that Ben is said, wait
a minute, they got to go somewhere. They like a
small school, So why don't we make it really easy
for them to transfer to Midland? And I think there
(09:53):
was some financial incentives.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Well, one of his then, obviously from Midland, he goes
into politics. And then a protegee employee of his was
former KFAB radio personality Ian Swanson, who will join us
for our conversation in just a couple of minutes here
on the brass ion right, no Ion Swanson. Ye, we'll
be in here in just a moment. On Nebraska's Morning News,
(10:17):
Gary Sadelemeyer and Ian Swanson now gathered around microphone number three.
We got four people and three microphones. Jim Rose, you
want to sit on my lap and we can do
this properly the way that you'd like it.
Speaker 5 (10:30):
There is there is a lap that I would sit
on here, but it's not yours.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
I'm Scott Voorhees. There's Jim Rose.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Gary Sadlemayer's I want to know what that means either.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Gary.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Yeah, Gary, we have Ian Swanson here in the studio
as well, former KFAB afternoon radio host. But as we
as we noted a moment ago, Ian, you kind of
got into politics working with our friend Ben says.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Indeed.
Speaker 6 (10:54):
Yeah, it's horrible hard record news yesterday, and thank you
so much for letting me crash the studio.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
Merry Christmas. Great to see that.
Speaker 6 (11:00):
Sign, Gary Sademayer Studio, Gary, congratulations again, are you yeah?
Speaker 4 (11:05):
Just heartbreaking news.
Speaker 6 (11:06):
I think for for many sass alums it came as
a surprise yesterday. I think just briefly, I know he's
splitting his time between Florida and Nebraska. Folks have seen
him around Fremont, so he's come home. There's a lot
of that going on these days. But man, you just
think of those kids. They've they've they've dealt with too much.
(11:27):
Melissa's epilopsy and the travail's there and now their dad
with terminal cancer, Scott. It's as a dad, you just
can't imagine.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
He's such a young guy.
Speaker 5 (11:37):
Well especially his fourteen year old. You know that this
is when you really need a strong dad, and you
know you're gonna start making some but I mean, he's
now going to be battling stage four pancreatic cancer, and
you just feels horrible for the family.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
What was it like working in the Ben Sas office
as you had this this young go getter ideologue going
in there. I'm gonna go in there and I'm going
to change America and and we're going to have harmony.
And he had big ideas of what he wanted, and
you were there for that, that jumping in right into
the deep end.
Speaker 6 (12:08):
Indeed, I was there for Kavanaugh and that whole nonsense,
a variety of other things. But I mean, he he's
an ideas guy, right, He's he's an intellectual and all
the good and the bad that comes with that. He
was interested in ideas more than anything else. The first
time that I introduced him to my wife, as you
all know, I'm not short. I'm six to seven, my
wife six two and a half. The very first time
(12:29):
I introduced him to Norell, he shook my hand and goes, oh, man,
your kids are gonna be like the twenty first century
equivalent of the Niffilim. That's a reference to the giants
of Genesis six. So I know much is made about
how smart he.
Speaker 5 (12:41):
He stole that from Mazy Herno, because that's how deep
a thinker she is.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
Crazy Mazy is They don't say that for.
Speaker 5 (12:46):
Nothing, but dumber. No, she's dumb enough to be twins.
But keep going.
Speaker 6 (12:49):
No, but that was who he was, right, he would
he would, he would sit around at the table with
you and debate the finding points of theology. But at
the same time he was so principled, and you know
that caused him problem at times. He didn't do appropriations
letters because he didn't believe in earmarks.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Well why would we do that? And so I think
it was one of those.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Well and he chuck hageled himself. And that's become he
did when he started, when he started going against Trump.
Speaker 6 (13:16):
I think a lot of folks probably say, you know,
whether you liked him or not, you know, different environment,
probably a wildly different outcome. But at the same time,
I can just say on a personal level, he's so
warm and gracious to me, warm and gracious to my family,
the people he worked with, and you know, he really
was the same person when the light was on and
the camera was on.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
As he was when it wasn't. Well, he's it's just
tough to hear.
Speaker 5 (13:40):
By all objective measure, He's the smartest, deepest thinker Nebraska's
elected since George and Norris. And uh, there is nobody
we've put in d C. And we've had some really
smart legislators down through the years, really visionary guys, but
we've not sent anybody to Washington, d C. Who has
the ill actual depth of Ben Sas. We just all
(14:02):
you got to do is watch the tapes of his
interviews with these Supreme Court justices and juxtaposition that next
to Dick Blumenthal or Cinnam, right next to Mazie or Cindam,
right next to Kamala Harris, and you're thinking, wait a minute,
this is unfair. He's just so much smarter than these
(14:23):
ding donks. And it's because he actually asked constitutional questions well,
because he had a command of the sports.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Here in just a few seconds.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
So I and I want to ask you this, you're
kind of based on what we're saying, I think that
Ben Sass went all in on. There's no way that
the American people or even the Republican Party are going
to elect Donald Trump to be the standard bearer based
on who they'd had before, and he's like, I'm going
all in against Trump. This isn't going to work, all right,
he's the nominee, he's not going to win the presidency.
(14:52):
And then they're going to be looking for the adult
in the room. And here's Ben Sas And he was
poised to run for president.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Am I right?
Speaker 6 (15:00):
People around him that wanted him to run for president.
I don't know exactly. I've never heard Ben say that
out loud, but I mean, when you got elected in
twenty fourteen, right, it was the Obamacare nemesis, and he
had all these ideas. He was, you know, the popular
kid because he was early forties at that time.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
So a lot of would it, could have, should have.
Speaker 6 (15:16):
But at the same time, he figured out a reason
to be in the Senate during during the trave administration.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
It wasn't always the greatest.
Speaker 6 (15:23):
It was a good working relationship and we know what
that can signify. And then seriously considered not running again
in twenty twenty, seriously considered that's not a croc. He
actually thought about it and decided, you know what, I
want to be a part of this moving forward. So
just the kind of the greatest hits of misfortune. You know,
he leaves the Senate to go take care of his
wife Melissa and being in a more supportive environment, not
(15:45):
being on airplanes, missing out on three or four nights
a week of family dinner. Does that for a year
and a half, I think, or something like that. And
now this it's just the hits keep coming.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
This is not the Ben Sas funeral here on this program.
He is still very much alive. He's obviously very real
about his situation. This is going to be a very
tragically bittersweet Christmas with his family, but at least they
get to have it together and we wish them the best.
I'm Scott for he's there's Jim Rose, Gary Sadlemayer, Ian
(16:14):
Swanson also here in the studio, and every single listener
is in the history of the station is emailed and said,
tell all those guys, Merry Christmas.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Merry Christmas, everybody.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
We're still a few minutes away from Gary's favorite Christmas song.
We got a little time here to chat and talk
and hang out. So Gary, this is this is surreal
for everybody to have you in here as a guest
on your show. Very very much yours. Now it's ours.
It is collectively. I'll be happy to help out when
(16:46):
you need some time off. Yeah, if you want me to.
Asking everyone what they want for Christmas, Jim was offended.
I asked the question, and so how am I supposed
to answer such a thing?
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Here?
Speaker 2 (16:56):
So, Gary, what do you want for Christmas?
Speaker 3 (16:58):
I know this, Nobody ever black can get my kids
to believe me. I really don't want anything. Yeah, I
really don't. Now it doesn't matter. I could go. I
might as well go over to that wall and say
that for all the good it does. Yeah, that gud
me nice. My son gives me the same gag gift
every year, which is hilarious. Bubbles, my girlfriend gave me
(17:20):
a nice bubbles beautiful jacket, oh yeah, oh yeah, and
an outfit. So but I really don't want for anything. Man,
I can tell you how much I love this season.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
It is dangerous to buy someone clothes. I'm guessing about it.
I'm guessing that the history of anyone buying you clothes?
What what percentages that worked out less than ten percent?
Speaker 3 (17:44):
I would say twenty about twenty percent.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
You wear a kfabe windbreaker or a red sweater into
the mudio. I have never seen you wear anything else. Yes,
you have in the stew what.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Do you have? Back in the day, I would uh, yeah,
you got the gray sweater and that's a good look.
I would uh, I wear a tie because I came
from my first radio job in granted, the Stewart Company,
they required it. I remember Rosie a warm a very strict,
but that was fairly common. That was in the eighteen
(18:15):
seventies that people tended to dress up, you know, I
mean the nineteen seventies. Yeah, it's very casual now. Yeah,
I don't know why Rosie's looking at porn over here.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
I don't know why.
Speaker 5 (18:27):
You know, I'm doing my birthdays to all the vast
array of listeners, just so you know.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Remember we are on the we are on the air
right now. I don't know why you can't tell someone
I really don't need anything for Christmas because I think
when you get into dad and then Granddad mode, what
you want is smiling faces.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Together for the holidays.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
We did our family Christmas this past Saturday night with
all the spawn and the ground spawn because they have
to be you know, for Christmas morning, they need to
be home.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
You do it when you can do it.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Yeah, now, Ian has since he left news radio eleven
ten kfab just about. I got two and a half
almost three years ago. Now you've had six seven kids? Yeah,
just the number, there's six seven now and the height
of these children here, how many kids do you have?
Speaker 4 (19:18):
Now?
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Three?
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Three kids for now and so that means the oldest
is almost four in now four okay, so the oldest
knows like, all right, it's Christmas time. So how's everything
going in the Ian Swanson household?
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Very well?
Speaker 4 (19:32):
Are we are so happy to be back in Omaha.
Speaker 6 (19:35):
We did our shift in d C, the second second
overseas Missionary Service, and now we're home. There's no place
like Nebraska, as you all know, no place like Nebraska.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
Race family.
Speaker 6 (19:44):
My four year old is the size of a seven
year old, My two year old is the size of.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
A five year old.
Speaker 6 (19:49):
And my eight month old, I'm pretty sure he's gonna
dunk here in just a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Making Nebraska basketball great again. Right, Well, they've kind of
beating you to it, but.
Speaker 6 (19:59):
They're doing righty. We thought it was be volleyball and
then that happened. So what are all is goodness wants?
And what do little kids want for? Christmas. These days,
my four year old wants cars stuff that movie legacy continues.
My two year old loves, you know, all the typical
girl stuff, the dolls and princesses and things and uh
(20:21):
and and Lincoln is trying really hard to start start talking.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Jim, what do you want for Christmas?
Speaker 5 (20:27):
Oh, it'd be really good if I could finally get
a hole in one this year, if somebody never had one.
Now I've come close, But I mean, I'm getting to
the point now where I'm round and third and heading
for home in my golf game. So if I don't
get one soon, that's.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
It for me.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Just takes one great sway come close.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
But I really want the hole in the I want
the hole in one and really close one, remember, I mean,
And that'd be ideal if there was a twenty five
thousand dollars Harley dives on the green, you know.
Speaker 5 (20:55):
For the guy who does which there was there was.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
That's close as I've got it about six inches hit
the flag.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Well, let's let's get into this now here, because the
KFAB listeners have demanded it. I need it, and I
think we all need it here this and every holiday season.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Gary, please set this up.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Well, this is a live performance the Gaither Group, and
many will be familiar with your gospel fans at all.
With the Gathers. They were doing their Christmas show in Birmingham, Alabama,
and David Phelps, who for my money is one of
the greatest vocalists on the planet Earth, came forward and saying,
(21:36):
excuse me, what I think is the greatest carol of
them all? Oh Holy Night? And just it was. It's
awe inspiring to me. So I always played that, as
you know the Christmas Eve edition of Kabe's Morning News
now Nebraska's Morning News. Thank you for changing the name.
You're welcome, So you've agreed, you've kindly agreed to play.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
It, all right, Scott for he's jumping into the podcast
here to explaining that we're not allowed to play all
of that music in podcast formed as copyright problems and
we don't need to get lawyers involved. It's Christmas, so
I encourage you to find on YouTube the David Phelps
version of Oh Holy Night. Play that here and now
(22:18):
we'll come back to the rest of the program where
Gary sends us off into Christmas.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
I'm at all the hustle and the fun and festivities.
You need something like that, it seems to me in
the midst of the Christmas celebrations. And hope you enjoyed that. Scott,
thank you for doing that. I'm in well I and
thank God for recording music and YouTube because it's out there.
You know.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
I had joked as we were leading up to your
final shows, like, yeah, Gary's gonna leave, We're gonna change
the name of the show because I guess I thought
that Gary Sadlemeyer and Kfab's Morning News didn't exactly fit.
If you were probably me here every day and someone
asks like, oh, are you going to do this or
you can do that? Are you going to play the
David Phelps version of O Holy Night? And we were
(23:03):
joking like, actually, I'm going to play the California Raisins version.
The listenership did not find that funny.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
My daughter at Mandy, who loves that as much as
I do, ask if, once she knew I was coming in,
I'm going to play I said, unlikely. I said, it's
not my show. I'm not running the show, and it
is your show. And then you would do that it
is our show.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
And now there's there's one part of what happens next
that I've never had a chance to be a part
of fully, and that is the annual Christmas toast in
Gary's office. Because I've always had a show to do.
Now I'd run down, raise a glass and then come
back in here and do it. Just a little housekeeping.
We've got the Raymond Arroyo Christmas Special.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
He's guy.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Yeah, and you're going to hear some great music and
stories behind the songs. That's coming up for the next
couple of hours until eleven. Clay and Buck eleven to
two Fox News Radio specials from two to six today
and then a variety of holiday programming to get us
through the week. We will be back with you live
on Monday morning. And Gary, as I said, you're welcome
(24:07):
to come in here any time you want. Merry Christmas.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Merry Christmas to you and everybody.
Welcome back to the studios the uh. I think he
used to work on this radio station and host this
program for the better part of the last thirty years.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
It's Gary Saddlemyer.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Make it thirty five, Good morning boys.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
On the Morning Show? Did we finally deteine thirty on
the Morning Show? Nearly fifty with the station? And we
promised when you left regular broadcast a week and a
half ago that you pop in here from time to time.
Welcome to the festest, festering Christmas even Street I do
(00:33):
of Nebraska's morning news.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
Merry Christmas, my friend, Merry Christmas.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Boys.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
You're sitting in the wrong chair. Have you rethought your
decision to retire?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Just this morning, I've roused myself. I'll tell you what
week and a half. Yeah, you can get used to sleep.
You can get used to sleeping later. Yeah, yeah, well
later for you. Well, I've made it to five every morning,
that's really and then and then Friday I made it
to six, and then six thirty or so. So I
(01:05):
had to set the clock. Yeah this morning, and it
started acting at me at five point fifty and said, man,
I don't know, Oh yeah, that's right, that's right. I'm
going in with the boys. Yeah, well so I'm a
little tardy. But you wouldn't want me to not shower
before I came in here. It'd be a switch. We didn't,
(01:27):
can I are you guy. I gotta tell you, I
really enjoyed listening. I'll thank you. I really am.
Speaker 5 (01:32):
It's whenever we're carrying on, you screwing it up. But
I know I look at it.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
There's there's been a lot of this in the Zonker's
Custom Woods inbox.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Over the last week and a half.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
I miss Geary.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
It's just one email after the other.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
I miss Geary.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
It just never stops and its fine. And I replied
to everyone and say yes I miss him too. You
remember we didn't fire him. This was Gary's decision, wrong
as it was fired myself. Yeah you you retired. I
want to point out one thing that we didn't talk
about while you were in here for not just the
last show a week and a half ago, which is all.
(02:09):
It's still posted on the morning news podcast link at
kfab dot com. Still getting a bunch of clicks that
leading up to that show, and especially on that show,
Gary Sadelemeyer was sick as a dog.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Yeah, I really was I had a rare double header
right around Thanksgiving. Yeah, I got what I thought was
a regular cold, you know, head cold, and then it
morphed into this massive congestion. So I got on some
antibiotics and then that went away. And then right away,
(02:45):
like a week later, I get fleu. They swapped me
and it was influenza A. And there were several mornings
where I should not have been You could not have
been in here, but you were out of town. Well
Thanksgiving Giving? Yeah that, but I mean double header, that
doesn't happen.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Yeah, you went through all the influenzas A, B, C, D,
the one to one. Did you get M?
Speaker 3 (03:08):
No? I got the A. A is bad enough. Doctor.
Doctor told me that if you get influenza A, remember this,
it's trying to kill you. Wow. Yeah, the flu is
trying to kill the host. That's what it killed.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Back in the day when they called it something else,
it killed millions.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah, COVID.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Well, I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 5 (03:27):
Bonic plague is now known as influenza, So I don't
know about.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
The flu shot anymore. I mean, I got mine.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
I'm fine.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Are you telling me they didn't have influenza A? And
that flu shot.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Antibody's but you powered through.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
I did well.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
I had to you were you were like, I wonder
if I need to call in sick on my last show.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
We've been building this up for weeks.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
No we made I'll tell you it was so much fun.
People were unbelievable, unbelievably kind. You had a chance to
respond all the no I killed Sorry, I can't. Yeah,
there's no way. I'd have to have two secretaries and
then we'd get an we all know what happens.
Speaker 5 (04:04):
Secretary HR was created as a result of Gary and
his secretary.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Hey Gary, what are we doing now on the morning show?
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Oh? I think it's time for Rosie, Jim Rose.
Speaker 5 (04:15):
All right, Sather, all right, Scott. The whole group's back
together again.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Got Jim Rose, Craig Evans here, I am Scott for
he is, and Gary Sadlemeyer is back here in the studio.
Though so we noted you're in the wrong chair. We
are both in the wrong chair on so many levels
here physically and professionally. But it's great to have you
back in the studio, my friend. I know that our
Christmas spirit was dampened yesterday with the news about our
(04:41):
friend and former Nebraska Senator Ben Sass And certainly a
diagnosis is one that you take personally.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Yes, when I went when he posted metastasize metastasized stage
four pancreatic cancer echoes and when my wife Roseanne got
exactly the same diagnosis, and the first thing that the
doctor at YOU and MC said when she came into
the room and confirmed it, said it's incurable. You need
(05:13):
to know this, And Ben said that now they have
made some progress since, but it is the toughest one.
I think. Can't detect it until well, yeah, that's the thing.
If you happen to get a stage one diagnosis, you
got a shot, but you rarely do because there aren't
any symptoms until it's advanced. And it's hard to see.
(05:37):
It's hard to see. I mean, the first scan that
Roseanne had after treatment showed nothing, but it was still there.
So it's very hard to detect. The pancreas is kind
of hiding among the other organs. But I know they've
made some progress, and I don't know where Ben, I
don't know for sure where he lives now, where he'll
(05:58):
be going for treatment. They have war old class treatment
at U and MC so he's it's just it's just
totally sad.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Still down there in Florida. He's a he's a full professor.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
So he's still living there. Yes, I know it's back.
Speaker 5 (06:12):
And forth he goes, but yeah, he's he's a full professor.
So he is an employee of the University of Florida.
He was the president for a relatively brief amount of
time and and exited there to be I think at
the time, if you recalled, he wanted to spend more
time with Melissa. His wife has been struggling with significant
health problems for most of our adult life. Uh, and
(06:33):
this allowed him the flexibility to do that. So I
presume he's got some sort of residency in Florida still
so as to maintain that. I will say this, but
it would be great if he came back to Nebraska
somehow made it back to Nebraska.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Every case is individual, of course, I will I will
say this if it's similar to what my wife had,
if he is able to tolerate the treatment she she's
twenty two months and much of it was pretty good.
You know, some people can't tolerate the chemotherapy. That's just
(07:07):
a sad fact. Some can Rosanne was able to do that.
It wasn't easy.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Their treatment options for pancreatic cancer are pretty much limited
to chemo therapy pretty much. But also they're seeing more
and more diagnoses like this among younger adults like your wife,
like Ben Sas he's fifty three.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
It doesn't really respect age much well, But I want.
Speaker 5 (07:29):
To tell you the more the more I hear about
these cancer cases, whether it's stage four pancreatic or whatever,
to me, it goes back to the food. It goes
back to the fifty years of the food that we've
been consuming in this kind of the incidence of childhood cancer,
the incidents of childhood diseases, I believe, and I'm not
(07:51):
saying it's somebody's fault, but when you look at what
we've been doing to the food production chain in this
country since the early seventies, I just can't help but
believe a lot of these stems from the food.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Well, I'll tell you what. The doctors at UNMC are saying.
A story here from k e TV News Watch seven
that says about seventy five percent of people with pancreatic
cancer also have diabetes. They also have links to a
history of smoking, heavy alcohol consumption, pancreatitises, and then diabetes,
which in the people we're talking about, I don't know
(08:23):
that we're talking about people who for whom that this
was their life, the all of that was true.
Speaker 5 (08:30):
Saturd be the eternal flame.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Well, one of the difficult issues with pancreas cancer is
that they don't really have a real bead on causes. Yeah,
there may be this link. There may be that link,
Rosie suggested, diet I have. They don't really know. There
is some indication that there may be an hereditary factor. Yeah,
(08:54):
there's some indication that it may be with a history
of there's a lifestyle or that. But it's not like
some cancers where they say, okay, there's a direct link here.
It's just it's horribly difficult. It's a difficult to attack them.
By the time you do, it typically advanced to other organs.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
I remember the first time I met Ben is when
you guys, as host of this program, said they were
having the president of Midland University right there, Fremont Ye
come in here, and I'm thinking, why why we've never
talked to the president of the But he sat down
and we had a great conversation.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
Well, at a time, if you remember, he had taken
in he had created a special program for kids from
Dana College and Blair Dana College had closed down, and
the wise, you know thinker that Ben is said, wait
a minute, they got to go somewhere. They like a
small school, So why don't we make it really easy
for them to transfer to Midland? And I think there
(09:53):
was some financial incentives.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Well, one of his then, obviously from Midland, he goes
into politics. And then a protegee employee of his was
former KFAB radio personality Ian Swanson, who will join us
for our conversation in just a couple of minutes here
on the brass ion right, no Ion Swanson. Ye, we'll
be in here in just a moment. On Nebraska's Morning News,
(10:17):
Gary Sadelemeyer and Ian Swanson now gathered around microphone number three.
We got four people and three microphones. Jim Rose, you
want to sit on my lap and we can do
this properly the way that you'd like it.
Speaker 5 (10:30):
There is there is a lap that I would sit
on here, but it's not yours.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
I'm Scott Voorhees. There's Jim Rose.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Gary Sadlemayer's I want to know what that means either.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Gary.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Yeah, Gary, we have Ian Swanson here in the studio
as well, former KFAB afternoon radio host. But as we
as we noted a moment ago, Ian, you kind of
got into politics working with our friend Ben says.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Indeed.
Speaker 6 (10:54):
Yeah, it's horrible hard record news yesterday, and thank you
so much for letting me crash the studio.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
Merry Christmas. Great to see that.
Speaker 6 (11:00):
Sign, Gary Sademayer Studio, Gary, congratulations again, are you yeah?
Speaker 4 (11:05):
Just heartbreaking news.
Speaker 6 (11:06):
I think for for many sass alums it came as
a surprise yesterday. I think just briefly, I know he's
splitting his time between Florida and Nebraska. Folks have seen
him around Fremont, so he's come home. There's a lot
of that going on these days. But man, you just
think of those kids. They've they've they've dealt with too much.
(11:27):
Melissa's epilopsy and the travail's there and now their dad
with terminal cancer, Scott. It's as a dad, you just
can't imagine.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
He's such a young guy.
Speaker 5 (11:37):
Well especially his fourteen year old. You know that this
is when you really need a strong dad, and you
know you're gonna start making some but I mean, he's
now going to be battling stage four pancreatic cancer, and
you just feels horrible for the family.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
What was it like working in the Ben Sas office
as you had this this young go getter ideologue going
in there. I'm gonna go in there and I'm going
to change America and and we're going to have harmony.
And he had big ideas of what he wanted, and
you were there for that, that jumping in right into
the deep end.
Speaker 6 (12:08):
Indeed, I was there for Kavanaugh and that whole nonsense,
a variety of other things. But I mean, he he's
an ideas guy, right, He's he's an intellectual and all
the good and the bad that comes with that. He
was interested in ideas more than anything else. The first
time that I introduced him to my wife, as you
all know, I'm not short. I'm six to seven, my
wife six two and a half. The very first time
(12:29):
I introduced him to Norell, he shook my hand and goes, oh, man,
your kids are gonna be like the twenty first century
equivalent of the Niffilim. That's a reference to the giants
of Genesis six. So I know much is made about
how smart he.
Speaker 5 (12:41):
He stole that from Mazy Herno, because that's how deep
a thinker she is.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
Crazy Mazy is They don't say that for.
Speaker 5 (12:46):
Nothing, but dumber. No, she's dumb enough to be twins.
But keep going.
Speaker 6 (12:49):
No, but that was who he was, right, he would
he would, he would sit around at the table with
you and debate the finding points of theology. But at
the same time he was so principled, and you know
that caused him problem at times. He didn't do appropriations
letters because he didn't believe in earmarks.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Well why would we do that? And so I think
it was one of those.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Well and he chuck hageled himself. And that's become he
did when he started, when he started going against Trump.
Speaker 6 (13:16):
I think a lot of folks probably say, you know,
whether you liked him or not, you know, different environment,
probably a wildly different outcome. But at the same time,
I can just say on a personal level, he's so
warm and gracious to me, warm and gracious to my family,
the people he worked with, and you know, he really
was the same person when the light was on and
the camera was on.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
As he was when it wasn't. Well, he's it's just
tough to hear.
Speaker 5 (13:40):
By all objective measure, He's the smartest, deepest thinker Nebraska's
elected since George and Norris. And uh, there is nobody
we've put in d C. And we've had some really
smart legislators down through the years, really visionary guys, but
we've not sent anybody to Washington, d C. Who has
the ill actual depth of Ben Sas. We just all
(14:02):
you got to do is watch the tapes of his
interviews with these Supreme Court justices and juxtaposition that next
to Dick Blumenthal or Cinnam, right next to Mazie or Cindam,
right next to Kamala Harris, and you're thinking, wait a minute,
this is unfair. He's just so much smarter than these
(14:23):
ding donks. And it's because he actually asked constitutional questions well,
because he had a command of the sports.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Here in just a few seconds.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
So I and I want to ask you this, you're
kind of based on what we're saying, I think that
Ben Sass went all in on. There's no way that
the American people or even the Republican Party are going
to elect Donald Trump to be the standard bearer based
on who they'd had before, and he's like, I'm going
all in against Trump. This isn't going to work, all right,
he's the nominee, he's not going to win the presidency.
(14:52):
And then they're going to be looking for the adult
in the room. And here's Ben Sas And he was
poised to run for president.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Am I right?
Speaker 6 (15:00):
People around him that wanted him to run for president.
I don't know exactly. I've never heard Ben say that
out loud, but I mean, when you got elected in
twenty fourteen, right, it was the Obamacare nemesis, and he
had all these ideas. He was, you know, the popular
kid because he was early forties at that time.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
So a lot of would it, could have, should have.
Speaker 6 (15:16):
But at the same time, he figured out a reason
to be in the Senate during during the trave administration.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
It wasn't always the greatest.
Speaker 6 (15:23):
It was a good working relationship and we know what
that can signify. And then seriously considered not running again
in twenty twenty, seriously considered that's not a croc. He
actually thought about it and decided, you know what, I
want to be a part of this moving forward. So
just the kind of the greatest hits of misfortune. You know,
he leaves the Senate to go take care of his
wife Melissa and being in a more supportive environment, not
(15:45):
being on airplanes, missing out on three or four nights
a week of family dinner. Does that for a year
and a half, I think, or something like that. And
now this it's just the hits keep coming.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
This is not the Ben Sas funeral here on this program.
He is still very much alive. He's obviously very real
about his situation. This is going to be a very
tragically bittersweet Christmas with his family, but at least they
get to have it together and we wish them the best.
I'm Scott for he's there's Jim Rose, Gary Sadlemayer, Ian
(16:14):
Swanson also here in the studio, and every single listener
is in the history of the station is emailed and said,
tell all those guys, Merry Christmas.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Merry Christmas, everybody.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
We're still a few minutes away from Gary's favorite Christmas song.
We got a little time here to chat and talk
and hang out. So Gary, this is this is surreal
for everybody to have you in here as a guest
on your show. Very very much yours. Now it's ours.
It is collectively. I'll be happy to help out when
(16:46):
you need some time off. Yeah, if you want me to.
Asking everyone what they want for Christmas, Jim was offended.
I asked the question, and so how am I supposed
to answer such a thing?
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Here?
Speaker 2 (16:56):
So, Gary, what do you want for Christmas?
Speaker 3 (16:58):
I know this, Nobody ever black can get my kids
to believe me. I really don't want anything. Yeah, I
really don't. Now it doesn't matter. I could go. I
might as well go over to that wall and say
that for all the good it does. Yeah, that gud
me nice. My son gives me the same gag gift
every year, which is hilarious. Bubbles, my girlfriend gave me
(17:20):
a nice bubbles beautiful jacket, oh yeah, oh yeah, and
an outfit. So but I really don't want for anything. Man,
I can tell you how much I love this season.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
It is dangerous to buy someone clothes. I'm guessing about it.
I'm guessing that the history of anyone buying you clothes?
What what percentages that worked out less than ten percent?
Speaker 3 (17:44):
I would say twenty about twenty percent.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
You wear a kfabe windbreaker or a red sweater into
the mudio. I have never seen you wear anything else. Yes,
you have in the stew what.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Do you have? Back in the day, I would uh, yeah,
you got the gray sweater and that's a good look.
I would uh, I wear a tie because I came
from my first radio job in granted, the Stewart Company,
they required it. I remember Rosie a warm a very strict,
but that was fairly common. That was in the eighteen
(18:15):
seventies that people tended to dress up, you know, I
mean the nineteen seventies. Yeah, it's very casual now. Yeah,
I don't know why Rosie's looking at porn over here.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
I don't know why.
Speaker 5 (18:27):
You know, I'm doing my birthdays to all the vast
array of listeners, just so you know.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Remember we are on the we are on the air
right now. I don't know why you can't tell someone
I really don't need anything for Christmas because I think
when you get into dad and then Granddad mode, what
you want is smiling faces.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Together for the holidays.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
We did our family Christmas this past Saturday night with
all the spawn and the ground spawn because they have
to be you know, for Christmas morning, they need to
be home.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
You do it when you can do it.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Yeah, now, Ian has since he left news radio eleven
ten kfab just about. I got two and a half
almost three years ago. Now you've had six seven kids? Yeah,
just the number, there's six seven now and the height
of these children here, how many kids do you have?
Speaker 4 (19:18):
Now?
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Three?
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Three kids for now and so that means the oldest
is almost four in now four okay, so the oldest
knows like, all right, it's Christmas time. So how's everything
going in the Ian Swanson household?
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Very well?
Speaker 4 (19:32):
Are we are so happy to be back in Omaha.
Speaker 6 (19:35):
We did our shift in d C, the second second
overseas Missionary Service, and now we're home. There's no place
like Nebraska, as you all know, no place like Nebraska.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
Race family.
Speaker 6 (19:44):
My four year old is the size of a seven
year old, My two year old is the size of.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
A five year old.
Speaker 6 (19:49):
And my eight month old, I'm pretty sure he's gonna
dunk here in just a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Making Nebraska basketball great again. Right, Well, they've kind of
beating you to it, but.
Speaker 6 (19:59):
They're doing righty. We thought it was be volleyball and
then that happened. So what are all is goodness wants?
And what do little kids want for? Christmas. These days,
my four year old wants cars stuff that movie legacy continues.
My two year old loves, you know, all the typical
girl stuff, the dolls and princesses and things and uh
(20:21):
and and Lincoln is trying really hard to start start talking.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Jim, what do you want for Christmas?
Speaker 5 (20:27):
Oh, it'd be really good if I could finally get
a hole in one this year, if somebody never had one.
Now I've come close, But I mean, I'm getting to
the point now where I'm round and third and heading
for home in my golf game. So if I don't
get one soon, that's.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
It for me.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Just takes one great sway come close.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
But I really want the hole in the I want
the hole in one and really close one, remember, I mean,
And that'd be ideal if there was a twenty five
thousand dollars Harley dives on the green, you know.
Speaker 5 (20:55):
For the guy who does which there was there was.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
That's close as I've got it about six inches hit
the flag.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Well, let's let's get into this now here, because the
KFAB listeners have demanded it. I need it, and I
think we all need it here this and every holiday season.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Gary, please set this up.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Well, this is a live performance the Gaither Group, and
many will be familiar with your gospel fans at all.
With the Gathers. They were doing their Christmas show in Birmingham, Alabama,
and David Phelps, who for my money is one of
the greatest vocalists on the planet Earth, came forward and saying,
(21:36):
excuse me, what I think is the greatest carol of
them all? Oh Holy Night? And just it was. It's
awe inspiring to me. So I always played that, as
you know the Christmas Eve edition of Kabe's Morning News
now Nebraska's Morning News. Thank you for changing the name.
You're welcome, So you've agreed, you've kindly agreed to play.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
It, all right, Scott for he's jumping into the podcast
here to explaining that we're not allowed to play all
of that music in podcast formed as copyright problems and
we don't need to get lawyers involved. It's Christmas, so
I encourage you to find on YouTube the David Phelps
version of Oh Holy Night. Play that here and now
(22:18):
we'll come back to the rest of the program where
Gary sends us off into Christmas.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
I'm at all the hustle and the fun and festivities.
You need something like that, it seems to me in
the midst of the Christmas celebrations. And hope you enjoyed that. Scott,
thank you for doing that. I'm in well I and
thank God for recording music and YouTube because it's out there.
You know.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
I had joked as we were leading up to your
final shows, like, yeah, Gary's gonna leave, We're gonna change
the name of the show because I guess I thought
that Gary Sadlemeyer and Kfab's Morning News didn't exactly fit.
If you were probably me here every day and someone
asks like, oh, are you going to do this or
you can do that? Are you going to play the
David Phelps version of O Holy Night? And we were
(23:03):
joking like, actually, I'm going to play the California Raisins version.
The listenership did not find that funny.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
My daughter at Mandy, who loves that as much as
I do, ask if, once she knew I was coming in,
I'm going to play I said, unlikely. I said, it's
not my show. I'm not running the show, and it
is your show. And then you would do that it
is our show.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
And now there's there's one part of what happens next
that I've never had a chance to be a part
of fully, and that is the annual Christmas toast in
Gary's office. Because I've always had a show to do.
Now I'd run down, raise a glass and then come
back in here and do it. Just a little housekeeping.
We've got the Raymond Arroyo Christmas Special.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
He's guy.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Yeah, and you're going to hear some great music and
stories behind the songs. That's coming up for the next
couple of hours until eleven. Clay and Buck eleven to
two Fox News Radio specials from two to six today
and then a variety of holiday programming to get us
through the week. We will be back with you live
on Monday morning. And Gary, as I said, you're welcome
(24:07):
to come in here any time you want. Merry Christmas.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Merry Christmas to you and everybody.
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