The Infomaniacs: March 31, 2026 (8:00am)

March 31, 2026·40 min·3 clips

A fire on the Brazos River railroad bridge and a $400,000 hack recovery kick off today's local news roundup.

1. WTAW's Infomaniacs morning show for March 31, 2026 opens with local Brazos County news before moving to a series of light feature segments on travel, food history, and odd facts. 2. Hosts Will and Riley co-anchor the show; Glenn, a representative from the Bryan-College Station Chamber of Commerce, joins as a regular Tuesday guest. 3. The show's core format is local news and radio conversation — two hosts riff on submitted stories, take caller calls, and provide weather forecasts while weaving in community announcements. 4. Local news includes the recovery of most of the $400,000 stolen from the South Brazos County Emergency Services District by email hackers, with the Sheriff's Office noting timely reporting was critical. 5. 58-year-old Audrea Costanzio was sentenced to up to six months of shock probation and ordered to pay $31,000 restitution after pleading guilty to stealing parking money from Texas A&M football fans at College View High School between 2018 and 2022. 6. A stalking arrest occurred after Bryan Police used a drone to locate 28-year-old Anthonis DeMond Benford O'Brien hiding under a pickup truck after he broke a window at a woman's home and called her eight times. 7. A travel segment covers quirky U.S. roadside attractions including Missouri's Nuclear Waste Adventure Trail — a former uranium processing site repurposed into a popular birdwatching and stargazing hiking trail. 8. In Alexandria, Indiana, Michael Carmichael's world-record ball of paint began as a baseball in 1977 and now has more than 30,231 layers; Carmichael originally planned to stop at 1,000 layers and cut it open. 9. Two graves built into the middle of roads are discussed: Nancy Kerman Barnett's 1831 grave in Franklin, Indiana, and Holly Tatnell's 1947 grave on Wheelock Street in Hearn, Texas, designated a historic Texas cemetery in 2007. 10. The Hannah Montana 20th anniversary Airbnb — the actual Malibu mansion used for exterior shots of the show — offered 10 free one-night stays for groups of four from April 6th through April 16th. 11. Nurses' stories of baby names they tried to dissuade parents from using include Colin spelled C-O-L-I-N, Mud Piles, and Tangerine — each anecdote involving a parent who eventually reconsidered or did not. 12. Glenn from the Bryan-College Station Chamber reports the chamber spent approximately $35,000 at the Brazos County 4-H and FFA livestock sale, using funds raised at the annual Crawfish Bowl event. 13. Upcoming Chamber events include a business after-hours at Ranch Harley-Davidson and Ranch RV on April 16th, a 5K run on April 25th, and a job fair at the Brazos Center on April 30th. 14. The 9-minute snooze interval on alarm clocks traces to the 1956 General Electric Snooze Alarm, where mechanical gear alignment made exactly 10 minutes unreliable, so engineers used slightly under 10 minutes. 15. Frank Liberto invented ballpark nachos at Arlington Stadium in 1976, developing a shelf-stable liquid cheese and pre-sliced canned jalapeños because traditional nachos were too slow to assemble for stadium concessions. 16. Concession managers initially refused to carry Liberto's nachos, fearing cannibalization of popcorn sales; nachos were sold from carts in the concourse and outsold popcorn in their first year. 17. Howard Cosell discovered the nachos at Texas Stadium during a Monday Night Football broadcast and spent the remainder of the game talking about them, prompting stadiums across the country to call Liberto for the recipe. 18. The show's tone is casual, conversational, and locally rooted — light banter between Will and Riley, punctuated by community announcements, weather updates, and call-in listeners. 19. Local news, Texas history, and community service listeners in the Bryan-College Station area will find the blend of local and trivia content well-suited to morning commutes. 20. Listeners outside the Brazos Valley who do not have a connection to Texas A&M or local Bryan-College Station civic life may find the heavy local context less relevant.

As heard by us

A brisk Brazos County update on fire news, recovered money, county rules, and Texas A&M items, with weather and sports to finish.

The segment moves quickly through Brazos County headlines: a railroad-bridge fire near Highway 21, the recovery of most of the $400,000 lost in a hacker theft, and restitution tied to parking money at College View High School.

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Why you'd press play

If you want Brazos County headlines before your coffee cools, this is your kind of morning.

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