Civic Media Spotlight

Wisconsin's PAWS program transforms lives by pairing inmates with service dogs, fostering rehabilitation through love and responsibility. These dogs, trained in collaboration with Minnesota and Wisconsin prisons, provide crucial support for individuals with mobility issues while offering inmates a chance for redemption and purpose. Meanwhile, Bill Bertram, a cycling enthusiast and board member of...

Nite Lite hosts Pete Schwaba and Greg Bach chat with Milwaukee Public Museum's Julia Colby and Stephen Petrie about upcoming events like Creepy Crawley Day and the Bioblitz, highlighting Wisconsin's biodiversity. They delve into the museum's move to a new location and the importance of engaging with local nature. Later, James Beard award-winning food journalist Adam Reiner discusses his book 'The...

Hello and welcome to the first hour of the Civic Media Spotlight! Daybreak host Brian Noonan dives into the significance of flags flying at half-staff in Wisconsin, enlightening listeners about Hmong Lao Veterans Day. Designated by the governor, it honors the Hmong veterans who served during the Vietnam War, and marks May 14th, 1975, when the last U.S. airlift evacuated Hmong soldiers from Laos. B...

From the picturesque landscapes of Wisconsin to the heated legal debates, this episode of Night Light with Pete Schwaba and Greg Bach is a whirlwind. The duo, along with Jim Santel, dissect the U.S. Supreme Court's latest decision that cripples the Voting Rights Act, leaving voting equality in peril. They explore the intricate balance of political power and the potential for legislative fixes. The...

Brian Noonan and Jamie Martinson dive into the hot debate on whether Congress should impose age limits and term limits for its members, following public sentiment shown in recent polls. They emphasize the importance of fresh perspectives and argue against lifetime political careers. Shifting gears, they discuss the heartwarming rescue of beagles from a testing facility, highlighting the dogs' jour...

Welcome to the second hour of the Civic Media Spotlight. This is Nite Lite with Pete Schwaba and Greg Bach . Pete and Greg start things off with a conversation that hits close to home, talking with Chris Knopf from Friends of the Boundary Waters about the ongoing fight over mining near the Boundary Waters Wilderness. Knopf lays out the concerns pretty clearly—there’s a Chilean company looking to m...

Welcome to the Civic Media Spotlight. This first hour takes us into Daybreak with Brian and Jamie . Brian Noonan and Jamie Martinson sit down with Joe Peterangelo and Andy Tisdel from the Wisconsin Policy Forum to talk through a pretty striking new report on incarceration in the state. One of the biggest takeaways: Black Wisconsinites are being incarcerated at a rate 12 times higher than white res...

Pete Schwaba and Greg Bach mix movies, laughs, and random fun on Nite Lite. They talk with film critic Rob Thomas about some standout picks from the Wisconsin Film Festival, including the action-comedy Normal Besides and the thriller Fuse . Along the way, listeners call and text in with their favorite knock-knock jokes, which sends the show into chaos in the best way. Pete and Greg also bounce aro...

Brian Noonan and Parker cover everything from shooting stars to floating technology. With the Lyrid Meteor Shower lighting up Wisconsin skies, Brian talks through the basics of catching the best view, while Parker imagines a world where everyone just lays back and watches the stars. Then they shift to a wild new idea from Panthalasa: floating data centers powered by wave energy. The ocean-based ce...

Hello and welcome to the second hour of the Civic Media Spotlight! Brian Noonan and Jamie Martinson dig into the ongoing debate over the Electoral College and whether it still makes sense today. With Virginia moving toward a national popular vote and Wisconsin part of that conversation, they break down where the system came from—and why it’s getting more pushback now. They also get into the politi...

Hello and welcome to the first hour of the Civic Media Spotlight! Dive into the fluoride debate with Dr. Donald Chi, DDS, who talks through how the pandemic changed dental care, why some parents are hesitant about fluoride, and why the conversation around water fluoridation isn’t going away anytime soon. Instead of just throwing science at people, Dr. Chi makes the case for actually listening to t...

In the second hour, Mark Becker talks with Geoff Kabaservice from the Niskanen Center about what’s going on in the Middle East. He gives an update on the current conflict and helps put everything into context. They continue the conversation with more insight into where things stand right now. And over on Native Roots Radio, Robert Pilot is joined by Wendy Pilot, who shares updates on visiting arti...

Herman Pontzer, a professor at Duke University, joins Pete and Greg on Nite Lite to talk about his book Adaptable and how our bodies really use energy. He gets into the science of metabolism and clears up some of the biggest myths around exercise and weight loss. The conversation keeps going as Pontzer digs deeper into why a lot of what we think we know about fitness just isn’t true. Then over on...

Mark Becker and Green Bay Rep. Amaad Rivera-Wagner get into a pretty fired-up conversation about the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, talking about why keeping the court nonpartisan actually matters—and what happens when politics starts creeping in. Rivera-Wagner also opens up about the threats he faced around the 2020 election, and why staying grounded and focused on unity is more important than eve...

Brian Noonan and Jamie Martinson dig into one of Wisconsin’s sweetest staples with Theresa Baroun from the Wisconsin Maple Syrup Producers Association. She walks through how syrup actually gets made, why Wisconsin is such a big deal in the maple world, and how climate change is starting to mess with the season. Plus, some of the cool new tech producers are using—like solar-powered vacuum systems—t...

In the second hour of the Civic Media Spotlight, we feature Native Roots with Robert Pilot. Robert is joined by Robert Lilligren of NACDI. Also in this hour, we hear from Rational Revolution's own Mark Becker, speaking with Representative Francesca Hong, focusing on her most recent grassroot support objective. To learn more about the show and all of the programming across the Civic Media network,...

In the first hour of the Civic Media Spotlight, we feature Daybreak with Brian and Jamie. The hosts are joined by Fisheries Specialist Titus Seilheimer from Wisconsin Sea Grant joins to talk about an invasive carp species and how it could negatively impact the Great Lakes. He also tells us about the efforts to keep the species from entering the lakes. We also get an inside scoop of the wonderful g...

In the first hour of the Civic Media Spotlight, we feature Rational Revolution with Mark Becker. Returning guest Carlton Huffman joins the show to discuss the Iran war, the firing of Kristi Noem, and how the Republican Party of Wisconsin has shifted from a national powerhouse to its current weakened position. Also in this hour, we hear from Nite Lite with Pete and Greg, who are joined by Mary Mack...

In the first hour of the Civic Media Spotlight, we feature Daybreak with Brian and Jamie. The hosts are joined by Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, who breaks down a recently uncovered loophole that allows lawmakers to delete records that should otherwise be accessible through open records requests. Also in this hour, Brian and Jamie take a closer look at a h...

n the next hour of the Civic Media Spotlight, we feature Daybreak with Brian and Jamie. They talk with Professor Howard Schweber , who joins the show to discuss the legality of the attacks against Iran. He explains that, despite major backlash, what Donald Trump is doing by using the military against Iran falls within existing legal authority. Schweber breaks it down line by line through constitut...

In the first hour of the Civic Media Spotlight, we feature Lean Local with Jim Schmitt. Jim talks with Sam Dunlop , the 2010 Democratic candidate for District 4 of the Wisconsin State Assembly , about local issues and his perspective on Wisconsin politics. Also in this hour, we hear from Nite Lite with Pete and Greg , who speak with Susan Kerns , Executive Director of Milwaukee Film , about the or...

Hello and welcome to the second hour of the Civic Media Spotlight! In this hour, we welcome the new show, Nite Lite with Pete and Greg! Pete Schwaba and Greg Bach take a deep dive into the world of late-night television, swapping opinions on the greatest hosts of all time. They salute icons like Johnny Carson and David Letterman, while playfully arguing over who was actually awake to watch those c...

In this hour, Jamie and Brian from Daybreak speak with Jeff Mangan, founder and president of the Transparent Election Initiative. He explains their effort to ban corporate contributions to political campaigns in Montana. They also cover action taken by the Wisconsin Legislature to approve a new roadside drug testing tool for law enforcement. The measure would expand what officers can screen for du...

Welcome to the second hour of the Civic Media Spotlight! John & Gordy talks with Steve from Minneapolis, a lifelong resident offering a firsthand perspective on what it’s like to live amid ongoing ICE raids. He shares what he’s seeing in his community and how these actions are affecting everyday life. The conversation with Steve from Minneapolis continues as he goes deeper into the emotional a...

Welcome to the Civic Media Spotlight! We kick off with the Matenaer on Air show with Greg Bach. Kyle Clower, executive director of Serve Wisconsin, joins the conversation to break down the impact of AmeriCorps across the state. He talks about how these programs work, why service matters, and the many volunteer opportunities available for Wisconsinites looking to get involved. Milwaukee-based singe...