“Concerning” MCAS Results

It's Night Side with Dan Ray. I'm WBS constance video for this morning.

As I read my Boston Globe, which was delivered today, I continue some night we should talk about home newspaper delivery problems. Two of the last three Sundays, my Boston Globe never got delivered. And try, and I'm saying this for the people of the Boston Globe who might be listening, try, as a subscriber to the Boston Globe, to get your

Extremely frustrating.

And I'm almost beginning to wonder if the Boston Globe and maybe other newspapers they're going out of business. They're dropping like five. You almost wonder if they just don't care anymore. You know, I've been a subscriber to the Globe for a long time, and one of the reasons I subscribe is it keeps me informed and gives me ideas of what I'm going to talk about.

On my show.

And this is a little bit of a diversion, and I apologize, but I want to take just a moment of personal privilege and if any of you can identify with what I'm talking about. You wake up on a Sunday morning, and one of the joys of the weekend is you can those of you who are newspaper people, you can immerse yourself in your local newspaper, whether it's the Globe of the Herald here in Boston, or the

No, it won't. It will only frustrate me.

It's not going to help me to try to talk to someone and there's no human being to talk to. And what is your problem, and they give you if it's not my problem, it's your problem.

Is you newspaper missing? Just say missing?

Is your newspaper soaked with water? Just say newspaper soaked? I can say it, okay, But of course it's all pre programmed. And then when you start to hit zero, so you want to talk to a human can I speak with.

The human being? I don't understand what you've said.

Sometime when I think I'm gonna do is rob Is maybe record this and so that people can hear the frustration. I'm gonna just take a quick break here, And I had not intended to do this, but I'm still upset from Sunday. And then, of course the person that you talk to with the Globe, you talk to.

Someone in Phoenix, Arizona.

By the way, they don't even employ Massachusetts residents, that's how much they disrespect us. So you talk with someone in Phoenix, Arizona, who you know.

Isn't a Bostonian.

I mean there's no, there's not a trace of a Boston accent. And then when you say to them, well, can you can you give me the phone number of the local care so I can call them?

Oh?

No, we count do that. No, no, no, we count do thath We'll notify them. What do you mean you're going to notify them? Does that mean it'll be redelivered? Now, it won't be redelivered. We'll notify them.

What good does that do? Then? It's so frustrating.

If you want to comment on this, I have a topic that's that we're upcoming that is related to the Globe.

A couple of topics related to the Globe.

Six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty six one seven, nine, three, one, ten thirty. If newspapers don't respect us, and if they take us for granted their days are numbered, maybe it's the reverse. Maybe they know their days are numbered and they don't feel they have to respect us anymore. And if you work for the Globe, you get one subscriber here in me. Okay, who's not a fan of your

The credit card, and the person in Arizona will say.

Wow, I'm god, I give you a credit for all that wasn't delivered today. No, you never see the credit. You never see the credit. Oh, I got a bunch of people lighting up here. That's good. We may stay with this topic. Yes, we might.

Uh.

The only line that's left open is SIXE. I'm excited. Let's go. We'll be back right after the break, and I want to hear your stories, either about the Globe or other businesses that no longer respect you as a customer. Back on Nightside after this.

Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World night Sight Studios. I'MBZ News Radio.

Well, it looks like I'm not the only one who's had problems with delivery service from the Boston Globe. Let me go to Denise in Medford. You know, it's funny, Denise. I hadn't planned to do this tonight, but welcome.

How are you.

Because this has been something that's been weighing. I mean, and you don't there's nobody to say it to. I work in elder care, in an assisted living, and you know the generations they are. The newspaper is such a

What you're saying, And it's so true. Just reading the newspaper stimulates your mind. Yes, one of the things that I do with the newspaper, and I'm a baby boomer. Everybody knows that I'll tried the crossword puzzle.

You know.

Sometimes I'm trying it very late at night and I'm half asleep, and at some point it's a great way to go to sleep, to be honest with you, But also the arrogance of the ownership.

Have you ever tried to.

Call the globe? You don't get you, You don't get anybody, You don't get a real person. And when you do, they can't do anything for you. They don't try to deliver, and.

They haven't in I think it's in Arizona. Well, I know it's Arizona. I think they have some people in Phoenix and some people in Tucson. Some of them are pretty good with the English language. Some of them are kind of challenged with the englishe to put it kindly, but they can't do anything. They have a little script they read, thank you very much for calling. I hope you have a great day, a great day.

My day is ruined.

It's like, no, I'm not calling you for you to tell me have a great day. I'm calling for you to you so that you could call up the knucklehead who couldn't find my house to the deliver my newspaper, which I pay for every day.

We had better luck with kids that were twelve on their bikes than we do with adels and vans right now.

What happens is, look, I know it's tough for newspapers to find people to deliver, Okay, I get it, Okay, But at the same time, it should not be impossible, and there should be if someone is a manager of a newspaper delivering service, and if there's someone out there who is a manager of a newspaper delivery service, if you have someone who day after day after day is missing houses and there are complaints coming in get rid

And I hope that someone in.

Management from the Globe is listening tonight, because look, maybe you know that the days of newspapers are numbered, but why don't you go out with some class and style and treat your customers as any customer wants to be treated with a little bit of respect.

You're right right, well, excellent topic. Thank you so much, long time listener, first time calling.

Oh my goodness, we got a round of applause from you. Get that digital audience, got a digital studio audience, and they just gave you a lovely round of applause. I think it's so great that this is I just felt this. I was starting relying on the Globe on a couple of stories today. We'll talk about mcast and we're also going to talk about a story later on that Kevin Collin did on Chinese illegal Chinese platforms in Maine, which main newspapers broke one year ago and the Globe had

Okay, go get him, you bet.

Your dennyse I'm kind of I'm kind of a pit bull when I when I get a little bit concerned, when I get my teeth in something, they stick.

Thanks, all right, let's keep rolling you.

I want to go to Greg up on the North Shore. Greg, welcome. How are you, sir?

Dan, longtime listener. I've called you more than a few times.

That's okay, no round of applause.

I appreciate your loyalty as a customer and a client of Nightside, and I mean that honestly.

Thank you.

And we have to protect AM radio to keep what you do going on every night.

Well I appreciate that. And by the way, I spoke today with Senator of Markey's office. As much as I disagree with Ed Markey on certain political issues.

We have to keep AM radio on the market.

Well he's been very good on that issue, very very good. And I kid with him. He's a friend of mine. I've known him for a long time. I don't agree with every.

Pill I'm holding that against you.

Now, that's okay, But but give him credit because he has been a fighter in the Senate for AM radio, and I like, I like to be fair and give people credit where they're where they're the right.

Side of an issue. And I mean the right side.

Of an issue in this case, not only the right side, but the correct side.

Go go ahead, Greg.

So the original reason why I want to talk because you were going to talk about the MCST.

And we can talk about them.

Cast you get, I'm gonna say, right now, you went to the globe. I am have had home delivery of the globe in the lin item.

Oh I get, I get.

Oh yeah, so so they give you they send you the wrong paper, is what you're saying right now.

I'm oh, you left the globe and now it's subscribe.

We get the globe. The line item living every day to a house.

Good, Well, that's great.

Then you know what, put a little plug out for the line item there there. Look, they're gonna everyone's gonna miss at some point. Okay, someone's gonna be sick or whatever, or maybe the coyote is gonna run through the.

Papers have gone downhill. And the thing is is they cannot get the people to deliver the paper to you. And if I have.

An answer to that, and he's that, okay, if you cannot with with all the problems we had with the economy right now, Uh, you're telling me that there aren't retired individuals. I don't think kids are doing that job anymore, that there aren't retired individuals who would like to make a few more dollars.

And everybody, I was a paper boy, No, you were.

A paper boy, okay.

And you got.

I delivered the Globe to Harold.

Believe it or not. I had to pull a wagon every Sunday.

Oh they were heavy, I remember. I remember they had.

To assemble the paper because it came with an A, A, A B, A C in a D section. So I had to every morning before I delivered.

Them, I had to as I had to put all the papers together.

Yeah, and then walk around the neighborhood.

And with your red wagon.

And like on Sundays, you had to bring your red wagon because like you couldn't bike on Monday through Saturday. I could ride my bicycle, but the Sunday paper was so big with all the advertisements.

And by the way, by the way, would people say to me that the Globe or the delivery services can't hire people pay them more money. That's what I think it really comes down to.

If you paid but no one, do you want to pay ten dollars for a paper?

Well no, I don't think you have to make it that way.

But at the same time, if don't pay minimum wage and there was pay something a little more responsible. I mean, look, you're gonna they're gonna go out of business either way. I guess what why did you go out in style? Don't be Willie May's playing center field for the Mets in the last two years.

And and I and I think you're right, but I don't think that they can. There's not enough advertisement in their papers to afford the cost of the printing. And and like you said, like I have days where I don't get like we get we don't get the Globe anymore. We do the And the funny thing is is you do the Globe deal. They send you a deal where you're gonna get a discounted price for the first forty weeks,

Well, here's what I think you can do on that. Just tell you a credit card that you have stopped. You've the globe.

Yeah, the credit card wants to keep your business. So yeah, tell me about mcass here what you saw that. And again if if you can do it in a minute or so, great, if you kind of hold you over the globe today talked about m CAST scores, particularly in English English language arts performance down for every group, every group, Asian, White, black, or Latino.

That's the show. Here's here, here's my MCAST issue is. And if you have to go to break, Yeah, let.

Me go to break.

Let me go to break, and I'll pick you up on the other side and we'll get to all the callers on the line.

I promise. Okay, stay right there. We'll get back with Greg.

He knew we were going to talk about MCAST, but I'm we're going to stick with the globe delivery. So trust me, if you're Tom and Watertown, Poller and Hampshire, Matt and Walpole, Karen in Wisconsin. Even I don't know if Karen gets delivered the Globe in Wisconsin we'll find out back on Nightside right after the break here for the newscast for the news at nine thirty on Nightside.

If you're on night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.

All right, let's go back to the calls. We were talking with Greg from the north Shore. Greg, go right ahead. I'm going to push you a little bit here on your comments because you've had a little bit of time, but you go right ahead.

So I live in a town that's having a problem with their school committee. Okay, And as far as you go about the mcast, yep, dmcasts were designed to make sure the teachers are doing a proper job.

I believe that's an accurate comment observation.

Yes, that's what they were completely designed for. So when they what they do is if a student fails, they get so all the questions are graded on a scale of one to five, and if a student fails, they get rid of the five and four questions and have them retake it, so they only get in. Like I said, the tests are scored.

Yeah, okay, So what you're saying is that the four and five questions are more difficult.

You're exactly right.

Well, look, the idea of mcast has been brilliant. It was it was good meaning Democrats and Republicans on Beacon Hill in the nineteen nineties who came together and said we got to do a better job. Look, the public schools are failing here in Massachusetts. We're not Mississippi or Alabama, but they're failing here in Massachusetts. The Teachers Union has

Dan.

Let me tell you, like if you if I offered you a job where.

You got.

Four months a year off.

No, I know this.

There's a lot of plass to it. And don't they don't get four months. They they teach from September. They get July in August, so it's not four I mean there's some vacation.

How many holidays are there in between them.

I understand that, I understand that. I'm not here to bass teachers.

I'm just here to simply try to try to say that we gotta we got to get to work on this.

Greg. I'll come back to this probably more often.

Than than so I just want to say this about DMCAST.

Yeah, you got to be when they got to be quick.

When they went like they eliminate the hard questions from the kids' tests. Yeah, you've already told us that, and they just let you retake the test. Okay, So if I if I.

Let you you take the the hardest questions, there is no way on growing like eventually you'll just have ones for questions.

No, I understand that. I do understand that. But again, we've gone a long time on both subjects. So I got other folks. I cannot be as generous to them as I have been to you.

So we will talk again, Dan, Thank you so much. Thank you my friend. Talk to you about that. Next up, Tom and water out. Tom. I think you want to talk about newspaper delivery.

Yeah, I want to rave about my globe delivery person. You go right ahead, Yes, yeah, she never misses. She lives in Waltham. I know her address because you leave me in the envelope I mean now and then, which I was ashamed to say that I don't fill it because I give her a tip in the bill there.

Well, I will tell you that.

I will tell you, Yeah, I will tell you that she doesn't. She sends her husband there and all to fill it out there and all. So I think it's a you get to know you're a delivery person like that and all, and they come around a certain time of the day or they should there and all. And if you're around there, you know, say hello, when what's going on? But still it's I say, yeah, the problem

So well, I'm I'm glad.

You're a happy camper. Tom, I'm glad you're a happy camper. It's like if you go to a restaurant and you get shirt of the bad meal. The fact that that I'm sitting next to you and I say, man, this lobster is great, Tom, you should have tried the lobster.

That doesn't make you feel any better.

And by the way, I'm here, uh only for a few months during the year, and every year it's the same delivery person I got. I wrote, I wrote her a check uh in late August. I think that was that was her swan song, because you know, I think they said you that, Yeah, it wasn't. It wasn't Christmas.

It wasn't the problem with the globe, and you get the problem with the red sox and where was there something else going on there? That's something. But Denise got my applause there.

Well, I hope I got your applause to Tom, because guess what, You've got a good delivery person. Enjoy her value her. Try calling the Globe if she ever misses, and hopefully she won't. You try calling the Globe and you're going to get the automated phone system. You won't be able to talk to a human being. As a matter of fact, someone living on Mars will be able to talk to a human being easier than you can as a subscriber to the globe to get to a

At dunkin Donuts, m Cast.

Yeah, go ahead.

I'm talking to a couple of kids in high school. There's a you think of the men in cast. I got to vote here in November, and what do you guys think about it? It's awful hide there in all that. I really know what's going on there and all, and I know it's English math science. Then they pop up with the physics on top of that, and I don't know what you know how that got in there. But there's still the young they were talking about it's hard.

And so let me give you a clue.

The next time you talk to those kids, tell them life is hard and there's a lot of pressure if you want to succeed in life as well. And that's a little bit of what school is like you're supposed to learn.

I probably won't see him again.

Well next time, next time you talk to someone. Life is hard. Life is hard. There's a lot of kids their age are who are in the US military. You want to talk about life being hard, study for the test. We can either go to social promotion. You want to continue with social promotion. How old are you seventeen? Okay, you're a senior. Now, we don't really care whether you learned anything or not. We're going to socially promote you. You'll graduate when you're eighteen and you're out in the

Thanks. Thanks talking.

So we've got well.

I'm happy for you got a great newspaper deliver and a great well and a great school system.

You're doubly blessed. Tom.

Thank you for calling, first time calor.

First time caller that's come on back anytime to give you a ride in the frost from my digital audience.

Thanks Tom, talk to you soon. Bye bye. Paula in New Hampshire. Paula, next time, night.

Right ahead, good even, Thank you so much for taking my gous. I gotta tell you you hit the nail on the head.

Thank you, Thank you.

Never I thought I was the only one, because that's just the world I live in. Ye I'm with you, the frustration of trying to communicate with somebody.

About something you're paying for, something that you are you know, you want, something that.

You're looking forward to, and next.

Thing you find out, uh, another head. I can't say it enough.

We're not employing people in our own communities. I'm not here in New Hampshire, born and raised in Massachusetts. I'm only a few miles over the border.

One of the refugees who have fled the state. It's like South Korea, North Korea.

You know there you go night and day. So what is happening is you know, technology have pushed away this with the good old days of gone picking up a paper on Sunday morning. I got gentlemen coming into.

My store all the time. You got the newspaper. Then, don't want to get involved with it. It's not worth it.

I remember.

I remember, you know, as a kid, and even as a young adult, you go to church on Sunday and they would have stacks of the Globe, stacks of the Herald, and you would pick up your Sunday newspaper at church, and what you know, and again, someone's gonna say, well, there's Dan talking about the good old days.

You don't it.

Worn's nothing wrong with that, Dan. The good old days is what made us.

Who we are.

You know, when somebody enjoys what they're doing, I mean, you deserve the respect knowledge.

The Globe gives no respect to this subscriber respect.

It's like people that I'm from, our communities. We got enough problems. We could go on and on about that.

They used to.

They used to, whether it's the Globe, whether it's the electric company. You pick up the phone, you get this onto me in a system, and you couldn't have said it any better. Well the cheese.

I am so happy that that you now realize, and you keep listening, and you listen to that side.

You you are not alone.

Too many of us sitting in our rooms, to sit in our apartments, are sitting in our homes and think we're the only one that thinks this way. No, if I buy a product, if I go to a restaurant room, I want to walk out of that restaurant whatever I paid. I want to feel that I had I was treated well.

It's as simplest we all deserve that. I'm the top. We're looking for a little happiness, a little respect.

I can't tell you.

I can't tell you, Paula. And I'm going to brag a little bit here. I had someone, I had someone today send me an email and they said, there was a guest on a show that Morgan White did, and could I look up the guests? And I have no idea. I can't go through Morgan's tapes. However, I answered that person's email and I said, why don't you give our newsroom a call. It will be a person who I gave them the newsroom number. There will be a person who will answer the phone, and they then can pass

My show, you get engaged, You engage yourself, you involve yourself.

But if you listen to my show, Paula, and you contact me, you're my customer. You know you're my.

Customer the phone tonight, I'm out here and MPSH door dash and making deliveries. You answered my call tonight because it matters. And if the globe's going on the and if these businesses I've get in their time because they're not carried.

You say, it's the.

Nail on that, paul Thank you so much.

They're not putting themselves out there.

Come on back, Come on back soon. You're always welcome here on Nightside.

Paula.

Yeah, I hope you have a wonderful even man, and I love listening to you.

I hope you do as well with me.

You're giving me about forty eight forty nine years growing up listening to y'all ever since I was little on this radio station with my father. So you know one, I'm glad to be able to do it well.

We love you, Paula. Thank you so much. Coming back soon.

Okay, have a great nask.

We take a break, take a break, be right back. We'll keep talking. Coming back on Nightside.

It's Nightside. I'm Boston's News Radio.

By the way, Nicole Davis has just passed on to us that New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been indicted.

On federal criminal charges.

According to people with knowledge of the matter, will be the first mayor in the history of New York to be charged while in office. WHOA, that's a big story. That is a big story. But this is a big story too. And we will continue with it. Let me go to uh next up, Karen and Wisconsin. Karen, how are you tonight?

Fine? Maybe I'll read that in the Globe in the morning.

I'm sure I would hope, so I would.

If it's delivered it.

So do you get your newspaper delivered on time out there, Karen?

No.

I when you said that, it just reminded me of of when we called up and Bradley was no longer in the air. And that's the same feeling you know again.

Fortunately, Karen, as much as I'd love to talk about that, I got to get us back on top.

It's not what.

I'm talking about. So then you said I could get the Globe, Well, well, I could get the Globe delivered. But I guess I'm getting more news by listening to you, because it's the Globe. I can't even give you the respect call you when you're right in the city. You're telling me that they're sending you to Phoenix.

Oh well, they're referring you to someone in Phoenix who has no clue about you know, the greater Boston area or Massachusetts o New England.

And I'm right there with him. I'll let you go but I agree with you. I'm so mad with you. Okay, all right, you're not mad with me.

You're you're mad. You have my back and were shouldered.

It's right. And I won't order the globe because I'll never get it out.

Oh yeah, you have good luck with that. You'd get it back paying express. Thanks, great night, Good night, Madison Walpole. Mat'm gonna get you and two more in here. I do have a guest coming up at ten o'clock. Go ahead, Matt, I'll be quick.

Ray, thanks so much. First time call a long time listener.

And let's get a round of applause for Matt to all.

Right, listen forever since for the past twenty years, especially start out with my dad. So anyways, I just wanted to say, first off, the driver, the driver for the newspaper like that pays only forty seven thousand dollars. I just looked this up. Forty seven thousand dollars an hour. The third time, you know, over time, you're working like.

Forty seven thousand dollars a year, not an.

Hour, I hope, sorry, sorry, yeah.

Yeah, thank you, yeah yeah, at forty seven an hour.

Yeah no. But then the other thing is like it's you know, I think you're suggesting like for people who are retired to do the job, it only works like from twelve am to you know, eight eight am, So that doesn't like you know what I mean.

And then also you got to work all over well, Matt, when you talk about the drivers, you're talking about the drivers who are driving the.

Big globe trucks. They probably have to have a CDL license. Their teamsters. I'm talking about once the globes.

Are delivered to a local area, the someone comes by and they put the they know what they're root is.

They might deliver one hundred papers. That's all they're doing in the morning. And they only were still doing it.

Five in the morning.

Yeah, they do it from like five till nine, from five o'clock.

And then the unemployment rates only three point seven percent. I mean, there's a lot of other jobs that are out. I can understand why, and I can understand your frustrations and the absolutely right. The other thing I want to say with the the USMN cast, thank you.

Yes, I.

Agree with what you're saying, like that it should be it should be kept. I just don't think it should be kept as like the end all be all of how you graduate.

We're going to talk about that whole debate. Yeah, you keep listening. We're going to do a story. I think it's on October eighth, if I'm not mistaken. H And we made I hit that two or three times because it's a valid question here in Massachusetts and I want everyone to understand it.

Matt. I got to get one more in. Okay, appreciate you, Thanks very much, you much appreciate it.

Ed and Wooster and I gotta get you in here. You got less than a minute, go for it.

I would say the Globe delivery problems and the Mcast scores falling. I mean, it's just two sides of the same thing that has many different other assets. It's basically a war on competence and a war on excellence. And it's because the people who publish the Globe, who write for the Globe, and the people who agree with its point of view, they think there are masters and they don't care what we think. They don't care about us. Where are irrelevant?

I wish you had called earlier.

And I'm gonna maybe come back to this issue at eleven o'clock. So I'm going to give you permission to call back at eleven o'clock if you would like and amplify on that fair enough, Okay, call back at eleven, very really do I do that, But this is an excellent point.

To Theodore and Paul in Wakefield.

You guys will also have priority at eleven, but I had guest scheduled next hour. Great topic coming up. The Chinese government is growing illegal marijuana in Maine and nothing, virtually nothing being done about it. That was in the Globe today, a year after the story was broken by the Gentleman we'll be talking to right after the ten