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Getting F-16s to Ukraine with training could take up to 18 months, Pentagon says

March 1, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — While calls for the U.S. to send F-16s to Ukraine have generated a lot of attention, a top Pentagon official told lawmakers Tuesday that the planes are not one of Kyiv’s top three requests and that there would be no advantage in the U.S. providing training now ahead of any potential delivery of the aircraft.

Colin Kahl, the Pentagon’s top policy official, told the House Armed Services Committee that President Joe Biden and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke about F-16s during Biden’s surprise visit to Kyiv last week and that Ukraine’s “top priorities are air defense systems … keeping their interceptors and our defense network alive against Russian cruise missiles and the Iranian drones, artillery and fires which we’ve talked about, and armored and mechanized systems.”

He said the fastest available timeline of delivery of the aircraft and potential training would be 18 months.

“So, you don’t actually save yourself time by starting the training early in our assessment. And since we haven’t made the decision to provide F-16s and neither have our allies and partners. It doesn’t make sense to start training them on a system they may never get,” Kahl said.

Overall, Kahl said, giving Ukraine new F-16s would take three to six years and giving it older versions would take 18-24 months.

Last Friday, in an exclusive interview with ABC News anchor David Muir, Biden was asked about Zelenskyy publicly pushing the U.S. for F-16s.

“You don’t think he needs F-16s now?” Muir Biden.

“No, he doesn’t need F-16s now,” Biden responded.

Asked by Muir if that meant “never,” Biden said there was no way to know exactly what the Ukraine’s defense would require in the future, but that “there is no basis upon which there is a rationale, according to our military now, to provide F-16s.”

“I am ruling it out for now,” Biden said.

Kalh said what the Ukrainians have asked for is a mix of 128 U.S. made aircraft, including F-15s, F-16s, and F/A-18s.

The U.S. Air Force believes that, over the long term, Ukraine would need 50 to 80 F-16s to replace its existing air force, but that would require newly built F-16s which would cost $10 billion to $11 billion, he said.

Getting only half that number with slightly older versions would still cost $2 billion to $3 billion, he said, making the argument that it made more sense to use comparable amounts of money now to meet Ukraine’s needs for Patriots and Bradley Fighting Vehicles in the current fight.

Luke Combs reveals “Going, Going, Gone” was a hint about ‘Gettin’ Old’

March 1, 2023 by WDNY Radio

It’s an interesting time for Luke Combs: As “Going, Going, Gone” reaches the top of the country chart, he’s experiencing one of the happiest periods of his life.

In 2020, the North Carolina native married his wife, Nicole, and in June of last year his son, Tex, was born.

Luke believes the contrast between his sad song on the radio and the sweet life at home says something about the power of a song.

“I can be in this amazing place, and then come up with this guitar riff and have this song title that my co-writer goes … ‘I get that. I’m there right now,'” Luke reflects. “And you just try to bottle that magic while you have it, and know … they’re writing from a place of being in that moment.”

“And you could be writing for someone who, you know, at some point will be in that moment. … So I think that’s the super cool thing about it,” he adds.

Luke reveals “Going, Going, Gone” was actually a hint that his current album would have a continuation.

“That’s the last track on Growin’ Up. And the point of that was to go, ‘OK, well, this is where we’re going,'” he explains. “Like, I didn’t announce when Growin’ Up came out that there was gonna be a second part to this thing.”

“But I wanted people to go, ‘You know, this track 12, I really like that thing. It’s this new sound. It’s different, it’s something else, but I still love it and I still can relate to it,'” he continues. “And I wanted to let people know that that’s kind of where this was going, right, like leading into this next album.”

The other part, Growin’ Old, is set to arrive March 24.

“Thank God” Kane Brown found the perfect song to sing with his “secret weapon”

March 1, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Country/pop singer Kane Brown has collaborated with a number of artists since he first came on the scene, including Khalid, Marshmello, Nelly, blackbear and Swae Lee. But his most recent collaborator means the most to him — because she’s his wife.

Kane’s latest hit is a duet with his wife, Katelyn Brown, called “Thank God.” But this isn’t a case of someone just randomly putting their spouse on a song: Before the two married, Katelyn had her own music career. She was managed by Johnny Wright — who’d worked with Britney Spears, The Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC — and released several singles. She also graduated from Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music.

“Me and Kate have been trying to release a song for like five years now,” Kane says. “And we kept getting songs coming in. We thought that, y’know, each of them was the song for us but it never felt right.”

Finally, Kane says, “My buddy Josh [Hoge], he sent me a song called ‘Thank God,’ and I listened to it and I fell in love with it. And then kept listening to it and kept listening to it. I was like, ‘This could be a duet.’ So I asked Kate, and Kate fell in love with the song and now it’s one of my favorite songs.”

Katelyn and Kane sang the song onstage for the first time late last year, and they’ll perform it on TV together on April 2 at the CMT Music Awards, which Kane is co-hosting with Kelsea Ballerini.

A few days ago, Kane told People magazine of Katelyn, “I keep telling everybody she’s my secret weapon.”

Kane and Katelyn will celebrate their fourth anniversary in October. They have two daughters, Kingsley and Kodi.

Mastodon’s Troy Sanders announces signature Precision Bass with Fender

March 1, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Mastodon‘s Troy Sanders has announced a new signature bass with Fender.

Dubbed the Troy Sanders Precision Bass, the instrument aims to capture the “Blood and Thunder” rocker’s “massive bass tone.”

“The Troy Sanders Precision Bass is beyond anything I could’ve ever imagined,” Sanders says. “I am humbled and grounded every time I see it.”

“Fun fact, the Silverburst color scheme became my favorite as both Mastodon guitarists have been rocking them since day one,” he continues. “During our formative years, their idea was for me to get one also so we could be in Silverburst unison on stage!”

The bass also features an icon on the back neck plate and the 12th fret referencing Mastodon’s 2002 debut album, Remission, and their 2017 release Emperor of Sand, respectively.

You can grab your own Troy Sanders Precision Bass for a cool $1,499.99 now via Fender.com.

Mastodon, meanwhile, is preparing to hit the road on the Mega-Monsters tour kicking off in April, which will be co-headlined by Gojira. Their most recent album is 2021’s Hushed and Grim.

(Video contains uncensored profanity.)

Pink Floyd’s ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ turns 50

March 1, 2023 by WDNY Radio

March 1 marks the 50th anniversary of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon, which was their eighth studio release and to this day is one of their most commercially successful releases ever.

The album, which features such songs as “Money” and “Brain Damage,” spent only one week at number one. But it went on to spend 741 weeks on the Billboard Album chart between 1973 and 1988, and has since gone on to spend a total of 972 weeks on the chart. As of 1998, the album had been certified 15-times Platinum by the RIAA.

“Dark Side of the Moon is not only one of the great Pink Floyd albums, but I think it’s one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll albums of all time,” Jason Hanley, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s VP of education and visitor engagement, tells ABC Audio. “It really is a record that is so revolutionary at the time when it comes out in 1973, it’s revolutionary even for the band.”

He adds, “The songs are fantastic, the album was on the charts almost longer than I think any other album in history, sold so many copies, and still continues to be part of pop culture today.”

To celebrate the 50th anniversary, Pink Floyd has a lot of goodies in store for fans.

They are releasing a newly remastered version of the album on March 24, along with a Blu-ray and DVD audio with the original mix and remastered stereo versions. There will also be a new Blu-ray disc and CD of the classic concert The Dark Side of the Moon — Live at Wembley Empire Pool, London, 1974 and a new book, Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon: 50th Anniversary.

‘Mad Men’ co-stars Jon Hamm and Anna Osceola reportedly engaged

March 1, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Jon Hamm and his former Mad Men co-star Anna Osceola are reportedly engaged after nearly five years of dating.

“The engagement happened a while back, but they are still on cloud nine,” a source tells Us magazine. “They have so much fun together and already feel married.”

The 51-year-old Top Gun: Maverick star and Osceola, 34, first sparked romance rumors in 2020, after being spotted together “multiple times,” according to the outlet. They made their red carpet debut two years later at an Oscars afterparty.

The couple co-starred in Mad Men‘s final season in 2015 and teamed up once again for 2022’s Confess, Fletch.

Hamm previously dated Kissing Jessica Stein actress Jennifer Westfeldt from 1997 to 2015.

Scoreboard roundup — 2/28/23

March 1, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL SPRING TRAINING

INTERLEAGUE
Pittsburgh 7, Baltimore 4
Philadelphia 7, Toronto 2
Minnesota 10, Atlanta 7
Houston 8, NY Mets 4
Texas 6, Colorado 4
Chi White Sox 4, Arizona 1
Boston 7, Miami 2

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Tampa Bay 12, NY Yankees 0
Toronto 6, Detroit 4
Kansas City 12, Cleveland 6
LA Angels 11, Oakland 5
Seattle 9, Mariners 8

NATIONAL LEAGUE
St. Louis 5, Washington 3
San Diego 7, San Francisco 5
Cincinatti 7, LA Dodgers 5
Milwaukee 6, Chi Cubs 3

NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Toronto 104, Chicago 98
Milwaukee 118, Brooklyn 104
Washington 119, Atlanta 116
Memphis 121, LA Lakers 109
Sacramento 123, Oklahoma 117
Denver 133, Houston 112
Indiana 124, Dallas 122
San Antonio 102, Utah 94
Minnesota 108, LA Clippers 101
Golden State 123, Portland 105

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Florida 4, Tampa Bay 1
Ottawa 6, Detroit 1
Columbus 5, Buffalo 3
Seattle 5, St. Louis 3
Minnesota 2, NY Islanders 1 (SO)
Boston 4, Calgary 3 (OT)
Arizona 4, Chicago 1
Montreal 3, San Jose 1

TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Marquette 72, Butler 56
Virginia 64, Clemson 57
Iowa 90, Indiana 68
Tennessee 75, Arkansas 57
Boise St. 66, San Diego St. 60
Texas A&M 69, Ole Miss 61
Kansas 67, Texas Tech 63

Meg Myers releases new song, “My Mirror”

February 28, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Meg Myers has released a new song called “My Mirror,” a track off her upcoming album, TZIA.

“From my perspective, we are one universe expressing itself through many physical vessels, remembering itself, getting to know itself,” the “Desire” artist says. “‘My Mirror’ is really about the importance of relationships and what great reflections they can be to activate the parts of us that have been laying dormant.”

She adds, “I believe all types of relationships have the power to significantly shift us into greater levels of awareness and bring accelerated growth when we are willing to learn from them and be open to understanding their true purpose.”

You can listen to “My Mirror” now via digital outlets and watch its accompanying video streaming now on YouTube.

TZIA, Myers’ third album and the follow-up to 2018’s Take Me to the Disco, arrives March 24. It also includes the previously released single “Me” and a cover of Linkin Park‘s “Numb.”

Skid Row & Buckcherry announce second leg of co-headlining tour

February 28, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Skid Row and Buckcherry have added a second leg to their upcoming The Gang’s All Here co-headlining tour.

The newly announced dates will run from August 31 in Dallas to September 23 in Fort Yates, North Dakota. Tickets go on sale Friday, March 3.

The first leg of the tour begins March 9 in Bowler, Wisconsin.

Skid Row released a new album called The Gang’s All Here in October. Buckcherry, meanwhile, is planning to release a new record this year to follow 2021’s Hellbound.

‘Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania’ screenwriter sounds off on the movie’s critical drubbing

February 28, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NOTE LANGUAGE) While Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania currently has a respectable 83% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie received a nearly record-low Critics Score for a Marvel movie, with 48%.

Its Emmy-winning screenwriter Jeff Loveness tells The Daily Beast he witnessed this disconnect firsthand.

“To be honest, those reviews took me by surprise,” the Rick and Morty vet explains. “I was in a pretty low spot … Those were not good reviews, and I was like, ‘What the … ?'”

He continued, “I’m really proud of what I wrote for Jonathan [Majors, who plays Kang the Conqueror] and Michelle Pfeiffer [Janet van Dyne]. I thought that was good stuff, you know? And so I was just despondent, and I was really sad about it.”

However, Loveness saw the other side of the coin when he saw the movie with actual moviegoers. “The audience was laughing … I’m like, Godd***! No, [the reviews] are wrong! I’m right! MODOK is great!” he said of Corey Stoll‘s big-headed, pretty-out-there baddie, ripped right from the pages of Marvel Comics.

The writer explains, “I’m pretty happy with it overall, and I think I learned how to take a punch this week. And now that I learned that it’s not too bad, I can just get on with making things.”

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