%
Hi, I'm David
Hoffert, avolunteer
here at PBSWisconsin . Breaking intothe
NewsHour, just briefly to ask you
on this Giving Tuesday to
make a pledge of financial support to
PBSWisconsin so that we can
continue to bring you ms like the
NewsHourfor many years to come
. Thenumbers there on the bottomof your
screen, 1-800-236-3636
and in light of it being giving
Tuesday,this is a challenge break
.When you call during
thenext seven minutes , your
money will be doubled
byfriends of PBS Wisconsin
who care about sustainingthis
kind of programing forthe
entire community. Now,I know you
know it's GivingTuesday because if you'relike
me, you've beeninundated with em ails
allday long asking you foryour
money. And perhaps you're wondering,
how can Idecide which of these
worthy organizations to to? Well,
here's mysuggestion. You're watchingthis now
. That means thatyou
use this service. Thisservice
matters to you .That's how you
can decideto give us a call right
nowat 1-800-236-3636.
>> Hi. I'm Linda Berman,
avolunteer here , just likeDavid
at PBS Wisconsin .It's a great
opportunity to call right now
. It is Giving Tuesday,
and we are challenging you,
you to become part of our
team here at PBS Wisconsin.
We've gotsome very special thank
yougifts when you call in. Ifyou
call it the $10 a monthlevel,
you'll get thisreally , really cute
hat.It's I heart or
love PBSWisconsin. Perfect for
ourweather as we look
outsideand we know winter is here
.If you call it the $12 a
month level, we've got thisreally incredible
book.This is the US Constitution
and other writings. I mean,their
writings from Ben Franklin. If you
want theoriginal Star SpangledBanner that's
in here. Ifyou want
to know about the Monroe Doctrine,
it's inhere. This is a way
to knowhistory, to see it and
toshare it. If you call it
$15 a month, we have ourPBS
Wisconsin mug. This mugis. It's
like a cup of sunshine. We said
you canuse it right handed or left
handed. One way you see theB
and all of native plantsor the
other side, you seePBS Wisconsin
. No matterwhich side, it
means you're supporting
PBS Wisconsin. If you call
it $20 a month ,you get it all
. You get the Wisconsin Winter hat,
theConstitution book , and our
PBS Wisconsin mug. And justto remind
you, no matterwhat level you call it
, youwill get our "Airwaves"
magazine to know what'shappening and
see what'scoming up. But it
has tostart with your call now
onthis challenge .
One(800) 236-3636. >> Hi,
I'm Eric Greiling. I'm the director
of friendsof PBS Wisconsin,
and Iwant to say thank you to
all the sustaining membersof
PBS Wisconsin. Now morethan
ever, it is generosity
that powers this service.And we
want to invite you to become a
sustainer aswell. It's Giving Tuesday.
We have a challenge breakfor
Giving Tuesday. If youcall now,
our generous current members will
sponsor your gift
1 to 1match . Give us a
call.Become a sustainer . Being asustainer
simply means it's a monthly ongoing
deduction from
your checking accountor from
your credit card, and it continues
on untilyou ask us to stop. It's
great for us. It reallyhelps us
know what we can budget for, what we
can do.And if you are already a
sustainer, again, thank youand consider
adding to that sustaining gift. Let
us saythank you . Signal yoursupport
for PBS NewsHour .Give us a
call at 1-800-236-3636.
>> And I am now joined
by a very special
guest,Buckingham. You badger.
Youmay know him by hisnickname
, Bucky, but it's abig night for
you. Bucky.Right . We're right after
the NewsHour tonight, weare premiering
your biography.
That's I mean,and let's
see here how how
long did it take you toearn a
biography? You are,I think. Are you are
you.Oh, no. You don't want to.Well
, listen, listen, thisis a sensitive subject, butI hear t
hat Bucky is 85
years old, and I. I
have tosay, Bucky, I have
to say Ihope I look as good
as youwhen I'm 85 years old
.That's pretty impressive.But what
is also impressive is the quality
of news programing that you
get onPBS Wisconsin . So give us
acall right now.
>> Where else but
Wisconsin?Can you find Bucky Badgerat
PBS Wisconsin? Here weare
going to present to youBucky coming up
. But beforethen we are celebrating
theNewsHour. And just toremind
you, at $10 a month,you get
the Wisconsin, thePBS Wisconsin Winter hat,which
is really adorableand keeping
you warm $12 amonth. You
get this. Great. The US
Constitution andother writings . This is a
true keepsake,
one to sharewith your family,especially
with theholidays coming up. You
know kids in history needto learn this
. And civics. If you call
at $15 a month ,you get this
wonderful cupof sunshine. Our PBSWisconsin mug
with ournative plants in front,
orPBS Wisconsin on the other
side. $20 a month.
You getthe PBS Wisconsin hat,
youget the book on theConstitution, you
get themug as well as
airwaves.But it starts with yourcall
. And our volunteers are waiting to talk
to youat one (800) 236-3636.
>> And it is a challenge
break. It's a challengebreak for Giving
Tuesday.Show your support for PBSNewsHour
. We're having a little bit of fun
in thestudio today with Bucky.We're going
to go back to Bucky. I think he's
gotsome things he wants toshare with
you, but theNewsHour is seriousbusiness. We
expect youtune in to NewsHourregularly. Show
yoursupport for NewsHour . Helpus keep
this service here with you. I also
want tosay thank you to donors who
give in another way , themembers of
our heritagesociety , those members who
have included us in their
wills and their estate plans. That kind
of givingis so important to our
future to keep PBSWisconsin
here forgenerations to come. Becomea
member, become a sustainer, become a member
of the Heritage Society , goonline or give
us a call at
1-800-236-3636. >> So, Buck,
I have a very important question for you
.Do you think the viewers athome
should be giving moneyto
PBS Wisconsin tonight ? I
know it's yes . Okay. That's
well, okay. We're thinkingabout it
I think. Yesthough . And I think this
isthe time to do it because
it is a challenge break.Right
. So Bucky, help me dothe
math here. If theydonate and
that donation is matched, how much
is that? That's that's
yeah. Welllet's see, I think
it's Ithink it's twice as much
money for PBS Wisconsin .It's, it's
it's seven times as much money
says Bucky. We'll work on the
math onthat one . But what'simportant is
that you giveus a call
1-800-236-3636. And now
back to the news .
Hi, I'm David
Hoffert, avolunteer here at PBSWisconsin
, joined by no other than
Buckingham. Youbadger the
subject oftonight's program and we
together. I think I canspeak for
you, if I may ,are here to
ask you to help
PBS Wisconsin produce local
programing like you're watching tonight
by making a pledge of
financialsupport. The number isthere
on the bottom of yourscreen,
1-800-236-3636. And here's the
simple reality no
other television stationwould ever
have been able or willing
to make a documentary about
you. Iguess it's not really adocumentary
. It's a biography, right?
This mustbe bringing up all sorts of
memories for you. I heard arumor
that Bucky doesn'tlike me to tell,
but justbetween friends that he's
85 years old. So imagine
the content that is yet to
come in tonight's broadcast .What we need
you to do in the meantime is to
give usa call
1-800-236-3636. >> Hi,
I'm Linda Berman , avolunteer here
at PBSWisconsin . And it is
anhonor and a joy and
so muchfun to be here
with Bucky and other
special guestswho you'll see shortly. But
the most important thing isyou pledge
your support.Right now, we've got
wonderful volunteers here the studio waiting to
talk to you and to explain
what wonderful gifts wehave for you
. If you call the $10 a
month level, you can get the Bucky
DVD. The program you're watching now
is a Blu ray or
DVD combination. At
$12 a month, we have this
adorable teninch mini Bucky.
I mean, this is this is
a child'sdream because you can carry
it around. It's not goingto overshadow
the child.$15 a
month. We have thisincredible sweatshirt
Iheart PBS, but
it's theheart is Wisconsin.
So youknow where your heart is
.And our heart is too. Now
,I want to explain that at
$25 a month , you can get
the DVDs, you can get the
plush Bucky as well as the
sweatshirt. We also havesomething special
becausewe know that the story
ofBucky is one you want
toshare with your family, butit's
like, no, we can giveyou five copies so you
cangive these as holiday giftsto
your friends. Becausethe story of Bucky
, allages, from kids to
peoplemy age , even enjoy
hearingabout Bucky. So this
is agreat opportunity . But itstarts with
your call .
1-800-236-3636. >> Hi,
I'm Eric Greiling.I'm the
director of friends of PBS Wisconsin
. BuckyBadger is iconically
Wisconsin. And just like
David said, we here at
PBSWisconsin are here to
explore all of Wisconsin asthoroughly
as we can tohighlight
this, to share it with you, to
find theiconic things that are so
much Wisconsin, whetherthat's
food, traditions or culture or
history or natural beauty.
We're hereto share that with you
. Butit depends upon your
support, and one of thebest ways
you can supportis by becoming a
sustainer.Being a sustainer justmeans
you sign up to makean automatic
monthly gift.It continues as long as
youwant it to , and you havethe
knowledge that you are supporting PBS Wisconsin
month after month, allowingus
to bring you programs like this.
Become asustainer today by goingonline
or giving us a calland
support programs likethis. Let
us say thank you with one of the
wonderfulgifts that Linda sharedwith you
. Please give us a call at
1-800-236-3636. >> So let's
talk for a moment about why
it mattersthat you call and make
apledge. As you're probablyaware,
federal funding for public media has
recentlygone away . And in the
caseof PBS Wisconsin , that'sseveral million
dollarsthat we now have to
accountfor differently
inbudgeting here at thestation. Now
, I'm just avolunteer , a volunteer here.But
I can tell you , talkingto the staff
, what hasn'tgone away is the sense
ofmission or the the
devotionto the work. But,
you know, senior leadership are
making tough decisions right now. For example
, howmuch of the budget goes toacquiring
and distributing the the national
PBSbroadcasting that youappreciate?
And how muchcan we devote to making
truly hyper local programing
like this foryou?
So when you call , youare stating
your values. You're voting with
yourdollar. You're saying , Iwant more programs
likethese homemade documentaries.
That's whyyou should call
1-800-236-3636. >> And
who best to tell youabout
the story of Bucky isthe
one and only Bucky.
Yes. And this is
the story ofBucky . At $10 a month
, wecan get this wonderful
DVDBlu ray of the Story
ofBucky. That's your
opportunity. At $12 a month,
you can get a mini Bucky,
aten inch Bucky like little
Bucky here and Bucky here.
But you only get the little
one for $12 a month I'msorry
. Yeah that's it $15 amonth
. You get the sweatshirt which we
have online iHeart,
PBSWisconsin. And that's of course yes I
know you youdo to
you heart I love it.
At $25 a month, you
can getbaby Bucky. You can
get theDVD . You can also
get the sweatshirt. Now,
for thosewho want the story of you
to share with their family,at $20 a
month, you can getfive of
these five. Can youcount
them? One, two , three,four, five
? No, I think you passed that. It's
okay.Five. It's alright Bucky.
It's been a big night foryou. It's very exciting
.But if you call
right now,Bucky will even
sign our"Airwaves" magazine. Sothis
better be at the $25 amonth
. Bucky will autographthe airwaves magazine.Right,
Bucky? That's right.But you
have to start with
1-800-236-3636. >> Just
like David told you,
we are. Facing some challengingtimes
here at PBS Wisconsinwith the with
theelimination of federalfunding. But there
is abright spot . It is the
generosity of viewers likeyou who
have called us, whohave written to
us, whohave gone online and
saidwhat PBS Wisconsin
brings to their homes,
to theircommunities matters.
Theprograms like this about
Wisconsin for Wisconsinmatter. And
we can do this together. We are here
tostay, but we're here tostay because
of yoursupport, your
generosity.Whether you're a new membercalling
in for the first time, saying, this
matters.I like programs like this.
I like the work that you dohere
at PBS Wisconsin. Itmatters in our
community.Maybe it's the work that we
do that goes beyond thebroadcast, our
educationwork, the work we do
tomaintain emergency alertsystems
all around thestate . All of that
matters.And all of it is because
ofyou. If you're already asustainer
or a member , agenerous
donor, please consider giving us
anadditional gift during thisbreak
. During this program ,we can say
thank you withsome of the lovely gifts
that Linda mentioned. Andit all starts
with yourcall to our volunteers.
1-800-236-3636. >> It is now
my distinct honor to be
on set with Charlie Behrens. You
mayknow him as the creator ofthe Manitowoc Min
ute. You may know him as
thenarrator of this documentary tonight.
Charlie, I, on behalf of
all the folks here at PBSWisconsin,
we were sothrilled when you agreed
tobe the narrator for thisprogram
. But, you know, I'm
a fan of yours . I'm alittle starstruck
, actually,right now. Oh, really? Oh, that's
.>> You're you're a busy guy.So what
of all the things you can be working
on, whatdrew you to working on t his
program in particular? Well, for starters right
here. Okay. Do I getdonations
? Donate ten bucks.
Ten bucks. Right. >> I think it's
ten bucks.>> A month. Ten bucks a
month? Yeah, totally worth it. Very soft. But
, youknow, I went to school here,and
I, I did thecommencement,
which wasreally cool. And, you k now
,if they, if they let me do
the commencement, you just you got to do
whatever theyask after that, wha teverthey ask
.>> Well that's good . That'skeep that in
mind, folks.He's he's on the hook now
.>> I am absolutely only tenbucks a
month, you guys.Come on. I mean, it's
12bucks. Okay? With 12.That's a different
story.But, you know , I think it'sstill
a good deal.>> So.>> So what
I did there.>> I, I do what
, you know,I think everything else isa
good deal too, right? Youknow w hat I
think is a good deal is $100 a
.>> Month, $100. Guys , goget the WD
40, spray it on your wall, let the
creditcard come sliding right out.You won't
regret it, Ipromise you that I really
do. , here's here's aquestion
for you. You'reabout the same height as
Iam, which means .>> Six one.
Well, okay, fine. You win.
.>> But which means that youwould have
been eligible tobe Bucky Badger. Did
youever look into that?>> I did
, I had ambitionsof being a Bucky Badger
.>> What? What held you back
or were you. I mean, maybeyou were
.>> No, no. Pretty muchlaziness,
procrastinationthat got in the way. Sure.
But I so when you look atBucky
out there on the field, you know that
he putone foot in front of the
other. Yeah. And also Icouldn't do enough
push ups.>> Oh yeah.>> Yeah.
Well we'll talk more about push ups in
a moment.But give us a call1-800-236-3636
.>> So right now it's anopportunity
to call our volunteers who are on
thephone banks and BuckyBusiness, Badgers, and
Beyond back there helpingthem is what
we could say. At $10 a
month you can get the Bucky DVD, which
is thewonderful story and historynarrated
by Charlie Berens.At $12
a month, you can getthe ten
inch Bucky plush toy and it
is adorable. At
$15 a month, we have thesweatshirt
I. And it's the state of Wisconsin with
aheart PBS because we
lovePBS Wisconsin . At $25
amonth, you can get them all
.You can get the Blu ray DVDstory
, you can get theplush Bucky.
You can also get the sweatshirt
now at $20 a month,
you can getfive . This is real
special.Five of the ten
five ofexcuse me of the
DVD Blu rays. This is
so that youcan share them and give
them as gifts, because noone's going to
be happywith just one, becauseeverybody's going
to wantto see it this way. You
cangive everybody their own.Now you can
use the QR code with your phone on
thescreen now or talk to our
volunteers. They're l
and they're busywith Bucky, but I'm sure
they'll talk to you at
1-800-236-3636. >> So
many great ways forus to
say thank you to youwhen you make
your call andbecome a member or add
toyour membership. So manyways to
feel good aboutgiving , from knowing
thatyou're doing your part to
support PBS Wisconsin and keep this service alive.
t's keep
PBS Wisconsinstrong together . Maybe
it'sthe sensation of you're
responding to Charlie Baron's call to
go ahead and give $100
a month, WD
40, that credit card and us
a call. Go online ,use the QR code
. Theimportant thing is that yougive
. Now give during thisshow
and show your generosity for the
workthat we do . We have so many
ways to say thank you atall of
the gift levels that Linda described. We'll say
thank you with a subscription to our
s" magazine, andyou'll have access toPassport
, a deep catalog of
additional programing that's available to you
you use that PBS
appon any of your devices,give us
a call 1-800-236-3636.
Charlie, you've talked some about
how actually your
your accentwas a was a hindrance
inthe beginning of yourcareer going into
news, butthen you've clearly turnedit
into an asset . Andthere's just
there'sclearly something about
Wisconsin people, Wisconsinideas
that that resonates .What, what
how would yousay
Wisconsin fits into thebroader landscape
of of the world?
gosh. I mean ,everyone wants to be
us,you know, for starters. And
they just didn't know ityet,
you know, or they don't. But, you know
, assoon as you kind of see,like
, especially whereBucky comes from,
you know, it's
it's hard to not wantto be
right here spending$12
a month on this beautiful toy. See
, I gotyou see .>> Yeah. Okay, here
we go.>> No , but, I mean, I
wentto school here , and you dohave
the Wisconsin idea,the idea of of helping
others and and moving things forward and, you
know, forward. We got thatin the
whole slogan thereon the.>> Wisconsin
idea andforward in one.>> I
got them all.>> You're doing good.>>
I got them all $13 amonth now
, guys. No, butit's just it's
an honor to,like , be part of this
thing.And we have great sense ofhumor
here, too, because we don't take ourselves too
seriously. I mean, you know,we we are
cheeseheads tobaptisms here, you know
, soI think that's part of what
I do anyways. But I thinkthat that's
part of it. We just have fun and
we careabout people and we takecare
of each other.>> So give me a
do me afavor , go put on your
cheesehead and then call 1-800-236-3636.
take anotherlook at the wonderful thankyou
gifts we have before weget back to
seeing Bucky'sstory. And just to remind
you, it's an opportunity.You can use
your QR code,you can go online.
But weall have here in the studio
with our wonderful volunteers. So a
$10 amonth you can get the DVD
Blu ray. The Story of Bucky.
It is narrated by CharlieBerens.
At $12 a month , wehave the
wonderful Buckyplush toy. At
$15 a month ,you can get the
sweatshirtat $25 a month. You
can getall of those at $20 a
month.That seems backwards . Youcan get five
of the DVDs, but most importantly,
youare going to get your"Airwaves" magazine
with nomatter what level you
pledge at. This is a great
opportunity for you. We arehaving
so much fun here andBucky keeps
walking aroundthe studio . You never know
where Bucky is going to be.Here comes
Bucky. Buckycome on up
okay here's Bucky. And we're going
tosay give us a call rightnow
at one (800) 236-3636.>> Well
Charlie thank you so much for joining
us here. And
congratulations on an incredible documentary.
Bucky. Thank you for being
here. We're going back tosee more.
And I hope youenjoy. And I
hope that youcall and give us a
pledgeof support .
Yeah. Is
there?>> You can bring yourbucket
with you then.>> Hi, I'm David Hoffert
, avolunteer here at PBSWisconsin
, and we have justconcluded watching
the Bucky
documentary. I, Ihope
I hope you appreciate it as much as
I did. Youknow , it really gave
me anappreciation for Bucky, but
also and this may be like
ataboo topic, but for thepeople
behind Bucky orinside Bucky or however you
want to think about that.But like the
people whobring this to life, right?
And I think understandingtheir
stories and understanding
the the cultural
impact of thisicon
that we have in our
state is, is really meaningful. And and
it'sreally personal for a lotof
us in Wisconsin. So myask
of you is that if thisif
this meant something to you,
that you make a pledge
of financial support , tellthe
staff at PBS Wisconsinthat
local programing like this matters to
you. Thenumbers there on yourscreen
. 1-800-236-3636.
>> Hi, I'm
Linda Berman and this has been
a thrillingevening being
with Bucky Badger and
just watchingthe story and
the history of Bucky.
I'm a second
generation and my son is athird
generation badger, and this
is the kind of program that I want
toshare with him . And at $10a
month, this wonderful DVD
Blu ray is one I am goingto
share with him at $12 amonth.
We have this adorable ten inch
littleBucky Badger. This plushtoy
children all ages
including 70s, 80s and 90s
would still like this $15 a
month. We have the iHeart,
which is the state ofWisconsin PBS
because PBSWisconsin is the heart ofour
state. At $25 a month,
you get all of them, youget
the DVD, you get thelittle plush toy
, you getthe sweatshirt . Now we havea
special at $20 a monthand it
sounds like we'regoing backwards. You can
get five copies of the DVDso you
can share them. Youcan give them
as gifts. The holidays are coming. This
is your opportunity to let
everybody enjoy the storyof Bucky.
But the mostimportant thing you shouldknow
is that it all startswith you
and your call. This very special
production. We even have aspecial
, special featurefor you
coming up. But the most important thing is
your pledge of support . Soyou can do
that right now at
one (800) 236-3636. >> Hi,
I'm Eric Greiling. I'm director of friends
of PBS Wisconsin. We want
tosay thank you to you whenyou
make your call, when you show your pledge
ofsupport. And this is amember
challenge break.That means if you
call inand offer your support as a
member, a new member, your ft
can go twice as far.Thanks
to the support ofexisting members
of PBSWisconsin. So
show yoursupport for this kind of
programing Wisconsin programing. That's
fun.That's poignant , thatmatters.
Let us say thank you with one of
thesewonderful member gifts. And
also know that during
thismember challenge break ,your gift goes
even further. We want to
hit 50 gifts during this this
pledgebreak. And we've got somereally special
treats foryou. So stick with us
.We've got guests, we've gotspecial
encore additional
footage to share with you.I also
want to thank our producers of this
program,Grant Fenster , JohnHornbacher.
Programs like this take months
, sometimeseven years, to
work. Weactively choose to make
them for you and yoursupport
is what makes itpossible.
Take advantage ofthis challenge. Break.
Takeadvantage of saying we
likeBucky. Let us say thank
youwith these gifts . Startswith your
call one(800) 236-3636.
>> And indeed there is
actually more coming. Wehave
we finished the official documentary. But
during this challenge break, we're
going to show you some bonus footage that
we've put together ng
RoseAnnDonovan, who you saw in
thedocumentary, so stay tunedfor that
. I mentionedearlier the importance o
flocal programing, and how
only PBS Wisconsin would made
a documentarylike the one
you've beenwatching tonight . Well,there's more
to come, right? The producers here are
already working on Wisconsin Hometown Stories
John McGivern Jerry Appsall
those programs that youhave come
to expect andrely
on, and they're madepossible
by your donations.We
are up to eight callsduring this
challenge break. Now is the time
to jointhem . 1(800)2
3636360. >> We're
having our ownchallenge break here.
We nono no no no.
Now we knowyou're going to call in
andpledge your support . Thisis the challenge
break.More than just an armwrestling challenge
, I haveto say. Yeah.
Okay. You won .
Anne Donovan coming.
Theproducers saw
thisdocumentary in the worksmaking
it and said, wait ,there's some special
thingswe need to go back to.There
are special people we need to interview and
thatis coming up . But I want to
remind you, at $10 a month,you
can get the story ofBucky right
on the DVD . Youand
the history of Bucky.At $12 a month,
you getlittle Bucky. It's a
plushtoy. You can see
even Buckyis beloved
for Bucky. $15 a month. You get
thesweatshirt. I heart
Wisconsin in PBS because
PBS Wisconsin is in my
heart and has been for thelast
49 years. Yes. And I
want to say at $25 a month
,you can get the littleBucky, you can
get the DVD,you can get the
sweatshirtwith all pledges. You will
also get "Airwaves" withBucky on
the cover. Yes .For this
month and remindyou , at
$20 a month, you can get five of
the DVDs.Oh. Hi, Bucky.
Bucky likesmy sweatshirt because
I'mwearing your face. Yes,
butyou can call and pledge andhave
five DVDs to sharewith your
family to givethem as wonderful gifts
.Remember, it's a challengebreak.
We're at ten calls now. We know we
can getmore. This is the timewe've
got Bucky. Business,Badgers, and Beyond goingto
go back to the phone,but you
can call us. I don't know if he'll
saymuch, but he's saying callnow
. One (800) 236-3636.
>> Some great
and unique ways for us to
say thankyou when you call with your
pledge of support during program or
go online,use that QR code that's
onyour screen to make a giftof
support for this program .Right now,
we can say thank you with these unique
giftsfor this unique program.And it
is a challenge break .We want
you to call in nowso that
you take advantageof that challenge, and
yourgift can go even further.We're
on our way towards our goal of 50
calls duringthis break . If you don't
get through right away,please be patient
. Ourvolunteers are doing theirbest
to keep up. Go aheadand go
online if you like .And and just
know that we do depend upon
you to bring you programs like this
,programs that celebrate Wisconsin,
programs that unite us together
, but also reveal some of the
poignancy behind a story
wethought we knew .
Going evendeeper with Bucky, we
wantto say thank you, but weneed
your support. We'regoing through somechallenging times
here, butwe are committed
tocontinuing to bring storieslike this
about Wisconsin for
Wisconsin, and we canstay strong
together. Itstarts with your
supportusing that QR code,
goingonline, or giving us a
callat 1-800-236-3636.
>> Linda's been talkingabout some of
the greatthank you gifts that areavailable
to you when you call
1-800-236-3636 but
remember, there are otherbenefits as well
. Any ofthe levels that Linda'sbeen
talking about comes with "Airwaves" magazine
,your monthly program guide.I
don't know about you , butit's getting harder
andharder just to get a simpleTV
guide of what's going tobe on
coming up. But youknow what? The
one thatmatters is PBS Wisconsin.And that
one comes to your mail and also
PBS Passportwhere you can go get
ondemand programing throughyour
streaming device, programs that
are, that are on air, programs
that arenot on air or haven't been
on air for a long time, allof
those are additionalmember benefits. And ofcourse
, really what mattershere is the feeling you
getof being a supporter
. Beinga member of
PBS Wisconsin, making all of
this possiblefor you and your
family andyour neighbors and theentire
Wisconsin community.Give us a call
1-800-236-3636. >> And
I just want to remind you, at $10
a month,you have the DVD of
thestory you're watching now,the history
, the storybehind,
and all the wonderfulness of
being Bucky Badger
$12 a month.We had
the ten inchadorable little plush Buckyand we got
Bucky. Bucky seal of approval
, $15 amonth . We have those
wonderful sweater. I want to say something
about it.It is Navy and it's
gotraglan sleeves. It is
unisex. It's got a slim fit,
but it can also have a
looser fit. The make sureyou talk
to your volunteerto ask more
about that. Atthe $25
a month level , youget all
of these wonderfulgifts the DVD
, you get theplush Bucky,
you get thesweater , and of course
, youget "Airwaves" magazine with
every pledge ofsupport . Now, I just
wantto let you know what'scoming up
. We have a veryspecial feature. We've been
tantalizing you with this.As
I said, the producerssaw
absolutely wonderfulness
out ofRoseAnn Donovan and herstory
, and this is something we're sharing
you. She has not seenit yet.
This was literally just finished.
So you get to see the premiere
of this.It's a very short
littledocumentary, but it'ssomething you're
going toso enjoy . So please stay
tuned. There's very specialfeature.
It's coming upright now. So stay
. But youcan give us a call as
soonas it's over , but staywatching
because this is something special.
>> RoseAnn Donovan hasalways been
the life of theparty.
>> My personality
is animated. What
in the world are are.
I think if youwould
ask anyone from backin
the day or my currentstudents
, everyone would say the same
thing loud, energetic,
emotional. >> In the
fall of 1978,
RoseAnn and herover-the-top
personality enrolled at the
Universityof Wisconsin-Madison,
officially becoming a
badger. >> Did I
have any conceptof what
was to come? [MUSIC]
did not.>> Ha
RoseAnn pledged asorority
and reveled inGreek social life
.[MUSIC] was on the
hunt formore adventure. >> Many
of my friends,
mysorority sisters, and some
of our guy friends were
infraternities and they allhappened
to be cheerleadersand
just talked about how
much fun
they had and game
days and getting to do
allkinds of fabulous things.>>
But a suggestion from afriend
would soon change the course of
Roseanne'scollege life.
>> One of the guys said,
well, Roseanne, why don't u
try out for Bucky ? AndI'm like,
well, Bucky, I can't try out for
Bucky.Bucky's a guy.
I said, no, I don't think it
saysanywhere that it has to bea
guy. You just have to betall enough
. And I'm like,oh my gosh, I'm gonna
dothat. the spring of
1981,RoseAnn dug into
preparations for the BuckyBadger
tryouts.>> I thought, if I'm
goingto go for it,
I'm going togo for it.>>
RoseAnn brought her fighting Badger spirit
tothe audition , and a
littlesomething extra.
>> One of the judges
like,on cue said,
well, you know,one of
the traditions is that Bucky
goes to the opposing side and
, you know,picks up one of the
cheerleaders. And I just looked at him and
said,wait right here. I
run overto the door. I fling
thedoor open. There's myroommate
, Kelly. I hoist
her up and run
around theroom and she's cheering. GoBadgers
! I think the panel
of judges just were like,
what in the world justhappened
? >> The group
of aspiringBucky's waited in thebleachers
for the judge's verdict.
know, drum roll. And
they announced the first
guy. His name was Mike
Mathias and Elkins. Yay!Way to
go. And people arescreaming and
cheering andall this . And our second
Bucky Badger for the 1981
82 season
is RoseAnnPalmisano
dead silence.
And I
just remember, like ,walking out,
like, what inthe world
just happened? >> It
turns out RoseAnn had
just joined an exclusive
Badger Club.>> As
far as I know, I am
the first woman who hasgotten
the honor to play aBucky Badger
. >> RoseAnn was
soonrelishing that honor
asWisconsin's furry,
bigheaded mascot .>> When you
are Bucky, youare
truly a celebrity. Around here.
People bustedout and are screaming
Bucky. >> Bucky, Bucky
. >> And that
photo op. You know the little
one looking up and
wanting an autograph and
just to see the faces
light up was really it
wasreally amazing .
>> RoseAnn spent her senioryear at
UW becoming Bucky
for basketball and hockeygames and
a countless other memorable
events.[MUSIC] think my favorite
partabout being Bucky
was that
every time I put that
suiton, it was
going to be adifferent
experience.Whether it was
at a game, a
big win or a
heartbreaking loss, or
it was a parade to
see kids
excited and screaming, it
was alwayssomething
fun and uplifting
and just
joyful. >> After
graduating, RoseAnn reign as
Bucky cameto an end,
but she always remained a badger
at heart. >> When I
see Bucky now andI'm like
, oh my gosh , I did
that. It is kind of
hard tobelieve . Yeah, that
wasreally amazing. [MUSIC]
really amazing. [MUSIC]
>> And we are
back still in the middle of a
challengebreak, still with anopportunity to have
yourmoney doubled. But I havestanding with
me now theone , the only
RoseAnnDonovan, the very firstfemale
Bucky Badger. Thank you so much for
joining us.>> You're welcome.>> Boy,
it's an honor to behere.
heard you say in thatin that clip
that, you knowI can't be Bucky. Bucky's
aguy. How did you get overthat
hump to actually go and try out?
>> You know, I think foranybody who
knows my personality, that
just wasa challenge when somebody
was like, Bucky's a guy,but
like, really? And then
when I investigated, it was
like, well, no , it doesn'tsay
anywhere. Just have tobe tall
enough. And I'm
five nine. I was tall
enough. And so kind of on
adare I did it.>>
And here we are , andhere we are
. Here we are.>>
So, so, so what was itlike to
, I mean, both to beBucky and also
to be thiskind of groundbreakingBucky.
You know, I think to be
Bucky at the time, I
didn't fully
appreciate what a bigdeal it
was. And
I'mlearning more and more. And
even through this journey ,being the first
female andthe response
I have gottenjust at
some of our events ,
it is a big deal. It
is abig deal and
just really,
really a fun part of mycollege
experience. And, you know,
went on, I was ateacher
, educator for 43 years, so
I performed. Ilike being in
front of acrowd. And so it all fits
.Anybody who knows me likethis
tracks. This is not asurprise
.>> Did did your studentsknow that
you were onceBucky ? Were you able to
reveal your secret identity
during. >> No. While
I was Bucky,no . But after when
I wentinto the classroom, that
was always one of the veryfun
things that I got toshare with students
. Iwould always do kind of an
opening circle. And what'ssomething
an interestingfact about
yourself andstudents would share? I
washomecoming queen , or Ibroke
a football record andI would
say, wait for it.
>> Yeah, right. Well, we'regoing to
have more fromRoseAnn in just a moment
,but give us a call1-800-236-3636
.>> And just want to remind
everybody that you will get"Airwaves" magazine
with nomatter where you
Bucky. Youneed to turn it upside
theother way. There you canget
your "Airwaves"magazine . And we
are sohappy to say that with
every pledge of support ,you will get
the story ofBucky . You will get the
"Airwaves" magazine. You read it upside down
.You will get the great
plush little. I've got two
.Bucky's here. Two? Yeah.
You and this one . Yeah, theplush
toy. And that's $12 amonth.
$15 a month. You getthe
adorable sweatshirt Iheart
. Wisconsin is perfect .Not to worry
. $25 a month,you
can get everything. Thewhole package, the
DVD, theplush little Bucky,
the thebeautiful sweatshirt. Andat
$20 a month, you can getfive
copies of the DVD sothat you
can give them as gifts. Now, this is
achallenge, Bucky . No, youcan't
eat it. Challenge break. Bucky. How
manycalls do we have right now?Da
da da da 47 calls.
Weknow we can get at least
50before the break is over.
This is an opportunity todouble the money
. So giveus a call
1-800-236-3636. >> Thank
you Linda. It is achallenge break
and we'reon our way. Our our
volunteers are super busy on the phone. If
you call in 1-800-236-3636, be
patient. We'll get to youor go
online to pbswisconsin.org or
usethat QR code on your
screen.When you do, it will
pullup the gifts for you andyou
can see right there andyou can choose
. Andspeaking of choosing,
youdon't have to choosebetween
a DVD and Blu ray,
because when you select aDVD
as your thank you gift
,we'll include both a DVDand
Blu ray. And that'strue with
the five set DVDBlu
ray as well . At $20 a
month, five DVDs and Blurays
. That's five each DVDand Blu ray
, so you don'thave to choose whether it's
a DVD or Blu ray, and itgives you the opportu
nity to share Bucky
as a gift. So if you've got
a lot ofBusiness, Badgers, andBeyond in
your life, it's a lot of gifts you
can shareout. If you have people
whoare associated with othermascots
, you can send themthe Bucky
DVD and let themknow
what really matters.
And what are the best
mascot in the country is
really like and behind thescenes story. So
QR code, go online, give
us a call, let us say thank
you to youfor your support. It's a
challenge break. We've exceeded our goal and
we'regoing to keep going. Soplease do
give us a call
1-800-236-3636. >> You
know Eric, it's funny you mentioned that
use I was actually sitting at lunch today
atwork with a colleague whoit turns
out was adifferent Big Ten mascot
.We will not name the school
because that's not whatmatters right now
. I stillhave with me
RoseAnnDonovan and RoseAnn.
Whatwas the most memorable
experience you had as
BuckyBadger? >> You know what
I thinkprobably there
there weretwo . I think the
the coolest
was filming a commercial
back in the day,and it was
for a cardealership . I don'tremember which
one. Sosorry out there,
but I actually filmed it
with alive badger. What?
Andunder the costume
they hadme all like with
these sleeves, protective
sleeveson because of of the
claws and this
gigantic badgerrunning
around Camp Randall. So that was
probably the coolest.
The most memorablewould
have been getting tostart the
first Crazylegsrace.
The first one.>> Okay.>> And we
didn't know atthe time it was going
to bean annual event. I thinknow
it's on number 45 . Soit's been
a while. Yeah .And I
actually got a letterfrom Arlie
Mucks thanking me for for
starting thatfirst race. So that
waspretty cool. So so here you
are aBucky alumni . I mean, doyou
stay in touch? Is isthis a
community that forms.Not all of them were
youryear, but right .>> And I
think because I was
the only female that Iknow of
, I do think thereis
a community. This
hasreally brought me closerand
in touch with many. Iplan
to play in the Bucky
Open golf outing next year
.So the reason to up
my gamea little bit,
but it's justbeen a
really fabulous experience.
you so much for being with us. And
we aregoing to ask you to
call 1-800-236-3636 and
keepthose calls coming.>>
Come on in Fiji call
. >> And I
just want to show you our little
plush Bucky and oh,
whoa. [APPLAUSE]
your calls are doing.
It's made Bucky stand on his
head. If PlushBucky can
do it, so couldBig Bucky
. So your calls are so important. They are
55 calls now you can
see it.We know we can get
we'regoing to go to 70. This
issuch an exciting evening.Being here
with the Bucky's is
outstanding. And it's your opportunity to call so
you can get the Bucky
DVD.And if I talk fast enough,he'll
stay on his head $10a month. You
can get the DVD, CD
all at once. At $15a month, you
get the plush. Bucky right here is
standing on his head . And
$25 a month, I'm sorry,
$15a month. You get thesweatshirt,
the the bluesweatshirt . I Wisconsinheart
PBS Wisconsin ,
$25 amonth. You get thesweatshirt,
the Bucky, the DVD, $20 a
month. You get the five pack of
the DVDs. Bucky's made it on
his head.Show him Bucky is on his
still on his head . Yay,
Bucky! But your calls willkeep
them there. 1-800-236-3636.
>> Hit it Eric.
>> The score is 57.
That'sgoing to be , I think, 57
push ups. Is that how thatworks?
At least 58 push ups.
So please keep your callscoming.
1-800-236-3636. Let's push that
push up. Count up as far
as we cango . And we want to
saythank you to you. I alsowant
to thank the donorswho gave to
this project onthe front end of it
,without knowing what it would look like,
withoutknowing how much we
couldcover about Bucky's, shareabout
Bucky, share thehistory , the rich history
,the poignancy, and of course, underscore the
factthat we absolutely have
thebest mascot in the country
.Those donors really makethis
work possible, but sodo you
. Your gift of support makes a
hugedifference. Together we can keep PBS Wisconsin
strong.We will be
here. We will allow you will
your giftwill allow us to continueto
bring this kind of programing programing
thatfocuses on
Wisconsin. And
speaking of Wisconsin programing, we've got
another treat for you ,another
story about mascots,
one from Wisconsin Life.
Sowe want to keep bringingyou
this programing. We'regoing to share it with
you.Now give us a call
1-800-236-3636. >> You
just kind of have tomove
your hands and hopefor the best
. Simply noother job
like this I can think of.
>> Flexing like a
winner.>> The most important thing
,I think, is to have fun.
[MUSIC] >> Got it all. Got
it, gotit , got it all
. >> So I'm a
little bit likea superhero in a way
. >> Winner,
winner. >> You have
everybody inthe stadium looking at youand
you just run out. It'sa big resp onsibility
, I'dsay. >> Winner.
>> Olympics Mascots was
created at some
point backin the 1960s, and we
have250 ish total
employees.[MUSIC] >> They reached out to me
and they're like, hey , doyou want to
be a mascotsewer ? And I'm like, I
havenever heard of anythinglike that before
. So sure, why not?
ve probably done
25to 30,000 mascots throughthe
years. We did
a forklift like a
wearableforklift costume, and it
had the forks in the frontthat just
kind of went up and down, and a
hiddenbutton on the other sidefor like
the backup noise, full body robot
, top tobottom,
the racing sausages coming through here,
weprobably make new onesevery,
I don't know, fiveyears
. We were working on avery high profile
projectright now that I can't tell
you about. [MUSIC]
>> Most of our costumes are
in between 60 to 120 hours
,with the average
of thembeing probably in the
70 to80 hour range. We consider,
like the performers activity level,
we we go a lot by like height
range toto make sure it fits like
acertain height range ofperson. There's a
lot ofdifferent aspects that I'llkind of
go into it.[MUSIC] >> So when I
see thepicture, I have to
navigatehow I'm going to make this
a 3D thing. I go on
to themannequin , I startmeasuring
out things so that I know
what theproportions are. So I knowhow to
make something what it should look
like on theform .
>> So a lot of it's
fur wefur tempo , double knit
areprobably the big ones thatwe
use. I particularly likewhen we
do fur costumes,just because it's cool to
put different colors and
differenttextures. >> We work
with hundreds of
customers every single year. Pro
sports teams, collegiate sports teams
, restaurants,
brands,different characters , youknow,
represent everythingdown to even
elementaryschools. >> One, two
, three. [MUSIC]
me. >> It's a
very strange
sometimes to just be likewatching
a Packer game or something, and
a commercialcomes on. It's like
I madethat, you know, it's like,you
know, it gives me acertain level of
pride. Andjust like this
costume madeit onto TV and
looks pretty good,
feels like art
cometo life, like our art
thatwe're working on here,
youknow, becomes this fullscale
realized thing. [MUSIC]
>> And then it's like, you
forget about all of thathard work
and you're like ,wow. Like, this
is what itcomes down to at the
end.>> The people that workhere
are just amazing. It'sthe reason why
I come backevery day. It's the reason
why I have a smile on myface
. It's the reason why Ilove coming to
work,because it's a great groupof people
and we get to make some really fun
stuff. >> Wow.
>> This has been amazing.Bucky
. How many on ourchallenge break? Da
da dada 71 calls.
This isoutstanding. This has just
been an exciting evening . Ijust want
to remind you, at$10 a month
, you get the story of Bucky,
the history $12 a
month. You get thelittle Bucky
plush toy, the ten inch adorable
toy, $15a month. You get
the it's a blue sweatshirt
that says, I heart PBS
and it'sWisconsin the heart.
At $25a month, you get
the Buckystory, you get the plushBucky, you
get the shirt .And at $20
a month, you get the five pack of
Bucky's.This is great. How
aboutwe're at 72? We
can make 75 calls. Yes,
Bucky. Yes, this is a great
thing. Butit starts with your call
at 1-800-236-3636.
Take itaway. >> Bucky and I
just have somany thank yous to say
thank you to all thevolunteers on the
phonebank tonight who haveanswered 73 calls
andcounting. Thank you toCharlie Berens. Thank
youto Bucky. Bucky, Bucky.Bucky
, Bucky, Bucky, Bucky,Bucky and Bucky. And most
importantly thank you toyou.
Thank you for making it
possible for programs like
this to exist anywhere
on your television dial
atPBS Wisconsin . It's allbecause
of you. And it'snot too
late to be becauseof you.
In particular, when you call
1-800-236-3636 and
when you go to
pbswisconsin.org, there's en
there's even a QR codeon your
screen if you know how to work those
things.Which frankly, sometimes Istill can't
figure it out,but I bet, I bet
these guysknow what they're doing.What matters
is thatprograms like this happen,and we know that you
wantthem when you call. That'sthat's
your vote in all ofthis. I
mean, when youremember , you also get a
member survey. But that's the vote that
tells us thatthis is this is
whatmatters to you . And andit's
what makes public media right.
PBS publicbroadcasting service. It's
what makes the public inpublic
broadcasting. So on
behalf of so many people
who they didn't give amicrophone to
. And that'swhy I'm still talking
. What what I'm asking
you to doright now is give a
calland make a pledge offinancial support
. Thenumber again .
One(800) 236-3636. Surroundedby
more Bucky's than I willever be
in my entire lifecombined. Probably
. It'sbeen quite a fun
night.It's been a hectic night.
Hectic because you've been calling. We appreciate
youso much and thank you
and keep, keep it
coming.Thanks for your support.