Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Anwar Knight: Toronto Mike'd #586

Episode Date: February 19, 2020

Mike chats with Anwar Knight about his start in radio, his move to television as a weather specialist, being on the country's #1 news program at CTV, having cancer and his new podcast.

Welcome to episode 586 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. StickerU.com. Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals for your home and your business. The Keitner Group. They love helping buyers find their dream home. Text Toronto Mike one word to 59559. And Banjo Dunk from Whiskey Jack, one of the most celebrated roots, country, bluegrass bands

in Canadian music history. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me this week is CTV weather anchor, Anwar Knight. Yay! I'm the studio audience too. Yay! I'm the studio audience, too. Yay! Double duties for you, my friend.

Nice to see you. Nice to see you. Wow, it's like we're almost in a bomb shelter. You've got the food, you've got the drinks, the music, the entertainment. How long would we last? Well, the beer, let me see. I have more beer, too, around the corner there.

For the record, I'm here for the chicken lasagna, poma pasta lasagna it's my favorite so oh you know i feel yeah i only have okay this is where it gets awkward okay i have in the freezer upstairs a vegetarian lasagna i will take it and a meat lasagna i don't know but i don't have any chicken lasagna what i know okay well i'll take the vegetarian what is this the empty box that's the empty box because it's in your free the freezer i would i used to take it out, and then I'm like, just, you know. So you get, I do have a vegetarian lasagna for you before you leave. We truly do buy it quite often. In fact, I think we go for their, is it their Wednesday special?

I think it's 15 bucks or something. It's Tuesday or Wednesday. We will get that for the kids. Absolutely. We love it. So you have a family of four? And a dog and two fish. Does the dog eat the lasagna? Gets the kids. Absolutely. We love it. So you have a family of four? And a dog and two fish. Does the dog eat the lasagna?

Gets the scraps, yeah. We try to cut that back a little bit. And fish, no? No, fish don't eat it. No, they won't eat that. What kind of fish do you have? What are they called? Tetras?

Oh, yeah, Tetras. Yeah, yeah. You know, it's funny because when we got it, it was a gift from my five-year-old. And we promised that, you know, if he was good for his birthday, he could get fish. So he said, yeah, he was going to do it. He was going to take care of it. And I thought, hey, you know, we'll just get goldfish.

And then we go to the pet store, and they said, oh, no, goldfish will die. That's right. Well, yes, that's right, but you need a pump and all that because they crap a lot. Yeah. And I'm like, what? So they said, we got a tiny little five-gallon kit, right? And they said, the Tetras will be good, so we got two. And I said, kids, what should we name it?

And I don't know where Chelsea and Bingo. I don't know where they got it. Oh, I wonder where Chelsea came from. That's cool. Those are cool names. It's a great Joni Mitchell song, right? Chelsea Morning or whatever? That's fantastic.

Now, I'm playing a little R.E.M., okay? Yeah. People think this song, some people think this song is called Should We Talk About the Weather? But this song is actually called Pop Song 89. See? And I was thinking, okay, I got a weather guru, Anwar Knight, coming over. Like, what's my go-to weather song?

That's all right. Just a few seconds of this. Yeah. You could use that as my theme. You should. Give me credit for it when you use it. Toronto Mike says this would be a good theme. So we can talk about the weather here.

Sure. I would like to see REM hit the road again, get back together. I don't know if you're a fan or not. Yeah, sure I am. Absolutely. You know, it's interesting because I think artists, there's been an evolution over time. And the digital revolution has changed things.

That is not to say there aren't talented artists. But I sometimes wonder if it's really the social media machine that makes the artists now. Again, I'm not saying there aren't talented artists. This is controversial statements from Enron. You know, but if you look back over the years, I mean, where all they had was a mic and, of course, maybe a band with them and the stage, that was it. It seems

more organic, right? Like, it feels like these are buddies from Athens, Georgia who start playing together and it just feels, you're right, it does feel less manufactured, maybe. And you're right. Sorry, go ahead. You look at Menudo, right?

Oh, yeah. I mean, the eighth generation. Right, interchangeable parts, right? They just... Go on, you're performing, go! You know? I haven't thought of those guys in a long time, but growing up in the 80s,

they seemed to be a big deal. I never, you know, I didn't know their jams or anything. No, but I'm just saying, it's even NSYNC and stuff like that. It was a formula, right? Let's get a bunch of cute kids that can dance. And I know I'm going to get emails and stuff. I don't pick on this and that.

I'm just saying I often wonder without the social media machine, it would be different. And also just to sound more like a couple of old guys. Speak for yourself. Shaking our fist at that. I know. I got just to pile on, just to sound more like a couple of old guys, you know, speak for yourself in our fist at that. I know I got, I got about 20 years on Anwar. I should point out here,

but nowadays the, the, the, the stars are more solo artists. Like they sort of, again, they might be in their basement. Like we are here now. And then they're doing YouTubes and stuff.

And they're, and they're, they're talented. There's a lot of talent, but they're not groups. Like I feel like because, and also in Top 40 Radio, I don't know if you ever tune in a Top 40 station.

We have several in the city. But none of them are playing rock music. It's all hip-hop and R&B, right? I mean, for the most part, too. I mean, the whole music industry, though, is all about on-demand now, right? I mean, who are you kidding? Radio used to make the stars.

That doesn't happen anymore. Some people will say, you know, weather is on demand now too. Like, I feel like you should be an app now. Just ask Anwar. Well, there are apps, but if you want accurate, you got to come to the source. Also, you know, you can get facts everywhere, but you need some flavor, right? You know, it's funny you say that. I think it's about telling a story.

All kidding aside, I'm not a meteorologist. I've studied weather for years. I had extensive training in it in terms of my days from the Weather Network, but it's about telling a story. At the end of the day, you want to know if it's wet, dry, warm, or cold. I don't care about the barometric pressure. I don't care about all that, how it's going to impact me during the day. Right. I just need to know what to wear on my bike ride. You see? Yeah. Is he? Do the meteorologists get ticked off that you're on their turf? Be honest

with me because I'm trying to think. Adam Stiles has been on this program and I believe he's an accredited meteorologist. Do you think he ever gives you an evil eye and says, hey, you're just an imposter? Be honest with me.

Not me. I don't think me. I'm sure the business is changing. You're getting a lot of younger talent that maybe don't have a passion or don't study it. And I see that here in the city, too, some of the stuff that goes on there. I'm like, are you kidding me? Did you just say that? So I wouldn't be surprised.

Some will say, oh, you know, what is that person? I have full confidence in my forecast. I would put my forecast, you know, as accurate as any meteorologist in the city. I have a passion for it. I like conveying the story. And personality. Well, I think it's about telling the story at the end of the day, right? You know, I launched the Weather Network when they went English in Ontario. Originally, it was out of Quebec. Okay. I was the first one on. Wow. Yeah, I was the very first one on, 6 a.m.,

when they opened up at Robert Speck Parkway by Square One in Mississauga. My dear friend Rosie Ferguson used to work there, and I would visit her at that office. You see? Yeah, not too far from Square One, right? You see? Wow. And, far from square one, right? You see? Wow. And, you know, it was interesting.

There you had experimental technology, and you'd be on for seven, eight minutes live TV across the country, and you had to really learn to tell a story because often you hear in your ear, graphics have died, Phil. Right. Vamp or whatever they say. Tell a story. Now, we're going to get into it because you've got a new podcast and you're telling, it's fantastic stuff.

Where does the moniker weather weenie come from? You know, I always like to have fun with it. And that was just something that I started saying, you know, I'm a weather weenie. I don't take myself serious in terms of, you know, I've been very blessed when you're doing the weather. I also did some serious reporting before. You can really have some fun with it, right? So I like to do, like we go live on location many times a week, sometimes five days a week. Today, I just came back from Harborfront. But you get to have some fun and like to pull back the curtain. If I find it curious, I'm trying to do it that the average person at home would like to know something.

So it's about having fun. So, yeah, you can call me the Weatherweenie. My goal is to connect and infotainment, I like to call it, to inform, but also entertain. I want to make you feel good. Well, maybe do a little gloating off the top, and we'll kind of do a deep dive. But just gloat a little bit about how popular the CTV Toronto newscast is. Well, we're the number one in the country. Number one in the country.

I mean, come on. We're the powerhouse. I'm not going to lie. The powerhouse and the numbers are there. We have a very, very solid team that work there. And I think part of the success is that it is that familiar presence. For the longest time, because you're inside people's homes,

it was a family joining a family, whether it's at noon, whether it's 6 or 11.30. And yeah, we're number one. As far as I can, in my whole life, I think you've been number one. I don't want to give you too much credit.

Well, it's certainly not all about me. But yes, we have been. I remember Tom Gibney. I'm trying to think back at some of these. Dave Duvall. Of course, the voice, right? Christine Bentley. Bentley's been on this show.

There you go. Yeah. And what recently, of course, the big news over there, and we'll get to this, but Ken Shaw has retired. Yeah. And Nathan Downer is now co-hosting with Michelle Dubé. That's right. Number one. And it's not even close, right?

You could do, you know, it's not close, right? Like, it's not like you got number two breathing down your neck. Go ahead. Not yet. Well, this can only help you. You know, they say more exposure is better. Okay. So I have with me Anwar the weather weenie.

Sure. I like the i like the word wiener i don't know what that says about me like it's a fun word and like yeah nobody ever waves to that camera by the way i think aaron davis might have uh played to the camera a little only the true savvy veterans and pros know enough to play it again i actually try to pretend there's no cameras in here because then I'll become self-conscious. Somebody told me I was nodding too much and then I'm like,

I can't even think about that or it'll throw me off my game. I'm trying to do some real talk. It's true. It's another element, isn't it? Right. And this is an audio. Can I tell you a funny story very quickly?

Yeah, of course. I was telling my kids we were going to do this show and I was showing them the infamous picture by the tree that you do with all your guests, right? Right. Because that's sort of the signature you hold by the tree there, right? It is. And it went infamous picture by the tree that you do with all your guests, right? Right. Because that's sort of the signature you hold by the tree there, right? It is.

And forever, by the way, forever when people Google you and they go to Google Images, they're going to see that picture by the tree. So make sure you look handsome. Okay, I'll work on it. Where's my makeup, by the way? Is that behind this curtain?

It's like a game show here. I can't have you look better than me, but please continue. So I showed my son. I said, oh, this is it. Daddy's going to be talking to him. To Mike. And I showed a picture. And then he saw you and you know what he said? He said, oh, he's

very handsome, Daddy. I have no idea what he said. He said, he's Jack Frost. And I said, what? And you know what? I had to Google it. We've seen it. There's like 16 different Santa Claus with Tim Allen. But Jack Frost, played by Martin Short,

and I have to show you here. Oh, good Canadian boy. I did a side-by-side. Oh, yeah. That's good. Now push that to the camera there. So look at this, and I'll tweet this. I'll take it, you know. Marty's a good Hamilton boy, as I recall.

He is. But I'm like, that's striking. It's you. You know what, though? It depends on, you know, it's my hair. Like, sometimes I wear this balaclava when I bike, then the like the sweat and the oils make it do that like that's all natural i don't think it's doing that today though well i see yeah daddy's talking to jack frost so here we be what's your son's name rylan and oliver two boys okay and who's the one who

thinks i look like jack oliver oliver okay so oliver uh thank you i that's uh could be much worse like i feel like yes it could have been much worse you know oh phone home give me some reese's pieces here okay my friend you went to humber college i did yeah did you always want to be in broadcasting obviously you went to a you know journalism program yeah you know many many many years ago i wanted to be an actor uh my parents said yeah you're not going to do that there's no future in that but oh no they didn't think you'd have success no they just thought it was a bad business to be in and maybe i was that kid that listened to my folks they were footing the bill but there was a compromise so i said well what about this program and they were like yeah okay

uh and that's how it started but i i always was into drama and that sort of thing i i performing's in my in my blood i did stand-up comedy for a while um so i i love having a stage and performing and connecting with people right and that continues to this day you know at the end of the day like at the end of the day, Mike, at the end of the day, in broadcasting, you could be doing the most serious story ever, but it is still a form of entertainment in terms of that you want to engage a viewer to come to you or to listen to you.

So it's still entertainment in that regard, right? You're still performing. You are, absolutely. You're trying to put on a show. In fact, it's scripted, right? Like you're not, you know, is it on a teleprompter or something? Dun, da-dun-dun.

No, there's no prompter for the weather guys. Oh, the weather guys don't get that. But the news people have a teleprompter. Sure they do. And they will also ad lib in between if there's breaking news, that sort of thing. But everything's scripted to the second. But just for the record, the weather people, it's all up here. All up here.

Oh, well, good for you. That is true improv, right? Like it's like you've all up here oh well good for you that is true improv right like it's like you gotta be quick on your feet and it's live you do these live hands right

and they're talking in your ear the control room you know throw two or wrap up or go longer or hey

all of a sudden there's a guy swearing behind you and you're still going did you were you always good at this like was it

or did it is it putting in the reps that you sort of get to the flow of things? Well, firstly, thank you for the compliment. I think, you know, because I started in radio, I learned to ad-lib. That was key, right?

Now I want to talk about radio. Okay, let's talk about radio. Okay. Because I do my homework, and I'm learning about, for example, your Easy Rock Overnights, right? And all this stuff. And I got to ask you, Anwar is your real first name.

Yeah. And so is Knight. Okay. Yeah. It's a family name. I was going to call you out and ask you if that's a fake name because a DJ doing Overnights, taking on the name Knight seems to me like a radio thing. Well, you know, it's interesting. I also did Energy 108 with Larry Silver.

We were the first dance music station. I remember him from CFTR. That's right. Yes, with Tom Rivers Days. Of course. Larry Fedorik is a client. Yeah, we're together. Larry Fedorik.

He's a genius. Big fan of Larry Fedorik. Okay, he's got a new... I'll say it because we're going to talk about your podcast later. But he's got a new podcast called I Was Eight. And the episodes are only 15 minutes long, and he wrote them all, and they drop every Thursday morning, and it's a story about when he was eight years old,

and this thing is charming as all heck. He is a great storyteller. Very, very good connection with people. Always been a fan of his, and it was said that he left out in... Well, he didn't want to leave. Well, I know. I don't want to get into that. You know how this works, right, Anwar?

Yes. Because a real talker, they told him to leave. Such a cruel business. It really is. I know. And I feel sorry for the kids that are getting into it now, truly.

Because now, you know, it's about... Well, I should be careful what I say. Okay, let's see how good Anwar is on the live mic here because he knows I'm not going to edit anything. But if I'm hearing you correctly, there's less jobs than there used to be.

Can I say that? Absolutely less jobs, also less pay, less future in terms of full-time employment is starting to dwindle. It's more contract stuff. And just the whole mechanism of how the business is done, you know that. Digital, you're doing a lot of it

yourselves now um and i just i think the the saddest part you can extend it to radio is that you don't learn a real true craft because there's no more real pros in there i was very blessed when i started in radio i got a chance to work with john major from toronto rocks oh my god yeah you know the late grade and absolutely he used to take off his socks he'd be barefoot when he did a show and i used to sit in the control room after did my other stuff i said can i just sit and let's sort of you know bond if you will he was very uh kind sure and he would in between commercial breaks uh say you have any questions whatever but people like that tom rivers larry silver wow uh you know and you just it's like osmosis but those were true greats we

don't have any of those anymore. It's all either. Where'd they go? They cost too much? They cost too much. And now it's, you know, digital. So it's all the internet's fault. It's like Pandora's box.

Seriously, because of the internet. Yeah. Now, you know, like I said, some people who don't care about, you know, personality and charm, they just press a button to see what the forecast is. And now on demand is a thing. So you're still the number one newscast in the city. But I'm guessing it's a fraction of what that audience was 25 years ago. Well, I don't know the exact numbers.

I wouldn't say a fraction, but... It's only eight people watching, but you're still number one. No, no, no. The thing is, though, it's the next generation. The current viewers, they will always be there, but it's the next generation. They're watching everything on this. So it has

changed. And the reality is the younger generation, they don't have the attention span. They want to see a quick, instant thing. That's not good for business. That's what's hurting baseball, too. Nobody wants to watch a four-hour ball game live. not good for business. That's what's hurting baseball, too. You know, nobody wants to watch a four-hour ball game live. Including me, buddy. I've got to be honest. I'll go see Raptors.

I'll see the Leafs. But a baseball game. My wife wants to go. I'm like, I can't sit out in sunlight. No, not for me. And these World Series. No, World Series. We're a long way off.

We're starting spring training right now. But these things start at 8 o'clock. You're looking at sometimes it's 1230 in the morning when these uh world series games end and i'm a big fan of world series you know playoff baseball and i'm thinking if i were even a titch less of a fan i'm going to bed you know what i mean like who that's it you're done what casual fan is going to watch you know the four hour anyway that way this how i don't know how we got here but yeah right the attention span is gone and it's all because we're used to instant gratification. And I think, you know, they have started to adapt.

I mean, if you go to a game, again, I haven't been to a baseball game in a very long time, but a Raptors game, we just went to a Leafs game recently, very engaging, not just the sport itself, right? It's about getting it with the crowd, whether you're showing people on the big screen, whether you're doing the, what's that, the blimp dropping t-shirts,

really engaging stuff, or the hockey shot where you get a piece of pizza for the whole section. That's all cool, fun stuff. So that part is great. It's about engaging a new audience, though. Okay, back to radio before I forget to go back to it. What's your first radio gig? Working out in Coburg.

Is that where the Big Apple is, or is that Colburn? Beats, if you're listening, Beats, I'm getting them confused again. I'm trying to remember. I think the Big Apple is further. Because I know there's two things going on there when I'm driving, let's say I'm driving to Ottawa, okay? I'm passing a Coburg and a Colburn. And there's a Big Apple because I've stopped at it

and climbed this Big Apple and had a pie. Yeah, I see it right now. And I feel like that and I feel silly. I don't know the difference, but I think that might be Colburn. I feel silly. Oh, no. I feel bad. I brought you in.

You're going to lose some. Back to the first radio gig I had. Okay, Colberg. Yeah, and I was an intern there and I was driving every day. It was like almost two hours. From where? From Mississauga, West End. Oh, wow.

Yeah. So you're a West Ender. I'm a West Ender, 905. Woo! Are you still a 905? Are you still a west end i'm a west ender 905 are you still a 905 yeah yeah i love i love the west end well that explains the palma pasta yeah because you're right it's right in your backyard yeah there's a couple of them um i love the 905 because i can go to niagara i can go to toronto lots of green space uh it's beautiful but i was driving there you know and it was an internship I think three or four months whatever it was

and I was doing all these silly little jobs which you do as a kid to get in the business very funny story this midday guy I think his name was Reg they would sell

death announcements between 12, 31 most highly rated day part because there's a lot of seniors there and they want to know who's not making it

to bridge your bingo. Do you remember the day of carts for commercials? I know of. I hear it from radio veterans. Seriously? You don't know what a cart is? I know. I've never worked in radio, so I don't know. I don't know anything about working in radio. Come on. For goodness sakes. Play along with me here.

Yes, I do remember carts. Okay, so carts was like an 8-track. For those who don't know. Like me. I'm with you. It's not digital, that's for sure. No.

So, they're big, bulky, plastic things for people who don't know. And you'd put them in for the commercials. There would be a whole thing. So, anyway, long story short, part of my job was to get the old commercials, file them away, and get new ones. Right. So, during the death announcement, Reg is, and they have this somber organ music, and he would say, you know, Katie, Lauren, 55,

or not, it would be 85. And I dropped a stack of carts in the room. Oh. So he's looking at me there. I'm like, it looks like this is my last day here. He was very kind though. But after a couple of flat tires, I said, I got to go. I can't keep doing this for free, right?

Oh yeah, because you're like an unpaid intern getting experience. And are you done with Humber College when you're doing this? Yeah, it was part of it. It was the last, if I'm not mistaken, the last part of it, the last term. And you can't afford to get this experience anymore

in Coburg. Yeah, after two flat tires. Then I ended up in Newmarket and then Easy Rock. Okay, let's talk about Easy Rock. That was a big deal, right? Who's the John Tesh, right? They used to simulcast the John Tesh. That's right.

In fact, I still think it's on a few markets. It went through a number of evolution. It was The Light. It was Easy Rock. There was one more in there. But funny story there again. I was basically doing behind-the-scenes stuff. They would run their CanCon in the evening of all instrumentals.

It was six to midnight. I'm not on air. It's all voice tracks. I'm putting on the CDs. And the overnight guy got into a bar fight, got his teeth knocked out. Oh, my God. Couldn't go on the air.

So I was producing little demos, hoping that sometime there'd be a break. And sure enough, I got the call. Yeah. Tim has a fat lip. You're on. Who was,

do we know this name of the guy? You got the fat lip or? His name was Tim, but I don't remember his last name. I wondered if he, you know, he went on to become. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. So good for you. They fired him and kept me. Well, that's good. And Knight's a real name. I would have lost money in a bar bet. Well, you see. Because that's a cool name for an overnight guy.

You know that, right? Your name's Knight. Well, there it is. And it worked out well when I did mornings. We called it Night in the Morning. Right. You see? Again, it's real.

I'm going to have to see a birth certificate, I think, before you leave here today. And by the way, the overnight guys are gone. They're extinct. Done. Are you the last one? You know, it's true, though, and that goes back to what I was saying about learning a craft.

And I'll tell you, overnight audience, there may not be huge numbers, but they're very loyal. They're either working security, they're working in banking, they're either doing baking bread. They are a loyal bunch. Truckers, maybe. All across the board. Or ins working in banking. They're either doing baking bread. They are a loyal bunch. Truckers, maybe. All across the board. Or insomniacs. Well, that too, but there's very few commercials.

You really have a chance to tell the story. I remember Gene calling me from Jesse and Gene days. Gene Valaitis is an FOTM. He was at the last event, Toronto Mic Listener Experience at Poma's Kitchen. Well, there you go. He was still doing mornings. I think it was at 6.40 at the time. Yeah, yeah, he was at 6.40

for a while there. And he called me. He was on his way to do the morning show. And I was just a kid and he said who he was. He was very kind. So you never know who's listening, but they don't do that anymore. It's all going to be off digital. It's all going to be voice. No, I tell this story a lot, but like back in the day when the Fan 590, the program director was

Bob McEwitt Sr. And his son, Bob McEwitt Jr. and George Strombolopoulos and Jeff Merrick, they had an overnight show called The Game. Think about the careers of those people I just mentioned. And it's because they cut their teeth and got better when few people were listening. But they had a playground to improve their craft. And you know what else? It shows you're dedicated.

Yeah. You know, I remember when I started in Humber, there was like 88 of us, and we had a teacher, what's his name? Should I say his name? Yeah. Okay, Murray Smith.

Really good guy. He did some on-air work in Toronto. Long story short, first day, we're in there, we're in this class with him, he comes in, he puts down his briefcase, and he looks at the room. He scans it, and he says,

only six of you will end up making it in this business at the end of your three years. The rest of you are wasting my time, your time, and your parents' money. Right. And he picked up the bag and walked out. We're all doing, what? You know what?

He was bang on. Six, eh? Honest to God, he was bang on because parents will pay for the college. Oh, do something, do something. And I don't want to generalize, but in this business, especially when there were overnight gigs, you had to be dedicated. You wanted to really learn this and do it and give up. I mean, I would be working as a bartender downtown at King & John.

I would do that shift, you know, from five to, you know, 1045. And then I would drive up to Mount Pleasant and do Easy Rock overnights. That was my day until six in the morning. So what do, like you mentioned, you feel sorry for those entering the business now. Is this part of it? Like where do they go to get better?

Like it used to be you went to a small town or something, but even those jobs are gone. It's all voice tracked from a bigger market or whatever. The overnights are gone. You know, you may not have to anymore, though. The reality is, again, with social media, stars are born and some are valid. If you look at what some of these people do on YouTube,

and they're making six figures. Oh, I hear, yes. Doing nothing. And you go, what the heck am I doing? I remember this one lady, all she did was unwrap Disney toys. She wouldn't even show her face, just her hands. Unwrapping videos, yeah. Like, are you kidding me?

I know. Like, so I don't get it. That's a different audience. I've seen the unwrapping Disney toy lady. I've seen her on YouTube. I think my five-year-old was tuning into that. You're right. And yeah, it's amazing what appeals to people, but there's a market for it.

So I mentioned that because I don't know if you have to be a gifted communicator anymore. And again, I'm not saying I'm a gifted communicator, but I'm talking about learning that craft. There are some people who are born with it. There's a lot of junk out there, but people watch it. And where do you think that you could hold down the weather spot on Canada's number one news program if you weren't a gifted communicator? Come on. Let's get this humility out of here.

What type of question is that? Give me my chicken lasagna and I'm out of here. I don't have a chicken lasagna for you. Vegetarian, sorry. You're getting a vegetarian lasagna. Okay, I want to find out why you didn't become the next John Tesh on Easy Rock.

But first, I want to give you a six-pack of beer from the Great Lakes Brewery. Wow. Local, fresh craft beer. You're taking that home with you today.

Lucky man. And I don't even have to open up a door. Door number one, two, or three. It's just right here. Is he still alive, Monty Hall?

Don't know. That's a random out of there. I know, I know. I'm putting you on the spot here. If only I had a... You already Googled it? You Googled it. He's maybe on YouTube. He's a random out of there. I know, I know. I'm putting you on the spot here. If only I had a... You want me to Google it? You Google it.

He's maybe on YouTube. He's got another show. Actually, here, I'm going to play a little bit from Banjo Dunk. He recorded a little message for everybody. Banjo Dunk is this guy. Yeah. Right there. Great guy.

I was just chatting with him today. Right. So while I'm recording this, it's about a minute. Find out if Monty Hall is still alive. Okay, Tim. This is Banjo Dunk. And for the last few weeks, you've been hearing my ads on Toronto Mic'd about the Big Stompin' Tom show coming up on April 16th, 2020.

But there's another Banjo Dunk production that's happening very soon. My music buddy Douglas John Cameron and I, known internationally as Doogie and Dunn, are going to be performing in Oakville at the Moonshine Cafe on February 27th, not too far from Toronto Mike Head Office. So, if you live in Toronto, Oakville, Mississauga, Burlington, Milton, and surrounding areas. You'll find all the information you need at themoonshinecafe.com. We look forward to seeing you on February 27th. That's only eight days away. That's a call to arms for the West Enders like yourself,

and while you're a Mississauga guy, so you got to go to this moonshine cafe in Oakville. All right, Monty Hall, who, by the way, I believe is Canadian. Yes, yes. If he's alive, he's like in his 90s or something. But he might not be, because you're going to tell me the answer right now. I'll give you the answer if you have a nail file, a stapler, or a beanbag. Remember that?

Yes, I do remember that. He's dead. Yeah, Monty Hall's dead. Yeah, sorry. Is he long dead? 2017. Well, that's not that long ago. Three years ago.

I feel I should have known that. But anyway, I was, yeah, so I guess I can't get Monty Hall on this program. Is it too late? If you can, you will be going viral, I'll tell you. Well, when you were mentioning John Major, I was thinking in my mind, he's on my list of guys I wish I could have on this program, but I can't for the obvious reason. Along with Tom Rivers, who I listened to on 680 CFTR.

Worked with him too. We used to have the funnest times in the morning. A genius. Huge, huge man. Like literally, he was a big guy. But you couldn't control Tom Rivers, right? He was a wildfire. He was a not controllable asset, if you will. That's why we, you know,

that's what we liked about him. Well, and back in the day, and even before my time, time you know radio djs were really superstars you know back when there was payola uh literally no i'm being serious like because they really would make an industry i'm not saying tom rivers was getting that but i'm just saying they were superstars and he was a part of it was really putting a show together and uh it was a blessing to be able to work with him as well wow uh i woke up to him in uh primary school yes uh yeah seriously and you know who's he covers racing now but i see him on twitter like eric eric thomas uh this is a guy i remember also he was on the rivers air force there. Oh, okay. He did different voices and stuff on the show.

He's actually, mental note, invite Eric Thomas on this program here. In fact, yeah, that's what I'm going to do. Okay, so thank you for the Monty Hall update. There you go. Do we get heat in here if I get that? It is freezing in here. That's why there's beer.

It's a beer fridge. I, well, just to let the audience know, I have a portable heater I'm pointing to. I turn it off because I don't like the buzzing, but if you want to turn it on. No, no, I don't want to destroy your broadcast, but it is cold. It probably will be, if you really do want to put it on.

If you heated up that veggie lasagna, things would be all right. Now I feel bad. I feel I should turn on the heat for Anwar. Is it the Letterman's old studio there that was really cold? He kept it on purpose. So maybe I'm doing that. You keep people alert.

It's true. It's absolutely true. He would not. I think it was like 65 or something. 65 Celsius. Oh, should I heat it up to that high? That's right. Yeah, my goodness.

Then your lasagna hidden in the back curtain here will start to thaw. I don't want my guests to get so comfortable they start to fall asleep, so I've got to keep you alert. I'm glad I keep it cold. I'm in a T-shirt here, you know. I know, and I don't get that, but maybe it's all the liquor and the pasta you're eating in the bomb shelter. But just to paint the picture so people know at home,

because on that camera it's looking like we're at the Hilton. It's freezing in here. Wait until they see your breath on the camera that would be that would be great show of minus two oh speaking of anjo dunk yeah his name is duncan fremlin and he wrote a book that you can take home with you called my good times of stomp and tom that's for you as well you got lots of gifts and stickers okay toronto mike sticker i hope it ends up on the ctv car or truck or whatever they like. That would be a no-no. Is that right?

But I can put it on my own car, yeah. What if I put it on there? Well, you know what? I'll turn a blind eye and wherever you put it, just to put it on the front windshield or the driver's side. You know, funny story. When we ran the Olympics, the Olympic, of course, they have such a structured thing, right?

So all the cars have to be white. You couldn't get other fleet cars with the logo on it the rings and there was an exact timeline when the rings can go on as in pre-promotion and i think it was maybe eight months prior whatever it was and once they're over you got to get rid of it you cannot keep that interesting interesting yeah the uh yeah the olympics uh the 2010 who was i just talking to about the golden goal? Who was at the game? Somebody.

Rodcaster or? Jamie Campbell. Oh. So Jamie Campbell, he called, actually he called the first ever gold medal for Canada on Canadian soil. It was Alex Bilodeau. It was moguls. Yeah. And that was the first, because we didn't, as you know, we didn't win in Montreal or Calgary. And then that was the first because we didn't as you know we didn't win in Montreal or Calgary and then that was the first gold

in Vancouver and he was the commenter on commentator on that particular race and he got to see the golden goal by Sidney Crosby in 2010

gold medal men's hockey okay stickers from StickerU if you go to stickeru.com you can order quantities

quality stickers and they're good people and I urge everybody to, you should have Anwar stickers. I should, you're right. Could you put that on the CTV SUV? You know what?

I'll just get them made and I'll hand them out. Maybe I'll get my Big Blue Barrel podcast stickers done. Do it up, do it up. And you're a Mississauga guy. You're happy there.

No intentions of moving. No, I love the West End. Okay. But if you ever... Do you want to, do you have a relocation offer for me? Exactly.

Here's your... You got to promise me this. Is there another sponsor? Great Park gives you a house! One more. Yes. Okay. If you ever consider moving

and you have any questions about GTA real estate, text Toronto Mike, all one word, to 59559. The Keitner Group have partnered with Toronto Mike to fuel the real talk here, and I sincerely believe Austin Keitner can help you.

So engage Austin. Again, text Toronto Mike to 59559. No obligation to do anything. Just have a conversation with the man, and you'll thank me for it later. So that's your to-do if you ever get an itch to relocate. I appreciate that. And you know what? All kidding aside,

I appreciate your sponsors because that's what makes stuff like this happen. It really does. You know, a lot of people don't realize the work that's involved to put a podcast together. Right. And the fact that you have the community rallying together. And I don't have Bell Media supporting me.

So that's your advantage on your podcast. We'll talk about that very, very, very shortly. Okay, so why are you no longer on Easy Rock? Oh, there's no Easy Rock, that's why. But no, why are you no longer on the air radio? Well, I was doing radio. I started to do TV as well. And then once the Weather Network became full-time,

I was still juggling. And I did freelance even, you know, maybe six or seven years ago, the odd time. But there's only so many minutes in a day, you know. And also, as a full-time Bell Media staff member, you know, obviously you can't do the competitor and that sort of thing. No, you'd have to be on 104.5. Something like that.

Something like that. My day starts at 4 a.m., so there's only so many minutes in a day. You know who's figured out a way around that, and we have to figure out how, is Roz Weston from Roz and Mosca. That's because Chorus owns both. No, because Rogers owns 92.5. No, I thought they sold it. No.

So Kiss, which is his radio station. Yeah, yeah, no, I know. Definitely a Rogers property. Well, I didn't know that. Yeah, and of course, yes, Chorus has him on the global there uh the tv side yeah entertainment but he's so he's got a rogers gig full-time rogers gig and a full-time chorus gig i don't want it to end for the man because he's a nice guy uh he's a tall guy too

by the way he's been down here the ceiling was quite the difficulty in the floor right but he's somehow he's got that figured out so i I don't know. Good for him. Yeah, good for him. Okay. So you were also a stand-up comic for a while? Yeah, I did Yuck Yucks at Young at Eglinton

right by where Easy Rock was literally around the corner. Yeah, right. So Mark Breslin, you ever met Mark? He liked your work? Yeah, yeah.

And you know, again, total different industry now, right? You don't need comedy clubs. You just put your act on YouTube or on a TikTok posting, right? Right. And I did also once an amateur night gig at the Comedy Store in LA. Wow.

And that was pretty freaky. You opened for like a Dave Chappelle or something? No, but it was, you know, two drink minimum and a metal detector for the audience. So it's a tough crowd on the Sunset Strip. Wow, man. So you're at Weather Network. Okay, here's, I want to ask you about, you end up at Global, do I have this right?

Yeah, I left the Weather Network and went to Global at Barber Green, yeah. I started weekends there originally. And then I did the morning show. I did some reporting. It was all over the place. And then I went to CTV. Okay.

Just before we get you out of Global, I'm going to play a song and then we're going to talk about it. You're ready? This is a throwback. I want to see if you can name this tune here. No. Give it a moment. I want to see if you can name this tune here. No. Give it a moment. They're going to say a word that starts with T soon.

It kind of makes me nervous, frankly. A, action. Well, let's just say I got a couple of my own private dances last night. Oh, wait. Oh, everybody up. Going in there? Wasn't me. You're good at being a mom.

Agnes, hide. This is a global hit show. It's coming, yeah. The word hit, I'm not sure about, but hold on. Train. Oh, Train 48! Come on, give me your ID. Wow.

You did your homework, man. I have a confession to make. I watched a lot of Train 48. A lot of people did, believe it or not. A lot of people watched that show. And it was a cool premise, because you could have, like, if something happened in the news today, it might be on the episode of Train 48.

Okay, so tell the audience, why am I playing Train 48 song for you? Well, Train 48 was a show that Global aired, and the whole premise was, you know, a small cast that would ride this train to and from work and the stories in between while on the train. So they actually had an old TTC train car in studio, and it was literally on set, and I played myself,

and one of the lead cast, I forget her name, forgive me, we dated, that's what it was. I was her boyfriend, and she wanted to become a TTC star. Only in the show. Only in the show. Just making sure. Yes. And it was I was her boyfriend and she wanted to become a TV star only in the show only in the show just making sure yes and it was interesting it was sort of a first

that we I played myself on that show and would get her an audition but she actually was live on our global morning show

auditioning for the weather and we actually put her on the air it's kind of like I mean I don't know how long it went for not that long two seasons or long but it was kind of clever i mean i think it was a interesting i couldn't it could not have been an expensive thing to make i'm not saying they weren't paying you the big bucks but it couldn't have the guy from uh kim's convenience was in it too right yes um paul which

is uh like that was one yeah so the great guy by the way really so much success to him and he deserves every bit of it great guy yeah so i hear nothing but good things about the guy and kim's convenience is a monster hit well the guy thinking of the sun is going to be a marvel superhero yeah they yeah so he's he's like goodbye cbc forever i think he's on to bigger bigger things but he's going to be a star you never know though though, right? The kid who, I say kid, the young guy who played in Aladdin, he said he hasn't got a single audition since. He's from Toronto.

Oh yeah, okay. He was with Will Smith in this Disney, I think it was Disney movie not too long ago. Yeah, it was like last summer or something like that. They did a story

where he never got another audition. He's done. Because nobody wanted a remake of Aladdin. Maybe not. Okay, but Train 48, just before we move on, because I've never talked about it on Toronto

Mic before. Oh, it's a first! Yeah, it's a first. Where's the sounder for that? I don't know. I need one here. What do I got here? It was like script changes, I guess, would happen up until film. They could put it together quicker. Again, I don't think it was very expensive. It was a good... Yourself being on the show, it's a cross

promotional thing for global stuff or whatever. And I thought it was kind of a cool idea. I think it really clicked with the audience because it could react to the news of the day. And sometimes there were last minute, hey, now we're going to add this little plot line. They would also have, lack of a better word, analogy, a train track of where they wanted to go, start to end.

But they could manipulate and say, okay, we're going to where they wanted to go, start to end, but they could manipulate it and say, okay, we're going to change it. And I'm guessing it was highly improvised, I'm guessing, or couldn't have been fully scripted. Yeah, you would need your points to where you had to get to. Sure, like a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode.

You've got your points of where you're getting to, but they don't script out every word everybody says on that show. Okay, Train 48, so that's a big star turn for you. And that caught the eye of Bell Media? They saw your appearance on Train 48 and they said, get me that guy?

How did you end up on CTV? Well, true, the fact is the guy who was running Global moved over to CTV, Paul Rogers, really great guy, testament to the to the industry a credit to the industry uh he was a news guy he knew how to put stuff together and and i'm not saying because he hired me but that's who he who he is and was i say was because he's retired now but uh he said hey look we have an opportunity you want to come over so that was number one right number one network was that that the carrot? Like you just wanted to be,

you wanted to be a part of something bigger? Yeah, I wanted to expand, wanted to grow. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Well, good for you. It's nice to be wanted, right? Sure is. So when you start at CTV News Toronto,

you're like the weekend weather reporter. Yeah. Is that right? Yeah. And then, so who's, how do you end up doing the weekdays i guess that's well yeah the thing is uh big leagues dave devol was probably about two years in starting to say you know what i think i'm gonna you know scale back a little bit uh within a few years he only

did the six he wouldn't do the 11 o'clock he lived very far up north it was like a two hour i think it was balls over is what it's called, the town. Can you say that name again? I think it's Bald, if I'm not mistaken, I think it's called Baldsover. So many jokes. I didn't know, but you're,

is it Agincourt where he would be? Yeah, yeah, McCown and Forlorn. That's not so bad because you're already kind of top of the city. Yeah, well.

It's not as bad as. Forlorn is crazy though any time. Oh yeah, for sure. Forlorn is right up. Well, I thought he'd have a helicopter for sure. Well, maybe. We do have is crazy though anytime. Oh yeah, for sure. 4-1 is right up. Well, I thought he'd have a helicopter for sure. Well, maybe.

We do have one, but they didn't use it for him. But at the end of the day, he started to say, oh, we're going to scale back. So Tom Brown was initially doing the week, the noon show and then filling in. But when Dave started scaling back, so I started filling in for Tom

because Tom would do Dave. And before you know it, there was an opportunity and everything moved over so man do you feel like the carrying the weight of having to you know duval's a legend right like that voice was uh not more than just the weather like duval's voice was part of so many different things people love and you know some people say it was it was kichi the fact that he could write but he literally could write with two hands, and he did that from the army days, when he would do

stats for the Air Force, if I'm not mistaken. You know, he would use a piece of pencil. And this, of course, was the Civil War. I was going to go World War I, and I thought, no, go back further. But what the hell is he doing in the Civil War? He's Canadian. Listen, he was a talent. He still is a

talent. He's enjoying his retirement but it goes back again what we talked about the the gift of connection he could tell a story uh and that's what people loved him you know and i and again i never met the man but yeah friends i might have met him and i get the feeling he's a genuinely nice guy he is he really is and and that was part of that story. Everybody had a role to play. And I don't say that, you know, the news director saying, okay, you're going to assume this role. But when people invite you into their home, everybody had a role. There was a dad, there was a mom, there was sports, Lance would be the crazy uncle, if you will. Everybody's just having

fun and you relate and tell a story and you connect. You did some work on, back when there was one, Canada AM, is that right? Yeah, I was Jeff's backup and he was still living in PEI. So he was flying back and forth for over two years. So pretty well every week I was on there at least a couple of days. And then of course I did the local

news briefs for Canada AM. That was a wonderful program, lots of fun. And unfortunately, I don't think you'll ever get a show like that ever again. It's just a changed landscape. Right, right, right, right, right. And now, I mean, now there's Your Morning, they're calling it, with Ben Mulrooney and Anne-Marie Medawike

and a whole bunch of people involved. Lindsay DeLuz and Kelsey, yeah. Right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right. Yeah, so Things are changing. I was trying to figure out what the next trend will be for the audience because it is changing

so rapidly now. You have an IMDB page. Yeah, apparently so. You mentioned you wanted to be an actor, but it seems like you have acted in things. Oh, yeah. Now, I only did so much research, so I have the names. Slacker.

I know, I didn't. You didn't get my Academy Award thing in there? No, what? Where do you keep your Academy Award? And who did you buy it from? Yeah, that's right. Okay, like the titles, for example, it says you've been on Man of the Year.

Yeah. What's that again? That was with Robin Williams, running for president. Barry Levinson, I guess, was the year yeah what what's that again that was with robin williams running for president barry levinson i guess was the director funny story with that yes please they had a script you know and i was shooting it for barry we were in studio i had my own trailer and uh i said and i was playing a weather reporter talking about how the storm is going to impact one part of the scene about the the elections and whatever people go to the polls right and i said sir um forgive me um we wouldn't say something like this and he sort of looked at me and paused okay and almost saying smart ass uh i tell you what you give me what you think you would say

and i'll let you know if it works so i talked about the witches of november which is a typical pattern because it was supposed to be in november the election. The storm is coming in, blah, blah, blah. And he said, wow, bang on. We're going to keep it. So that script is mine. Oh, you should get a writing credit. I should. I actually have the official script.

Consultant credit or whatever. But that's a true story. Those are my lines that they said, this is bang on. Good for you, man. Okay, man of the year. Now here's a pro tip for you henceforth. You are to tell people you're in a Robin Williams movie, but don't tell them which one, okay?

Here's why. People will just think, they'll think, oh, he's in, they'll think of one of the many great Robin Williams movies. Maybe he's in Good Morning, Vietnam. Oh, yeah. Sure as a baby?

A newborn? Okay, well, how about this one? Maybe he's in Good Will Hunting. Maybe. The Fisher King. There's so many great Robin Williams movies. Man of the Year doesn't come to mind. Right. Man of the Year.

Robin had a few missteps in a great career. We all do. And you're in one of the missteps. So, you're in a Robin Williams movie but all do. And you're in one of the missteps. So, you're in a Robin Williams movie but never acknowledged it was Man of the Year. Oh yeah, you could be

Mrs. Doubtfire. But I got myself on IMDB and I got the script and I had a trailer. So there. Okay, queer as folk.

What did you play? Are you typecast as a weatherman? I think my character was Johnny, Johnny Nash. I forget. I honestly don't...

I can see clearly. You know that it wasn't Johnny Nash. But it was Johnny something. And I was part of a news crew. I don't remember if I was the weather guy or not. But that was so long ago. Okay, with another credit. And then one more here.

And another movie I've never heard of this. It's called Never Cry Werewolf. Yeah, Kevin Sorbo. Hercules. I know. Yes. It was a lot of fun. Disappointed.

That's right. Right. I think it was straight to back then DVD, if you want to call it that. But it was kind of cool. We shot it in a gun shop in Hamilton, if I recall. And you had all the special effects of these these werewolves that come to life and kill people but it was a fun shoot real fun shoot and good i mean you i've never appeared in anything like that that's amazing yeah you gotta it's good

you got an imdb page that's good for you man that's awesome okay so you're at ctv yeah well you're still there today of course uh Hopefully. You might change that the way things are going. Hopefully your bosses don't hear this appearance. It could jeopardize your career. I'm going to play a little taste of you on CTV News, just a little bit, to show the personality that we were referring to earlier. You know, this Friday morning is missing something. What is it missing?

Some music. Look at the guys in the house. Let's look at some music going on here. So you want to have some fun? Should we do a little groove forecast? You guys into that? Are you going to do that? You guys ready?

I'm about to make my day. Can you guys handle that? I think we can. All right. Let's go. Give me a little bit of a beat. We'll set things up here. Go, Anwar.

All right. We got AK on the MIC. What? You got a great day, Tony and JoJo in one, two, two. Oh, yeah. So this is what we're going to do on this Friday morning. We're going to groove your forecast as they set things up here. So we're going to start off.

We'll do in the West Coast. They got a lot of rain. West side. West side. That's it. That's my girl right there. So it's raining and we got to get something to really keep people moving. You know, they got to be doing the running man and stuff because they got to be running to work and running to home.

So I'm doing the running man. So they're moving and they're moving and grooving and they see we got the rain showers across vancouver and victoria for the afternoon still holding your umbrella while you're moving you're moving we got snow showers in parts of alberta and then all rain as you push to the east except uh winnipeg won't see it till later on in the day uh and for the most part a dry day but look at that ridge of high pressure we're throwing away the umbrella we're gonna chill down a little bit you know because we're scrolling this uh speaks to the point we made off the top which is yeah i can probably download an app and press a button right now and see oh it's getting minus three with a

windchill or something but you're you're a storyteller you're performing there's a personality there that's why uh that's's why you still need to exist. Well, I appreciate that. The story of that, the behind the scenes, that was Ellen DeGeneres' DJ at the time, and we were doing a promotion where we would send some viewers to see the show. Okay.

So, you know, they would do the music, and I said, well, let's do a musical forecast. Let's have some fun with it. So I would do some dancing stuff. But that was, you know, man, that was so much fun. Sounds like you're having a good time. And when we see people having a good time, it makes us smile. So. Well, the mornings, you know, is the most intimate part of the day, right? People,

the reality is they're in their underwear, they're making sandwiches for the kids, they're getting things ready. They got to feel good. So yeah, you want to give the information that they need, but they want to feel want to feel good about them you're right mornings are not the time for the real talk right this is this is you don't want the heavy i mean there'll be a place for it because if there's serious stuff going on but you need that balance i want to feel good in the morning right that's yeah you can get heavier in the evenings a little heavier in the evenings okay so, so we're going to get heavy here now. Let's get heavy. Uh-oh. You were sick. Oh, here we go. You're bringing out the C card.

I'm bringing out the C card. The big C, cancer. Yeah. Are you comfortable telling this tale? Absolutely. Okay, let's... It's 10 years now. By the grace of God, everything is fine. And I'm not going to lie to you.

When you hear the doctor saying you have cancer, in fact, you know, I can picture the room right now after I had a little biopsy done on a lump on my neck. It was Hodgkin's lymphoma. Never heard of it prior to that. In fact, backtrack, I remember we were on holiday in Cuba with another couple, my buddy, and I noticed this little lump. No pain or anything. It was the size of a golf ball on my neck. And I said, what the heck is that? I noticed it because I was on the beach.

And then, you know, coming back to the hotel to shower to go for dinner, I said, what the heck is that lump here? And it didn't hurt. And I said to my buddy, I remember, I said, what if it's cancer? Not knowing what lymphoma was. He goes, it's not cancer. It's not cancer. Right.

It was cancer. And then when I gave him. It's not cancer. It's not cancer. Right. It was cancer. And then when I give him that call, he goes, oh, beep. Okay. I got to know. Yeah. So your doctor runs tests. Yeah. And calls you in for the results?

Well, what happened is that you go through a couple of things. First, you go to your family doctor and you say, what's going on? And they say, okay, well, let's go for an ultrasound first. Then from the ultrasound, it says, yeah, it looks like it's this. And they say, okay, well, let's go for an ultrasound first. Then from the ultrasound, it says, yeah, it looks like it's this. And then he suggested I go downtown because, you know, that's where Princess Margaret and Sunnybrook and that is.

Long story short, I go in there for a biopsy. And you're waiting weeks to get there. And you're thinking, oh, my God, I'm dying. Weeks? So they can't just say, oh, tomorrow, go get your biopsy. You know, my understanding, everything is done on a case basis of what they believe you may have. It's not perfect by any means, but I'll tell you, we have some of the greatest healthcare in the world. So, you know, had it been, God forbid, lung or something like that, you would be escalated a little bit faster. And I'm sure there's some sad stories that doesn't happen for whatever reason.

But anyway, long story short, I get a biopsy and they have to then send the tissue upstairs. So I'm talking to the specialist and he told me off the record, he goes, look, I'm not supposed to say anything, but from just seeing it right now, I think you have Hodgkin's lymphoma.

And then boom, I swear the world stopped. Because at that point I was getting paperwork saying suggested it may be this from the ultrasound but nothing confirmed because they need a tissue biopsy. Right. And I thought that's it,

I'm going to die. It's over. And he said, look, something's going to kill you later than this. Like you'll die from something else and this is going to kill you.

So it was optimistic. And then I get put in the system of treatment Princess Margaret is a godsend it is an amazing facility literally one of the top five in the world for cancer centers and they saved my life so I went through treatment but I remember you know when you hear the word cancer the second time when we had to go to meet the oncologist of what the treatment protocol would be uh we recorded him because i couldn't process it my wife and i went and i wanted to hear it later because i'm hearing smart i think because you're right uh in that moment you you aren't in a state to take in the no detail i was hearing charlie brown's teacher yeah yeah

walk walk honestly because i i'm still fixated on cancer so I would hear it after and I'd pick it apart and you know long story short uh they treated me successfully thank thank goodness that it uh it was um caught early you know the treatment protocol that I was under um everything's done on on tests in terms of protocol trial protocols my protocol was less radiation all that sort of thing, so there are benefits to that as well. But at the end of the day, I started this thing called Hope Happens, and it was about celebrating the success stories. That is not to say that sad things don't happen, but I think we have nurtured this death sentence with cancer. A lot of people still die, but a lot of people also,

and I don't even like the word survive, are successfully treated. I was successfully treated. And, you know, I do some speaking sometimes and I talk about we all, we all will have a mountain to climb in our lives. And for me, it's cancer. Others, it may be a disease. It could be a death of a loved one. I can't imagine the tragic loss of a child. It could be a bankruptcy. It could be a divorce. Whatever that bottom barrel of life is for you, we will all have that mountain. And until you

have a mountain to climb, you really don't appreciate what you have. So elaborate on Hope Happens. This is like a national support network. Yeah. So the idea was to get people engaged and, you know, talk about people living now and enjoying life. So people who are diagnosed. And from that, I have made connections with other people who are, you know, oh my God, my daughter has lymphoma. Can you talk to her this and that? Because there are many success stories. But I also give some tips about things like, you know, when you get diagnosed, get a copy of every single test you have throughout your process. Because the reality is doctors die, doctors retire, doctors move on, hard drives crash. So I have a binder, you know, so even to this day, and now my checkups are

every year, it used to be every three months and every six months, it goes through 10 year program, but I have every test. So if God forbid something happens down the road, I'll be able to go to the doctor now, because my lead on college now actually just retired in December, right? You know, and I'll be able to say, well, this is what was the protocol, how it was treated. So they can say, okay, so this might be because of that. It's important. Everybody should do that. That's smart. Yeah. So you don't rely on some, because we don't really have a centralized database, right? Well, they are trying to do everything in digital, but it's not perfect yet. And you have to remember, because it's a public public system i'm not taking away from the doctors or any health care professional but you really are a number in in terms of the system

you know and it's a very good system overall so you know you can't call up like your family doctor say hey do you have that uh you know test that blood test i had there's they're overwhelmed so you got to have your own stuff now the the treatments, et cetera, like did you need time off of work? I did. I took, if I remember it was six months. I actually did want to work towards the end, but the benefit provider said,

you're either sick or you're not. Like even my boss said, you know, our news director, oh, we'd love to have you whenever you're well, you know, once a week,

even whatever the benefit program, you're either on sick leave. Yeah, that's an insurance thing probably for short term disability years years or long-term whatever it is right so i did take time off and you know another thing that i mentioned about on the website and i tell people when they're dealing with something like this you know to take time off a lot of people think you have to be bedridden you have to be literally throwing up or you have a high fever, especially when it's with cancer. It's mental too. And this is a whole family thing. So your dynamic, as you know, it is gone. So if taking time off means that when you're able to,

you go walk with your wife along the water and you get to cuddle your dog, that's good. You need that. We don't take enough time for our inner self, and it's very, very important. I remember doing a blog, and to this day, people still connect with it. Yeah. And, you know, like one of the posts I did was, today I wanted to do something normal,

so I washed the car. And I still needed a break to wash the car, because, you know, the treatment knocks you out. By the third day, you start to feel a little better. But I was grasping for anything that I'm still normal. I'm still alive. Right. That makes sense to me.

Now, you mentioned the blog. So Anwar's Journey, the hodgepodge of an optimist. Yeah. I mean, you chronicled your road to recovery. And can people still see this? They can still access it. Yeah, absolutely. So you can go to hopehappens.ca or even on the CTV site, just put hodgepodge.

And I remember vividly, you know, the last treatment, and they said, and I have to be careful about this, because my oncologist said our goal is to cure you. And you don't hear that very often with cancer. Luckily, the one I had, that was a goal. So so when they said we have no trace of cancer in you you finish your treatment you go on with your life and i get to ring the bell oh i'll tell you man wow uh that's uh i i almost get goosebumps thinking in that room you know when you ring that bell because you look around and you see people that are doing like my chemotherapy was,

you know, probably three hours max at the end of the day. There are people that are eight or nine hours, you know, women with breast cancer. I remember this one, she was with her husband and she was lying on the bed or she was getting her treatment. And, um, you just think, you know, again, you've until you have that mountain, Mike, you don't realize how blessed you are. until you have that mountain, Mike, you don't realize how blessed you are. And I can say now, at this point in my life, it has given me more than it's taken away.

Truly, at this point in my life. Now, this is going to sound a little strange, this question, but did you experience any, what they refer to as survivor's guilt, that you got to ring the bell and go home with your family, whereas there were you know there were others being treated who weren't weren't leaving princess margaret no i i wouldn't say i had survivor guilt um i think if if anything i felt just more blessed you know on the flip side of that i remember another blog post i did um i would see these guys and most of them were men

you know hooked up to IV in their gown getting treatment and they're smoking outside the hospital and I used to think what the frick are you serious this isn't a big enough calling card the fact that you're blessed to get treatment one of the best hospitals in the world

and you're still smoking what more do you need and I thought you know there are many people elsewhere in the world they get a diagnosis and the doctor says you're still smoking what more do you need and i thought you know there are many people elsewhere in the world they get a diagnosis and the doctor says sorry i can do for you we don't have anything here so that stuff would just infuriate me you know yeah i mean you talk about being blessed i mean you you were a car ride away from one of those top five hospitals on the planet absolutely like what percentage of the world can make that claim?

It's got to be minuscule. Absolutely. And you look at University Avenue there and you got Sunnybrook, you got Mount Sinai, you got Princess Margaret, and absolutely. And not only the care that's given there, but literally some of the best researchers are here and it's because you look at things in terms of people say, oh, where's all this money going to?

It is for research, and researchers know that they get money to experiment, and that's how you get progress, and that's what we're dealing with. You know, Terry Fox, had he been alive today, and he probably has done more for cancer research than any other human being on the planet in terms of research dollars to this day. Had he still been alive alive not only would they have saved his life but they likely would have saved his leg with the cancer he's wow you know i i mean i don't know if you know this or not but i i i never miss the terry fox run i raise funds

every freaking year for that terry farmer and speaking of princess margaret because my buddy had esophageal cancer and died died there uh yeah he was only 32 years old, too. But I mean, I still remember I did that ride to conquer cancer, you know, and it's just what a good cause that is and what good work they're doing there. And the fact that everybody can relate, you know, if I'm correct, the stats are like one in two now will be dealing with a diagnosis of some kind. So this is something that puts us all together. And I think there are many different reasons why we're dealing with that. And I'll tell you, it changed my life

in terms of what I put in my body. I'm not as strict as I was, and I wish I was because I put on more weight now. But certainly artificial colors and processed foods. I don't do Wi-Fi at home. Really? I don't do Wi-Fi at home. Really? I don't do Wi-Fi.

I'm surprised by this one. And that's more so for my kids. I can't control. But there's no hard science on Wi-Fi being dangerous for your kids. Dude, it's still new. It's like cigarettes, right? Oh, it's fine, but there's a leaked memo somewhere. Do you have a microwave in your home? I do.

You're right, but we kick the kids out of the kitchen. It's all about my kids. I can't control outside of my home. Like when they do it in school, and I hate the fact that they do wi-fi at school i can't control at libraries but at least for eight hours when they sleep at night uh if i can avoid stuff going on their soft skulls i'm gonna do what i can we try not to do processed foods or coloring and i cringe you know when there's birthday parties i have to be that parent right they're all excited only we don't really eat that, you know?

So we take it and then we say, we don't eat it at home. Right, right, yeah. Because I really think that's... A lot of junk at those parties. Well, I think this is a part of the problem. There's just a lot of stuff that we're poisoning our bodies.

And I don't want to have this as an Oprah moment, but I'm just saying we have to be in tune to that because that's why we're seeing a lot of problems, you know, in our healthcare because of everything that's going on in the world man lots to lots lots to chew on there but i'm glad i'm i'm very happy to hear that uh so you're 10 years out now so they've like you've you've rung the bell like you're right now there's no cancer in your body no and i'm hoping it'll never be back i'm hoping i'm taking steps hopefully to ensure that won't happen again i can't guarantee it but that's my goal and i think uh it's a great service to to document

your experiences on the blog and to be open about it because uh everybody not everybody but lots of people listening to us right now know somebody who's uh going through this and just uh oh let me uh get understand your perspective and your journey. It's helpful. It's very helpful. And there may be people listening right now who are actually undergoing treatment. So my message to you is that hope does happen. There's no guarantee,

but if there's any place on the planet where you have good odds or at least a successful protocol that's going to be given to you, it's here, you know, one day at a time. See be given to you it's here you know one day at a time so yeah like anwar's uh you know hope happens very positive uh my program shit happens is not not nearly as positive the flip side of that so go with the hope happens uh far more positive uh outlook there now i'm gonna ask a question about lumps and necks and stuff like do you have a message i feel like there's some guys will feel a lump in their neck and ignore

it like they won't go to a doctor because they're afraid of getting the news you got well i think guys generally right guys don't go to their doctors for prostate and all that sort of thing um and quite quite um often the problem with lymphoma I was on the board for quite a while and now I'm an honorary governor of Lymphoma Canada, which is the only Canadian organization, non-profit that solely works with lymphoma. There's leukemia in lymphoma, this is just lymphoma.

But anyway, it's often misdiagnosed. A lot of doctors as well, and that's part of the thing Lymphoma Canada is trying to do is to educate the doctors that, because you can get a swollen lymph node and have the flu. You could have mono, but you have to take cues from your body and you have to say, Hey, you know what? I'm not satisfied with that. If I have to go to another doctor, do it because it literally could

save your life. What happened? What would have happened to you if you had ignored the lump? Like what eventually happened? It's a lymphatic cancer. So it would spread through your blood stream and it would start growing. It would metastasize in certain areas okay then you're yeah then you're in big trouble yeah i mean there are still some cases even stage four of uh you know i had hotchkiss there's non-hotchkiss oh yeah that's the mario lemieux one i believe mario had hotchkiss okay i could be wrong i i think he had because i remember joe tilly from ctv saying hey that's one of the mario's yes um and he said hey that's one mario had um so the thing is you know you have to take cues from your body and there's so many different subtypes but you have to say hey something's not right and just very quickly some of the other symptoms besides a lump if you

have night sweats that could also be an indication of cancer in your body. So little things like that where you go, hey, lumps and bumps is what the oncologist always says. Let's check for lumps and bumps. And then for those out there, because there is a tendency to feel like you're a strain on the system if you go in with night sweats. It's better to exercise caution when we're talking about your life here.

There's a difference between going to a merge because you have a really bad cold. Right. And there's something in terms of night sweats are not normal. Right. And again, that's not the only symptom. But go with your gut. You need to talk to your doctor and say, do you think it's this? And if you're not satisfied, that's the one thing I learned navigating through the healthcare system here.

You have to be proactive. You have to be in your own cheerleader. Again, not a slag on that, but because there's so many people using the system, you have to say, hey, you know, I'm the wheel that needs some grease here. Absolutely. Okay. We're going to turn the channel here. So thank you for sharing that. And I'm sure somebody out there has a lump that they've been ignoring and maybe they'll make an appointment to see their doctor and talk about it for sure. It could be armpits it could be growing too and not just on the neck just for the record right it's probably better safe than sorry on any lumps maybe i feel like lumps or something we should check out at the very least yeah absolutely okay now uh talk to me about the

big blue marble podcast something i just just started in October. And this was inspired by my kids. I have a five and a seven year old, as I mentioned. I want them to have a future. They inspire me daily. And I want them to have a planet to enjoy. We as a family

love nature. So the whole idea behind this was let's highlight, not as much as the cause, we know the cause, it's the burning of the fossil fuels and deforestation. Let's talk about the effects. So we strip away the science side, not that it's not valid,

but it's become very complex. It's complicated. There's a labyrinth of buzzwords, whether it's carbon footprint, fossil fuels, greenhouse gases, climate change, glacial melt. And people are like, whoa, man, I can't handle this. I feel defeated. I'm just going to unplug from it.

And that's a problem. So I want to engage people, inspire people, inform people that the stuff that's going on right now is affecting our daily lives. And it could be from, you know, severe allergies to extreme weather, but it's not only, you know, five, eight years ago, you looked at the hurricane in Florida and you go, that's over there. Those days of over there are gone. Yes, you still have examples like Australia, but stuff's happening right here, right now. And it could be in terms of how much you're paying for produce.

It could be insurance now. You know, flooding is the new fire for the insurance industry. They're going to start to say, we're not covering you anymore. You're living in an area that's prone to flooding. We're done. So that changes everything we do. And some of the episodes, just fascinating stuff. One we did, forensic flies. They're blow flies.

So this sounds like something about a law and order. These bugs, these flies, green emerald flies called blow flies, they can smell a dead body like over five kilometers away. And they're the first on the scene before your coroner, before your cops get there. If there's a body, they're first there. They smell it. They need the flesh to lay their eggs.

And the reason why this is important, because police use that to determine the time of death because they know the timing. Right. So go ahead. CSI stuff right here. But it's fact. Yeah.

So they've based it on when the fly gets there and when they see a body, they discover a body, they say, okay, look, there's the eggs. They're already starting to hatch. They can give a timeline. And I'll give you an example. Stephen Truscott. Does that name ring a bell?

Don't feel bad if you don't know. I don't quite know the name, but I might know when you explain it. 1959, I think he was 14 at the time, he was accused and charged with killing his school friend, a 14-year-old girl, raping and killing her. He ended up doing 10 years. They were going to give him the death penalty. Before even death penalty was on the books here for Canter, like, what do we do? He's

a kid. They made him do 10 years and he got out. Some 40 years later, and I think the lawyer was Stephen Lockhart, who fights for the wrongfully accused. They reopened his case. He was acquitted, and it was based on photographic evidence of the blowflies from that body. And they said he could not have killed that girl. And this is decades later. So how does this work into the Big Blue Marble podcast? Climate change is warming up the earth. So these flies now are migrating further north from the deep south, looking comfortable temperatures and it's changing things so now a subspecies is coming in that don't follow the same protocols so cops now have to be aware is that a blowfly or a subspecies wow yeah no that's fascinating stuff so you only started it in October 2019? Yeah. Okay. And how often

do new episodes drop? It's every other Tuesday. So we just dropped another episode yesterday called Hold Your Breath, The Air Is Deadly. And this is another fascinating one. You know, a third of all lung cancer, heart disease,

and stroke are caused from air pollution. And, you know, the thing is we talked to Tim Sedley who's an environmental journalist and he wrote a book uh based out of the uk we think that the pollution is the smog we see in india or china right but it's the invisible smog the invisible invisible part particulate matter that goes into your bloodstream that a mass can't stop and that's the problem you know they, they've done studies, a recent study, kids who live near a busy roadway, it's stunting their lungs permanently, you know? And what do you think is the safest?

You walk to work, you ride your bike to work, or you drive your car to work? Huh. Well, I'm going to guess that you're going to tell me that driving your car, you take in less toxins from the atmosphere. But you don't. Okay, tell me.

It's the worst. Okay. Riding your bike or walking is safer than driving to work. I'm very glad to hear this because I bike everywhere. Perfect. Perfect. Now, you still also inhale a little bit. But the car is a chamber of poisons.

Okay. And if your commute is... So if you're on the Gardner, I don't know, for an hour each way... Every day, five days a week. You would take in less pollution to your lungs if you biked that distance on the waterfront trail or whatever. Isn't that something? Yeah, that's interesting.

So, you know, think about millions of people do this every day and they're actually inhaling and it could contribute to an early death and we don't think about it because we don't see it. So that's the episode that just launched yesterday. Fascinating stuff. And it's related to climate change in the sense that the number one contributor

to climate change is the burning of fossil fuels. Driving your car is fossil fuels as well as the pollution. I find it all fascinating and uh is this a is this a bell media production no this is an anwar independent independent and that's you know like good for you own your shit anwar seriously they can't take that away from you no um and and part of it was again it really is i wanted to do it for my kids and you know that's how i know how much work is involved

when you do this podcast. It is a lot of work. I don't get paid for it. It's a passion. And I hope people support it. We have many listeners now in the States, as well as Canada, as well as Australia. We're trying to grow it.

Okay, now that I know it's an independent production, I'm far happier for you. Okay, so you record it from your home i do i have a home studio yeah okay uh probably much nicer than mine with a higher ceiling it's warmer i'll tell you that you come back here in july and you'll be begging me sure begging me these will come in handy hey yeah but if you cracked one of these open they would be cool that's uh that's a perk and again like letterman i want to keep you awake for great conversations like this. So you're doing it, you're rolling your own.

Do you do interviews? Like just give me a little sense of the structure. I try to bring in the kids when I can. You know, they're a part of it a little bit. I try to personalize it. I try to connect it with the viewer. And then we do interviews. Cool.

We did another story with National Geographic. A team went up to Mount Everest to install the highest weather stations on the planet. All right? So the summit is 8,800 meters of Mount Everest, which is like 30 Eiffel Towers. Wow. So what's really interesting, they had to scale back to 8,400 meters. And you know why? Why?

Because there were so many people at the summit, tourists, they would have to wait over two hours because as you get up, it's a tiny path. It's not open. It would take over two hours for them to come down before they go up

and they would run out of oxygen. So these were selfie takers, you know, on the summit. Don't get me started. This whole, like, it's like a rich person's sport or whatever to go hire whatever, some agency, the Sherpas to get you up. And it's dangerous, right?

Like, this is a whole separate discussion, but people are dying. Oh, they do, absolutely. Because they run out of oxygen. The Nepalese government, and they've started to tighten down a little bit. It brings a lot of money into the economy there. But pretty well, you pay

your fee, they'll give you some basic training, and you can go up. As long as you don't pass up between there, from the base camp to that, away you go. But it can kill you. But the fact that you have these scientists, this was a team, this has never been done before. And they had to

scale back, because it's like, look, we've got to make a judgment call. These people are taking selfies. What do we do? And they're carting all this gear up on backpacks. They had some Sherpas. And why this is crucial, because now they're trying to measure the atmospheric conditions

at such a high altitude, including the jet stream. But they also did ice core samples. So they drilled inside the mountain, and in this ice core, they can see pollutants that could be decades ago. That's another issue. Another episode we did, you know, Athabasca Glacier in Western Canada, probably the most visited glacier on planet Earth, because it's very accessible on the Icefields Parkway.

It's starting to melt now, and it's releasing, so far they know, DDT that was trapped from decades ago. You know, it was given poison, allowed to use it. Sure, the bald eagles would get to the egg and they were all... When I was growing up, this was a big thing, the endangered species due to the DDT. And now it might be us endangered

because it's going to the water table. They also think there might be arsenic. So these are all the things that we don't think about. We think, okay, the glacier is melting. But the water that comes from this glacier, this ice field, Alberta into Edmonton and Calgary, that's where they get their drinking water. So this is an unfolding story.

And we all need to be a part. I say on the show, we need to all be a part of the change that needs to happen. We got to start now. We got to be a part of, you know, I say on the show, we need to all be a part of the change that needs to happen. We got to start now. We got to be a part of it. Okay. So what do you say about the fact that this climate emergency that we're speaking of has been so politicized? I mean, it's very politicized from my perspective.

It seems now there are many people who are aligned with a more, I would say, socially conservative or right-of-center political view set that are sort of, I don't want to say complete deniers, but definitely they would say we're overreacting and unnecessarily panicked. You're going to always have the deniers. But the other side of it, there's like 97% of the scientists all say, hey, this is happening. And you know what? Here's what I say. If you want to be a denier, and Australia is dealing with that right now.

I mean, they had the record driest and hottest 2019. You saw the fires, a billion animals. We did an episode on that. Over a billion creatures killed. And their government's like, eh. And they do a lot of coal still. Like, well't know we can't connect it at the end of the day at the end of the day how could being kinder to the environment to earth be a bad thing right right at the end of the day forget all the other stuff and and the problem is we are now it is a

dire situation i'm a firm believer that i do think we have less than 15 years to change things. And one thing that people don't understand is that, you know, when we talk about 195 countries that signed the Paris Agreement to limit the heating of the earth, like right now, on average, about a degree warmer, and we want to limit to 1.5, right? That's the goal. And the thing is, if we reach those targets and we better, but it's not going to be, we're not going to see,

you know, the next day, hey, things are great. The benefit will be decades away. So the reality is we have to already now adapt to a new way of life, period. That's a given. We can't stop that,

but we can limit where it's going to go and how extreme it's going to get, and that's by doing our part. Do you eat meat? I don't eat red meat, no. Okay, because I understand. Well, I understand, no.

That's not to do with anything to do with sponsors or anything. My understanding is the number one best thing you can do is... Is don't eat red meat. Don't eat meat. Or at least cut back. Now, I don't want to get in that debate. Right. I will say that, yes, when it comes to cattle farming,

there's a number of things that it, you know, is not good for the environment. And we're not saying, you know, I say we, as if I'm part of some movement here. I'm not saying that you should become a vegetarian. But if you could scale back, if you eat three meat dinners a week and you went down to one or two,

that would make a huge difference. That's why you're getting the vegetarian list. A couple of quick hits because I had some fans of yours chimed in with questions. I want to get it in real quick. Chris Drew says, question for Anwar.

If he could do a live report about some weather system, what type would it be and where? It'd probably be a hurricane and it would probably be in the deep south of the US. I'm fascinated by the awe of Mother Nature. And of course, I say that being safe

too. I don't want to be one of those guys who's just holding on to a pole and going, protect yourself! But it'd be covering a hurricane. I did one once in Atlantic Canada probably six years ago. Okay, and I find this interesting because we talked about how you worked at Global in the past and I did one once in Atlantic Canada, probably six years ago. Yeah. Okay. And this is, I find this interesting because we talked about how you worked at Global in the past.

Yeah. And Rob says, what's it like being one half of a power couple? So, so you're married to a, Laura? Yeah. Who is,

Former broadcaster, yeah. So is she, is she a broadcaster with, She used to be. Yeah, she's out of the business now. Used to be out of the business now. Motherhood changes things. And broadcaster, yeah. So is she a broadcaster? She used to be. Yeah, she's out of the business now. Used to be out of the business now. Motherhood changes things, and I respect

and I'm greatly appreciative of some of the sacrifices that she's made. Okay, Rob, so there you go. But you're still a power couple because she's way smarter than you are. Hands down. Hands down. The greatest blessing I was given

is she gave birth to my kids. I don't know if you saw your kids being born. Yeah, I've seen all four of my children born. I was there and watched it all. Honestly, it's the greatest thing on earth to see my kids enter the world. I cried like a baby with them. It's just so amazing. And kudos to my wife.

No, I mean, it's amazing what our baby mamas do for us here on Baby Mamas. But I had the interesting experience of my first two children were cesarean C-sections. And I watched this. Like, I literally used a curtain, but I looked over. I watched the

complete, like, amazing body parts put on the side. I watched the whole thing. But then, in my second marriage, my two kids were natural births, and I was, you know, doing my thing, helping out in, you know, vaginal births. Yeah. So I've seen it all, my friend. I feel like I could go deliver some babies. Good luck with that.

I feel like an expert. But it is amazing. Okay, where do people find Big Blue Marble Podcast? Is it just anywhere you get your podcasts? Yep, pretty well your favorite player, and it's bigbluemarble.earth. bigbluemarble.earth. Every second Tuesday, we drop that,

and I always look forward to people's input, and let's save the planet. Let's save our Big Blue Marble. Why not? Let's save this thing, right? It's the only one we got. Now, everyone hearing our voice knows how to listen to podcasts. You know how I know?

They're listening to a podcast right now. Except for you Periscope people. Download the podcast and give it five stars and write a positive review. Come on, get going on that. Anwar, what a pleasure. Thoroughly enjoyed this. Thank you. And thanks for doing this, man.

My pleasure. And kudos to you. Keep it this is this is what it's about this is the next way you connect with people uh is through podcasting so good for you man keep it up thanks man uh you want to continue i'll give you another half an hour to talk about how amazing i am so i'm just kidding thank you anwar knight uh real name knight i lost a bet on that one. And that brings us to the end of our 586th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike.

Anwar, what's your handle on Twitter again? Anwar Knight on Insta and on Twitter. Anwar Knight TV on Facebook. Find Anwar. It's worth the search. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery

or at Great Lakes Beer, Palma Pasta. I'm not saying pasta. I don't know if there's a right or wrong. You're the broadcaster, but I've been saying, I feel like by naturally I say pasta and I'm told it's pasta.

I think Palma Pasta. Okay, thank you. I got Anwar's permission. I'm not changing a thing then. Palma Pasta is their handle on Twitter. I got Amor's permission. I'm not changing the thing then. Palma Pasta is their handle on Twitter. Sticker U is at Sticker U. The Keitner Group are at The Keitner Group, K-E-I-T-N-E-R for Keitner.

And Banjo Dunk is at Banjo Dunk with a C. See you tomorrow when my guest is Hockey Night in Canada's David Amber. You've been under my skin for more than eight years. Tomorrow when my guest is Hockey Night in Canada's David Amber. Woo! This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Roam Phone. Roam Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls. Visit RoamPhone.ca to get started.