8 O'Clock Buzz

While WORT celebrates its semi-centennial, another longstanding Madison cultural institution, the Madison Public Library, celebrates a birthday three times as old.  For the library’s sesquicentennial, the Bubbler program has invited 150 artists to participate in what can only be described as the mother of all art exhibits.  Trent Miller, Bubbler program coordinator and Carlee Latimer, Bubbler Administrator joined the Monday Buzz to tell us more.

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Clarion Island, part of the Revillagigedo Archipelago, lies 430 miles west of the Mexico mainland’s Pacific Coast.  In the 1970s, the Mexican military brought a variety of non-native animals to the remote island, disrupting the native ecology.  In recent years, the Mexican government has sought to reverse that damage by removing destructive invasive species, including sheep, rabbits, pigs and iguana lizards.  “Hold the phone,” says Daniel Mulcahy, an organismal biologist and Head of Tissue and DNA Collections at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, Germany.  Mulcahy headed up a study that demonstrates that those supposedly-invasive iguanas actually arrived on Clarion Island some 425,000 years ago.  Daniel Mulcahy joined the Monday Buzz on November 17, 2025.

The post Mexican Island Iguanas Not So Invasive After All appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

In November of 2026, Wisconsin voters will elect a new governor.  In July, two-term incumbent, Democrat Tony Evers, announced he would not seek re-election.  Even though the partisan primary doesn’t take place until August 11, the race to succeed Evers has already started.  No less than twelve candidates have already declared, including five Democrats, three Republicans and five independents.  Today, the Monday Buzz kicks off our gubernatorial election coverage by speaking with Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez, who announced her candidacy for Governor on July 25.  Before winning election as Lieutenant Governor in 2022, Rodriguez has worked as a public health nurse, and has worked for the federal Center for Disease Control.  Sara Rodriguez joined Monday 8 O’Clock Buzz host Brian Standing on November 17, 2025.

The post Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez has Gubernatorial Aspirations appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Michael O’Meara has written a poignant memoir, The Long Return, about his experiences as a young draftee in the Vietnam War, and the reception he received on his return back home.  He speaks with host Tony Castañeda on the Thursday 8 O’Clock Buzz and describes how he was inducted into the U.S. Army in 1968 when his grades dipped below the allowable threshold for deferment at the UW-Madison, and the daily terror that he faced as he struggled to survive in the jungles of Vietnam.

Being one of the lucky ones to successfully negotiate his tour of duty, he returned home and was met with “scorn and derision” from a society that had turned against the war, and he knew that his journey hadn’t yet ended and needing to survive in an inhospitable landscape once more.

Photo by Chris Kofoed on Unsplash

The post Staying Alive appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

With a tentative cease-fire, contaminate water and soil, and unexploded bombs scattered throughout Gaza, the Palestinians are struggling to recover. It is estimated that 1.9 million people were displaced by the Israeli attacks, according to Cassandra Dixon from the Madison-Rafah Sister City Project. Dixon came on the 8 O’clock Buzz to talk about the issues, and invite everyone to a support rally tomorrow, November 13, 2025, with the rally forming at 3:30 on Blair and Willy Streets, and then moving to the Cardinal Bar for music by Tony Castañeda and his band. This free event is a fundraiser for the Middle East Children’s Alliance, so donations are encouraged.

The post Event on 11/13 Supports the Middle East Children’s Alliance appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

James Krall, Assistant Professor of Entomology UW-Madison, talks about some of his studies on “Bee Health and Behavior Under Anthropogenic Stressors”. So while past agricultural insecticides, like DDT, effects were large and obvious — death of insects with side effects on other species — today’s insecticides are sometime much more subtle, and while some insects may be spared from immediate death, these chemicals may affect insect social behavior and lead to long-term species issues. Krall investigates bees, honey bees and bumble bees, showing effects on neurobiology and ability for ground-dwelling bees to be able to thermal regulate during cold temperatures.

The post Investigating Bee Health and Behavior Affected by Agricultural Chemica... appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Global warming, lost habitat, and environmental toxins are just some of the assaults on animal, bird, and insect species around the world. Drs. Paul Sondel and Ann Behrmann from Physicians for Social Responsibility – Wisconsin talk with Jan Miyasaki about these issues, along with some success stories — re-wilding some species or restoring habitat — that will be topics of an evening to reflect — “Remembrance of Lost Species” being held on December 4, 2025 from 6:15-9:00pm at Science Hall, 550 N Park St. Free to attend, but registration is requested.

The post Remembrance of Lost Species — PSR Wisconsin appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Today on the Too Turnt Up Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Tara Wilhelmi and Antoine McNeail, Founder and CEO of FOSTER of Dane County, and mother to the community, Jackie Hunt joins us to talk about helping each other and keeping the community together, persevering through adversity, her new book, cuffing season, and more!

To help out or get help, contact FOSTER at 608-628-7708, [email protected] or through their Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/FosterDaneCounty/ . FOSTER is accepting help and applications for Thanksgiving turkey dinners, and the Shoe Box Ministry.

Watch their Facebook page for information on their 17th annual dinner with Soul Santa coming up on December 19th!

Check in with EOTO Culturally Rooted on Facebook for information and to help out with winter break camp: https://www.facebook.com/EOTOCulturallyRooted

Check in with Urban League at https://ulgm.org/ for their construction job fair coming up Nov 12th, resume and job seeking workshops, information on Expungement, childcare assistance, computer skills, the Black men’s resource luncheon series, home ownership clinics, marketplace every Saturday at The Hub, and much more! 

Listen in Madison at 89.9FM or online anywhere at wortfm.org.  Support your community radio with a donation online at wortfm.org!

The post Take Your Mess and Turn It Into a Message appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

The French culinary term, terroir, refers to the unique flavors, aromas and textures produced in food and drink as a result of soil, weather and other characteristics of the land where the food was produced.  Since no two places have exactly the same conditions, no two places produce exactly the same food.  Terroir is on display in abundance with cheese produced in Wisconsin’s Driftless Zone, that portion of the state that escaped the glaciers 25,000 years ago.  Kristen Mitchell explores that territory, and the award-winning cheese produced in that region in a new book she has co-authored “The Wisconsin Whey: Cheesemaking in the Driftless,” available now from LIttle Creek Press.  Kristen Mitchell joined Monday Buzz host Brian Standing on November 10, 2025.

The post The Wisconsin Whey: Cheesemaking in the Driftless appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Since 1989, the Wisconsin population of black bears has grown from 9,000 to 24,000 bears, and their range is extending southward.  The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is trying to get a handle on counting all the black bear dens throughout the state and is asking the public to help.  Erin Morrison is a research scientist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources working on bear management, and she joined the Monday 8 O’ Clock Buzz on November 10, 2025.

(Featured image: photo of bear cubs in a den courtesy Erin Morrison, WI DNR.)

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