Whad'ya Know?

I’d like to thank–

L. James Packard, who had the unusual quality of sounding like a guy from around here if he spoke really good, which he was, one of the (2) founding fathers of WYK. Couldn’t have done it without you, Jim;

Adam Friedrich, our ultimate producer who steered the Miketannic past the iceberg sailing her into sunny & placid waters, only to be sunk by friendly fire;

John Thulin, who only missed a show when he had to get married. I mean he didn’t have to get married. Anyway, I promised his mom, Eleanor, he would have a job as long as I did–so, see you later, John;

Jeff Hammann, two m’s & 3 n’s , who is, if there is such a thing, a great bass player and had many interesting thoughts that, alas, never aired;

Our newest and most definite-liest cast member, Stephanie Lee, who has brought energy, laughter, intelligence and charm to the show, and can speak Swedish when needed;

The dazzling and charming Clyde the Funky Drummer Stubblefield, who drummed on every road show since 1987 but not so much on the weekly shows because I would have been sitting right in front of him;

Our head tech hubba hubba and very expensive brandy drinker Tom Blain, the only Whad’ya Know stalwart to leave and come back again, without really saying where he had been those years, may have been Norway, or possibly Scotland;

Chris, marshack, marzzerik, Chris, anyway, our show manager, see job description, who also arranged the road shows, the only problematic one being a bus ride either to hell or Columbus, Ohio;

Brad Kolberg, who smiled at me once in 10 years and I looked to see if my fly was open;

Aubrey Ralph, responsible for the mix on Whad’ya Know done entirely while listening to This American Life;

Lyle Anderson, the spiritual center of the WYK ethos and the guy who types my ad libs into the monitor on my desk while letting anybody who calls, no matter their condition nor state of mind, on the air, and does it all in spite of being way overqualified in several important, esoteric fields to do this kind of thing;

Wisconsin Public Radio, by which I mean Jack Mitchell, who made me out of mud in 1985, and, subsequently, never fired me, or I would be porcelain;

Our producer before last, Todd Witter, who gave WYK the best 10 years of his life before realizing it and leaving post haste for Portland, and who is an excellent ballroom dancer;

Our announcer before last, Sarah Nics, who spoke with her hands, and whom, I’d like to think, we catapulted to fame in New York City;

Judith Heise Kovalic, who basically did everything for us, until she had a baby and had to change her priorities;

Diana Cook, who made me sound like I knew what I was talking about on road shows, dumping piles of clippings, books, actual research and candy for the girls on Halloween on my porch swing;

Kelley Osborne, no not that Kelley Osborne, who made me sound like I knew the answers to the quiz questions right off the top of my head with her weekly and very eclectic packets of not trivia but fascinating nuggets of knowledge;

Engineers emeriti, Stephen Colon, who once put a napkin over his arm and seated us at a restaurant in Chicago, Rick Kirkpatrick, whose preference for Pepsi was actually in the contract rider for road show catering, and Mike de Mark, who goes all the way back with me to the Breakfast Special on WORT, and to whom I apologize for all the years of calling Mark de Mike, but you know me.

My daughters Ellie and Nora, for supplying my absolute best material, and my wife Sandy, who never has to worry again about someone telling her something I said on air, and for her forbearance after I had to send  Consuela back to her native Narnia.

Thanks to each and all, and to any omitted due to time and memory considerations, and, thank you so much to the best audience a guy ever had, who did me the favor of bringing the show with you or, if you couldn’t make it, phoning it in– for that, and for your many kindnesses and good humor, collectively, I am your biggest fan!

Whad’ya Know!