Ron & Jen’s Great Escape, 5-4-2022 – Ron St. Pierre and Jen Brien

by Ron St. Pierre & Jen Brien, commentary

FOTOMAT

Hi gang! I was thinking about the 80’s the other day and the craziness that went on during that decade. I hung out with my best friend, “Don Baby”, and the gang, and did just stupid things. We drank beer and rode my unicycle, ran around the neighborhood with the cable clicker and turned people’s TVs on in the middle of the night during the summer months (there was only one cable provider back then…everyone had the same hardware) we would tape one piece of toilet paper from a telephone pole on one side of the street to the other side of the street and watch people sit there at 2am trying to figure out what the heck was going on. It was fun. You know what was also fun? Taking pictures with a camera with flash bulbs. Getting that Kodak film out when that roll was done and dropping it off at “Fotomat”. You’d have to wait 1 week for those suckers to come back and they were grainy, unfiltered, and represented real life moments. Not moments we want everyone to think we had and/or with facial features we may or may not have had. The simple act of having to “wait” for those pictures was a valuable learning curve in and of itself. How I long for an unfiltered world again. Where we got to share these real life moments in a scrap book with captions protected under plastic. Nowadays, I long for real people, real experiences, and real memories. I guess I’m just getting older, but I appreciate things and people so much more that aren’t fake or filtered. I’m hopeful that it’ll make a comeback for the retro loving lot of us. Heck, if record players got hot again, so can “Fotomat”!

Stay real my friends, Jen

SHOOT FIRST… AIM LATER?

A bipartisan majority of U.S voters oppose politicians punishing companies over their stances on social issues, a cold shoulder for campaigns like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ against Walt Disney Company according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. 62% of  Americans, including 68% of Democrats and 55% of Republicans,  said they were less likely to back a candidate who supports going after companies for their views. DeSantis signed a bill last week stripping Disney of self governing authority at its Orlando area parks in retaliation for its opposition to a Florida law limiting  the teaching of LGBTQ issues in schools. For DeSantis, it was an attempt to bolster his credentials as a culture warrior ahead of a possible 2024 run for the GOP presidential nomination. His move might play big with Evangelical Christians but it’ll  apparently taker a wider swath to get there.

Did you know the 55 year old Disney self governing deal at REEDY CREEK gives Disney the OK to build a nuclear power plant on sight? Now THERE’S a thrill ride!

NOT MUCH APPETITE FOR A 2020 REPEAT

It’s long believed it’s extremely tough under our political system for an independent to win a presidential election, but a new HARRIS POLL survey finds that might not be the case if 2024 turns out to be a BIDEN vs. TRUMP repeat. 58% polled said they’re open to supporting a moderate, indy candidate. The survey also found a majority don’t want EITHER Biden or Trump to run again, with 63% saying they don’t want Biden to run for a second term and 55% saying they don’t want Trump back.

FENWAY FRANKNESS

When will Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Chaim THE BLOOM IS OFF THE ROSE Bloom be held accountable for this wretched roster he’s built? And when will the “Fenway Faithful” lose the faith and start gagging on MLB’s highest average ticket ($62.00)? This is a franchise with DEEP, DEEP pockets and a network flush with cash. Sure, the Sox have won 4 World Series titles since 2004 but that shouldn’t allow this guy (and ownership) to ever go on the cheap and turn the franchise into TROPICANA NORTH. Sox fans deserve better.

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Ron St. Pierre is a veteran broadcaster whose career has spanned over four decades. Ron has programmed, performed on and managed WHJJ, WPRO, WWRX, 790 The Score in Providence, as well as WBZT and WKGR in West Palm Beach and WABC in New York City. Ron also anchored sports on WPRI Ch 12 in Providence. He is a member of both the Rhode Island Radio and Television and the City of Pawtucket Halls of Fame. He was born and raised in Pawtucket.

Jen Brien has over 20 years of radio broadcast experience having hosted shows on WPRO and WHJJ with Ron as well as her own shows on WRKO and WBZ in Boston, WXTK on Cape Cod and WHAM in Rochester, New York. Jen was born and raised in Woonsocket and served six years in the Army MP Canine Unit.

Hazel, Ron’s dog, makes regular appearances.

“Ron and Jen’s Great Escape” podcast, a more lighthearted look at the events happening around us, can be found on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts, with new episodes premiering each Wednesday and listen to Ron and Jen’s Great Escape call in radio show Friday afternoons 2 til 4 on 101.1 FM, 1540 WADK and streaming everywhere on WADK.COM.