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Who Knew Wednesday

Who Knew? – Christmas Songs!

Today on Who Knew Wednesday we shared some background on Christmas carols, hymns and songs.

ANGELS WE HAVE HEARD ON HIGH – today’s version by Casting Crowns

The lyrics were written in 1862 by James Chadwick, Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle in the Northern Province of England. It was inspired by a French song that follows the storyline of the ‘angels in the countryside’ singing to the shepherds.

‘Gloria in excelsis deo’ is Latin for ‘glory to God in the highest.’

Popular artists to record the song include: the Carpenters, Chris Tomlin, Mercy Me, Josh Groban, the Brian Setzer Orchestra and Sixpence None the Richer.

CHRISTMAS TIME IS HERE – today’s version by Erin O’Donnell

Most people recognize this song from the TV special ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas,’ which features the version by the Vince Guaraldi Trio.  It was released in 1965.  A second version of the song features vocals from children at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in San Rafael, California.

TV historians note that the song and program made its debut on CBS Television on December 9, 1965. In the special, Charlie Brown finds himself depressed during the holiday season. Lucy suggests he direct a neighborhood Christmas play, but his best efforts are ignored and mocked by his peers. After Linus tells Charlie Brown about the true meaning of Christmas, Charlie Brown cheers up, and the Peanuts gang unites to celebrate the Christmas season.

In casting the characters, the producers hired child actors. The program’s soundtrack was also different: it featured a jazz score by pianist Guaraldi. Since there was no laugh track, the tone, pacing, music, and animation led both the producers and network to think the project would be a disaster preceding its broadcast.

BUT…A Charlie Brown Christmas received high ratings and acclaim from critics. It has since been honored with both an Emmy and Peabody Award.

JOY TO THE WORLD – today’s version by Avalon

This carol or hymn was written and published in 1719 by English writer Issac Watts. It is based mostly on Psalm 96: 11-12:

Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
    let the sea resound, and all that is in it.
Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;
    let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.

It is the most published Christmas hymn in North America.

The origin of the music normally is credited to a tune called “Antioch’ and to George Frederick Handel since it resembles some choruses in the Messiah.

HOW GREAT OUR JOY – today’s version by Phillips, Craig and Dean

The origin of the text for “How Great Our Joy” is not known, but  The New Oxford Book of Carols says it may date back to as early as 1500 AD in Germany. In 1623, the tune was modernized and given an echo setting, where one group or individual repeats the lines of another. There is speculation that the song may have been designed for a Christmas play in which the shepherds’ lines were followed by an off-stage echo.

The first two stanzas of the song were translated by American born Theodore Baker (1851-1934) who studied music in Germany, and the tune is based on an arrangement by Hu­go Jüngst (1853-1923). In the U.S., we generally only sing between 2 and 4 of the original 9 stanzas:

While by my sheep, I watched at night
Glad tiding brought an angel bright

“For you,” he said, “this blessed morn
In Bethlehem a child is born.”

“Go where he lies within a stall
The infant Redeemer of us all.”

There in the stall he sleeping lay;
There by his side I longed to stay.

Sweetly he gazed into my face:
I in his hands my heart did place

Gently I kissed his tiny feet,
Which to my lips were honey-sweet.

Then to my home I made my way:
Yet still that Child with me did stay

Within my arms that Child did rest:
Oh! how my heart with love was blest.

Close shall I guard this darling Boy,
Thus shall my heart be filled with joy.

CHRISTMAS GIFT EXCHANGE:
today’s winners: Kristina from Fredericktown and Jessica from Mount Vernon!

Thanks for listening!
– Joe and Hannah

Who Knew Wednesday!

Today Joe and I talked about all the upcoming events in your community! (Spoiler they all contain Christmas)

Happy Christmas Bean is happening tonight in downtown Mount Vernon in Hunter Hall at Happy Bean from 7-9pm. There will be some discounts on coffee and a mug auction and all the proceeds will go to M2540, an MVNU campus ministry – Click HERE to find out more about M2540.

What better way to get into the Christmas mood than making memories with your family – Christmas trees, photo booths, kids crafts – all while supporting Food for The Hungry! To find out more about the Fredericktown Christmas Walk coming up on Saturday, December 2nd click HERE.

Speaking of Food for The Hungry! Its here, and in full swing! To find out more about what Food for the hungry is and how WNZR partners with this click HERE. 

Congrats to Amanda from Howard for winning our “Different kind of giveaway” – She won two tickets to the Mark Schultz and Love & the Outcome concert – To find out more about this concert click HERE.

Todays word of the day:

bludge
verb  –   BLUJ

Definition

1 : (chiefly Australia & New Zealand) to avoid work or responsibility
2 : (chiefly Australia & New Zealand) to get something from or live on another by imposing on hospitality or good nature : sponge

 

 

Thanks so much for the support of the Afternoon Drive! We deeply appreciate you! – Hannah Radke

Who Knew Winter Squash was…

Who knew WEDNESDAY

…a winter super food?

Here’s an article from the Healthy Living Magazine that tells some of the benefits…

Click here to read it and see recipes!

Today’s Word of the Day is gratitude, which means the state of being grateful or thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for listening!
– Joe

Who Knew Wednesday!

Today Lilly and I talked about Exam Mile day and Cook for Your Pet Day!

To find out more about a History of “Extra Mile Day” Click HERE! 

Want ideas on how to go the extra mile? Click HERE!

To find out about the History of ‘Go Cook for you Pet Day” Click HERE! 

To find out even MORE about “Go cook for you Pet day” Click HERE! 

Straight from the ASPCA, here’s a list of foods to NOT feed your pets…
Avocado
Chocolate
Coffee
Caffeine
Citrus
Coconut and Coconut Oil
Grapes and Raisins
Macadamia Nuts
Milk and Dairy
Nuts
Onions, Garlic, Chives
Raw/Undercooked Meat, Eggs and Bones
Salt and Salty Snack Foods
Yeast Dough
And here’s the ‘why’ behind all of it.

Here are some pet-friendly recipes to make for your furry friends!
The perfect treat for Valentine’s day!
A fancy, elevated dinner with SALMON! Ah!

If you’d like to see all of them, check them out here!

Thanks for listening!
-Lilly and Hannah!

Who Knew Wednesday!

Today Lilly and I talked about lots of healthy living tips for fall!

First, we shared with you about the superfruit: Cranberries! Click HERE for the article and some fun cranberries recipes!

Then we shared with you some fun fall food ideas and some healthy habits to fall into!  (Get it?) Click HERE for that article and Halloween tips!

Struggling with headaches? Have you thought that they might have something to do with your anxiety? There are treatment options!  Click HERE to find out more.

Should you go the ER? Or would urgent care be best? Click HERE to read more! (Disclaimer – if you believe that the symptoms that you are experiencing are a severe medical emergency – please call 911 first)

Today’s blog exclusive Word of the Day is – overwhelm, verb,  oh-ver-WELM
Definition :

1 : upset, overthrow

2  a : to cover over completely : submerge,

b : to overcome by superior force or numbers

c : to overpower in thought or feeling

Thanks for listening! – Hannah

 

A Cupcake Who-Knew!

Cupcakes are an amazing dessert food. How do we know? Well, they have a national day dedicated to them, so we’re celebrating Cupcake day here on the Afternoon Drive!

(Also, also, also, the 48th Dove Awards happened last night! If you missed it and would like to see who won, check it out here)!

Click here to see the cutest little infographic ever about cupcakes. (Seriously).

The earliest description of what is now often called a cupcake was in 1796, when a recipe for “a light cake to bake in small cups” was written in American Cookery by Amelia Simmons. The earliest documentation of the term cupcake itself was in “Seventy-five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and *Sweetmeats” in 1828 in Eliza Leslie’s Receipts cookbook.

*Sweet·meat
ˈswētˌmēt/
noun – archaic
plural noun: sweetmeats
  1. an item of confectionery or sweet food.

In the early 19th century, there were two different uses for the term cup cake or cupcake. In previous centuries, before muffin tins were widely available, the cakes were often baked in individual pottery cups, ramekins, or molds and took their name from the cups they were baked in.

Variants of the Cupcake…

  • A cake in a mug
    The technique uses a mug as its cooking vessel and can be done in a microwave.
  • A cake in a jar
    The baker uses a glass jar instead of muffin tins or cupcake liners.
  • A butterfly cake (also called fairy cake for its fairy-like “wings”).
    The top of the cake is cut off or carved out with a spoon, and cut in half. Then, a sweet filling is spread into the hole. Finally, the two cut halves are stuck into the butter cream to resemble butterfly wings.
    (Here’s a picture so you can see how it looks).
  • A cake ball
    An individual portion of cake, round like a chocolate truffle, that is coated in chocolate.
  • A gourmet cupcake
    A somewhat recent variant of cupcake. Gourmet cupcakes are large and filled cupcakes, based around a variety of flavor themes.

Now, it wouldn’t be the Afternoon Drive if we talked about a food and didn’t share a lot of recipes for it now would it? So here you go!

Whip out the torch for this one!
This one is Lilly’s favorite.
Starbucks, but in cupcake form.
These cupcakes take you back elementary school.
Disney, but in cupcake form.
Christmas in a cupcake.
These cupcakes are perfect for fall! (Or for whenever).
Here’s literally 30 more recipes from our friends at Food Network.

Also, it wouldn’t be the Afternoon Drive if we didn’t share some fun facts…

  • Cupcakes were actually originally called “Number Cakes” or “1234 Cakes” because it was an easy way to remember portions…One cup of butter, two cups of sugar, three cups of flour, four eggs, one cup of milk, and one spoonful of soda.
  • The first “cupcake only” bakery is Sprinkles Cupcakes, opened in 2005. They make over 25,000 cupcakes a day from 11 locations.
  • The world’s largest cupcake weighed over 1,200 lbs and had over 2 million calories.
  • 13% of brides decide to serve cupcakes at their wedding as opposed to the traditional wedding cake.

 

Our word of the Day is…..

malign

verb    muh-LYNE

Definition- to utter injuriously misleading or false reports about: speak evil of
Examples-  The tech guru recalls how as a high schooler he was often maligned or simply ignored by the popular kids in his school.

Thanks for listening!
– Lilly

 

Sonfest Who Knew!

Another very jam-packed day on the Afternoon Drive! Ah!
So today, for Who-Knew Wednesday, we did a very timely ‘who-knew’ topic…
SONFEST!

Sonfest 2017 is coming up very quickly, and we’re getting so excited!
We heard from our Sonfest coordinator, Bharon Hoag, about everything that’s going to be happening on Saturday, and why he’s so excited for Sonfest 2017.

You can check out our conversation with Bharon here!
And if you would like more information about Sonfest, click here!

Our Who Knew Wednesday question today was, of course, Sonfest related!
The Sonfest headliner this year is Plumb, and we had a little bit harder question today for Who Knew Wednesday, as we give away a $5 gift certificate to Troyer’s of Apple Valley! Our Plumb related WKW question was…
When was Plumb born? (MM/DD/YY)
The answer is March 9th, 1975!

Congratulations to Wendy from Mount Vernon for correctly answering our trivia question today!

We were so excited to be able to give away another pair of Sonfest tickets today! Our Sonfest Artist Trivia question today was about Johnny Diaz!
Question: Where is Johnny Diaz originally from? (City and state)
Answer: Lakeland, Florida
Congratulations to Amy from Mount Vernon for calling in and correctly guessing!

We would also like to wish congratulations to our Lion King Junior ticket winner Kristen from Mount Vernon . They will be receiving two tickets to the MTVArts, ArtsIQ production of the Lion King Junior! And if you would like more information about MTVArts and their productions, click here!

And who knew that WNZR has been giving you artist interviews all week long?!
We have gotten the chance to talk to a lot of the performing artists coming to Sonfest 2017, and we want to share them with you! Check out the conversations we had with some of your favorite artists by clicking on the links below!

The JJ Weeks Band
Damac
Bonray
Sarah Reeves

Thanks so much for listening, and we hope to see you at Sonfest 2017!
Be one of the 3,000!
-Lilly

Peanuts & Positive Thinking!

Today was an absolutely jam packed show on the Afternoon Drive!
We celebrated peanut day, and positive thinking day!

It’s always great to share some fun facts with you, so here are some fun facts about peanuts and peanut butter!

– The average peanut farm is 100 acres.
– Peanuts are sometimes called “ground nuts” or “ground peas” because peanuts grow underground.
– There are six cities in the U.S. named Peanut: Peanut, California; Lower Peanut, Pennsylvania; Upper Peanut, Pennsylvania; Peanut, Pennsylvania, Peanut, Tennessee; and Peanut West Virginia.
-Peanuts are a great source of protein. They also contain other healthy nutrients, minerals, antioxidants, and vitamins. The amino acids in the protein are needed for growth and development.
– It takes about 540 peanuts to make a 12-ounce jar of peanut butter.
– The speed record for eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches is six in one minute, and that record was set by Patrick Bertoletti in Illinois in 2012.
-Women and children like creamy peanut butter and men like chunky peanut butter.
– There’s a jar of peanut butter in 75 percent of the homes in America.
– About 1.3 percent of the American population is allergic to peanuts.

We always love to share recipes with you as well, and boy oh boy do we have some good ones for you. Here’s some delicious peanut recipes.
Charcuterie Made Simple
Peanut Apple Crisp
A recipe that Elvis would be proud of
Pumpkin Peanut Soup
One from my man, Alton Brown

BUT WHAT IF I’M ALLERGIC TO PEANUTS?
-Fear not, my friend.
– Peanuts are a good source of protein, right? So other good sources of protein are: yogurt, cottage cheese, milk, eggs, cheese, most meats, most fish, and beef jerky.
-BUT WHAT IF I’M VEGAN ALLERGIC AND VEGAN AND/OR LACTOSE INTOLERANT?!
-First, I’m so sorry.
-Second: Beans, peas, quinoa, brown rice, avocado, broccoli, tofu and edamame are also really good vegan and nut free protein alternatives.

PEANUT TRIVIA
For Who Knew Wednesday today we asked a peanut related trivia question…
For culinary, research, and nutritional purposes the peanut is classified as a nut. But botanically, they are not nuts. What are they?
They are legumes.

Why? Well…
Peanuts, along with beans and peas, belong to the single plant family. Legumes are edible seeds enclosed in pods. As a group, they provide the best source of concentrated protein in the plant kingdom. While their physical structure and nutritional benefits more closely resemble that of other legumes, their use in diets and cuisines more closely resembles that of nuts.
So technically, they’re both, but man they’re confusing.

Congratulations to our trivia winner Greg from Bellville!

Here are some ways to stay positive, and some bible verses to back them up…
Direct your thoughts –
This technique, used by psychotherapists, can help you to control your thoughts when you start to feel down or anxious. Create a happy thought, a positive image, or give yourself positive feedback to keep bad feelings in check.
Philippians 4:8 –
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.
Believe you will succeed.There is nothing like believing in yourself to create a successful reality. Give yourself the benefit of the doubt and believe that you will succeed at fulfilling your goals.
Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
1 Corinthians 10:13
“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”
Come up with positive things about those you love. Making someone else feel good about themselves can strengthen relationships and give you a positive thought to concentrate on, instead of the negative.
Mark 12:31
“The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’. There is no commandment greater than these.”

Here are some benefits of being positive…

1. Negativity doesn’t work – Literally – Our subconscious brain can’t handle it
Our brains can’t process negative words according to the latest studies. So when we hear a phrase like “don’t touch that,” our subconscious skips over these negative words and simply hears “touch that.” Our conscious mind can obviously process these words, but it’s the subconscious that makes a lot of our decisions without us realizing.
What this means for us is that we struggle to change our habits or thought patterns when we tell ourselves negative phrases, since only our conscious minds can take those in. We can make this much easier and let the subconscious do its job by using positively-framed phrases like “walk away from that” instead of ‘don’t touch’.

2. You’ll improve your outlook of the future
Positive thinking can actually improve our overall happiness.
A study at the University of North Carolina also showed that positive emotions are more likely to encourage people to plan ahead and think of actions they would like to take or activities they’d like to participate in the future. Negative emotions, on the other hand, led to participants being less inclined to think positively about their future.

Our word of the day today was…
Arachibutyrophobia
The fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of one’s mouth

Congratulations to our ‘How I Became a Pirate’ ticket winner:
Also, to our Sonfest ticket winner Jennifer from Fredericktown!

Thanks for listening!
-Lilly

Shortcake Who Knew!

We’re celebrating a wonderful holiday on the Drive! It’s National Shortcake day! Woo!
Oh my goodness, we have so many awesome recipes for you! Check out some of these…

Here’s a recipe from my dude Alton Brown!
Here’s a very patriotic recipe!
Here’s a tropical twist on a wonderful classic!
Peaches and ginger? Count me in!
Also, lime and mango? I’m down!
And oh my word… this one is for Abby Fairless… glazed doughnut shortcake!
Check that one out here!

Here are some fun facts about shortcake!!!

  • Shortcake is a sweet cake or biscuit (in the American sense: that is, a crumbly bread that has been leavened with baking powder or baking soda).
  • June 14th is National Strawberry Shortcake Day.
  • Strawberry shortcake parties became popular in the United States around 1850, as a celebration of the coming of summer.
  • The 2012 Pasadena Strawberry Festival featured the world’s largest strawberry shortcake. The cake used 3,240 pounds of strawberries and 280 pounds of whipped cream icing.
  • Shortcake is typically made with flour, sugar, baking powder or soda, salt, butter, milk or cream, and sometimes eggs. The dry ingredients are blended, and then the butter is cut in until the mixture resembles cornmeal. The liquid ingredients are then mixed in just until moistened, resulting in a shortened dough. The dough is then dropped in spoonfuls onto a baking sheet, rolled and cut like baking powder biscuits, or poured into a cake pan, depending on how wet the dough is and the baker’s preferences. Then it is baked at a relatively high temperature until set.

    We did a Strawberry Shortcake related trivia question today, and, wow, who knew there were so many Strawberry Shortcake characters?!
    Our question was “can you name 2 of the Strawberry Shortcake characters other than Strawberry Shortcake herself?”
    Congrats to Donna from Mt. Vernon for answering correctly!
    Check out the full list of characters here!

Our word of the day is… ‘shortcake’! Huh. Whoddathunk?
noun  short·cake \ˈshȯrt-ˌkāk\

  1.  a crisp and often unsweetened biscuit or cookie

  2. a dessert made typically of very short baking-powder-biscuit dough spread with sweetened fruit
    b :  a dish consisting of a rich biscuit split and covered with a meat mixture

First Known Use: 1594

Thanks for listening!
-Lilly

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