{"id":506234,"date":"2026-01-10T13:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T13:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/506234\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T13:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T13:36:10","slug":"childrens-show-host-ray-rayner-brought-joy-to-childhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/506234\/","title":{"rendered":"Children’s show host Ray Rayner brought joy to childhood"},"content":{"rendered":"

Regarding the op-ed \u201cRay Rayner was a lasting gift to Chicago\u2019s children\u201d<\/a> by Michael Peregrine (Jan. 3): Through all the years and all the morning programs, \u201cRay Rayner and His Friends\u201d was by far the best morning show. Maybe the fact I was an elementary school child in the late 1960s and watched the show before walking to school with friends biases my thoughts in this regard, but Rayner brought something to me that no other morning show did \u2014 joy. Whether it was Rayner reporting on sports by clumsily writing the previous day\u2019s scores on a chalkboard (including Slippery Rock) or performing terribly on some craft project, he always did so with a laugh and happiness that was infectious.<\/p>\n

I learned from Rayner that maybe my sports team wouldn\u2019t win that day or that my school art project wouldn\u2019t be what I had imagined, but regardless, we all could still enjoy life with the right, joyful attitude.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Keith Duncan, Upland, Indiana<\/p>\n

Quite a career day<\/p>\n

In 1957, Ray Rayner\u2019s daughter Christine was in my kindergarten class at Oaklane School in Northbrook. The teacher hosted career days during which fathers came to tell us about their jobs. Mr. Berkebile was an airline pilot. Mr. Breitkopf\u2019s company made packaging for candy (and brought a lot of boxes that we all had fun putting together). My dad was a railroader (I still recall the diesel locomotive that he drew as he talked). But, wow! Mr. Rayner was someone we all knew right away. His presentation was the most entertaining of all.<\/p>\n

Thanks to Michael Peregrine for sparking the memory \u2014 and, yes, you can tell someone grew up in Chicago when they pat their shirt fronts for a little note.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Nann Blaine HIlyard, Winthrop Harbor<\/p>\n

Chicago\u2019s priorities<\/p>\n

On my daily dog walks through Lincoln Park, poop bag in hand, I often find myself dipping into the alleys behind multimillion-dollar homes to make a \u201cdeposit.\u201d Behind the meticulously maintained garages sit rows of city-issued garbage and recycling carts \u2014 four, five, sometimes six bins per household. Regardless of the number, each homeowner pays a flat $9.50 a month for trash removal. It\u2019s a revealing place to think about Chicago\u2019s priorities.<\/p>\n

In my six-unit condo building, we pay many times that amount to a private hauler for the same service.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t claim to understand much about Chicago\u2019s new budget, from video gaming revenue to restructured liquor taxes. But I do understand inequity when I step in it. Chicago\u2019s system funnels more than $250 million a year into subsidized garbage pickup for single-family homes \u2014 while multiunit buildings foot the full bill themselves.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a policy that stinks more than anything my dog leaves behind.<\/p>\n

\u2014 John Mjoseth,\u00a0Chicago<\/p>\n

\u2018Textbook for life\u2019<\/p>\n

Many years ago, I attended a workshop for teachers at Tribune Tower on a Saturday. We learned a phrase that I have never forgotten: \u201cThe newspaper is your textbook for life.\u201d<\/p>\n

I began stopping on my way to my classroom each Friday morning to buy a dozen newspapers, one for each student in my classroom; all of them had behavioral challenges. I would write out a worksheet, similar to a scavenger hunt, asking students to find answers to questions that would require them to scan several pages of the paper.<\/p>\n

The room fell silent as each student studied all the sections of the paper, sometimes becoming absorbed in articles that were not related to my questions on the worksheet. It was not important to me that the worksheet was completed accurately \u2014 only that they spent time learning to read a daily newspaper. And some very interesting discussions followed based on things they had learned.<\/p>\n

Today, I\u2019m a retired teacher, but I still begin every day with my \u201ctextbook for life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Ellen M. Peirce, Chicago<\/p>\n

Stop-start on cars<\/p>\n

I\u2019m giving David McGrath a split decision on his list of innovations he wants back (\u201cThe innovations I\u2019d like to see deep-sixed in 2026,\u201d<\/a> Jan. 1).<\/p>\n

He\u2019s absolutely right about restaurants that are too loud for conversation. Throughout history, meals have been communal events fostering fellowship \u2014 and not about a group of people eating together without being able to commune.<\/p>\n

But, as far as the auto stop-start feature on cars, he\u2019s wrong. Yes, it\u2019s an annoyance. But there aren\u2019t going to be many absolutely pain-free ways to fight climate change.<\/p>\n

If we are unwilling to pay even this small price, just how is this going to work out?<\/p>\n

\u2014 Mike Koetting,\u00a0Chicago<\/p>\n

Noisy restaurants<\/p>\n

What a gift it is to read David McGrath\u2019s op-eds. A writer, who with the skills of a gifted neurosurgeon, manages to reach into my ever-softening hard drive of a brain and extract my exact feeling of frustration trying to carry on conversations with my friends at a restaurant table. While at the same time listening to a conversation from Table 14 across the room about how there never seems to be anyone working at certain big-box stores to help find what they need.<\/p>\n

It truly is a loud, loud world out there \u2014 at least to us oldies.<\/p>\n

Well said, David. Well said.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Reg Green, Manteno, Illinois<\/p>\n

Bad NYE telecast<\/p>\n

ABC absolutely failed in its coverage of the New Year\u2019s Eve celebration for Chicago! With all the hype about the national coverage with New York, I thought there would be more time spent in Chicago. New York switched to Chicago just before midnight, and Chance the Rapper did one song and did the countdown to midnight. ABC showed the fireworks and then switched to Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

In years past, the local channel did a much better job.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Daniel Cook, Woodridge<\/p>\n

Underwhelming party<\/p>\n

It was great Chicago was featured on ABC on New Year\u2019s Eve, but there was nothing there in the way of entertainment for hours!<\/p>\n

Chance the Rapper performed just before midnight, and the fireworks were (as always) spectacular, but for the prior three hours, the network cuts to Chicago were completely embarrassing.<\/p>\n

I counted at least eight on-camera appearances by Chance during which he had zero to add. And of course Mayor Brandon Johnson trying to whoop it up, but there was no there there.\u00a0 A shameful showing for the Second City.<\/p>\n

The blame is squarely on Johnson for the failure.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Jay Seifried, Chicago<\/p>\n

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here<\/a> or email letters@chicagotribune.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Regarding the op-ed \u201cRay Rayner was a lasting gift to Chicago\u2019s children\u201d by Michael Peregrine (Jan. 3): Through…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":506235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[8811,226709,82667,95265,960,11962,226710,5386,1818,36234,145751,226708,988,43775],"class_list":{"0":"post-506234","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-abc","9":"tag-bozo","10":"tag-chance-the-rapper","11":"tag-channel-9","12":"tag-chicago","13":"tag-david-mcgrath","14":"tag-garbage-fees","15":"tag-il","16":"tag-illinois","17":"tag-mayor-brandon-johnson","18":"tag-new-years-eve","19":"tag-ray-rayner","20":"tag-restaurants","21":"tag-wgn"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115871074768243560","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}