010225 6AM Thursday Byers and Co

782 a month expanded service, which includes two totes will be 3926 a month. Those stories and more stories, podcasts and videos at now, Decatur.com. Dozens of people recovering, lucky to be alive. I'm Dave Anthony Fox News. 15 others are not killed in the attack in New Orleans early New

I couldn't help her that a lot of people didn't make it out, you know? So on one hand you're happy, on the other hand you're...

just told Fox he missed being a victim going into a club one minute before a man drove a rented truck through a crowd of people. Police shot and killed. Sam sued Ben Jabbar, who was from Texas in a U. S army veteran improvised explosive devices also found some investigators are looking to see if he had help. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Merle just told Fox is your time ago. It's an active investigation of a crime scene after a terrorist event. And I don't think we could. I mean, it's not possible to tell

President Biden offered his condolences to the victims, calling the attack despicable, adding that mere hours before the attack, he posted videos on social media, indicating there's inspired by ISIS, expression of desire to kill. It was also an ISIS flag image found on the truck. President-elect Trump calls it pure evil, adding in a truth social post after midnight, our country is a disaster, a violent erosion of safety, national security, and democracy. Here's another question related to New Orleans. Is there any link to what happened?

in Las Vegas. We're rented Tesla Cybertruck filled with explosives blew up right outside the Trump International Hotel. The vehicles used in both this and the New Orleans incident were rented from the same rideshare company to row in the same that the spokesperson from that company said we are heartbroken by the violence perpetrated in New Orleans and Las Vegas and our prayers are with the victims and families. We are actively partnering with law enforcement authorities as they investigate both incidents. Fox is

Israel has taken out another Hamas leader as the war rages in Gaza, killing the head of the terror group's internal security forces. America's listening to Fox News.

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The New Orleans attack wasn't the only New Year's Day massacre. It was another one overseas where 12 people were murdered in Montenegro. A massacre in Montenegro, the small Balkan states in shock after a gunman opened fire in six different locations in a town called Setinyi. Among the dead, a bar owner, his two children and other family members. Attacker Adzo Martinovich fled, but was later surrounded by police and killed himself with a shot to the head.

officials say the 45-year-old was at the bar all day before a brawl broke out. He went home and returned with his weapon. Montenegro's government's declared three days of mourning. Prime Minister Miloico Spyh says he may try to impose a total ban on firearms. Jonathan Savage, Fox News. There was also a shooting late last night in New York City. Gunman opened fire on a crowd outside of nightclub in Jamaica, Queens, then fled. At least 10 people were wounded, mostly teenagers.

on Wall Street. Rising futures suggest gains to start the new year after a positive twenty twenty four for the stock market. The Dow rose about thirteen percent. The Nasdaq surged up twenty nine percent. Two more teams advance to the college football playoff semifinals. Texas and Ohio State will face off in the cotton bowl with a national championship game birth on the line after both teams walked away Wednesday with victories. After letting a sixteen point fourth quarter lead slip away, Texas managed to finish off Arizona state in double overtime.

They're headed home to Texas to play in a common bowl. That was courtesy of ESPN as Texas 139 to 31. And at the Rose Bowl, the Buckeyes got revenge on Oregon after falling to the Ducks in October with Ohio State handily beating Oregon 41 to 21. Joe Morgan Fox News. The last quarter of the final game was supposed to be in New Orleans, but that was postponed by the deadly terror attack. The plan is for Georgia and Notre Dame to play this afternoon. The winner faces Penn State.

I'm Dave Anthony. This is Fox News.

Illinois basketball is back in the hunt for another Big Ten title. And the Alainai Game Day Network is your place before, during, and after every ball game. Hi, I'm Scott Beatty. Start with me two hours before tip off for the Ryan Dallas Real Estate free game show that Brian Barnhart calls all the action. And afterward, Evan Kahn leads the L-Torfer Cat Post Game Show taking your calls and texts on the Effie Moran family. Alainai Game Day is your place right here on WSOI.

Good morning. Here's a look at your WSOI three day weather forecast today. There's a 40% chance of rain and snow mainly later this afternoon, cloudy and high of 40. Tonight's snow is likely mainly before 11 p.m. cloudy to start then clearing low of 21 with some wind and we could see up to a half an inch of accumulation. For Friday, sunny and breezy, high of 26. Saturday, partly sunny, high near 24.

or temperature in downtown Decatur, just 25 degrees. Your W. S. O. Y. Times six oh six.

you

Good morning and welcome to 2025, our first live show back in the studios in the new year. We'll check in with Mark Topper, a big line I win. Got a lot to get to here today. The first on our 100th birthday company starts now.

Well, it looks like Mother Nature has called and once her winter back after having a unbelievable mild December, we're starting off as part of this vortex in the new year with temperatures plummeting snow on the way.

I thought we were holding off until Sunday or Monday, but they've moved it up in the forecast, evidently. Yeah, be here tonight. But then I don't see anything for Friday or Saturday. So yeah, I thought it was we had some originally for the beginning of the week. And I thought, OK, we'll come back for a couple of days, get the weekend and deal with that on Monday. Maybe they moved it up all the way around. No 90% chance on Sunday, 55% chance on Monday. So we're going to have a little bit of snug real snow finally. I don't know. Just the snow icon.

And sometimes goes to a little freezing rain icon, which is really kind of hard to differentiate between the snow icon. It ought to just say crap. That would be the easiest way to describe it. They're not good. Yeah, just not good.

chair a little wobbly thing. No, it's like, it's been in here. Well, I'm assuming other shows have been going on. The armrest thing on a chair is always amazing to be how many people adjust that when they're only in for like five minutes. Well, you want it to be right. I mean, it's like a, it's like your, your chair it on an airplane or

in a classroom and a graphic design class. Do you have the good, nice chairs? I have an okay chair, but somebody shares it. Well, multiple people share it. So I have to adjust it. Right. Everybody's got their own personal settings. I understand. Well, happy new year. Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday time celebrating whatever you celebrate. And you're ready to go now.

Here we are. It's hard for me to believe. I know it's New Year's. I watched Dick Clark's rock in New Year's Eve. I can't believe they're still calling it that by the way. I didn't realize that was still actually in the title. Yeah. That's his show. I know. But is it just a licensing thing? Probably. And tradition thing. I bet there's an end date that they have. I bet internally they know what year that'll be over.

And then it'll probably be Seacrests. Seacrests has been doing it for like 20 years. Right. And he's been cashing the checks. But I'm saying the name will roll over to him even past his time, I'm sure. I would think Dick Clark died in 2012. So that's, you know, that's a pretty big separation. I was just a little surprised. I hadn't, you know, watched any of it in, I don't know, a few years. Oh, okay. We were just flipping back and forth, you know, checking it out.

And I was a little surprised they went to Puerto Rico with a big live performance when like most of that country's in the dark.

Uh, you know, they've had a huge power outage affecting, you know, like, I don't know, almost 2 million people. And they're jazzing it up at some club somewhere where it looks like sucking all the juice out of the island into that one show. I guess the good news is no one there in Puerto Rico could actually watch it to be offended. Yeah, they didn't know it was happening. It's just weird. Probably a generators and stuff. I guess, but it just looked like, wow, what a bad look. I know you got it all planned.

And it's hard to do right, but when the entire islands in the dark seemed like a waste of resources. But I did see a couple of people I wanted to make note of. Little John was on the air on CNN or one of them. I don't remember which. It was just an interview. He wasn't performing, but he'll be at the Devon Lakes or amphitheater. That's right. Big celebrity, big award-winning musician, all around well-known guy.

Yeah. And cool in the gang was on last night at the Hall of Fame induction concert in ceremonies. They had last night on ABC. They put it on cable TV for the first time. It's been on Dave Matthews at the end. I mean, I just my TV came on and that was.

Dave was talking. Yeah, Dave Matthews. Bam was one of the inductees, but cool in the gangs, been to the cage. I just thought, man, it was kind of a night where they're celebrating all this stuff. And we've got all the local connections a lot to get to here. Big align. I win in that bowl game. It was a fun game to watch.

I don't know how much you caught of it. I think Angela is going to be back with us tomorrow morning back from the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl where I got so tired of that Cheez-It mascot and all the shenanigans in and around that. He married some couple at the beginning of the game and then they were, I don't know, they kicked a field goal. There are all kinds of crazy stuff with the mascots. And the monies were. They were every bit of it. They had a big cuddle full of Cheez-It's

people sitting in it. Yeah, Angela sent me a picture of it before the game. Yeah, okay. But it was a great game and it was a lot of fun to watch. And the coaching battle was interesting because I thought literally they were going to be like fist to cuffs involved. And that wasn't going to work out well for the other team. I don't think he seemed to be quite a bit outsized by Brett Billman.

Yeah. And they continue the beef on Twitter after the fact. Yeah. So it just fits. I don't know. I guess the coaches have to get the team fired up. But aren't you kind of at that age? You're 20 years old. You're a college kid making big bucks now because of NIL and you look at this guy that had set running around. People trying to hold him back off the field. It seems a little silly to me. They buy into it. I mean, that's your culture.

You know, the person who sets the tempo for your culture and he felt like they needed, they needed that thing. And I'm sure they rallied to it. Unless you've lost the locker room. I mean, if you lose the locker room and you act as people look at you and go, go ahead and we don't have your go. I don't know how close. You know, recently, I heard, I don't know, it was a big save or somebody.

talking about this all star player that he had that's now a star in the NFL and said he wasn't sure he'd ever even talked to him while he played in Alabama. I mean, so I don't know how those connections are or not. I mean, you think Dan Campbell in the NFL for sure. There's some, but there's also a different level. Now you're professionals and you're out there and everybody's, you know, I don't know. I just thought the guy looked goofy. You know, whenever like Bobby Hurley, any of those people do that kind of stuff.

Yeah, that's right. 11 would have been the number that they had never done. This is as good as they've ever done. Yeah. And I think probably the last time was not too far removed, if not close to Angela was there.

Oh, wow. 2001. Seriously. Yeah. I didn't realize it had been that long. Is that like Barshard Mendenhall, maybe? I couldn't even tell you. That's how long ago. Oh my goodness. I mean, 2001 was 9 11. I know. Oh my gosh. So you've had a whole group of kids grow up and become adults and never seen a 10 game winning season. So I think it's outstanding. Great ball games all the way around.

I just happened to watch that Texas game in Arizona State and my goodness what a game. And I don't know why I stayed with it. You know, I didn't have a dog in the fight either way, but I just sensed there was something kind of and it turned into a double overtime whammy that was unbelievable. And that running back for Arizona State, that cannonball dude. Oh yeah.

Man, is he fun to watch? Yeah. It's been pretty good football. There's good pro games too. I mean, I had a good time with it. Honestly, the last few days. Yeah. Well, the last team, but that's what they say. Such the bears and the Falcons and the lions for the Niners game was good. There have been a few days all sort of blurred together when you're not working. It's like I have like pages of notes and then I get here and it's like, look at that was seven, eight days ago. Yeah.

lot of sports. Hope everyone had a great holiday and a great new year. Then, of course, the tragedy down in New Orleans, which is still unfolding. And now maybe connections to what happened in Las Vegas at the Trump Hotel with the Tesla truck and who knows. I think people

I was surprised there were that many people out at three in the morning, you know, but I guess not given that it was New Year's Eve into New Year's Day. And probably a lot of those people were there for the football game, right? I mean, yeah, you would just guess mathematically. They postponed that game to today, which they'll play. And I can't even imagine what that must have been like just.

the administration of that city, you know, I mean, you know, having to deal with all that, the security on top of that, having this big bowl game, New Year's Eve, all of the, the, can you imagine what the last 48 hours have been like for that city? No. And the, I mean, there's so many things that as a city, they can, it's going to be expensive and it's going to be hard and you have

people scheduled to work a day. And here's your vacation. Here's all of that. And they can move that organizationally to the next day. They can get through that. The buildings probably not being used so they probably could get the football game. All the individual people that traveled and had to be back to work, the burn vacation that have hotels,

And non refundable needs second days. People that work the stadium. And I mean, it's just got to be a logistical nightmare. I mean, you have 15 people who have died and scores injured. And that is clearly more important than a football game. And I wouldn't ever think otherwise. And I think it was probably smart.

More out of even just respect, but out of security concerns just to make sure that this wasn't just part of something bigger, you know, in and around this big spectacle of a football game to keep everyone safe. But can you imagine the work that's had to happen over the last 48 hours?

I mean, just to rearrange everything. Yeah, it's crazy. And then the investigation, you know, getting as much footage as you can, talking to people, the injuries, making sure the hospitals are flowing, the ambulance. I mean, it is.

There is some heavy lifting going on. And then on top of it, a bunch of strangers in your community that have to get in, get out, airport concerns. I'm sure around this as well. Oh, I mean, it's all kind of thing. And it's also, you know, we've seen some of this, you know, in Europe, unfortunately, and other places around the world. And you think about a car and large crowds and

and what kind of barriers you're using and how many barriers do you have and people can just drive around the barriers. I mean, we talk about guns and gun safety and every time there's a, but this thing that we all get in and drive around in and do our business and own two or three of can kill so many people so fast. Yeah. It absolutely can. And when we have these large crowds, we've got to start. I don't know. But can you fool proof at all? I mean, yeah.

Probably not. But anyway, that was a horrible. I woke up, you know, we were not up late late. New Year's Eve night. Yeah, I've kind of dozed off. And then I heard all the gunshots slash fireworks shots at midnight and it was time. So you mean personally? Yeah, I nipped off for a couple of minutes and then people shooting guns. I mean, I don't know what it was. The pattern of it sounded like guns, but really fireworks.

I didn't hear sirens. Yeah, I barely got to, you know, just watching the ball drop and then, you know, okay, well, that's 11 o'clock. So it doesn't really count. And then, you know, I was in bed by 12.05, but then woke up. Obviously the next morning. Oh my God. It's like just people who just wanted to have fun.

just wanted to spend a night out on New Year's Eve, just, you know, there for a bowl game or whatever New Orleans is a big town for New Year's Eve anyway. And you think all they did was, you know, go to a street party.

Don't don't think you're going to die. Don't deserve to die. Just for doing that. Not at all. I just can't imagine what that place has been like for the last, you know, couple of days and hopefully today we'll go off without a hitch and they will get the bowl game and without incident or anything like that as well. And then the all mystery about what happened out there in Vegas and now they're connecting these two guys at the same place at the same time in military service, which could be a giant and the rental app that was used to rent the cars and some other things. But we will eventually find out.

All right. We have, I mean, wow, 100 years. We are embarking on a year long endeavor to keep sharing the community stories at the beginning of our second 100 years as a century. I thought about that a lot when Jimmy Carter passed away also since we have last been together and he died at the age of 100.

And when you put perspective and time together like that in a human form and you look at the former president of the United States and you think about all that has happened and what that guy saw in his lifetime stacking it up with the same age as the radio station. It's crazy to think about it like that. Yeah. But a century. Yeah. And can you imagine?

I mean, what those eyes, you know, from peanut farmer to president to all the work that he did after his time in the White House and humble beginnings all the way to literally 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and beyond what he saw with his own two eyes over a hundred years. I've been studying some of the local history for some stuff for this coming year and looking at the photos and reading

how things were written, how they were said. And when he was born, yeah. And so thinking about his, like, if there was a photo book, which there are, I've been to Georgia a lot. And in the airport, they used to have a terminal that you'd walk in and be like the story of his life or whatever. And you would see even just how we took pictures and what would be in the pictures. It's like, it's two different worlds from the beginning to the end. Yeah. It's unbelievable. It's probably

were somewhere around his lifetime. And you could move it 10 years earlier, 10 years later, whatever, might be the greatest leap of what you would see in a span of 100 years. It's got to be right around that one. I think we'll look back and say the last twenty five

that. But yes, you're right, because for a long time, life didn't change all that much. I mean, yes, it got easier to farm, you know, got easier to do some things. But I mean, you know, indoor plumbing, all the things that come along. But yes, when you're living in the 1700s or the 1800s, you know, there might be an advance in like how far you can take a ship somewhere, but your day to day life change all that much. Yeah. And you know, in his life, space was still a dream dream. And now we have

things go into space almost daily for 60 years of his life. You know, space was a dream. Yeah. Street cars, highways. It's absolutely amazing. So we're reflecting a lot this year as we head out on the century tour, we're going to have a lot of fun with it. Can't wait. That will officially kick off. I will. It's already officially kicked off, but we'll have our first show on the 13th and we'll look forward to continuing telling the stories of this community.

And that gave you some history along the way as well. All right, let's take a quick break. Nick's got your three day forecast. Unfortunately, there's some snow in there, lower temperatures. We're going to get hit with some winter here, folks. There's no if fans or buts about it. We'll be back with more right after this. Today, we've got a 40% chance of rain and snow mainly after 5 p.m. It'll be cloudy with a high of 40. Then tonight's snow is likely up until around 11 p.m. cloudy during the early evening.

and gradually clearing with a low of 21 in some wind. For Friday, sunny and breezy, high near 26 and Saturday, partly sunny with a high near 24. Current temperature in downtown Decatur, 25 degrees, your WSLI time is 624.

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a couple of other notes as I was flipping around watching more college football than I have all year. I've been watching the line. I, you know, every weekend that they've played, but I haven't watched a lot outside of that until we get to the bowl game. So there's just something magical about them. It's all the hype.

Yeah, I don't know. It seems you guys play that haven't played all year because all the good players aren't there. You know, but the games have been good. I mean, they really have been. And it's an interesting question, too, because I want your take on Mr. Barkley, you know, not getting a chance to sort of break this record that's been there forever. And I understand both sides of this argument. And really, I think it has to be sort of a personal choice, a team choice.

coach and players sit down the same way. You know, if you've got a prospect to make a bunch of money in the NFL, you know, when you're heard in a bowl game, you know, in a bowl of cheese that I get it. But at the same time, are we passing up on opportunities when you're trying to be safe? This one thing I like about Dan Campbell. Now Dan Campbell would probably, if you looked at it, honestly, half their defense is out because they play like crazy lunatics and they never let up off the gas. But there's something kind of admirable about that.

meaning that you can be careful, you can be careful, and it's not like you can play any injuries. No, but you can avoid them. Yeah. We have to take away this guy's chance to. Why? He said so. No, he said he would do whatever was best for them.

And the coach said that he would talk to the owner and all the advisors and all the players and everything. And he'd let a rookie go for the rookie record two years ago, three years ago. So he has a history of being on the other end of this. Yeah, but this guy, he goes down, you're done. You're done. There's no reason for him to play. And it's he'd be beating Eric Dickerson's record in one more game than Eric Dickerson had. Well, no one else has come close.

Well, there's seven or eight people in between him and Eric Dickerson. So they came pretty close. Derek Henry and I can't remember who else. But yeah, there's been a few. So, but do you think that Eric Dickerson is the game changed? I mean, I can't imagine Walter Payton sitting out. I can't imagine. I just, it just seems like you're trying. If he, if he gets hurt and can't go to the playoffs,

then you fire everybody involved if he get if he's really yes you're you're yes if somebody gets hurt playing football you fire everyone in a game that he should not be playing in a game that they've got every they've nothing to play for he's got history to play for

And how do you ever get back to history if this is where it's going to be? Because you're not going to break the record in a single season at the beginning of the year. It's always going to be at the end of the year. Well, yeah. I mean, he's on a short list. He's on the top of that list. He gets hurt. You have no recourse. If he doesn't get hurt, then you got a cool record. That's awesome. He gets hurt. It's I mean, you fire everybody. The insurance doesn't pay out on it. Here you go. Yeah, he didn't have to play.

I mean, you don't play him. And I mean, I love Saquon Barkley and I would love to see him. Dickerson is 64 years old. How long has that record been? Oh, I don't probably nineties. And he broke a record with longer games than OJ. So, I mean, that argument is always will always be there. I guess you could probably look at it side by side and do whatever. But you still have infamy. I mean, you know, we're talking about a guy

Right? Yeah. 35 years ago. Yeah. No one's been able to do that since. And what's he need? 120 yards? Yeah. Yeah. You can't play him. You just cannot. You just can't. And I love to see that stuff. I love to see it.

I love it, but you can't. If I saw Willis McGahie in a bowl game lose his entire NFL career because he was playing a stupid game for the hurricane. Okay. Yes. And you'll you'll see somebody, you know, Aaron Rodgers go out five minutes into game one. Right. But he's supposed to be there and they need him to be. Sequon needs to play next week. Not this weekend. Be ready. Be rested. Go get 250 playoff yards and destroy everybody.

and take your team. The Super Bowl. I'm not sure it's that cut and dry. I mean, I don't know how it can't be. This game has no value. If he gets hurt, what what you've screwed the entire mission because you wanted to get fancy. Wanted to get fancy. Yeah, there's no reason for him to play. What would it mean for him and his life?

to be the all time. You can't tell me that. Eric Dickerson still living off this 35 40 years later. Sequin Barkley is in great shape. He's not going to make any more. I mean, it'd be nice for him to be able to tell. I'm saying post post career. I mean, there's got to be life in that. So what do you do? Do you put him behind the backup lineman that are going to be playing with the backup quarterback handing him the ball and also, by the way, against the team that

completely screwed. Yeah, it's almost a perfect story. Oh, yeah. And then they get last game of the year. Ultimate payback giants put Barkley on the shelf out of.

Yeah, it does write itself real well. Oh, come on, man. This is why people are in love with Dan Campbell in the lines. I can't imagine him just sitting people. Maybe they will. I don't know. It just seems like this guy's got a chance. I don't talk about just sitting people. I'm only specifically talking about. And you just said I'll be playing behind all of the others. That's what will be happening. Saquon Barkley is a guy that is the whole Eagles right now. Jalen hurts. He's hurt. Yeah. Concussed.

If you have your quarterback and you're running back, banged up, going into the playoffs, you might as well have taken the year off. I think that negates a whole lot of work that was done in between. I know it does. And that's why you rest. If you're the owner and your guy, this is football, you're not going to take injuries out of football. I mean, or you can't plan them. I mean, correct, but you can't avoid them.

not playing. I mean, I watched Vince Coleman get rolled up in a harp at the stadium. You know, this every time you step out there, there is a chance of career in whatever 100% agree. That's why you take the 100% chance of not getting hurt playing football.

by not playing football when it does. He better be very careful in all other aspects of his life. Cause if he falls in the shower, that's an end loses the record and they go. Yes. And he's out. That would be the way for the guy to go for the record. I think that they're even in today's age where the money is crazy and all of that you can live off that stuff. I mean, that is a thing. They can't take away from me until somebody else comes along. He will not make

in endorsements when he's older or getting to come back. He's going to make like $200 million. Yeah. Okay. For being healthy. He's not getting that doing the tribute circuit 30 years after he plays. Okay. Eric Dickerson wishes he'd get one of Barkley's contracts 40 years ago. 1984. Oh, is that long? Is the all-time record when he's on the Rams? Yeah. So think about that.

I was a senior in high school when this literally. Yeah. That's a long time to hold record that you have now the opportunity. That's one of the golden. I mean, that's in football. That's up there at the top. Yeah, he said he wants to hang a banner. OK. That's his own words. Well, I think maybe they will. But if they get sent home packing in the playoffs, he doesn't have either. And he doesn't have either. But he has his knee in 200 million holes. And next year to do both.

I'm a little old school. I understand your argument. It's not there's it's I mean, it's the common sense thing to do, but it's still football. And it's just I think when you try to get too cute on some of this stuff, there's nothing cute about it. OK, well, there's there's getting cute is like here. Let's sneak in a play here. The argument also is are you out of step? I mean, when you sit everybody and you get everybody out of the rhythm of playing and everybody out late by. We'll see. Yeah.

I mean, if they, if they expected, I mean, are they favored? Are they the number one seed in the NFC? Are they very close? I mean, they're top five team. I think that the lions were without, and they have the Vikings that they're playing this weekend, which is going to be a tough one, but they're right there. They're, they're one of the very top teams in the, they're, they're stages set. They've been putting up points. They got a good one, two punch with the quarterback running back.

They just need to go into it as healthy as I think Detroit still is. So yeah, they're right there. 14 and 2. Yeah. They beat the 49ers. And the AFC does look a little. Well, who knows why they play the game for personal note and for people that are watching along hard knocks at home.

Saturday's slate of games. Yeah. Are the four teams that are on hard knocks and then Sundays everybody else. Yeah. There's two matchups of that division on Saturday. You watch the football and then you watch the show after you get all the behind the scenes stuff that happened that week. I love it. It's I like.

This is the first time they've done multiple teams. I love that format. It's a lot of fun. It moves fast. By the way, it's a max exclusive. So it's, you know, streaming only. Yeah. Oh, I did not. Well, I mean, if you have HBO, yeah, you get the app. I mean, you just have to make sure you have the app to watch it through. But most of them are HBO and then you can stream it next day. The difference is this comes, you know, it's like Tuesday or whatever day it's available. It's just boom. It's there and a lot of fun keeping up real time almost.

with all four of those things. And those storylines have kind of changed. They have. Great deal. Yeah. All right. I still, man, how do you sit there and watch against the giants? I mean, the team that screwed, this is like a perfect storybook ending. Yeah. It is 40 year old record. This is like against the team that screwed you. Yeah. This is crystal ball stuff. If I knew he wasn't hurt, I'd dream to watch this happen. But I, man, if he fell down and went boom, boom.

I could. Y'all better hope he doesn't slip in the shower sometime between now and in the playoffs. Put that dude on. Put him on those little styrofoam peanuts for seven days. Just bring him food rub his legs. Bring him food. All right. Let's take a break here for the bottom of the hour. Realize we're off a little bit, but hey, it's our first show back. We do have a lot to get to here today.

Also sad news locally heard about passing of someone who I thought the world of and was always a big part of what happened in the community and food drive for years. But a few thoughts on Dave Wilhauer when we get back. We'll be back with more right after this.

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back here on a Thursday. Welcome to 2025. I was really sad to hear that David Willauer passed away on the 27th of December. I feel like I just saw Dave.

Not that long ago, but I look back. I think it was March when we were out of the kid earth. We were credit union along with the heart of Illinois Community Foundation. And they were announcing that it was January, February, whenever they kicked off their impact, Grant and Dave was there. Hadn't seen him for a long time. A long time caterpillar guy.

It was on there. We were credit union board. I remember just David always show up. You know, we'd see Dave coming out of the food drive and they'd always there, you know, be there unsolicited, you know, with the check every year. What a great guy. And over the years, just couldn't have been nicer and considered him to be an inspiration in this community for many, many, many, many years. And I know he struggled this year, you know, with his health.

But just wanted to say rest in peace and you will not be forgotten. One of the great guys in this community for a very, very long time. Very long time. Yeah, I hadn't heard about that. Yeah, it's like Anna once sent me a nice interview. She did with him and there have been a couple of folks, you know, pass away. I hate at the end of the year when we get kind of like melancholy about all the people we lost, but Dave was just an impactful guy in this community for a very, very long time. Just always enjoyed his company and

missing. So to him and his family and loved ones, I know it's not tough because you know that you got that around the holidays. But what a great life. What a great life. All right. When we look at, by the way, I was trying to trace back, not trying to make an argument just just how long it's been if you go from OJ to Eric Dickerson today, eight about like 60 years. Sure.

Yeah. That's not something that falls. You know, it's not like that changes over all the time. No, and that position has gone under a bunch of change. It got devalued the last say 10, 12 years. And then some guys like Derek Henry and Seqwon and McAfee and now Bijon Robinson are where people are like, wait a minute, there's some value in this. You can take over an entire name from that position like they used to. And so, you know, the Broncos in the 90s in particular, they had Terrell Davis.

But they had several other running backs. They just turn them in. It's here. We could replace them. Pay a guy nothing. Put somebody in there. They can do it. And when you see somebody this special, you're right. I want to see it. But I'd rather him do it in the playoffs.

Uh, yeah. Adrian Peterson was the closest to come to that back in 2012. But even that's been a minute. Yeah. And Derek Henry, I know. Before that was Jamal Lewis in 2003 and then before that was Barry Sanders in 97. So, you know, this isn't something that comes along every year. Yeah, there's, I think there's been probably, uh, yeah, Derek Henry did it like two, two years ago, maybe it's 2008, 2020.

Oh, it's been four or five here. Wow. Yeah. Okay. That's what happens. Time flies by. Mary Sanders goes back to 97. So yes, there are people in between, but no one's been able to do it. Yeah, man. Adrian Peterson, you know, you look back now and you're kind of happy. You know, but he's so close. Oh, yeah. He was eight yards away. He was unstoppable. Well, he stopped for eight yards, but I mean, there was no answer for him. And you see Barkley. He's like a video game. He's ridiculous. Oh, Jay Simpson.

was 1973 with the Buffalo Bills. So you go OJ and then Eric Dickerson beat OJ. And then you've had people beat OJ, but not Eric Dickerson. That's right. I'm telling you. So it feels like you're messing around with karma.

I don't know. You feel like it's tempting fate the other way. I'm just saying the storyline plays itself out beautifully. Have him run for two, three hundred yards. Just obliterate the team. Oh, that team is bad. I know. Bad, bad. And something, you know, take some rogue defender or something. I know. It's just trying to make a name. I'm going to stop him. Yep. Well, his leg off. There you go. All right. So we had literally, um,

When we were getting, when I was getting prepared for today, I was ending like sift through all these pages and pages of notes about what would still be relevant. And the relevance is that we literally turned 100 this year. And I was, you know, not everybody realizes that we didn't start out as WSOY. What did we start out as? We literally started out as WJBL. And we used to have, and I'm not quite sure who pilfered it, but you know, when you go through these ownership changes, cool stuff disappears.

always. We had a WJBL mic, you know, back from the original. And it's pretty amazing if you look at the Federal Communications Commission, the FCC records, and you go back through the station history and tradition, you'll see how everything started. And it's really interesting because the in 1928 in 25 WJBL was founded.

And then if you go to 1928, WJBL and WBAO, which data back to 1922 were consolidated into what became WSOY. And WBAO was a license that was issued to James Milliken University. Oh, wow.

for a new broadcasting station at eight. Well, this station was randomly assigned to call letters WBAO, which came from the roster of available call signs, basically. And so when those consolidated, they ended up becoming WSOY. So 1925, WJBL, 1928, the consolidation of the two stations, which then became WSOY. And if you look at the William Gusher Dry Goods Company,

which was in what we now refer to as Preston Jackson Park, which used to be Carson, Perry, Scott, going back in the day. Remember, they were in the case merchandise were on both sides. But at the top floor there was the original station. That's awesome. So when we moved back town or back downtown after all those years,

we were like literally catty corner right from the where it started. Similar height, probably, too. No, when we were in the old place, we were in the ground floor. Oh, we're kind of catty corner now. Yeah, we're talking about down there. Look at. Yeah. Yeah. No, in the Barnes building, because like when you look out on studios, that was literally where your building was. Yeah. So when you think about all of those things and then you think about, I mean, people,

referred to Decatur, Illinois as the soybean capital of the world for a very long time. Yeah. And then a lot of people never put the soy part of WSOY together. Yeah. But that's why. So. 1925 to 2025. That's almost hard to say, isn't it? Yeah. I don't know why it sounds so different than 2024. Because it's new. You haven't been saying it. I guess. Yeah.

That's all we have anymore. It's not like you're writing a check or you got to actually put the date on anything. But those 100 years, we'll be celebrating that over the next 12 months. And we've got a lot of cool things planned. So I'm very happy, very excited. And we'll have more on the century tour. We're going to start with our folks at the Heart of Illinois Community Foundation, which is a great place to start. They're celebrating their 25th year and the impact that they're having and man, I've seen some behind the scenes stuff. I think you're going to be really excited. It's going to be a blast.

Lot of universities is a blast. It's just fun. But instead of us spending a lot of time on us, we're going to spend a lot of time on telling the stories of this community and getting out and hitting the road. So it will be a lot of fun. And all you have to do is just stay tuned. We'll have the whole thing. We'll have stuff on the web and everywhere else. It'll be great. How was your Christmas? Well, it's like you blink an eye and it seems to be gone. Even though it was a while. It was good. How about yours?

cannot complain. The lights are still on. And I'm assuming that will be coming down this week or this weekend in downtown, which I was kind of it was kind of a cold start to the morning compared to what we've had over the last, you know, few weeks. And when I drove in downtown, I'm like, Oh, good. This Christmas line is still up. Yeah, we drove by St. Mary's on the 30th and saw the big star. And well, and I thought to myself, I go, that might be the last time we see that. It would probably come down. And then I drove by it last night that or, yeah, the

Was it last night? Yeah, the first, and it was still there. But then it occurred to me that that building might not be there. And where will the star go? I don't know. That's a good question. So I might have just seen it for the last time in a spot. In a spot, you might be right. But I think because the way the holidays fell, like on a Wednesday and then a Wednesday, we probably got until Monday. That's right. Yeah. So maybe take a look at it and maybe take a picture if you're out. That's not a bad idea if it's still lit. I'm just a guy I didn't notice this morning.

Yeah. Well, I mean, it's been there. So it's just one of those things that as you talk about buildings coming down in the lineage of a place that we all know, you know, I was in a car full of people.

born decades and decades apart that all had been born in that little spot over there. Just right over there under that story. Yeah, me too. It's like it. It's going to change and that's OK, but it is. So maybe make note of it. All right. Well, there you go. I'm sure they'll have another plan for that. Sure. And we'll see. So holidays were great. You know, family and we didn't do a lot. It was one of those lazy sort of weeks where you just sort of get up whenever you get up and go to bed whenever you go to bed and you go to Tuesday. I don't know. Sunday feels like it.

I had the exact experience. And I don't, I was nervous about today. I was holding my phone because of the alarms because even getting up at, you know, 550 is dangerous. Like even sleeping in to 550 would have been costly here. So it's like, I better not get this one wrong. Yeah, it is amazing how quickly or I don't think it happens quickly for me. I think it happens and then like,

eventually I get that way and then back to reality is generally the way it works. But yeah, when you're not setting alarms or having to get up, you know, when everybody else is still sleeping in the entire community is dark. Yeah. That's OK. It was nice having to break my first marquee coffee since I last last week. So what's that eight, nine, 10 days? Yeah. Missed that. I'm going to have it at home, but I just

try to do without the caffeine. See if I can do it. And I did. But yes, you're right. The alarm goes off screen. You're like, Oh, God, I remember this. This. This is early. And I almost played the chicken game. Like, Oh, five more minutes. I'm like, if you do that, you're asking for it. You're going to get a call. Somebody's going to call you until you get here. So I talked myself out of it. Well, that's probably the smart thing. Glad you did. Well, I we had, did you get a favorite gift? Did you get anything that you were really? I'm still waiting on several packages, including stuff for you.

They, in some cases, shout out to my mailman who's awesome. Shout out to the people actually bringing stuff to my door. No problems. Those people have been great aside from the couple that missed both of my porches and needed to put it out in the rain in front of the garage. But everybody else, the back end of stuff, no answers. Hey, it'll be here whenever. Weird. I've not really dealt with this level of it, probably five or six things that are just

Well, you know, it is. I think it was a perfect storm this year for a lot of reasons. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I understand. And it I think like you 99.9% of the stuff, you know, particularly, you know, here at local level, you know, no issues at all. We have great mailman and UPS and all the other stuff. It's really good. You get a nice picture, you know, where your package is. Then you will get the occasional thing, like we had something delivered that was

They couldn't hide it at their house because it was pretty large. And so, you know, will you keep this show? And the guy just put it up against the garage door, like from the outside. Now, if I had left that next morning, you know, not knowing it was there, I don't know what would have happened. Because it came like, you know, after seven o'clock and, you know, you think it's like another 12 feet. Right.

He pulled in the drive. Yeah. So it's like who checks the outside of the garage before opening the garage door. I would even think to look there, you're like, I have a mailbox. I have a porch. I have, I mean, like, what are you doing? Yeah, this wouldn't fit in the mailbox, but certainly would have fit on the porch. Um, and yeah, you just kind of go, huh? And I think we're going to have to get back to that. You know, there's, I don't Canada, they're still on strike.

you know, across eBay or any place you're doing any ordering. If you've been thinking about something from Canada, they're like, no, go. This is going to take you forever. And I know Amazon had some stuff going on. I think that there's the capacity level of being able with the infrastructure that we have to do the things that they were doing for a while. I don't know where we're going back there. Maybe we will just require them to scale up, which they have

the resources to do. The post office might have to take less of Amazon's load, but Amazon will probably need to carry more of their load. They have the ability to do so. They are not hurting for anything. But the post office is a whole different beast. And they're right now fighting in Congress and everywhere else about how they're doing things. And there has been a dramatic difference in the last four or five months.

just as someone who uses it regularly because of eBay, that's what eBay does. And I can't imagine what the postal system would look like without eBay, to be quite honest with you. I mean, they can't turn a profit right now. But there has, it's all over the place. I mean, I just

You should expect, okay, I'll just get this and this amount of time and there'll be no problems. And then it has been a nightmare the last three or four months. Yeah. You know, I have a mailman who is phenomenal. A plus and I wouldn't even take any points off, not a single point off. In fact, and I'm not exaggerating. But I don't think this is a local problem. This is how it's getting routed. But I wanted to give an example of even per and I'm going to call it straight up perfection. I have no complaint. I can't think of one.

There are times where here I've got my big satchel full of mail and I go and go. And then I've got my packages. And sometimes I've got a lot of packages. And so I have to come back to the same place more than once. I have to go back to my Jeep and come back. Well, some days there's just too much or you run out of time and it goes back with you. And that happened to be a Friday. So it's coming back to you on Monday. No fault of theirs over encumbered, overburden, impossible to do. And it's like when you're when your mechanism at the end,

is overwhelm the individuals to the to the tune of they can't deliver. They're not going to walk around with a hundred boxes and they're a little bag. They're not Santa with a magic sack.

And so it's like sometimes just that thing, even when things work perfect and you have the right human being in the right spot, you're four days later. Yeah. And it's like, I don't think it's going to get better, though. I really don't. And I hope it does. And I'm sure many people are trying to figure that out. But it doesn't seem to be anything that the local folks can change. They just got to deal with the end result of what's happened throughout the entire process. But even the tracking is weird. I mean, it just it's

They have to fix that tracking thing where it's handed off and Mark is delivered, but it's just sitting in a, because it's been delivered to the next team. Yeah. And then it needs to either reissue a new tracking number or say now handed to the other team, not something. Yeah. I think the only thing I haven't, I haven't thought about this much, but

It's going to take Amazon and the like to expand their own delivery services Walmart and Amazon in particular. But then what does that do for the financials of the post office? Because I'm sure those contracts are big money makers for them, but they're going to have to take less of them.

And because you have more manpower. I mean, you know, that's the thing. You can't not make a profit or not break even and then complain about the amount of stuff you're getting through these outside companies because you take away that business. How do you even operate? Right. And once again, this is I'm talking about the postal system, not your local folks.

Yeah, I wonder if the logistics of like an Amazon or a Walmart can can overlay a system that would work for and then you get in. I mean, there's stuff there, but they've got to know how, you know, to know where everything is at all times and all of that. There's got to be some. There's just too much overlap. We've got the brains to figure this out. It was all working a lot better six months ago. Oh, yeah.

I mean, on a regular, and now it's just sort of like, and I get like the holiday time. I don't hold any, but I mean, it's like, it's a free for all right. I understand that going in. And, you know, you get frustrated. Like there was, I'll tell you the funny story. I was, there was a gift that was on a list for a nephew. And I bought it from one place. They said Alfred delivery and then they canceled and said, we don't have any more. Bought it from another place. They said, it's Alfred delivery and then they canceled and said, we don't have anymore. I'm like, okay, how can you

And the two places are two of the biggest chair, you know, and you go, how do you in a digital age? It's probably still for sale on their side at the time. I hate that, but it's okay because we get to the family Christmas and somebody else got him that gift. Oh, nice. Okay. So it was, you know, so I'm like literally buying a gift card day of, you know, because I'm hoping to still get the thing or whatever. But I expect that that's just, you know, my bad for not doing it back in September.

Yeah, some stuff you can't avoid and it is what it is. But I think there's enough brain power and enough, more importantly, enough money to be made that they can sort this out. And they meaning the entire shipping industry in the United States, including the post office and the big shippers and even the people who ship people.

airlines. I was like, Oh, that took a turn. But yes, you're right about that. I think we can reimagine all of it to work a little better. You know, I've never understood that those flights. We're going to send you to Texas to get you to Florida. OK, that doesn't seem cost effective. I wouldn't drive that way. I slept in the Atlanta airport connecting from Los Angeles to Chicago. Yeah.

I mean, the thing about that. Yeah. It's no way you can make that sense. Nope. And it doesn't work with mail either. Flew over by house. Hey, I'll be back in three days. I gotta go sleep in the airport because it's one inch of snow on the other end of the country. Maybe the new administration can put somebody in charge of that. Maybe those can get all over that. Sure. Transpo. All right. When we get back on the other side of the break, a lot to get to here today. I'm not sure Paul is coming in or not. I don't feel so out of, you know, like,

We'll just see. It'd be like a grab bag or a blind box. It might be. Daddy might be with us later. It's one of those weeks. So it happens when your holiday hits right in the middle of the week on a Wednesday and everybody goes, yeah, Thursday, Friday weekend looks pretty good. I had some hard workers sending me stuff. I'm asking. I'm asking myself why we didn't think the same way. Two more days. But we couldn't wait to get back here and celebrate 100 and and celebrate 2025. We'll be back after news. Don't go anywhere.

No matter where you are, we're there. WSOY Decatur, 1340 AM and 103.3 FM, streaming live at nowdecatur.com. This is RJ Grace with your stories. Now, the U of I extension is holding its yearly master naturalist training program Tuesdays from 6 to 9 PM January 7th through March 25th. Training is open to adults 18 and older. There's a $150 training fee, but waivers are available.

The program includes topics like botany, climate, forestry, geology, animals, prairies, archaeology, and urban and agricultural systems. More at our website now, Decatur.com. GT Church and First Christian Church, along with Macon Resources and the Tim Tebow Foundation, have opened registration for night to shine 2025. This is a prom night experience for people with special needs, ages 14 and older. Every honored guest enters on a red carpet, and before the