Ron & Jen’s Great Escape, April 19, 2023 – Ron St. Pierre and Jen Brien

by Ron St. Pierre & Jen Brien, contributing writers, commentary

1980’s

Ron and I were putting together our radio show this week, (which you can hear at 920whjj.com LIVE ONLINE every Saturday morning beginning at 7am! ) and we got to talking about the 80’s. 

As an 80’s teen, at the time, I can honestly say I HATED THE 80’S, EXCEPT for U2. I was not feeling WHAM, CULTURE CLUB, CYNDI LAUPER, local cheesy radio …. I felt tortured. I was not feeling white flats with tapered CHIC jeans, the canary yellow ESPIRT SHIRT, AQUA NET and DIPPITY DO for days and 12 million rubber bands on my wrist like MADONNA. I wondered why people wore “Don’t Worry Be Happy” shirts everywhere and wondered out loud why Michael Jackson toted around the kid from “WEBSTER” on his shoulder. What a weird generation. 

Looking back, I long for that mess. It was not my cup of tea but there were bright spots. Great teen movies, no technology, nothing woke, HBO in its infancy and having that cable package meant you had friends on the weekends. Great Saturday morning cartoons, excellent concerts at GREAT PRICES. The JOY of standing in line at “SOUNDS ABOUND” for days trying to score DEAD tix was the best party ever. Hanging out with the gang was a riot and listening to Led Zeppelin and reading the “FAR SIDE” comics was – the bomb!

I guess what I’m trying to say is when you’re knee deep in a place you think blows, somewhere down the line when life comes at you in all of its drama and complexity, you’ll look back and say …. “You ain’t so bad” like ROCKY did to Mr. T. in that 3rd installment. 

I miss the 80’s and I miss my friends. Mary, Clog, Don Baby, Lisa and her CANDY APPLE RED COUGAR,  Lannigan and Keith. Those were really great days. Though I hated the decade, I loved the people that were around me. We had way too much fun. 

God bless the 80’s…. and that THRILLER album. Damn, that was good. 

Till next week my friends,

Jen

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BREW HA HA

This whole controversy over Bud Light was so unnecessary. It’s BEER. Beer is supposed to be fun. Beer is supposed to represent enjoyment and escapism. Why must politics enter into every bastion of escapism? Politics should not permeate the simple act of cracking a couple of cold ones.

FORGET THE PEANUTS AND CRACKER JACKS

In a poll of a thousand fans, 35% say they can’t afford to go out to the ball game in 2023. How much do Americans need to work to see their favorite pastime? Yankee fans need to work a full day to go to three games. World Champion Astro fans need to work 9 hours to attend three games. Those calculations were made based on ticket price and average hourly wage. Feel like splurging? A suite in Yankee Stadium will only set you back $15,000. The Red Sox, by the way, have MLB’s highest average ticket price at $67 bucks.

WASTE NOT, WANT NOT

Do you fill your fridge with leftovers only to forget about them and they go uneaten? Well, you’re not the Lone Ranger. A new survey finds on average people put leftovers in their fridge three times weekly.  Nearly a third of them… 32%… forgot about them when they’re out of sight. The poll says the average American spends about $250 bucks a week on groceries for their household and winds up throwing out about $65 dollars worth of those groceries. Over the course of a year, people spend nearly 3 thousand dollars on unused groceries. 25% of those surveyed said they wished they could buy in smaller sizes, especially fresh herbs. The toughest foods to use up are lettuce, bananas, and milk.

MISSING THE KID STUFF

How often do you just wish you could be a kid again and do KID STUFF? A study by TROPICANA found out what adults miss most about their childhood. Those responding admitted they have lost their sense of fun with age. Here are a few things they miss:

– Getting pocket money

– Playing in the park

– Watching TV as soon as they got home from school

– Waking up feeling excited

Experts suggest doing a childhood activity to reclaim some of that “kid wonder” on a regular basis.

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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 on NewsRadio 920 and 104-7 FM, Saturday morning, 7am!