Search

Driving Notes

The Official Blog of WNZR's Afternoon Drive

Open Search
Category

Valentine’s Day

Olympics and Valentines Day!!

Today was a fun Who Knew Wednesday with lattes, new friends, Olympics, and Valentine’s Day! Here’s what we talked about:

National Latte Day:

A latte is a coffee drink made with espresso and steamed milk. The term as used in English is a shortened form of the Italian café latte, caffeate or Caffe latte, which means “milk coffee”. National Latte Day was created in celebration of the tastiness and wakefulness promoting qualities of coffee!

National Make A New Friend Day:

Friends serve a vital role in everyone’s lives. They are one of life’s most valuable assets. New friends can broaden our horizons by helping us to see new perspectives, challenging us to try something different, or connecting us to opportunities. Meeting new people can help sharpen our social skills and keep us from becoming lonely.

Valentine’s Day:

Chocolate Boxes: Richard Cadbury produced the first heart-shaped box of chocolates for Valentine’s Day in 1861. Roses by the Millions: Approximately 250 million roses are grown annually specifically for the holiday. Candy Hearts: Conversation hearts originally started as medical lozenges before a machine was invented to print messages on them in the late 1800s. Pet Love: The Bugbee Senior Center says Americans are estimated to spend over $700 million on Valentine’s Day gifts for their pets each year. 

Olympics- Whats the difference between Milan and Cortina?

The 2026 Winter Olympics, officially named Milano Cortina 2026, are uniquely split between two primary, geographically distinct hubs, separating urban “ice” sports in Milan from mountain “snow” events in Cortina d’Ampezzo. Situated about 400 km (250 miles) apart, Milan hosts indoor sports like hockey and figure skating, while Cortina hosts Alpine skiing and sliding events, creating the most spread-out Winter Games in history.

You could win a fabulous prize from February 2nd through 12th! Each day of the contest, our DJs will select Valentine’s gifts to put in the WNZR Valentine’s box. During The Morning Thing and The Afternoon Drive, the DJs will give a cue to call 740-397-WNZR (9697). Caller #5 gets the chance to answer a Valentine’s question to win a prize. PLUS, every winner this year gets entered into a drawing for one of our 3 grand prizes! Congratulations to Cathy of Mount Vernon for participating and taking home a $10 gift card to Burrata Woodfired and to Grace of Mount Vernon for taking home two “you pick two” vouchers from Panera Bread!

Who am I?

  1. I was born today, February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio. I passed away on October 18, 1931, in West Orange, New Jersey. 
  1. I had very little formal schooling, was homeschooled by my mother, and educated myself. 
  1. After countless failures prior to success, I am most famous for inventing the light bulb. 
  1. I am also known for inventing or improving major technologies like the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and the carbon microphone. 
  1. I pioneered the first industrial research lab in Menlo, New Jersey, which coined my nickname, “The Wizard of Menlo Park”.

I am… Thomas Edison! Congratulations to Eric of Fredericktown for guessing our Who am I correctly and taking home a $5 gift card to Watts Restaurant in Utica!

Tune in Tomorrow for Praise Thursday with Joe, Brook Abella, and Gabriella!

Thanks so much for listening!

– Joe and Gabriella 🙂

0

Spread Love and Prayer!!

For ending relationships focus on spiritual well-being, alignment with biblical values, and maintaining peace .When there is any lack of peace/internal disquiet, unsafety, hindrance to spiritual growth, unequal yoking, unrepentant behavior/bad character, lack of clear guidance/confirmation, you need to rethink the relationship and talk about it or LEAVE!! You should be seeking God’s will, focus on holiness, and prioritizing God over worldly relationships.

Joe’s Monday Motivation: You might’ve felt lost or helpless and that’s never the case. You aren’t powerless if you have a plan. One way to help fight against feeling powerless is have a plan for prayer. Read the Bible and think about things YOU can pray about. Have three things ready to go to prayer about yourself, have three things you can pray about that are stressing you, and have three things that you can pray about for other people close to you or people you think about. God is our ARMERED tank.

You could win a fabulous prize from February 2nd through 12th! Each day of the contest, our DJs will select Valentine’s gifts to put in the WNZR Valentine’s box. During The Morning Thing and The Afternoon Drive, the DJs will give a cue to call 740-397-WNZR (9697). Caller #5 gets the chance to answer a Valentine’s question to win a prize. Congratulations to Trevor of Saint Louisville for taking home a $10 gift card to Dancing Bee Market & Studio and getting registered for the grand drawing!

Name a famous David: 

  1. David from the Bible (40) 
  1. David Letterman (11) 
  1. David Copperfield (7) 
  1. David Niven (6) 
  1. David Hasselhoff (6) 
  1. Dave Chappelle (6

Congratulations to Chris of Gambier for guessing the top two answers correctly and taking home TWO $5 gift cards to Watts Restaurant in Utica!

Tune in Tomorrow for Artist Newsday and Gamete Tuesday with Ethan and Joe!

Thanks so much for listening!

– Joe and Gabriella 🙂

0

New Dynamic Duo on The Afternoon Drive?!

Today on Praise Thursday we introduced a new co-host that will be with us for the 4 o’clock hour every Thursday, Brook Abella! Here’s what we talked about:

Brook Abella’s Devotional: Let God’s word wash over you! Spend some time to accept God’s light and let it shine on you, so you can point it in the direction of others! You should TRY to be like God!

Gabriella’s Devotional: Who is our neighbor? EVERYONE!! We should be a kind soul to everyone we come across and show them how a Christian should be. To read more click HERE!

Joe’s Devotional: Be a listener! In order to have a conversation you should should be just as good as listening as you do talking. Listen to the words that are spoke around and to you, so you can fully understand who people are. People should only be speaking the truth, but it’s up to you to fact check it. No one else. YOU!

You could win a fabulous prize from February 2nd through 12th! Each day of the contest, our DJs will select Valentine’s gifts to put in the WNZR Valentine’s box. During The Morning Thing and The Afternoon Drive, the DJs will give a cue to call 740-397-WNZR (9697). Caller #5 gets the chance to answer a Valentine’s question to win a prize. Congratulations to Tim of Mansfield for winning a $10 gift card to Burrata Woodfired and getting registered to be in the grand prize drawing!

This Week’s Name That Tune was “Testify” by NEEDTOBREATHE. Congratulations to Jessica of Mount Vernon guessing correctly and taking home a $5 gift card to Watt’s Restaurant in Utica!

Tune in Tomorrow to The NZ Top 10 with Ethan and Joe!

Thanks so much for listening!

– Gabriella, Brook Abella, and Joe 🙂

0

Sweater Weather!!

WHO KNEW FACT CHECK-  National Homemade Soup Day 

WHO KNEW FACT CHECK-  Thank a Mail Carrier Day 

WHO KNEW FACT CHECK-  National Sweater Day 

You could win a fabulous prize from February 2nd through 12th! Each day of the contest, our DJs will select Valentine’s gifts to put in the WNZR Valentine’s box. During The Morning Thing and The Afternoon Drive, the DJs will give a cue to call 740-397-WNZR (9697). Caller #5 gets the chance to answer a Valentine’s question to win a prize. Congratulations to Krista Hottinger for winning a $10 gift card to Burrata Woodfired and to Brody for winning a “pick 2 voucher” to Panera!

Who am I? 

  1. I was born today, January 28, 1981 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 
  1. I started my acting career at a young age in the early 1990s, with notable roles, like Mike in Radio Flyer and Mark Evans in The Good Son. 
  1. My most famous role is for playing Frodo in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. 
  1. I am also a voice actor, most notably voicing Mumble in Happy Feet and Spyro in The Legend of Spyro video game series. 
  1. I co-founded the production company SpectreVision, which focusses on independent and genre films. 

I am… Elijah Wood! Congratulations to April of Mount Gilead. for guessing correctly and taking home TWO $5 gift cards to Watts Restaurant in Utica!

Tune in Tomorrow for Praise Thursday with Brookabella and Gabriella!

– Joe and Gabriella 🙂

0

Find Purpose in Solitude!!

On this Monday Motivation we shared scripture to keep you moving! Plus we had our Mystery Monday, Family Feud question AND we started Spread The Love Giveaway! Here’s what we talked about:

Always remember when you’re lost, God is with you. You are never truly alone and you are actively being sought by God. If you can’t hear his voice speaking with you, find peace in solitude. There is a purpose in solitude and if you have struggles quieting the noise do a five minute prep to get ready for solitude. Always remember there is direction in solitude and God always has a plan for YOU!

Are we listening to God, THE CREATURE’S words or are we listening to false truths? The bible talks about communication many times and there is a war between grace and deceit. We have to look into the words we trust because some words are hallow truths and aren’t God’s truth. Grace wins every time. Words carry a powerful tune and direction. It is vital we fully listen to words so we can hear exactly what is being said. God wants to enlighten us, but the devil wants to deceive us. More importantly are we speaking the truth or are our opinions taking over? Listen to God’s word to get the full story and redirect your focus.

You could win a fabulous prize from February 2nd through 12th! Each day of the contest, our DJs will select Valentine’s gifts to put in the WNZR Valentine’s box. During The Morning Thing and The Afternoon Drive, the DJs will give a cue to call 740-397-WNZR (9697). Caller #5 gets the chance to answer a Valentine’s question to win a prize. Congratulations to Jeffery of Utica for taking home a $10 gift certificate to Dancing Bee Market and Studio in Mount Vernon and getting registered for our Grand Prize Drawing!

We had a stumper for this week’s Mystery Monday: Name a famous David.

Come back next week for a chance to win Two $5 gift cards to Watts Restaurant in Utica!

Tune in tomorrow for Artist Newsday and Game Time Tuesday with Ethan and Xander!

Thanks so much for listening!

– Joe and Gabriella 🙂

0

What love is…what love isn’t.

Paul reminds us in I Corinthians 13 that love is at the core of the Christian faith. The list that we hear many times at weddings has so many more applications to everyday life.

Love is: patient, kind, protecting, trusting, hoping and persevering
Love is not: envious, boastful, self-seeking…it does not delight in evil.

Here’s Unspoken to share more about love:

Our winners today include (4pm) Paul from Mount Vernon, who won a $10 gift card to Buffalo Wild Wings. (5pm) Cynthia from Walhonding won two certificates from Pizza Hut of Mount Vernon!

Two-week stumper!

Thanks for listening!
– Joe

0

There’s no such thing…

As perfect people. Today, I was teaching about servant leadership and we started talking about the leadership habits of Jesus from the book, “Lead Like Jesus…”
They are:

  • solitude
  • prayer
  • study and application of scripture
  • accepting and responding to God’s unconditional love
  • involvement in supportive relationships

    …as we talked and discussed the decision to accept and embrace God’s love, I was reminded of this song by Natalie Grant…

Our winners today –
4pm: Kim from Mount Vernon wins a gift basket from Starting Point Pregnancy and Family Resource Center
5pm: Jackie from Howard wins a $10 gift card to Happy Bean Coffee Shop

Other than their beds, name somewhere people fall asleep.

  1. On an airplane (27 votes)
  2. On the way home from work on a bus or train (24)
  3. At their desks at work (23)
  4. On the couch or chair (19)
  5. On the floor (7)

Congratulations to Pam from Mount Vernon, who guessed correctly and wins the $5 gift card to Watts Restaurant in Utica.

Thanks for listening!
– Joe

0

Grammy History!

That isn’t an overstatement. CeCe Winans made history Sunday night with two Grammy wins, one for Best Gospel Album (More Than This) and Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance (That’s My King). With those two wins, she passes ADELE as the fourth most awarded female artist in Grammy wins EVER!

It’s Artist Newsday and Game Time Tuesday here on The Afternoon Drive, and we had plenty to talk about with the results from the Grammy’s!

Here’s CeCe Winans talking about her big night:

Plus, a former President took home his FOURTH Grammy victory. Former President of the United States Jimmy Carter was awarded a posthumous award in the audio book, narration, and storytelling recording category at the 2025 Grammys for “Last Sundays in Plains: A Centennial Celebration,” recordings from his final Sunday School lessons delivered at Maranatha Baptist Church in Georgia. 

You can check out the full story HERE!

Congratulations to Chantel and Jadeen, they were are winners for today! Keep listening this whole week for your chance to be caller #5 and win some amazing prizes!

“Your word is a lamp unto my feet
Your way is the only way for me
It’s a narrow road that leads to life
But I wanna be on it
It’s a narrow road but the mercy’s wide
‘Cause You’re good on Your promise”

Those are the words from Cody Carnes’ ‘Take You At Your Word’, congratulations to Bethany from Mount Vernon, she wins the $5 Watts Gift Card!

Thanks for listening!- Judah

0

A Special Valentine’s Day Edition of The Afternoon Drive and The Good Doctor!

Hi,

Happy Valentine’s Day from all of us here at WNZR! I hope your Valentine’s Day has been amazing so far!

Today on the show I talked about different things that are associated with Valentine’s Day such as how much we spend on this Valentine’s Day, how many roses are made each year, how many cards are exchanged each year, and I gave a breakdown on where our money gets spent on specific gifts for Valentine’s Day. I also shared some Bible verses that are associated with love. Also, we had our weekly Who am I? trivia question where one lucky person has a chance to win a $5 gift card to Watts Restaurant.

Here are some different facts about Valentine’s Day that I featured on today’s show:

The Meaning of Love in The Bible

In the Bible, love is the essence of God’s character and the defining quality of his selfless, life-giving relationship with humanity. The biblical authors display the meaning of love through stories, poetry, and discourse. Hebrew words such as khesed (loyal love) and ahavah (affectionate, caring love) teach us about specific qualities essential to the concept of real love. And Greek terms such as agápe (divine love) and philia (familial love) emphasize the unique ways that God, friends, family, partners, and enemies can love one another. Beyond specific terms, the overarching story of the Bible ultimately describes love as the act of putting others before oneself—serving the interest and well-being of another.

The Love of God According to the Bible

The love of God can describe God’s love for humanity or humanity’s love for God. The biblical authors show us how God’s love for humanity is selfless, just, and unbreakable. They also show how God acts in love toward people, and how people respond to God’s love, while inviting readers to love God with everything they’ve got.

  • I was born on February 14th, 1992, in Camden Town, London.
  • I attended Emmanuel College where I got my degree.
  • I am an actor who starred in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as the main character, Charlie Bucket.
  • I also am the lead actor on the TV show series The Good Doctor. I play the role of Dr. Shaun Murphy.
  • I am 32 years old, married, and currently live in London, England.

….I am Freddie Highmore

Congratulations to Brandon of Mount Vernon for guessing the correct answer! He wins a $5 gift card to Watts Restaurant.

Thanks for listening!

-Dylan

0

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑