Friday 5th December 2025

Pack the Backpack Holiday Edition Winner #5

Iowa’s Best Country, KIX 101.1, Central Office Supply, A division of Minuteman, along with generous employees at Lennox Industries in Marshalltown bring you the Holiday Edition of Pack the Backpack. Six area teachers will be awarded $101 dollars in December.

Winners will be announced on December 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th, 17th, 18th at 8:30a on the Morning Kix Start.

Our fifth winner for the Holiday Edition of Pack the Backpack is 1st grade teacher at Blakesburg Elementary, Michelle Erbs. She was nominated by her boyfriend, Ryan Smithart. Here is the nomination letter:

Good Afternoon KIX Country,

I’m emailing today on behalf of my girlfriend, Michelle Erbs. Michelle is a 1st Grade teacher at Blakesburg Elementary in the EBF school district. Some of many items that she has to buy for her classroom are listed below. I wanted to reach out to you guys because I heard about it on the radio and I see first-hand from her the struggle she has buying materials for her classroom on top of living expenses and paying off student loans for her Early Childhood Development degree. She does it though without a second thought as she enjoys teaching and the growth of her students.

Books

Sit-spots

Decorations

Writing materials

Thanks,

Ryan Smithart

Listen below to my interview with Michelle.

To nominate an area classroom, email backpack@kixweb.com.

Pack the Backpack, Holiday Edition! Presented by employees of Lennox, central Office Supply and Iowa’s Best Country, KIX 101.1.

 

More Episodes

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Jonathan Knight

The List for Thursday, December 4th 2025

Welcome to The List,

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are allegedly hitting a rough patch not over romance, but over the prenup. An insider claims the financial talks are “cold-hearted,” mostly because their bank accounts look like they’re from two different planets. Travis wants to play another season or two and eventually jump into broadcasting, and apparently Taylor’s not thrilled with that plan. The source says there is supposed to be a wedding this offseason… but right now the negotiations look less like love and more like Shark Tank.

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Willie Nelson is fed up with the internet declaring him dead every other week and he finally said something. He posted a photo of himself snoozing on a couch with the caption, “If you believe those A.I. death stories one more time.” For months, fake AI posts claimed he collapsed, was hospitalized, or worse. None of it true. Willie’s still here, still laughing, still alive… and more coherent than some of the people posting about him.

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Diddy allegedly thinks someone in his own family sold him out after 50 Cent got access to leaked footage for the Netflix documentary ‘The Reckoning’. The footage shows him distressed on a phone call and Diddy is reportedly determined to figure out who leaked it. He believes only family had access to something that sensitive. And after watching parts of the doc myself? Yeah… “eye-opening” is putting it lightly. This story gets messier by the hour.

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Luke Combs told ESPN he wants to headline the Super Bowl halftime show and watch his Carolina Panthers win that same game. Bold. Very bold. He said he grew up in Charlotte when the Panthers became a team, so it’s “in his blood.” Look, we love the confidence but asking for a halftime slot and a Panthers Super Bowl victory is what scientists call “a miracle.”

You can catch The List, weekday afternoons at 4:20 with Jonathan Knight. Only on Iowa’s BEST Country KIX 101.1

 
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At The Movies

At the Movies for Thursday, December 4th 2025

Join us Thursday during the Drive at Five for ‘At The Movies” brought to you by North Grand Cinema in Ames..

In Theaters this weekend: ‘Eternity’

In an afterlife where souls have one week to decide where to spend eternity, Joan is faced with the impossible choice between the man she spent her life with and her first love, who died young and has waited decades for her to arrive.

https://youtu.be/GzkoY6hUvQQ?si=nNP2LKH33vaignxg

‘Eternity’ is rated: PG

Stars: Elizabeth Olsen, Miles Teller and Callum Turner

THEN - Friday morning after the Movie Mom's review @ 8:30 the MKS will give you a chance to win a family four pack of tickets to the movies at North Grand Cinema...

 AT THE MOVIES...Thursday’s at 5:40, brought to you by North Grand Cinema in Ames and IBC KIX 101.1….

 
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