La Crosse Talk PM WIZM
Listener conversations about the days events in and around the La Crosse area. Weekdays from 5-6pm on WIZM 1410AM and 92.3FM
Episodes
Mac Kiel is back in studio to preview committee and council week in La Crosse.
The holidays pack all the big meetings into one week, highlighted by discussions on deregulating little free food pantries, asking for new proposals for a downtown bike lane and parking plan, and tackling homelessness as the community marks the two-year anniversary of Pathways Home.
Kiel talks about her experience working with the homeless, as both La Cr...
UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky in studio with his Top 5 Wisconsin politics topics of 2025.
From the governor’s race to controversy around judges to the state budget and the government shutdown, Chergosky dissects what he saw as the biggest stories in Wisconsin politics.
Along with that, we also talk about whether or not people believe Santa Claus is a Republican or Democrat and at what a...
Tacking the complaints and myths about bicycles, bike lanes and parking with Andrew Ericson in studio for La Crosse Talk PM.
Ericson sits on the city of La Crosse’s Bicycle-Pedestrian Committee, the MTU Board and the Climate Action Steering Committee.
Some of those complaints we discuss include bicyclists not obeying traffic laws, needing to pay for their own infrastructure and why they should just ride on the road.
We ...
Ken Cooper in studio for La Crosse Talk PM to participate in the Festivus tradition, the Airing of Grievances, in celebration of the holiday.
For those who don't know, Festivus is a holiday from Seinfeld, created by Frank Costanza — George's dad — as an alternative to the commercialism of Christmas.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Wisconsin Sen. Brad Pfaff in studio to discuss his New Year’s resolutions for the state Legislature, the debate over property taxes, strategies to address healthcare costs and his outlook for 2026.
We started the show, though, with a bit of Christmas spirit, asking Pfaff when his kids first figured out the truth about Santa Claus.
After that, we dived into the debate over the rise in property taxes and Republicans targeting a...
Wisconsin state Assembly Rep. Tara Johnson stopped in studio to recap her first year in office, and explain to us the phrase bill-jacking.
Johnson (D-Shelby) also tells a couple of stories — one on what she saw as a useless education bill and another on how a near-unanimous, bipartisan postpartum care bill was stalled by one man, Robin Vos.
Other things we hit on included how Johnson would like the Legislature to be mor...
A fun show brainstorming a new beverage to commemorate the 94-year-old Lansing bridge explosion, and recapping the 2025 words of the year with UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky.
WIZM News Director Kevin Millard shared his experience watching the bridge blow, and we cold-called Todd Wiedenhaft, owner of Skeleton Crew Brew, to see if he could craft a "Blown Bridge Beer." Wiedenhaft didn't skip a beat, pi...
Mac Kiel in studio with the latest update on La Crosse hiring a city administrator and the recent conversations around that, plus the sale of the Charmant to billionaire Diane Hendricks and what that might mean for downtown.
We discuss city administrator a couple different times during the show, first talking about the council structure — plus Kiel geeking out on seating charts — and the idea of adding amendments to the...
Rivoli co-owner Jonathan Gelatt in studio talking holiday movies, theatre etiquette, and some of the unique events they’re having this month, including the hit YouTubers, Found Footage Fest.
The Wisconsin-born comedy duo behind Found Footage Fest will bring their best VHS finds for a live comedy show, beginning at 7 p.m. Saturday. The duo boasts over 160,000 subscribers on YouTube.
On the show, we get Gelatt’s take on w...
Citizen Action of Wisconsin executive director Robert Kraig joins to discuss how the state should handle data centers and energy costs. We also talk healthcare at both the state and federal level, and Wisconsin's gerrymandered US House maps, as there are two lawsuits pending seeking to change them.
We began the show, though, since Citizen Action is based in Milwaukee, discussing the Bucks potential trade of Giannis Antetokounmpo an...
We're back on La Crosse Talk PM with UW-La Crosse political science professor Dr. Anthony Chergosky, who helps us take a deep dive into civics vs. politics.
Before we get to that, we had to reset after nearly a year away from the Friday slot. The last PM show we did, Chergosky was ironically trying to start a cheese curd war between Kwik Trip and Culver’s.
After that, we discuss the top Google trending stories of 2025, rangin...
The UW-La Crosse men’s basketball team has opened the season right where it left off last year, when it set a school record with 25 wins and got to the Elite Eight for the first time ever.
Now, coach JT Gritzmacher has his team ranked No. 3 in the nation and off to a 7-0 start. Gritzmacher joined La Crosse Talk PM to talk about the hot start, hype up his shooting guard Sam Grieger — who's is averaging 24.6 points. But, ...
La Crosse County Board chair Tina Tryggestad in studio, discussing a slew of topics, including the cost to plow snow, having the fifth-lowest tax levy, regionalizing assets, funding the SMRT bus and updates to the Hillview Healthcare Center.
We also talked about county board elections across Wisconsin. La Crosse County has 30 seats — always up for election every two years.Tryggestad talks about gathering signatures and what c...
City Council President Tamra Dickinson in studio as La Crosse Talk PM returns from about a year hiatus.
On the show we discuss a crazy amount of things, including one of the two parks reopening, the Charmant sale needing council approval, the search for an airport director and bringing in Allegiant Airlines. We also hit on the old Kmart lot development status, the DOT bike lanes plan for downtown, hiring a city administrator and cl...
UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, in studio discussing optics of the Trump-Zelenskyy Oval Office meeting, media bias and why Republicans are now shying away from public town halls.
Plus, Chergosky reignites the #CurdWar between Kwik Trip and Culvers, and we chatted quick about the end of Skype, when the video service should be ruling the world.
We began the show by delving into media bias, highl...
UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, may have just sparked Wisconsin’s fiercest food fight — the Great Curds War between Kwik Trip and Culver’s.
We kicked off Friday's show with this critical debate and circled back often. Chergosky took a firm stance on who has the best cheese curds based on some changes in the Kwik Trip kitchens.
UW-L political science and public administration professor, Dr. John Kovari, joins in-studio to dissect everything from the city administrator's role in lowering La Crosse taxes to working Oompa Loompas into a conversation about TIFs — which might explain why his TIF book is orange.
Kovari breaks down TIF (Tax Increment Financing) districts, how La Crosse u...
UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, joins on Valentine's Day, so of course we discuss those chalk hearts. We also got into voter turnout in Tuesday's primary with the mayor race being on the ballot, plus is Tim Walz going to run for US Senate in Minnesota?
Began the show, though, with Valentine's Day, whether those candy hearts are even good and what ever happened to those candy cigarettes. Later ...
UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, in the WIZM studio Friday for La Crosse Talk PM, breaking down the mayor debate, while also discussing what you wish you knew before moving to the area and creating fake social media profiles.
Less than 12 hours after WIZM hosted the four candidates for La Crosse mayor, Chergosky, along with WIZM’s Brad Williams, spent a good portion of the show covering differe...
On Feb. 6, the four candidates running for La Crosse mayor took part in a forum hosted by WIZM at the UW-La Crosse Student Union. Shaundel Washington-Spivey, Vicki Markussen, Ellie McLoone and Chris Kahlow are looking to push through the primary and on to the spring election. Voting in the primary ends Feb. 18, when the field will be cut to two.
Here's the rundown of questions:
3:24 - Opening statements
10:22 - Question 1: Al...
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