WEDNESDAY, July 30 – DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION

MORNING SIDEKICK DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION FOR WEDNESDAY, July 30, 2025

COMEDY MP3s POSTED ON OUR PREP SITE FOR TODAY: A & M AUTOLAND – Locked In

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.)

MEDICARE ANNIVERSARY
The History website says this:
“On this day in 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare, a health insurance program for senior Americans, into law as an amendment to the Social Security Act of 1935. At the bill-signing ceremony, which took place at the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, former President Harry Truman was enrolled as Medicare’s first beneficiary and received the first Medicare card. Johnson wanted to recognize Truman, who, in 1945, had become the first president to propose national health insurance, an initiative that was opposed at the time by Congress. Medicare is funded entirely by the federal government and paid for in part through payroll taxes. Medicaid, a state and federally funded program that offers health coverage to certain low-income people, was also signed into law by President Johnson on July 30, 1965.

NATIONAL CHEESECAKE DAY

NATIONAL FATHER-IN-LAW DAY

NATIONAL WHISTLEBLOWER DAY
The National Day Calendar website says this:
“July 30 commemorates the day our Founding Fathers recognized the need to protect the courageous whistleblowers, those who take notice and step forward to report corruption when they see it. National Whistleblower Day reminds us to honor and support the people who speak up when they witness fraud, abuse or waste. On July 30th, 1778, the Continental Congress passed a historic and unanimous resolution honoring ten sailors and marines who spoke out against their commander’s abuses of his office. In doing so, the Founding Fathers declared that it was the duty of all Americans, ‘to give the earliest information to Congress or other proper authority of any misconduct, frauds, or misdemeanors.’ The United States Senate first recognized National Whistleblower Day in 2013.”

PAPERBACK BOOK DAY
The Days Of The Year website says this:
“Paperback Book Day commemorates the publication of the first ten paperback Penguin Books on July 30th, 1935 in London. The Penguin paperback books helped to start a paperback book revolution, making novels and classic books available to anyone for a small price.”

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

FOOD NETWORK VIEWERS UNHAPPY WITH “TRIBUTE” TO THE LATE ANNE BURRELL

Fans of the late TV chef Anne Burrell are outraged at The Food Network’s tribute to their beloved star. Burrell died by suicide at the age of 55 on June 17. On Monday, July 27, the channel ran the premiere episode of her final season of the show “Worst Cooks in America.” At the end of the episode, a message read: “In Memoriam, Anne Burrell, 1969-2025.” And then: “If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or chat at 988lifeline.org.” Not only was it short and lame, but it aired at 10pm. One furious fan wrote: “Surely you can shelve the endless hours of Triple D [Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives] and Triple G [Guy’s Grocery Games] that clog up your lineup for a more comprehensive tribute.”
* Sure, Anthony Bourdain gets documentaries and retrospectives, the female chef gets a nod. So wrong.
* No, dear commenter, Food Network can’t do that. There’s nobody there running the thing. They’ve loaded all the Guy Fieri and Bobby Flay shows into the machine and hit ‘endless loop.’ That’s how the network runs. That’s how they all run.
* Viewers are really steamed. Or, in Food Network terms, blanched.
* It’s the Food Network. Not even a catered wake?

TOM HANKS DOING OFF-BROADWAY SHOW

Tom Hanks’ next project is going to be an off-Broadway show. It’s called “This World of Tomorrow” and will run for eight weeks from Oct. 30 through Dec. 21 at New York City’s 500-seat Griffin Theater. It’s a show Hanks wrote, based on his own short stories. The plot: It begins at the end of the 21st century. On a quest for true love, a sad scientist travels back in time over and over again to one special day at the 1939 New York World’s Fair in Queens. There are currently only 55 performances of “This World of Tomorrow” shows scheduled. Tickets start at $300, but good luck with that.
* Time travel – now THERE’S a plot device we don’t see much of these days.
* 1939, and he doesn’t go to Germany to kill Hitler? He must REALLY need a girl!
* I don’t know if he gets the girl, but each time he goes back to 1939 he can get a full steak dinner for $1.50. (True!)
* As long as it’s not a stage version of Cloud Atlas, I’m there.
* Still waiting for “A Man Called Otto, The Musical.”

THE BUZZ

INAPPROPRIATE TIMES TO FALL ASLEEP

Reddit asked, “What was the most inappropriate situation where you fell asleep?” Some of the responses:
– “At the hairdressers, mid-haircut. Hairdresser let me sleep for like 30 minutes before I woke up with a crick in my neck from head being flopped forward.”
– “Middle of a job interview. It was warm, they were droning on, and I blinked… for like 45 seconds. I did not get a call back.”
– “During the ‘Indianapolis’ speech in Jaws.”
– “During a Who concert.”
– “Watching a Formula 1 race. Incredibly loud yet somehow I still managed it, much to the bemusement of my dad.”
– “In junior high during a break, my classroom is on 4th floor, we open the window, the wind feels really nice. The spot with the best breeze is at the teacher desk, I sit down and put my head in my arms and fell asleep. The teacher wakes me up, and I thought it was a friend, and I was like ‘don’t wake me up yet’ but I started to hear the class laughing so hard, so I take a peek, and it is the teacher.”
– “For a field trip, my highschool class was taken to a Holocaust museum in Michigan. I had been up all night gaming and when we stopped at the end to sit and listen to the guest speaker I couldn’t help but nod off in my chair. The speaker was a survivor of the camps. I wish I could have heard what they had to say.”
– “On a boat, me and my cousin went fishing. Waiting and waiting, nothing biting, we both slept. Another guy saw us on boat and thought something was wrong with us and came with a rescue boat.”
– “My wife was in labor with our first kid. At about 3am I fell asleep in the hospital while she was squeezing my hand during contractions.”
– “Once after staying up for days I fell asleep in a nude hot spring, luckily I was with friends.”
* PHONE TOPIC: What odd place have you fallen asleep?

SOUTHERN TWANG STANDS OUT IN A NOISY ENVIRONMENT

According to new research, twangy voices like Dolly Parton’s are easier to understand than neutral ones in traffic noise, especially for female speakers. Researchers from Indiana University designed an experiment using artificial intelligence to create synthetic speech into ‘no’ accent and ‘twangy’ accent while keeping everything else identical. Twangy speech outperformed neutral speech consistently. Listeners correctly identified more words when speakers used the twangy style, and they reported feeling less mentally fatigued by the listening task — especially for female voices. The reason why: twangy voices boost sound in the 500 Hz–6 kHz range, a “sweet spot” for speech clarity whereas traffic noise tends to be weaker in that particular range. The findings could improve communication for train conductors, pilots, and emergency broadcasters — without requiring anyone to shout.
* All aboard, y’all.
* How will train conductors, pilots, and emergency broadcasters boost those upper ranges? Breathe helium?
* All I know is, if Dolly Parton is speaking to me in any situation, I’m paying attention to her.
* If this is true, I need a Twang Button on my TV, to hear the dialogue better.

U.S. NEWS

NFL PLAYER FIRED FOR PLAYFUL KISS OF ANOTHER PLAYER

Christian Wilkins, defensive tackle for the Las Vegas Raiders, was released by the team last Thursday because he kissed a fellow player on the head and the teammate took offense to it. The team claims the incident was not the sole reason Wilkins was cut, sources said. Wilkins has been recovering from a fracture of his left foot which he suffered October, and had not been following the prescribed rehab protocol. Last week’s incident happened inside a team meeting room. One source told ESPN that the interaction was “playful,” but the teammate didn’t see it that way. It’s not known what the fellow player did following the incident.
* Probably screamed, “Ew, cooties!” and ran to the showers.
* It was just a kiss on the top of the head. But did he have to put some tongue into it?
* One warning about this guy’s behavior was that all the other players had their helmets on.
* Let me get this straight: a kiss on the top of the head is wrong, but a pat on the ass in front of a stadium full of people is okay?
* And don’t get me started on the “tush push.” That even sounds inappropriately aggressive.

MAYORAL CANDIDATE NAMED GEOFFREY EPSTEIN

A candidate in the race for mayor in the Boston suburb of Framingham may get some pushback from the voters. The candidate’s name: Geoffrey Epstein. Sound familiar? Geoffrey, who goes by “Geoff,” says he’s unsure if the added name recognition has helped or hindered his campaign, but he’s fairly sure most locals don’t really care. Either way, he’s not changing his name. “I like my name and I am proud of my family,” he says, adding that his ancestors fought in in both Europe and the South Pacific in WWII. Oh, also – and this is true – his birthday is September 11.
* He has two children: his son, Benedict Arnold Epstein and daughter Squeaky Fromme Epstein.
* And his dog, O.J.
* There’s got to be a better campaign slogan than “No, Not That One.”
* On his signs, make the “Geoffrey” really big and next to it put a picture of the old Toys R Us giraffe.

TRENDINGOZZY OSBOURNE FUNERAL PROCESSION TO BE LIVESTREAMED

Ozzy Osbourne will be laid to rest at a funeral in his hometown of Birmingham, England today (Wednesday, July 30). The private event will be preceded by a public funeral procession that will travel through the center of the singer’s childhood hometown. A local brass band will accompany the procession, and surviving members of Black Sabbath are “thought to be taking roles” as well. Fans will be able to watch the procession via an ongoing live stream on blacksabbathbench(dot)co(dot)uk.

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

Gina Rodriguez (actress, “Not Dead Yet,” “Jane the Virgin”) … 41
Hillary Swank (actress) … 51
Terry Crews (actor, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”) … 57
Christopher Nolan (writer, director) … 55
Lisa Kudrow (actress, “Web Therapy,” “Friends”) … 62
Laurence Fishburne (actor, “blackish”, Morpheus in the “Matrix” trilogy) … 64
Arnold Schwarzenegger (former professional bodybuilder, action actor, former California governor) … 78

Today’s Birthdays grade: Some big names today, led by a former ruler of the movie box office who arrived in America with almost nothing and built himself into a professional bodybuilding king, Hollywood king, and became governor of California. Respect. Grade: A.

[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!

“If my life was a movie, no one would believe it.”

(A) Clark Kent
(B) Frodo Baggins
(C) Arnold Schwarzenegger

ANSWER: (C) Arnold Schwarzenegger

2017 – Hackers revealed they had stolen data from HBO, including episodes and scripts of “Games of Thrones.”
* “Off with their heads!”

1956 – The phrase “In God We Trust” was adopted as America’s national motto.
* The motto continues: “because we sure as hell can’t trust our government.”

1908 – The Around the World Automobile Race ended in Paris.
* Many of the contestants were quite soggy.

1898 – “The Scientific American” carried the first magazine automobile ad, from the Winton Motor Car Company of Cleveland, OH.
* That’s how much you can trust car advertising – they’re not even around any more.

1898 – William Kellogg invented cornflakes.
* His first remark: “Got milk?”

THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY

2009 – Procol Harum organist Matthew Fisher won his long battle to be recognized as co-writer of the band’s hit “Whiter Shade of Pale.” Judges ruled that Fisher, who claimed he wrote the song’s organ melody, was entitled to a share of future royalties.

2005 – A book published to mark the 35th anniversary of the death of Jimi Hendrix claimed the guitarist pretended to be gay so he would be discharged from the army. “Room Full of Mirrors” by Charles Cross said army records showed Hendrix was discharged from the 101st Airborne Division in 1962 at age 19 for “homosexual tendencies.”

1997 – A judge in Los Angeles ruled that Michael Jackson and members of his family were not liable for losses incurred by the producers of the failed 1994 “Jackson Family Honors” TV special. The show was delayed for several weeks because Jackson was ill and could not perform solo as expected.

1996 – Tim Collins, manager of Aerosmith since 1984, was fired after a brief meeting with the band in Boston. The band claimed that they were tired of being urged to represent Collins’ many social causes.

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. 38 is the average age of someone who does THIS. What is it?
Files for bankruptcy

2. Recent statistics show that the average age for a person to buy THIS for the first time is 40. What is it?
A motorcycle

3. The average age of someone who has THIS job is 49. What is it?
A nurse

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