Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Anne Mroczkowski: Toronto Mike'd #192

Episode Date: September 13, 2016

Mike chats with Anne Mroczkowski about her decades at CityTV, her relationship with Gord Martineau, her time at Global and how she spends her days now.

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Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay!!! a Toronto, a Toronto, a Toronto, a Toronto, a Toronto, a Toronto, a Toronto, a Toronto, a Toronto Toronto Mics, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a local independent brewery producing fresh craft beer. I'm Mike from TorontoMic.com and joining me this week is broadcaster Anne Roszkowski. Welcome Anne. Mike, it's great to be here and thank you for pronouncing my name absolutely correctly.

Do you want to know how many times I practice? And by the way, I've been spelling it a lot lately, like in tweets and things. And I learned the trick is basically to remember there's a C before the Z. That's it. That's what messes you up. You know what? I have spelled my name every day of my life. Absolutely.

It's a hard one. All those continents, constanets strung together. You know, it's very mind boggling for most people. Sometimes we talk about, and just right at the top, because you mentioned your last name there, is that you talk about kind of media people back in, let's say, the late 70s, early 80s,

and they would often, if they had a name that, dare I say, sounded ethnic, they would change it. Yes, very much. You could have been like Anne Malone or something like that. Actually, there was some pressure on my brother, who changed his name legally to Morse, said, you can't be on television with a name like Moroskowski. And I was very adamant about keeping it. But, you know, that was one of the great impulses that Moses Neimer had, that he wanted to represent the city and the different ethnicities of the city of Toronto. And the idea that I would have a name like Moroskowski, which was very difficult to pronounce, harder to spell, was actually a plus, not a minus.

You're the example of when it started to change. And I always wondered, did you get pressure? Because you had an on-air gig before City, right? Were you on Global before City? I wasn't on air. I was a writer at Global and a gopher. I started off as the lowest of the low. I got coffee and tore wire copy.

And, you know, it was absolutely, my first job actually was writing radio copy in Prince George, British Columbia, when I got out of school. And then when I came back to Toronto, I wanted to get into the news. That was my passion, and that was what I was intensely interested in. And I landed this very interesting and eye-opening position with Global back in the day, when it was very much, you know, it was kind of the Wild West as far as television was concerned. And that was not on air, so it deletes my wonderful question, which is like, were you and Roszkowski on the air before Moses? Because you're right, Moses is the thing, you're right, the Batistas and the Chintos. Yeah, that all came with Moses.

There was Christina Pokmersky at Global, by the way. She was a business reporter at that time. So it wasn't altogether novel, but he really did, Moses really did create this environment that made us all very, very welcome. And very quickly, the city responded to it. You know, in a funny coincidence, my next guest is, she's with Hockey Night in Canada, Rogers Hockey, Sofia Jurkovic is my next guest. And I was just thinking, so I have Roszkowski followed by Jurkovic.

So it's like practically speaking Polish. Eastern European. So I will be saying, for sure I'm going to be saying on Monday morning, Jean Dobre. Pretty good. Which is really... Jean Dobre. Oh, Jean Dobre. Pretty good. Jean Dobre. Oh, Jean Dobre. I worked with a lovely lady named Katarina like in 1998,

and she came in every morning and said to me, Jean Dobre. Yeah, that's beautiful. Stuck in my head. Now, Sunday was the anniversary of 9-11, like 15 years, believe it or not. And, you know, I could tell my story, which is similar to everybody's story about like being in the office and somebody says something and then you go online and find out what's happening and you can't believe it. But you were on the air delivering this news to- For about 18 straight hours. 18 straight hours.

Yeah. It was really very remarkable. And I was thinking about that date myself. Because, you know, you're watching CNN and there are retrospectives. And it's in the zeitgeist. People are talking about the anniversary and acknowledging the anniversary. I was at home when I saw the first plane hit. And very quickly got dressed and ran to work. And we began nonstop coverage that went on all day and all night. And I remember coming back after we had finished this incredible, how many hours? I think it was 18 hours.

It might have been more. It might have been 22 hours. Gord and I were anchoring, and we were just being fed information as it came in. There was speculation about the plane that went down outside of D.C., and we, at that time, did not know that there was a connection to the attacks in New York.

And you're just running on adrenaline. And you know this is the biggest story in the world that day. It did occur to me at the time that I don't think anyone's watching us. But you can't ignore it. You're a newsroom. We were up and running. We were doing the best we could with the resources we had. We were using the different feeds that we were allied to as a newsroom.

So we were getting feeds from New York, and we were, of course, following whatever was happening in New York at that point. And it was so intense and so dramatic. And yet when you're in the middle of it, there is this kind of detachment you have, but you're aware of what is going on. You know that lives are lost. You know that the buildings are literally melting. Like it's surreal, right? You know that the buildings are literally melting.

Like it's surreal, right? Because you can't be like us and soak in the weight of this day because your job is to report this and people need you, dare I? Well, you know, that's interesting that you say people need you because believe me, I didn't know if people needed city TV at that point. Like, where would you go if you were interested in what was happening? I mean, the whole world was glued to their television sets. And there were so many stories that were coming out. The lives lost, the first responders, the dust, the people falling to their deaths from these burning buildings.

And, of course, this was a story that went on and on and on, and it really changed in the months and the years that followed. It changed so much about our lives and how we looked at terrorism, how we looked at air travel, so many different things. But I remember that I finished being on the air for all these many, many hours, basically taking bathroom breaks and nothing else. Protein bars? You know what, honestly, I have no memory of eating.

Yeah, I'm sure I did, But there are big kind of blanks because you are just so laser focused. And I remember driving home and it was dawn. Dawn was breaking. It was very quiet. And those dawn, you know, the dawn birds, they chirp as the light is breaking. And the streets were very deserted I mean it seemed very much like I was practically the only person awake at that moment and I came home and the work was done

and I sat down and I sobbed for an hour because then I allowed myself the import of what had happened. Right. And I remember like I just it was it was all there, but I was tamping it down to deliver the news. And then when it was done, the job was done for that moment, for that first 24 hours. And then it was like a hysterical dam breaking. I just exploded in tears and grief.

And the pain that was involved in that day. You mentioned you didn't think anybody's watching because you're a Toronto news team. And this is an American event anyways. Very much so. But it was an international event, truly. But I, okay. But you know what? I want to say something to that.

Yeah, yeah, good. I want to say something too. Because, because I did think, ah, who's watching? I mean, everyone's in the American networks. They're watching CBC if they're watching Canadian or CTV. They're not watching a local newscast. And yet I learned later that many people did. Oh, yeah. watching CBC if they're watching Canadian or CTV, they're not watching a local newscast. And yet I learned later that many people did.

Yeah. I was going to say, the reason I think when something that horrific is happening in your world, you almost, there's some semblance of comfort if you can get the news from somebody that you are, you're someone you know and trust. So for the, I don't know how many people,

but the many Torontonians who go to City TV and you and Gord Martineau were a team for, you know, a long time. We're going to get to this in a minute, but a long time. I think getting this from you and Gord, I think would offer some sense of consistency and comfort, like as opposed to getting it from, you know, a big American broadcaster. You're so right, Mike. You're so right. And I was really honored to learn that because I was told by many people thereafter that I went to you because I needed to hear the worst day of my life being explained by somebody that I trusted, that I knew, that was in my home every day. And I, you know, that was, that was a tremendous eye-opening experience. I got a sense that that is true when, when, when you, you do look for comfort, you do look for familiarity,

but that was really true on 9-11. And, and I was very proud that I could play a role like that for so many people. of this lifetime. I remember following it and I was streaming this from a computer. I was at work when this all went down. But when the first plane hits, there's that semblance of hope that this was an accident. Well, yeah, we didn't know. We thought, oh my, the pilot had a heart attack. Yes, something. You go to the most probable reason. It was something, but that sort of strikes you as not quite right. But you're kind of like looking for this to be just a horrible accident and then of course

shortly thereafter the second plane hits and the dots connect quickly. I remember like okay this is a coordinated attack and at that point you don't know what's next and you've just seen two, so you don't know, for all you know there's a plane coming to hit, I don't know what's next and you've just seen two two so so you don't know for all you know there's a plane coming to hit i don't know a skyscraper in toronto you have no idea what's

coming next yes and that's the scariest thing the the airspace barriers went up very quickly and um and planes were being obviously diverted away from from new york and from u. airspace. So that's why you had all these international flights ending up in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. And yeah, for a good 48 hours, the world stood still and waited to see what was going to happen next. And forever, a good number of people will have got this news from you. I know when Walter walked into the office and Walter said to me, the radio says a plane hit the World Trade Center. My brain, I had just recently read an article about a Cessna going into the Empire State Building way back when. I just read this. In my head, instantly, I saw a Cessna accidentally crashing into a World Trade Center

before I go in and get more info. So I always remember forever. I remember Walter telling me that. So forever, there's going to be so many Torontonians who are like, remember Anne and Gord. Of course. It's like I'm old enough to remember the assassination of John F. Kennedy, so the American president. I remember that. And I remember the aftermath of

that. There are these memories and moments that are collective amongst millions of people, and there is this kind of cellular shift that happens, I think, almost internally, where we all sort of recognize that we were in a place at a specific time and have this one memory all of us share. I mean, we all react to memories differently, but they're all there for so many of us. You know, right now, because I have one, there's high school students who were not alive when the World Trade Center was hit. Just pointing that out. So the grade niners now were all born in 2002. Right.

Yeah. You're a West Ender, right? Like a West End Toronto person? I grew up at Ossington and Queen. Okay. And I went to Parkdale Collegiate. So I'm a Parkdalian. I was born in Parkdale, for what that's worth.

Yeah. So now I live sort of midtown, but I have my roots in Parkdale, and I'm a proud Westender. That, in the day, and it still is true, I think, to some extent, although there is a gentrification going on in Parkdale now, but that was always, Parkdale was one of the sort of early places where the new immigrants settled. And so you would see these waves of different immigrants. And when I was there, it was Eastern European. There were a lot of Czechs, there were Ukrainians, Poles, Italians, I mean, the smattering of everything, but it was very sort of Eastern for lack of a better word. And then, you know, with each wave, it would change. And sort of the tone and the, you know, the shops would change

and the spices would change. And now I think it's becoming a very hip part of town because Queen West is just, you know, inching West more and more and more. Well, there's a great West End brewery that wants to give you a six-pack. So this here, I'm pointing because on podcast they can't see your point. This six-pack is going home with you.

It's from Great Lakes Brewery. So if you're ever... I know Peter. I wasn't going to bring it up, but I had heard like I was in a meeting with these guys recently just having a beer, of course, with some of the guys like Mike and everybody, Mike Lackey and everything. And somebody mentioned that somebody, somebody said you were dating somebody's buddy or something.

And I didn't want to bring any of this up. Like, I don't know who Anne's dating or how she's connected to the beer people, but that's still, you're still taking home that beer with you. I am taking it home and I, and I'll look forward to quaffing it with my, with my partner, Les Murray, who is the president of the Toronto Festival of Beer. There you go. And the gentleman's expo. So you got lots of free beer at home. Is that what I'm understanding? Actually, we try not to drink that much because now we're watching our physiques. It's hard as you get older. It really is.

Yeah, but if you're going to have a beer, have a great late beer. Oh, you got it. It's a delicious beer. Let me see what I gave you. You gave me like a, it looks like a variety pack. Yeah, Canuck Pale Ale. Wow, yeah. Sunnyside Session IPA.

Well, there you go. And what's this red one? Oh. A pompous ass. I've got pompous ass English ale. Okay. That is popular with guests of Toronto Mike, the pompous ass.

That's all I'll say about that. So, yeah, please enjoy that beer. And if people want to help crowdfund this podcast and keep it going, that can be done at patreon.com slash Toronto Mike. But this week, because there's not many days left, please, maybe you can give the money to the Terry Fox Run instead.

So I'm running on Sunday at High Park and Sunday morning at 9 a.m. And that gives us a few more days to kind of pile on the pledges. So go to torontomike.com and at the very top, I think I have Terry Fox Run. Click that and give what you can.

You get a tax receipt and all that good stuff from the Terry Fox Foundation. So give what you can there. Fantastic, Mike. Good for you. Yeah, I do it every year. You look like a runner.

You're lean. You know, I can't run because my leg doesn't work right when I run. But if I look lean, it's because I bike every day. Well, there you go. There you go. But thank you. Yeah, thank you. I'm not drinking too much Great Lakes beer.

That's the secret. Okay, so we mentioned the global TV when you were, what did you call yourself, a gopher? Oh, yeah, I was a gopher. Absolutely. You know, you have to start somewhere and i was i was ready to start anywhere and uh i ended up working on the morning show um it was then a morning global had a morning show and they they do now as well but then i've. And Bill Cameron was the anchor. And Bill, who was a wonderful guy and a mentor to me, ended up leaving to go to then the fledgling City TV

to host their nighttime newscast. And he went to write it and to host it and discovered very quickly that it was too much writing. And there I was, ready to stop waking up at 3 o'clock in the morning to flick on the light and make the big pot of coffee. I was ready to come to work at 2 p.m. and work until midnight. That sounded like heaven to me.

And that's how I began writing. I began writing at City TV. Have you done any morning stuff since? No, you typically don't. I am not. And, you know, it's interesting because, you know, throughout my career, I was invited by, you know, by CTV and other broadcasters to do morning television. And I always said, what you like at 6 o'clock or 10 o'clock at night, you will not get at 6 a.m.

I just thought, because you mentioned the Global Morning Show, like about three weeks ago or so, Liza Fromer was here talking. And those, like, I mean, you do what you have to do, obviously. If it's a good gig

and you have to wake up at 3 a.m., I guess you wake up at 3 a.m. But you were wise to avoid that, I think. No, because I had learned. I recognized my own natural sort of biorhythms, and I'm dopey in the morning. I can barely speak in the morning, and I realized, I mean, I was just starting my career,

so I was ready to do anything. But having worked on a morning show for a year and a half where literally I was up at three and then getting home, you know, after the noon news, which was after one o'clock. And we would sometimes go for lunch after that, which was practically like dinner or whatever. And all I thought about was sleeping. Like I had no quality of life. And, um, and, and I'm really naturally a night owl. I, I get happier and, and more fun. Yeah. Like you said, you know, you know, your body best. I do anyway. But you know, I remember I had a very sort of awful, uh, female producer at global back in the day in that first run.

And she became quite influential and powerful at Canada AM. And I remember her remembering, remember, spit it out, Anne. But you see, it's too early. It's just 1.30. She called me and said, you know, come and play with us. Like, come to the big leagues, Anne. And it felt so good to say, no, I don't think so. Ironically, your initials are A.M.

Yeah, very good. Thank you. I'm actually going to point for that one. That one just hit me. You can use that if you like. Okay. So Bill Cameron, by the way, you mentioned that name, who I know best, I think, from CBC, right?

Yeah. I thought he was an excellent broadcaster, and he died way too young, as I recall. Late, great Bill Cameron. Yeah, Bill Cameron. So you're off to City TV. So at what point do you start working on City Pulse, the newscast?

Well, you mean as a reporter? Yeah, sure. So I started off as a reporter. Well, one of the producers said, oh, you should try. And in those days, you know, this was before the money came in from Chum. So it was a very, very lean operations. When I say lean, it was, you know, everyone said, oh, why are you going to that Mickey Mouse operations at ETV? There was much derision around my decision to go there.

And there was no money. We had four reporters for an hour, newscast, and we all did like three terrible stories a day. We were just, you know. In those days, we didn't even have a voice booth, so we used to do our voiceovers in the car, directly into the camera. Okay, yeah, yeah.

It was lean and mean, as I say. But anyway, somebody said, oh, you should try being on camera. And I went, no, no, no, that's not me. Like, I'm a writer. And I'm behind the scenes. That's me. And they said, no, you should try it. And I went behind the scenes. That's me. And they said, no, you should try it.

And I went, okay. And I guess they liked what they saw. And I started reporting. And I was, you know, I had a long learning curve. I think when I see, there are certain people that I've watched over the years where I think you are just natural. There are certain people that I've watched over the years where I think you are just natural. You're just a natural, great broadcaster, storyteller, reporter, anchor. It's like you breathe it and it's easy for you.

It wasn't easy for me. It wasn't effortless. No, it was not. It took a lot of effort. And I remember my mother saying, you know, can you hold your mic a little less tightly? I said, what do you mean? She said, well, I can see the bones in your knuckles. I look at your clenching. You know, I was so nervous for so long.

But, you know, it was a learning curve. They were, I suppose, very patient with me. They were, I suppose, very patient with me. And then I was one of those people that was in the right place at the right time where city news was expanding and it became the weekend news, and I began anchoring that. And then from there I went to the nighttime newscast and eventually to the 6 o'clock, which back in the day was the prime time to be anchoring.

Now it's just a lost leader, but then that was the big show. You were with the big dog. But I always maintained my reporting status. Even when I was anchoring five days a week, I reported three days a week, so I was doing both, and a week, I reported three days a week. So I was doing both. And that's a pretty heavy schedule. But that kept me in the field. It kept me connected to the viewership in a different way

than it does when you're sitting behind a desk. And it was very important that I do that. So the 6 o'clock news, which, and this is City Pulse, right? Yeah. So Gord was already there and you became like a co-anchor? Yeah. The TV of Gord Martineau. Yeah, no, he was very much the number one anchor.

And, you know, he came on board right at the beginning, I believe, of City TV. And he was young, good-looking, had a beautiful voice, photographic memory. And, you know, he was kind of the linchpin of the newscast. So yeah, he was there right from the beginning. And I just sort of worked my way into a position beside him. There's like a brief, you're right, he's there from the beginning. And then he goes away for like a short period of like a week. Yeah, He went away for a couple of weeks to Global. He realized that Global was not for him. And then they waited.

There was probably a period where he could not broadcast. And then came back. Is it true that Global wanted him to be Gord Martin? Or is that a complete... I have no idea. Gord Martin is too French. Martin, no. No, maybe not. Well, if that's true, I have no idea. Gord Nob is too French. You know, Martinot, no, maybe not. Well, if that's true, I can tell you this,

that that was, you know, not to disparage global television, but let's just say that the other major broadcasters were way behind City in a lot of ways. Yeah, fair enough, fair enough. So you're with Gordourd i think that's like 87 or something and uh you're there basically you and gourd martineau are like the team for about 25 26 years yes before we yeah a long time till 2010 which before we get to that though i have a few quick questions about your city uh tv years um my first question, how was it working for the aforementioned Moses Namier?

Like he's known as like a visionary and they talk about his city TV was like his vision with the environment and, you know, he was to take nothing away from Moses ever. A real creative genius and had a vision around television, foresaw narrow casting. I remember seeing a documentary about him when he was on the CBC as an on-camera talent, talking about what would eventually become the 500-channel universe that we know or how many channels there are. So realizing that niche television would become a thing. And he was talking about it in the 60s when he was not even 30. So to speak of him as a visionary, I think is very, very accurate, very creative, very eccentric in many ways, and a complicated person. I use the word complication as an umbrella. They're very good qualities and not so good qualities. And it was sometimes difficult to

work for someone like him. But it was always enervating. It was always a kind of experience that you would walk away from. Sometimes you'd be shaking your head, but you'd say that, that was really interesting. You know, he came to my wedding and I designed my wedding dress and it was, I think, very beautiful, if I say so myself, but you know, it was, it was a very beautiful dress. And he came up to me, and this, this would be a typical Moses thing. He'd say, you have to wear that dress on the air. You've got to, you've got to deliver the news in that dress. And I, and what do you say to that? Except, sure. Yeah, of of course i will and then you promptly forget the conversation right you just pretend it never happened yeah yeah but no no you've got a you've got to deliver

the news in that dress it's like sure okay but you know he created an environment that was very free and very rich and very and you moved around it it was there was a fluidity about it and a dynamism about it that you don't see in other places. You know, there's much more structure and there's much more, you know, there are corners and boxes that you've got to fit into. And I'm not saying that being a news anchor isn't a box in itself because it is. And that's something I have learned since I'm no longer a news anchor. itself because it is. And that's something I have learned since I'm no longer a news anchor. But there was a kind of wonderful freedom that let you dabble in a lot of different things. Your interests could guide you and you could go with it. And this ethos really came from the top,

which was Moses. Cool. Yeah. As a young person watching City TV, and that was my go-to station at the time because it was the cool one. Like that was the cool news source, you know? And you had some crossover with much music and stuff. And it was just like a, just a cool vibe, like Queen and John going on there and Speaker's Corner. Yeah. Speaker's Corner. Genius. We got to bring that back. I know we have this YouTube now, but no, I thought Speaker's Corner was great. Some guy drops in a loonie and records. That's right. And some crazy things, by the way, showed up on Speaker's Corner, especially at 4 o'clock in the morning. You never got to see that. So when you go to a city TV Christmas party or something, did you air the outtakes of Speaker's Corner?

Oh, we did all our outtakes. And some of them were just hilarious. Well, they were all hilarious. Some of. Come on, I can tell you're lying. No, no, no. I actually don't. I actually don't. But I know there must be somebody who does. And somebody's being blackmailed even as we speak. I'm surprised it hasn't leaked because I remember what are we now? 2016? Yeah, like 12 years ago

there was a leak, of course, right? The famous leak. The Gordon Martin leak. Yeah, so I remember what did he, I know you guys were just palling around or whatever. And he said, fucking bint. I still don't know what a bint is. Um, you know, he, he, he was the kind of guy who, when he got, you know, frustrated or bored, he would sometimes act out. And, and, and the thing is, um, I've always had a lot of empathy for, for the moment when you say something really stupid or off the cuff or spontaneously.

And it's never meant for broadcast. It's never meant to be heard other than your pals who are in the newsroom with you. you. And if you were to second guess yourself or remove yourself from the situation, say, thank God nobody heard that. Because, you know, I mean, who isn't guilty of saying something stupid or off color or something? That's important to know. This was never intended to air. No, this was, this was, this was, we used to do these promos for the next day after the show. Right. for the next day after the show. And so while you were waiting for all the equipment to be up and running and everyone ready to go, you were just sort of goofing around.

And, you know, he was very off color. And he, you know, he gestured in a sexual way with his script. And he called somebody a well-known person. He called them gay, but he used another word. The H word, not the F word. It was the H word. It was the... Because the F word is worse than the H word.

Yeah. But he did call, yeah. And we were talking about a camp for kids who have, Yeah. And he, you know, and we were talking about a camp for kids who have, I think, I think that was it for with cancer or something. And he was disparaging it. He was just being an idiot and a jerk. And someone, someone, he pissed somebody off. Can I say that on your... You can swear, yeah. Yeah. Well, I said fucking bent a minute ago. Yeah, that's true. So he puffed up.

You know, he pissed someone off and someone wreaked their revenge on him. Right, leaked this footage. Leaked this footage. And it just about destroyed his career. I mean, I remember he cried about it he was weeping and you know they saved the day because um as you know powerful influential men in newsrooms tend to get protected and so he was protected um they probably paid the singer a settlement. Can I say the name? Yeah, I think you can.

Roque Voisin? Yeah, it was Roque Voisin. That's right. And I'm sure there was some kind of a settlement so that he wouldn't sue, and he made an apology. And then he went on a long sort of rehabilitation of his character publicly. So he began, you know, fronting children's charities

and Irby Fund and running around the world with, you know, sick kids and doing what he can to undo the damage. That was a lot of damage. That's the kind of footnote that will always follow Gord, unfortunately. And, you know, he didn't really learn from that situation if I could put it that way you know so he was just that kind of a guy who who felt that ordinary civility was kind of not his is that like a like a frat boy humor

you know like a yeah and an immature and and and you know boring but for what it's worth uh i've seen this footage yeah uh you actually come off looking pretty good because you come off kind of classy and you're kind of tolerating it but you're not participating in it so you must have been relieved you know not that you would have said anything stupid but no but you know i i i guess i came off i came off, I, it's just, it was, it was very commonplace and tiresome, you know, so it was something I had heard a lot and I was just really quite, um, bored by it. And, um, and I think that's how I come across, but you know, it's, it's, it's a long time ago. I was trying to figure out,

you know, it came out 12 years ago or whatever. You probably know better than me, but it was actually broadcast much, I mean, the year that it was actually taped was much earlier. I could tell by my hair and what I was wearing. That's like the rings of a tree. Totally. It was like, oh, no, no. I think that was like 2006 or something. Or maybe earlier. No, you mean 96. Maybe 96, yeah.

Because it didn't come out until 04. 04, okay, yeah. So it was the mid-90s. I do that too. Like I skip a decade. If something's 03, no, if it's 93, I think it's 03. Like I miss a decade. Yeah, I do that too.

All right. So we I do that too. All right. So, you know, we won't dwell too much on it, but you worked over 20 years. People, when they think of Ann Maroskowski, they think of Gord Martineau because you were a team for 20 plus years. We were a team, but we weren't friends. So is it because of the fact he was a little immature? Is that the reason? Well, I don't want to get into the minutiae of it, but let's just say we sort of looked at the world with very different eyes. And I could see that in our newsroom, like most newsrooms,

you know, the women just worked a hell of a lot harder than the men did. And it was expected and that's what you had to do. And he was protected in ways that others were not. And, you know, we see examples of that, Mike, to this day. So we know it happens. We know that, you know, people were capable of all kinds of less than honorable behavior and yet, you know, they never wore it. But there would be people around them that would be sort of carrying the for lack of a better word, the sort of debris that came with it. So I think that, you know, I'm not going to disparage him.

We worked together for a long, long time. He and I were not friendly. for a long, long time. He and I were not friendly. I had a great regard for his professionalism, though, because he was peerless in certain ways. But there were deficits in his character. Can I put it that way?

I mean, not that I'm like Mother Teresa. I'm not. I appreciate your candidness here. You could have easily thrown in some canned answer at me. I've had those before. This is more refreshing. Listen, you know what? He and I have seen each other since I left city, and it hasn't been pleasant.

And the unpleasantness didn't come from me. So I'm not here to whitewash the reality. I mean, he'd probably say something nasty about me. So, you know, I'm not, you know, I'm not here to, um, whitewash the reality. I mean, he'd probably say something nasty about me. I don't care. All right. So let's go. Okay. So in January, 2010, and this is when I guess, uh, Rogers owns Rogers ends up owning city TV. Yeah. Made a lot of changes. I didn't like, I know I got the wrong person to complain about, but I liked like the character of like the Pete, even the Silverman helps, or even just the Jim McKinney and Ed the Sock and the new music. There was a whack of

cool shit that I dug and then it all got sanitized pretty quick. Well, that's the right word. And I think that Rogers took a fantastic brand that had the most remarkable audience recognition.

And just... Like made it CTV, really. Like it just, or, you know, it just, you know, there was a reason we were watching City TV as opposed to CTV, which was it had character. It had character for sure. And Peter Silverman was tremendous. Watch it, buddy.

That's my Silverman. And, you know, yeah, that's very good, Silverman. And, you know, McKinney was wonderful. And, you know, Mark Daly. I mean, you know, he survived. Well, can I play real quick? Because you mentioned Mark Daly, who I refer to as the voice. This is my turn for Mark Daly.

Hold on here. Wasted days. Wasted nights. Wasted life. What kind of guy was Mark? Speaking of people dying way before their time I loved this guy This guy's voice doing late great movies Just the best What kind of guy was Mark Daly? Please tell me he was a good guy He was a good guy he was such a good guy and and and and and

just committed to his work and his craft and and getting it right and making sure that he was fair He was a really, really decent human being. And his voice was so remarkable. He could have made millions and millions of dollars with that voice. And why he didn't really sort of try to do that, because it was that gorgeous, deep baritone that was so distinctive. You don't get a nickname like The Voice. No. They're never going to call me The Voice.

No. They're not even considering it. All right? He was The Voice. He was The Voice. And he was a wonderfully quirky person. He really sort of lived and walked and breathed his police beat, and everybody knew him. Everyone respected him. And I remember when he died,

it was it was so heartbreaking. Because he knew he did something truly, truly remarkable for prostate cancer and prostate cancer survivors. He actually did a documentary on the newscast that went with him every step of the way through his treatment. And it was hard to watch sometimes. And it was very self-revealing in a way that I think that some people found almost shocking. And I think he raised a lot of money. And if anything, I mean, of course, people will remember him as this remarkable character on City News, and his voice was so memorable. But the legacy that he'll really have is with, you know, prostate cancer treatment and raising funds for prostate cancer. He was really an amazing guy.

Yeah, he's missed. That goes without saying. Without a doubt. Where was I? January 2010. Okay, so in January 2010, that's where I was going, Rogers has, they do

a round of staff cutbacks, I guess is what we'd refer to that. A round of staff, 600 people were cut. Is that right? Is that across Canada? Yeah, but, you know, big, big chunk at City and they told me that the night before and it was, I didn't see it coming, although, you know, I think it was a bit in la-la land.

I thought, okay, this new big company has come on board. I have to work, unfortunately. Like a lot of people have a really bad divorce. And you shake your head knowingly. Not too bad, but definitely had a divorce, yeah. Yeah, and mine was really awful and I'm in trouble and I have to keep working

and I'm not getting a great vibe from the Rogers people, but they've given me a new contract and I think, well, you know, that's okay, I guess. And we're moving to the new building and there's this, all this hoopla about moving to Dundas square and I'm a part of that. And I think, well, well, maybe, I don't know, maybe I'm surviving this somehow. I don't know. Um, but I, I was thinking, yeah. But you must have been confident because you are ann moroskowski like the this is a famous name slash face and voice in the city for 20 plus years you

know what when i saw them get rid of some of our like well-known veterans i i felt unnerved by that how could you not vulnerable yeah but but i felt too that I needed to just sort of do my job, do it well, continue trying to create a great product every day and do my job as best as I could. What had happened with Gord is Gord stopped talking to me for about three years. So as soon as Rogers came in, he kind of stopped talking to me. I mean, we always would have at least a friendly sort of exchange of,

hello, how are you, right? But it wasn't – we weren't intimates at all. But then it stopped. And I didn't understand that. stopped. And I didn't understand that. And then, you know, there were explosions of temper and stuff like that in the newsroom, which, you know, was kind of strange. And he wouldn't stand beside me. Like we used to start the show and end the show together. but he wouldn't stand beside me until we were like counting down three, two, one. And I was like, what, what's going on? So I actually went up to him and I said, look, did something happen? Did I say something to you? Did I do something to offend you that I don't know about? But if I have, let me explain it. He said, no,

no, no, it's fine. You know know I'm just going through my own stuff I thought okay but I had opened up I had opened up the conversation I thought that would shift things but it didn't and so um so this kind of freezing freezing thing happened that went on and on and finally I just sort of gave up on trying to remedy it. I didn't know what had happened. And then, um, and then about a month before it was before Christmas, I recall, because, um, suddenly he was like smiling again. And, and I thought, oh, well maybe something good has happened at last with him. And, and what it turned out to be is I got is I got fired. And so after working there for as long as I did, the news director, who was a woman that I thought was my friend and certainly a valued

colleague, sort of pushed the paper in front of me and said, we're not renewing your contract. Threw it out. And that was it. That was how it was done. And then there was this woman who was hired by Rogers to make those cuts. Said, just to be clear, Ann, it isn't personal. It's business. And I stood up and said, don't spout cliches at me at this time. And I looked at this woman who I had worked with for such a long time. And I thought, this is how it ends. I walked out and I burst into tears. And I was walking

down the stairwell because I didn't want anyone to see me crying. And a colleague of mine was coming down the stairs and said, what's the matter with you? And I looked at him and said, I just got fired. And that, of course, just spread like wildfire really quick. And I was walked out the door. I went to my desk. I put my few personal belongings in my bag. And that's how I ended my 30-plus at City TV. Wow this is um it was

pretty sad you know you know it's yeah I know a guy he writes cover sports for the Toronto Star and yesterday just yesterday he's told your services are no longer required because they're cutting 40 bodies there the Globe is, they're called voluntary buyouts. And they said, if we don't get 40 of these, we're going to just like pick our, they won't be voluntary anymore. And the industry, it's just, to me, it's just an observer. I've never worked in the industry,

but it seems really tough. I have people come in, the story you just told me there, I've heard similar accounts from so many people. Yeah. Well, look, you know, let's put this in perspective. First of all, we've got this major technological revolution that has upended traditional media. So when I say traditional media, I'm talking about radio, television, newspapers, magazines, print, books. books. It's all over. It's over. It'll still linger a little bit longer. But my feeling is, but there is something to be said for kindness at the end of a long service. There is something to be said for respect. And I think it could be handled better, of course.

And I think it could be handled better, of course. Now, okay, so my first thing I got to ask you is, do you think that you would have had the same treatment if you were a man? I have no idea. No, you couldn't know. I've never been a man, and I have no idea. I know that, listen, I think it might have been different, but I can't say because I have no experience of it. I feel that big, big companies, you are a tiny little cog in a big, big gargantuan wheel.

And when Chum owned Citi and before that Moses, you know, this was still very much a small family business. I mean, Alan Waters used to come in every Christmas with his wife and she baked cookies for the newsroom. Like that's how old fashioned it was. So, you know, you go from it to this huge conglomerate and there is this faceless, nameless person who is deciding your fate somewhere. And there's just no personal input. You're essentially a number. And I just recently had this chat with, I think it might have been Liza Fromer,

but somebody about, like you almost feel like you need to suppress your salary to remove a target from your back. If that makes sense. Like at some point you're making so much money, your salary and your age, because clearly it's much harder to suppress by the way it is. So, you know, the people that have the, the people that are always let go have, have worked, have great work experience. They have some years in the company, and they're making some money. So if you look at broadcast now, everybody is just out of J school, journalism school, or Seneca College.

I don't know where they're coming from now. And there are 20-somethings. You see the odd veteran here and there. I'm not saying they don't exist. But for the most part, they are looking at the bottom line and saying, where can we cut? How can we save money? Because nobody's buying the newspaper. Listen, I'm someone who still likes the paper.

I like the crinkle and the ink on my fingers. So I read the Globe and Mail every morning. But I read lots of newspapers online. And I know at my age, I'm a dinosaur. So I'm not saying that we have to stay forever in our jobs. I'm saying there is a way to say goodbye or to say thank you that isn't about some person shoving a piece of paper in your face and saying it's, it's over. And then not looking at you. How dare you? And then, you know, of course, what happened to me eventually happened to her. And then you get your ass kicked, because that's

what karma is about. You know, it's, it's nobody escapes the end of their careers. Like, you know, for some people it happens sooner. I'm thinking of athletes or dancers, sometimes actors. You know, you have a time where you are flourishing and then your body gives out or injuries happen or the time has passed. Your time has passed. So, you know, transitions in life happened throughout our existence and change is the only constant that we have. But there's just, our humanity is really getting lost. And this is, and this is the problem. Okay. So now I think you're absolutely right. So this happens to you, unfortunately, in January, 2010, and approximately six years later, Gord Martineau,

who, you know, wasn't cut at that time, they, I guess they made a choice, and Gord Martineau is, he's out, but he needed to be out. He looked miserable and unhappy, and they were marginally, marginalizing him for a long time. It's not that I watch newscasts that often. I actually don't. originalizing him for a long time it's not that i watch newscasts that often i actually don't i i don't watch conventional television very much at all um but i i you know i would tune in because i have people still at city that i'm close to and i watch their stories and city has really changed its format they're getting rid of obviously their anchors. Certainly at six o'clock, each reporter is basically anchoring their own segment. And I think that's working for them. I don't know what the numbers are. I know that I went to Global after Citi, and Global was, you know, Global and I were

not a good fit. I mean, I came from a very dynamic place, and is very state and very suburban in its thinking. And it was like being back in 1985. It was just like really old-fashioned television and not nimble television, which is what TV news really has to be now because news is exploding momentarily. As it happens, you can get it anywhere. So to make people really want to watch it, you have to be quite unique in the marketplace, and they're not. So it's the kind of thing where with Gord, you know, he, you know,

I don't know what kind of a goodbye he had. I think he's landed at 1010. So I know that he did not have, like, a goodbye on the air. Yeah, he did. It was awful. They had three days. They had three days of terror. You know where they went?

They went to Dini Petty for a version of, oh, tell us about Gord. You know, Dini Petty didn't work with him after 1985 or something. It was ridiculous. They wouldn't come to me, obviously. Okay, maybe what happened, I'm trying to remember off the top of my head,

but I remember, so they do a six o'clock, Gord says goodbye. He says just goodbye like normal and then a press release went out like from Rogers saying Gord's done, but like it just says that he's no longer on City TV. Yeah, they did some kind of,

they did a couple of highlights of his Herbie stuff and they did a few things. They did a couple of highlights of his Herbie stuff. Okay, okay. They did a few things. They did something, but it wasn't, and they talked to Dini Petty about Gord. So they did a little something, but it wasn't. It wasn't the Mike Cooper treatment, that's for sure. I don't know if you know Mike Cooper.

I don't. You don't know him? Come on. No, I don't. I'm sorry. Who is he? I don't know if you know Mike Cooper. I don't. You don't know him?

Come on. No, I don't. I'm sorry. Who is he? He was a longtime CFTR and 1050 Chum radio guy who was most recently Aaron Davis' co-host on CHFI. Oh, okay. Which is a Rogers company, too. And after many years of service, they announced he was kind of like a Peter Mansbridge thing.

He was going to have a final day, and there was cake. Ann Romer got it twice, okay it was it twice or three times well she's back for a third time but she got two cake goodbye parties and she'll probably get a third okay and didn't get i didn't get one not do you know what happened roemer do you have any insight into that ann is a hard worker okay okay i have. I have some insight, but I... I've got some insight, but I'm not going to go there. You can't? Is there anything like...

I know the first time, maybe a stewardess? She wanted to be a stewardess? You know what? She used to be... I don't think we use the word stewardess anymore, Mike. No, we don't. We do not. It's flight attendant.

You're right. Yes. You're right. Let's elevate the language here. And then the second time might have had maybe some political aspirations, maybe? You don't have to... It's okay. You can hold the water, as we say on The Wire political aspirations, maybe. You don't have to. It's okay. You can hold the water, as we say on The Wire.

That's fine. You can hold the water. You know what? I have no idea. The thing about Anne is that she's the daughter of a well-known general, and there is real name recognition. The Liberals came after me, too, to run for office the Ontario liberals and I said too many skeletons in the closet no thanks

if it was the federal liberals I think it would have been a slam dunk gig for you there so there might have been she might have considered running politically you know you're essentially confirming what I have a very good source who I will not name who has given me a lot of detail on both ann romer retirements and i've

written about this on toronto mic.com so i'm not going to name that person's name just somebody who would know you've already said enough to tell me that person was was right i already can read it in your your your blue eyes i can see it right now. So, no, this is good. The Ann Romer, so this is good. My buddy Mark from at 1236, we have some more Ann Romer news here. Okay, but Gord, real quick on Gord. Is it fair to say Gord Martineau was told your services are no longer, that wasn't a decision on his part?

Yeah, no, I think he was told that. Okay, let me, oh, I forgot to tell you this. So, the day after I'm fired, okay, I've just said he hasn't talked to me for three years. He calls me. And by the way, it was so different when I, the phone didn't stop ringing for weeks after I got fired. Because I was the poster child for that big cut, right? You know, 600 people cut for Rogers, including veteran broadcaster, Ann Roszkowski. So there was always my face somewhere, you know, and, and I think it, and I think that really unnerved a lot of people. You're right, because I was, I had been around for

so, so long. And he called me the next day and said, it's Gord. Hi, Gord. He said, I just want you to know that as soon as Rogers bought the company, they told me I was out and you were in. But they couldn't open up my contract. It was so ironclad. It would have cost them too much money. So they got rid of you.

Thanks, Gord. Bye. Yeah. Yeah. So there you go. So there it was. there it was and it was again a money decision and because i was making a whole lot less money than gordon martineau i'll tell you and that is a whole other discussion well that's a that's because the inequality you know it's to me it's strange because to me the more you make the bigger the target on your back but it if what you

said and i've heard that from others it does seem like veteran female broadcasters take the brunt of these cuts but that works against the whole money puts the target when we all know yeah but he had i think he had um sort of a built-in i don't know know what he had. He had a very good lawyer. He had a good contract, a great lawyer who protected every part of his professional existence. And so, and I didn't. But you, okay, so this shit happens. I've made many stupid mistakes. Well, you know, you seem happy and healthy

and these are the most important things. I am, I am those things. We're going to get to some of the other cool stuff you're doing now. Okay. So you mentioned the global news thing, which you said was a poor fit. But it must have happened very quickly because, you know, June 1st, 2010, you're on Global News Hour with Leslie Roberts. Yes.

How was it working with another person who had a controversy of his departure, Leslie Roberts. I think he's in L.A. right now. He is in L.A., yeah. But what was it like working with Leslie Roberts? Well, I really liked working with Leslie. Leslie's, you know... Did he talk to you?

Yes, he did. Until he didn't. Because, look, because he was really tied into management in a way that I wasn't. I was very much the woman from the competing, you know, broadcaster. And I didn't, you know, they didn't really accept me. They didn't really, the people in the newsroom didn't really like me that much. You know, I didn't make any friends there. It was pretty lonely, actually.

you know, I didn't make any friends there. It was pretty lonely actually. And, you know, in a part of it, because I've got a big mouth and I'd say, wait a minute, you know, can't we do this? Or, you know, I had, I felt a lot of years of broadcast experience behind me and some great producers that I had worked with. And I would bring these ideas to the table and people would look at me with rather jaundiced eyes and say, well, we don't do it that way here. And so I got very quickly the impression that my ideas were unwelcome. And then that just kind of made me feel pissed off and aggressive.

So then I just got kind of ballsy and would say whatever I wanted to say. And he, a very charming person, Leslie is. However, he was, first and foremost, and most people are, interested in themselves. And I think that he felt very nervous about controversy. Or if when we were chatting... That's ironic too. Yeah.

You know, if we were chatting, the thing that I liked about him that I didn't have with Gord is that we had a really nice on-camera rapport. He and I used to crack wise and we would make comments on the stories. And, you know, sometimes people don't like that. And so they would write. And the thing is, back in the day, when you'd write a letter, that would be a big deal. But now with, you know, email and social media, it would be easy to get those commentary.

And he'd get unnerved by someone saying, I didn't like that. Whereas I would say, I would just write back and say, well, this is what we were talking about, or give a deeper explanation in the cut and thrust of a chat that lasts for 30 seconds. Sometimes you don't have the opportunity to really delve into something. So I would have a real honest and in-depth response to the letter writer. And they always appreciated that. But he felt, oh, they don't like you, Anne. And I think then they cut our chat. And then blah, blah, blah. It goes on and on. And then I had a news director that I didn't get along with who came from radio, knew nothing about television. I said, this is a mistake. He's hiding.

He can't, he can't, he's afraid. And every idea I brought to him was threatening to him. So I know that there were, there were these forces that were combining that, you know, she's not, you know, fit in or fuck off. And, and it was a question for me that I, I had to go. And you know fit in or fuck off and and it was a question for me that i i had to go and you know what i i didn't i didn't really mourn that um i mourned the loss of city but i didn't you know i'd been there done that uh well you have different perspective at that point of course you do in your

life yeah you you you definitely you only have to have that one time where that person pushes the folder and it's like never again. Yeah. You will never be like caught by this again. You'll never feel. Listen, it's not that I didn't feel shocked. Like it came to me like, oh, my God. Okay.

Because you did three, about three years. Yeah. And was this like a contract was up or was it? Yeah, my contract was up. My contract was up and they said we can't afford it to anchor show. Okay. But you know, I knew I could see, I was feeling, I was feeling the coolness coming to me from the people around me. So there were people around me who knew, and I was thinking, am I being paranoid? Because I'm sensing something. I'm very intuitive about energies. I got it.

And I was sort of thinking, am I overthinking this? Am I thinking this correctly? Am I feeling this or am I just feeling uncomfortable here? I would have liked a couple of more years probably to work. I think that if I had had a better fit with the newsroom poobahs, that would have been better. But everybody was kind of like scared of me. I can't imagine. I know. I'm just like a pussycat.

Although I'm a little afraid. I'm not going to lie. I'm not. No. I mean, I think I can be forceful. But I heard later that people said, you know, you drove them crazy, but you were right. Right. You know, but... Eh, whatever. So if there's another opportunity like this, would you be more of like, I hate to say this, but the term I'd use would be like, yes, man, like just whatever you want kind of deal? No, I first of all, my career as a broadcaster, news broadcaster is absolutely over. I mean, if there's really. Oh, completely. It's only been three years since the global departure.

I don't know. I'm just saying I never. OK, I don't know. I'm the outsider. First of all, Mike, I'm 63. And what do you think... Okay, go on. Sorry. Okay, so, you know, nobody's going to give me a job. You know, it's hard to be 50. Do you want to be my co-host? Oh, sure. I'll pay you in beer, unfortunately, which you can already get for free from somebody else.

You know what? The thing is, we live in an age-segregated culture. So ageism is truly alive and well. And I have learned this through painful experience. So everyone who's 50 plus, wherever they're working, is feeling nervous, by the way. And for those who lose their jobs at a certain age, there's, it's almost impossible to get another one. I hear you. No, I hear you. Okay. Yeah. Go on. Yeah. So unless you are prepared to work for like 1978 dollars. Yeah. So, um, is that because you're competing with the J school graduates who will work for like, I don't make up a number, like for 35K a year or whatever? Is that the problem? You are reporting on maybe even radio, depending on who you're working for. There are many platforms now that you have to deliver. And so that has made it a much more intensified experience, probably for less money. And so and I think, you know, for the absolutely a younger person is going to be able to manage that differently than someone like myself. Like, you know, yes, I'm on Instagram and Twitter. I don't really do Facebook, but I look at it sometimes, you know, but I'm not immersed in social media. I use it more as a vehicle to read what people are writing

about, but I'm not a purveyor. And the interesting thing is some young women have said to me, oh, why aren't you doing television, you know, on YouTube or something? Because I look up to you or, you know, you are an aspirational woman. think there is a kind of hunger in young 20-something women, especially when you're still in those chaotic 20-something years where they're anxious to hear from someone who isn't a relative or maybe isn't a teacher, like an authority that they might be able to relate to, but isn't their mother or auntie or grandmother, you know what I'm saying? So I think there is a kind of a desire to hear from someone like myself, but I wouldn't know how to put that together. And I don't know if I want to do that anymore. You know, I'm acting now. So I used to be a news anchor. Now I just play one in the movies and on television.

No, okay. I saw this. I think it's on your Wikipedia page or something it says that you're now acting or something like this I've seen this where are you acting? well I audition like all other actors and that's been a very interesting experience

because I really had to put myself out in a certain way and just say, oh, you're going to fail. You're going to go and try. And they're going to say, no, I don't want you. I want someone else. And you don't know what the reasons are. And so let me just say, it's an occasional thing that I do. I go on auditions all the time and I see, and it's a sad thing. I see people who used to be prominent in my industry who are also doing what I'm doing. Right. I can imagine. Yeah. And so you see this sort of, um, there's this kind of,

I think, Oh, everybody wants to keep working and contributing and yet there's no vehicle for it. Everybody wants to keep working and contributing, and yet there's no vehicle for it. So I do this out of just keeping my working life a bubble. It's like a little machine, keeping something going. So I go to a set, I go to a movie set, and I am with people I don't know. I'm in an environment that I've never seen before. It's novel, it's new, it's interesting to me. You go, you work, you end it, and it's done until the next gig.

And so, you know, I've done some corporate videos. I've done some, you know, I've made, uh, I've made hearing technology sing and I've made, um, mining equipment sing. You know what? I'm a, a buddy of mine named Dan Duran. Do you know Dan? I do. I do know Dan Duran actually. He does a lot of these cause he's got that voice. He's got a great voice and he's a handsome guy. Yeah, he's a handsome guy. He does a lot of these corporate videos. Yes, I know. And I've seen them, actually, some of them.

And he and I actually worked. What did we work on together? We were working on, I think, Dark Matter, which is a sci-fi television series. Do you know it? I've heard the name. Yeah. So he was a broadcaster on it and I was a broadcaster. He always plays broadcasters. Yes. I i mean that's what we do anyway so it's not it's so when i talk about being

in a box yeah yeah um one of the things i like very much about working at global the second time around is that i really i really push the envelope in terms of what i was doing on set, the way I related to Leslie and the way I actually read the news. I did it very differently there than I did it at City. I did it much more freely because I knew I was at the end. And I thought, if I'm going to take some chances, this is the time for me to take some chances and just see where this goes. And I really enjoyed that part of it. and just see where this goes. And I really enjoyed that part of it.

What I didn't enjoy was really the sort of the presentation and how the newsroom reacted to breaking news and stuff like that. But in terms of my own sense of fulfillment, it was richer in some ways. But now that I'm out of broadcast and I'm now always... I'm still stuck on that. Is this because you've decided nobody will hire a 63-year-old woman? Yes. Is that basically the start and the end of the...

Well, where am I going to go? Why don't I ask you this question, Mike? Come on. Here's what you're going to do. Yeah, yeah, tell me. Easier said than done. Yeah. Are you taking notes?

Okay. Sure. So I'm thinking of like Jesse Brown is a guy I think... I know who Jesse Brown is. Right. And I'm thinking, you're right. There is some technology. You need some help, if you will.

But through digital platforms, he's actually making a living off of, I mentioned Patreon off the top. I'm not making a living off of Patreon. Okay. I'll be honest with you. I'm trying to pay for these microphones. Okay. But he is.

I'll be honest with you. I'm trying to pay for these microphones, okay? But he is. And it's almost like the people are paying for him to be a journalist and to sort of be an independent journalist to keep his eye on the Rogers and the Bell and the CBCs and the Toronto Star. Right, right, right. But he's created a real niche for himself. True, true.

And there are only so many niches. And the thing is because he broke, I think he broke the John Gomeshi story. Yes, he had the John Gomeshi. He took it to the Star and worked with their investigative reporter. Exactly. And I think that really gave him a huge platform and an audience that he didn't have before that. So do you have an interest in the reporting, like being the reporter? Not really.

Okay, so you don't have that passion. So here I am at this stage where I am actually having lunch, which I never did for almost 40 years, which I really like, by the way. I know that sounds so facetious, but it's true. And I cook, and I work out, and I see my godchildren. And there is time, there's a kind of richness to my life now that I didn't have before, and that I appreciate. And so I'm, I'm not looking for glory. I'm not, you know, I resisted your initial. I know you did. You were very resistant, actually. I had to be, I had to be such a pest. You had to be extra insistent for me to respond to your invitation. I had to dangle the beer in front of you. That was before I realized, by the way, because like I said,

I was shooting the shit with my buddies at Great Lake Beer. And because the guy there, his close friend is a city TV weatherman named Adam Stiles. I know Adam.

I love Adam. And he's like, you got to put Adam on your podcast. I'm like, okay, whatever. Oh, Adam's wonderful. You'll love him. Someone pipes up

and I don't remember the details, but you know the details. But somebody pipes up and it sounded to me like the guy across the hall or some guy that they work with is dating Ann Roszkowski. And meanwhile, for a long time, I've been trying to go back and trying to get you on this darn show. And I tried different channels. I tried Facebook. You did. I tried Twitter.

I'm never on Facebook. I know. See, I lost. I don't know. I should have gave up, but I refused. But you didn't. And look at this. Good for you.

Here we are. And I will, you mentioned earlier being like a mentor to young female broadcasters and stuff. And who was it? No, I don't want to be a mentor to broadcasters. I want to be, you know, what I would like is to be able to have a forum where I could speak to women, young women, because the world is a challenging place and every aspect of being a woman.

Now, some of my experience is totally irrelevant because I came up in different decades than they are today. But there are real commonalities. Well, the reason you'd be good at that is, and this is going to sound like I'm now kissing the guest's ass, which maybe I am, but I don't mean to. This is sincere. You have the experience of a 63-year-old woman, but nobody who spends two minutes with you thinks you're 63 years old. I actually think you might be younger than me.

I'm not too sure. I'm being very sincere. I know this is a lot probably genetics and you probably take care of yourself, but you present yourself as a much younger person. You know what? I've always sort of looked younger than my actual chronological age, and that is genetics. My mother had beautiful skin right until the end. Yeah, it's good Polish genes. and I think all that cabbage she fed me when I was growing up. There are those antioxidants in cabbage,

but, you know, one of the things I think that intergenerational friendship is a big deal to me, like, it's a very, It's a very important thing. I have a girlfriend who is 87 years old, and I share my dog with her. Because she's older and she needs companionship, and my dog, Bella, is a wonderful, warm, centered, calm pup. She travels between us. And so Monday to Friday, she lives with julia and then i have the pop on the weekends interesting yes and and and we became friends when when years ago so we've known each other for about 10 12 years but i have friends in every spectrum of of every decade and

i mean they might not be full you know but some of them are kind of godchildren and whatever. But the thing is, I think that everything in my working life prepared me to be curious about what's next. And that's why I told you that I'm not someone who just sits and thinks about the past. Because I really do think about the future. I think about what's coming. What are the challenges of our existence now? I'm very worried about the climate. I'm very worried about how, despite many advances in office politics, the old ways continue

because we're not educating our men in some fundamental way to understand that equality is important in our culture, because there are so many areas of the world where there's so much inequality. So I feel very strongly about those things, about politics and how, you know, how women can be a force for change and our relationship to First Nations, that's a big deal for me as well. This is a very personal question, but you mentioned earlier that you needed to work. Because sometimes you need to work because you need the dollar.

You still need to work for the dollar? Well, let's put it this way. When my marriage broke up, my ex was my financial advisor. And what he did is he lost my retirement money. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's terrible.

So this was, and by the way, this story is not unique. I kind of delivered to my expert husband and my trust that he would take care of this. And it is what it is. I don't dwell on that because it would just drive me crazy. What I had to do, I had to do some very... In the aftermath of our marriage, I bought a falling down house and I renovated it. And this helped my situation. But it was one of the most stressful,

devastating periods of my life where I was on my knees, literally on my knees, praying that I would survive this because it seemed at the time almost impossible. So I was able to do something in the aftermath. Are we coming to the end of our broadcast? No, no. Actually, once in a while, I glance over to make sure there's squiggly lines. Oh, that I'm still...

That the mic is picking it up. Just to make sure there's squiggly lines. It's just something I do periodically just so I can enjoy the convo without worrying that, oh my God, 20 minutes ago, it stopped recording. Oh, I see.

So if you see me look over, there's no, there is no time. Oh, okay. That doesn't exist. But I do like to see, uh,

the squiggly lines. Right. And are they there? There are squiggly lines. So we're at like one, and I, and you let me know if you have to go, but we're at like 119.

Which means what? 119, one minute, one hour and 19 minutes. How long is it normally? About an hour to an hour and a half, depending on how the convo is going. Depending on my... I just had an episode with someone I had zero rapport with.

Like I had zero... Isn't that the worst? Yeah, but the thing is, yes, you're right. And remember, with this show, almost every time somebody... I've met them for the first time, and two minutes later, we press record. I know. Yeah, and sometimes five minutes in, it's like an old buddy. Yeah.

And then I had an episode where there was zero rapport or chemistry, but we did 90 minutes of conversation. And it actually sounds fine. I listened to it, and it sounds like great, but it's just the strangest thing. So all this is to say I don't feel that way. I actually am enjoying this con. So I'm happy to, if I could do 90 minutes, that'd be great. But the reason I ask about the money,

do you need the money, is because, and I don't know how lucrative this is, but via digital means, you know, in this new era, which a lot of which, my full-time job

is digital marketing manager. Like this whole back-end, web-enabled digital world, and this podcast, I'm going to do the A to Z here. There's nobody else who comes in and makes sure this goes up to a server and there's an XML file and all that. I'm going to do it all. So I'm thinking using these channels.

And I have a 12-year-old daughter. And you mentioned all the generations. There's got to be a way for you to have some kind of a web presence where you can do this passion you have. You light up when you talk about helping, uh, guide young woman and think you light up. Clearly that's the passion. I don't know how lucrative it is, although there's probably sponsors who would want to get in with Ann Roszkowski on this, but there's something there. That's all I'm saying.

Well, thank you. I mean, I, I definitely think that the possibility exists. You know, I have to tell you, I had, I had this opportunity to go on The Social, which is a television show on CTV. And this was, this was just a few months after I left Global. And it, I, I feel very strongly that here you have four women who are basically the same age, and they've had sort of the same experience. And I think, yes, they have a fifth, they have a fifth chair, what they call a fifth chair now and then, where a guest comes on and brings whatever they bring to the table that

particular day. But I thought there is this kind of generational, just, uh, just it's, yes, they're, they're different. One is married. One is divorced. Uh, two are, you know, in relationships of various kinds. Um, but there's a sameness. They're all like mid thirties, right? Yeah. I know that. I know. I think they're, yeah, I think they're mid thirties to, to forties, early forties, but you know, they're there. So I was on this show this show and they were talking about – what were they talking about? They were talking about infidelity because they – some kind of, you know, it's the topic du jour. Sure. Taylor Swift probably did something or who knows.

Or I think it had to do with marital infidelity. It wasn't like my boyfriend cheated on me. infidelity. It wasn't like my boyfriend cheated on me. But yeah, so one person is saying, oh, I had a boyfriend and he cheated on me with a woman who had two children and I'm so beautiful. She didn't say that, but she's so beautiful and smart and accomplished. But he ended up with a woman with two kids and you could see the disconnect. Like, why would you want her and not me? And then the other one is saying, well, every time you come in to work and you flirt with that guy, blah, blah, blah, that's a mistake because you are really putting your relationship in jeopardy. And I was thinking, yeah, well, what if you've been married for 10 years and your husband just drinks or smokes pot and sits in the basement watching TV and never talks to you? And that woman goes out and has an affair.

What about that? What about if you have your partner has absolutely no interest in you sexually? Right. And you feel so alone and so afraid that this is your life and someone pays attention and you pursue that. Is that so? Okay. There are different reasons to be unfaithful. All I'm saying is if there is infidelity, is there not an opportunity to look at yourself and say, what is driving this beyond, you know, somebody cheated on me. I don't want to be facetious when I say it like that because cheating is painful. But you see,

they don't have the life experience. Yeah, that's a very black and white outlook on this. Yes, it's a young outlook. It's a lack of perspective. It's a lack of perspective. You don't have the life experience to know that you can be in a long relationship, love someone deeply, and still want to be drawn to someone else. That happens in life because we're human beings, and we're imperfect and flawed. And I'm thinking, there's a real disconnect here. Because your show is the one I want to watch.

That's the combo I want to hear. So, yeah, like do you have – now I'm thinking like you and you got some girlfriends or – I know you mentioned some of these people like the 87-year-old friend and you have some younger friends. You and a few well-spoken good communicators having a glass of wine and shooting the shit i'd watch that come on young young woman would watch that there's something there yeah there could be because you're very well spoken you're a great communicator but you're you're not boring like you're not sanitized if you will like you're you're real i always use the hashtag with this podcast real talk which is i don't want to have some guy on and just i i need i need i don't want to be

bullshitted like I like to have like authentic conversations. Yeah, I know. And I'll tell you something about being older because authenticity becomes a real commodity for you. I look at myself and I think, I don't know how much longer I have to live. I have a real sense of the limitation of time ahead of me. So I think about my health. I think about time differently than I did, let's say, when I was 40. I think about who I want to have in my life, what they bring me and what I can give to them. And authenticity for me is absolutely the number one. If you're going to bullshit me, if you're going to give me horseshit for conversation, or if you're just going to talk about, you know, Taylor Swift, who is, by the way,

quite a talented girl. Let's not offend Taylor Swift fans. But, you know, I'm not interested in her love life, really. And yet there is this tremendous preoccupation in our culture about what other people are doing. And yet we are not paying attention to our own lives in the way that would really enrich it. I don't have time for that either, Mike. So I'm with you. So where do we go to consume our media, if you will, when, and I'm not going to pick on any specific, but Bell, Rogers, and Chorus, if they're all delivering the same. Well, because they want people to be cheerful. They want to be uplifting. They don't want to be downers. They don't, you know, but the thing is,

we can't pretend. It's like the pink ribbon campaign in breast cancer. You know what? I'm all for raising money for breast cancer. It kind of offends me, though, that there are now like pink boobie t-shirts and pink ribbons that you put on your shoes and there's like pink purses and there are pink, pink, pink because there are a lot of women who are really suffering and don't feel that uplifted by their disease. Don't think it's the best thing. I'm doing air quotes now, the best thing that ever happened to them, right? They are struggling. And yet there's no, I mean, maybe privately in one-to-one or group therapy there is, but there is no expression in the culture where you can say this is suffering and hard. And I'm not just using breast cancer as an example. It could be anything. I'm using that only because the campaigns around breast cancer have really exploded in such a, yes, a positive way, raised lots of money. Yeah. But even there, I'm not going to crap on a good cause, but there's a whole like trademarking of pink and there's a whole licensing issue there. But yes, there's a little bit of it's too much.

And there are other worthwhile causes that are getting lost because all the attention goes in one area. My goddaughter worked for a time at the Odette Cancer Center at Sunnybrook, gynecological cancer. Do you know how many young women, sometimes they're pregnant and they have uterine cancer. Young 20 something, 30 something women, who wants to talk about that? So it's like, you don't even want to go there, but that's the reality. And nobody talks about it. Right. Right. Right. Because it's not a sexy cancer. It's not breasts. Right. You know, or we rebuild breasts.

Well, sometimes a woman has to have an abortion. Sometimes she can never have children again or ever have the prospect of having children. Like, you know, I just think that there is just a preoccupation and it goes one way and then everything else gets lost. But that's like a whole other conversation. Would you come back for that one? Would you come?

What? Your experience here, since you were the great resistor. You know, I've been resisted by others. Yes. Some have actually never said yes. Do you believe it? I can't get Bookie. You don't know who Bookie is.

I don't. I can't get Dave Bookman to come on this show. Who is he? He was a longtime CFNY 102.1 DJ who I grew up listening to. I don't understand why he wouldn't come on your show, Mike. And yeah, I've had all of his colleagues like I've been on and they've all had great experiences. I got references. I've never had to, you know, I got references if you need references.

Just don't give up. Don't. Don't give up. Yeah, go. So you resisted. So here we are, winding down here. Okay. Any regrets?

About what? Appearing on this show. Oh, my gosh, no. This has been delightful. Would you at some point? I thought you were talking about my life. Oh, no. Oh, I've got lots of regrets.

That's a bigger question. Whenever people say no regrets, I'm like, come on, really? You wouldn't change a thing? Like this whole living it once and you could do it again? You wouldn't change it again? Give me a break. Of course. Because you can't do it. You can't go there. You can't compute. Would you consider

a return visit at some point to talk about a topic? Mike, I would! It was delightful to be here with you. And do you want Peter Mansbridge's job? If somehow somebody could give you that job, would you take it? No. No and no. He's making a million bucks a year, I hear. Yeah, yeah, probably.

But money doesn't buy you happiness. No, it doesn't. And you know what? It's really time for Peter to go. Do you want to take a guess so I can cut this tape later? Do you want to make a prediction who gets the Peter Mansbridge gig?

No guess? You know what? I don't watch CBC National all that often. So, you know who I like? I like Lindsay DeLuce. Do you know who she is? She's on that brand new

morning that they replaced Canada in. I like her. Her family's the Porter. I know. Oh, you know. Oh, yeah, I do know that. Yeah, yeah. I don't know who will replace Peter. I have no idea. What's your prediction? Ian Hanomansing will probably.

You think so? I think Ian Hanomansing. But I'm always surprised we don't seriously consider Wendy Mesley, who, you know, because she's always doing it on weekends. Yeah, she is. But no, Wendy won't get it. Ian Hanomansing is my guess. I think they'll want somebody younger.

Again, they'll want somebody that the audience will grow with and grow used to. Ian is wonderful. Ian is wonderful. And he's not a white guy. I feel like maybe the CBC wants to do a non-white guy this time.

Yeah, could be. Absolutely. So does that music mean it's over? Yeah, but I can always shut it down. It is over. That was great, Mike. Is there anything coming out like in theaters or anything where I can even see you for a second? Oh, yes.

Okay, so I've been on Dark Matter. This is our TIFF talk here. Yeah, that's right. There's a wonderful Canadian director by the name of Xavier Dolan. Do you know who that is? Okay, he's very well known in France and in Quebec because he's a Quebecois filmmaker. He's very young, 27. And his first English language film, it'll probably come out next year.

It's called The Death and Life of John F. Donovan. I was hired without an audition. I went to, so, like I know who Xavier Dolan, his French language films are huge in France. And he's won many prizes at Cannes. Okay. But because his films are in French with subtitles, you know, they don't really play for very long in Toronto.

But if you have like HBO or whatever, you know, TV, Rogers, what have you got? Nothing? I have Rogers. Okay. Cause I'm a sports guy. Yeah, you do. Do you have the movie channel? No. Ah, don't have the movie channel. I have, I just, I just needed my TSN one and two and all the sports. All right. So I don't know if you can, you know, cause I don't know enough about technology, but you do. Mommy, I Killed My Mother, Tom at the Farm. These are titles. His first film he brought to Cannes at the age of 20. This is seven years ago.

He's 27 now. He won a prize for I Killed My Mother. Like, he's a genius. Okay. Okay. Xavier. Xavier Dolan. Okay.

So I'm, like, you know, doing my thing, and my agent calls me and says, are you free on Saturday to go to Montreal? And I guess we can take these off, yes? No, I'm still recording. You are? Yeah. Oh, yeah. I'm still recording.

You are? Yeah. Oh, I didn't know this. Yeah. I thought with the music. Oh, because I do a whole, like, and that's the end of it. I have a little script, but you were telling me a great story. So I just took down the song to hear your story.

Oh. Now, luckily, this isn't like the fucking Bintz thing where there's nothing that you said there that can be leaked anywhere. That's right. Anyway, my agent called me. Oh, that's why you went off mic too. Yeah. Because you were great the whole episode. And then all of a sudden at this part,

you went off mic and I'm like, oh, she was, I was like, she was so great. Like for 80 minutes. And now she's gone. Mike,

I had no idea. You thought we had stopped recording. I thought we had. No. All right. So anyway, um, long story short,

do you, do you know game of thrones? Of course. Kit Harington's in this movie. Susan Sarandon's in this movie. Kathy Bates is in this movie. These are big names. Big names. Oscar winners. But Harington's in this movie. Susan Sarandon's in this movie. Kathy Bates is in this movie. These are big names. Oscar winners. But I didn't know this. All I know is that Kit Harington's in it and I'm thinking, yeah, okay, I will go and be in this movie. I know that I'm

not going to have any scenes with him. Anyway, I am picked up by limo, flown to Montreal, picked up by limo, go to wardrobing. I an like an early 200s wardrobe really ugly on me by the way but anyhow they send pictures and i'm thinking okay who's the wardrobe dude here or a woman and it turns out i get the script now if you don't know this about film and television, when they rewrite a page, it'll be blue. So if you see, let's say, a 10-page script, one may be blue. And you'll go, oh, on page 8, there's a rewrite. Then if they rewrite page 8 again, it'll be pink. That's the final script.

All right? So I'm in wardrobe. I get the script. It's the weekend of the Toronto Festival of Beer, which my boyfriend is running. It's a big weekend for him. I have sacrificed this weekend not to support him but to go to Montreal. So it's a big deal that I'm taking this gig. I don't know who the director is.

All I know is I'm going to Montreal. I arrive. I see this script. It says Xavier Dolan. And I go, oh, my God, that's fantastic. The script is pink, which means final script. I open it. I have no lines.

And I'm thinking, are you kidding me? Have I flown all the way here for no lines? I'm just going to be like a face in a monitor. The actor is going to be reacting to my face saying something. And then I saw the director and I thought, oh, well, he's such a perfectionist. A local news anchor couldn't do. Or an actor couldn't be the anchor. He wanted a real, somebody who actually worked in news.

Authenticity. Authenticity. So I understand this about xavier dolan because he is i know his reputation i go to makeup and hair the next morning by the way movie making is super early 4 a.m i had no idea anyway i'm there getting my hair and makeup he does my hair he goes in, the hairdresser, in 2006, everybody's hair was straight. I said, okay. So he blows it out straight.

Sends somebody, I figure out later it's Xavier, my picture. He goes, no, I want big anchor hair. She is a CNN anchor. So he does the big round poof. The Lynn Russell or whatever. Yeah, whatever. You know, like the big, it's a qu anchor. So he does the big round poof. The Lynn Russell or whatever. Yeah, whatever. You know, like the big, it's a quaff. Right.

Anyway, I show up on set and I'm thinking all I'm going to be is the face in the monitor. And he comes up to me, introduces himself, and he said, you were a longtime anchor. And I said, yes, I was. He said, I want you to see, I wrote something for you last night. And I said, yes, I was. He said, I wrote something for you last night. Will you take a look at what I wrote and tell me if you feel that it reads the way it should? I know writers.

They're proprietary about their words. I said, you know, Xavier, I don't want to offend you, but your sentences are too long. And this context might feel a little better if we move this paragraph here. He gives me two pages of script. He goes, Anne, why don't we sit down and write together? I'm thinking, holy crap, this guy is totally into collaboration. We sit down, we write, write, write. Can you hear my fingers typing?

we write, write, write. Can you hear my fingers typing? We rewrote the script so that I felt stronger about how to deliver it and sort of the sequence of the events. I was hired to do five lines or less. I think I have like maybe

a minute or two minutes of script which he wrote for me the night before. He is the producer. Did you get a writing credit? I need to know right now. No, I don't think so. Producer, director, actor, co-writer, wardrobe maven, and editor.

He does it all. Incredible. And he's 27. And this movie comes out next year. I think it'll come out next year. They're shooting in London, England and Prague in the spring. So they shot some this past summer. And I guess they'll pick up filming later.

And I'm excited to see it. Listen, I may end up on the cutting room floor. Sure. It's always a risk. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's fine. But it doesn't matter because I worked with Xavier Dolan. It was so fantastic.

See, I'm glad I didn't stop recording. That was a great story. That was awesome. It was really awesome. And the thing, the piece de resistance, I'm going to just give you the final thing. We write, write, write, and he's giving me direction. We're shooting on two cameras.

And then he says, you know, Ann, you need to sign off. You need to say, I'm Ann. And then he goes, Stifelophilus. It sounded vaguely like Greek and ethnic. And I said, well, you know, it's CNN. They tend to have very, you know, North American names. Very, you know, maybe I should be Ann Foster. Or he said, no, no, no. You see, if there is an Ann Foster in the CNN somewhere, she can come back to me and complain. He goes, he doesn't know me. He goes, what's your last name? I said, Roszkowski.

He said, I like that name. You sign it off. I'm Ann Roszkowski. And this is CNN. Awesome. That's amazing. That's amazing. Anyway, so we'll see. We'll see. Anyway, I

love this kid. I just loved him. That's great. And he had a film in TIFF 16. It's called It Isn't the End of the World. En Francais. He is prolific. Very prolific. He's the reason I'm watching this quick Netflix thing called Happy Valley. And I have to watch it with subtitles

because the British accent, I miss too much. The accents are so thick. So I listen and I pick up most of it because I do speak English. But I had to put the subtitles on because I was missing too much. Not only is the accent thick in parts of this, but they have such, well, I had to put the subtitles on because I was missing too much. Not only is the accent stick in parts of this,

but they have such, their slang, like, Yes. their terminology for stuff, you know? Yeah, that you know absolutely nothing about.

Yeah, I remember seeing a film about these two twin gangsters in London. What was that called? Snatch? No, not Snatch, but Snatch.

Two smoking, lock socks? No, even earlier than that. But you're right. Was it a Guy Ritchie thing? Yeah, it was earlier than that. Okay. But you're right. Snatch and two smoking...

Because those are the ones I have trouble with too. The Cockney or whatever. Me too. And I thought, and I said to my partner who is Irish, by the way, who had Irish-born parents

and grew up with that. Like, it's a different ear. I grew up with a Polish accent, right? Right, right, right. He had Irish. I said, do you understand this English? He said, oh, yeah. I went, what?

He's been trained. It's a different kind of brain. Your brain developed differently. Absolutely. And that brings us to the end of our 192nd show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. And Anne is...

Anne Rock Inc. So that's A-N-N-E, which is Anne, by the way. And then M-R-O-C-I-N-C. Could you come up with a more complicated Twitter handle? See, I didn't know what I was doing. I would have... What is it? C before Z?

Is that the thing? Yes. Anne C before Z. Okay, so follow Anne on Twitter. She's going to start tweeting more because that's what all the kids are doing these days. Oh, yeah. That's right. And our friend...

I'm going to tweet this. Do it. I'm going to tweet this, Mike. So what do I say? Like, later today, you can listen to it? Like, I'm going to, like, at some point in the next hour, this will be live. So all the subscribers have it pushed to them. Because if you subscribe in iTunes, Google Play, there's many different subscription aggregators.

So they've already subscribed. So it's going to get pulled into their player of choice, okay? iTunes is a big one, but there's lots of them. Okay. Other people will just literally click the link on Twitter or go to torontomic.com and play it in the browser. That's the other way lots of people will listen. Some people will actually download the MP3 file and put it on their smartphone via USB

and listen on their subway ride home or whatever in the car. They'll do Bluetooth. There's so many different ways. So in about an hour, this will be live. I'm checking for squiggly lines. Yes. So yes, this will be live in an hour good we have it uh that's my fear i'm 192 episodes in and i'm haunted by this thought that one day i'm gonna have somebody like yourself and we're gonna have a great convo and it's gonna disappear it's like it's almost like that yeah dream you have where you're not wearing pants or whatever. I know I could have

spent some money and have redundancy systems but I don't have a lot of money for this. I'm already in, you know, that's why I have a V-Zero. Yeah, no, you've got a nice setup here. These microphones were not free. These were very expensive mics. And that's why I try to push the Patreon and help with that out. But this week I want the Terry Fox

run pledged because that's coming up Sunday. So yeah, this will be out in an hour so I'll tweet it at you and you could retweet it or that's what you're going to do. Oh yeah, I will. I promise.

Okay. Oh, and Great Lakes Brewery wants you to follow them too. They're at Great Lakes Beer. I will. See you all. Do it.

Come on, you're a beer maven. I totally am. By the way, next year, do I get an invitation? What is this? What's your boyfriend's beer festival called?

Toronto Festival of Beer. Not only will I get you, I'm going to get you VIP tickets. I'm going to hold you. I have it recorded. I'll pull the clip and I'll play it. I promise you 150%. Don't forget me. This is exciting.

I won't forget you, Mike. See you all next week.