Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - 12:36: Toronto Mike'd #909

Episode Date: September 3, 2021

Mike chats with Marc Weisblott of 12:36 about the current state of media in Canada and what you oughta know.

Welcome to episode 909 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. local home delivery in the GTA. Chef Drop. Access top chef and restaurant prepared meal kits shipped across the GTA. Save 20% right now with the promo code FOTM20. McKay's CEO Forums.

The highest impact and least time intensive peer group for over 1,200 CEOs, executives, and business owners around the world. StickerU.com, create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals for your home and your business. Palma Pasta, enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. And Mike Majewski, he's the real estate agent who's ripping up the Mimico real estate scene. Learn more at realestatelove.ca. I'm going to need more song. I realize I'm going to have to get an extended mix here. I'm Mike from TorontoMike.com. And joining me this week for his August 2021 recap is Mark Weisblot from 1236. Mike, what kind of music do they usually play in the World Wrestling Federation when somebody prevails in getting rid of their rivals,

kicking them out of the ring, and standing here triumphant over Stew Stone and Cam Gordon of Pandemic Friday, who I complained about for months, dominating your Thursdays, which used to be my preferred time for the 1236 episodes, whether it was them coming in on a Thursday night, making it unlikely for you to do an episode with me right beforehand.

You said Pandemic Friday was tiring enough. Me, right beforehand, you said Pandemic Friday was tiring enough. I had no access to this day of the week until now. Because you closed the book on Pandemic Fridays. Pandemic Friday is toast. And it all ended on Friday at TMLX8. And where were you? Why did I not see your beautiful face at TMLX 8? Complicated business, but

I did listen to the grand finale and my hate listening habits were acknowledged during the show. How did it go? The turnout there on the GLB patio? Very well. Very good. Did you feel it was like the before times? This was a

lot more normalcy when it came to people getting back together, not being scared to stand near one another, vaccinated on the patio? Like we were outdoors and everybody was careful. But the only time I remembered, I got a reminder that we're not in the normal times, was I didn't like the fact that the patio was full. All the seats were taken and people were still arriving and I wanted't like the fact that the patio was full. All the seats were taken and people were still arriving and I wanted them on the patio. So I started like carrying tables and chairs onto the patio and I got a

little, like a little, like a slap on the wrist that there's like a cap, like there's a capacity on that patio due to COVID-19. So if it wasn't for COVID-19, I would have basically jammed that patio due to COVID-19 so if it wasn't for COVID-19 I would have basically jammed that patio so everybody could be there but instead I had like when Hebsey arrived he had to sit on the sides and then people were on the lawns and uh I will say great turnout much love to Palma Pasta because the food was delicious and there was enough for everybody even leftovers Palma did a

great job catering the event and hosting hosting this event, Great Lakes did a tremendous job. Everybody enjoyed their free pour of fresh craft beer. But then Mike Majeski from realestatelove.ca, Mike just waltzes in and buys 40 more beers. I think it was 40 for like 200 bucks. Buy 40 more beers. I think it was 40. For like 200 bucks, he would buy 40 more beers for everybody. Honestly, it was like just a perfect magic night.

And then when we got kicked off the patio at 9 p.m., we just moved to a park and continued like late into the night. No capacity limits there. No mask mandates required. Oh, so you listened, right? What did you think? There's been a lot of chatter about the Liz speech particularly. I'm curious what your thoughts are on all this.

Now, give me a bit of background here. Liz, do you want to say her last name? Yeah, she uses it a lot. Liz Brio. Same as the TV writer. Right, exactly. F-O-T-E-M. Bill Brio. Right. it a lot uh liz brio same as the the tv writer right exactly same spelling bill bill brio right uh she spoke for many of us by confronting stew stone wow wow about uh the the extreme

stew stoneness uh which exhibited itself uh to the extreme on many episodes of Pandemic Friday. And you have speculated over the past 17 months that a lot of this is just a shtick. It's Stu going into a schtick coma. Right. Right. Right. And putting on this persona, which does not necessarily represent the real Stuart Eisenstein. Right.

That Stu Stone is an alter ego. Right. Stu Stone is an alter ego. Right. He's a student of the squared circle. And that Pandemic Fridays was his way of finally fulfilling his lifelong fantasy to enter the world of sports entertainment with the kayfabe that he performed with you and Cam Gordon. Well, okay.

Well, those aren't exactly my thoughts. My thoughts are merely that Stu has that wrestling background. He was a wrestler. I can't remember the name of the league or whatever, but in California, he was in wrestling as a manager. And I saw his promos. He'd cut promos. He'd do his shtick like you see in wrestling.

And I think Stu brings a lot of that to Pandemic Fridays. And I think the reason you get the Lizas out there is that it's very different from every other Toronto Mic'd episode where there's a focus on authenticity. You don't do shtick. There's no shtick. Okay, but what made you think that she was not also putting on a performance? Oh, I never even... I don't know, because she can't be that good at it. Like, that was quite the performance.

Is it possible that Stu Stone met his match? We could sell tickets to the Liz vs. Stu rematch. In lieu of that, then, I think you should fire up a song that I put in today's 1236 newsletter here on September 2nd to announce that I'm taking a week away. Is that this one? No, no. It was Leona Boyd. Okay.

We'll get to that other song after. First order of business. I got to break open a GLB first. Okay. That's your IPA. Okay. Okay, I saw notice of Leona Boyd doing a cover version of Popcorn. Yes, by Hot Butter. A big hit record from 1972.

Hot Butter. Popcorn was written by Gershon Kingsley, who we talked about here on a 1236 Memorial segment at the end of one episode. He made it to age 97. Leona Boyd covering Popcorn. Song is a half century old. Made me think this is what music was

supposed to sound like at the end of the world. This is like what they would put out as a hit record at a point in time where there was a global pandemic for a year and a half. We ran out of entertainment. The well was dry.

Nobody had any new ideas anymore. And good old Leona Boyd was able to step in and fill the void by presenting popcorn, a remix of popcorn to a whole new generation. And I just threw that into the 1236 newsletter today because I was a little off my game, getting ready to take a week off, extended it by another day, and I got more replies than ever Getting ready to take a week off. Extended it by another day.

And I got more replies than ever about something that I put in the newsletter. Wow. About this video by Leona Boyd. Maybe because it wasn't crowded around with a whole bunch of other news and items that people didn't understand. And don't bury the lead here. We could get straight to the point. Don't bury the lead. Leona Boyd is my special guest on Monday morning. This is the lead.

Leona Boyd is making her Toronto Mike debut. I'm finally going to have a classical guitarist on the program here. And you can thank Eric Alper, Canada's most famous music publicist, for bringing Leona Boyd back to the people. Do you think we'll find out about her romance with the father of Canada's current prime minister? Well, current? Well, you mean the father?

Oh, yeah. So there will be discussion. For sure, I'm going to ask her. She put in her memoir that she was a Pierre Elliott, uh, Trudeau's lover for eight years. So without a doubt, I've got some questions.

So she put, once you put it in that memoirs, it's fair game. I think I can ask about it. Okay. Let's see if Leona boat can stand up to the real talk. I'm willing to bet that future Mike might have to make an appearance in this episode.

Future Mike shows up on the episodes where the interview goes a little sideways. Sure. But he rarely shows up. You have to break into the recording. Twice, I think. I think twice. To build the anticipation for what you're about to hear. If I feel something needs a bit of context, Future Mike shows up, but it's only happened with Molly Johnson and Carol Pope.

Why do you feel there's a need to break into a Real Talk episode as Future Mike and explain what's going to happen? Do you think it's in deference to the guest that you don't want to leave a bad taste with people about them? Do you imagine that the listeners don't want to hear a confrontational conversation that you're involved with? People love you too much. They expect the dialogue to go smoothly. Where does the compulsion come from?

That you have to throw in a disclaimer. Well, remember, only two times. This is episode 909 or something. And one time was Carol Pope had bad internet and I lost her. So we needed a little bit of like, this is what's going on here with the internet and then it evens out and hang with it. And then the other time was Molly Johnson, which because i was doing the intro in post anyways i felt it

needed a little framing like just to explain like like like i just felt like you shouldn't do that episode cold it needed a little background on like what happened before i pressed record and that's the only two times so i bet you anything Leona Boy does not have a future mic involved. I think it's going to go fine. She seems, we've been emailing today, and she seems pretty jazzed about it. And I'm looking forward to it. Okay, that other song that you started to play

I think will get us in the mood for this month in 1236. Hand out, baby 1236. 1236. I'm begging, begging you To put your loving hand out, baby I'm begging, begging you To put your loving hand out I'm riding high

When I was king I played it hard and fast I walked away. You want me then. But easy come and easy go. And it wouldn't. So anytime I bleed, you let me go. Yeah, anytime I feed, you got me.

No. Anytime I see, you let me know. But I plan and see, just let me go. I'm on my knees when I'm baking. Because I don't want to lose you. Hey, yeah. Da, da, da, da yeah Cause I'm making, making you Okay Mike, if I told you that this song is now a genuine top 40 radio hit in the U.S. of A.

Crossing over across Canada, would you believe me? I'd be surprised. And yet that's what's happened in the past month. An Italian band called Manskin, who were recently in the Eurovision Song Contest. And while they thought that that would be their big breakthrough because they won Eurovision in 2021. Now, Eurovision is seen as something of a joke, musically speaking.

Well, we typically ignore it here. Ignore it here, and like it's a stuff of parodies that this Eurovision music belongs to a different world than North American pop charts. But at the same time, here was a song from 2017, a cover of the Four Seasons that became big on TikTok. And as a result of all that TikTok-ing, here this pretty obscure single from the Four Seasons from 1967. Suddenly hearing it blasting out of the top 40 radio stations

in between the Olivia Rodrigo and the Dua Lipa. And I think we speculated here over the months, what would it take for a rock song to break through in 2021? What would be the Smells Like Teen Spirit 30 years later? Mike, you are listening to that song right now. Wow. I love it when you introduce these jams. Did we put a bow on the whole TMLX 8 Pandemic Friday finale?

I just want to revisit it so we can move forward to say that Pandemic Fridays, not only was I angry at the whole idea of the pandemic and the name Pandemic Friday, but the weekly thing was killing me, so it did have to end. But for the record, after 76 weeks, I got into that flow that once a week, there'd be some schtick on Toronto Mic'd,

and I got into the whole straight man, if you will, that is Cam Gordon, and the stewstone persona, if you will. And it was their chemistry and their rivalry, and I got to kind of be the person who presses the buttons and kind of interject and tried not to pollute the process. But I loved the formula, and I loved the rapport, and I loved hanging for three hours a week.

I tweeted that the unsung hero of Pandemic Fridays is poor Monica because literally, although I'm doing it again now, by the way, I'm doing it again right now. You've got me doing it again. Well, that's because I wanted the thrill of taking over the time slot that Stu Stone was squatting on. Not only that, but he didn't even have the courtesy to show up on time most Thursday nights, right? Oh, okay, yeah.

Like, he tries to carve three precious hours from your week. You've got to get up early on Friday morning, get the kids ready, ready to go to camp. School's on its way back. You've got an appointment with Mark Hemsher. And Stu Stone holding you hostage late into every Thursday night.

But there are 76 weeks where once a week I would spend three hours drinking Great Lakes beer and hanging out with Cam and Stu which was awesome. We were kicking out jams. But here it's really now it's the 77th week. I'm doing it again. Here we are drinking Great Lakes and hanging out in my backyard for a few hours here on a Thursday night.

So you've got the time slot, but you're a monthly, they're a weekly, and therein lies the rub. Hey, buddy, can I give you something now? This is a new thing I can do. This is something I want to do. Can I do it quickly?

Uh-oh, are you springing a new sponsor perk onto a guest in Toronto Mic mic'd this is this is the real deal here chef drop chef drop as i said in the intro chef drop is uh gives you access to top chef and restaurant prepared meal kits shipped across the gtha so if you're in the GTHA right now and you go to chefdrop.ca, you can save 20% for the month of September if you use the promo code FOTM20. It's awesome to have Chef Drop on board as a new sponsor. And get this, because you're here, Mark Wiseblood, in my backyard right now, I'm going to email you a digital gift card of sorts. It's $75 that you can spend at chefdrop.ca

just for making the trek to my backyard. Just for taking over Stew Stone's squatting position here on Toronto Might. Do you realize the $75 thing showed up the first month there's no Stu and Cam on Toronto Mike? Not only that, he would have demanded one for every single week. 75 times 76. It was nice to see Stu's mom there, and Stu's mom came on the mic. So shout out to Trudy. I don't know if she's listening to us right now,

but I thought that was pretty damn cool that Stu's mom was there on Friday. Mike, I didn't come all this way to do a recap of Pandemic Friday. Let's get going. I could have been at the Maroon 5 concert happening right now, all right? Like, we were awaiting the day

that not only would concerts return in the ongoing global pandemic, but that we get to the point where American touring acts would cross the border. Remember, we were speculating a few months ago, there was a Megadeth concert announcement for September. You would look at the time and think, is this even going to happen? Is the coast going to be clear? Well, right now, at the Budweiser stage, what was supposed to be with a backdrop of the CNE,

Maroon 5 were able to keep their date and show up tonight and do a concert. And there we have a simulation of the summertime experience. There's no Canadian National Exhibition. They got that out of the way, canceled it for the second year in a row. But there is tonight, Thursday night, a Maroon 5 concert happening at Ontario Place. You went to see Blue Rodeo. I saw Blue Rodeo.

How did that work out? It was really great. You know, once the rain was there a little bit for the opening act, and then the skies cleared up, and it was a beautiful night. Honestly, it was fantastic. So it looked like a full place,

and everybody was happy to be out at a concert. And yeah, I dug it. It was awesome. You ready to go hit some of these awesome stories? I think so. Did you want to play a song by Maroon 5? Oh yeah, I do have one. Okay. This will just get us in the mood

here and then we're going to start Mr. Wise Blunt with I don't like Moon 5. I'm just going to put that on the record. I've been listening this summer to top 40 radio stations mostly from the USA. I can't get enough of this stuff. I'm listening these days more than ever to the kinds of radio stations that will play the same songs every hour.

Justin Bieber's Peaches. Over and over and over again. You really have to tune into American stations to get this experience because you don't have all that Canadian content in the way, even if there's a lot of Justin Bieber and Weeknd and Drake with his new album out the morning after we're doing this. Maroon 5. Okay. And I'm fine with Maroon 5.

I don't know. Did you ever like Maroon 5? They started off as like a young power pop band. They started off. Well, they had a different name. Palatable. What were they called at the beginning? Kara's Flowers.

And it was kind of like one of these groups, an L.A. club scene, the whole idea that they wrote their own material. But then they got too famous. And I think Adam Levine was asked along the way, why aren't you much of a songwriter anymore? He said, well, I lost interest. I mean, my job now is to be the famous guy from Maroon 5.

I'm busy. I don't have time to sit around and write songs. He's got to do sit-ups. We've got people in Sweden who we can outsource that work to. I like this one. Okay. With Megan the Stallion. Beautiful mistakes.

Is it true, I'm asking you now, point blank, is it true that Joey Vendetta was going to be the Fan 590 morning show host? It must be true because I heard it on Hebsey on Sports. Now, we went through the drama this summer going back to Canada Day with Joey Scolari, better known as Joey Vendetta, longtime host of the Q107 Power Factory, Rock and Talk on YTV.

Do you remember that when he was a VJ? With Laurie Hibbard on YTV? And look, I always thought Joey did the best possible job of encapsulating that Toronto heavy metal dirtbag culture, bringing it to the masses on the Q107 airwaves. But that came to an end around 1996. And at some point, he set off for Hollywood. He worked for a Hollywood records label owned by Disney.

Then he got a job at Live Nation. He ended up on tour with Charlie Sheen. Lots of adventures there. And in the process, I think, building up a significant rolodex of celebrities, including in the world of sports. And this is why, according to Mark Hebbshire, Rogers was interested in him hanging around.

Even gave him like a weekend national Saturday afternoon radio show. Where it all fell apart, as we documented here, was on Canada Day when he tweeted that if you don't like this country, given that Canada Day was pretty much canceled in 2021, you can always get up and leave. And he then tried to clarify the tweet, ended up apologizing for it. But ultimately, that was the end of Joey Vendetta's Twitter account.

And that was the end of the Joey Vendetta radio show on Rogers. We heard from Mark Hebscher that Joey was welcome to continue broadcasting his sports radio show. What he put on Twitter, was that really relevant to his ability to do something on the sports radio airwaves? Was there much crossover? And then we learned further from Hebsey that it wasn't just Joey's little part-time gig that maybe he wasn't even getting paid for if he was being paid anything at all but in effect joey was auditioning to become a sports net radio morning man wow not only

did he uh sacrifice doing doing those saturday afternoons uh but again do you do you go on hebsey's word here do you go on Hebsey's word here? Do you think anything he says, his word is good? Something is reported on Hebsey on sports? It's funny you mention that, because the next point I was going to ask you about was Buck Martinez not being vaccinated. Well, how corroborated did you get on that one?

Was it mentioned in a newspaper, Toronto Star, right? No, no, no. There was a story there, though, pointing out the fact that they were doing all these baseball broadcasts from people who were doing play-by-play remotely rather than in Toronto. This is, what, specifically on television? Sportsnet? TV?

No one moved back to Toronto with the team. And it was a bombshell on Sports and Buck Martinez. Just to correct that though, the first series in Toronto was Dan and Pat at the Dome calling the game for

television. Okay, but then Dan went to do Olympics. He went to do Olympics. And Pat... to move on. He went to do Olympics. And Pat, they sent Pat home. Went back where? I think, oh, he went back home wherever he lives, but I think they, I don't think they wanted Pat at the Dome with Buck in Florida. Like,

I think they sent Pat home, so they're both doing it from home. This starts to get very confusing. Sure. And, uh, reliable sources have said, uh, reported further on torontomike.com. Right, with a juicy quote from Mark, because I co-host Hebzian Sports, and I felt he was a little unclear as to whether there was some speculation or was this a proper source.

And then I got him to basically say that he has someone on the inside who is in a position where they would know who has assured him that Buck's not vaccinated and doesn't plan on getting vaccinated. And that's why he's not at the Dome. Is it that much of a surprise, given the fact that with the demographic profile of a Buck Martinez, you would imagine him to be politically conservative? You ready for this, bombshell? I don't even think I care. Hebsey's passionate about this. He thinks you gotta be at the game,

and he seems very riled up and angry about it. And I honestly, when I tune in to watch a Blue Jay game in Bucks in Florida, I don't even think I care. I don't care the Bucks in Florida. Like, to me, it's whatever. Like, maybe he blows a call now and then which I which I never cared about I loved Bob Cole he blew a call now and then and he was at the damn games I don't care I'm there to watch the game I know what I'm looking for uh to be honest

I would be happy if there was a like a mute button on Buck Martinez like I'm just there I'd rather hear the sounds of the game and watch the ball game. But the whole history of TorontoMike.com is people in the media not wanting to turn up with certain stories on Google. And here you posted this tabloid story. Mark Hebzer alleges that Buck Martinez is broadcasting from Florida because he's refused to get vaccinated. Right.

Even though all signs across the board, Rogers Communications, the Rogers Center, any public place that's going to need a vaccine passport to enter starting in September, the letter of the law in Ontario will effectively be saying that if you want to participate in public life, then you need to get a vaccine. At this point in time, could you imagine that the pressure is on? Buck Martinez, because of what Hebsey talked about, because of what you posted? Yes. And that he is going to have to get jabbed. You'd think so, wouldn't you?

But then maybe he can make a public display of it. Maybe he can turn a frown upside down. He can take a stand. He said, I'm not going to die of COVID-19 like all these American right-wing talk radio hosts. I'm going to do what's right. But Mark. Even though I'm sure most of his neighbors in Florida also are against the vaccine. Like it's September, right?

At this point, those who are not vaccinated have chosen to not be vaccinated with a very few medical exemptions, et cetera, et cetera, of which we would have been told by now if Buck had some medical exemption. But I think it's interesting that there's been never been any confirmation that Buck's not vaccinated, but they've never discussed this at all. Like you're right.

I look at my, my, my log visit log files on the server. I see the traffic from people googling Buck Martinez vaccinated or whatever because the rumors out there, they all end up on TorontoMike.com. But I've never seen, I've never heard a word about this in any mainstream media.

Not even to say it's not true. Like you'd think there'd be some article from, I don't know, you name it. Like, I don't know, Steve Simmons would write something to say, I had a call with Buck. He's fully vaccinated. He just doesn't want to travel right now. Like something like that. And you didn't get any cease and desist letters about this?

Nobody demanding that you take it down? And they all know it's there. Rogers Public Relations didn't give you a call? No, no, nothing. So I don't know what to make of any of it, except that it's probably true. Hebsey said as recently as Friday at TMLX8 that it's true. He's standing by his sources.

And the fact that no one's ever said anything otherwise, there's no leaking of anything about, you know, Buck is fully vaccinated or him dropping. No, the fact they haven't said Buck's vaccinated tells you that this is likely true. They're just hoping nobody talks about it or shines a light on it. Tune in tomorrow.

Or whatever next day you're able to listen to Hebsey on sports. It is tomorrow. I love this stuff. I don't speak sports at all. Right. And I never miss an episode of Hebsey. Well, look, those are a couple of Hebsey bombs, the Vendetta one and the Martinez one.

But here's one I'm always curious about, and you've been following this story. Darren B. Lamb. So he's still on the website for CHFI. I wish there was something to follow. Now, an FOTM Maureen Holloway. Yes. She stepped in because Aaron Davis stepped away from 98.1 CHFI, another Rogers radio

station. 98.1 CHFI, another Rogers radio station. And she had been there for, I don't know, 30 plus years. You've had Erin Davis in your basement. She came and went and then she came back. Oh, that's right. There was an interruption. And by the sounds of it, she ended up being paid a whole lot more to come back.

And she got her name worked out in the end. In the front. This was a big deal to Aaron Davis. It was no longer going to be like... It was the Aaron Davis and Mike Cooper show. Okay, so since February, March, Mike Cooper has been back doing the CHFI Morning Show. Wow. With Maureen Holloway. But the show is still billed as Darren and Mo.

Now, it's an unusual situation. I realize that there are some personal issues involved, based on what I've heard, circumstances where you couldn't just fire the guy for whatever he's going through. I will speculate, so I don't have a source on this. Well, I mean, something of a struggle. So a health issue,

be it mental or otherwise or physical, but a health struggle? Yeah, you gotta feel for the guy. Sure. Whatever he's going through. Doing morning radio in Toronto, I mean, before CHFI,

it was Chum FM. It was Roger, Roger, Darren, and Marilyn for a while. I remember Darren B. Lamb being afternoon drive DJ on Chum. And prior to that in Vancouver, he scaled the heights, or he was.

Top of the heap. Canadian commercial radio, CHFI. But 2021, there has not been much Darren. So is this one of those... It's been Maureen Holloway and Mike Cooper, who at one point retired, or semi-retired. He was still doing the Saturday night oldies thing. Still had a relationship with the station.

His wife was sick, right? I remember I asked him to come on the show, and he was spending time with his ill wife. It sounds maybe she got on the rebound. I don't know for sure. It might be worse. It might be the opposite, maybe. Either way, he's back on the radio doing his stupid jokes of the day.

Even though they sent a longtime producer packing. Right. Ian McArthur. Ian the General. So we've had a situation here for the past, I don't know, seven months, where top Toronto radio morning show is billed with the name of a guy who is nowhere to be found and they do not actually disclose to listeners what's going on with him. Interesting. Refreshing the CHFI website right this moment to see. Darren and Mo are still,

still on there. Mr. Wiseblood, is it, maybe this is one of those, none of our business ones. Like every once in a while. Look, I don't think any maybe this is one of those none-of-our-business ones. Like, every once in a while... Look, I don't think any of this is our business.

We've got to talk about something. The Buck Martinez is our business, okay? Well, then, let's make Maureen Holloway our business. She would go in there and talk about other people's business. That's her signature segment. Oh, with Derringer. On the radio show. Right. And, yeah,ringer. On the radio show. Right.

And yeah, I think it's fair game. Maureen Holloway would not have a problem with us talking about other people's business when the other person happens to be her. And I'm sure for what is a significant, lucrative radio gig, as far as Toronto FM Radio is concerned at CHFI? You got to find out, like, who's getting this morning show. There's a lot of history here, a long legacy.

So when they said Ian the General Packing. Why'd they do that? Cost-cutting? I mean, look. Because everybody seemed to love him. That guy's like 54 years old and they're talking about his retirement. Yeah, right, right. And you just know that he's doing like

a thousand yard stare at a lake this summer that's the worst right what are you gonna do next he's worked as a producer on the chmi morning show for something like 31 years wow wow i mean who's gonna who's gonna give a a hand up to ian the general who i? I've met, I think he should be a guest on Toronto Mic. Got lots of stories. I'll reach out to the guy. He was there. He was the producer of the most successful commercial radio morning show in Canada. And right now, the most successful commercial radio morning show in Canada

has had a retired host filling in for much of this year. We're standing by. Keep refreshing that browser to see what's happening. I hope he's well. With Darren. Maybe he'll come back. Look. And then nobody will have noticed he was gone at all.

It's like Bobby Ewing of Dallas taking a shower. Like none of this ever happened. But maybe someone new is lined up. Maybe we'll hear about a high-profile hire there taking his place. I wouldn't be surprised. Just keep Cooper there. If he's digging it, giving him something to do, the audience will love it. I'm sure it's been going swimmingly.

He's a great uh substitute yeah they didn't talk about mike cooper retiring when they quote-unquote retired ian the general right right i mean here we are in the ann roemer zone where where everyone's getting their send off with the gift cards from the from the keg well. I mean, we have a lot of ground to cover here, but tell me what happened with Charles Adler on the chorus network. There were rumors on that Puget Sound radio message board that they were doing some tidying up at chorus

and global news radio. We talked about Mike Stafford. Yep. Self-owning himself out of the morning show. Do you imagine the day will come when you get Stafford back here? I doubt it. I mean, I haven't heard peep from him in years, so I would be surprised.

Talk about what he's gone through. Do you feel bad for the guy? Because I know somebody posted elsewhere a screenshot on Facebook where he's getting emo about the fact that he no longer had a job and that he could no longer provide for his family. That's how he saw the position that he was in. All because of unfortunate message exchange on this chat room, which followed some other tweeting.

I mean, you can look this all up with Mike Stafford. After a while, do you think that he deserved to have his career taken away from him? Or is it a sign of the times that you just got to watch what you say on every single platform and that you shouldn't show yourself to be a potential bigot? You should not, whatever your intention was, you shouldn't put yourself in a position where you're having to explain that what was perceived as a racist statement was actually you trying to be ironic. You see what I mean?

Right. And yet at the same time, everybody's vulnerable for something like that to happen as long as they're posting online. This is what everybody goes on about in the world of cancel culture. And I'm not, I'm not defending Mike Stafford, but it's a fact that in the process that created another vacancy on the radio and wondering whether Global News Radio is looking to clean up its act and its image because Stafford's former co-host, Supriya Dwivedi,

also talked about the messages that she received doing a morning show on a station with, let's say, a right wing orientation where she got all sorts of hateful messages. Racist stuff around the clock directed at her and employers that just didn't know what to do or how to respond and ultimately said, okay, look, this comes with the territory. This is part of the job. Howard Levitt, the employment lawyer, said something along the lines of, this is how talk radio is performed in the 21st century. You go on the air and you are speaking to people who can talk back to you in texting and tweeting. And if you take the job, it's conditional on the fact that you can tolerate the idea that there's going to be a lot of nastiness out there.

Now, who created this culture, this climate, this idea that AM talk radio was all about this fire and fury, and that once the internet came along, the idea was that your success doing talk radio was based on how many people were screaming back at you, how many people were screaming back at you, not as much through the open phone lines anymore, but text messages and emails and responses to everything going on at the station. Well, Charles Adler was one of those people who cut his teeth, laid the groundwork for that blustery style on Canadian radio. I would say you would put him in the Hall of Fame

of great Rush Limbaugh imitators, like Rush Limbaugh, former AM radio DJ, who found that he could reinvent himself in the 90s as far as being a talk radio guy, who started off being, like, really right-wing. I remember hearing him in the early days, I guess, trying to work out his shtick on CFRB. And, you know, he was going on about every issue, every right-wing position that you could hold.

He was just, you know, barking about how people who are gay have something wrong with them, and how the institutions are being overrun with the politically correct, you know, that kind of first iteration of wokeness. You remember from the early 90s, it was Charles Adler who was railing all against this stuff. And, you know, in more recent years, maybe seeing the writing on the wall, I think on at least two different occasions, he went down the same road as his former talk radio colleague, Michael Corrin, and Charles Adler said,

I'm no longer a conservative. I've seen the light. I can no longer associate with these rabid right-wingers anymore. Even though I worked for the Sun News Network, Fox News North, even though at one point I was broadcasting in Tampa, trying to be the next Rush Limbaugh,

here in my golden years, I no longer want to associate with anything conservative. Guess what? Didn't help him keep his job. Global News, radio, said goodbye to him, his show out of Vancouver. So the writing on the wall, yet another host out of the

mix there in this idea of chorus doing across Canada talk radio quietly. That was the end of Charles Adler, but he's 67 years old. So I think legitimately he could claim to be retirement age, but I don't know.

I don't know if guys like that feel that they need to sit in a rocking chair for the rest of their life. They're just barking into a microphone. I mean, you can do that until you're 120 years old. And I think with Charles Adler, maybe a little bit of regret that he could not successfully adjust with the times and in positioning himself as this former conservative, former right-winger,

that Global News Radio decided that he was no longer feasible for their airwaves anymore. And we're going to find out, like, who's the long-term permanent replacement in Toronto of Mike Stafford? What do they do with this global news radio station? Do you have any idea? No, I just assumed it would be given to Greg Brady.

Any wondering? Is there anything interesting about it at all? No, no. For anyone? I mean, look, they said goodbye to every commentator on the air who was capable of saying something that would generate a complaint. Comrade Black and Mark Stein and Sue Ann Levy. Your FOTM Alex Pearson is still there on the air. They hired her again.

Don't forget FOTM Lou Skizis. Lou Skizis, also gone. He did not show up at TMLX8. But FOTM Peterskeezus. Lewskeezus also gone. He did not show up at TMLX8. But FOTM Peter Sherman. Right. He's seen as more of an avuncular voice of reason on the radio. Well, FOTM Greg Brady will get that morning show. That's my prediction.

Yeah, we're standing by to see what happens. But, yeah. Speaking of FOTMs. Farewell and amen to Charles Adler. Look, he did his best. I mean, this was a long run in Canadian Raider. I don't think you missed anything at all. Was he on Mojo?

He was at Chorus and the Sun News Network and at different times on CFRB and different cities across Western Canada, ultimately landing in Vancouver. I mean, look, this guy lived to be on the radio and started off as one of those top 40 DJs and ended up being this talk radio host for the better part of 30 years. Look, speaking of CFRB, Jim Richards spoke about you. What did Jim Richards say about you? Well, okay.

We were talking, I think, in the last 1236 episode about the depressing experience of listening to Jim Richards doing his late-night showgram, broadcasting from his bedroom in Leslieville, and me saying, like, okay, get back in the studio already.

Like, you're doing the show by yourself. I don't know who you're going to infect by showing up at 250 Richmond in the Chum building in the Bell Media Complex and showing up for work like in the good old days and feeding off the energy of doing a radio show. And I think there we've got Jim Richards slacking off by doing this show at home, you can tell, signing on every night from midnight to 4 a.m.,

and just sounding depressed like he doesn't want to be there. And he recruited a bit of a sidekick, a guy named David Cooper, who now lives in New York but originally from Toronto. And this kid before was some sort of computer scientist. He quit his job to try and make it in radio. And I think he's the one bringing the energy to this late night show gram on Bell Media. I think he's the only one giving Jim Richards any motivation to continue doing this show. Because I know Jim is a kind-hearted guy.

Here's his chance to be a mentor, to bring in somebody who wants to make it in radio. And this David Cooper, I can't really judge the quality of what he's talking about, but he's got a smooth enough delivery that you can see this kid making it in radio. And at the same time he's trying out on CFRB, he's doing fill-in shows on WFMU in New Jersey, which is like the extremely eclectic, free-form, volunteer, listener-supported radio station. I commented on Twitter.

I never believed that the day would come, that there would be a crossover, that somebody would be doing a show on CFRB and WFMU in the same night. Like, this is some pretty advanced radio geekery. The intersection of listeners of News Talk 1010 and WFMU. It's just you. Pretty much limited to me. Mark Wiseblood.

So I figured I would give this David Cooper a shout out. I'm pulling for him, too. I wanted him to know that I was paying attention. And as a result of tweeting about him subsequently, not only did he reply that I made his day, that he thought he bombed on WFMU, and this is a show that he's auditioning for,

I guess, to get his own talk show on this influential radio station. It would put him in league with the hippest of the hipsters. It's a coveted role, even though it doesn't pay a dime. It would be a big break for him to get on WFMU.

And he thanked me for listening and appreciating and paying attention for what he's up to. He mentioned how he talked to Rick Moranis. I don't know how he met Rick, but he referenced having an hour-long phone conversation, and Rick is also in his corner in his court pulling for him for david cooper to be the next great cross-border radio star jim caught wind of all this my twitter interaction with david

cooper and i gotta say jim was a little bit condescending towards me in how i acknowledged what's going on with this show. Encouraging a sidekick. Did maybe he feel undermined that I had kind words to offer about this younger sidekick that he's bringing in from New York more than I had to say anything about Jim himself? I don't know if he's sitting down and listening to three hour long, 12, 36 episodes. He's got a show of his own to produce. What I'm saying is I do want to give Jim credit as far as using this opportunity, even if he doesn't want to be doing it, even if they put

him in overnights reluctantly. Doing this show like confined from home, no human contact. Radio shows that are performed and produced with no one having face-to-face interaction with one another, which I think is doing a lot to ruin the experience of listening to the radio. This is where podcasts

are eclipsing what you're now hearing on the AM dial. Because look, we're making the effort to get here back together in your backyard. You just did 76 straight episodes of Pandemic Friday. You are making effort here at Toronto Mic that you're not currently hearing on a station like News Talk 1010. And I think that just has a lot to do with a demoralized environment in general. That just has a lot to do with a demoralized environment in general. The fact that Bell Media, in the midst of this,

did a whole bunch of layoffs and cost-cutting and people not even knowing what they're getting back into. And the people who are left with a job, well, Michael Landsberg also. The way that he exited from the airwaves after, what was it, 37 years of working at TSN? How did that go when you had Michael Landsberg on for his exit interview? Because I think there was speculation that you did not get the real talk from him, that he was portraying an amicable split with the company

when, in fact, no idea. What was there for him to retire from? What is it about Michael Landsberg after 37 years of this? Do you buy the idea that he had a revelation in the summer of 2021 that his time was up and he didn't want to do it anymore? Mark, I worked in the corporate world for decades. I can tell you right now, every time a well-paid person decides they want to quit, there might be a party, there might be cake, there might be cake gift cards, but there's no severance.

There's never severance. Whenever there is a negotiation for an exit package, it's never somebody saying, I don't want to work here anymore. I'm going to go do something else. That's just never. Okay, well, where was Future Mike on that episode, man? Like you should have interjected to say what you are about to hear

in the following episode of Toronto Bites. Because? Maybe a scripted corporate routine that Michael Landsberg is obligated to perform as a condition of his severance from Bell Media. Often when you negotiate that exit package, when you leave a place you've been at for 37 years, part of that negotiation includes the narrative. So you literally negotiate in the save face,

I decided I wanted to move on and do other things element of the story. And then you saw I got an article in the Toronto Star saying the same stuff a few weeks later. I didn't see that. Oh, okay. I never see these. That's what you're here for. Tell me what I missed. Well, they put up the paywall.

I think it gets in the way of easy access of this stuff. It doesn't get shared like it used to. Yeah, it doesn't go viral or whatever. So kudos to Jim Richards. okay so kudos look kudos for to jim richards survive the acts right he's got this show that he's doing every night of the week i think michael landsberg wishes that he could still be doing a show every night of the week the michael landsberg in fact if he was reassigned to overnnights on DSN, I mean, not only would he be the highest paid overnight radio guy in history, but I think he would show up.

You know, like I think he would want to be there. And I'm just saying here about Jim Richards and listening to this frustrating experience of this late night show. Graham, it's not his fault. It might be company policy that they don't want people broadcasting from the studio at this time if they can be doing it from home.

I'm just saying, I don't know what it takes for somebody like Jim Richards to get back to his roots and bring back the spirit of what he used to do before. But what can I say? I'm rooting for the guy. And meantime, I am glad to be acquainted with David Cooper. Look out for him as Jim Richards sidekick on News Talk 1010.

And if I get my way, he will be the next talk show host on WFMU. Uncle Bobby Cox, which is a fantastic handle, is on the live.torontomic.com stream of this. And I'm going to read it because it made me chuckle. It says, Stu Stone and I have filed a DMCA notice to Ian Service on this broadcast. This time slot legally belongs to Pandemic Fridays. Well, based on the severance package that I listened to live from Great Lakes Brewery,

the final episode of Pandemic Fridays, I believe Stu Stone agreed to no longer appear here every week with you on the show. Like he was, he was, he conceded to the deal that you made with him. Kicking and screaming, by the way. But I think ultimately there was a level of acceptance,

right? Partly because you arranged for him to get a job offer to do morning radio in Kingston. I did my best to give him a soft landing of being the morning show host in Kingston. Yep. And he ultimately turned it down. But he might have some kind of side deal there with Bob Ouellette, Bob's basement.

Bob should let Stu do it remotely, don't you think? Let Stu do it from his... No, because this is exactly what we're talking about here. I think Bingo Bob Ouellette is dedicated to the integrity... He's not there. ...of doing good radio. Bob's...

Yeah, but why does he have to be there? Okay, well, I'm just saying... Do you feel because he's the boss? A good leader sets the example. If he wants his on-air people to be in Kingston, Bob should move to Kingston. You might have a point, but at the same time, I think the condition for Stu Stone,

that if you want to dominate morning radio in small-town Canada, you actually have to be living in the place. If they're making the effort to do a live Kingston radio morning show, the least you can do is actually kind of live in Kingston. Well, meanwhile, Roz and fucking Mocha, Roz and Mocha

are in what, how many markets across this country? They only live in one. Okay, this one. So, I mean, we're kind of at a point now where... But here's the thing. They made an announcement with Virgin Radio across Canada the other day about the fact that now the Midday show will be nationally

syndicated out of Toronto. Shannon Burns, who had also been on Chum FM and doing this iHeartRadio national evening show, that in fact she would be a Midday person on a bunch of virgin radio stations across Canada. And, you know, there's like the big yellow board where they talk about radio.

Soundy. The usual geezers are like... Jodie Thornton's there. Outraged about... I have a note about her. As if these guys are ever listening to today's Top 40 radio. That's where I had the fight with Doug Thompson. Doug Thompson jumped on me about something I said about Blundell or something like that.

And then anyway. Okay. So, yeah. So more syndicated radio on Virgin Radio across Canada. More stuff originating from Toronto or from people's basements. Or from Stu Stone's living room. But if you actually. But here's basements. Or from Stu Stone's living room. But if you actually, but here's the thing.

They want Stu to do the morning radio show where he's required to actually talk about the community. And if you listen to these hit radio stations these days, like the patter between the songs, even if the DJ's just doing it for one city, there's very little room anymore for them to talk about what's happening where they are in the case of a virgin radio i don't think it's a big deal at all uh that it's more of a nationalized uh presentation that's all coming from one place like rosin mocha it makes things sound more exciting. It's worldwide. And another young guy, DJ from England,

who moved to Toronto a couple years ago to pursue his radio dreams, Miles Galloway, with a British accent. He is now the evening host on all of these virgin radio stations. And I think that's great for him. And it shows you that these dreams can come true. Like, he showed up at the door of Bell Media,

even with all the cutbacks and the layoffs, that you still do get these stories of people coming out of nowhere, and I realize he might be working at a discount compared to the good old days, like doing a national iHeartRadio show for what you would get paid to do, like a swing shift in a local market a generation ago. But it sounds like he's up to the gig. It sounds like he's up to the gig.

And that's where you can hear all the Maroon 5 and cover versions of Four Seasons Begging on Virgin Radio. I'm sticking up, standing up for anybody who has still been able to see through their media dreams, there are lots of people out there. I don't think the scene is ever as bleak as a lot of curmudgeons make it out to be. And that's why we do these 1236 episodes to talk about these people. The curmudgeons are pointing out the fact that there's a small percentage of the jobs available today that there was available 30 years ago, let's say,

simply because of syndication and re-rolls and because of this national, which you seem excited about, a couple of people in Toronto broadcasting into, I don't know, small town New Brunswick. I'm not excited about it. I'm just adjusting to the reality here, okay? But you are a unicorn. Hey, I'm setting out

to be the oldest living top 40 radio listener. This podcast is keeping me young. No, no, I've got Roger B. Speaking of radio changes, etc., before we move too far from this, you were telling me the other day that

the overnight guy on The Edge was fired. Who is this, Kevin Getz? I think so. I don't know. I got to looking over the website, and it was because this evening Edge CFNY DJ Kevin Getz, a couple of tweets mentioning the fact that he had a second anniversary of being on the air, and it was just kind of sad. Like, he was streaming on Twitch. Okay.

And somebody showed up at the window of the radio station at Chorus Key with balloons for him. I don't know if this was a setup. Because I don't imagine that people are flocking down to the radio station, peering through the window. Well, yeah, if they go to Sugar Beach anyway, they might go and peek in the window. No, but he was portraying this like he had some kind of rabid fan out there. And I'm thinking this is a little bit sad. What was his time slot?

We're a long way. 7, 8, 8 till 11 or midnight. Okay, okay. I just never heard his name before. I don't know. Maybe he was doing, like a lot of these people, multiple markets, radio shows at once, like doing radio shows in three different cities at the same time.

Did you know Jay Brody was at TMLX8 on Friday? Yeah, and I thought that was terrific. And we were rooting for Jay Brody when he got that job. The B-team, all the way from Toronto Mic to the once coveted CFNY Morning Show. I really, I just want to say, I root for him hard. And I root for him even harder because he had a dream to no longer be collecting piss bottles on construction sites. Right? Like he had a plan, a seven-year plan to get this job on the Edge radio morning show.

And he stood by as seven people got fired for incompetence, clearing the path for him to take over. He got a job on deck in Hamilton, Y-108, and he was perfectly positioned to move in. I think the job was there for the taking and now it is his job to lose. Unfortunately,

getting this job coincided with the beginning of the pandemic. And once again, I think a situation where in February, March 2020 we might have been looking forward to all he could do refresh and renew what would become this radio station. I don't think that leeway has been there. And yet he's also skeptical about whether this is going to work, right?

Well, listen, he was at the only event in town. He's delivering the real talk. TMLX8, maybe there's no Edge events and there's no Indy events. Was he hanging out with Humble Howard? Now Humble Howard, who has spent the past 20 years cursing the fact they voluntarily stepped down from doing that morning show. Figuring they could still have it to this

day. That's Fred. Got my wires crossed. Howard, once again, talks Fred into leaving. Good thing they will never listen to this show. That is for sure. And yet Humble and Fred are now being joined in the podcasting sphere more and more. Like Montreal, Terry and Ted.

Oh, I heard about this. Who were Morning Duo in Montreal. Most significantly on Showm. And it was Terry DeMont who, again, had one of those Bell Media retirements. Although he was a little more candid about the fact that they wanted him gone. Yeah, that's like the Roger Ashby retirement. Yeah, I think he was straightforward about the fact that he was being sent off before he wanted to go, but really just like a few months before he wanted to do a fair work.

Okay, because I'm at a point now, I've heard enough stories from retirements I thought were legit and finding out they weren't that at this point, I don't know if I believe any retirements are legitimate. Like nobody is choosing to walk away

from a mainstream media gig in this market. That's where I'm at. Okay, 10 years after the Humble and Fred podcast started every day. Yep. October 14th. With a lot of help from Toronto Mike.

You got it, buddy. Who inspired it to happen. And if that doesn't happen. Who's the producer of the show today? That's correct. And if that doesn't happen, me helping those guys podcast ten years ago, then I can tell you right now, we're not in my backyard right now recording this 909th episode of China Online. Does that mean I have to thank Humble and Fred for something?

Okay, you've got this Terry and Ted and Jerry Forbes and brother Jake. The champ. They've teamed up with Dean Blundell. Boo. To do their own podcast. And then Jesse and Gene just twisting in the wind with this idea of an online radio show, which I think they've been trying to get going

even before the Humble and Fred podcast began. Like even before 15 years ago when you were doing Christmas specials with Humble and Fred, Jesse and Gene were saying we're going to have a comeback online. And they're still trying to make it happen today. I don't think they're hungry enough. And they also make it impossible to hear what they're doing.

You have to visit a special website. You can only listen through a certain kind of browser. Would Gene Valaitis even listen to you if you explained to him this is not podcasting um i every friday morning you do not understand uh what it is that you think that you're doing right now like you you make it more complicated right i think this was also the problem

with with uh john spike gallagher, these guys of a certain generation, when they were used to a certain type of royal treatment, like working in the glory days of Q107, they can't adjust to that DIY way of doing things. That's my assessment anyway. No, well done. Now, everybody is listening to us right now, wanting to hear about what's going on at CP24,

but I'm going to do two quick hits, which are like side stories, really fast. You can't dwell on these because I'm looking at the clock and I'm like, holy smokes. James Scott. Okay, last week, he was part of the Ridley Funeral Home

memorial section of your appearance. And you did, I thought you hit it out of the park. You did such a great job memorializing James Scott and playing that Beatles cover. What did you play? Yeah, you really got a hold on me.

Smokey Robinson, The Miracles, and that was just my memory of this guy, James Scott, who picked his own music on CFNY. Like he was at the end of that original Spirit of Radio era, we talked about how he was the long-lost brother of David Marston, who hired him for the station.

Now, they had the same name, David Marston and David Marston. Right. That, in fact, they were born to the same mother who had two kids that she gave the same first name to, but the older one who was given up for adoption. A lot of drama there. Yeah, we heard from James Scott's daughter. Yes, that's what I wanted to say. Shortly after that episode.

Yeah, so James Scott's daughter listened to us speaking about her father last 1236 episode of Toronto Mic'd, and she had very nice things to say and had great memories of that song that we played for him. And it really touched her. So that's amazing.

Huh? Like it was, it wasn't just the fact that I heard that song on CFNY. I still remembered it. Listening on Walkman in the back of a high school class, February, 1987 day, the Beatles compact discs came out.

And that, uh, it was just like one of those transcendent radio moments, courtesy of James Baby Scott on CFNY. It turns out his daughter is Allie Marston. She calls herself Allie Mars with a Z, and she has a podcast of her own trying to break into broadcasting or media in the footsteps of her father. So thank you, Ali.

And another quick note here because we mentioned Jody Thornton when you mentioned the yellow board and I shared with you, I think I shared with you, I think it might have been on TorontoMic.com, I can't remember now,

but Jody wanted to know what we were leaving on the cutting room floor and I can't remember now. But Jody wanted to know what we were leaving on the cutting room floor. And I told him I was leaving Buffalo stuff. And this is true. And he got he got annoyed and maybe even angry. And by the way, I support his position. I know, but because I'm the one who demanded that you talk about this stuff. So, look, Jody, I'm in your court. we're not going to get into it now just acknowledging that we're listening and learning and i do think no i mean look yeah me and jody i i feel uh come from the same perspective here that the buffalo media is part of what's going on in toronto yeah

i don't know i don't share this tuned Buffalo television and radio, that it was like intertwined with the scene over here and where we talked about Nicholas Pickless being the last guy standing doing a show out of Kiss 98.5 in Buffalo. But I want to talk about, I don't remember, Keith Radford? Yeah, I made Canadian news anchor. I stand by my decision. Even now I'm falling asleep. There was another morning duo, Shred and Reagan, that changed radio.

You don't even know what I'm talking about at all. You want to talk about CP24. Yeah, but first I want to let you know that you and Jody share that opinion on Buffalo Radio, but you do not share the same voice. Maybe very different voices. I don't know if you've heard Jody do his traffic. I hear Jody all the time. Traffic updates on the radio. That man has a set of pipes.

Holy moly. Okay, so the big news was Pooja Handa quit her job at CP24 on the breakfast program, CP24 Breakfast. By the way, speaking of Bell Media and how they treat people over there, there's always, I think, it's Stokes Law speculation when you,

like Michael Landsberg, right? When you hear that someone who seems like over there there's always i think it's stokes law speculation when you like michael landsberg right when you hear that uh someone who seems like um a successful fixture of bell media right is out of a job that uh something has gone sideways well she said she was leaving for another opportunity for uh i don't know cutbacks uh. But yeah, in this case, it was entirely amicable that she chose to go elsewhere and did not reveal where she was going. And then the rumor mill was stirred up even further when her morning show co-host, Gurdip,

how do you pronounce his last name? A. No, you got to get it right. I invited him on Toronto Mic'd once, and he was all into it, like excited to come on Toronto Mic'd. And Bell Media PR denied his request to appear on Toronto Mic'd. That's a true story. Well, he's free now.

Okay, what is it? Gurdip Aluwalia. I'm not even familiar with his work. I mean, I know he's been around, and I know that in the tradition of Ann Romer and Kevin Frankish, who were originally on Breakfast Television, I think that was this duo, Gurdip and Pooja, who maybe clicked the most with viewers as far as morning TV is concerned. It might have something to do with the fact that this old breakfast television

on City TV ain't what it used to be. I don't think those hosts have the same appeal. That would be Sid. I forgot he was there. Sid Cicero and Dina, what's her last name? Pugliere. And then Ben Mulrooney. I don't think people even know.

I forgot your morning. People don't even know. You see, this is the thing. He came too late. I think a decade ago, if Ben Mulrooney was doing a Canadian television morning newscast across Canada, your morning every day, I think the hate watching would have been off the charts for Ben. And here we are, 2020, 2021. I don't think anybody knows that he's on the air anymore.

And yet there has been on CTV doing the morning news. CP24, though, I think this couple ended up being the most successful in Canada. Successful enough that another station would want to hire the two of them away together. And that's a speculation. Where are they going to resurface? I've given my guess. I want to hear yours now on the record. Where do you think Pooja and Gurdip resurface in this market?

I would compute that they would be part of the attempt at chorus entertainment to rehabilitate global, given what we're talking about with the news radio stations. So what about Michael Power grad? A new image. A little more fun in the morning show. And, of course, hosts that are more multicultural than the white bread that they've been

synonymous with. Who's the Michael Power graduate? Carolyn McKenzie. I barely know who she is, but I know that she's on Global and Jeff synonymous with. Who's the Michael Power graduate? Carolyn McKenzie. I barely know who she is, but I know that she's on Global and Jeff MacArthur. I don't know what happens to these people. All I'm saying is whatever counts for daytime

television these days in Canada, which is like a lot of product placements and ways to hang on to the viewers that they've got, right? Like you gotta have something on TV in every nursing home. And the couple of Pooja and Gurdip are ready to serve. And I think we'll be finding out any moment now where they've landed. And Nick Dixon is the guy that stepped in at CP24.

Well, what happened to George Lagagiannis? Isn't he there? Is he still around? I thought that was his thing after... Watching... After Roger Peterson. Roger Peterson? No, I'm getting confused.

What is the father of George Lagagiannis doing reading my news? Like, is this the same guy from Electric Circus? Time marches on, Mike, and it will come for us all, right? Thank you. And she turns a little radio on. She's had a rockin' day. So she hopes the DJ's gonna play her favorite song. Makes you feel much better. Brings it closer to home. Do you know who's gonna make his Toronto Mike debut, I believe, next week?

If not next week, the week after. Do you want to take a guess? Gil Moore from Triumph. Mike Levine from Triumph. Keep going. Name everyone you know from Triumph. Rick Emmett. That's correct.

Keep going. Name everyone you know from Triumph. Rick Emmett. That's correct. And this coincides with a movie called Rock and Roll Machine, a documentary about Triumph premiering at a drive-in at Ontario Place. And it's going to be one of the gala premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival. So here, after all these years, I think,

this will be a big night for Triumph with their authorized documentary to get some vindication for their artistic contributions in Canada. Now, you know there were 20 years where Rick Emmett did not talk to the other two guys from Triumph. Like, if you had Rick Emmett on a podcast for those two decades, he would not say a word about this band that he was famous for being in. At the time, would you have had somebody like that on as a guest? Like, where he would have given you that stipulation?

Like, I can't talk about this thing that I'm best known for. Erica didn't want to do much music, and I passed. She didn't want to talk about much music, I passed. And then you had her on and she was okay with it, and then again, I was wondering if Future Mike was

going to interrupt. It was one of those episodes. Future Mike rarely rarely makes an appearance. But what a song, huh? Magic Power, we're out here in the backyard, early September night. You don't get that C&E Midway experience, but there's definitely a song that's, I think,

synonymous with that sensation in Toronto. Mark, I know you love your podcasts and you listen to thousands and thousands of podcasts. Well, there's one I want you and the listeners to check out. It's called the CEO Edge Podcast. It's from McKay CEO Forums. Nancy McKay has fireside chats with inspiring CEOs and thought leaders.

I post the latest episode every Wednesday on torontomike.com. I urge you to check it out. Much love to McKay CEO forums and much love to sticker you.com. Tremendous partners of the program been supporting Toronto Mike for years and years and years. And of course, as I said,

off the top, Palma pasta, Fed us at TMLX eight. It was delicious, authentic I said off the top, palmapastafettas.tmlx8. It was delicious, authentic Italian food, Great Lakes, delicious beer, wonderful partners of the program. It's fantastic that Chef Drop has joined us as a partner. And of course, the promo code to get the 20% off is FOTM20. But we're at that part of the show

when I shine a light on Ridley Funeral Home. Pay tribute without paying a fortune. Go to RidleyFuneralHome.com to learn more. She confessed her love to me Then she vanished on the breeze Trying to hold on to that was just impossible She was more than beautiful Closer to ethereal

With a kind of down-to-earth flavor Close my eyes It's three in the afternoon Then I realize That she's really gone for good Anybody say She's really gone for good Anybody sing my baby Anybody sing her out Love is gonna make me blind

I've looked but I just can't find She has gotten lost In the crowd Charlie Watts, who died on August 24th, has the distinction on this Ridley funeral home. What do we call it? Death recap? The memorial segment. The memorial section.

That's it. Or Segment, if you will. Memorial Segment. Mark has just opened up a in tribute to Charlie Watts, he's opened up a Canuck Pale Ale. I've got to brace myself. Okay, well, this is a big one. This is a big launch.

I stopped keeping score about who would be the one person in each memorial segment that I can say that I had interaction with in my life. And the answer in August 2021 is Charlie Watts. Did you know this? Did you hear this one about me? No, tell me. I'm like dying to know your interaction with Charlie Watts. It consisted of one of those 15-minute long newspaper phone interviews for iWeekly.

Okay. Now, 25 years ago, the Toronto International Jazz Festival was coming up. Jazz Festival was coming up. And Charlie Watts, the Charlie Watts Quintet, were booked into Massey Hall. And the opportunity was there to do one of these forgettable phoners with a reluctant legend. And I did a whole bunch of these phoners in the early days.

My experience writing for alt-weeklies, it was like a cornerstone where I would talk to a somewhat famous person on the phone and try and make it memorable enough to have something to remember

and publish an approximate transcription of our conversation. I never recorded any of these calls. I would just like scribble down notes. I know this is not the most ethical practice, but back in the day you could get away with doing something like this. It was kind of like I would just listen closely to what they were saying, and I would reconstitute the dialogue in the form of Q&A that made it into print. And I think from the outside looking in, you would think, how awesome is that?

This guy got to talk to Charlie Watts on the phone, but it was the kind of experience that neither me nor him would have remembered a moment later if it wasn't, of course, for me having to turn it into something and have it printed in the paper in anticipation of the fact that he was coming to Massey Hall. Now, a couple things stand out. I couldn't even find the archive anywhere online. Some of that stuff fell down a memory hole. But it was a fact that because Charlie was playing drums with his jazz combo at Massey Hall, this was hallowed ground at Massey Hall for jazz music. Because in 1953, there was possibly the most famous jazz concert of all time. You've ever heard about this, Mike? I mean, it was... Who were the five most famous jazz musicians of the early 1950s?

Could you even guess one name from that era? Yeah, the Take Five guy. Maybe not quite. D dizzy gillespie okay um charlie parker sure uh and charlie watts uh once wrote a children's book about uh charlie parker owed to a high flying bird bud powell charles mingus and max roach look i had to google i'm sorry but most of my discussion with char Watts then focused, I think, on Massey Hall and what it meant to him, right? Might as well get into that Toronto angle. Yeah.

Rather than decoding obscure Rolling Stones tracks. I mean, we only have a few minutes on the phone. And I think I understood at the time that I was getting a rare opportunity to talk to him. Like, talking on the phone to Charlie Watts in the media is not something that happened every day. First of all, because very few people were ever asking for it. And his preference, of course, was to sit in his hotel rooms and sketch the bed and the desk. You know, he did this every night for his whole life on tour rather than hang out rubbing shoulders backstage after the show. And I think in the process, then we have at least this impression that Charlie Watts was a pretty cerebral person.

that Charlie Watts was a pretty cerebral person. You know, that he was never really into this unwashed rock and roll that the Rolling Stones were playing. I don't know if it went so far as to people thinking that he didn't want to be there, because he definitely did. Like, in all these tributes, Charlie Watts, after the fact, talked about how it was Mick, Keith, and the boys who always made a point of saying that Charlie Watts was the backbone of the whole operation

and without Charlie Watts, we're not the band that you know and love. They've kept time with us all these years. So how ironic is it that the Rolling Stones, in announcing their return to a tour of summer 2021, a tour that has not been canceled yet, even though New Orleans got rescheduled, and we'll see if they make it through. And it'll be a very emotional experience, just like ZZ Top, because they're pushing forward, like they're going with their original plan.

All along, Steveordan would be filling in for charlie uh as he uh recuperated uh from whatever whatever health issues uh were dogging him uh and then on august 24th do you think it was a shock to get that notification that charlie watts had died or was it was it maybe just a dose of reality that the fact that here's one of the classic rock stars, 80 years of age, and here's maybe the most significant reminder yet, uh,

that in their eighties, most of them are going to die as they move into that decade. The ones who were born in the early 1940s. Uh, did Charlie Watts mean anything to you? I mean, I, into that decade, the ones who were born in the early 1940s. Did Charlie Watts mean anything to you? I mean, I chose that song from the Rolling Stones from 1997. Right, that's the one they stole from Katie Lang. Not only because, for all I know, that's my favorite Rolling Stones song. Really?

Well, I remember, as you do, when it came out as like a media event, right? Remember, as you do, when it came out as like a media event, right? And from Steel Wheels onward, that the Rolling Stones would put out this whole package, right? They would record and release a new album. For three of their tours, they came to Toronto and did their rehearsals here. So they became synonymous with the city. They would end their rehearsals with a surprise show in an intimate venue.

Of course, the Rolling Stones then returned for the Sarstok concert in 2003. And then going back to 1977 and Keith Richards and his drug bust and the surprise them at the top here because you know they are a quasi torontonian uh rock band uh that we can talk about in terms of their place in the city i i tried to find this anecdote about uh during during one of those rehearsals i think they were at the at the crescent school private school around the Bayview and Eglinton area. There was a sighting of Charlie Watts just like inconspicuously standing at this Dominion supermarket, like waiting in line to pay for something. Just like this is how Charlie Watts carried himself, that he could just go through everyday life. And, you know, no one would ever think that this dapper old gent

standing in line at Dominion was the drummer for the Rolling Stones. I don't even know if his live drums are on that song, Anybody Seen My Baby. I know that there's a sample there of Biz Marquis, speaking of other people who we lost in 2021. That song is kind of like a sampled simulation of a Rolling Stones song, rather than the Rolling Stones themselves. Maybe that's why I like it. Now, and also, I think, out of all the singles that they released, trying to revive that gritty 70s era, right? Everybody always talks about how Some Girls was the last great album released by the Rolling Stones in 1978. A song, Miss You, in Studio 54.

They were always trying to recapture that magic uh but instead they went for the big bucks corporate rockers michael cole that was a toronto connection concert promoter that came up with the idea that the rolling stones could be touring stadiums around the world, playing for like 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100,000 people at a time. And that became the Rolling Stones concert experience standard. And in the obituaries, we're reminded that Charlie Watts was involved in the stage setups for the Rolling Stones. He was involved in all the design, the merchandise, the look of the band. So it was more than him just being the drummer in the back. And you've got to wonder, will the Rolling Stones carry on without him?

Or will this be the last time once they fulfill these obligations? What do you think, Mike? Will there be another Rolling Stones album, tour? Will they carry on in earnest if they can make it into their 80s without Charlie Watts? I'm going to say there's two essential members of the band at this point.

So long as Mick and Keith are part of the Rolling Stones, I think they'll keep going. If they can survive. Of course. The Elma combo, Michael Weckerly I think they'll keep going. If they can survive. Oh, of course. Well, that's not going to be a deal-breaker. The El Macombo, Michael Weckerle, he was talking for years about how he was in deep negotiations

to bring the Rolling Stones back. They'd be part of the reopening of this rock club, which I don't think has opened yet with a proper live public show. But I don't even know if the El Macombo needs to have concerts to be a business. After a while, it just starts to be inconvenient. You can have the El Macombo patio, have drinks on. It can be like the Hard Rock Cafe. You can bask in the energy of what once was. And there's an El Macombo gift shop

opening in Yorkville. I wonder after all that whether Michael Weckerle will just be running the El Macombo as like a ghost club, like a ghost kitchen, right? Where the idea of the El Macombo as an enterprise is what he's selling

rather than the music itself. And I want you. There's just one thing that you should do. I just give me some kind of sign. Yeah. Oh, my baby. Show me that you're mine, girl. All right.

Just give me some kind of sign, girl. Oh, my darling. Show me that you're mine listening to Canadian Adult Contemporary Radio Station at 11.55 p.m. when they have to get that CanCon in, because that's where you, these days, would be most likely to hear a song like Give Me Some Kind of Sign by the Satellites. On August 5th at age 81, we lost Toronto musician Joe Joe Bennett, Musician Joe Joe Bennett, who was a co-founder of the Queen Street Bamboo Club band, The Satellites, which spawned from a music school that he was involved with,

along with an old hippie from Toronto, Fergus Hambleton. And it was Fergus who was a vocalist and a sidekick, JoJo Bennett, who played the flugelhorn. With JoJo making it to 81, by the time

these guys had a little pop radio success. I mean, they were already into their late 40s, early 50s. Remember this one? Give me some kind of sign. And when I'm feeling blue and I want you, there's just one thing that you should do.

Just give me some kind of sign. Yeah, there we go. Okay, so this was cover version. Did you know it was a cover version? Of a soul song by Brenton Wood. I did not know that. And the other hit that they had was Too Late to Turn Back Now. Kind of following that UB40 template at the time

of doing these reggae-fied cover versions. And as I said, like a lot of radio airtime for the satellites. And I guess this idea of like, you know, old white guy Fergus Hamilton singing reggae music. I don't know if you would that easily be able to get away with something like this these days in terms of selling it as an act, but had the approval. What about magic? Didn't they go to number one?

Oh, yeah. Well, look how fast they faded. But Jojo Bennett of the Satellites Dead at 81. Show me. Something got me started You know that I will love you Think this is we're parted I truly know that I need you I'd give it all up for you I'd give it all up for you I'd give it all up for you

I'd give it all up for you I'd give it all up for you I'd give it all up for you Yes, I would I'd give it all up for you Yes, I would I'd give it all up for you Yes, I would

I'd give it all up for you Yes, I would Mike, you read the 1236 newsletter every single day, and you know that there is a little more that I enjoy than finding Canadian-related pop culture passing, especially when it's one that no one gave any thought about. Like, who knew the fact that the keyboard player from Simply Red quit the band in 1995 after 10 years. Simply Red with Mick Hucknall.

He was the keyboard playing sidekick and moved to London, Ontario, where he lived for a couple of decades. Walking the streets of London with Fritz McIntyre, who was genuinely famous. Like, he was part of a big band. I don't know. Simply read? If you run their catalog through your mind, you think of Holding Back the Years.

That was an American number one hit. Money Too Tight to Mention. Money Too Tight to Mention. And then, speaking of white guys taking on soul cover versions, If You Don't Know Me By Now in the late 80s. And then something that I don't think we caught a lot of wind of here, although I know FOTM, Scott Turner would always kick out their jams on Energy 108, that into the 90s, Simply Red got even more famous in England,

like where they're originally from. They had this Stars album that this song came from, and it ended up at the time being like the biggest British album in history, whatever records they were keeping. This album became a domestic phenomenon unto itself for how long it rained upon the charts. And there, through it all, like the co-writer of this song

was a keyboard player, Fritz McIntyre. Had enough by the mid-90s, it was in 1995, maybe 1996, that he went to London, Ontario, and ended up performing in churches and made an album of inspirational music and in more recent years moved to Florida, where he was, again, working in some kind of megachurch as their music director.

So Fritz McIntyre, a Canadian at least for a while, died on August 24th at age 62. Take it out. I'm a-running I'm a-running from you And you're a-chasing me Cause you're a-chasing me to the end You're the city of No, no, no I can see your I can see your way back

You can see me You can stare me in the back But not unless I can see your way back, you can see me You can stare me in the back, but not unless I can't help but What will you ever let out? Will you ever stumble and fall? Because I'm never gonna let you get me at all Rufus Wainwright is the singer on this track, and you can tell that it's not too recent because this is the sound of a 14-year-old kid singing a song from the movie

Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveler, who died in August 2021, was Roque de Mer. And he made it to age 87, a Quebec filmmaker who had a series of kids' movies called Tales for All. Now we're into some real retro Ontario territory here. See if you remember any of these movies, Mike. The Dog Who Stopped the War?

Yep. That was a big one. The Peanut Butter Solution, which came out in 1985. Were you subject to watching these movies as a kid? I think that even succeeded as a Canadian theatrical release, where these movies as a kid. I think that even succeeded as a Canadian theatrical release where these movies dubbed.

Celine Dion did the music from The Peanut Butter Solution. I think this might have been as close as Quebec cinema ever came to making that Anglo-Canadian breakthrough. The Good Cop, Bon Cop, was a big crossover. I remember that movie was... Was it? But I don't know. Relatively speaking... Because I saw it and I never see Quebec movies.

I mean, Jesus of Montreal and stuff like that. But with the tweenagers of the mid-80s at these movies and they would show up on Canadian pay TV channels. Yeah, Jacob Tutu and the Hooded Fang. They had a certain appeal. Whatever Rock DeMere was responsible with, including this movie,

Tommy Tricker, and thanks to his mom and his aunt, Kate and Anna McGarrickle, it was Rufus Wainwright who had a little part in this movie, including performing this song, which got nominated for a Juno Award.

And I think at the time he was nominated, I mean, look, this is the Juno Awards, okay? Consider the source. Like, most promising Canadian music artist for being Little Weasel sing on that song. And yet, at the same time, I mean, look, it did work out for Rufus Wainwright. Like, they must have seen something in him

unless it was just nepotism. But I think that was the first time Rufus Wainwright got headlines. Thanks to his association with Rock the Mayor.

Give us a place to stand Thank you. Bill Davis, the Honorable Bill Davis, the 18th Premier of Ontario, died on August 8th, 2021, shortly after he turned 92 years of age. And appropriately enough, the death of Bill Davis I think was most publicly announced by FOTM Steve Paken who not only wrote the authorized biography of Bill Davis but

considers him the GOAT greatest of all time among is it all Ontario politicians certainly the list of premiers including the fact that it was Bill Davis that facilitated the television station on which Steve Paikin has a job. to be the Ontario Education Minister and give Ontario an educational TV station of its own, which remarkably is still around to this day. But where else would you get to see Steve Paikin talking so much about Bill Davis?

And, of course, Ontario Place, which recently, as we discussed, this summer has a revival plan that was something that also flourished under Bill Davis' watch. which recently, as we discussed, this summer has a revival plan. That was something that also flourished under Bill Davis's watch. And I think, where do you stand on this? That Bill Davis was responsible for creating an Ontario identity, like that Ontario could be its own brand. Even though it's already half of Canada,

that Ontario was able to define itself as the Anglo-Quebec. And it would be able to fight with Alberta, BC, Saskatchewan. Like Ontario

as a province to be proud of, a place to stand, a place to grow, as heard in that song by, again, the recently dead Dolores Clayman, that we lost Bill Davis, Brampton Billy, who was in the corner of Patrick Brown, the disgraced would-be premier. Remember that? It was pretty dramatic when there was an Ontario PC party coup,

and Patrick Brown was unseated for allegedly inappropriate behavior. Doug Ford stepped in. What kind of pandemic might we have had if fate didn't intervene? But Bill Davis helped with the rehabilitation of Patrick Brown and heartily endorsed him like a mentor for Patrick Brown being the mayor. And it felt a little bad for Patrick Brown. Not only did he lose his mentor, but just the other day here at the end of August, Patrick Brown was on some kind of Zoom call talking about Brampton, a black education fund, and I don't know why this happened, but he had a slip of the tongue and uh he he called brampton brown town which is not considered a compliment

for its citizens let's just say that's a derogatory term that you might read in the instagram comments on six buzz to describe the people uh that live there and they had to do a little bit of damage control uh around Brown referring to Browntown. I mean, my first thought was, was that some kind of Freudian slip that he was talking about himself? Does he refer to it as Browntown when he's talking to his family and friends

about his reign over the city, and they had to do a little apologizing there. Maybe he could be a bit more forgiving, like everyone's sick and tired of doing these Zoom meetings. Some embarrassment there for Bill Davis' protege. No, when Billy Newton Davis came to Toronto to help recruit for Scientology, I think that was early 80s.

And you've got, by the way, in the back catalog, a great episode, a Zoom episode. Right. But I think one of those will work because Billy Newton Davis, his enthusiasm is infectious. And I think you made a great new FOTM there. No, thanks so much. We chat often because I put him on other shows I produce because he's such a

good, good guest. Now, Billy Newton Davis arrives during the Bill Davis era. I wonder if that's why he added Newton in there because he's a Bill Davis, and then he comes here and there is a famous Bill Davis, and to avoid any confusion, maybe that's the reason he's a Bill Davis and then he comes here and there is a famous Bill Davis and to avoid any confusion maybe that's the reason he's Billy Newton Davis. Yeah but you need a hyphenated name to be like a serious soul star. I try.

He's trying to be so we lost not Billy Newton Davis alive and well and a good friend of Toronto Mike but RIP Bill Davis dead at 92 because we can't see Where the quiet winds lift Streets where all the old folks feel So much

So much love At the end of my days Time to change my ways At the end of my days Eric Wagner was the vocalist for a band called Trouble, produced by Rick Rubin. This is the early 90s pioneering doom metal band signed to the deaf American record label.

And here we have, I guess, in the fourth wave, a situation where a musician of note died due to COVID-19. Eric Wagner of Trouble. So partly spitting this here in response to Midtown Gord. Yes. A great FOTM who on a prior round wondered why we didn't acknowledge the death of a singer from Metal Church. Do you even know who that is, who I'm talking about? of a singer from Metal Church.

Do you even know who that is, who I'm talking about? I mean, I'm trying to edit the memorial section here, but that was Mike Howe of Metal Church who died in July. Midtown Gord loves his metal. Okay, so listen. Midtown Gord, we hear you. Listen, Midtown Gord, we hear you. And incorporating this classic track from Trouble, which I remember hearing at the time on a cassette from Rick Rubin. And I think it's come out over the years that the hundreds of records

that Rick Rubin has his name on as producer it's not like he sat in the studio and worked with every single band along the way it was just kind of like he listened to it once before it was released and uh proved putting his name on it i'm not saying that like uh you know all those classic uh public enemy records uh didn't uh have uh have Rick Rubin's involvement. But when it came to B, C, and D list, maybe Rick Rubin's role was disingenuously presented. But the fact they were on his record label

means that he was championing this act. And I think it was a time in hard rock that you could imagine that a band like Trouble would become a big deal. They never were, but Eric Wagner dead at 62. I don't know. Last night in Little Rock Put me to the haze Sweet, sweet Connie Doing her act She had the whole show And that's a natural fact

Up all night With Fred King I got to tell you Poker's his thing Booze and ladies Keep me right As long as we can make it to the show tonight, we're an American band.

We're an American band. Did you know anything about Sweet Connie, who's mentioned there in the opening lyrics to Grand Funk Railroads, We're an American Band? No, is it Connie Stevens from the Beach Bingo, Beach Blanket Bingo movies? No, no, no, no.

The opposite. Sweet Connie was one of the most famous groupies of all time. Little Rock, Arkansas, where she bragged about servicing every single rock band that came to town. Perhaps also members of the Rogue Crew. That's what she became. We call them band-aids.

I learned this from... Notorious Four. And died August 21st at age 66. You know, well, this were an American band. It was also covered by Nash the Slash. But stuck with the Grand Funk original. Here to remember Sweet Connie, but there's a Guess Who song that she's mentioned on

from one of their lesser albums in 1974. I think it was after Randy walked away that Burton got a little randier and acknowledged the contributions of Sweet of sweet connie and providing providing that backstage action uh and uh she made news again in uh 1991 as the american presidential election is heating up you can make the connection here from Little Rock, Arkansas. What kind of thing might have she claimed about a Democratic presidential

candidate around that time who would have been definitely newsworthy if somebody came out with a story of him propositioning her. So, in fact, I think we'll mention later

one of two women who got attention connected to Bill Clinton. But for now, let's remember sweet Connie, Connie Hamsey, dead at 66. We're the American Band. We're the American Band.

We're the Baracan Band In the heart of the night In the cool southern rain There's a full moon inside Shining down on the pocket train And the river she rises, just like she used to do She's so full of surprises, she reminds me of you in the heart of the night in the heart of the night

in the heart of the night Got a little story to tell you about this one, Mike. We had a 1236 episode, I think, April recap. At the time, I gave you an excessively long list. Speaking of the infamous cutting room floor. And wondered why we didn't get to talk about Rusty Young of Poco who died during that month. Well, this time around I'm making sure not to leave out Poco because from the late 1970s and these songs

I remember hearing in the backseat of my parents' car on AM radio, the other frontman from Poco around this time died in August. And that was Paul Cotton. And so in the late 70s, Poco had two hit songs. They'd been around as a proto-alt-country band. It was two guys from Poco who ended up joining the Eagles. And Jim Messina was in Poco, and it was Randy Meisner and Timothy B. Schmidt.

Those were the two guys who handed off, traded off from the Eagles. Did you watch that Eagles documentary? I did, yes. And the links that they had to Poco. But Poco were sort of struggling in the shadow of the Eagles, but in the late 70s, these two less famous guys from the band got back together

and Record Company decided, yeah, we'll just call this album Poco, just like in the old days. The album covers by Poco had a famous graphic designer. That was Phil Hart Poco had a famous graphic designer. That was Phil Hartman. Yes. You knew this. Yes. He did

a whole bunch of different logos from the time. America and Steely Dan. Right. And then he went and did the Pee Wee stuff. And I think Poco was his most loyal client that

he did the album covers for, including the cover with a horse on it, the album called Legend. In the heart of the night, a song by Paul Cotton. I don't know if this will count as Rock? What, count as Yacht Rock? Yeah. You knew where I was going. Yeah, because whenever you're in that world of the... What's his name?

Timothy B. Schmidt. Is that his name? The guy who went on to the... Well, you see, the Yacht Rock experts, the guys who define the term would say that this song isn't soulful enough to count as Yacht Rock. Like, this is still... even though we've got the sax

player in there it's still kind of white bread sure that poco like i said we're essentially uh like a rocking country group uh but there you go they got uh sudden uh, a second win in the late 70s and a reunion 10 years later. And now, the least famous guys from Poco were the ones who were responsible for their two biggest hits. And they both died this year. Wow. Wow. wow rest in peace to Rusty Young retroactively from April and August 2021

Paul Cotton in the heart of the night when I love I get a feeling like I'm traveling through the sky On the wings of a nightingale As I ride, my head is feeling good, I don't even wonder why On the wings of a nightingale I'll fly High above the sky

I'll be thinking of you and me Couldn't ask for a better place to be Oh, I can feel something happening oh I can feel something happening oh

I can feel something happening to me so hold my hand I've got a feeling the Everly Brothers we lost

Don Everly on August 21st, 2021. He was, by that point, 84 years of age. And this was seven and a half years after his brother Phil Everly died. But I feel like Don Everly's death got more media attention. Did you notice, like, there were a lot more tributes this time about the Everly Brothers even though one of the brothers died back in 2014?

Maybe because he was the last man standing. Maybe because his daughter was married to Axel Rose. That he had some kind of cult status that I didn't know much about. And of course, the Everly Brothers as a duo with Bye Bye Love and Wake Up Little Susie and what else?

Remember, All I Have to Do is Dream. I remember learning how to play that on guitar when I had a high school guitar class. Easiest credit I ever received. And the Everly brothers, who, like all great brother acts, ended up feuding with one another as their success, I guess, faded into the rearview mirror, and they became more of a country act

through the 1970s when they weren't trying to beat each other up on stage. And then 1984, come back with a song written by Paul McCartney on the wings of a nightingale. And Everly Brothers, their last tour with Simon and Garfunkel, who they inspired. Say, say, say

What you want But don't play games with Simon and Garfunkel, who they inspired. I'm by the phone, I'm waiting for you, baby. Baby. Through the years, how can you stand to hear my pleasin' for you? You know I'm cryin'. Walter Yetnikoff, the notorious American music industry executive who died on August 9th at age 87. Boy, did this guy ever leave a bunch of stories behind. you could imagine about a guy running a record company, in this case, CBS Records, starting in 1975. And he certainly went to bat for everybody who he had signed to his label, perhaps to the point of excessive aggression, His label, perhaps to the point of excessive aggression,

which he documented in a memoir, Howling at the Moon, that he wrote after the fact, talking about how he was usually drunk and on drugs while all these incidents were happening. Well, with CBS records, that meant that he was presiding over Epic at the height of Michael Jackson mania. This was after he had lured Paul McCartney to the label. And even though, I mean, those Paul McCartney albums with CBS were all right. There was Back to the Egg and Coming Up, McCartney 2, and Tug of War. But when it came to launching the Thriller album, you'll remember that it started off on the coattails of Paul McCartney. Like the first single from Thriller was The Girl is Mine. And the whole idea here that Paul McCartney at the time signed to the same conglomerate would give Michael Jackson more credibility.

And as the story goes, Michael Jackson not only eclipsed every record from the Beatles, but ended up buying all of the Beatles songs based on financial advice that he got from Paul. And by the time Say, Say, Say came out, which would have been part of this artistic marriage, by that point, Walter Yetnikoff had, I guess, unlocked every achievement with Michael Jackson. And this song was something of a joke, like it was Paul McCartney on the downslide. And that was towards the end of his time with CBS Records. Give my regards to Broad Street. Ever see that movie that Paul McCartney made in 1984?

No. That was definitely a nadir of the whole Beatles experience. But Billy Joel and Cyndi Lauper and Bruce Springsteen, even Weird Al had to give props to Walter Yetnikoff for making their careers happen until he got tied up in music industry scandals and main character in the book Hitmen that talked about the sleazy record industry. He bounced back, but it was never the same.

Still, Walter Yetnikoff, A Fascinating Life, dead at age 87 in August 2021. Hand in hand, you and I Let's cherish every moment We have been given While time is passing by I often pray Before I lay down By your side If you receive your calling before i awake could i make it through the night Cherish the life we live. Cherish the love. Cherish the life.

Cherish the love. Cherish the love. Cherish the love. Okay, Mike, as we round our way to the end of the Ridley Funeral Home Memorial segment, We have found our way to the end of the Ridley Funeral Home Memorial segment. I figured I would pick at least one summer backyard song that you could remember me by. What would be better than Cherish by Kool and the Gang as we listen to the smooth saxophonic sound. A reminder that we lost Dennis Thomas, the sax player for Kool and the Gang,

at age 70 in August 2021. Not the first time that a member of Kool and the Gang has died on our watch. Last time it was Ronald Bell. And Cool and the Gang, I would imagine, I mean, I don't know if anyone can name each individual member besides a singer who quit about 30 years ago, James J.T. Taylor. But how many hits have they left behind?

Like Cherish. And also no longer with us in August, the sax player from UB40, Brian Travers, died at 62. But I think more suitable for a summer night. Cherish by Kool and the Gang. ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ Thank you. Scaring the nation with their guns and ammunitions. From genesis to revelations, yeah.

But the next generation will be, hear me, all the crimes committed Lee Scratch Perry, who died on August 29th at age 85. That's a good long life to be associated with a whole bunch of music history, which includes the song Police and Thieves. You know this one, right? At least the version by The Clash,

who Lee Scratch Perry also worked with as a producer along the way. as a producer along the way. Not only that, but you also had the Beastie Boys have sung a Hello Nasty called Dr. Lee, Ph.D., and that was their tribute to Lee Scratch Perry. But in 85 years, we got a really long discography to go through and a pioneer of developing the dub music sound and so much that is influential about reggae music.

Lee Scratch Perry, reggae music. Lee Scratch Perry, who also at least had somebody posting as him on social media. So on Facebook, there were always these whacked out updates

from Lee Scratch Perry, who was sticking with it as far as being icon in the digital age, that he hung in there long enough to be this quirky character that a lot of people remember. Did you ever hear his name before he died in August? Yes.

And did you know anything about him? Or am I reminding you, introducing you? Yeah, he'd come up, you know, I would dive into like a music doc or, you know,

and he'd come up here and there for sure. Like, without a doubt, he's a BFD. And also worked with Paul McCartney.

There we go. Yet another. Oh, who hasn't? Yet another, yet another Paul McCartney. There we go. Yet another. Oh, who hasn't? Yet another Paul McCartney connection. Thank you. Hey, Marky Post, who we lost in August 2021 at age 70. I promised another death this month that has a scandalous association with Bill Clinton. But what most people remembered her for was Night Court, where for a show of its era, from the mid-80s to the early 90s,

seems to have more dead cast members, more dead cast members, maybe the most dead cast members of any show from that time. I don't know where to start. Yeah, you're right, because Harry Anderson's gone, and we just lost Charlie Robinson, and the old bailiff died way back in the day.

I remember she exited stage right early, but I believe... Oh, yeah. Well, she, she, she exited stage right, like early, but I believe. Oh yeah. Well, that was when the show was still on. Right. She was,

she was, she was Canadian. Roz took her spot. Selma, Selma Diamond. Right. Okay. But,

uh, Reinhold, as we learned his name was, is still alive and Bull Shannon is still with us as well. So we'd still have some, uh, some, uh, key members of Night Court.

I want to just put myself down on the record as a big fan of Night Court. I love that show. Okay, well, it was Marky Post who entered the show in its third season. That was after Selma had come and gone. Yeah, you know what? There was something significant about the first season's DA

or whatever Marky Post was. I can't remember, but she was somebody of significance, like a punk rocker or some rock star or something. Oh, you know what? Is it Meat Loaf's, the woman who would sing the woman parts on Meat Loaf jams like Bad Out of Hell? What's her name? Yeah, Ellen Foley.

Ellen Foley. That's right. Okay. That's how I remember that it was like there was a musical connection to the actress from the first season. And she was on Nightcore for one season and Markie Post essentially filled the slot.

Right. Okay, it's all coming back to me now. And replaced her. Okay, now Markie Post, this is a true Hollywood story. Before she got into acting, she worked behind the scenes of game shows. Like on the production crew of Split Second and Double Dare and Card Sharks. You know, there's been so much drama about Jeopardy! behind the scenes of that show

because of Mike Richards, who wanted to go from behind the scenes to hosting it. We learned so much about his time at The Price is Right. Too bad Marky Post wasn't still around to comment on that one. She died before all that was happening. She died before all that was happening. And we also had her as a co-star on another sitcom, mid-'90s sitcom, again, with another person who died, John Ritter.

Right. And that was Hearts of Fire. Right. And that's also part of the resume of Marky Post. And then, as I said, rumors involving her and the president of the United States, Bill Clinton. Because hearts of fire, I guess she was part of Friends of Bill from that era. But as for all these stories with Bill Clinton, I don't know.

He's going to outlive them all, right? The details will never be confirmed. We might be talking about him next month. Who knows? You're more confident than I am. But Marky Post, big deal on a big show I dug, but not the biggest sitcom star death of August 2021. Oh, if we come to that time where we are doing the final obituary in the segment. guitar solo Lou Grant, character played for a decade by Ed Asner.

Spinoff from the Mary Tyler Moore show, 1970 to 1982 was the end of the Lou Grant spinoff, which was a pretty innovative idea. Let's take the curmudgeonly boss from Mary Tyler Moore's TV station in Minneapolis, and let's make him the editor of a newspaper in L.A. became the editor of a newspaper in L.A. And Lou Grant being the most celebrated role for Ed Asner. Ed Asner's Twitter account, and I suppose he co-signed something that appeared on there.

Who knows? He maybe even tweeted himself. It was earlier this year when Gavin McLeod passed away, and the sentiment from Ed that, from the original Mary Tyler Moore cast, again, speaking of shows where the cast members have died off, although it's older than Night Court. A lot older than Night Court. Me, Ed Asner saying, it's you and me, Betty, Betty White. We're the last ones standing from this show. Wow.

Now it's down to Betty White and Betty White alone. Now, Ed Asner was known as a big left winger. winger like he was very much involved in in union labor organizing and left-wing politics so it's ironic to think that he spent one day in 1979 when he was filming a TV movie in Toronto called The Family Man. And the idea was hatched. Let's get Lou Grant to spend a day working as the city editor of the Toronto Sun. of the Toronto Sun. And even though I can't find much evidence of that actual newspaper online, there are some anecdotes about that day,

which was a reflection of the fact that the Toronto Sun was a pretty exciting place in Toronto on King Street East back in the day. And that even though he had the opposite politics, Ed Asner relished the role that he was going to be playing like the actual guest city editor for this Toronto newspaper. I mean, keep in mind, like there were fewer movies filmed in Toronto back in the late 70s.

Celebrity sightings were harder to find. This was a big deal for The Sun to get somebody like Ed Asner to come into the paper and participate in this stunt. And based on one retelling of that story, Ed Asner had a great time working with the sun, talking politics, sparring with Peter Worthington. All the right-wingers hang around there, except there was one person who rubbed him the wrong way. And that man's name is Peter Gross. Can you interrupt him?

Gross! Yes, sir. I understand you want to be a reporter on this paper, young man? Yes, sir, Mr. Grant. What have you done? Well, I've been working for three years as a reporter with City Pulse here in Toronto. Yeah, I know. I saw your stuff there.

I wasn't impressed. You're not. I know what you like to do. You're funny stuff. Yeah. You like to try to be funny. You're trying to be a stand-up television comedian. This is a serious newspaper putting out serious news for a serious public. You think they're interested in the junk you do? I know. And where do you get the idea that our readers would be interested in receiving information from someone who would do something like that?

Now, isn't that disgusting? Well, at the time... Of course it is. I have done some straight stories. Like what? I did a report a few weeks ago on geese. Geese?

Canadian geese. Canadian content isn't that big a priority on this paper. What else? Well, a story about a lady pool player down at the sportsman's show. Oh yeah, I saw that on Pulse. I thought it stunk. What else? Well, a really good idea for a story, you know, cover the biggest potholes in the city. Oh, thank God.

I think this paper's gonna waste its time. I said it was a serious paper. It's gonna waste its time on junk like that? Not interested in potholes. Pot, yes. No holes. What else? Oh, well, you have nothing to offer.

I'll see... Hey, Lou, I got some great shots of that crash up in the garden. Thanks, Animal. What else? You have nothing to offer. Hey, Lou, I got some great shots of that crash up in the garden. Thanks, Animal. Now, would you take a bath? Right, Lou. Thanks, Animal. Okay. Look, I've been tough on you.

I've been rough on you. But understandably so. Because life is going to be tough on you. This is quite evident. But you can do me one favor. The anchorman on your show, what's his name? Martineau? Yeah, yeah, Martineau, Martineau.

He's a cute kid. He's got a little style. Hair's a little long. It's the wrong color, I think. I want you to tell him to call a friend of mine. Give him some big tips on hair color. Oh, he'll appreciate that. He should.

Who should I tell him this number is, by the way? The name's on there. Ted Baxter, dummy. Ed Asner, dead at 91. Look, Mike, an FOTM, a guest of the show, has yet to die. But Peter Gross, doing that bit with Ed Asner, that's as close as we can get for this month. Long live Peter Gross. Long live Peter Gross. And by the way, his episode in August is one that people should check out next.

I think it lived up to Peter's standard. When you ask him a question, either you get like a one or two word answer, or this long story spills out. In this most recent episode, it's about how Billy Van was the courier who delivered him a $1,000 severance check from his ill-fated time at CFNY. Don't you dare miss it. And there you go. Next time you have Peter in the back here, you'll have to mention if he remembers doing this shtick with Ed Asner. Do you think that was genuine mark you know he phoned me today when i was at my daughter's soccer match to make sure i saw his

facebook post with the ed asner video because he says uh ever since he you know got that clip onto youtube he says he knew he was waiting for ed asner to die because he had the perfect clip to share when Ed Asner passed away. Okay, but do you think Ed was genuinely annoyed with Peter, or do you think he was playing a stew stone character there? No, he was stewing it up. Stewing it up. Okay, well, we did not stew it up tonight. No, dude.

Because I realized my dream of taking over the time slot that you had sacrificed for Pandemic Fridays. And Mike, in the backyard once again, I had a blast. And if Stu and Cam are listening, I'm still exhausted. And that...

And that brings us to the end of our 909th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Mark is at 1236. On a bit of vacation and taking a couple breaks during September, but there will be a newsletter at some point through the month.

Subscribe at 1236.ca and something will drop shortly. I'll do what I can. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Chef Drop, welcome to the family, Chef Drop. They're at Get Chef Drop. McKay CEO Forums are at McKay CEO Forums. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is

at Sticker U. Ridley Funeral Home is at Ridley FH. And Mike Majeski, he's on Instagram, at Majeski Group Homes. See you all. Monday with Leona Boyd. It's the

one after 909 with Leona Boyd. You get it? after 909 with Leona Boyd. You get it? Like the Beatles song, one after 909? You don't know what I'm talking about. I thought it was clever. See you all next week. And I'll play this guitar just the best that I can.

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