Dennis
Hello, everyone, welcome to Uncommon Convos. I’m your host Dennis VanDerGinst. Here again with the always sassy, silly and insightful Dana Watkins. And today our guest is truly one of the good guys. He’s probably best known throughout the Midwest as a television news reporter and anchor.

Dennis
But Jason Fechner is so much more. He is the true embodiment of all that’s good, sturdy and stable in the Midwest, and I’ve been privileged to call him a friend for 10 to 15 years. And true to form, actually, I got to know him best when he volunteered his emceeing services for some fundraising efforts in which I was involved. So that tells you the size of his heart is only matched by the size of his talent.

Dennis
So I’m truly happy to introduce you all to Jason Fechner. Jason, thank you for being here.

Jason
Well, Dennis, can I come on every morning if I get that kind of introduction, I feel like I can take on the world right now, brother.

Dennis
Right. You get that ego boost.

Jason
No kidding.

Dennis
Good to go the rest of the day.

Jason
See you tomorrow morning.

Dana
Have you ever been referred to as sturdy before today?

Jason
I don’t know if sturdy has ever come up before, but I’ll take it.

Dennis
It’s a Midwestern thing. I think it’s it’s true to form.

Jason
Let me let me include this on the resume going forward here now. We’ll just add that on in.

Dennis
Perfect, perfect. You know, I’m so happy to have you here. And before we got started, I mentioned that just off the top of my head and then preparing to to talk with you today, I know we could go on forever with some of the things I’d love to discuss. Obviously, we won’t do that today, but I hope that we’ll have more opportunities in the future. And then I can come up with some more accolades for you by that time.

Jason
So we’ll, have the we’ll have the uncommon convo today and then we’ll have the common convo down the line and we can just keep rolling with that.

Dennis
There you go. Exactly. Quirky convos, whatever, whatever it may be.

Dennis
So, you know, I think before we get into kind of some of the more meaty stuff, it’d be a good idea for the audience to get a better idea of who Jason Fechner is. So I was wondering if you could start there and tell us, you know, tell us about the Fechner home growing up in the Midwest.

Jason
Well, yeah, if you want to know more about me, we should probably just have my wife come in right now. I’m sure she’s got a laundry list of things to say. So I grew up in Park Ridge, Illinois, which is just outside Chicago, where I think we were a block from the city limits of Chicago. Grew up in Chicago for the first couple of years, moved to Park Ridge.

Jason
That is the hometown originally of Harrison Ford and Hillary Clinton. And regardless of anyone’s politics, no one’s got anything bad to say about Han Solo. So…

Dennis
That’s right. That’s right.

Jason
Yeah. Cool, cool little Chicago suburb. And yeah, I went to Valparaiso University in northwestern Indiana after high school and then went to the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern after that and bounced around. Moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin, was the first gig there on the mighty Mississippi between Minnesota and Wisconsin. And ironically…

Dennis
Well…

Jason
Oh yeah, go ahead.

Dennis
No, I was going to say slow your roll there, because I got, I got to explore some of this stuff a little bit before we get to…

Jason
So you just want to go back to Park Ridge. So Park Ridge, Illinois, I can remember as a kid, my big draw was the, we had the big wheels. I don’t know if you guys remember the big wheels…

Dennis
Love the big wheels.

Jason
Plastic wheel in the front, the two small ones in the back. So I had a, and still do a younger brother, Garrett, and we would just traipse around Park Ridge on our big wheels as little kids and had a little sister as well.

Jason
My dad was an RC Cola salesman. One of seven across the country. So we had RC windbreakers and RC inflatable tubes for the summertime. And my mom was a Lutheran school teacher.

Dennis
Nice. So you mentioned going to Valparaiso. And there you were a polisci and business major, is that right?

Jason
Correct.

Dennis
Now, when, was it prior to Valpo or at or during Valpo that you got the bug for broadcast journalism?

Jason
Well, back in high school, I was a relatively shy person. When I had started in high school I think our junior high class from the little Lutheran school, I think we had 12 graduates and 6 or 8 of us went to the big public high school together. So I knew no one going into high school. So I’d like to think a nice enough fellow, but still pretty shy and didn’t know anyone.

Jason
And there was a high school radio station which I was never a part of. But for some reason I was like, that is so cool that these guys are sitting in there and playing these songs. And when I was at Valparaiso then my freshman year, a fraternity brother and I, Dave Howell, we started a little college radio show once a week, and that was a blast and a half. So that really, I think, started to get the wheels turning a little bit about broadcasting and just really how fun it was and how cool it was to connect with listeners.

Jason
I think we were powered by as much electricity as will fuel an electric razor.

Jason
So we didn’t have we didn’t have much of a reach at Valparaiso, Indiana. We’d get some requests from the local prison, the jail, which was always thrilling. And, yeah, that’s that’s what got the wheels turning.

Dennis
The next dorm over maybe. Maybe two doors. Yeah.

Jason
Right. Right.

Dennis
So OK, so after you got that bug at Valparaiso, you then went on to Northwestern where you got a Masters in, was it journalism or?

Jason
Correct.

Dennis
OK, and then you mentioned going from there to La Crosse. Was that just the luck of the draw that, hey, you’re you’re right out of college, you’re looking for a job and La Crosse comes a calling, or did you have designs on going to Wisconsin specifically, or how did that work out?

Jason
Well, it was, so, yeah. Growing up in Chicago and then living downtown Chicago and, you know, feeling the big city in my blood and really enjoying that experience. I had finished graduate school in Washington, D.C., actually, and wrapped things up with a residency with some CBS News affiliates out there. So I’m in Washington, D.C., wrap things up and then you start looking for a job. And I’d gone to some job fairs and I’d sent some, you know, resume reels around, especially the Midwest, really close with my family and my grandparents at the time.

Jason
Like the thought about not taking my grandfather to lunch every Saturday, that was pretty unheard of for me. So I’m like, all right, I’ve got to stay pretty close to Chicago to be able to visit with family. And yeah, I got a call from La Crosse, Wisconsin. I’ve never been up to La Crosse and spent plenty of time in Wisconsin growing up and drove to La Crosse and hands down for anyone who has never kind of driven up the Mississippi River into Wisconsin and Minnesota, there hands down the most beautiful drive that I’ve ever been on anywhere.

Jason
I mean, it’s just absolutely gorgeous up there along the river and parts of it feel like Hawaii. And I know that that sounds very weird to say, especially right now in the middle of winter. But it’s an awesome drive. And I’m driving up there thinking, where in the world is this? Where in the world am I? And I was fortunate enough to get the job and loved my time out there. I think my starting salary was maybe like $7.50 an hour.

Jason
So I had moved from Chicago and Washington, D.C. to my apartment was in La Crescent, Minnesota, $7.50 an hour. There was legitimately one stoplight in the town and that was the big introduction into what my life would become.

Dennis
And now you’ve moved all the way up to $8 an hour. That’s amazing. So, so you’re there for, I think around a year and looking at your resume and you get an opportunity at a bit of a larger market, the Quad Cities, and you come, I guess they come calling and you follow. And let me get this straight. Were you simply reporting in La Crosse or were you doing anchor work as well?

Jason
I was I was primarily the weekend reporter up there, which meant that on like a Saturday or Sunday, I would basically run around with a phenomenal photographer, Michelle, who’s now out in Seattle, and we would run to about ten stories on a Saturday or Sunday and turn all these little stories. And that was it for the whole weekend crew.

Jason
So when I’d gotten a call from the Quad Cities, which, which was exciting and a little bit closer to home, I remember driving south into Iowa there and I remember changing into my suit on the side of the road north of Davenport on a little access road, so I was would be ready for the interview. And I just thought that was an entertaining start to what would be my time in the Quad Cities standing out in the cornfield and changing into the suit and all right, let’s rock and roll and try to get this job and go from there.

Dennis
A good story to have. So, so you end up in the Quad Cities for nine, ten years. And, and when you started there, was it also as as a reporter or did you go straight to the anchor desk?

Jason
I was hired on, I believe, as the weekend anchor, which at that point for WQAD, weekends were Fridays and Saturdays. So I would report three days a week and anchor two days a week. And when I had started in the Quad Cities, 1) I loved it immediately, 2) I love it to this day and still get back pretty often there. Like some of my best friends in the entire world are there. And I just love all the people in Iowa and Illinois there.

Jason
But I really thought that I’d be there for two years and loved it that much that I went on to stay on, and as you said spent about a decade there.

Dennis
And of course, I came to know you in the Quad Cities market as not only everyone’s favorite anchor in the market, but also as…

Jason
Too kind.

Dennis
Well. You know, I’m being honest as well. But you were also known as someone who was incredibly involved in charitable and community events. And of course, that’s how I really got to know you. Now what I am curious about and I think I know the answer, but I don’t want to presume anything, so is that something that is encouraged or even mandated by the stations or is that a personal thing or a little bit of both? How does that work?

Jason
Well, I think television stations as a whole, like having especially the people who are on air being out there in the community. And I was just super fortunate, especially there, to meet so many great people and then have them reach out and say, would you come and volunteer for this, would you, and see this event? Would you possibly? And I loved all of it. From Ballet Quad Cities to, I emceed the Miss Iowa Pageant, I think three or four times, and I knew nothing about Miss Iowa, let alone pageants.

Jason
But, you know, they were always these opportunities, I thought to, 1) meet some great people and 2) learn about an organization or event that I have absolutely no idea about. And it was it was a blast and a half.

Dennis
And that seems to be something that you’ve continued to do after leaving the Quad Cities. Is that fair to say?

Jason
Yeah, I, you know, I think that’s one of the great things that you might not think about for someone who’s getting into broadcasting and journalism and TV. And there’s a lot that comes with it. And they don’t often say that you are going to meet these people that will change your life for the better along the way. And you’ll have an opportunity to pitch in and help out their organization and do some neat things just by giving of yourself and your time.

Jason
And even I think it was a week ago when I had lived in Indianapolis, a group had reached out and they said, you were so great with our high school kids here. Could you zoom in and, you know, give a presentation about public speaking to these high school kids outside Indianapolis. Yeah, absolutely. That’s, you know, what a great way to spend an hour in the morning.

Dennis
Yeah. And so out of all these opportunities that you’ve obviously come across, is there, is there any charity or community event or, or organization that’s nearer and dearer to your heart than, than others? Something that stands out?

Jason
Well, working, working with you, Dennis, was a blast and a half. I don’t know if, don’t know if any of them stick out specifically to me as far as being more important or more impactful on my life. I think one of the the more fun opportunities I had was I decided to, to try to ring a bell for the Salvation Army for twenty four hours straight. .

Jason
And as far as like an event, that was kind of a monumental event and more or less just downright silly to do because it was obviously in the middle of winter. That was the one to me that was like, well, let’s just see how this goes and give this a whirl. And I’ll never forget that. I did that a couple more times after that. And that was that was enough for now.

Dennis
That, that is a lot of bellringing for sure.

Jason
Yeah.

Dennis
You know, I don’t know that this has anything to do with charity or community, but I recall seeing something on your resume and I sort of remember this, but I it’s lost in my memory somewhere about you doing something with the National Guard in Israel and Egypt. What was that?

Jason
So that was a National Guard unit that was based, I believe, out of Milan, Illinois and they had deployed to the border of Israel and Egypt, to the Saudi peninsula or Egyptian peninsula, Sharm el Sheikh. And we had an opportunity with the National Guard, a photographer who was one of my groomsmen and is still one of my best friend, Scott Weiss, who is still there at WQAD. We had an opportunity to fly across the world and visit with those troops there in Egypt.

Jason
And neither one of us had ever done anything like that before. But it was a phenomenal opportunity. We got I think we were there for about a week or nine days or so. We had all of our camera gear confiscated at the Cairo airport. They wanted us to pay $20,000 cash to the police there at the Cairo airport because they figured we were American journalists and we’d be able to have this money and get our camera gear back. And no, we’re just two guys from the Quad Cities.

Dennis
So you wrote a personal check and you got your gear back?

Jason
Right. Exactly. So I had smuggled a camera in that was about the size of my cell phone at the time. And Scott, God bless him for the entire week, was shooting on this tiny little camera as we’re running through the desert and hanging out with these troops there to be able to get these stories back. And then when we went back to the airport, we were able to finally get our gear and then get the heck out of the country and move on there.

Jason
But, yes, another experience where you end up spending a week and meeting these soldiers and getting to know their families beforehand and afterwards. And you’re like, how, how did I get so fortunate to play a small role in those stories and in those lives and really connect with them for the rest of my life?

Dennis
You know, that’s amazing. So fast forward you, I think in 2015, you make the decision to leave the Quad Cities market and go to Indianapolis. How’d that decision come about?

Jason
It was, it was something that I’d been thinking about for a while. And like I said, you know, there had been multiple opportunities to stay in the Quad Cities, and I always chose to do so. And then it got to the point of, alright, I love being here and I love the people that I’m with here and everything else. But at some point, you know, you’re like what’s a different experience that I could kind of have at this point. And I’ve been very fortunate during my time to receive a bunch of job offers to other markets across the country, and I was like, all right, Indianapolis, still close to family, close to the Quad Cities, and had mapped out how long it would take to get back there and still spend time with all these people that I love.

Jason
So I decided to bite the bullet and take a job opportunity with the ABC affiliate there.

Dennis
So how is it that a Bears fan can survive in Colts country? That’s one of the most important questions.

Jason
You just keep a lot of things quiet, Dennis. You keep a lot of things close to the chest.

Dennis
Yeah, well, we’ll explore the, I guess, the secrets that you must be keeping close to the chest nowadays, too. We’ll get to that.

Dennis
So now was that was there a problem with that experience? Because I know you were only there briefly and then decided to leave broadcast journalism entirely for a while?

Jason
Well, I had, so when I moved to Indianapolis, that was a two year contract. And I was fortunate to work with some wonderful people there. But that was a situation where I think the station or corporate ownership was going through a lot of things that toward the end of that deal, I was wearing a lot of hats all at the same time and hosting a political show and anchoring a billion shows a day and also still out reporting. And there were 12 and 14 and sometimes 16 hour days mixed in with that.

Jason
And I just thought, all right, at this point now I’m not really doing anything personally that that I feel like I’m doing great at. I’m doing a lot of things and they seem to be happy with everything I was doing, but I didn’t feel like I was able to to really grab hold of any passion projects. And a good friend of mine and husband of a coworker there, he was working for IU Health, which is the main hospital system in the state of Indiana.

Jason
They also have Riley Children’s Hospital there in downtown Indianapolis. And we were sitting having a beer together and he said, I’ve got a crazy idea. Would you ever think about leaving TV to come and primarily work at the Children’s Hospital with us and they were partners with Andrew Luck and the Colts. And he said we could really use someone to help share these stories from the children’s hospital and get these out there and, you know, not just through Indiana but across the rest of the country and working with the Today Show and Good Morning America and really shine a big spotlight on a lot of the incredible work that they’re doing there.

Jason
And right at that moment, I thought, well, you know, I never thought about doing this in my life. But I mean, talk about an incredible opportunity to meet more phenomenal people and work with them and learn so many things about what they’re doing. And I jumped on board and that was hands down one of the most phenomenal experiences of my entire life.

Dennis
But. But you left.

Jason
I did.

Dennis
So what was it that that prompted you to leave that, that situation and get back into TV?

Jason
Well, it was one of those jobs where and at the time, Brittany and I had gotten married then and Indianapolis once again, still pretty close to Chicago, but she is from Redwing, Minnesota, which is just north of La Crosse. And that was the ironic thing that I mentioned, having spent time out there to then marry Brittany and still spend time out there in western Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota. So for her family, that was maybe a 9 or 10 hour drive at that point to get down to Indianapolis.

Jason
And I wasn’t really actively looking to move closer. I really enjoyed my job. And she loved the television station she was working for down there. But I had been producing some Midwestern pilot programing and posting things here and there. And long story short, a company had spotted some of those reached out and said we’re about to build this thing in Wisconsin. Would you consider ever moving to Milwaukee? And for myself, that’s basically a matter of minutes from my parents.

Jason
And for her parents, it’s suddenly a four hour drive instead of nine or ten. So it really made sense for us to to get get back to the Badger State.

Dennis
But, but it’s also sacrilege. You moved. I mean, I talk about Colts’ country, now, it’s Packers country, so…

Jason
Yes, it is Packers’ country and it is Brewers’ country and it is Bucks’ country. I will say I am blessed in the sense that my college roommate lives maybe a mile down the road from where we bought a house here. And I am the the lone original Chicago sports fan that he and all of his friends tolerate, because I know my place in the world, Dennis.

Dennis
Right.

Jason
Especially when it comes to the Bears, just a God awful hot mess of a franchise for three decades. So we can we can all watch Bears and Packers games together. And I’ve got nothing but mad respect for what they can do because they go on to win more often than not, forty five to ten and I just sit in the corner and wave at everybody, hello.

Dennis
Yes.

Dana
Well it’s a good thing you’re sturdy.

Dennis
Yeah. Yeah.

Dennis
So so then you started up with the the news station that you, you mentioned Spectrum News 1. The 24/7… And and I’ve watched some of the segments from that. It seems that, and correct me if I’m wrong, it seems that the stories are a bit more in depth than typical stories that you’d see on most news stations, a little lengthier. Kind of a good mix of, of news and lifestyle segments.

Jason
Correct.

Dennis
I understand, weather every ten minutes, something like that. Is, is that, was that part of the draw that you would be able to do something a little more intense?

Jason
Right. I was here shooting stories for these Midwestern programs that I was trying to put together already in Wisconsin. And that’s, I think, why they were like, wait a second, you already know a lot of these people and you’re doing a lot of the things that we want to do here. So Spectrum News 1 in Wisconsin, we are basically like New York 1, in New York or Spectrum SoCal out in L.A. Bay News 9 in Tampa.

Jason
For those in the Quad Cities, if you got Mediacom cable, imagine if on Channel one it was a 24/7 local and regional news, weather and sports network. That’s what Spectrum News 1 is here in Wisconsin. So anywhere in Wisconsin, anyone who has Spectrum Cable and it’s the entire state, we are there 24 a day, 7 days a week. For me I’m on, I think, from 5 p.m. Monday through Friday until 5 or 6 in the morning, Monday through Friday as well.

Jason
So it’s a long stretch. We record a ton of stories, we record a lot of clips, and then we break in live with live news all the time as well and covering the entire state and doing those longer in-depth stories. So it’s been really great. A lot of people who watch across the state really enjoy it because they can kind of turn it on.

Jason
We’re not chasing a lot of traditional television news stories about traffic backups or accidents or just covering a shooting just to cover what had happened and then never going back. Well, we’ll cover the shooting a few days later once we know more of the pieces and, you know, the families that are impacted and how the police are impacted by something that took place there. And it’s not kind of leave it alone, forget about the story. It’s taking that deeper dive into issues that are out there.

Dennis
You know, and I and I definitely want to circle back and talk more about, about news and it’s intersection with society nowadays. But, you know, you touched on the fact that they had reached out to you because of some of the, I’ll just call them lifestyle type pieces that you had been doing.

Dennis
And I think you were referencing these other projects, one of which I really loved, love, loved, whatever. And I’m going to by the way, I want to encourage everyone that if you’re listening and or watching, make sure that you check out jasonfechner.com and you check out Jason’s YouTube channel so you can see some of these, these, the segments to some of these programs we’re going to talk about. So the one that I was thinking of, of course, is the Midwest Road Show.

Dennis
So how how is it that, was that your brainchild? How did that come about?

Jason
So the Midwest Road Show is something that I had thought about really since I’d moved to La Crosse. And here I was growing up in and around Chicago and La Crosse, Wisconsin from there is maybe a four and a half, five, five hour drive, not that far. And like I said, it is one of the more beautiful places in the country.

Jason
And I thought I have known nothing about this place here in the Midwest for my entire life, and there are these phenomenal people and cool places out here. And my hunch is that a lot of other people don’t know what’s taking place in La Crosse and the same thing extended to move into the Quad Cities. You might know a couple of things about it, but it is so close to so many other places in the Midwest and not enough people take it two hour drive on a Saturday to go to a special bakery or, you know, go sample some phenomenal pizza because you just don’t know that it’s necessarily there.

Jason
So the Midwest is this phenomenal place in the country that that too many people kind of fly over or ignore or you go to Chicago or Milwaukee or in Indianapolis, these bigger cities. Well, you’ve got these phenomenal small towns and these cool places where, well, maybe if more people knew about them, you would take that two hour drive. And there’s this Midwestern thread that really connects all of us. And I’ve been fortunate that it’s, you know, run through my entire life.

Jason
So I thought, well, what if we make a show that really just spotlights the Midwest and these cool resorts and restaurants and people that are out here. We went to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, over Valentine’s Day weekend. Sheboygan is called the Malibu of the Midwest. And I know when people think of Sheboygan, you might think about sausage. And that’s fair because there are a couple of massive sausage spots that are up there. And that’s also where the big resort is, and Sheboygan is on Lake Michigan.

Jason
They’ve got a huge surf culture in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. And it is this idyllic town right on Lake Michigan, cool Airbnbs, these cool hotels, all these cool bars and restaurants up and down Main Street. And those are the types of stories and scenarios where you’re like, what if you show this off to a lot more people? So that’s the idea of the Midwest Road Show.

Dennis
Was that also Sheboygan? Is that also where John Candy’s character from Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.

Jason
They were very big in Sheboygan. Yes. They didn’t sell many copies in Chicago, But, yeah, they sold well in Sheboygan.

Dennis
So what’s become of the Midwest Road Show? Is that something you’re still filming? Is it being shopped around still? What’s the, what’s happening right now?

Jason
Before taking this job with Spectrum here in Wisconsin, there was a syndication company that had kind of picked up an option on the show and they were going to syndicate it across the Midwest to different affiliates. So that’s temporarily on hold right now. But I’ve talked with folks at Spectrum and we’ve explored some ideas about doing similar things or doing something like it while I’m up here. So the nice thing for me is a lot of those stories and, you know, spotlight segments are things that I’m able to do here in Wisconsin with Spectrum now and get those out there. So we’ll we’ll see what happens down the road.

Dennis
You know, in watching several of the episodes, it struck me that, I mean, there’s some shows on the air that have a similar feel where you’re interviewing, you know, average Americans who might well, Dirty, Dirty Jobs, for instance, or, or whatever it may be. But what is really impactful is you. You’re in every episode, episode, you’re, you’re the consistent thing that you see from show to show that I think would, would prompt people to tune in, you know, a nicer, nicer version of some of those hosts that you see on some of the other shows.

Dennis
So I hope that that does lead to something else. But if it, whether it does or doesn’t, I know you had some other projects that were listed on your website that I was interested in hearing more about. I know Dana was curious about some of the projects, too. Dana, I’ll let you ask about the one that I know you were curious about before I hit some of these others.

Dana
Yeah. Thank you so. Well, first, I want to know when we can expect to see the pilot of making your parents home 100% smart. That is brilliant. I can’t stop thinking about it.

Jason
Yeah, I am very fortunate in my life to have my parents both still alive and with me. My mom had survived breast cancer and she’s got some other health things down the road here, but she’s going to be fine. So they are still both a big part of, part of my life. And yes, I had floated the idea of how great would it be to make their entire home a smart home, and all voice activated and WiFi connected.

Jason
And just especially my dad watch him just fumble through life as it is in that house.

Dennis
I’d like to see it where you do something like that and you don’t tell them and see if they even notice that.

Jason
Right. I will enjoy… They have a smart TV in their living room now. So on occasion when we’re back home with them, you know, I’ll throw something from my phone, cast it up to the TV and oh, watch this YouTube video or watch this clip, and the fear and panic that comes over my dad as he is so concerned I will not somehow get cable TV back on that television. Happens every single time.

Dana
That’s fantastic. Super funny. So that production studio that you have going on, where, where are you with that?

Jason
Well, you’re kind of in it. This is the the, the, the whiskey room in the new house that that Brittney and I have been renovating here. And part of the deal about buying this house was, there was this room, which I’m in, wrapped in Wisconsin wood paneling. It’s got a wet bar. And then it had this closet back here that was just full of stuff. So I ripped all that out and put a sound studio in there.

Jason
And basically I’m able to, if need be, if something flared up with the pandemic or whatever else, I can basically broadcast live from home and route into our studio and we set up the capability with Spectrum to be able to do that. So, yeah, a lot of the stuff is fly by the seat of my pants and especially with some of that Midwest Road Show stuff. That is all things, those are all things, rather, that I shoot myself with multiple little cameras and 360 cameras and drones, and I think part of the fun of that is 1) I enjoy doing that, but 2) I think it’s fun for the viewer to know that there is no crew along for the ride. It is myself. It is the viewer. And, and that’s it.

Dennis
So, so all those episodes of the Midwest Road Show you didn’t have a cameraman?

Jason
No, I think there were a couple of times where I had someone hold the camera. But for the most part, yeah. It’s really cool. There’s a 360 camera that can extend on this long, long stick. And magically, I don’t know how, but it is able to digitally erase the stick that it is on.

Dennis
Wow.

Dana
That’s impressive.

Jason
So you can then roll through life shooting in 360 degrees and capturing everything and then after the fact come back and edit. Well, I want this shot this way and this shot this way. And to the traditional viewer, they have no idea that I’m actually holding an invisible stick and the camera out, you know, 10 feet into the air.

Dennis
Wow, that is amazing. I had no idea.

Jason
It’s mind blowing. It’s crazy. My dad clearly would have his mind blown.

Dennis
I’m sure. Well, and I know when, when Dana and I talked about this, you, I think on your Facebook had indicated that your, your desire, your wish was that this would be this, this studio would be some place that you could focus on stories about places in the Midwest. Now we’ve talked about Midwest Road Show on your website. You also had a number of other projects. Restored and Refined. A Better Life, The Nickel Tour, Wisconali, Wisconsin-licious? Is that?

Jason
Wisconsilicious!

Dennis
Yeah. So are those are the types of projects that you were envisioning? And, you know, what are those all about? And what’s the status, I guess, with all of those?

Jason
Those, those are all in the same TBD bin right now. But, but the status of those is somewhat the same idea behind the Midwest Road Show is you have all of these national programs, which are great. But for those that are here in the Midwest, when my dad sees a Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives episode about some sort of lobster roll in Nantucket.

Dana
Yeah

Dennis
Yeah.

Jason
The odds of Ed Fechner going to Nantucket any time soon for a lobster roll are pretty slim. However, if we could highlight a business that’s here and drivable, the odds of him going are a whole lot higher. So a show like Restored and Refined is a show that that highlights the people that fix things. Cars, motorcycles, classic boats, beautiful old homes. They get their hands dirty. And it’s not a lot of the traditional stereotypes of people that you think.

Jason
There are a lot of men and women from different backgrounds that, that get gritty and get dirty and fix these cool things here in the Midwest and basically make them like new again. So a show like that does the same thing as The Midwest Road Show and really highlights a lot of the people in the projects they take on and hopefully inspires more people that we can fix things in this country and not always have to buy new.

Dennis
You know, and I’m glad you said that because I want to, I want to get serious for a bit here. This isn’t a show about politics, but as the title suggests, we like to have these uncommon conversations and discussions with people like yourself that many of us don’t have access to on a, on a daily basis to get your, you know, your expert insight. So being a broadcast journalist and a news anchor and, you know, a former polisci grad from Northwestern, I’m assuming you have opinions about what we’ve seen in the news cycle recently and frankly, for several years now.

Dennis
So to start with, as a mainstream news person, how did you feel about hearing the former president constantly referring to mainstream media coverage as, as fake news?

Jason
Well, it wasn’t it wasn’t always fun for me, especially when I was in Indianapolis. I covered then candidate Donald Trump as he was trying to win Indiana. So I was at a number of campaign rallies there where candidate Trump would then have everyone turn around and basically boo the media that was on hand. Now along those lines, too, I don’t take it personally because for both Republicans and Democrats, there are, there are goals to the things that they say and that they do.

Jason
And, you know, to the president’s credit, one of his big goals was to build some distrust in more mainstream media outlets that are out there. And he wasn’t taking a shot at me personally, but really MSNBC and Morning Joe and CNN and, so I think not just for myself, but for just Americans in general, everyone is so quick to, to weigh in and express an opinion and I don’t think a lot of mainstream traditional Americans have that ability anymore to take a step back and kind of see how the game is being played and how politicians on both sides of the aisle are using certain issues and statements to pit people against each other and taking a lot of time and doing a lot of research and study and being a little reflective about that gives you a kind of a bigger scope to see what’s taking place in American politics now.

Dennis
Well, and I think you’re right and you’re hitting the nail on the head that most people aren’t really stepping back and and don’t necessarily understand that these types of allegations are largely political in nature to get some leverage, some political leverage. But how damaging, if at all, would you say that that has been either temporarily or even on a permanent, in a permanent way in impacting, you know, the credibility of mainstream news? And by the way, do you think that there’s any fairness in, in, in calling out mainstream news in that or a similar fashion?

Jason
Well, I think, you know, I can’t remember who had coined the phrase, and my apologies for that. But someone had said, if you go in search of bias, you are going to find it. And I think that that’s somewhat true, not just with traditional broadcast outlets, but social media posts and everything else. If you are convinced that someone is biased or that something is biased and you then delve into it, I’m sure you can find something that would support that argument.

Jason
One of the things that I often come back to when I’m speaking to retirees or high school classes about politics, especially social media, is the goal of politics is to try to get as many people on your side of a politician or an issue as possible. And not often enough, especially on social media, people will post something that they feel very passionate about, but they won’t ever do it in a way that is designed to try to sway someone’s opinion about an issue or a politician.

Jason
It’s almost like a pastor to a certain degree. Like I’ve had some wonderful Lutheran pastors in my life. They are not going to be aggressively accusatory towards people to try to get them into the Lutheran faith. So I think people on social media should take that same tact.

Jason
If you feel strongly about something, there’s a right way to, to reach out to others and to talk with others. And I think a big problem in our society is everyone just argues all the time, especially on social media, and they go back and forth and someone’s opinion might be a thousand percent factual and correct, but it’s the tone, more often than not, that does not get anyone toward that middle or towards having some more in-depth conversations.

Dana
Yeah.

Dennis
You know, speaking of that tone and speaking of social media, how do you think the allegations of, you know, the problems with mainstream media, how do you think that’s impacted the fringe and fanatical conspiracies that have arisen on various social media platforms?

Jason
Well, it’s clear that on either side of the aisle, people watch what they watch and they read what they read. And I think it’s without having any empirical data behind it, I think it’s fair to say that more and more people read less and less on a different side of the political spectrum. And everyone’s kind of happy being where they are and, you know, firmly planting their flag. And because they posted it on social media, the public knows about it.

Jason
And to a certain degree, too, that then makes you like a fan of a team and defensive about your team. And it doesn’t leave a lot of open opinions out there. What I think will happen down the road is, you know, there need to be especially politicians, both Republican and Democrat, those who genuinely try to reach across the aisle because it’s it’s that middle ground, that bipartisan space where legislation is actually passed. You know, just because you are a Democrat does not mean you just represent the Democrats in your congressional district, vice versa for Republicans there.

Jason
So I’ll look forward to seeing whether there are politicians that step forward that, that really work to bridge that divide and work in a bipartisan manner. And think back to the 70s and 80s. There were some, I mean, dogged, dragged out political battles that took place, but there seemed to be a little bit more mutual respect between Democrats and Republicans there, especially on Capitol Hill. So hopefully somehow, and I don’t have the answer here in, you know, Whiskey Room, Wisconsin, about how that takes place, but I’m hopeful that that’s, that’s where we end up someday down the road.

Dennis
Yeah, I agree. You know, I’m concerned that, you know, you mentioned this this kind of I like the analogy of jumping on a team and not backing down, you know, you know, go QAnon, go, go antifa, whatever side of the spectrum you’re on. And they, and you see that folks don’t back down even when faced with what might be, you know, real scrutiny about, you know, the foundation of their belief system.

Dennis
People kind of get defensive. And it seems to me as if, you know, the problem with undermining mainstream news, for instance, is that it gives those whispers and speculation and that hearsay that you see on social media, undue credibility and weight, because those are folks that aren’t fact checked. And, you know, as an attorney, I try to explain to people the different accountability that exists between mainstream news and these kind of whispering Joe conspiracy theories that you see online.

Dennis
So for you, for instance, where you’ve been in the past and at your current station, when you are doing a story, are you, are you required, for instance, to have independent sources for the story?

Jason
Yes. Or to cite out our sources. And you raised a great point. Another piece of advice I give to a lot of people is look for the people who face repercussions if they do something wrong or they report something inaccurately or they try to spin something too much. I am blessed at Spectrum News 1. We try to get to the middle of everything all the time. We know that we have cable subscribers that are hard core Republican and hard core Democrat. And why in the world would we want to try to intentionally anger either side?

Jason
So being very middle of the road I think is great for us here. Along those lines, it’s, you know, being truthful, because if I were to ever do something, you know, inaccurate or put some facts out there or come up with fake sources or whatever, I’m going to lose my job. And I don’t know how I would pay for my mortgage. So it behooves me to be as middle of the road and be as factual as possible and not try to sneak in certain buzzwords or whatever else into a script to try to sway someone in a different direction.

Jason
I like being able to pay the mortgage right now, and I like being able to buy groceries and I’m happy to not rock that boat.

Dennis
Yeah. And, you know, to that point, not only you, you know, you want to keep your job, but your station, the, the network that, you know, these mainstream media outlets are all associated with, they are accountable as well as far as civil liability, defamation suits. You know, even if they make a mistake, whether it’s intentional or not, they either retract and or they can get sued for defamation and various other types of legal actions where you don’t see that kind of…

Jason
And we’re seeing that play out right now.

Dennis
Yeah. So you don’t see that kind of accountability online as far as, you know, sometimes anonymous sources that everybody’s piling on and, you know, quoting in in support of whatever position they may take.

Jason
And a couple of quick examples from, from the world of sports, which, you know, is a cooler temperature than politics. When I see people on Twitter that say that they have sources about who J.J. Watt is going to, and they rack up all of these retweets. Well, they have no idea what’s going on. But it doesn’t matter to them because they’re able to get a lot of retweets and followers on social media. So it benefits them that way.

Jason
Do they face any consequences for when JJ Watt does not go to the Packers or to a team that they claim they know that they’re… No, not at all. So that’s one of the things. And the other sports analogy I’ll make to you is let’s hypothetically say that I’m watching the Brewers take on the royals here at Miller Park and I’m way out in the outfield, in the cheap seats, journalists, that’s where we typically end up. And then watching the game, it’s a called third strike.

Jason
And I’m booing the umpire from a million feet away about it because how dare they call the guy out? I am three hundred and fifty feet away from the action. But because you’re a fan, you are automatically triggered to, you know, boo and support your own team and whatever else, when in reality, I have no idea whether or not that was an actual strike across home plate. I can’t see it, but it doesn’t stop anyone from immediately jumping on board and cheering or booing whatever. So I think a lot of that goes on in politics, too.

Dennis
Yeah. You know, and I want to ask you this, and I’m going to kind of couch it with some explanation. I want to ask you what you feel that the role of a news reporter should be. And I think you’ve touched on that. But every day I watch and read news from the far right, the far left, in between. I check out the BBC to get a sense of what the outside world is thinking of our country and what’s been going on. And outside of the BBC and local reporting, frankly, in a few straight news reports, it seems that there’s a lot of op-ed journalism going on.

Dennis
And what I mean by that is the reporting is really focused on giving a political opinion on national and world events rather than straight reporting. And, you know, this is, you know, obviously sources like FOX and CNN, MSNBC, what’s, what’s your thoughts on the value of that type of reporting versus straight reporting?

Jason
Well, to that end, I would, I would recommend this to anyone listening or watching this is as you’re watching various cable news outlets or, you know, reading different websites, I think that there is a stark difference between a journalist whose job hinges on being factual and truthful and so many contributors or pundits that are often on TV.

Jason
Now, often they’re brought on because they can weigh in and have an opinion one way or the other. And people who aren’t really paying attention, and the networks often do a terrible job of this, of highlighting who is a reporter and who is someone who is a paid contributor on the network.

Dennis
Or a primary source.

Jason
All the time. All the time. So I wish that networks as a whole, like, you know, we’re fortunate with Spectrum like, we only have reporters who are on and they will tell you the facts about a story. And then we move on to the next story. We don’t have panels of guests that we bring on whose opinions we already know ahead of time and we know things they’re going to say and whatever else. It’s very factually-based journalism, which I think is the only big J journalism to have.

Jason
So I think it would it would very much benefit the American public if a lot of these networks were very clear about who people are and what they’re doing on their network and you know, what their role is there.

Dennis
I, I agree. I, you know, don’t get me wrong. I enjoy listening to a lot of these media personalities and the consultants or contributors that they have on. Getting their opinions. But really, they’re, they’re preaching to the choir of their respective audiences. They’re not, they’re not really just reporting. They are giving opinions. That’s fine. I’m interested in seeing what those opinions are, but it’s good to hear your take on that.

Dennis
So obviously, we’ve had, you know, 12 to 18 months of some of the, the biggest news stories in recent memory. What would you consider the biggest news story over that that time period and why?

Jason
Holy smokes. Well, I think, you know, you go back to the beginning of the pandemic and we all had so many questions and we still have a lot of questions that are out there. One of the, one of the big problems that we had during the pandemic when it came to telling stories and sharing stories is when it comes to a hospital, and you obviously all know this, there are, their main priority in a hospital and I know this firsthand from working for one for a while, is patient care and taking care of patients.

Jason
And, you know, that supersedes everything else. So I think initially on during the pandemic, you had so many questions and concerns tied to Covid that there wasn’t a lot of access granted to some of those stories that were taking place in hospitals, be it the heroic actions of nurses and doctors who are working through the pandemic and all these questions, to the patients knowing that the medical community didn’t have really any answers for what they’re dealing with and how to make them better.

Jason
You know, those weren’t the stories that were out there. There was a lot of concern. So I think if we could go back in time and if there were a way to really shine more of a spotlight on the heroic actions of the health care community as a whole, not just in New York, but really all across the country, the Quad Cities and, you know, the steps that these people took day in and day out to go to work, mask up, you know, fight to save people’s lives, especially early on when there wasn’t a vaccine yet.

Jason
There weren’t these ways to try to help someone get over having Covid. Those are some incredible stories that are still out there right now. And God bless everyone who has not only gone through that, but then has kind of carried the emotion of that on their shoulders for so long. For them, it has been a very long 12 months.

Dennis
Yeah. For sure. You know, recently we lost to two giants, Larry King and Rush Limbaugh. Now, love or hate them, each of them obviously had a huge following. What are your thoughts about those two? And who are your journalistic heroes?

Jason
Journalistic heroes? Well, that’s that’s a good… I’ll start with the view on the others and I’ll set it up this way. One of the things about Larry King and Rush Limbaugh, like you said, love them, hate them however you feel about them. Their rise to prominence came during a different time in the media as far as it not being so segmented or broken apart. Their viewership, their listenership was through the roof. And we will never again get back to that place here in America.

Jason
We spend so much time on social media and in politics, you know, about what was on Fox News or Cuomo on CNN or whatever else. The viewership of these national political shows is so minuscule. And I think for the most part, you have fewer than three to four percent of the country as a whole tuning into all of those primetime cable network shows each night. It is so small. And even the number of people on Twitter, especially the number of people on Twitter talking about politics, is such a small percentage of the country.

Jason
And when you combine those numbers with what, you know, Rush and Larry King had back in the day, I mean, it is, it is a world of difference between them. So regardless of your thoughts about what they had to say, you know, they they came to prominence in a different day of a more, more built up media structure. And right now it is in multiple puzzle pieces across the across the spectrum.

Dennis
For sure. For sure. And what about your your journalistic heroes?

Jason
Journalistic heroes? I think I go back to a lot of people that I grew up watching, you know, in Chicago, because I can remember sitting with my parents or with my grandparents who were immigrants. And they would watch the local news all the time because they trusted these people that were out in the streets of Chicago. And to the same degree, it was a different time where a reporter would go out, tell a factual story, and call it a day.

Jason
And I think, you know, when I when I think back to, you know, even some of the feature reporters, like a Harry Porterfield was was so incredible. And Chuck Goudie and a lot of those people back in Chicago, it was just, it was just a different type of journalism and a different type of pacing and a different type of viewer. And, you know, those were the days as they say.

Dennis
Yeah. Well, you know, I think it’s funny you say that. I think the trust issue is certainly something you can reflect back on with those were the days type of, of reporting the Walter Cronkites, you know, on a national level, things like that. You, being the you know, the guy who, you know, is so liked and so knowledgeable in politics. Have you ever thought of running for office?

Jason
I have, I have never thought of it myself. I’ve had people reach out from from both sides of the aisle before to, to consider whether or not I would ever think about that. But no, that’s that’s not really on the on the radar.

Dennis
Brittany would probably not like that either.

Jason
I think that that is a fair statement.

Dennis
Well, and I think that’s fair also. OK, so I want to go lighten things up a bit again before we, we get a chance to sign off. I know we’ve hit some heavy, different things, some different topics that are a little heavier than we normally would. But I appreciate your input on that.

Dennis
So what would let’s let’s start by asking you if you could interview anyone living or dead, and I’m not going to give you an out here and you’ve got to, so you have to exclude Jesus and family members. Who would that be?

Jason
If I could interview anyone living or dead? I think it might be Frank Sinatra, because I think that 1) the stories and interviews that are out there are incredible on their own, but I will guarantee, especially if Frank Sinatra were forthcoming, some of the stories that aren’t known about Frank Sinatra and some of his friends and associates, I’ll bet that there are some incredible stories to be shared, from back in the day. So I think probably Frank Sinatra.

Dennis
Well, who is the greatest interview that you have had. And by that I don’t mean like the most celebrated person that you’ve interviewed or the most thrilling, but I’m going to ask you that as well. But the one that you really got the most out of.

Jason
The best interview that I’ve ever had. Umm, I’ll think about that, I’ll come back to it before we wrap this up.

Dennis
OK, so how about then the most celebrated or the most thrilling interview you ever conducted?

Jason
A lot of the most thrilling interviews have been with politicians or people running for president. And I won’t, I won’t share his name because it was a private conversation that took place after the interview. But there was once a politician who is currently a United States senator who very early on in his candidacy, he, I don’t believe had ever run for office before. And I might have been his first televised interview. As soon as we had wrapped up the interview and it was a fine interview, you could tell that he was genuinely not really concerned, but very curious about how it went and how I thought the interview went and how he did during the like.

Jason
And I get it. Being interviewed on TV is often a weird situation, but it was one of those moments for me thinking that I’m just this just this fella. And here is someone who has a very good chance of serving in the United States Senate. And they are very concerned about how the interview went and how they came off during the interview. And I just thought, well, that’s a fascinating little insight into the, into the human spirit, that regardless of everything going on in the world, you know, you can kind of still come back to some of those concerns that we all have in our daily lives.

Dennis
You know, speaking of which, how does it feel to you to be the interviewee rather than the interviewer?

Jason
It’s kind of nice. I didn’t have to prepare anything here today. I just had to take a shower and show up at the coffee. I could get used to this.

Dana
You didn’t even have to take a shower.

Dennis
Yeah, right.

Jason
Oh, Brittany had asked before she had left, she said, why are you showering so early? I was like, well, I’m hanging out with Dennis during this podcast. And she goes, so why are you showering? I was like, I think there’s a video thing going on. I better clean myself up.

Dennis
At least we can’t smell each other, so that’s a good thing.

Jason
Right.

Dennis
So and I want to get back to that most impactful interview. But what do you want your legacy to be when you’re gone?

Jason
Oh, boy, I always say this especially about politics is I don’t like getting emails, because when when people email, they have, often they perceive that something was was biased or mischaracterized. And fortunately, I don’t get a lot of emails. But maybe that goes on the headstone. Here lies Jason Fechner. He didn’t want the emails. And that’s, that’s the river I’ve tried to navigate, especially when it comes to covering politics all these years.

Jason
And along those lines to I’m fortunate that I do have a lot of wonderful Republican friends and insiders and a lot of Democratic friends and insiders, and none of them has ever reached out or texted to say, hey, you know, I feel like that was a story that was slanted in either direction. I think that, that I’ve worked very hard at that to try to be as middle of the road and understanding as possible and just the facts, nothing but the facts and move on with my life.

Dennis
Yeah, I think that’s a testament to your fairness for sure. I know that Dana usually has some fun questions you have, because we’re going to wrap this up soon with a little game I like to play.

Jason
Oh, no.

Dennis
Would You Rather. But I want to give Dana chance to ask.

Dana
I have many, but we’ll start. What’s your most embarrassing TV moment?

Jason
Most embarrassing TV moment? There is one. And it was from very early on in my career when I was working in La Crosse. We had had a group of soldiers who had come back from the Middle East. And this was obviously a huge moment. They had gotten back. There was a parade, I can’t remember in what small Wisconsin town. There was a parade possibly Onalaska.

Jason
And I got to go out there. And back then we didn’t have a lot of live opportunities on TV because of the size of the market. But there was this welcome home parade for all of these incredible soldiers and their families were there. And just as Americana as it gets. Both sides of the street, American flags waving. And I remember the wonderful anchors, Scott and Dianna pitching it to me to tell them about what was taking place there. And I think I might have gotten maybe 30 seconds into this live shot, patriotic, wonderful story, and just completely ran out of things to say.

Jason
And I just remember saying a sentence out loud and thinking in my brain, you have nothing that’s going to follow this right now. And just like, I don’t know if I froze or what took place, but I just remember there being a somewhat awkward pause and then saying back to you. And fortunately, they, they picked up and then asked me some questions and we were able to get somewhat back on track. But I just remember this like great moment of doing something live and just, just running out of steam completely.

Dennis
The pregnant pause. Yeah.

Jason
Absolutely. It was a long pregnant pause.

Dana
So if you had to describe yourself using a cereal, what kind of cereal would you be?

Jason
I think I would go with a crunchy Raisin Bran. It’s pretty wholesome. It’s filling. You don’t really know what you’re going to get with every spoonful. Maybe you’re heavy on the raisins, maybe on the flakes, but then you get the crunch and no one really knows what the crunch is. So I think Crunchy Raisin Bran would with sum me up pretty well.

Dennis
And then after you’re done with it, it kind of makes your stomach ill, right?

Jason
Exactly. Exactly.

Dana
That’s great. So I’ve also been wondering for a while, what’s the most number of pizza rolls you have consumed in one sitting? I know pizza rolls are a thing.

Jason
This is a phenomenal question, and I wish that I still had the bag. It was before the Super Bowl and Brittany and I, it’s the pandemic and quarantine. And obviously, you know, not a lot to do these days. But before the Super Bowl, we decided we’re like, well, let’s get some phenomenal Super Bowl food and we’ll make a spread here.

Jason
OK, great. So I had gone to the grocery store and this was we’ve got a Pick n’ Save, which is owned by Kroger here, and they had a bag of pizza rolls, I think that there were like a hundred. It was like a giant sack of potatoes of pizza rolls and I’ll be damned if I didn’t buy that thing and…

Dana
You have to.

Jason
It took us a few weeks to get through them all. But that was that was like a shining trophy moment of me walking through the door and having this sack of pizza rolls on my shoulder.

Dennis
That’s great. OK, so I know we’ve kept you far longer than you probably anticipated.

Jason
No worries!

Dennis
And as I said, I could do this all day, I’m sure. But we have to at least get a couple of these questions in. So this is would you rather OK. So would, this is not mine, but I thought this would be good as, as as a journalist, someone who’s on television, would you rather… I’ll wait till you’re done sipping your…

Jason
I’m ready. I’m ready.

Dennis
No, I just don’t want you to spit it out. Would you rather have to fart loudly every time you have a serious conversation or have to burp every time you kiss? Brittany might have some say in this too.

Jason
Oh boy. Yeah, she would probably, she would probably weigh in. I think, I think you have to go with the burp because I feel like that’s something you could kind of overcome. The other alternative that makes for a long, long day.

Dana
It’s one person, hopefully that is dealing with that.

Jason
You hope, you hope the love is strong enough to get over that hurdle.

Dennis
Right. OK, so would you rather instantly disappear into nothingness for a week every time you cough or be blind, deaf and dumb for a week, every time you sneeze?

Jason
Oh, man.

Dana
What’s the pollen like where you are?

Jason
Yeah, I think we’re pretty good. I think I mean, the less than I cough. So probably the blind, deaf and dumb option.

Dennis
OK.

Jason
But, at the same time, having not really done much over the last year with the pandemic, the disappearing thing sounds kind of nifty as well.

Dennis
Right.

Jason
Who knows where you’ll show up.

Dennis
Right. So would you rather be forced to wear a clown outfit any time you go to church, or or wear boxer briefs, any time you go to a funeral?

Jason
Let’s go with the boxer briefs funeral option, because those are knock on wood, far fewer than the church visits.

Dennis
OK, last one, would you rather have whatever you think appear above your head like a thought bubble or have everyone, for everyone to see, or have absolutely everything you do live streamed for anyone to see?

Jason
Well, I already feel like I’m pretty close on the having everything I do already live with social media and everything we’ve got going on and being on TV for a billion hours a day. The thought bubble one, though, I will take that option because I feel like, especially with my wife, I don’t hide thoughts or emotions overly well. I’m a pretty steady as she goes fella, but I will express what I am thinking on my face in a heartbeat. So I feel like that is already put out into the stratosphere about what I am thinking all the time.

Dennis
Dana, do you have any other thought-provoking questions you’d like to ask?

Dana
I think that’s it. I mean, I am curious to know how we can incorporate Bill Murray into the Midwestern shows. He’s got roots in the Quad Cities.

Jason
Real quick, Dana, cause I know you guys are ready to cut me off. I think that that would be a blast and a half to, to have a whole series of Midwest Road Shows where you just sit down with Midwestern celebrities who are either here in the Midwest or who have gone on to superstardom to talk about being from the Midwest, because there are a lot of famous people who are out there and no one really knows that they are from Iowa or Illinois or Wisconsin or Michigan. And I think that that would be a cool thing.

Dana
I feel like we need to brainstorm that. And I will pay to be involved.

Jason
You got it. You got it.

Dennis
Dana is convinced that Bill Murray is her best friend, that she’s never met.

Dana
He is. He is my best friend.

Jason
I think he told me that once, actually. So you’re in good shape.

Dennis
Alright. Last thing, Jason, what’s on the horizon for you this year? What’s, what’s what are you hoping to accomplish? What’s next?

Jason
Well, lord willing, we can all put this pandemic behind us and get back to brighter days. Here in Wisconsin right now, it is supposed to be over 40 degrees again today. It feels phenomenal out there. It might as well be 75. I would wear shorts and run around. So I look forward to doing that. We were fortunate enough to buy a home north of Milwaukee almost a year ago now, and I have been feverishly renovating that along with my father-in-law.

Jason
So I know we have a lot more of that on the horizon, but I really, more than anything, I look forward to, you know, normalcy returning for all of us and being able to spend a lot more time in person and a lot less time like this. Don’t get me wrong, this has been fun. I wish this conversation could have taken place at a bar or restaurant over beer and have a fun conversation in person.

Jason
So Lord willing we all get through the last couple of months of this and we you know, we can all really no longer take for granted that opportunity to have those face-to-face conversations and those hugs and those kisses that are out there and kind of get back to life as we know it

Dennis
For sure. Well, thank you so much, Jason. I really appreciate.

Jason
Thanks guys.

Dennis
We definitely have to have you come back. I love you, brother. We’ll talk soon. And thank you all. Thank you all for tuning in. I want to remind you to get your friends to subscribe and check us out each week.

Dennis
Also make sure you have them check out Legal Squeaks, our other podcast.

Dennis
If you’d like to catch this on the video version of this, check out Vlaw.com. Hope to see you all soon. Stay safe. Love you all.