THURSDAY, July 24 – DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION

MORNING SIDEKICK DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION FOR THURSDAY, July 24, 2025

COMEDY MP3s POSTED ON OUR PREP SITE FOR TODAY: BROUGHT TO YOU BY

TODAY IS …
(All days repeat annually on today’s date unless otherwise noted; days may or may not be called “National”/”International”/”World” depending on source; sources listed often have additional info. We generally do not list special days which were created by commercial companies for the purpose of marketing – including “holidays” created by the National Day Calendar and Wellcat websites to drive traffic to their websites – or the hundreds of disease awareness listings which occur each year. We present only those specially designated days we feel your listeners would find most interesting or significant.)

AMELIA EARHART DAY
The Holiday Insights website says this:
“Amelia Earhart Day honors the famous aviation pioneer (she was born on this date in 1897). Amelia Earhart broke many early aviation records. Legend and mystery surrounds the final flight and disappearance of Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan. They were on a record-setting attempt to fly around the world, when they became lost in the Pacific Ocean. On July 2, 1937, they headed on a difficult leg of the journey towards Howell Island in the Pacific. Weather conditions were less than ideal. While still in radio communication, ships on the ground confirmed that Earhart was having difficulty finding the island. Ultimately, radio communications faded and died. The plane was never heard from again. The U.S. navy searched over 250,000 miles of ocean to no avail.”

COUSINS DAY

NATIONAL DRIVE-THRU DAY
A special observance suggested in a 2002 press release by Jack in the Box to promote drive-thru businesses.

NATIONAL TEQUILA DAY

July is:

Adopt a Rescued Rabbit Month
Air Conditioning Appreciation Month
Baked Bean Month
Cell Phone Courtesy Month
Family Reunion Month
International Blondie and Deborah Harry Month
National Blueberries Month
National Grilling Month
National Hot Dog Month
National Ice Cream Month
Melon Month

ENTERTAINMENT & CELEBRITIES

WHAT TO WATCH – New and Returning Shows and Movies
Premiering Thursday through Sunday
Listings compiled from multiple sources

THURSDAY, July 24

“A Normal Woman”
Netflix – New Movie from Indonesia
Synopsis: Believing she’s contracted a mysterious illness, a socialite begins sabotaging her own life in the face of rejection from her own body and her family.

“Epic Ride: The Story of Universal Theme Parks”
Peacock – New Docuseries (or full length commercials?)
Synopsis: Explores Universal’s film and theme park legacy through rare footage and celebrity interviews, leading up to Epic Universe’s opening.

“Hitmakers”
Netflix – New Docuseries
Synopsis: Follows 12 top-tier songwriters and producers as they team up in high-pressure writing sessions to write hit songs for major artists like John Legend, Shaboozey and Lisa of Blackpink.

Season Premiere:
Netflix – “The Sandman” (Season 2 Part 2)

FRIDAY, July 25

“Big Brother: Unlocked”
CBS – New Docuseries
Synopsis: A look behind the scenes at the Big Brother house.

“Happy Gilmore 2”
Netflix – New Movie
Synopsis: Adam Sandler’s short-fused legend swings for a comeback to make his kid’s dream come true.

“Mandala”
Netflix – New Series from India
Synopsis: When a series of ritualistic murders shakes a small town, a detective and an ex-cop must investigate a mystery with deep ties to their pasts.

“Trigger”
Netflix – New Series from India
Synopsis: Follows a relentless cop and a crafty arms broker as they face off in a tense showdown amidst a society grappling with the sudden influx of illegal weapons.

THE BUZZ

DUMB HEADLINES

Time for another episode of Three Dumb Headlines. These are actual, word-for-word headlines of stories found on the internet. There’s no story, no context, just the actual headline. Discuss them amongst yourselves. Then, encourage listeners to vote for the Dumbest Headline on your station’s social media page. Maybe ask them to leave a comment. Reveal the results in the next break.
Today’s Dumb Headlines:
1. “Hair Cell Regeneration In Zebrafish Could Yield Hearing Loss Breakthrough”
2. “The Family-Style Way The Rolling Stones Eat Hot Dogs”
3. “Everyone Wants to Know What Huda Mustafa Smells Like”
And here’s a spare, in case you don’t like one of those three: “Why Does Tonic Water Taste Like That?

U.S. NEWS

NAKED BOAT THIEF ESCAPES FROM HOSPITAL IN LAB COAT

Last Saturday, a disturbed man high on meth stripped off his clothes and took a naked joyride on two stolen boats in a Manhattan marina. The man, Stephen Blasetti, 36, was arrested – buck naked – and sent to Columbia University hospital for evaluation. Yesterday morning – Wednesday around 6:30 am – he walked out of the hospital wearing a white hospital lab coat, blue hospital pants and hospital socks, but no shoes. Police are still searching for him.
* A true master of disguise!
* It’s like every bad movie hospital escape ever. I’m surprised he didn’t roll himself out in a wheelchair.
* Well, as far as the evaluation is concerned, looks like mentally he’s pretty sharp.
* He even skipped the shoes so he could tip-toe out quieter.
* I would say he could be anywhere, except a clothing store.

AUDIO: FLORIDA COUPLE RECEIVES THOUSANDS OF BOTTLES OF DISH SOAP FROM AMAZON

Rose and Louis Bostick of Riverview, Florida, ran a small third-party seller business on Amazon, distributing books and some household products. They decided to shut the business down last year. Suddenly, thousands of bottles of dish soap – pallets of it – have shown up at their front door, day after day. Amazon initially said it would return the items in its inventory and then close the account. But this dish soap was never in their inventory. Rose Bostick said they had no more than 50 bottles of dish soap in their inventory, and not this brand. The Bosticks say Amazon told them they would “resolve this issue as quickly as possible.”
* But because you’re hearing about it on the radio now, Amazon lied.
* Maybe they can sell all that dish soap to P. Diddy, to clean up all the baby oil.
* Thousands of bottles of unwanted dishsoap. And then it Dawned on them – they were screwed.
* Why couldn’t it have been, like, pallets of jewelry?
* What a soap opera.
CLIP: He’s a subtle joke you can play underneath: The Four Seasons’ “Dawn, go away I’m no good for you.”
CLIP URL: morningsidekick(dot)com/prep/wp-content/uploads/FourSeasons-DawnGoAway-edit(dot)mp3

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

AIRPLANE LEAVES EVERYBODY’S LUGGAGE BEHIND

Passengers onboard a packed RyanAir flight last Friday from Bristol, England to the Canary Islands got a shock when they landed on Gran Canaria and were told by the pilot that all their luggage had been left behind. It was never loaded onto the plane, and the first passengers knew about it was when the plane landed. The captain blamed “time constraints” back at Bristol Airport, saying he and airline officials made the difficult decision to not bring any luggage. RyanAir has since apologized, saying it was caused by an “error” made by a third-party baggage handling provider.
* Must have been some party.
* Ah, the old “better to seek forgiveness than to ask permission” excuse.
* What were the “time constraints”? If they paused to load the luggage, the crew would arrive in the Canary Islands too late for happy hour?
* It would have been fine if Gran Canaria was a nudist resort.
* On the bright side, no “error” was made by the third-party provider who pumps fuel into the plane.

ANOTHER ORCA BOAT ATTACK

There was another orca attack on a boat. This one happened off the coast of northern Spain, far from the Strait of Gibraltar, where previous orca attacks have happened. Two sailors on a French yacht reported being attacked by killer whales at around 2pm Monday. They were rescued by the Spanish coastguard and safely taken to shore. Whale experts are advising sailors to turn off boat engines and lower their sails if orcas are spotted. They are also advised to turn off autopilot and echo sounders, and not to make loud noises.
* And don’t make eye contact. The whales think they are Jennifer Lopez.
* Moby-Dick gets all the attention, but Moby-Shamu is the real threat.
* Are they jealous because it’s Shark Week?
* They’ve fed — and this is true — they’ve fed orca calls into A.I and translated orca-speak and discovered that the problem is orcas hate being called killer whales. They want to be known as Sea Oreos.

TORONTO PUBLIC TRANSIT OFFICERS NOW KNOWN AS P.O.O.S

Up in Canada, the Toronto Transit Commission – the organization in charge of public transit – is rebranding their fare inspectors. Besides updating their uniforms, the inspectors have a new job title: Provincial Offenses Officers. P-O-Os. Or, POOs, for short. As in, “I just spotted some POOs on the street.” The title change has sparked mockery online. Said one commenter: “Did ANYONE workshop this?”
* Crap, no, they didn’t.
* The only other suggestion was Security Helpers In Toronto, but that acronym wasn’t any better.
* Special Toronto Officers Of Law? ‘S.T.O.O.L.’ No, that won’t work.
* Fare Enforcement, Canadian Authority Legion? No, that’s F.E.C.A.L.
* Please tell me the uniforms aren’t brown.

ALMANAC

NOTABLE DATES, UPCOMING U.S. OBSERVANCES

Sept. 1, Monday – Labor Day
Sept. 11, Thursday – Patriot Day
Sept. 22, Monday – Fall begins (Autumn Equinox is 2:19 p.m. EDT)

BIRTHDAYS

Elisabeth Moss (actress, “The Veil,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Shining Girls,” “Mad Men”) … 43
Jennifer Lopez (singer, actress) … 56
Barry Bonds (former NBA star) … 61
Karl “The Mailman” Malone (former basketball player) … 62
Lynda Carter (actress, “Supergirl”, “Wonder Woman”) … 74
Michael Richards (comic actor, “Kramer” on “Seinfeld) … 76

Today’s Birthdays grade: Although today’s list includes a huge multi-media star, an early DC TV superhero, a “Mad Men” alum who continues to have a great career, and sports legends, it also includes a disgraced “Seinfeld” alum who torpedoed his career with a bizarre onstage racist rant. So … Grade? We abstain.

[Want to try something different with the daily birthdays? Try grading them! Some days have “good” celebs, some have “great” celebs, some have “lousy” celebs. For fun, give the group an arbitrary grade: A-plus through F-minus. Sidekick will give you our take on it; you can to take the concept and run with it.]

BIRTHDAY QUOTE QUIZ – Ask your listeners “Who said it?” HINT: Today’s their birthday!

“I don’t want to know what I’m doing tomorrow. It’s much too overwhelming. So I just go day by day, without knowing.”

(A) William Shatner
(B) Elon Musk
(C) Jennifer Lopez

ANSWER: (C) Jennifer Lopez

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

2019 – Facebook agreed to pay a record $5 billion fine, the largest ever for violating consumer privacy, to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.
* Shouldn’t every American have gotten an equal share? Where’s my $15? ($5,000,000,000 divided by U.S. population of 328,000,000.)

2005 – American Lance Armstrong won his seventh consecutive Tour de France victory. He would eventually be stripped of all titles due to career-long use of performance-enhancing drugs.
* The only thing that could catch up with him was his cheating.

1946 – Inventor Sir James Martin successfully tested the first aircraft ejection seat.
* The success is largely credited on his decision to move the tests OUTSIDE the hanger.

1824 – A public opinion poll was published for the first time in an American newspaper, as the Harrisburg Pennsylvanian reported a clear lead for presidential hopeful Andrew Jackson.
* The next day, the second ever public opinion poll showed a clear lead for boxers over briefs.

1938 – Instant coffee was invented.
* Just like that!

1929 – President Herbert Hoover proclaimed the Kellogg-Briand Pact, which renounced war as an instrument of foreign policy.
* Neat idea. We should try it some time.

THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY

2022 – Joni Mitchell surprised the crowd at Newport Folk Festival, Rhode Island when she joined Brandi Carlile on stage for two songs. It was her first public performance in 19 years.

2019 – Queen’s iconic “Bohemian Rhapsody” video reached one billion views on YouTube, a new record for one of the band’s videos; it was also the first pre-1990s video to reach one billion views. “Bohemian Rhapsody” was also named as the most Googled song of 2018.

2014 – Duran Duran took legal action against Illinois-based WorldWide Fan Clubs, claiming they were owed $40,000. The company had been charged with managing subscriptions and fan records for Duran Duran, with 75% of profits supposedly going to the musicians.

2008 – Rapper 50 Cent sued Taco Bell for using his name and image without permission in an advertising campaign which urged him to change his name to 79 Cent, 89 Cent or 99 Cent to promote their items which cost less than a dollar. 50 Cent won the suit.

2007 – Beyonce tripped down twelve stairs while performing “Ring the Alarm” on tour in Orlando, Florida. Within hours, video of her stepping on her trench coat and then tumbling head-first appeared on YouTube.

1998 – Tanya Tucker filed a $300,000 lawsuit against Capitol Records, charging that the label had willfully neglected her career.

X-TREME TRIVIA CHALLENGE

Every installment of X-Treme Trivia Challenge includes three mystery factoids. Create your own “Impossible Question” contest – great for listener giveaways and phone interaction starters! Also a perfect sponsorship opportunity!

1. 10% of women say they feel depressed when they do THIS in the morning. What is it?
Open their closet

2. When it comes to selfies, 5% of women say they have done THIS. What is it?
Taken a selfie on the toilet

3. 1/3 of women say they never ever do THIS. What is it?
Make the bed

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