This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Hear that? That's what it sounds like when you plant more trees than you harvest. Work done by thousands of working forest professionals like Adam, a district forest manager who works to protect our forests from fires.
Keeping the forest fire-resistant synonymous with keeping the forest healthy, and we do that through planting more than we harvest and mitigate those risks through active management. It's a long-term commitment. Visit WorkingForestsInitiative.com to learn more. This is Sophie Cunningham from Show Me Something. Do you know the symptoms of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea or OSA in adults with obesity?
They may be happening to you without you knowing. If anyone has ever said you snored loudly or if you spend your days fighting off excessive tiredness, irritability, and concentration issues, it may be due to OSA. OSA is a serious condition where your airway partially or completely collapses during sleep, which may cause breathing interruptions and oxygen deprivation. Learn more at don't sleep on osa.com. This information is provided by Lilly, a medicine company.
Uh Coca-Cola. For the big. for the small. This short? and the tall.
Peacemakers. Risk-takers. For the optimus. Pessimists for long distance love. For introverts.
and extroverts. The thinkers and the doers. For old friends and new. Coca-Cola For everyone. Pick up some Coca-Cola at a store near you.
Mm-hmm.
So you're telling me that the AI that's meant to make everyone's job easier to manage? Just adds more to manage, on top of the thousands of apps the IT department already manages. Funny how that works. Any business can add AI. IBM helps you scale and manage AI to change how you do business.
Let's create Smarter Business. IBM. Mm-hmm.
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Products are underwritten by American Pet Insurance Company, Independence American Insurance Company, or MS Transverse Insurance Company and administered by PetsBest Insurance Services LLC. $1 a day premium based on 2024 average new policyholder data for accident and illness plans, pets aged 0 to 10. This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star. And the American people. And to search for the Our American Stories podcast, go to the iHeartRadio app.
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Billie Mae Richards is the Canadian actress best known for voicing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. The special first aired on December 6, 1964, on NBC. Here's Billie Mae to share her story. I go back almost over 75 years now.
I've been in every kind of show business. I'm quite proud of the work in the Navy show as part of the war effort in World War II. We went all across Canada and back and then overseas and we did a command performance for the King and Queen and went into Paris and we played for the American troops in Paris. and then Brussels and Amsterdam and into Germany.
So after the World War Two, that is, so you know how long ago it is, I took my credits from the Navy and uh I joined uh Lauren Green's Academy of Radio Arts and he of course is a very famous Canadian and he did um Bonanza. That was a great series. And uh so I joined uh the Academy of Radio Arts because I I had already done stage work and I was a musician and an actor and everything, but I didn't know the technique for actually for radio and drama.
So that's why I went there. And out of that I graduated and everybody that heard me gave me a part of the child.
So that's where I, my first big show was a big drama and on the stage series in Canada.
So that it just went from there.
So I spent 25 years in the CBC doing school broadcasts. And then when the cartooning came our way, then it was just sort of a natural progression. to go into voice work because you're not you know i'm not a i'm not a television actor and certainly not now Hey, well Clarice? Hey uh After practice, would you... Would you...
Rudolph, you get back here. It's your turn, you know. Yeah, I gotta go back. W would you wanna go with me? Uh-huh.
Rudolph. I think you're cute. I killed! I can Magnificent. I'm cute!
I'm cute! She said I'm cute! Just want you to know that I'm still cute.
Well, I see Hermie once in a while, and I always wanted to be like Hermie. I wanted to be independent, and he wanted to be a dentist.
So we were misfits together. Hey, what do you say we'd both be independent together, huh? You wouldn't mind m my Red nose? Not if you don't mind me being a Dentist? It's a deal.
So that was fun, you know.
So the whole show was fun to do. And it was all Canadian. All the voices are Canadian except for Burl Eyes. They all say, well, I thought it was an American show. No.
Well, it was partly Bernard Cowan. He was directing it along with Jules Bass. And they came up to Toronto because we have all the voices from radio because our radio never died. You know, it kept on with because of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. You know, we'd all been still working in radio.
So we had the voices for radio. Because the puppets are actually three-dimensional and they have to be filmed, you know, one little teeny movement at a time with the 3D puppets, you might say, but they're not puppets. They're moved. Each little teeny little bit as they move through the snow, for instance, the snowman goes through the snow and he's he's the snow is pushed in front of him. It's a unique Process that Rankin and Bass first developed, and they went on to do other ones, of course.
The shows I did were all aimed for children because that's all I ever did were were boys' voices, so like Care Bears and things like that. You know, and I don't tell anybody either because it spoils the illusion, especially for children. I hate to say it, you know, especially now. Oh, I have children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. They think it's wonderful.
They when they were little, they went to school and told their teacher that their their mother was rude. And the teacher looked at them and said, Oh, yes, dear, of course. Oh, we get on with the work now, you know. Yeah, but I sometimes I I uh go to schools and uh It's very good to teach kids how important it is to learn to read, not only for pleasure, but there actually is a side of that that can be a profession.
So it's it's uh it's a boost for children and in the reading and uh that's when your character voice is, you know, fine. Then you can say, by the way, we thought it'd go one year, maybe two at the most, and that was it. But that's, you know, that's fine. Look what's happened to it. It's you realize it would it had become a classic, you know, sort of like, um, you know, Wizard of Oz.
You know, that that type of show that has a it has a moral to it and uh you know everything works out in the end. And so, I mean, there you go. What more can you ask? You know, it all worked out in the end. it revived Rudolph from being just the song and a little Christmas book and made it into something that could be watched every Christmas.
It became a Christmas classic because you know, my grandchildren even now are, you know, so they're they're almost beyond it, but they they still watch 'cause they say, Oh, but it's so cute Yeah, Rudolph is also, of course, I'm Rudolph in Rudolph Shiny New Year and the one that's Christmas in July with Frosty the Snowman.
So whenever there's a Rudolph, that's my voice. Rudolph, with your nose so bright. Won't you guide my sleigh tonight? It will be an honor, sir. And it was wonderful to see it all put together with the actual figures because we didn't really know what they were going to look like.
So it was a really fun thing and I'm very proud that it's been on this long. There are not too many people that can say that.
So it's really great. But I enjoy the work that I do and I'm quite happy. And that's good enough for me. And a terrific job on the production, editing, and storytelling by our own Greg Hangler. The story of the woman who voiced Rudolph here.
on Our American Story. Mm-hmm.
Here at Our American Stories, we bring you inspiring stories of history, sports, business, faith, and love. Stories from a great and beautiful country that need to be told. But we can't do it without you. Our stories are free to listen to, but they're not free to make. If you love our stories in America like we do, please go to ouramericanstories.com and click the donate button.
Give a little. Give a lot. Help us keep the great American stories coming. That's ouramericanstories.com. This is Sophie Cunningham from Show Me Something.
Do you know the symptoms of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea or OSA in adults with obesity? They may be happening to you without you knowing. If anyone has ever said you snored loudly or if you spend your days fighting off excessive tiredness, irritability, and concentration issues, it may be due to OSA. OSA is a serious condition where your airway partially or completely collapses during sleep, which may cause breathing interruptions and oxygen deprivation. Learn more at don't sleep on osa.com.
This information is provided by Lilly, a medicine company. Then the space hamster flew his hot air balloon all the way to the bottom of the ocean. Where did that story come from? Book? Dream?
Nope, it came from a conversation. Meet Miko Mini Plus, the AI companion that co-creates personalized story adventures with your child in real time. What color was the hamster's cape? And what did he pack for lunch? Unlock your child's imagination.
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What a matchup we got, y'all. This is that classic HBCU vibe. Non-stop action, the bed is rocking and the crowd lit, chants echo, drum beat, everybody showing that school pride. Game like this? Yeah, it calls for an ice-cold Coca-Cola.
Ah, crisp and refreshing. That's a game changer right there. Mmm, yeah. That taste always hits the right note, just like a band at halftime. And just like that, we're back at it.
Passionate fans, school colors everywhere, and an ice cold Coca-Cola, that's a winning combo. No matter the sport, no matter the yard, everybody knows. Fan work is thirsty work, so grab a Coca-Cola and keep that HBCU pride going. Amazon Five-Star Theater presents real customer reviews performed by Ed Helms. Tonight's review, Tactical Jacket.
I was living a simple life. Didn't get out much. Then. I bought this jacket. And everything changed.
Women came flocking to me from lands domestic and foreign. On the 245-day sailboat voyage home, I was attacked by a shark. I knew it was the jacket he was after. Giving up the jacket in exchange for my life. Five stars.
Amazon Customer 69. Shop the perfect gift this holiday on Amazon. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Mm-hmm.
