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The Official Blog of WNZR's Afternoon Drive

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New Album Drops From Current & Old Artists!

Do you remember Tenth Avenue North? It’s been five years since we have seen something new from them aside from some singles released throughout the years, but this week on Artist News Day, we talked about their brand new full release album, called “Learning to Trust”. Alongside that, we talked about Jon Reddick releasing his new one called “No Fear”, which includes the title track that has been exploding on the charts as of recent.

After being disbanded for a little over 5 years, we see Tenth Avenue North getting back together, bringing us a whole 14 songs on their latest release, “Learning to Trust”. As they reunite, we’re seeing new faces, and regarding that, the band stated, “We’re a new band that happens to have an old catalog that you love!” If you want to see more of what the band has to say, click here!

This is the band’s 10th full length album, and they dropped it last Friday, May 30th! It’s everywhere you stream music, and it’s called “Learning to Trust”.

We have loved the song from Jon Reddick called “No Fear”! It turns out that is the title track for Jon Reddick’s full length album that he released on Friday, May 30th as well! The album also includes another song we love, “I Believe It”, which was our theme for Lifeline 2024! Click here to here Jon Reddick talk about nis new

Jon Reddick has shown so much gratitude for the support and love you have shown toward the songs he’s been putting out. He’s going to be going on tour with these new songs, on CAIN’s “Live and In Color” tour, coming in November! He’ll be in Grove City, OH at The Naz Church, and that’ll start at 7pm! If you want to hear his top songs and maybe some of his new songs live, be sure to catch him there!

Today is Tuesday, so that means we played Song Poetry to win that $5 gift card to Watts Restaurant in Utica! Here is what our song poetry was today:

How long will I have to fight
Just for me to stay alive?
I know You’re there God, please
Just meet me here tonight.

Today’s Song Poetry was a stumper! If you think you know what song this is and who sang this song, come back next week on Tuesday and give us your answer for a chance to win two $5 gift cards to Watts Restaurant in Utica! Make sure to tune in tomorrow for a game of Who Am I, where we give you 5 biographical facts about a person, and you try to guess who it is!

Thank you for listening! See you tomorrow afternoon!
– Xander and Ethan

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God is Here! Even in the Quiet and Unseen.

It’s a new week, a brand new day, and we’ve entered a fresh month of June! We had some great motivation to kick off the month from Danny Gokey and bodie!

Danny Gokey’s song “New Day” reminds us that God, who is the God of hope is alive and well within us, even though hope may seem to be far off. He’s made all things new, and this song gives us the kick we need to just let go of our worries and struggles. Just praise God for the new day that He has made, which He calls us to rejoice and celebrate in!

Here’s the cool story behind this song, told by Danny Gokey himself!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OgB62RG1A8

We also heard the story behind bodie’s “Whisper and the Wind”, where we remember that God not only moves in the big, presence-heavy moments, but also in the unseen moments where you can’t see Him or feel Him. We believe that even when we don’t see it or feel it, God is still working, and that He never stops working! Here is more of the story behind the song told by bodie himself!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByUcPbPrnaU

The game we played today was Mystery Monday! In this game, we give you a prompt, or a question, and you try to guess what the top two answers were amongst 100 random people that were asked! If you can guess the top two answers correctly, you win a $5 gift card to Watts Restaurant in Utica! Here was the prompt and top four answers:

Name a type of hoop!
1. Hula-hoop (74)
2. Basketball Hoop (18)
3. Hoop Earrings (4)
4. Embroidery Hoop (3)

Congratulations to Jim from Mount Vernon for guessing the top two answers correctly! Make sure to tune in tomorrow for a game of Song Poetry to win that $5 gift card to Watts Restaurant in Utica!

Thank you so much for listening!
– Ethan Hershberger

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NZ Top 10 for 5/30/2025

PTLIF – Praise the Lord it’s Friday! Here’s this week’s countdown:

10. bodie – whisper and the wind (second week at #10)
09. Phil Wickham – The King Is In The Room (new this week)
08. ELEVATION RHYTHM – GOODBYE YESTERDAY (new this week)
07. MercyMe – Oh Death
06. Katy Nichole – When I Fall
05. Matthew West – Unashamed
04. Brandon Lake f/Jelly Roll – Hard Fought Hallelujah
03. TobyMac – a lil Church (nobody’s too lost)
02. Jamie MacDonald – Desperate (previously #1 for 7 weeks)
01. Jon Reddick – No Fear (Jon’s first ever #1 hit!)

New Music Friday Adds:
Tasha Layton f/The Choir Room – Thank You Isn’t Enough

Brook Abella – Promises

Thanks for listening! – tune in Monday for Monday Motivation and Mystery Monday with Ethan Hershberger!

-Traven

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He’s An Abundant God

Today we looked at two incredible devotions from Our Daily Bread! Our first devotional pulls from Matthew 18, and reminds us that we are to forgive others no matter how many times they may wrong us. If they ask forgiveness with pure intention and remorse, you are to forgive them, just as God has done so many times for you. Forgiveness, to infinity and beyond! Read the full devotional here.

Our second devotional reminds us that God has given us far more than we need. He has given us an abundance in His creation. From the many trees that bear fruit, to the stars in the sky, it’s evident our God is a creative, loving, and abundant God. But creation is not all that feels his abundance, Paul assures us in 1 Timothy that God’s grace is far more than enough, and offered knowing that we need it every day. Read the full devotional here.

We also played Name That Tune! We played a 15 second clip to see if you could tell us the artist and title of the song and win two $5 gift cards to Watts Restaurant in Utica! Unfortunately, our clip was a stumper for the second week! We’ll have a new clip for next week!

Thanks for listening!
-Traven

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The Great Burger Controversy, Briskets & Who Am I Trivia

For this Who Knew Wednesday, we celebrated BOTH National Burger Day and National Brisket Day! It’s a perfect time to fire up the grill, which is easily the best way to celebrate these May 28th Holidays! We also talked about the controversial origin of the hamburger, and whether Otto Krause or Louis Lassen were the first inventors of the beloved sandwich. Here are the two theories:

The first theory is that the name comes from Hamburg, Germany and is said to be named by Otto Krause in 1881. Supposedly, Otto was a cook who decided to fry Hamburg steak in butter, topped with an egg, and placed on a bun. The burger was then popularized in the United States after sailors brought over the idea, scrapping the egg. However, the most believed and widespread theory is that it was created by Louis Lassen, a Danish Immigrant to the United States back in 1900. One day while working at his restaurant, New Haven eatery, a businessman in a rush requested something that could be made fast, and eaten on the go. Louis then put some grilled ground steak between slices of toast, and thus the hamburger was created. 

What do you think? Team Otto or Team Louis? Let us know!

National Brisket Day not only celebrates one cut of meat, but all of them! It’s all about getting creative as you cook them. The most popular recipe for brisket is Texas BBQ, but we encourage you to come up with your own unique recipe!

We also played “Who Am I?” Trivia! We gave five facts about a person born on this day in history. The facts included:
1. This person is an American singer, songwriter, and actress who is referred to as the “Empress of Soul”
2. This person gained fame as the lead vocalist of a soul and R&B group in the 1950s, which was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.
3. This person starred in the sitcom Charlie & Co. in the mid-1980’s.
4. This person competed in the 14th season of Dancing with the Stars at 68 years old, making it to the top eight.
5. Lastly, this person is behind “License to Kill”, the title theme song to the 1989 James Bond film of the same name.

The person we described is… Gladys Knight! Congratulations to Charla of Utica for guessing Gladys Knight and winning a $5 gift card to Watts Restaurant in Utica!

Thanks so much for listening!
-Traven & Zoey

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Exciting News for Two Christian Music Legends!

Today we talked about some movie releases from two Christian music legends here on the station! We discussed how Jeremy Camp’s movie, I Still Believe, will be coming to Netflix. This will bring the movie to a whole new global audience, and give you one more option to view it. The movie follows Jeremy’s incredible story of faith, love, and loss. It is based off his 2002 hit, I Still Believe from his album, Stay.

We also shared exciting news from MercyMe! March 20th, 2026 is the day when I Can Only Imagine 2 comes to theaters. The movie is a direct continuation of lead singer Bart Millard’s inspiring story and deeply personal battle as a father that he can’t fight alone. John Michael Finley will return to star as Bart Millard, while Dennis Quaid and Trace Adkins will reprise their roles as Arthur and MercyMe’s manager Scott Brickell. 

We also played song poetry today! We play this fun trivia game every Tuesday at the 5 o’clock hour to give you a chance to win two $5 gift cards to Watts Restaurant in Utica! Here was today’s song poetry:

I learned the lines and talked the talk
But the road less traveled is hard to walk
It takes a soldier
Who knows his orders
To walk the walk I’m supposed to walk

This one, for the second week, was a stumper today! We’ll have some new song poetry for next Tuesday!

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NZ Top 10 for 5/23/25

Praise the Lord it’s Friday! Here’s this week’s countdown:

10. bodie – Whisper & the Wind (1st week in the Top 10)
9. Seph Schlueter – Running Back To You
8. MercyMe – Oh Death (1st week in the Top 10)
7. Leanna Crawford – Still Waters (Psalm 23)
6. Matthew West – Unashamed
5. Katy Nichole – When I Fall
4. Brandon Lake f/Jelly Roll – Hard Fought Hallelujah
3. TobyMac – A Lil’ Church (Nobody’s Too Lost)
2. Jon Reddick – No Fear
1. Jamie MacDonald – Desperate (7th week at #1)

New Music Friday adds this week:

Phil Wickham – What an Awesome God

Thanks for listening – we will see you tomorrow at the Utica Ice Cream Festival!
– Joe and Ethan

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Trust in God, He is in Control!

Today we listened to some great worship music! From Delirious to CeCe Winans, we had a wide variety of blasts from the pasts and new goodies all afternoon! We also shared some devotions, which certainly helped brighten up this cloudy, wet day!

On “Our Daily Bread Ministries”, we found a really inspiring story about a husband and wife, Tom and Nancy. While they were hiking in Maine one day, Tom fainted three times. Every doctor they visited said there was nothing they could find that was wrong. When Nancy asked the doctor what to do next, what they told her changed Nancy’s outlook on the situation. “Go live your life” is what they told her. What Nancy realized is that she doesn’t have to worry about what’s going to happen with her husband, because the One who knows all and has everything in control already has a plan. God spoke through that doctor that day, and we see here that God can speak through anyone and anything, in any situation!

If you want to read the full story and devotional, click here.

We also shared about trusting God in the trials. We know trials are going to come, the Bible makes that clear. But what the enemy means for evil, God means for good, and He’s shown time and time again that He will remain faithful and use whatever we go through to bring people to Him, and build His Kingdom! Whether, you’re angry, sad, or struggling with sin, God wants you to come to Him however you are, and leave changed! He wants you to trust in Him. He has good, specific plans for each and every one of us!

Today we played Name That Tune! We played a 15 second clip of a song, and if you can tell us the title of the song we play, and the artist, you can win that $5 gift card to Watts Restaurant in Utica!

Today was a stumper! So make sure you tune in next week to hear the song clip, and try to guess the song title and artist who sings the song!

Thank you for listening!
– Xander and Ethan

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Ice Cream, Tea and Yoda?

Today we celebrated National Tea and National Talk Like Yoda Day!

I’m sure you’re wondering ‘How on earth do I celebrate National Talk Like Yoda Day?’ Well to align yourself with Yoda grammar, just flip around your nouns and verbs when you speak sentences, and pretty soon, you’ll be speaking exactly like this little green humanoid. Speak like Yoda you can!

We also celebrated National Tea Day! Now, celebrating this today is a very simple task. All you need to do, is just enjoy your favorite kind of tea… OR try a brand new kind of tea! If you’re not a tea person, well maybe give tea one last wholehearted attempt at redemption today! If it doesn’t deliver, then maybe coffee or hot chocolate are a good close second for today.

We shared some fun facts about an upcoming On The Road With Big Blue event– The Utica Ice Cream Festival! We’re going to be in the parade, throwing out candy and frisbees, and giving out gift cards all afternoon long! There’s so much to do during the festival, you can click here to check out the parade route, the schedule, and the plethora of activities you can enjoy all weekend!

We played a Who Am I? today, where we give you five clues about a mystery person. See if you can guess who this is:

  1. My birth name is Laurence Tureaud. I was born on May 21, 1952, in Chicago, Illinois.
  2. I served in the U.S. Army as a military policeman and was awarded the title of “Top Trainee of the Cycle” during basic training.
  3. I am best known for the catchphrase “I pity the fool!,” after my role as Clubber Lang in the film Rocky III.
  4. I also gained widespread fame playing B.A. Baracus on the hit 1980’s TV series The A-Team.
  5. I am easily recognized by my Mohawk hairstyle and by wearing large amounts of gold chains and jewelry.

I am… Mr. T! Congratulations to Tammy from Fredericktown for calling in and correctly guessing, winning that $5 gift card to Watts Restaurant in Utica!

Thank you for listening!
– Joe and Ethan

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