Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk-Line: Charlene Bielema on inspiring local stories

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Talk-Line: Charlene Bielema on inspiring local stories · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

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  Speaker 1: We're happy to have with us in this portion of
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  Speaker 1: our program. The managing editor Dixon Telegraph, Sterling Gazette join
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  Speaker 1: us for our update of Shaw local news happenings across
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  Speaker 1: our Sock Valley area. It's so good to see Charlene
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  Speaker 1: Bei Lama in studio with us this Wednesday morning. Now,
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  Speaker 1: thank you very much, good to see you. Thanks for
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  Speaker 1: joining us. Well, I told Charlene off the air, I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to follow her lead today.
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  Speaker 2: This morning.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, okay, so get me. So that's solo this morning
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  Speaker 1: with us here at wy Axent. So we're going to
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  Speaker 1: take off into happenings across our northern Illinois area. Where
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  Speaker 1: do we want to start?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I want to start with your new format. Yes,
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  Speaker 2: I love your new format. Yes, I like I think
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  Speaker 2: I told you i air. I am a hair metal girl,
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  Speaker 2: so anytime you're playing anything from you know, late eighties,
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  Speaker 2: early eighties, I'm all about that. So and I'm also
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  Speaker 2: a flippery that I flipped TV stations too, so I'll
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  Speaker 2: flip back and forth between your country station and okay
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  Speaker 2: when I do that all the time. So well, another
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  Speaker 2: offering listen local.
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  Speaker 1: That's great, you get your opportunity, you get your choice,
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  Speaker 1: you know, we have we're offering, you know, some great
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  Speaker 1: formats and we have changed. We've tweaked our AM WX
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  Speaker 1: and AM you know, we tweeked that a little bit
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  Speaker 1: earlier this year. I think most people like the tweak
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  Speaker 1: that we made with that. But w u r X
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  Speaker 1: is our FM ninety five seven now and it is
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  Speaker 1: a classic rock format and we're hoping that we get
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  Speaker 1: more board as we well, we've went on the air
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  Speaker 1: with it one week, you know, we started this last week.
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  Speaker 1: It was exciting to do that. It's it's always neat
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  Speaker 1: when you introduce a new image in radio in Illinois,
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  Speaker 1: it doesn't matter where it is. It's it's really exciting.
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  Speaker 1: And we did that last week and so we're building
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  Speaker 1: on that right now. It's so it's exciting and I'm
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  Speaker 1: glad you like it. Yeah, yeah, sound that's great and
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  Speaker 1: we hope more and more do connect ninety five seven
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  Speaker 1: the rock. Yes, that's the image, and again that's what
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  Speaker 1: we're promoting. And so we're getting more and more word
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  Speaker 1: out of about that and again hopefully we'll we're offering
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  Speaker 1: a few of the same amenities that we have in
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  Speaker 1: the past. We'll have Oregon high school football and continue
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  Speaker 1: our sports coverage in that area. But yeah, the music
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  Speaker 1: has changed. Yeah, so we're hoping for a good favorable
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  Speaker 1: and hopefully an increase in listenership across our northern area
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  Speaker 1: with ninety five seven. What else is going on?
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  Speaker 2: Oh boy, let's see, it has been really a week.
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  Speaker 1: You know, we're here right.
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  Speaker 2: In the middle of summer. Just came out with the
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  Speaker 2: Petunia Fast. Yeah, a lot of activity there. We had Alex,
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  Speaker 2: our photographer, Alex Pascal was there, Brian Hurley who does
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  Speaker 2: some correspondent work for us, and of course early in
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  Speaker 2: Hinton they were out and about just taking photos all
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  Speaker 2: over the place. And so that's always a good time
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  Speaker 2: for us. A lot of planning that goes into that
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  Speaker 2: to make it happen. And of course now we're looking
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  Speaker 2: ahead at county fairs. I've noticed the county fairs sign
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  Speaker 2: up for Lee County twenty fourth through twenty event. I
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  Speaker 2: live right next to the White Side County Fairgrounds, so
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  Speaker 2: we start to see some of things there, all the
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  Speaker 2: volunteer work. We have a board over there that will go.
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  Speaker 1: Get do a great job they do. Bickley and the
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  Speaker 1: gang over there do Whiteside County Fair. We always touch
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  Speaker 1: base with them every year. They really roll out the
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  Speaker 1: red carpet and I love I love the location. I
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  Speaker 1: love the fair grounds over there. I think it's a
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  Speaker 1: great area. I think it's it's a great setting for
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  Speaker 1: a county fair. Is the Whiteside County Fair and Morris
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  Speaker 1: and so yeah, we'll be that's in August.
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  Speaker 2: That's in August. I think now we're seeing like some
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  Speaker 2: preparation work as far as we're starting to get the
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  Speaker 2: press releases, what are the events that are happening. It's
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  Speaker 2: also the time for exhibitors. We have across the area,
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  Speaker 2: people that exhibit that come even from Iowa that will
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  Speaker 2: exhibit into that because that's not our four h fair.
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  Speaker 2: That's more of an open, exact kind of thing. I
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  Speaker 2: used to judge the photos and it was always fun
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  Speaker 2: to see from year to year some of those areas
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  Speaker 2: were really growing. But we have textiles and who can
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  Speaker 2: make that the best looking tomato plate? You know. I
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  Speaker 2: just love walking through the local county fair and seeing
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  Speaker 2: people you haven't seen for a while.
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  Speaker 1: It's a difference from the four hures. You know that
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  Speaker 1: they don't have to compete and they do their they
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  Speaker 1: do their efforts, you know, and they're actually two fairs,
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  Speaker 1: really county fair and this is the county Fair that
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  Speaker 1: we're talking about. And you're right. I love the harness racing.
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  Speaker 1: I love the you know, the demolition derbys, things like
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  Speaker 1: that that will pack.
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  Speaker 2: The stands, reserves, seating for that goes right away. Tractor
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  Speaker 2: pull is always a big night that brings my mom
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  Speaker 2: and dad in from the country. Got to see those,
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  Speaker 2: and I know they have like bull riding and bronc rid.
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  Speaker 1: You got to see that horse hitching. See that horse
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  Speaker 1: hitching over there, you know, with those huge you know,
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  Speaker 1: you know horses that they bring in and do that.
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  Speaker 1: It's fascinating, right, you know, to see that happen. It's
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  Speaker 1: all at the Whiteside County Fair. That'll be in August.
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  Speaker 1: You're right. The Lee County Fair is in this month.
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  Speaker 1: Ogle County Fair, I think just follows on the heels
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  Speaker 1: of the Lee County Fair. It's the next week in Oregon,
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  Speaker 1: just to the west of Oregon, so yeah, you're right.
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  Speaker 2: A lot and then we'll left Carroll County, which also
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  Speaker 2: it was a big turn too, which is right about
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  Speaker 2: it's like the week before always tends to be the
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  Speaker 2: week before whitesides, So every week we could have a
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  Speaker 2: county fair and you know, we'll have people that are
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  Speaker 2: taking photos of that. It's also been a busy week
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  Speaker 2: just for like stories on people. Brandon has really hit
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  Speaker 2: out there and talking about unsung heroes. Yes, and with that,
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  Speaker 2: you know, not only do we get people who call
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  Speaker 2: us and say, hey, I've got a story idea, but
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  Speaker 2: in the case of local she's a Sterling woman who
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  Speaker 2: graduated from Sterling High School. She shared her story with
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  Speaker 2: us about her breast cancer diagnosis that she received a
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  Speaker 2: few years ago and how that changed her in such
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  Speaker 2: a way that she changed her major and is now
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  Speaker 2: able to be able to counsel people who are going
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  Speaker 2: through terminal illness or illnesses that are heavy like breast cancer,
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  Speaker 2: to help people deal with the different things you have
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  Speaker 2: to navigate through the psychological ends of that and just
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  Speaker 2: kind of helping them. Her name is Star Shamp. We
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  Speaker 2: were contacted by her university where she'd been attending school
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  Speaker 2: out in BELLEVUEA. She gave a very inspirational speech. It's
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  Speaker 2: interesting how many people that are doing these very noteworthy
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  Speaker 2: and spectacular things. You just don't really hear about unless
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  Speaker 2: you happen across them. Maybe you happen to be there.
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  Speaker 2: In this case, we were contacted by the college the
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  Speaker 2: university that sent us an actual videotape of her giving
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  Speaker 2: her speech and how inspirational it was for her other
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  Speaker 2: students because she not only went through college and changed
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  Speaker 2: her major and graduated, she got married during the time
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  Speaker 2: that she was undergoing her treatments. She had a child.
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  Speaker 2: During that time she dealt with a second kind of
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  Speaker 2: bout with cancer, kind of an uprising in that. But
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  Speaker 2: she's doing very well and she shared her story with us,
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  Speaker 2: and we could tell you can just tell it right away.
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  Speaker 2: You put your story up and we put things up
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  Speaker 2: on our Facebook post to direct readers to those stories,
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  Speaker 2: and it was you know, way to go. And it's
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  Speaker 2: that we need more stories like that. Those are the
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  Speaker 2: comments that we were hearing. So it's a brightener.
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  Speaker 1: You're right, and you're right, we need, you know, an
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  Speaker 1: influx of these stories, you know, to kind of offset
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  Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, there are there are the sad stories
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  Speaker 1: that we that need to be you know, reported on
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  Speaker 1: that that are necessary. But it's these, like you say,
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  Speaker 1: these inspirations.
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  Speaker 2: Heavy weight of the world right now. No matter who
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  Speaker 2: you are and what you're looking at, you can carry
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  Speaker 2: that burden all the time. And it's almost like getting
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  Speaker 2: a story compared to like getting one of those like
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  Speaker 2: you're in a you have a lot of weeds.
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  Speaker 1: That you're dealing with.
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  Speaker 2: There's a flower, absolutely and then it kind of brings
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  Speaker 2: you joy for that moment.
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  Speaker 1: Some hope. So that's terrific. That's terrific. So again that
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  Speaker 1: again with shaw Local and again check it out. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: a breath of fresh air there is what we need a.
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  Speaker 2: Couple more of those stories. Also, we had a story
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  Speaker 2: just kind of for fun motorcycle enthusiast Jacob Wetzell from
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  Speaker 2: Sterling who just rode. The name kind of cracks me up.
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  Speaker 2: It's the Iron Butt Rally. He rode a motorcycle for
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  Speaker 2: eleven days. A thousand miles a day would be your average,
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  Speaker 2: so it was an eleven thousand mile competition and he
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  Speaker 2: detailed what that was, how he you know, placed in
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  Speaker 2: that Just one of those things where it's just a
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  Speaker 2: fun kind of fear into motorcycles and hobbies, you know,
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  Speaker 2: writing that. That story we have up online. And then
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  Speaker 2: we also have another story of inspiration about a family locally.
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  Speaker 2: There's a benefit planned for July twelfth, Sterling family, a
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  Speaker 2: man who recently had a stroke in May. He's doing
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  Speaker 2: rehabilitative care and there's a benefit that's plan for him
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  Speaker 2: and the fact that his daughter has a rare illness
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  Speaker 2: and so the community is coming together to help them.
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  Speaker 2: His name is Jeremy Hunter. And so we have a
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  Speaker 2: feature that you can also read on our website about
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  Speaker 2: not Lily the struggle, but how the community is coming
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  Speaker 2: together to help them move forward because there's a lot
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  Speaker 2: of unanswered questions. When will he be able to work,
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  Speaker 2: will he be able to work? What does the future
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  Speaker 2: hold for them financially?
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  Speaker 1: So and it is these types of stories. Though you mentioned,
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  Speaker 1: Charlie the Bellevue story that the actual university Bellvue University,
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  Speaker 1: and I do know where that is contacted. You contacted
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  Speaker 1: their Shaw Local for this upbeat story. And it takes
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  Speaker 1: those types of contacts. Maybe put a word out, you know,
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  Speaker 1: it takes that kind of contact if you know somebody,
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  Speaker 1: maybe you know that you know, can can you know,
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  Speaker 1: give us that breadth of fresh air, you know right
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  Speaker 1: into our news items, you know, to contact Shaw Local
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  Speaker 1: exactly you know, and and let you.
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  Speaker 2: Know, let us know about these stories exactly. Something. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I've always said you could go to a council meeting,
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  Speaker 2: and the great thing is is that you hear sometimes
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  Speaker 2: at a council meeting what's going on in your community.
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  Speaker 2: So in a case of say you have an eagle
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  Speaker 2: scout that wants to do a project and they need
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  Speaker 2: some kind of approval to make that happen, you can
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  Speaker 2: hear those kinds of stories, which are great something to
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  Speaker 2: pick up on there. I know Alex has taken photos
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  Speaker 2: of some parkwork done in such situations. It's these kind
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  Speaker 2: of stories we wouldn't even know about. We might see
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  Speaker 2: a glimpse on Facebook, but we can reach so many
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  Speaker 2: people just to get that story out there. And it's
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  Speaker 2: obviously it's not a charge, it's a community sure, it's
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  Speaker 2: what we do. It's news exactly.
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  Speaker 1: So contact Shaw Local. I mean, if you if you
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  Speaker 1: know of something like this, you know that that Shirley
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  Speaker 1: just reported on to us this morning, please context Shaw Local.
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  Speaker 1: They'd you know, we need the story for that, you know,
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  Speaker 1: in that point of view, anything.
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  Speaker 2: Else before we let you go today, Oh, County Fairs say,
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  Speaker 2: kind of looking ahead I would say keep an eye
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  Speaker 2: out for Tom Wadsworth's column. He's doing some great stories
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  Speaker 2: on Lowell Park recently. He tends to write stories at
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  Speaker 2: our featury, like he did the multiple part Walgreen story,
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  Speaker 2: which is not.
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  Speaker 1: And I think he's presenting that, yes in Oregon, if
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  Speaker 1: I'm not mist on the weekend.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, during the weekend, which he'll do from time to time.
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  Speaker 2: I know he did with when we had this one
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  Speaker 2: of his early columns about a doctor's wife who was
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  Speaker 2: kidnapped your many many years ago. He'll take his show
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  Speaker 2: on the road, so to speak. He's been doing a
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  Speaker 2: great Uh. He's a two parter that he's done on
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  Speaker 2: Lowell Park. How did it start? Who is the developers?
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  Speaker 2: How did it get to be what it is? And
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  Speaker 2: you're just like, oh, that's a textbook.
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  Speaker 1: That's great.
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  Speaker 2: We need we need more of that. We just added
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  Speaker 2: another column also, and it's called the Amish Kitchen, and
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  Speaker 2: some of our other newspapers were carrying that within our
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  Speaker 2: Shaw newspaper family. And I said to on a call
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  Speaker 2: with editors last week, hey, we we'd like that, and
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  Speaker 2: they're like you would. I said, I'd love to run
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  Speaker 2: that column because we have such a large concentration of
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  Speaker 2: Amish community that's moving, particularly in Whiteside count along like
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  Speaker 2: Highway thirty. Yes, the impact in the community of of
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  Speaker 2: you know, kind of know your neighbor people go to
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  Speaker 2: their fundraisers and such, and I said, I think that
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  Speaker 2: that readership is there and great first column that ran
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  Speaker 2: it was kind of a wedding story, but it also
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  Speaker 2: had a recipe for peanut butter pie, which I'm like
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  Speaker 2: that great, you can learn your kitchen. It's interactive. You've
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  Speaker 2: learned something today. So we're always, you know, on the lookout.
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  Speaker 2: What would our readers like based on who are our readers?
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  Speaker 1: Yes, very good. So again again some very neat you
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  Speaker 1: know publications through Shaw Local coming out into some neat
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  Speaker 1: stories that are being shared by Shaw Local. And we
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  Speaker 1: keep you updated every week right here on w accent.
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  Speaker 1: Unfortunately we're out of time. Wow, that went fast, but
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  Speaker 1: we will We will pick it up next Wednesday. We
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  Speaker 1: thank you so very much for joining us today. Always
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  Speaker 1: appreciative visit and we'll see you next week.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, sounds great.
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  Speaker 1: Charlie Bielima is our managing editor of The Dixon Telegraph.
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  Speaker 1: Stir Link is at our guest today here at w
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  Speaker 1: accent of sports is next.
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  Speaker 2: Hey enjoy you are glowing.
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  Speaker 1: Oh hey, more like mirror.
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  Speaker 2: Joyed that my relax helped me go I was so
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  Speaker 2: bad