B&T Extra: Linemen, Letters, & a White Castle Valentines

Summary

Podcast Summary: B&T Extra: Linemen, Letters, & a White Castle Valentines

Podcast: The BOB & TOM Show Free Podcast
Host: The BOB & TOM Show | Cumulus Podcast Network
Episode: B&T Extra: Linemen, Letters, & a White Castle Valentines
Date: February 25, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of B&T Extra continues The Bob & Tom Show’s tradition of blending humor, personal stories, and light-hearted banter. The hosts dive into topics ranging from the dangerous, heroic work of linemen, to quirky listener letters about dog names, to the unique tradition of White Castle’s Valentine’s Day dinners. The episode is peppered with musical parodies, plenty of quick-witted exchanges, and a continuous thread of nostalgia and comedy that will delight regular listeners.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Daring Job of Linemen

• [03:15] – The episode kicks off with a story about a lineman repairing power lines from the runner of a helicopter, which leads to admiration for their bravery and a segue about lineman-relations.
• Personal Stories:
  • One panelist shares about "Uncle Joe," a lifelong lineman:
    • “That’s a stressful, amazingly hard job.” (D, 04:00)
    • “Uncle Joe’s one of the fittest guys I know, too. Still at 67 or whatever.” (D, 04:13)
  • A running joke develops about whether linemen relieve themselves (‘mud falcon’) from up high, creating a recurring comedic thread.

2. Listener Letters: White Castle Valentine’s Day Tradition

• [05:13] – Christy reads a listener letter about White Castle's unique Valentine’s experience, serving families and couples with reservations, checkered tablecloths, roses, and waitstaff.
• [06:03] – The cast breaks into a song parody about romance at White Castle (to the tune of "Nights in White Satin" by Moody Blues):
  • "Onion breath kisses from your cheapskate boyfriend / Romance and slider / Bright lights and your man / How you'll treasure those memories / Valentine's on the can and I love you..." (E, 06:15-07:00)
• Discussion:
  • The group reminisces about personal White Castle experiences and jokes about making up for the casual setting with a fancy present.
  • “You don’t even need fancy presents. It’s just a fun thing to do.” (D, 07:30)

3. Audience Mailbag: Pet Names, Dog Stories, and Comedic Mishaps

• [08:00] – The hosts read letters about pet names.
  • Many dog and cat names are inspired by alcohol (Whiskey, Brandy, Kalua, Martini, Bailey, Gilby).
    • “As a child, my parents had a dog named Whiskey...later a dog named Brandy. Were my parents alcoholics?” (Letter read at 08:17)
  • Stories of awkward encounters when calling pets:
    • “The dog's name was Whitey...named after Whitey Herzog...So we were yelling through the neighborhood, yelling ‘Whitey’ at the top of our lungs.” (C, 10:34)
    • Other stories include a cat named Stir Fry, a dog named Bark, and a racing greyhound named "Priest" (leading to yelling “Priest” near a Catholic church).
  • Host childhood stories: Discovering a parent's less-than-honest explanation for a pet’s disappearance:
    • “I took it out to the country and dumped it. I got tired of standing on the front porch yelling for Peter.” (A, 12:43)

4. Nostalgia: Lost Pets, Reunions, and Old Belongings

• [13:55] – The cast reflects on running into former pets or objects:
  • One adopted Afghan hound turns up years later with another family.
  • Another host recounts encountering someone who owned their old guitar.
    • “Pawn shop in Ohio, just two weeks ago...I was mortified. It was a Seagull guitar. I loved it.” (E, 14:33)

5. Quick Hit Topics and Musical Parody

• [16:41] – Instant musical request: "Cocaine washed upon the shore in Hialeah"
  • Pat parodies the story of cocaine bales washing ashore in Florida, injecting Miami and Hialeah references:
    • “Cocaine washed upon the shore in Hialeah / Selling it on the streets is a bad idea..."
    • "I met a girl in Key West named Maria / Made love on the beach, got Maria / Ate a Cuban sandwich, got diarrhea...” (E, 16:41–17:44)
• [18:16] – Final humorous letter about "breastaurants":
  • Listener tips off the hosts about a fictional male equivalent to Hooters called “Long Schlong Silvers.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Linemen’s Courage:

  “Talk about balls. And what a great pilot to be able to—” (C, 03:39)
  “Uncle Joe’s one of the fittest guys I know, too. Still at 67 or whatever.” (D, 04:13)

• On White Castle Valentine’s Event:

  “You have a server that comes to your table and delivers your food. They get out nice checkered tablecloths. There’s roses on every table. They decorate the entire restaurant.” (A, 05:42)

• Song Parody, ‘Valentine’s at White Castle’:

  “Valentine’s Day at White Castle is back again / Onion breath kisses from your cheapskate boyfriend / Romance and slider / Bright lights and your man / How you'll treasure those memories / Valentine’s on the can and I love you...” (E, 06:15–07:00)

• Awkward Pet Names:

  “The dog’s name was Whitey...We were yelling through the neighborhood, yelling ‘Whitey’ at the top of our lungs. P.S., I married her anyway.” (C, 10:34) “You can name the dog anything you want. She named the dog Bark. When Bark would get out and run away, we’d be running through the neighborhood going ‘Bark! Bark!’” (C, 11:52)

• Dad’s Honesty About a Runaway Dog:

  “I took it out to the country and dumped it. I got tired of standing on the front porch yelling for Peter.” (A, 12:43)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:15] – Lineman helicopter story & dangerous jobs
• [05:13] – Listener letter: White Castle Valentine’s tradition explained
• [06:03] – White Castle Valentine’s Day song parody
• [08:00] – Discussion: Pet names, awkward pet stories
• [10:34] – “Whitey” the dog story
• [11:52] – “Bark” the dog story
• [12:43] – Dad admits deserting "Peter" the dog
• [13:55] – Reflections on lost pets/old objects
• [16:41] – Song parody about Hialeah and cocaine story
• [18:16] – Listener joke about “Long Schlong Silvers”

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Conclusion

True to the show's form, this episode mixes goofy improvisation, offbeat stories, playful digs among co-hosts, and heartfelt asides about family and pets. With listener engagement, memorable musical hijinks, and lots of laughs, it’s a dose of comedic camaraderie that’s both light and relatable—a perfect sampler for new and longtime fans alike.

Transcript

[A]

Welcome back.

[B]

It's another Bob and Tom Extra. This is Christopher. Not only is the Bob and Tom show live every weekday morning, but every afternoon we'll give you a little extra in case you missed anything on the big show today. Lineman plus letters and a White Castle Valentines. It's coming up in just a minute.

[C]

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[A]

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[C]

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[B]

The next time you're traveling, don't forget about the historical and beautiful state of Illinois. Catch a Cubs game at Wrigley Field in Chicago, hit a riverboat casino in Peoria, and make sure you visit the charming community of Effingham, Illinois, where Interstate 70 meets the Little Wabash River. And whenever you're in Effingham, visit the Effing House Family restaurant. Founded in 1854 by the corpulent railroad magnate Colonel Harry S. Effing, the Effing House Family Restaurant is one of America's oldest and finest dining establishments. Start your day with the delicious Effing Country Breakfast featuring an effing omelette with toast, grits and a big effing beverage of your choice. Or try our Bed the Big Effing Deal once again. This week it's effing ham and eggs. For lunch, try the Huge Effing Burger, hand fried in a rich butter sauce mixed with big effing egg yolks. We call it the Effing Heart Attack. It's an effing experience you'll never forget. And what about dinner? Juicy effing steaks with fresh effing veggies and a creme brulee. That's effing out of this effing world. Or go effing nuts with a hot fudge sundae. How would you rate the Effing House family restaurant? It was the best effing experience of my life.

[A]

Rate this place.

[C]

Well, yeah, I wouldn't give it a

[A]

B. I wouldn't even give it a

[B]

C because it's effing A. In Effingham, Illinois, it's the Effing House family Restaurant. You'll have an effing good time. We know what you need. Here's another healthy dose of Bob and Tom extra.

[C]

Anybody see the news story yesterday where they had a guy sitting on. I don't know how to describe it. I guess kind of on the. The helicopters. They land on those bar. What. What do they call that?

[D]

Oh, on the runners.

[C]

On the runners of a helicopter. Did you see this? And the guy's sort of strapped in, but he's sitting there and he's. And he's. They're hovering above a tower with power lines.

[D]

Oh. Because he's trying to fix the power line.

[C]

And you know what? That's got to be. If the wind blows or anything. Yeah. Talk about balls. And what a great pilot to be able to.

[D]

Yeah, absolutely.

[C]

So, yeah, they're. They're out there working.

[D]

My Uncle Joe is a lineman for many, many years for Pacific Gas and Electric. And it's a. That's a stressful, amazingly hard job.

[C]

But the good news is one of the best. One of the best songs ever written is about that job.

[D]

Yeah. The lineman from Glenn Campbell.

[C]

Wichita lineman.

[E]

Absolutely.

[C]

Great tune.

[D]

I'll tell you what. Uncle Joe's one of the fittest guys I know, too. It's still at 67 or whatever.

[C]

That's because he's been carrying around those bo. Bowling ball testicles and climbing up poles.

[D]

Yeah, absolutely.

[C]

Can you do me a favor?

[D]

I'm gonna see him in the summer.

[C]

You promise to do this?

[D]

What?

[C]

Ask him if he's ever done a mud falcon.

[D]

Okay. My Uncle Joe is, like, my hero. And I've loved him because he's only two years older than me. We grew up almost like brother and sister. And I can pretty much guarantee he's never done that because he's, like, not that guy. He's.

[E]

He's a proper man.

[D]

Proper man. He was union for a while, so

[C]

he'd have to climb all the way down to the ground to drop one.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[D]

Oh, yeah. He would be that guy. But I'll ask.

[C]

I'm thinking. I mean, nature calls.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

You're 300ft up, and you don't have a half an hour to climb down. You just let it rip.

[A]

Yeah. You're out in the middle of nowhere. The way he is around you and the way he is on the job are probably a lot different.

[D]

Well, I'll find out.

[C]

You okay?

[D]

Because he's retired now, so I'm sure he would tell me.

[C]

Well, it's a time for listener letters. Christy, you got a letter over there.

[D]

I do. Good morning, Bob and Tom. I hope you guys are staying warm. I just was listening to the show as I do every morning, and you were talking about White Castle. Do they still have Valentine's Day? They do. My wife is a. A general manager at White Castle, and they buy. You have to have reservations, I believe. And they are serving from four to nine at over 300 White Castle locations, so check yours.

[C]

So this is.

[D]

Try to make a reservation. They've been doing it for 35 years.

[C]

Sit down, sit down.

[D]

Jeff has experienced this.

[A]

Yeah, we did it a few years with the kids. They. They get out nice checkered tablecloths. There's roses on every table. They decorate the entire restaurant. You have a server that comes to your table and delivers your food.

[C]

Very fun.

[A]

Oh, yeah. The kids love it.

[C]

Oh, cool.

[D]

Now, I do have a song about this.

[E]

I think I might. What if I remember the chord changes? Yeah, we. This is going back a ways, but. Yeah, they. Valentine's Day at White Castle is back again. Onion breath kisses from your cheapskate boyfriend Romance and slider Bright lights and your

[D]

man

[E]

how you'll treasure those memories Valentine's on the can and I love you Yes, I love you. That's really high for this time of the morning. Oh, yeah.

[C]

I want to drop that down. Drop that down a couple steps.

[E]

No, it's all always been there.

[C]

You made it.

[D]

Now I want White Castle.

[C]

Is that the original key?

[E]

Yes, sir.

[C]

Wow. Those. Those guys are good. Our apologies to the Moody Blues. And may one of them rest in peace.

[D]

That could be kind of fun. I think that would be.

[C]

Yeah, No, I think it's cool.

[D]

Yeah. I really do love White Castles.

[C]

And it's. It's one of those things. It's. You could make up for the fact that it's not a super fancy dinner with a nice fancy present.

[D]

Well, you don't even need fancy presents. It's just a fun thing to do.

[A]

It's a unique experience.

[D]

Yeah. Unique experience. Thank you.

[C]

Okay.

[D]

I'm just saying, why don't you try that this year. You want me to make a reservation for you?

[C]

Yeah, that's a great idea for the football. We'll probably just stay home and make something ourselves.

[D]

And when you got the girls.

[C]

Yeah, they got stuff to do.

[D]

And I have a heart shaped pan. Do you want to borrow it? You can make brownies in it. That's why I always.

[C]

I have one of those. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[D]

Kids love that.

[C]

Now, we've been talking about dog names.

[D]

Mm.

[C]

Because we had the top 10 dog names and top 10 cat names. And interestingly enough, they were almost all female names. And Ace pointed that out. And I think it may be because the survey was taken among thousands of people who have pet insurance.

[D]

So you think more women have pet insurance than men?

[C]

I don't know if that skewed the results. I think it does, but we were talking about just various dog names and our dogs names, etc. I got this nice letter. Hey, folks, I. You were talking about classic dog names. Got me thinking. I. As a child, my parents had a dog named Whiskey and later a dog named Brandy. These classic names are. Were my parents alcoholics?

[D]

I had a dog named Kalua. So I can relate.

[E]

My mom had Martini and Bailey.

[D]

Yeah, I had Kalua.

[C]

Are you kidding?

[E]

No, I'm not kidding. Martini and Bailey.

[D]

I love that.

[E]

Now when you yell it out in

[D]

the neighborhood, I got one of those.

[C]

I had a. I had a. A guinea pig. And my dad's friend, Mr. Mosher named him Gilby, which I later found out was after the gin. Gilby's gin.

[D]

I don't know what that is, but I like the name Gilby. I think it's.

[C]

I think. Yeah, Gilby was a cool name.

[D]

It's a very cool name.

[C]

My dog Duffy got a hold of Gilby and.

[D]

Oh, no, not that story again.

[C]

Sorry. Sometimes the true stories are the true ones.

[D]

Here's. Here's a letter from Kristen. And she's done something I've always wanted to do. Adopted a greyhound. His racing name? Priest. Actually it's called. It's a priest. He had a white collar, so we just simply called him Priest. Problem is there's a Catholic church a block from our house, and when he would run off, we'd be out calling Priest. Priest.

[C]

Wow.

[D]

Boy, if a greyhound gets out. Yeah, that's a tough catch.

[C]

Yeah, I just saw a beautiful one the other day.

[D]

I've always wanted to adopt a greyhound.

[C]

Yeah. You want to keep them on the leash?

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

Okay. This. These get worse and it's pretty much the same thing. Dear Bob and Tom show, once again, sorry to bother you at work. I was dating my now wife. We were walking together with a beautiful white Labrador retriever. We were in a less than desirable part of town. This comes into play.

[D]

Oh, no.

[C]

A couple sentences away, the dog got loose. My wife started yelling the dog's name to get it back.

[D]

Can I guess?

[C]

The problem was the dog's name was Whitey.

[D]

Yep.

[C]

That was named after St. Louis Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog. You'll recall I have a dog named after the former Colts manager Tony Dungy, who I'm a big admirer of. So we were yelling through the aforementioned neighborhood. You can put anything you want together there. Yelling, Whitey. At the top of our lungs. P.S. i married her anyway. Thank you, Steve. We. We certainly appreciate that. From Sean, by the way. Thank you. Sean in Lunenburg, anyone?

[D]

London?

[E]

No idea.

[C]

L U N E N B U R G I don't know where that is.

[D]

I've never heard of it.

[C]

We have another one here. Talk about bad pet names. I had a cat named Stir Fry. She would get out. I'd be walking through my neighborhood calling out, stir Fry, Stir Fry. But here we go. This one is even better. Hey, guys, this is David from Northern California. You were talking about dog names. We had a beautiful yellow lab puppy. We told our little girl Katie, who was 4 at the time, she could name the dog. You can name the dog anything you want. She named the dog Bark. When Bark would get out and run away, we'd be running through the neighborhood going, bark, Bark. That's.

[D]

I kind of like that.

[C]

But again, when you. It's a great name for a dog, but you have to think ahead.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

I was reminded of this yesterday. My first dog I was allowed to name. And when I was in first grade, I got a dog. And they're like, what do you want to name it? And I named it Peter. I don't know why I named it Peter. That's just the dog name that I picked.

[D]

Okay.

[A]

Peter ended up, I was told, ran away. I found out later on, sitting at a Chili's eating riblets with my dad, that I was like, oh, I always felt horrible that Peter ran away. He goes, oh, that dog didn't run away. He goes, I took it out to the country and dumped it. I got tired of standing on the front porch yelling for Peter.

[D]

Oh, my gosh.

[A]

I was like, are you serious? You dumped it? He goes, I mean, I opened the door and I didn't toss it, but Yeah. I dumped it out in the country because I didn't want to stand on our porch and yell for Peter around all the other men.

[C]

Oh, God. Your dad's still with us, isn't he?

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

It's time for a revival. Revenge. Yes. That's awful.

[A]

Oh, I've gotten the revenge. I. I had the nose piercings and the ear.

[C]

Oh, that's right. Yeah. Did you show them the tattoos?

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

Okay, good.

[D]

My very first dog as a little kid, I think I was about four, was a boxer. We called her Tammy. She was the sweetest dog. I wonder whatever happened to Tammy. We moved out to the country, so maybe she.

[C]

She met.

[E]

She met Peter.

[C]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

Lived happily ever after.

[C]

That's the thing. I think that one of the things you have to do in a case like that is you gotta go through your head and go, best case scenario.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Peter had a great life.

[D]

Right. Somebody found him. Yeah. Lived on a farm with one of my Afghan hounds. Ran away, and I never found him. And about 10 years later, I ran into a gal, and we were talking about dog shows. My parents found a black Afghan hound once, and I went, that was my. I mean, how many black Afghan hounds?

[A]

That's crazy.

[D]

So it had to be mine, right? And he ended up having a wonderful life.

[C]

Do you ever meet anybody that has one of your old cars? No. Yeah. I, I.

[D]

That. You didn't give them.

[C]

Oh, no, no. I mean, like, five people down.

[D]

Oh, no.

[E]

I met someone that had one of my old guitars. No. No kidding. Pawn shop in Ohio just two weeks ago.

[A]

He came up. It was like, I bought your guitar.

[E]

No, he brought the guitar in to show me.

[D]

Did he ask you to sign it?

[E]

No, he didn't. I'm not kidding. The Lima show that we were at,

[C]

was it a good one?

[E]

Yeah, it was a good one.

[D]

You offered to buy it back.

[E]

Oh, no, I didn't. I was mortified. It was a seagull guitar. I loved it.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

I was doing. I was interviewing this lady for. I forgot what it was for us. And she goes, oh, it's a school thing. And she goes, by the way, I think I might have your old car. It was a. It was a Volvo.

[D]

I was gonna say most box.

[C]

A boxy Volvo sedan that I'd gotten rid of to get a station wagon when I had kids. And it was. She had 250,000 miles on.

[D]

Wow. I was going to say, because you usually give your cars away to people, to friends.

[C]

Yeah. But it was. Yeah, it was. It was pretty funny. I Mean, it had been, I don't know, 15 years or more, but it had gone through several people. Kind of funny. Now, if you have a. By the way, if you have the dog, Peter, or. What was your Afghan's name?

[D]

My Moonraker. No, his name was Moonraker. I did not name that dog. Yeah, after the James Bond film.

[E]

That's worse than Dungy.

[D]

I know, right?

[C]

Yeah. When you think of the James Bond films, it could have been Octopus.

[D]

Right?

[E]

Imagine yelling that.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. You know, there's some idiot with a cat named Octopussy out there.

[D]

It was not guaranteed.

[C]

Yeah. Now, Pat, we have a. We have an instant request I have not told you about yet. Oh, boy. I will just give you a hint and you can dig it up. It involves a name that I only associate with a horse track in Florida. Beautiful name, Hialeah. And we have had some news stories of late. The most recent one was a guy in the Keys. Fisherman, I guess, was out there and he stumbled upon some flotsam. Perhaps it was jetsam. I'm not sure if it was thrown off the boat or if the boat sank. Whatever it was, it was giant bales of cocaine. And he ended up deciding to cash in and sell one. But the guy he sold it to was an undercover cop.

[D]

Oops.

[C]

And, yeah, he's in big trouble. But we had Hialeah in the news. Do you remember the story?

[E]

I do, yeah.

[C]

Well, this gentleman would like to hear the tribute that you did to Hialeah and famous for the racetrack.

[E]

Oh, absolutely. Didn't they have a dog racetrack? Yeah, a bunch of stuff.

[C]

Or sort of.

[E]

Just to the right of Miami there. It has the ocean there and everything. And it's a common place because in Miami it's very populated. Hialeah, not so much. So many assorted things happen in Hialeah. Oh, oh, yeah, yeah. Like this. Cocaine washed upon the shore in Hialeah. Selling it on the streets is a bad idea. Now we're all going to try to guess the rhymes. Okay? Let's have fun with this. If you find it, call the cops asap. You got it. Cocaine washed upon the shores of Hialeah. I met a girl in Key west named Maria, Made love on the beach, Got Maria, ate a Cuban sandwich, got diarrhea. Cocaine washed up on the shore and.

[C]

What a beautiful name. Thank you very much for that request. That comes to us from Jack in the great state of Florida. Thank you, Jack.

[D]

Who'll be my ex husband?

[C]

No, his last name is Paige.

[D]

Oh, Jack Page wasn't married to that one.

[C]

You sure? You might check records.

[D]

Good morning, Jack. I'm sure he's listening.

[C]

Thank you, Jack.

[D]

Woody.

[C]

Now you got a letter over there.

[D]

I do.

[C]

We were talking about a news story yesterday. What's it called? Twin Peaks. Yes, the so. And they. They use the term, as you said, breastaurant. It's kind of like a Hooters. Yeah, there's one a couple miles from here that is always packed.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

So I can't understand why the company is going. Chapter 11, bankruptcy.

[D]

Well, I don't know. Everything straightened out and they won't go away.

[C]

Okay. This comes to us from Errol. What a great name.

[D]

Errol Flynn.

[C]

No, but you never hear that name anymore. E R, R, O, L. Errol. He said listening. On my way to work, the topic of Hooters came up. You asked if there was a male equivalent. I guess you've never heard of a local spot here in Chiloquin, Oregon, called Long Schlong Silvers. Very popular with the ladies. Indeed.

[B]

That's it for another Bob and Tom show. Extra. Catch us on itunes, Google Play and Stitcher for Bob and Tom. Extra. This is Christopher. Take care, everybody. This isn't your average podcast.

[C]

You like party? I do like a huge chug of tequila.

[A]

The howler head whiskey bottle chug in

[D]

front of Dana White.

[C]

That was the first time we ever went to la. We somehow got into a ditty party. What's an Elon Musk house party look like? My parties generally have very high production value.

[B]

This is full send.

[C]

I do want to do a lot more pranks.

[D]

Bunch of different pranks.

[B]

Join the party.

[C]

Jack Doherty in the house. Feeling good, man. What are we going to talk about with Will Smith?

[B]

I know what you're going to say.

[C]

Shout out to Theo Von. It's been entertaining, dude.

[B]

The full Send podcast. Grab the boys, grab the beers.

[A]

Let's do it.

[B]

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