8 O'Clock Buzz

On a crisp and sunny morning, in a lovely Madison park, a group of riders from Madison’s World Naked Bike Ride met to pose for a photo for a local Madison magazine. This Audio Menagerie is a snapshot in sound of naked cyclists baring all for a photographer.

Photos and audio by Nicholas Wootton

The post Naked Bicyclists Pose for Photos in Madison Park appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

The genocide in Gaza continues and Israel has implemented a policy of preventing humanitarian aid to reach the starving people of Gaza, which includes many women and children.  But out of the morass comes the self-styled savior and promoter of a peace settlement, Don tRump.  At a choregraphed press briefing; while sitting next to the internationally acknowledged war criminal and prime minister of Israel, tRump unveiled his peace plan which among other hubris included his plan to chair a “Board of Peace” to determine the future of Gaza.  Norm Stockwell, the editor of the Progressive Magazine, joins host Tony Castañeda to talk about the fallacy of the plan and about Israel’s intercepting humanitarian aid flotillas.

Photo by Muhammed Ibrahim on Unsplash

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Chris Murphy, local artist, electrician and owner of Rogue’s Gallery in Madison, joins the 8 O’Clock Buzz to talk about a new exhibition of the art of John Sarris to be shown all this month but with an opening reception on Friday, October 4, at the gallery on Ingersoll Street, from 5:00 to 9:00 PM.  The exhibition is entitled, Why Walk When The Devil Drives.  John recently passed and Chris wants to let people know about the talent of John Sarris whom he first met as an undergraduate at UW Madison.  Chris describes Sarris’s work as sweet and dark with a punk aesthetic.

The post Fallen Alterboy – The Art of John Sarris appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

The Department of Labor’s hasty decision to rescind its 2021 guidance that warned plan fiduciaries about the risks of private equity and other alternative assets in 401(k) retirement plans is deeply troubling, according to Oscar Valdés Viera, private equity and capital markets policy analyst at Americans for Financial Reform. Valdés Viera says that these safeguards were put into place to protect employees’ 401(k) retirement accounts, per the 1974 Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), and that allowing private equities and crypto markets into retirement accounts threaten these safeguards.

The post Dept of Labor Actions Could Threaten 401(k) Retirement Accounts appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

With the Federal government officially shut down as of midnight last night, Joe Zepecki, Director of Protect Our Care Wisconsin, talks about the effects of the loss of Medicaid health care assistance and healthcare tax credits ending at the end of 2025 as a result of the Republicans passing the “Big Beautiful Bill” — effects of loss of healthcare coverage to 250,000 Wisconsin residents, and the potential closing of several rural hospitals…resulting in job loss for many. New ads hold Republican Congressman Derrick Van Orden accountable.

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Producer Notes for The Eight O’ Clock Buzz on Monday, September 29th, 2025. 

Timestamp in Soundcloud for our 3 guests:

Our first guest, journalist Alex Shur, who comes onto the show usually once a month to chat about election and legislative news, talked about his profile of Wisconsin Assembly GOP leader, Rep. Scott Krug. Known for his legislation around water, Rep. Krug in recent years has turned towards changing the conversation around elections. The conversation from many GOP corners of the political spectrum is a lot of questioning and mistrust — chiefly, the skepticism around the 2020 election.

Taking over for Janel Brandtjen, who platformed conspiracy theorists and denied the results of the 2020 election, Krug has tried to change the narrative since joining the leadership of the assembly election committee in 2022. In summary he listens to all sides and supports bills that at least have a hope of bipartisan support.

What struck me most about Shur’s piece was Rep. Krug’s quote that to me gets to the heart of politics these days:

Messaging,” he said, “has become more important than actual policy.

Messaging — and spreading that message — seems to matter more than the action behind that message. It’s more about how and where you say something rather than what you say.

One last part of our conversation on the Monday Buzz that felt important is a fact that could sound like political nerdom but is electric with importance: the Wisconsin Senate does not have an election’s committee. When asked if that is normal, Shur said there is usually an election’s committee. In fact, 2025 marks the first time since 2009 that there hasn’t been an Senate election committee to handle election legislation. We’ll see how that plays out and whether that will change.

Keep an eye on how election policy gets shaped and what role Rep. Krug might play. WPR has further coverage related to the subject of election policy — it’s unknown what bills will actually get passed and whether the message will resonate with both sides of the aisle.

Our second guest was Rebecca Hoyt, the Disability Rights and Services Specialist from the Department of Civil Rights at the City of Madison. In the landmark ADA law, 

In a year-long effort, Madison recently updated their ADA Transition Plan this year (also see the City Website), which is designed to make a law a reality (e.g. installing elevators, parking spots, curb cuts). To Madison’s credit, Hoyt mentioned that the city is likely doing a better job than many others in checking its ADA compliance.

For Hoyt, here are Madison’s roses and thorns when it comes to being accessible for people with disabilities:

Hoyt also mentioned that the CDC has identified 1 in 4 people have a disability — and that number is likely much higher.

Disability Impacts Infographic

Our last guest was from a pre-recorded interview is the founder of Media 22 Corey Whitmore. Whitmore, a long-time performer, helps musicians build their careers. This includes recording albums and making songs, but also developing social media strategies. In Whitmore’s long career, he has identified three pillars for how an artist can make money:

If you’re Taylor Swift, the Flaming Lips, or Bad Bunny, this might all work fine, but for independent artists — or people who decide to light the fires and start a musical career — it’s a struggle to generate a livable income.

Plus, as we touched on in our conversation, artists need to run a whole marketing campaign in hopes of gaining an audience. You need shorts, long-form videos, and a strategic release of singles over a full album drop; you need strong Instagram Reels and TikTok posts. To get noticed — and to hope to make money — you need this to build awareness. It can often feel more like a hope economy: you post and hope the algorithm loves you and puts you in front of people on their phones and devices.

It’s never been easier to make something and share it, but it’s never been harder to form a sustainable career.

Thanks for reading and listening, Tucker Legerski

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Sasha Rosser, founder of Cheshire Cat Comedy, talks about the upcoming “Wisconsin Science Festival edition of Words with Nerds“, a juxtapositional event of “scientists hankerin’ to be silly”. The event will be on October 16, 2025, 6:30 doors, show at 7:00 PM.

The post Cheshire Cat Comedy: Researching the Silly Side of Science appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Sam Rosenthal, Political Director and Researcher at RootsAction, reported in Accuracy.org on a statement signed by 120 prominent Jewish Americans, stating, in part “We write, specifically, as Jewish Americans who condemn the charge of antisemitism being leveled against student activists––many of whom are Jewish––for their legitimate criticisms of Israel’s violence in Gaza and their universities’ connections to the Israeli occupation. That this accusation is being used as a pretext to abrogate students’ rights to free speech, and to deport non-citizen students, should raise the highest level of alarm.” Rosenthal likens the current activities by the administration to McCarthyism in the U.S. in the 50’s, and affirms that “being critical of the actions of Israel is NOT Antisemitism”.

The post U.S. Jews Oppose Trump’s Targeting of Colleges and Students appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Today on the Too Turnt Up Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Tara Wilhelmi and Antoine McNeail, talking about events going on, including Antoine’s misunderstood and misinterpreted post over the weekend.  Plus, of course, promoting all the events going on around town!

This coming this weekend in Madison:

Celebrate Dr Ruben Anthony’s 10 years of leadership at the Urban League at the Urban Cabaret coming up October 10th at Monona Terrace: https://www.ulgm.org/UrbanCabaret 

Check in with Urban League at https://ulgm.org/ for their workshops and information on Expungement, childcare assistance, computer skills, the Black men’s resource luncheon series, home ownership clinics, job seekers toolkit, marketplace every Saturday at The Hub, and much more!  Banking-career specific job training coming up October 20th!

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

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Madison-based performance artist Nicole Gruter has hit the road, U.S. Highway 14, specifically, a road she has spent most of her life near, to find out what “home” means.   On September 22, 2025, Nicole joined the Monday 8 O’Clock Buzz from South Dakota in the second installment of “Finding Home on Highway 14”.

(All photos by Nicole Gruter)

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The post Finding Home on Highway 14: Episode 2 appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.