Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Delabs, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: I would put that in the category of a surprise.
Speaker 2: I would have thought Bill Belichick would want to have
Speaker 2: coached in the pros again and become the all time
Speaker 2: winniest NFL coach. Interesting back to school for Bill Belichick.
Speaker 2: Nicely presented there as a breaking news Nicole. Wow. Interesting,
Speaker 2: that's one we'll maybe talk about some night, if not tonight.
Speaker 2: Later on this week, my name is Dan Ray and
Speaker 2: the host of Knightside. We have our Nightside News Update
Speaker 2: coming up, which is a Paul Prie of interesting stories.
Speaker 2: May not be the biggest news stories of the day,
Speaker 2: but they are all interesting oftentimes stories, particularly this time
Speaker 2: of year, about folks who are doing positive things. A
Speaker 2: little bit later on tonight, we're going to talk about
Speaker 2: pot cafes coming to Massachusetts, not next week, not next month,
Speaker 2: but certainly probably some next year. Well, then we're going
Speaker 2: to ask the question about whether or not jaywalking should
Speaker 2: be legalized in Massachusetts, and if we get some time
Speaker 2: later tonight, we're going to push for keeping AM radios
Speaker 2: in automobiles, which is important, I think to most talk
Speaker 2: show hosts and also important to most drivers who listen
Speaker 2: to talk shows on AM radios while they are driving
Speaker 2: their cars. But we will begin first tonight with a
Speaker 2: really feel good story. A couple I believe they're from Wilmington.
Speaker 2: I'm ready to be corrected on that. By the way,
Speaker 2: Bob and Pat Kuker Coach for Kids program that have
Speaker 2: donated thousands of winter coach to children and teens through
Speaker 2: the Salvation Army across the city of Boston with us
Speaker 2: is Bob Kuker and Bob I'm hoping I'm pronouncing that correctly.
Speaker 3: It's a little unusual, but it's keeeker, like you put
Speaker 3: a keenan door.
Speaker 2: Keeker. Okay, well I was looking at the Okay, the vowels,
Speaker 2: but that's okay, Keeker. We got it right. Okay. Finally,
Speaker 2: thank you very much, I said, I thought in reading,
Speaker 2: you're a couple from reading, not Wilmington. I don't know why.
Speaker 2: I said Wilmington reading very close, but a couple from reading.
Speaker 2: So tell us about this idea. How did it all start?
Speaker 2: As I understated that you provided coats through this program
Speaker 2: to thousands of kids over the past few years. Tell
Speaker 2: us about it.
Speaker 3: Well, when my wife and I decided to retire. Our
Speaker 3: daughter lived in Stoneham and so we wanted to move
Speaker 3: up to be closer to our grandkids. So as we
Speaker 3: moved up here, I started asking God that he would
Speaker 3: give us a program, some kind of a project where
Speaker 3: we would be able to have impact in the lives
Speaker 3: of people and at the same time involve other people
Speaker 3: in that project. So we went to a local church
Speaker 3: one evening looking to get involved. We went to Grace
Speaker 3: Chapel and they had.
Speaker 2: The well known church in our area here, that's for sure.
Speaker 3: Yes, Well Pastor Doug Whalen at the time was taking
Speaker 3: a bunch of people down to the Salvation Army Christmas Castle.
Speaker 3: They used to hold a Christmas Castle in the Armory
Speaker 3: building and they would give out new toys, two new
Speaker 3: toys for every child and a used coat. So my
Speaker 3: wife and I went down. We volunteered to go down,
Speaker 3: and as the day wore on, they started running out
Speaker 3: of coats, and then the coats that they had weren't
Speaker 3: exactly of the highest quality. So when we came home
Speaker 3: that night, my wife said to me, you know, if
Speaker 3: we to make our money go as far as possible,
Speaker 3: if we waited until the first of the year to
Speaker 3: buy you to buy new coats on sale. We could
Speaker 3: make an impact that way. So we sought some counsel
Speaker 3: from the Salvation Army saying, hey, is this okay? And
Speaker 3: Pastor Doug Whalen said, yeah, by all means, go let's
Speaker 3: see what happened. So that first year we set a
Speaker 3: goal of providing twenty five coats, and we reached out
Speaker 3: to some family and friends and we wound up getting
Speaker 3: fifty coats. So the second year we said, well, God
Speaker 3: gave us fifty coats in their first year, I mean
Speaker 3: twenty fifty and we only asked for twenty five. So
Speaker 3: this year we're going to ask for one hundred, and
Speaker 3: we got two hundred. And that's when we realized this
Speaker 3: could really take off. So we continued to reach out
Speaker 3: to family and friends and involving people in the project,
Speaker 3: and over the years it just kept getting bigger and
Speaker 3: bigger to where this passed August. The Salvation Army has
Speaker 3: decided two years ago that they instead of giving the
Speaker 3: coats out at Christmas time, but when it's already been cold,
Speaker 3: and this year has been one of those years where
Speaker 3: at night he gets very cold, so when you wake
Speaker 3: up in the morning it's not warm. So they decided
Speaker 3: that they would start giving the coats out at PD
Speaker 3: Garden to their back the School event in August.
Speaker 1: So this year we.
Speaker 3: Went to the TV garden and we wound up giving
Speaker 3: out over three thousand coats.
Speaker 2: So in total, I'm sure you have a running total.
Speaker 2: How many years have you done this and how many
Speaker 2: coats have you been able to distribute?
Speaker 3: I think we're probably over seven thousand, and.
Speaker 2: How many years have you been running the program? Six
Speaker 2: or seven years at least.
Speaker 3: I assume we've been doing it for six years.
Speaker 2: That's quite content is.
Speaker 3: But we're already collecting donations for next year because we
Speaker 3: do it one year in advance, and we do that
Speaker 3: so that the coats can be given out in August
Speaker 3: at the beginning of the school year.
Speaker 2: So if folks would like to help you, what's the
Speaker 2: easiest way they can participate? Contribute? Be involved? However you
Speaker 2: want to describe it, Bob. What how can they get
Speaker 2: a contact? Do you have a website? Tell us how
Speaker 2: people can reach out to you.
Speaker 3: They can go to the Salvation Army website Salvation ARMYMA
Speaker 3: dot org, Salvation armyma dot org and they can pay
Speaker 3: by check. Just make the check out to Salvation Army
Speaker 3: and in the memo line right coats for kids, and
Speaker 3: that money will go to buying coats. Or they can
Speaker 3: donate by credit card and they can go to the
Speaker 3: same website and there's a button in the upper right
Speaker 3: hand corner that says donate, and they just follow the
Speaker 3: prompts and at some point they're going to be asked
Speaker 3: do you want to leave a comment? And you click
Speaker 3: on that and you say coats for kids, and then
Speaker 3: make sure you hit the save button and then that
Speaker 3: money is going to go for coats for kids. We
Speaker 3: managed to get connections with a vendor who gives us
Speaker 3: the coats at somewhere between eighteen seventeen and eighteen dollars
Speaker 3: a coat. So it's easiest for us if people donate money.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so these are all new coats. You made that
Speaker 2: decision early on, and so it is, yes, an opportunity
Speaker 2: for people to Probably the easiest thing is to write
Speaker 2: a check, but if you're good at navigating the Salvation
Speaker 2: Army website, that's easy as well. Bob Keeker, thanks very much,
Speaker 2: thank you wife for this program. You said you moved
Speaker 2: up here, are you not Massachusetts natives or were you
Speaker 2: living outside the state before you decided to come up.
Speaker 3: I'm actually from Wisconsin and my wife is an Air
Speaker 3: Force brat, and we spent twelve years in Germany and
Speaker 3: then we spent thirty years down in Washington, DC. And
Speaker 3: I am a golfer and when it came time to retire,
Speaker 3: I thought we either going to stay down there or
Speaker 3: going to move south. And my wife said, well, actually
Speaker 3: she'd like to live near our grandkids and they were
Speaker 3: up here. So I'm one of the few golfers who retirement.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're you're a snowbird who with the others towards
Speaker 2: the blizzards. Well, sometimes on a nice wintersday they have
Speaker 2: they have winter golf and the cape. I'm sure you
Speaker 2: can find some friends and get around or two in
Speaker 2: in January February, so you're all set for the golf season.
Speaker 2: Bob Keeker, thank you very much for what you've done
Speaker 2: for all of these kids across the Coomwal to the
Speaker 2: Massachusetts and thank you wife for us as well. Please,
Speaker 2: thank you.
Speaker 3: I will do thank you all right.
Speaker 2: When we get back, we're going to talk with Justin Burr.
Speaker 2: He's a trends expert on Google. I'm not sure if
Speaker 2: he works for Google or not. We'll find out, but
Speaker 2: we're going to find out what were the biggest number,
Speaker 2: what subjects, what issues were searched for the most throughout
Speaker 2: this year. He has all the stats, and we'll see
Speaker 2: if your searches line up with the searches of most
Speaker 2: other people. Back on nights On. My name is Dan Ray.
Speaker 2: This is a Wednesday night. If you're driving out there,
Speaker 2: please be careful tonight because at different times it is
Speaker 2: coming down literally in pockets. This is all the rain
Speaker 2: we didn't get in September and October piled into one
Speaker 2: rainstorm here in December. But it'll all even out in
Speaker 2: the end, will be okay, but please be careful driving tonight.
Speaker 2: Listen to WBZ on Boston's news radio ten thirty or
Speaker 2: AM dial. You also can find us on the Night
Speaker 2: on the on the iHeart, not the Nightheart, the iHeart
Speaker 2: app real simple, just downloaded. You can listen to a
Speaker 2: variety of iHeart stations, but most importantly WBZ three sixty
Speaker 2: five twenty four seven. My name is Dan Ray. Back
Speaker 2: on Nightside with our next guest right after this. Now
Speaker 2: back to Dan Ray Live from the Window World Nightside
Speaker 2: Studios on WBZ News Radio. All of us, I think,
Speaker 2: well most of us occasionally use Google to search for something,
Speaker 2: whether it's a news story or whether it's some item
Speaker 2: we might like to buy with us is Justin Burr's
Speaker 2: a Google trends expert? Justin do you work for Google
Speaker 2: or do you do this on your own?
Speaker 1: I work at Google. Yeah?
Speaker 2: Okay, well I figured you'd have to have access to
Speaker 2: all this information. How many Google searches are performed every year?
Speaker 2: Is it really in the truths?
Speaker 4: Trillions?
Speaker 1: In the trillions? Yeah, it's a lot.
Speaker 2: And how do you you know? I know how political
Speaker 2: posters try to figure out how elections are going to go.
Speaker 2: They they pick a sample size and a thousand people.
Speaker 2: You can figure out pretty much how the country's going
Speaker 2: if you balance it correctly. Do you folks monitor the
Speaker 2: searches or do you have just a sense of the
Speaker 2: subjects that are searched most frequently?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Well, you know, anybody can look at this data.
Speaker 1: You can go to trends dot Google dot com and
Speaker 1: you can see what's trending in your region in real
Speaker 1: time historical trends. So anybody can look at this stuff.
Speaker 1: It's not like we've got any secret data. But what
Speaker 1: we do for the Year in Search is we look
Speaker 1: at anonymized aggregate trends, so nothing is tied back to
Speaker 1: a specific individual. We don't know what you're searching for.
Speaker 1: It's all anonymized. But we're looking specifically for what made
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four unique related to other years. So for example,
Speaker 1: Taylor Swift, Beyonce, those types of individuals, they're always trending,
Speaker 1: but they're not on our Year in Search twenty twenty
Speaker 1: four list because we want to paint a picture of
Speaker 1: what is unique to this year. So we're looking for
Speaker 1: spikes and a lot of specific interest in these three
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty five days.
Speaker 2: Okay, so let's have at it. I'm going to take
Speaker 2: a guest that Donald Trump must have spiked in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty four RZ in that category, the Taylor Swift Beyonce category,
Speaker 2: where he's always going to be there anyway.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's good, it's no, you are spot on. He
Speaker 1: was the number one searched person in twenty twenty four
Speaker 1: in Kamala Harrison number two, and then jd Vance and
Speaker 1: Joe Biden rounding up top four. So yes, I think
Speaker 1: you're spot on. What twenty twenty four was an extremely
Speaker 1: political driven year and that was reflected in the search
Speaker 1: interest So all four of those individuals tons of search
Speaker 1: interests compared to other years.
Speaker 2: But we say, you said Trump, Harris JD. Vance, and
Speaker 2: the fourth.
Speaker 1: Was which is Joe Biden? Yep?
Speaker 2: What about two walls?
Speaker 1: He came into number six actually right behind Catherine, Princess
Speaker 1: of Wales.
Speaker 2: We had some medical she had some medical problems, right,
Speaker 2: m Yeah, So so that I guess would would would
Speaker 2: make sense. Was there one that you just didn't expect?
Speaker 2: I mean, it sounds to me like you might have
Speaker 2: had a pretty good inkling on this is Was there
Speaker 2: something that uh, you know, it was so hot for
Speaker 2: like three weeks it was able to maintain itself, but
Speaker 2: we've forgotten about it already, if you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: I think so the one that I want that I
Speaker 1: point back to here is the number one searched athlete,
Speaker 1: Mike Tyson, which I you know, he fought Jake Paul
Speaker 1: last month and bought things. But that one's so surprising
Speaker 1: because like if you would have thought three years ago,
Speaker 1: if you were like, I wonder what the number one
Speaker 1: trending athlete in twenty twenty four is going to be.
Speaker 1: No one is picking Mike Tyson. But because of that fight,
Speaker 1: he drove a lot of search interest and yeah, it's
Speaker 1: crazy to think that he was the number one trending
Speaker 1: athlete this year.
Speaker 2: All right, that's that's interesting. So I assume that because
Speaker 2: we have eleven and a half months done, these these
Speaker 2: figures and these individuals or these topics are pretty much
Speaker 2: locked in what was there a topic? It seems to
Speaker 2: me that obviously we're talking in all these categories individuals,
Speaker 2: was there a topic that perhaps uh was also what
Speaker 2: was the top trending topic? If if if you if
Speaker 2: you have that?
Speaker 1: Yeah, we kind of broke things down into more sort
Speaker 1: of subtopics, and I think one of the most surprising
Speaker 1: ones is we have different categories for Internet theories. We
Speaker 1: have different categories for trend meaning in an also aesthetic,
Speaker 1: and we make those categories because we're seeing strong search
Speaker 1: interests amongst those categories. So, for example, in the Internet
Speaker 1: theory category, we have the burnt toast theory, the orange
Speaker 1: peel theory, the October theory. I don't know if you
Speaker 1: know what any of those things are, but they were
Speaker 1: very strong on social media.
Speaker 2: And that case, I'm assuming the October theory is it
Speaker 2: will there be an Octoba surprise?
Speaker 1: What is what does that mean?
Speaker 2: An Octoba surprise is what political people are always saying
Speaker 2: up as they run up to an election, They'll be
Speaker 2: an October surprise. So obviously, what what was the theory
Speaker 2: of October? Since if it wasn't.
Speaker 1: Politically Yeah, that is an interesting that's an interesting one. Okay, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: it's not that. So the October theory is, how so
Speaker 1: it's saying that October is a better month for you
Speaker 1: to like that reflections and set new Year's resolutions, rather
Speaker 1: than doing that right before January first, because then you
Speaker 1: have the pressure of Christmas and then you have the
Speaker 1: pressure of the new year. But October is a better
Speaker 1: month for that sort of reflection.
Speaker 2: What was the orange theory?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: The orange peel theory is also it looks at how
Speaker 1: your romantic partner is able to take on small tasks
Speaker 1: for you and then their representation of longevity related to that. So,
Speaker 1: for example, if you ask your partner to peel an
Speaker 1: orange for you and they say yes, they'll do that,
Speaker 1: then that is a good indication of longevity there. But
Speaker 1: if they're not willing to peel an orange for you
Speaker 1: and for some sort of a small task like that,
Speaker 1: maybe it's an indication to get out of there.
Speaker 2: Interesting And what was the first theories? I know that
Speaker 2: was the third and the second? What was the first one?
Speaker 1: Yeah, the first one was the burnt toast theory.
Speaker 2: And okay, okay, so what's the I'm all layers on
Speaker 2: this one, go ahead justin okay.
Speaker 1: So this one is in the morning, you're getting ready
Speaker 1: for work, you're getting ready for your day or whatever,
Speaker 1: you accidentally burn your toast and you have to make
Speaker 1: new toasts. So that then sets your day back like
Speaker 1: two to three minutes. And then what cascade of events
Speaker 1: would that have in terms of the rest of your day.
Speaker 1: And it's pointing back towards a positivity that set that
Speaker 1: that sets in motion. Maybe you run into an old
Speaker 1: friend or you meet somebody that changes the rest of
Speaker 1: your day. So there's some sort of thing to say
Speaker 1: around like maybe some sort of minor inconvenience in the
Speaker 1: morning can actually be a positive throughout the day.
Speaker 2: Well, boy, that that is that's like the old glasses
Speaker 2: half full or or half full or totally you know,
Speaker 2: half full glass positive? How do you describe it? That's interesting.
Speaker 2: I would assume they would have said burnt toast cost
Speaker 2: me three minutes more to do my toast. I missed
Speaker 2: four red lights that I normally hit in succession. Uh,
Speaker 2: and my day went downhill from there, sort of like
Speaker 2: a waterfall. So I didn't even understand that, But you
Speaker 2: didn't understand the October surprise. So hey, we're even justin now,
Speaker 2: or even check with me a year from now. I'll
Speaker 2: give you some I'll give you some trends.
Speaker 1: But we could we could talk.
Speaker 2: I think I think both of us have some some
Speaker 2: some common interest and some disparate interest. And if I
Speaker 2: could be of help, let me know. I'm always looking
Speaker 2: to help out Google. Okay, it's just it.
Speaker 1: Hey, thanks so much. I appreciate it, very very much.
Speaker 2: Appreciate your time. You're good sport. Thanks so much. When
Speaker 2: we get back, we're going to talk about a positive
Speaker 2: for Boston, Boston recognized upcoming amongst the butt best hospitals
Speaker 2: from maternity care. Those of you who might be expecting
Speaker 2: a the stork to stop by, as we say, we're
Speaker 2: going to talk with a health data scientist about the studies,
Speaker 2: which I believe is based in US News and World Report.
Speaker 2: We'll talk about that, and then on our final subject
Speaker 2: this hour is going to be people wanting to spread,
Speaker 2: to celebrate or spend Christmas alone. Going to talk with
Speaker 2: Sidney Page of the Washington Post. So stay with us.
Speaker 2: We're going to get to our talk talk topics right
Speaker 2: after the nine o'clock news, But first we have the
Speaker 2: eight thirty at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1: It's night Side with.
Speaker 5: Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2: Delighted to welcome Jennifer Winston, Doctor Jennifer Winston. She is
Speaker 2: going to talk about a new study that suggests that
Speaker 2: some of the best maternity hospitals in the world are
Speaker 2: right in our backyard. Doctor Winston. Welcome to Nightside. How
Speaker 2: are you?
Speaker 4: Thank you? I'm great. How are you now?
Speaker 2: Did you conduct the study or were you involved? You
Speaker 2: are You're You're not a physician, but you're a health
Speaker 2: data scientist. Were you involved in this study or are
Speaker 2: we talking about the US News and World Report a
Speaker 2: story from that recently appeared.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I am a health data scientist at US
Speaker 4: News and World Report, and it is yes, it is US.
Speaker 4: So we are the ones that collected the data and
Speaker 4: did this analysis, and we are really happy to announce
Speaker 4: the four hundred and fourteen hospitals that we recognized as
Speaker 4: best hospitals for maternity care this year.
Speaker 2: Now, dumb question, but how many hospitals in the country
Speaker 2: have maternity care? I mean, I'm just curious how selective
Speaker 2: a figure of four hundred and fourteen is.
Speaker 4: It's pretty selective. There are over two thousand hospitals that
Speaker 4: provide maternity care throughout the country. Those eight hundred and
Speaker 4: seventeen participated in the survey this year. That's an all
Speaker 4: time high for US. And so then of those eight
Speaker 4: hundred and seventeen, we recognized just about half as best
Speaker 4: hospitals from eternity care.
Speaker 2: So how are we doing here in New England? Even
Speaker 2: more specifically within the greater Boston area.
Speaker 4: Boston area is doing great. There are six hospitals best
Speaker 4: hospitals from maternity care in the larger Boston area. Boston
Speaker 4: Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Mount
Speaker 4: Auburn Hospital, Melrose Wakefield Hospital in Boston and then Wentworth A.
Speaker 4: Douglas Hospital in Dover, New Hampshire were all recognized as
Speaker 4: best hospitals from maternity care.
Speaker 2: So with those the sixth that you introduced us to
Speaker 2: one in New Hampshire. Are there other hospitals in New
Speaker 2: England as well? Or is that number here in New England?
Speaker 4: That is, there are others in New England. There are
Speaker 4: two others actually in Massachusetts South Coast Hospitals Fall River,
Speaker 4: New Bedford and Wareham and then also Berkshire Medical Center
Speaker 4: in Pittsfield are also best hospitals.
Speaker 2: Well, the hospital that my wife and I had our
Speaker 2: children at was Newton Wellesley Hospital, which is a great hospital. Unfortunately,
Speaker 2: not interested in your group, but we're blessed to have
Speaker 2: all of these hospitals around. Is there at least one,
Speaker 2: you know, superior or one really exceptional maternity hospital in
Speaker 2: every state all fifty states?
Speaker 4: I'm sure that there are. We are there. We do
Speaker 4: have some states that we haven't received hospital surveys from, Okay,
Speaker 4: so but we do. It is a nationwide survey and
Speaker 4: we do hope to continue to get more information about
Speaker 4: hospitals each year.
Speaker 2: What are the standards that you're looking for? Are there
Speaker 2: some common characteristics that separate the good hospitals from the
Speaker 2: great hospitals or from the great hospitals from the good hospitals,
Speaker 2: I should say absolutely.
Speaker 4: We collect data on a number of both outcome measures
Speaker 4: and then best practice measures, and there really is a
Speaker 4: pretty stark difference between the hospitals that we're recognizing as
Speaker 4: high performing and the hospitals that didn't quite make that cut. So,
Speaker 4: for example, the hospitals that are recognized as best hospitals
Speaker 4: from Eternity Care have C section rates that are on
Speaker 4: average twenty two percent lower than unrecognized hospitals and severe
Speaker 4: unexpected newborn complication rates that are forty four percent lower
Speaker 4: than unrecognized hospitals. They're also more likely to get in
Speaker 4: these best practices, so they're forty seven percent more likely
Speaker 4: to be designated as baby friendly, which indicates that they're
Speaker 4: taking important steps to support breastfeeding. And they are more
Speaker 4: likely to be reporting data on whether they have any
Speaker 4: disparities by race and ethnicity, which is really important to
Speaker 4: trying to bridge those gaps.
Speaker 2: So those are some of the categories where the qualifications
Speaker 2: are a determined I guess, and is there one hospital
Speaker 2: in this group at the top of the list, whether
Speaker 2: it's in New England or not, that should be recognized tonight,
Speaker 2: we're heard in about thirty eight states, most states east
Speaker 2: of the Mississippi River. I don't know if you've ranked
Speaker 2: these hospitals from one to four hundred and seventeen or
Speaker 2: whatever the number is, but is there one that is
Speaker 2: head and shoulders above all the rest.
Speaker 4: We don't actually rank hospitals for best hospitals from Eternity Care,
Speaker 4: but they do. All the hospitals that we rate as
Speaker 4: best hospitals really have met these high standards, and we
Speaker 4: do provide that list hospital people throughout the country can
Speaker 4: look up on dot US news dot com to find
Speaker 4: a hospital near them and learn about the quality of
Speaker 4: the care that is being provided at that hospital.
Speaker 2: And okay, so that website again give it to us
Speaker 2: a little bit more slowly. It's health go ahead.
Speaker 4: Health Health dot usnews dot com.
Speaker 2: Does US News Report. I don't want to be ignorant,
Speaker 2: but we also rely so much on computers these days.
Speaker 2: Does US World and News Report? Do they still publish
Speaker 2: a magazine, you know, every every month or every week
Speaker 2: that you can hold in your hand. Is it all
Speaker 2: online these days?
Speaker 4: It is all online these days. For many, many decades,
Speaker 4: we were a print organization, but we have since switched
Speaker 4: to an online form of communication, and so we're online
Speaker 4: only these days.
Speaker 2: And when was that switch? Maneam just because I've followed this,
Speaker 2: I see I've seen with Newsweek and Time and things
Speaker 2: like that. And I'm somebody who always loves the tech
Speaker 2: tile techtile feel of a magazine or a newspaper. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's a little bit of old school here. When did
Speaker 2: you guys make that that switch? Was it abrupt or
Speaker 2: was it over some period of time.
Speaker 4: I know that we were one of the first news
Speaker 4: organizations US nationwide news organizations to make that switch to
Speaker 4: all digital. I don't know off the top of my
Speaker 4: head what year it was, but I.
Speaker 2: Assume that digital subscriptions are available or or do you
Speaker 2: or just get it through the through the website and
Speaker 2: then advertising support the Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, all information at health dot usnews dot com is
Speaker 4: free to the public. So anyone who wants to log
Speaker 4: in and check out the information we have there, that's
Speaker 4: information is all free.
Speaker 2: That's great. These these sometimes are tough questions to ask
Speaker 2: because it's every every media, every aspect of the media business,
Speaker 2: whether it's in radio what I work or in television
Speaker 2: when I worked in for thirty years. We're all going
Speaker 2: through these various transitions, and certainly print journals newspapers are
Speaker 2: going through the transitions as well. And I think it's
Speaker 2: best if people understand, because you know, there are there
Speaker 2: are people, young people who wouldn't remember you as World
Speaker 2: of News Report as a magazine, but I certainly did.
Speaker 2: And I was wondering if it if it was still
Speaker 2: available in you know, in actual pay per form, But
Speaker 2: now I know, and I thank you for that, and
Speaker 2: I thank you for providing all this information about the
Speaker 2: best maternity hospitals. People can look it up, check it out,
Speaker 2: and pick that into consideration when they decide to have
Speaker 2: that that new member of the family and during twenty
Speaker 2: twenty five or beyond. Thank you so much, Jennifer, appreciate
Speaker 2: your call.
Speaker 4: Thank you, talk to you again.
Speaker 2: Okay, this is kind of an interesting one coming up
Speaker 2: at a well it's a forty seven now, so we're
Speaker 2: a minute or two late. We're going to talk with
Speaker 2: Sydney Page, she's a Washington Post journalist, about people wanting
Speaker 2: to celebrate Christmas alone. They love their family, but they
Speaker 2: just want to spend Christmas alone. I've got some interesting
Speaker 2: questions for I think a very interesting topic coming right up.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World.
Speaker 5: Nice Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: On the surface, this sounds like a sad story, but
Speaker 2: maybe not waiting to celebrate wanting to celebrate Christmas alone
Speaker 2: with a Sydney Page Washington Post journalist. Hi Sydney How
Speaker 2: are you tonight?
Speaker 3: Hi?
Speaker 2: Dan?
Speaker 5: I'm good things. How are you?
Speaker 2: This is an interesting story, tell us about it. These
Speaker 2: are not people who are necessarily anti Christmas on people
Speaker 2: who are saying bah humbug. This is people who just
Speaker 2: kind of want to, I guess, disassociate themselves from all
Speaker 2: of the family related activity that revolves around the holidays,
Speaker 2: and not only the Christmas but Hanka kwansa, et cetera
Speaker 2: during this time of year. Let's what did you find out?
Speaker 2: How'd you hook onto this story? It's interesting.
Speaker 5: It was just an idea that came to me. I
Speaker 5: wondered about people who might be spending the holidays alone,
Speaker 5: and I started doing some digging online on social media
Speaker 5: and actually finding people who were kind of glamorizing the
Speaker 5: experience of a solo Christmas by choice. And I think
Speaker 5: that the key factor is by choice, and that's kind
Speaker 5: of what makes this not a sad story but in
Speaker 5: fact sort of a joyful one. It's people who are
Speaker 5: empowered to do something that they know is going to
Speaker 5: be a better outcome for them than perhaps you know,
Speaker 5: and meeting up with families. There's a lot of pressure
Speaker 5: around the holidays, so I think that you know, a
Speaker 5: lot of people have decided I'm going to do what's
Speaker 5: good for me this year.
Speaker 2: So what is the common end? I don't know how
Speaker 2: many folks you might have talked to. I saw when
Speaker 2: I read the article that there were people you talk to,
Speaker 2: but just sort of what's the commonality. I assume there
Speaker 2: might be some people who are restranged and just say
Speaker 2: I don't want to go through it again, and then
Speaker 2: maybe other people who are overwhelmed and have anxiety issues.
Speaker 2: Is there a commonality or no.
Speaker 5: I think it was a mix of things. The majority
Speaker 5: of people I spoke with actually do have a very
Speaker 5: loving relationship with their families, so it wasn't a situation
Speaker 5: where they didn't want to have to be around, you know,
Speaker 5: certain family members. It was more so an amalgamation of
Speaker 5: stressors that we all experience around the holidays, and the
Speaker 5: pressure of travel and spending a lot of money on gifts.
Speaker 5: And I think also the proximity between Christmas and Thanksgiving.
Speaker 5: A lot of people travel for Thanksgiving and then have
Speaker 5: to turn back around and travel yet again. It's another,
Speaker 5: you know, big expense, and so people kind of just
Speaker 5: get overwhelmed. And I think the common thread was wanting
Speaker 5: to just enjoy their own company, not wanting to have
Speaker 5: to pick up and move and go to a different location.
Speaker 5: And I think that even for people who love their families,
Speaker 5: being in an environment where they're surrounded by family members
Speaker 5: for a long stretch of time who they haven't necessarily
Speaker 5: spent such a concentrated period of time with, you know,
Speaker 5: on a regular basis, that can be overwhelming. It can
Speaker 5: be stressful.
Speaker 4: So people are just saying, no, you know.
Speaker 2: It's funny when you use the phrase enjoy their own company.
Speaker 2: I understand what you mean, but it almost seems oxymoronic
Speaker 2: to say that you want to enjoy your own company alone,
Speaker 2: because the concept of enjoying company is with other people.
Speaker 5: If you get my drift totally, well, I think, you know.
Speaker 5: I spoke to the social psychologist for the story, and
Speaker 5: she was explaining to me the difference between loneliness and
Speaker 5: solitude and how you know, we often conflate the two,
Speaker 5: but there really is a big difference, and solitude is
Speaker 5: actually quite a restorative important thing. Spending time with yourself
Speaker 5: is an important thing. And I think the key distinguisher
Speaker 5: is choice. Is someone choosing to spend time alone. It
Speaker 5: is wholly different than someone who feels forced to spend
Speaker 5: time alone. And I think that, uh, you know, spend
Speaker 5: time alone at the holidays actually can be a really
Speaker 5: blissful and relaxing thing for people.
Speaker 2: Is there any disparity between the genders here of the
Speaker 2: people who you found more males, more females, or kind
Speaker 2: of even more split? And again, I know that a
Speaker 2: scientific survey, I.
Speaker 5: Guess yeah, So I can't give you a definitive answer there.
Speaker 5: I can't say I spoke with more women than men,
Speaker 5: but there were men as well, so it wasn't a
Speaker 5: huge disparity in terms of who I was able to
Speaker 5: find who is choosing to spend Christmas alone? And also
Speaker 5: in the comment section on the on the article, one
Speaker 5: thing I've been really pleased to see, as a lot
Speaker 5: of people are saying, you know, I feel seen this
Speaker 5: is exactly how I've how I've approached the holidays for
Speaker 5: the last however many years, and it seems as though,
Speaker 5: and I can't know for sure, but it seems as
Speaker 5: though it's people of all genders and ages, and there's
Speaker 5: not really, uh, you know, major group that is feeling
Speaker 5: this way. It sort of seems to be spread among
Speaker 5: many different people, So it's not just the female thing
Speaker 5: or a male thing. It seems to be everyone to
Speaker 5: an extent.
Speaker 2: You mentioned earlier on the proximity of Thanksgiving, and you
Speaker 2: also mentioned travel. Is there a relationship between the travel
Speaker 2: How much of a factor is that? Meaning? I assume
Speaker 2: that if you're living in the same town as a
Speaker 2: lot of family members, you probably would be looked upon
Speaker 2: somewhat skeptically if you said, well, I'm not participating this year.
Speaker 2: But if you live at the continent away or a
Speaker 2: couple thousand miles away, you can always say, gee, I
Speaker 2: just saw you guys, And as much as I'd love
Speaker 2: to come back, I don't want to go through the
Speaker 2: craziness of airports or train stations. Is there a geographical
Speaker 2: factor here?
Speaker 4: Definitely?
Speaker 5: I mean, I think that the three people who are
Speaker 5: featured in the article all have family members quite a
Speaker 5: way the way. For instance, one woman I interviewed, her
Speaker 5: name is Liz. She at the time last Christmas and
Speaker 5: the Christmas before she was living in DC. She's now
Speaker 5: in New York. Her family is all in San Francisco.
Speaker 5: So she goes to San Francisco for Thanksgiving and to
Speaker 5: then turn back around and go for Christmas, which is historically.
Speaker 4: What she's done for many many.
Speaker 5: Years, not only with a big financial dream, but also
Speaker 5: just the travel flog, especially at that time of year,
Speaker 5: is stressful.
Speaker 2: So okay, my last question is the people who spend
Speaker 2: Christmas alone away from their families, what do they do?
Speaker 2: They do they just stay indoors that you know, and
Speaker 2: read a good book or what is the what's their
Speaker 2: practice on the Christmas Eve the Christmas Day? Are they
Speaker 2: all to themselves or do they go out and mix
Speaker 2: and mingle maybe in fro try to find other people
Speaker 2: who are who are spending the holiday alone.
Speaker 5: Right, It depends on the person, And I think the
Speaker 5: whole idea is they're doing what they want. So it's
Speaker 5: very much individual preference. I spoke to one woman who
Speaker 5: is very much focused on self care. She takes back,
Speaker 5: she does yoga, she cooks, and does things that give
Speaker 5: her pleasure and joy. I spoke with a man who
Speaker 5: took himself to a four course dinner all on his
Speaker 5: own on Christmas Eve, and another woman who booked herself
Speaker 5: a trip to New York City for the weekend, and
Speaker 5: she's just doing that by herself and going to shows
Speaker 5: and doing things there that she's excited to do. So
Speaker 5: it just it's totally a personal preference. But it seems
Speaker 5: as though people who are choosing to spend the holidays
Speaker 5: alone genuinely are doing it alone. They're not mingling out
Speaker 5: with other people. They're kind of just doing what they
Speaker 5: want on their own.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, there was the story about I think
Speaker 2: the New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers who goes off
Speaker 2: in these retreats by himself and was perceived as be
Speaker 2: kind of an odd thing to do. But maybe this
Speaker 2: is a trend. Thank you so much, Siddy, great to
Speaker 2: talk with you. I love your enthusiasm at the story.
Speaker 2: I love the fact that you figured it out and
Speaker 2: this is a reported generated story. Uh. Again, I always
Speaker 2: knew there were people out there who probably were alone
Speaker 2: on Christmas, but I never thought of them of being
Speaker 2: alone intentionally and it opens up. It opens up I
Speaker 2: think my eyes and maybe some other people's eyes as well.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 4: Sydney, Thank you for having me. Take care, love it,
Speaker 4: love it.
Speaker 2: Love it. They'll have you back. Thanks. All right, four
Speaker 2: interesting topics. We're done with the Nightside news update and
Speaker 2: we are on to the topics of the night and
Speaker 2: we're going to start off with pot cafes Merrick cannabis cafes,
Speaker 2: I guess are coming to Massachusetts. Are you excited or
Speaker 2: are you concerned? Back on Nightside right after the nine