Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Ben Ennis: Toronto Mike'd #593

Episode Date: March 4, 2020

Mike chats with Ben Ennis, co-host of Good Show on The Fan 590, about his rise in Sports Media, working with JD Bunkis, and what's next for him.

Welcome to episode 593 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 TRONOMIKE 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 Fan 590 Good Show co-host... Bananas! Ihost. Bananas! I mean, Bananas! That was funny. That didn't work, did it? No, it was fine. It was fine.

Here's the thing about that, though, is like I learned early on that my parents had a sense of humor about my name because that was, you know, one of the first things they said about why they, well, my dad claims to have named me after Ben Hogan, which I, okay, maybe, maybe, maybe not. But he said, yeah, we always thought it was funny. It's kind of sounded like bananas. I was like, yeah, it sounds funny. Like most people go out of their way to avoid that with naming their children, like something that can be made fun of. Uh, but yeah, no, I mean, of all the options, maybe what they were doing was instead of like something that was like really hurtful, they're like, here's something obvious

that people can call you. It's not going to hurt your feelings that much. It's more like nonsensical. Right, it's innocent and gentle, I'd say. Yeah. Gentle Ben. Yeah, I've heard that too. I've heard it all.

Bend over, bender. Yeah, I've heard it all, Mike. But you should- You're bringing back some harsh memories. You should realize the effort I took to extract. Yeah, Bennis. A lot of people combined the first and the last name, too. Got that one, Bennis.

Well, I was going to say, I miss your old Twitter handle was Bennis, right? Yeah, it was Bennis S-Net. So why did you change it from, oh, was it Bennis S-Net? I don't know. Well, yeah. I mean, back in the day, you know a push to get everybody to have sports net in their name in some way and yeah ben assess and i was a little too convoluted there was too many s's it was very confusing so you're sports net ben yeah and i'm hoping that they're

gonna bring in like ben mulrooney one day and i'm gonna be like sorry i'm sports net ben like you you gotta be something else although he probably already would just bring his own Twitter handle over. I think Bell Media owns Ben. I think that's a lifelong contract that they've signed over. I'm not breaking news, by the way. Roger's not going after Ben Mulrooney. No. Now, okay, so, Benis to

Sportsnet. Ben, it wasn't Benis at all. I thought it was Benis, but it's Benis S-Net, which kind of did suck. So, I was going to say, because Benis is better than Sportsnet. Ben, I know that they want you to put sports net in there but you gotta like have your own identity now it's a pain though right so what i found out is when i changed the name the first time you lose your verification you got to go through the verification process again and unless you're like in you're in bed with Rogers. We're passionate lovers. But if you're not in bed with one of the big media conglomerates, it's tough to get verified in this country.

I mean, I can't get verified, and I'm me. Maybe one day. Keep working at it. I've decided it's punk to not be verified. I'm part of the establishment. I don't want the blue checkmark. So if FOTM Cam Gordon is listening, I don't want the checkmark.

I like to be unverified. So, buddy, you were two episodes away from being episode 590. Yeah, I know. Who do you have? Do you have somebody lined up for... Well, you're 592. It's done.

Oh, right. Sorry. I thought it was okay. It was okay. You ready? It was Rick Hodge. Okay. You're too young. Do you remember Rick Hodge?

Am I allowed to ask your age? Yeah, that's fine. I've talked about it on the air, I think. How old are you? I just had a birthday. I am 36. I had to think about it. I'm at that age where I have to think about it.

I have to do the reverse math. But yeah, I just turned 36. I would have guessed younger. Yeah, that's good. See, that's... Here, I'm sporting a beard now. And people listen to the show. I'm a bearded person now

and part of it is that I know there will be a point in my life where I'll want to look younger than I do look, but I still feel like I got that fresh face look and that I want, yeah. Part of that is establishing some credibility as being a little bit older.

You need a bit of white in the hair. Yeah, I don't have that. Yeah, but is this natural? Yeah, I don't have that. Yeah, but is this natural? Yeah, I don't dye it. Yeah, you're just, all the questions. Hey, how old are you? Do you dye your hair? Yeah, no, I don't dye my hair.

Yeah, I have the beard and there's no grays in it. Tough, tough questions here. Okay, so you mentioned beards. You know how we hear about, okay, back in the 70s, they had blaxploitation films, right? And apparently, and I didn't know about this genre until I did a little Googling about you, and there's a genre called hixploitation.

What? Like about country bumpkins. Okay. How does this involve me? I can't wait to hear this. It's coming. We're off the way here. This will be better than my little bananas clip off the top.

So there is a Ben Ennis. You're not the first famous Ben Ennis. There's a Ben Ennis who played a moonshine customer in the 1971 movie Honey Bridges. Now, Honey Bridges is a classic example of a Hicksploitation film. I pulled a tiny little clip of Honey Bridges. So here we go. Could you please tell me where the John is?

The what? The john. You know. Doniger? Head? Water closet? Look, what my friend is trying to say is that she wants to know where the toilet is so she can take a bath. Well, if she wants to use the toilet, that's out

there. But if she's wanting to take a bath, the tub's in the kitchen. This i've got to see which way to the kitchen okay so there's a little taste of a honey could have been me if i was born in the wrong era it sounds like no when i was growing up like the name ennis did not exist in the popular culture there was nobody i didn't know any ennis well you just didn't know about the moonshine customer yeah no no offense to the that guy ben ennis but yeah he wasn't not to the to the level of of the the multiple tyler ennis's like ennis is now a

name people know but yeah i used to get um uh there would be telemarketers that called the house and we'd ask for mr and mrs enos like forever and ever and ever and i haven't gotten that in like 20 years because people ennis is now now, it's a popular name. People who are obviously famous have more notoriety than me. Well, I just realized you're Ben, that's Ben-ness. But if you were like a Peter, for example, that would be, yeah, that would be obvious jokes there. Yeah, no, that's, you got it, man.

Thanks, man. I'm in your head now. This is, yeah, I've heard all of it. And yeah, it had been dormant for a while. Perhaps you have reopened it, though. Perhaps, yeah, I'll hear more of that. All right, speaking of Peters, see what I did there. A good friend of mine and a client is Peter Gross.

Yeah. And I told him you were coming on, and he said, A, he said, Ben's a good guy. That's what Peter told me. Peter's a good guy. And he said to say hi. Oh, hi, Peter. Yeah, I haven't seen him in a

while but yeah we didn't cross paths all too often but yeah love me some peter used to remember him eating chicken out of a ziploc bag yeah when he was at 680 news i believe it peter has the all-time and i'm sure he's talked about this he's self-deprecating enough he has the all-time greatest radio clip blooper right have you heard this one or no tell me i need to know you've not you must he must have talked about this where he hasn't peter he would get his work done he was doing his writing and then it's a long shift what he used to do and there's some down time so we would watch little clips of movies i think he's watching scarface okay so you know this one i think he talked to about it on an episode of Gallagher and Gross Save the World.

This is, I've heard the real live-to-air broadcast where he was watching Scarface, and they went, all right, now time for sports with Peter Gross. And he had his pot potted up to his computer, which was playing Scarface, like right in the middle of maybe the most vile part of the movie movie which just went

on the air on 680 News and I think they cut away from sports in that moment but it's like an all time clip in the middle. But do you have that audio? Yeah I don't. Okay. But do you know any because honestly. Alex Cicero is the he has all of the the greatest audio in the history of the radio station. He's a man I need to get on this podcast then.

I need that connection. He's way too big for this. He wouldn't do that. He can't be bigger than David Amber or, or Jamie Campbell. It's debatable. Yeah. All right. That's a fantastic story.

He came on this show and talked about, he got let go. I don't know if you heard, he got fired. He is not at 680 anymore. He said a couple of times, and he's very self-deprecating. He blames himself. He said a couple of times they he's very self-deprecating he blames himself he's

had a couple of times they threw to him and he was asleep yeah like yeah i can see that you know i've done that shift before by the end of it like because it goes what is it you're doing your first updates at like 5 30 in the morning your last one's like almost 10 o'clock like that is a rough rough go and again it's not just like go go go, go, go, go. You have like short bursts of two minutes, two and a half minutes. But yeah, I could see that. And Peter's a man of a certain age. And I have kids. I know the feeling.

Okay, you have kids. How many kids you got? I got two kids, four and one, about to be two. Okay, good for you. Four, I'm trying to relate to you by telling you my youngest turns four next week. Wow. So there you go. We can set up some play dates.

Yeah, but you've got an 18-year-old. I do, yeah. Yeah, yeah. The 18-year-old doesn't want to play if you're a four-year-old, but the four-year-old would. And my son would probably enjoy playing with him as well, who's going to turn six in April. That's cool.

So we'll get them together. And you mentioned you live in Oakville now. Yeah. You're from Oakville? I was born in Winnipeg but only lived there for i moved when i was three my dad's a retired airline pilot but he moved to winnipeg to to be on a better airplane to for you know because that's where the jets are well so if you're a pilot yeah that's funny uh no no thank you that's at least three funnies i've made yeah that's it yeah i don't laugh i just say things are funny but yeah no he had a uh a chance to advance on a better airplane because

i don't know there was a need in winnipeg at the time so he lived there for whatever a decade or something and uh me and my sister we were born out there but moved back he's from toronto he went to forest hill so he's toronto died in the wool my my mom's from mississauga went to Forest Hill. So he's Toronto, died in the war. My mom's from Mississauga. And I was, yeah, I grew up in Oakville. Lived my whole life in Oakville, basically. I'm an Oakvillian. And you're there now with your wife and two children.

Yeah, two boys. Two boys. Okay, cool. Take it along. Good, good, good, good, good. If you decide you're going to come back to Toronto, I mean, you never lived in Toronto? Yeah, I did.

Okay. No, I lived in Toronto for a while. What neighborhood did you live in? So I lived at Huron and DuPont for a while in the Annex, which I loved. I love the Annex. How close, because Huron, how close is that to Dufferin? Not that close.

It's like Spadina. It's basically right by the Madison. Okay. Have you ever been to the Poor House? And there's an LCBO right on DuPont right there. Is that close to the Loblaws? Yeah, that's further west. It's east of that.

It's like basically Davenport, right? Okay, yeah, yeah. I actually biked it yesterday. I was with Ralph Ben-Murray up near Casa Loma. And I took Bay Street to Davenport. And then I kind of busted west and then went up the hill a bit there. Yeah, that's right there. Yeah, gotcha.

I loved that area but yeah i lived in the main floor in a basement apartment of a house with my my best man uh he used to work at sports and at the same time too so we would occasionally like in the summer bike or walk to work and was yeah it was close enough to do that and then uh when i moved out of that place into an apartment with my then fiance. We lived at Young and St. Clair area. So a pleasant boulevard and a apartment building there. I love that area too. But yeah, I miss the city a little bit. I don't know if I could handle raising kids in the city.

And that's part of the reason we decided to move back to Burns. Why not? Let me explore that. Like, what is it you're, you don't. I like to park. I like to drive places. It's just too much, you know? And yeah, and I'm a suburb guy at heart. But is it you don't... I like to park. I like to drive places. It's just too much. And I'm a suburb guy at heart.

But yeah, I don't know. It's just a lot. It's just a lot of people. Okay, then live in Etobicoke. We looked here. We looked at a place when we bought our house in Oakville right around where you live. I don't want to divulge the location of the secret fortress here.

I refer to it as New Toronto. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, it's called New Toronto, right? But yeah, we're close to Humber College Lakeshore campus. Where they filmed the police academy. I didn't know that. You know what?

That might have changed my decision making almost a decade ago. Yeah, no, we definitely looked at this area, but we're like, oh, if we're already this far west, like let's just go a little bit further and be close enough to our family. It ended up being a great decision because my mother-in-law, like God bless her heart,

takes care of the kids so much. Oh, free childcare, that's important. Yeah, no kidding. Because I pay through the nose for childcare. Yeah, no, it's a joke. It is a joke. Can your mother-in-law take care of my two kids? No. Now, if you have

any itch at all to get closer to the core or live back in the city, especially Etobicoke, where the Keitner group dominates. The Keitner group, you text Toronto Mike to 59559, Toronto Mike, one word, and you engage Austin Keitner. He can help you out.

And this man, not only is he helping to fuel the real talk. I think I went to high school with Austin Keitner. He's about your age, I'd say. Yeah, I think I know Austin Keitner. Okay. He's got a brother, Joel. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know much about it.

I just remember having classes with him. Sorry, not to interrupt your big read. No, no, no. Go ahead. You know what else? Scott MacArthur. Yes. Ever heard of him? ahead. You know what else? Because Scott MacArthur. Yes. Ever heard of him?

Yeah, I went to high school with Scott MacArthur as well. Scott MacArthur's brother was besties with Austin Kight. Yeah, that's 100% the same guy we're talking about. Drew. I've touched Drew's perennium because I... Or no, sorry. He's touched mine. It was the center.

What did you touch on? Yeah, it was the perennium. Look it up. Uh, yeah, it's, uh, I was a center on,

uh, my high school football team and he was the quarterback. Oh, wow. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah.

This is a small world we live in here. And, uh, you know, so you know that Austin, he looks, I always think he looks a little bit like a young Jason Priestley. Yeah.

A little bit like a kind of a, a dreamy looking dude. Am I allowed to say that? Yeah, that's fine. Of course. Yeah. I'm comfortable saying that. So engage this dreamy dude who went to high school with Ben Ennis.

And again, Toronto Mike, one word to 59559. The dude's kicking ass. He's got the Keitner group and this area particularly, but all over the city, they're... Good for him. They dominate South Etobicoke, that's for sure. So come be my neighbor. Contact Austin Keitner. Now, one more

shout out for you. So I mentioned that Peter Gross said hi. I also had on the show very, very, very recently. Who the heck was it? Oh, Paul Hendrick. Okay. So Paul Hendrick was here and he had like awfully nice things to say about you. That's nice. I love Paul. things to say about you. That's nice.

I love Paul. You're leaving good impressions. That's nice. I don't know Paul that well, but we've run into each other, you know, I mean, being in the industry for a decade and a half. Yeah, man. I've talked to him plenty of times on the radio, met him in person a couple of different times at a couple of different events.

But yeah, one of the all time great guys. Absolutely. Yeah, for sure. Now he's working for MLSE, for sure. Good gig. Are we allowed to talk about the schedule? I won't say anything. I'll let you tell it, and you can say what you want,

but are we allowed to talk about our scheduling mishap? Yeah, it was just a little weird. I was confused as well, right? But apparently everything, the way Sportsnet and Sportsnet 590, the fan, is doing things is that everything just has to go through their PR wing first, and they were shutting down things that were directed. I think they were kind of getting annoyed at the number of requests that were coming directly to on-air people.

So, okay. So is there a directive if I'm reading this correctly, and I have a pretty good relationship with Sportsnet PR, but there's a directive that if you're a Sportsnet employee in an external show asks you to come on, like a non-Rogers show, you need to get permission from Sportsnet PR. Yeah, I mean, it's definitely something

that needs to be cleared, right? Like Sportsnet has podcasts and there's some stuff that is in recent past kind of conflicted with things Sportsnet is doing. I know the- Oh, like pitch talks. Yeah, exactly, right. Like that kind of stuff.

So that was my understanding of it, but yeah. Okay, so you were booked on the show because I remember looking out the window Oh, like pitch talks. Yeah, exactly. Right. Like that kind of stuff. So that was my understanding of it. But yeah. Okay. So you were booked on the show because I remember looking out the window like a kid waiting for his daddy to come home. You know that, you know, where's daddy? And then you're not showing up and then because you... Yeah, it was a bad job by me because I didn't mention it until, yeah, too close to the fact that, you know, I was actually about to leave.

You know, it's not your fault at all. That really set me off for some reason. I was on the phone with Sportsnet PR just yelling at them and cursing them out. It was like, this is unacceptable. Give me Ben Ennis. I've been waiting 500 and whatever episodes for Ben. I'm not sure I'd buy any of that, really, to be perfectly honest.

Yeah, no, I felt super awful about it. I'm glad we were able to figure it out. It's difficult, though, with your scheduling because you're probably booking into, what, July now? Almost. Episode 1,000? That's why it was ticked off because it was in the darn calendar for, I think, two months.

I know. No, I feel bad. I feel bad. I want you to feel bad. I take full responsibility for all of that. And I hope it came across in my DMs, too. Yeah, I just want to make sure for the record you feel bad.

The whole thing resulted in a great picture that JD Bunkus keeps on his phone now of me being led by a leash. The Rogers leash. Is JD Bunkus... He's on my hit list as well.

So JD, if you're listening... Yeah, he's on my hit list as well so JD if you're listening yeah he's not going to do it show Ben that you're you are going to do it why wouldn't he do it well first of all he doesn't have a car and this would be a pain

for him to get out to go do he could take the street car nah he's not doing that nah maybe you'll drop him off on your way home or something like that

but he's a good guy you guys have great chemistry oh yeah he's a great dude yeah that's thing i i don't think a lot of people know that maybe don't listen to the show because i think we talk about it on the show a lot is yeah we talk we're friends outside of the show and it's like i think the the the gentle ribbing that happens between each other on the show is so acceptable because that's the way we talk to each other on the phone. Like my wife is kind of sick at how much we actually talk to each other. It's like a bromance.

Maybe. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. It's, yeah, we do. We were like legitimately friends outside of the radio show, outside of the radio station, which I actually think is pretty important. And I think, yeah, makes the best radio is when people actually generally

i know it can happen and some of the greatest shows uh i was about to say cisco and ebert yeah yeah yeah yeah but yeah i think you get it yeah i i think i can tell the podcast that i'm i like the most you can tell that the people like each other and you and bunkus are uh buds they were buds okay we're gonna get to more Bunkus later. I got questions about that. Oh, great. But shout out to a couple of FOTMs who went above and beyond this last couple of weeks.

So big time shout out to Tyler Campbell and Al Grego. I saw you check your watch, Ben Ennis. Yeah, I have to pick my kid up. What time do you have to pick your kid up? Well, I have my mother-in-law is on, she's on the hook if things get wonky. Because you know these things can go 90 minutes. Is that okay?

Yeah, it should be all right. I'll just have to text her to go pick him up from school. All right, shout out to Tyler Campbell and Al Grego. They went above and beyond, and I appreciate it. When did you, Ben Ennis, realize you wanted to be in sports media? I actually can identify an exact moment and it was i am surprised you talked about all the people that you asked about me or volunteered me jamie campbell didn't say anything also oakville's own also went to the same high school although it was a different building than

me and also 20 years ahead of you yeah yeah but still all but also looks not 20 years older than me like still looks young looking good oh yeah but no jamie campbell came to one of i think my high school what information technology class or whatever that was called you know the one where you're making videos or whatever uh and he he just he talked about going to that high school and what he did for a living then he he gave anybody who wanted an opportunity to go visit the sports and studios i I was the only guy that took up, that took that opportunity. Wow.

So I went and I, I saw sports and back when it was at agent court, uh, and I got to see what, that that could be a job as an entry level position, watching sports, cutting highlights, doing that.

We kept in touch. Uh, but I was like, that's yeah, man, I could see that. And I was a guy that watched sports desk every morning before school uh uh howard burger's a family friend as well so

i'd visited the uh sports net well the fan 590 studios back then um yeah it was i got the bug pretty early and 92 93 was really like being a Blue Jays fan, seeing the city, being as excited as I was, sharing sports moments with my dad was something. That was kind of really the first initial spark where I was like, that's something that I want to do. So if listeners are looking for someone to blame for your career, it's Jamie Campbell. Yeah, Jamie Campbell with a dash of Howard Berger. Yeah, so send your remarks to them. Howard Berger, for a while, had the longest episode in Toronto Mike's history.

He was in the record books, and that record's been broken. Also didn't mention me, I'll bet. I didn't bring him up. He's got a new career. I guess you know this. Yeah, working at a funeral home? Yeah. So good for Berger, switched up careers.

Now, Rogers TV. Firstly, I have a question. Does this exist anymore? I don't think it does. Like, honestly, I haven't kept up on it, but I know if it does, it's in a totally different,

it's done totally differently. I don't, I wish I had an answer for you and I probably should know. See, I don't think it exists anymore. I think it's something that fell away, but this was important for you to. Oh, for sure. So tell us about the importance of Rogers TV in your career.

I did everything. I mean, that was the entry point, right? I called co-ed intramural volleyball on Rogers TV. I called the Canadian Soc soccer league or whatever it was called down at lansdowne uh with yeah i i i did everything i did the technical stuff i worked in the vtr uh for ohl games uh in brampton doing battalion games no that was if you wanted to get experience like how how else would you do it than the place where you worked for free you just put your hand up and said yeah i'll do it i'll do it i'll do it

so many people have sat in that chair who you know put in their reps early on at rogers tv i mean from carolyn cameron to mike wilner to at the sock like they were all kind of Rogers. He wasn't a SOC back then, though. I think he was. He was both, I think. Let's see. Who else? Who else did? Michael Landsberg, I think. I think Michael Landsberg is a day one-er at TSN.

The rivals. Get those TSN guys. I think he started out at Rogers TV as well. It's kind of too bad we don't have that anymore i know you work for rogers but it's too bad that that doesn't exist for i mean there's different up and coming yeah sure it is like in that yeah to have a structured thing and to see how because there were some paid employees that that that worked on rogers and to see the inside of a uh a mobile truck and see how that works for sure.

But there's like, all you need is your phone now to put something together to get reps, right? Like it's totally different. So YouTube has supplanted. Sure. And yeah. And you know what?

People don't have to watch your stuff. I mean, nobody watched my stuff at Roger. How many people were watching co-ed intramural volleyball? It's the same thing, right? Right. We were all waiting for like Tom green or the buzz. Remember the buzz? course i here's the thing have you had darren jones on yet i've

asked him a couple of times and he said no so i stopped asking okay uh i i've run into him a couple of times in the halls and like i was a big fan of darren jones and i've i've kind of like hesitated to go up to him we've kind of interacted a couple times on Twitter but yeah like I yeah big Darren Jones guy and I'm glad he's works in some buildings okay well shout out to Lucas

who's a big time FOTM and I believe he's like an intern or working somehow on the Darren Jones show which I believe is on 92.5 if I got my shows right

but Mr. Mo is the other guy yeah I once saw him perform at Yuck Yucks I don't know he was doing stand-up last time, but this is many, many, many years ago.

My favorite buzz segment was Bag News, where they would start engaging somebody, a streeter doing a current event story, and then in the middle of their response, they would just punch them in the balls. It's great. Yeah, yeah, the buzz was great. Can't fail.

Awesome. That was our YouTube. I also used to watch Tom Green. He's back in Ottawa. Of course, yeah. And of course, I mentioned Ed the Sock, but I was a big fan of the Harlan Williams Ed the Sock iteration that used to air

on Rogers Cable 10. Yeah, I don't go that far back with Ed the Sock. I got almost a decade on you. Yeah, no, I'm more like much music Ed the Sock, though. Yeah, Fromage, are you kidding me? Yeah, that was definitely my vintage. Christopher Ward creation, the fromage. Absolutely.

Who wrote Black Velvet, by the way, for Elena Miles, the guy who created fromage. Okay, so you're also hosting Mississauga St. Michael's Majors Hockey. Yeah, Rogers TV, yeah. Okay, that's also Rogers TV. Yeah, I got paid for that though. I think it was 50 bucks a pop. No big deal. That's pretty good. And yeah, Rogers TV. Okay, that's also Rogers TV. Yeah, I got paid for that, though. I think it was 50 bucks a pop. No big deal.

That's pretty good. And yeah, free pizza. But yeah, I was living in the city with my fiancee at the time. But yeah, she would come with me. She would drive an hour and a half from wherever, Mississauga, back to her apartment in the city and then get right back in the car because we took one car. And she would go and watch these games that she had absolutely no interest in but a lot of nhlers came off of that well who's

the best player you watched play on the mississauga st michael's majors which is by the way was the the captain of that team who's yeah established himself nicely with the new york islanders uh davante smith pelly oh yeah that team stewart Percy, who had a cup of coffee with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Right, I remember Percy. Yeah, and we saw everybody, all the big stars come through Mississauga at the time, right, too? We saw Taylor Hall, Nazem Kadri. Yeah, those were good times,

a great way for me to get my foot in the door. And also, I worked with some real pros on the broadcast. I mean, Dan Dunleavy, Roger Lajoie, those guys were integral in those broadcasts as well. I've met them both. They're good guys. Now, they gave you what? 50 bucks and pizza? Is that what you said? Yeah, that's right. Okay, I'm going to beat that. Ready?

Uh-huh. 100 bucks and hamburger. I'm giving you... I don't speak in cash, but I'm going to give you a value, more value, okay? I'm going to give you a Palma Pasta lasagna. I got one in the freezer for you you're gonna go home with it right now it's amazing i feed my family with it is it big enough to do that your your family of four i laugh at that you could easily feed a family of eight i would say

really it's a big it's big well look at the box that's empty but my two-year-old eats a lot all right okay trust me trust me you're gonna have So I'm going to make sure you leave with a lasagna from Palma Pasta. Go to palmapasta.com. Cater your work events, your private parties, and also go to Skip the Dishes if you want to give them a go. But they have four locations in Mississauga and Oakville. Good people make great food. Speaking of good people, Great Lakes Brewery.

Do you enjoy a fresh craft beer? I do. I like beer. This is a six pack of fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery. And you're taking that home with you as well. Nice. So the beer. Thank you, Great Lakes Brewery.

They're not far from here, but they're in LCBOs. The beer, the pasta. Here, let me give you a book from Duncan Fremlin. Banjo Dunk was actually on the last episode of Toronto Mic'd and he wrote a book called My Good Times of Stompin' Tom. He'd like you to have a copy of that book. Oh, thanks. Yeah, great.

And I got a new message from Dunk. I'm going to play in a moment, but first I want to make sure I give you your Toronto Mic'd sticker. I know that's probably the most valuable thing you're going to get today. Yeah, no, so I'm supposed to put this on my bumper. This is a bumper sticker. I'll put it on. Just before you drive off, I'll stick it on your...

My bumper is naked at the moment, so this would be quite the statement. By the way, I would love you... Do you drive to work or do you take the public transit? No, I drive. Okay, I would love you to drive to Rogers with a Toronto Mike sticker on your bumper. That would mean a lot to me.

Is David Amber doing that? I think so. Driving the Tesla? I didn't notice. Is it a Tesla tesla yeah wow there he's doing well now i'm i think i think he's gonna put on the trottle mic sticker check it out for me uh let me see so the sticker is courtesy of sticker you they have a fantastic uh storefront now at queen uh 677 queen street, which has an awesome museum. So if you want to get the nostalgias and check out an awesome free museum, go to 677 Queen Street, check that out.

But if you go to stickeru.com, you can get your stickers, decals, everything. They're fantastic. And that's where I got the Toronto Mike stickers. Let's hear from a little banjo dunk. He's got a new message he recorded. and then we'll get right back to the ongoing history of Ben Ennis. Hello, Toronto Mike listeners. This is Duncan Fremlin from Banjo Dunk headquarters. I want to give a shout out to Mike and Mark Weisblot for reviewing my book in episode 591. The book is called My Good Times with Stompin' Tom, and let it be known,

The book is called My Good Times with Stompin' Tom, and let it be known, it is for sale. For a measly $20, I'll mail you a copy, postage included. With credit card in hand, all you have to do is go to hellooutthere.ca and click on New Book at the top of the page. Follow the prompts. There are 36 chapters describing some of the shenanigans I enjoyed in Tom's company. He was unlike any other Canadian superstar. There's stories about Tom and his beer, his passion for chess, and his not-so-passionate affection for the marijuana.

There's even a chapter with some of the jokes Tom told from the stage. Some really funny, some really not funny. You be the judge. So he said, hey, Tom. he said, how do you drive the Prince Edward Islander crazy? I said, I don't know. He said, the way we do it in Newfoundland, we tie the left foot to the floor and put on a Stompin' Tom record. This is just a fancy prelude to the news that tickets for my seventh annual Stompin' Tom birthday celebration are selling well. I encourage you to get yours now. In the weeks

to come, I'll be telling you all about the Canadian celebrities who will be joining us on stage on April 16th, 2020. Details on how to get your tickets at hellooutthere.ca As in years past, it'll be a hell of a party. We hope to see you.

Thank you, Dunk. Got a little bit of Stompin' Tom in the mix there. That's always fun. Alright, Ben, how the heck do you end up on City News? Oh, well, pretty simple. I mean, I had, yeah, I was already working at

the fan at the time and I would, I had... Or how'd you end up there? Maybe I got my thing out of order. How'd you end up at the fan? Oh, at the fan? Yeah, at the fan at the time and i would i had how'd you end up there maybe i'm uh got my thing i don't how do you end up at the fan oh at the fan yeah the the fan i'm about to uh celebrate my 15th year anniversary in july yeah fan was where i started really okay talk tell me that story then i'm asking the wrong questions here you should be hosting this show all good um yeah uh so i started as an intern at the fan unpaid intern at the fan as well as uh the score at the time um i was working for free and i was still in school i was in yeah i was i guess in my my junior year at uh the university of guelph at humber college i'd

gotten in as an intern to the fan sort sort of with the help of Howard Berger, but not all that. Like he kind of mentioned something, but it never followed up. It was me following up with Doug Faraway, who was the sports director at the time. Well, I think Berger's responsible for, possibly responsible for Dan Shulman getting his gig at the fans.

Maybe, it's possible. I thought it was that somebody heard Dan doing something north of the city. And I thought, I thought Dan's dad knew Howard's dad or maybe after 592 episodes, my stories are all conflated now, but please back to you, Ben and not about the great burger.

No, all good. Yeah. I was an intern. I was doing, I was in archives at the score, which was, yeah,

going through whatever we would get footage, like the, the at the score, which was going through whatever. We would get footage, like the newsreel footage from NBC or whatever, and they had some sports, and we had to shot list that. And then at the fan, we were cutting clips from interviews. So the internship program everywhere has changed, right? First of all, there's a certain amount. You have to be connected to a a school program or something yeah and i i was in school at the time but it had nothing to do with the the school i went out and got it on my own and it would there was it was open-ended i did it for a

year i was unpaid for 12 months at the fan but it was an incredible education got to do lots of good stuff i used to go down to christy pitts and do toronto maple leafs baseball games as a reporter which felt like a huge deal at the time it's where i first met roger i can't oh roger yeah you know that man's the secret to his longevity is never being a permanent uh employee of the station yeah yeah oh yeah yeah he's stuck around for forever he gets to do like 3 000 episodes three whatever he's done he's got some uh cal ripken streakers yeah he's to do like 3,000 episodes, whatever he's done. He's got some Cal Ripken streakers. Yeah, he's always super, like if you mention to him, oh yeah, you really do a good job of bookkeeping that. He's like, I just, I am sending you my invoices.

All of them are, no man, the guy has an encyclopedic knowledge of all the shows he's ever done, all the major events he's ever done. And we used to joke, yeah, that he was breaking a tie for eighth in all-time inter- baseball league history calling his 1385th game but i was surprised to hear now from you that the fan even covered inner county baseball they didn't oh well sort of it was just like imagine it today no well they had this uh this this show in in the morning rick ralph used to do and you used to if you were the late sports anchor you used to you have to write a half hour show kind of like they're doing now with hugh burrell the the scoreboard but this was a yeah and they would just jam as much crap into

it as possible the stuff that would have no other place on the radio station. They would put it 5.30 in the morning. Well, that's where you put your Argos updates. Yeah, that's where you would put your Inter-County Baseball League games. That's where you would put your Toronto Maple Leafs. Yeah, your Wolfpack. Wolfpack lost in England, whatever. Right, so I would do my 40-second voicers

about the Knights game, and he would be nice enough to play it every once in a while. Not every time, but yeah, he would play it every once in a while. I did that. And then later on in my internship days, I would go down to whatever Jays or Raptors or leaf games back in the

day. They used to send an unpaid intern into the visiting locker room, which was, I mean, for a 19 year old kid was everything was awesome so he started doing that and then uh first real on-air gig was like live radio was doing the um during the turn olympics we we kept doing we were doing updates overnight so i was one of the guys that you know whoever was the late anchor would end at midnight.

I would take over a midnight to six in the morning doing live updates. Yeah. That was going on 15 years ago. Wow. Okay. So you go way back there and what, so we're firstly good on you because we're going to soon, we'll get to what you're doing today,

which I think it's a remarkable story of somebody who, you know, you put in your time, you worked for free for a while and you just kind of built slowly and look at you now but look at me one day you'll be hosting the great show yeah i know it's just good now right yeah but one day you'll be on the great show just stick stick to it you're you're getting there all right so you're doing fan 590 stuff you're and that i guess because you're in the rogers family at some point you get to do some city news sports anchoring? Yeah, so they created that station.

And I knew Hugh Burrell. I had gone in, and I'm not 100% sure I have the timeline 100% right, but I was doing Rogers TV. All this stuff was all happening simultaneously. I was working at the fan. I was doing rogers tv like all this stuff was all happening simultaneously i was working at at the fan i was doing rogers tv i think i had filled in for hugh burrell uh or catherine humphries once or twice doing the sports on city news which was a huge thrill and a huge nerve-wracking moment so i had people in the building who knew me so they they started this thing they wanted somebody on the

cheap and i was like more than happy no actually is actually pretty well paying for somebody who didn't have a ton of experience at the time uh no it was and it was a full like not a full time i didn't have a contract but it was like a regular paying TV gig, which was for me at the time, just thrilling. Awesome. Yeah. So I I'd known people in the building. I don't know. You know, that's you're kind of rekindling some memories that I don't have a hundred percent of my disposal, but I know I ran into Hugh Burrell, maybe at an event, maybe at a Jays game and we had a conversation. Okay. So we kind of knew each other, but yeah, there was,

there was a previous preexisting relationship with city and also nelson millman had at that point already left the fan and was heading that aspect of the city news channel sports and and and staffing that so he was part of that now that's a pretty big spot because you think of people like Jim McKinney. Whenever I think of like a City TV sports guy, I think like a Jim McKinney, a John Gallagher. I mean, Peter Gross even. Like, this is some heavy legacy stuff that's going on in that role. That's pretty cool. No, it was awesome.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. I was... So does that role exist anymore? Like, are there still sports anchors on City News? Danielle Michaud used to do it, right? To be honest with you, I haven't kept up that closely with it. I bet you it's gone because, you know, famously,

Joe Tilley and Lance Brown and CTV Toronto got rid of that role. I bet you. Although, I don't know. So let's, you know... I know on the weekend, the way they do sports on City News is they do it actually from the Sportsnet studios. And yeah, it's like Jesse Fuchs or Jesse Rubinoff. I think that's what they do now.

Because that's like CTV Toronto now gets a TSN person to do it. Yeah, but do they do that during the week? I don't know. Yeah, because they got rid of Joe Tilley and Lance Brown in that famous decision. So I'm pretty sure that kind of a local sports anchor for a station like City News,

I think that's gone because Rogers would just take a Sportsnet personality and tell you how the Leafs are doing or Raptors or the... Yeah, I liked it though.

It was kind of like, it wasn't as hardcore, right? You could kind of be a little less in-depth. You know, Peter explained it to me because this is the Peter Gross show,

but he explained it to me once when he was doing sports updates on 680. He figured it was his job to present sports to somebody who may not be a sports fan. Right. So unlike somebody watching Sports Central,

or wait, what's the, is it Sports Center? It's Sportsnet Central. Okay, because it changed a lot. Okay. I know. I liked Sportsnet Connected. Those were the days.

No, it's Sportsnet Central now. Right. So somebody watching that, it's safe to assume they're a sports fan. But if you're watching City News, that doesn't mean you're a sports fan. So you have to present the sports differently.

You have to pretend sports are fun because remember sports were supposed to be like entertainment fun. No, that's the way I got. And honestly, I know I host a sports radio show five days a week, three hours a day and we get in-depth. By and large, the way I got. And honestly, like I know I host a sports radio show five days a week, three hours a day. And like we get in depth like that's by and large the way I still consume sports. And the conversations you have with normal people, even listeners of the show, it's like, yeah, that's not a lot of people.

Like that's a very small sliver of the world. That is the hyper consumer of sports that wants to know every little detail that feel like they're being talked down to when you talk in broad strokes about sports. Right, it's like a subset of a subset, as Nelson Millman would say. So what's this? It's on my notes, and I'm not sure about it, but you'll explain it to me.

Fox Soccer News? Yeah, it was Fox Soccer News, Soccer Central. So that actually, I feel like, came about, and my timelines are all messed up, but that was after City News Channel. Maybe it had already gone defunct by that point. All right, I remember this. Scott Woodgate was in charge,

I forget his title, at Sportsnet, but Fox had contracted out sports net to make them a soccer show which aired on the channel which eventually became fs1 but back in the day it was fox soccer channel okay so it was a nightly news show that was just like soccer it was like a sports and central but for only soccer which on its surface if you're not familiar with how much soccer is like sounds like how could you possibly Central, but for only soccer, which on its surface, if you're not familiar with how much soccer is, like sounds like, how could you possibly do that? But there was analysis, and there's so much.

That was a huge education because I went into that with like bare bones knowledge of soccer at all, and you were expected to be authoritative about soccer. But I was working with Carl Lang. I wasn't the host. It was Brendan Dunlop was hosting those shows, authoritative about soccer but i was i was working with carl lang i wasn't the host it was brendan dunlop was hosting those shows and there was an like a news element that of was basically just reading a teleprompter with whatever i'd written uh you know sports or soccer news stories of the

day eventually i did do some hosting on that show but again that was another stepping stone moment but i knew nothing about soccer going into that show and coming out of it i knew more than nothing but yeah there's just so much to know about that sport there's so many leagues there's so many teams ridiculous yeah there's too many leagues i don't even pretend to know anything but uh if you give me tickets to a tfc match i will go and i will enjoy myself and i really like the ambience there ambience or ambience what does a professional like you say see yeah i think you sound a little douchey if you say ambiance? What does a professional like you say? Ambiance. So yeah, I think you sound a little douchey

if you say ambiance, but that's what I say. I say ambiance. Well, you're a little douchey. Yeah, listen, no offense. No, I kid, I kid. Okay, now this is an exercise

and please bear with me here. I want to walk through your 590 history because I find it to be quite the rise as I mentioned. So you started as an, you kind of got us

to a certain point where you're filing reports from Christy Pitts that may or may not get played at times when very few people are listening. Yeah. And that was as an unpaid intern. I wasn't paid at that time. Okay. So help me build it. I want to build you towards hosting

The Good Show where you are now, which is 9 a.m. to noon, which is like right after the morning show. Like this is a, you've got a weekday slot on, I think it's still Canada's largest sports radio station, just making sure. Yes, okay. So you have a weekday spot, which is amazing.

So help us get you there. Tell me the different iterations of Ben Ennis at the Fan 590 yeah well it started off as not an on air position I did everything that you know I could I've done just about everything in this industry whether it's radio or TV

like behind the scenes what do you prefer because you're a handsome guy thank you and you got a good head of hair on you thank you it's not Kyle Bukowskis good you didn't have to say that but it's good you could have just left it as good hair. And you still got your pigmentation. So I would say, and I'm being honest with you, you look like you could be a TV guy.

Yeah. Well, I do still do some TV stuff, right? Like a couple times a month, I will do some Sportsnet Central stuff. I was actually on with Alex Axero during the Jack Campbell trade. So that was fun after the Leaf game. So yeah, I'm still doing that stuff.

What do I enjoy doing more? If money was the same, and you had to choose a channel, like either you're going to be a TV guy or a radio guy, which would you personally prefer? And I know this is a bit of a loaded question because you're currently employed as a radio guy. So if you say TV guy, but I want the truth. I've been asked this before and right like i thought it's a little bit first one no no

but you're always asked by people who are making those decisions so there's always a political answer but what i usually say is yeah i got into the industry to do tv to be michael landsberg to do that highlight show and i will say landsberg is a radio guy now right i know but here's the thing here's the reality about the industry in 2020 yeah there's very few just one thing people you got to do all the things and i love doing all the things and if i was just doing tv and i wasn't doing radio i'd probably be you know yearning for something else if i was just doing radio and i didn't have a chance to do the tv stuff or the other stuff I do with Sportsnet, I'd probably feel pretty confined. So I like doing them both. But like, yeah, if I'm cards on the table here, I mentioned

the Jamie Campbell visiting my school. That's what I wanted to do. And when I got to do it for the first time, I still remember the high of driving home after that and not vomiting on camera that I got to like live my dream of doing that. It was also a dream when I got to host my first radio show. But yeah, the TV thing was always my first love in the industry. Okay, good. Good real talk from you there. Now, again, we're going back to the 590.

For some reason, I'm interested in the rise here. So when do you get a regular on-air role? So I got hired after a year of interning as like a part-time guy. And it was like, it was producing and it was reporting where I would actually, you know, they would, they would send me out to games that actually mattered. Whether it was,

yeah, Leafs or Raptors. Is there only three teams that matter? Be honest with me. Like from a, from a masses interest perspective, is there only three teams in this market that matter? I mean,

no, the TFC sometimes. But what do you mean matters? Like, three teams in this market that matter? I mean, no. TFC sometimes matters. But what do you mean matters? Do I need to really say that the import level is higher for the Leafs and the Raptors than it is for the Argos and Toronto FC? I think that kind of goes without saying, doesn't it? Is anyone making the counter argument there?

There's a big three. No, this is not controversial, I don't think. But there's a big three. And then you got Tfc and argos and others right okay yeah i'm not uh i mean i don't even like is there somebody that's i i'm not aware of this person that's pushing back against that that's like the toronto wolf pack is should be number one leading unless like john molinaro when he used to work at sports net the soccer reporter used to talk about Toronto FC necessitating the lead portion

of Sportsnet Central and that it was an absolute travesty that they weren't on occasion. But, man, if that were the case, you would hear a hue and a cry from the citizens of Toronto that they were being unjustly catered to and things would change. It's not a meritocracy, but it's a, yeah, we're the capitalists, right? We're trying to pull in viewers or listeners. No, listen, I've had reporters from the Toronto Star

tell me if they're going to write a Leafs article, it has to be about one of the big four. Like literally, like this is where all the clicks are. Like there's definitely now that clicks matter and, you know, getting ears and stuff, there is a narrow casting happening where people aren't necessarily covering the full breadth. Like you're not going to cover a high school

baseball game, for example. But back in the day, for example, City TV would cover a big high school baseball game. We would get some footage from the game and we would get the score. That's going away everywhere though, right? There's no local news. That's the narrow casting, if you will.

Because now, hey, the masses want the big three and then depending if something interesting is happening, they want some TFC or some... But if there was an appetite for that stuff, and I don't know, I'm not good enough at tracking this stuff, but wouldn't somebody make some sort of digital show? Wouldn't somebody do something on YouTube?

And there are, yeah, there's avenues for that when it comes to TFC. If you have an appetite for TFC, there's podcasts, there's ways's avenues for that when it comes to tfc if you want if you have an appetite for tfc there's podcasts there's there's ways to get that there's a podcast for everything yeah yeah yeah everybody has a podcast mike yeah how many podcasts give out beer though be honest in this in this city that's a good question this is the only one i know of it's the only one i've done there you go and lasagna come on and a book and a sticker okay that wasn't meant to be uh that by the way that wasn't meant to be a gotcha question i was just uh when you talking about you know is there a gotcha question coming up like how

will i know should there be tell me should there be i don't know if you had to ask yourself a gotcha question i didn't i was just thinking i don't even know if there is one i'm a generally pretty boring dude okay so how so again uh when your first on-air thing at fan 590 was yeah was that yeah i was doing the the the turin olympics doing the overnight uh updates and then leading into i used to so i would do the the full updates overnight talking about updating whatever happened in the early hours in italy and then there would be a crossover with me and rick ralph where he would throw to the Olympic desk. I got to work with Rick Ralph

and I would do a 60 second little... He's in Calgary, right? He's in Winnipeg. I get my western cities mixed up. You shouldn't. They're very far apart. Very different. I was doing that, but at the same time I guess the first real thing they paid me to do with the fan was

producing, which I hated. I hated, hated more than anything I've done in the industry. That's why I have lots of sympathy, a lot of time for people who do radio producing. Now you're asking people to do stuff for free and I hate, hate it. And you're relying on.

You're responsible for the schedule, the booking of guests. And that's why I felt so bad when I stiffed you the first time, because I know that feeling, right? And like, yeah, to leave people in the lurch like that,

there was nothing I hated more. And I had my Honey Bridges was all loaded up. Like, how will I ever play this Honey Bridges thing? Yeah, no, no. So I used to do that for Norm Rumack. Yeah, so I filled in once in my early and very short producing career, produced Bob McCowan. But yeah, that was,

I didn't book any of the guests. Ryan Walsh booked all those guests, but I had to call them. Oh, yeah. How often do I get to play this? I don't know. Are you going to get sued? I think it's like a,

no, it's an old, they just went to some library of music and pulled this down. Like, this is not a special. Still gets the hairs on the back of my neck. Oh, yeah. Unfortunately, I believe we live in an era where this song is no longer played on the back of my neck oh yeah unfortunately i believe we live in an era where this song is no longer played on the fanfine 90 so it's only played on toronto mic now

yeah that's a good tune uh yeah so i produced his show once uh he said hello he was very nice okay i'm glad to hear that uh that he's nice guy good to hear yeah no so no. So I was producing. I did the overnight updates during the Olympics. And then at some point, I got a shot doing a fill-in night hosting shift or a weekend shift. Does that exist anymore? Oh, yeah. Late night stuff? Not late night stuff. We do CBS radio overnight.

Right, so a syndicated program. Yeah, but there was a time when... Because I grew up with the late night vampire. We do CBS radio overnight. Right, so a syndicated program. Yeah, but there was a time when... Because I grew up with the late night vampire, Hammerhead Alert. Sure, sure. Like, that's gone. And even guys like, you know, go talk to a Jeff Merrick.

Like, what got him going? It was him and Strombo and Macco Jr. doing the... What was it called? Do you remember? I have no idea. I almost called it The Good Show, actually. The game. I almost called it the good show actually. The game. The game. No game. It's called

game. It's just called game? Right. Macko Sr. was the program director at 590 and gave them this time during the middle of the night and I believe it was called the game. Yeah. Yeah. No I never I don't think I ever did the actual overnight host. You know Jeff Samet did that for a long time.

Oh sure. Yeah Jeff Samet and R for a long time. Oh, sure. Yeah, Jeff Samet and Rumac as well. It felt like a very small snippet in time in fan history, at least as long as I've been there, where they actually stayed live programming 24 hours a day and that was a slog.

There's obviously no guests, but I remember John Pizzulo. I don't even know who he worked for, but like, yeah, you, you mentioned certain guest names to people who worked at the fan during that time. And they're like,

Oh yeah, John Pizzulo. That's the football encyclopedia, which Norm Rumack would have on for like 40 minutes at a time. Cause you only had truck drivers and insomniacs and shift workers. Like that's your, your clientele there. Yeah.

So I never did that. I did. Yeah. I just, I i i remember doing shifts you know seven to ten or whatever or after a a game ten till one or two is that called swing shifts is that what you would call i don't know i thought swing shift maybe i'm not yeah i don't know so when do you get when do you get when do you break into the uh daytime like the stuff between the morning show to the Bob McAllen primetime sports? Like when did you get a spot there? I started with Andrew Walker on the Andrew Walker show

because I think they had, it was a long show to do by yourself. And I think the best radio was Conversation Radio where you have him in this. And he was used to a guy because he was with Greg Brady for so long, he was probably used to co-hosts. Yeah, that was... I'm trying to think, though.

Was Brady not on the morning before he was there and then went to the morning? No. Okay, after... No, no, no, that was... Yeah, you're right. No, you're right. He was with Brady in the morning.

And then, yes, Greg was... Because they brought in Blund're right. He was with Brady in the morning. And then, yes, Greg. Because they brought in Blundell. Right. And then they bumped the morning show, which was Brady and Walker. Because Walker replaced Lang, who, by the way, is booked on this show in a couple of weeks. Ah, love me some Jim Lang. Jim Lang.

And Andrew Walker, FOTM Andrew Walker, is happy as a pig in shit in Vancouver. Is that fair? Yeah, yeah. We just had him on the radio show the other day. Okay, so Walker and Brady and Walker get bumped to one o'clock to put Blundell in the morning and then

Greg is removed. Oh, he is resurrected at some point. Yeah, yes. He rose like a phoenix. But yeah, Andrew was doing the show by himself for I don't know, a year, two years? But then I was eventually brought on and we did the show together for not that long. I want to say that might have had a year or two, maybe two at the absolute tops.

But yeah, that was my first full-time, daytime gig was with Andrew Walker on the Andrew Walker Show, and it didn't have my name in it. It was just the Andrew Walker Show with Ben Ennis. Right, and you guys are about the same age, I think. Yeah, I don't know. He might be older. He's definitely shorter. I don't know.

No, I think I'm slightly older, but yeah, no, we're the same age. Similar vintage anyways. And then what happens, I guess, am I right that Walker leaves that gig to go out west to Vancouver? Yeah. Because they're starting up that sports net in Vancouver.

Yeah, and he did the drive slot. There was a great opportunity for him to do four to seven Pacific time, leaves that gig to go out west to vancouver yeah starting up that sports night in vancouver yeah and he did the the drive slot there was a great opportunity for him to do four to seven pacific time and we wished him well and then did he get a cake uh he i know he was allowed to take his picture off the wall that's that's all i can say for for sure i bought him a beer maybe oh i was gonna ask if you got him like a keg gift card or something no no definitely not that the the uh yeah financial should have worked that he bought us something but yeah he didn't uh but yeah no it was we were super happy for him at the time and then there was some uncertainty all i knew was that i was going to be on that show that's what i was told that like that was gonna happen i was gonna have the one to four show and i would be sitting in the a chair and

who and who would be next to me was up at the air and we tried a bunch of different people and i think from the outset so jd had worked as andrew walker's producer but he had lots of on-air reps with him and at the time he was also doing what i guess is the swing shift seven to ten like he was he was producing andrew one to 4 every day and grinding out tons of guests because Andrew needed a bunch of guests because he was by himself. Also going on the air there. And then he would go home,

sleep a couple hours or something, and then come back and do his own shows with somebody else 7 to 10 to get even more reps. So when Andrew left, we were looking for somebody else and people would funnel through, myriad of different people. Would you name any of these people or are you protecting their identity i mean there were so many i mean like what kind of people like like a george russick or something like sherry ford

came in and yeah we had a good time i love sherry i knew her pretty well from my reporting days doing the jays we Morgan Campbell came in. I didn't know him as much, although I'd seen him a couple times at some stuff reporting as well. Do you know who his wife is? Yes, it's Perdita Felicien. Yeah, and we talked about that a little bit. Fun fact.

Yeah, that is a fun fact. And he's no longer at the Toronto Star. He took one of those packages. Oh, really? What's he doing now? I think he's being quiet about what's next. But, you know, that's the star. I learned this from having a guest on

and then a week later finding he's gone from the star. Not because he was on my show. I know you're checking your watch again. I'm going to... Again, I have a child. What do you want him to do? Sitting there in the cold? In the snow?

Are you completely unfamiliar with the format of this show? You had no idea it might go 90 minutes. But I can always... I just need... I might need to send a text to my... Have you ever heard an episode of Toronto Mike? Uh, no,

not entire episode. No, I'd heard maybe my name mentioned on an episode and I went back and listened to it. Maybe. Which one was that? I think the Greg Brady episode. Has he done multiple? He's been on multiple episodes.

He's a very good FOTM. All right. So let's be case. So it's two o'clock right now. What time do you have to depart? And then I can frame the rest. I don't know. How long does it take to get to Oakville here?

Probably 20 minutes. You're in the West End, so it's not too long. I've got to pick my kid up at 3. Here's the thing. I gave the warning to my mother-in-law. Did you say 3 o'clock in Oakville? You've got lots of time. Yeah, I know. I'm a good father. I want to make sure it hasn't already been 90 minutes.

You're not going to Whitby here? No, I don't. We'll be fine. Don't worry. I won't take more than 90 minutes here. We're only to Whitby here. No, I don't. Okay, we're okay. No, we'll be fine. Don't worry. I won't take more than 90 minutes here. We're only at like an hour here. We're almost done, actually.

So, JD Bunkus ends up as your co-host. And you're originally, you're doing like one to four. Was that the time? Yeah, we were doing one to four. So, you're leading into Bobcat on Primetime Sports there. Yeah, that was a thrill. Yeah, and you know what? We were still doing one to four when he did his last show. We got to wish him well and shake his hand. And yeah,

that felt like a moment because, yeah, I mean, I mentioned some of the people that were key in me getting into the industry. He was one of those guys, too. Not that I ever thought I would be Bob McCowan. But yeah, I used to sit in the car with my dad and, you know, he would pick me up from piano class or whatever and we would drive home listening to primetime sports and then get into the driveway and still sit in the driveway and finish listening to Bob. No doubt

we often would say on the show that he was the biggest sports media radio personality in this country. Yeah he thought you were a different guy. I know so you know this story? Oh yeah. I was not sure. You should have changed your country. Yeah, he thought you were a different guy. I know. So you know this story? Oh, yeah. I was not sure. You should have changed your name.

Yeah, he wasn't, I don't know. That's a weird move, right? Like all I did was make the, all I did was say, Bobcat, you can be guest 500. I thought it was a, you know. Did you have the other Mike on your podcast yet? No, I've never had Mike in Boston on my podcast, although I've met him for coffee a few times,

but I've never had him on the podcast. He's pretty, not anonymous. So I'm very careful. I won't share any details, but he goes by Mike in Boston and he protects, I know he protects his anonymity very fiercely, but Bob McCowan,

I thought he'd be a great guest on the show, but then he sent these tweets about. Hard for me to imagine Bob McCowan walking into this basement and, you know, he thinks he's better than that. Is that what you're saying? I think he's better than that is that what you're saying I think he's better than that so yeah do you know the list of luminaries

that have you know if Ron McClain will come in this basement why can't Bob McClain yeah of course Ron's salt of the earth guy he's an Oakville guy like myself right Leo Routens has been in this basement now that sounds like that's like abuse like that you should be in prison you should be in the hag for forcing eight foot tall Leo Routens to bend over.

That's why his back needed more surgery probably from his visit to this. Yeah. I can't imagine Leo Routens fitting in here. Like I barely can. And yeah, he's got a foot on me. Bob McKenzie's been in this basement. Some of these are some heavy. And Ben Ennis.

And Ben Ennis. And one day J.D. Bunkus. No. I would wager you that it never happens. Ennis. And Ben Ennis. And one day, J.D. Bunkus. No! I would wager you that it never happens. Or Alex Cicero, one of those two guys. You have a better shot at Alex. I'll go for it. He's a good guy, and he drives, and he lives

in the West End. He lives in Burlington, so maybe he could do it on his way. Yeah, he can. Come on, it's like, get off the Gardner right here. Now, when... Remind me, when does the Good Show... First of all, where does the name Good Show come from? That's my brainchild. And I, I don't know.

I think it's still a good name. Sometimes it does irk me that we named it Good Show, and yeah, it's just so ripe to be made fun of. Ah, why isn't it Great Show? Right. Which is, yeah, we've heard that plenty of times. The Fine Show, it's fine. It's okay. It's fine. It's okay.

It's good. It's a good show. But yeah, the reason I chose it because it's kind of had like a double entendre, not like a sexual connotation, but it's like, oh, it's a good show,

but it's also like, oh, good show. Like, I don't know, like an English person might say, oh, good show. Right. And then they say cheers. Yeah, yeah.

Something like that. I don't know. I just, I was watching a Simpsons episode and I don't remember the one exactly, but some kid gets some uh private school kid gets like knocked out and as he's being carried off into the ambulance he says a good show and i don't know just for some reason it resonated with me and i thought it's weird enough that it's like original and maybe annoying and grating at first but eventually it'll become ubiquitous and people

won't even think twice about it which i think is largely the case but it's still yeah i don't know if i went back in time maybe i would name it something different well remember you don't have i know you don't have the autonomy to just name your show and have it be no no no i suggested uh yeah right you can pitch a show it was definitely better than some of the names that were pitched at us okay what were the names that didn't i don't know it's a classic you know sports radio tropes like the penalty box or like offside. Because the morning show is called the starting lineup, right? Sure, yeah.

So you're into that thing. They're fine, yeah. And then the, what is the Jeff Blair show called right now? The lead? Writer's Block. Writer's Block. Yeah, no, the lead was his podcast. Yeah, no, Writer's Block, that's a great name.

That is. Oh, yeah, yeah. But it's almost too smart for the fan listener, if I may say. That's rude. It's more of a CB. I would not say that. I would say it's right there for the IQ bracket of the typical Sportsnet 590, the fan listener. More of a CBC radio kind of name.

Very clever over there. And the lead is gone. Is that gone? Do you know the status of your podcast over there? Yeah, I don't think that one's coming back. Because the Dan Schulman one is gone too. Yeah, I don't think that one's coming back. Because the Dan Schulman one is gone too. Yeah, I don't think that one's coming back. Is there, you have a Good Show podcast,

but is it just the show? It's the show, yeah. Well, speaking of like who's listened to whose podcast, obviously you're not familiar with Good Show's podcast and the Leafs Hour. It's broken up into two separate podcasts, Mike. That's why you're here, to educate me. So yeah, we're on nine to noon,

nine to 10 is good show and then 11 to noon is also good show but in the middle is our Leafs hour 10 to 11 where it's nothing but Leafs. 5 days a week and that is separated as it's own short little podcast. It's it's own feed. Leafs hour and both do quite well. I'll tell you my straight up now

and I hope somebody is listening who can do something about this but I listen to a lot of podcasts. The other day I had this idea I'm gonna I like Hugh Burrell personally like he was a he's a good FOTM and I like him and I'm like I'm gonna subscribe to the thing they do before the morning show at 5 30 a.m thing so I went to my to what I use I use Stitcher so everything's on Stitcher and I said you cannot subscribe to these Rogers podcasts it's a huge it would be it would be it would take me 10 seconds to fix that for you like

it's a it's a problem that people are aware of Spotify like yeah there's a couple of different things that yeah I don't know what the problem is 100% but yeah it's something that I'm definitely aware of and they should.

As long as you're aware. Cause I, I know you can do, of course, Apple podcast, which is the biggest one. And I know you can do a Google podcast, which is a pretty big one,

but for, there are some of us who have other pod catchers and would like to subscribe to these shows and we can't. So that is why I'm ignorant that you have these two streams for the bunk. The NS bunk is stuff. Good. Okay. So you're now eight to for the NS Bunkers stuff. Good. Okay.

So you're now eight to noon. No, sorry. Yeah. You are nine to noon because eight. Okay. Do you have any comments on recent changes to the morning show? Oh, so the, okay. So he was waiting.

It shouldn't have been so obvious when you have the gotcha questions. No, it's not a gotcha question. Cause I, the gotcha would be if uh something else uh but you know listeners noticed that ashley's not on the show anymore but there's never there's never been and ashley well she's been on the show as well uh there's never been any tweet or reference on the show that she's not there anymore and i get these comments so what happens is people go to google see what they do you can do it on your phone right now. And they go, Ashley Docking, gone, fan 590, or something like that. And inevitably

they'll end up on my website, where I wrote, you know, no commentary. Not even an editorial, but just a fact that Ashley Docking is no longer on the morning show. And they'll leave a comment, either Ashley was the best damn thing on that channel, and I will never listen again. I can't believe she's gone.

Or, thank goodness I can listen again because Ashley was the worst thing on that channel. It's always one of the two things. It was the internet encapsulated. Yeah, that's what the internet is. But people do come on there to point out the fact that they find it interesting that there was no mention that she was moving on.

Yeah, it's not the first time in the history of media that that's ever happened before, right? Like, I've been around, again, 15 years of the fan. It's definitely not the first time that that's not the first time in the history of media that that's ever happened before. Right. Like I've been around again, 15 years of the fan. Yeah. It's definitely not the first time that that's happened, but yeah. Yeah.

Actually, I still am in communication with Ashley. She's definitely going to end up somewhere else. She's going to do a great job. She's still got some lacrosse stuff. Yeah. No, that's I've been down at a couple of rock games,

brought my kids down a couple of times. Sorry. Yeah. It's still doing sideline stuff. Intermission stuff. Yeah. On the, the bleach report broadcast on kids down a couple times. Sorry. Yeah, it's still doing sideline stuff, intermission stuff. Yeah, on the Bleach Report broadcast on the lacrosse game. Yeah, her basketball stuff is awesome. Like, I think if I had to guess, that's probably where she ends up. But yeah,

obviously her story is not even close to being done written. No, I mean, she's young. Time is on her side. Me too. She's younger than you. Yeah, I know. But yeah, I'm just curious if there was an official word about Ashley,

but it sounds like you're a personal friend of hers and you're sorry for what happened, but you don't have any... No, I don't. You have no idea why she's gone, for example. No, no, no. I mean, man, there's plenty of decisions that are made for a myriad of different reasons,

and all of it is above my pay grade. Yeah, I have no idea. All right. Now, you've already disclosed you're good friends of J.D. Bunkus. So I kind of know what your answer will be. But I ask listeners of the show, do they have any questions for Ben Ennis? I saw you fishing for questions. I didn't see a lot of responses.

Did you get like DMs or something? No, this one I think was a tweet. If you look up James Edgar. So James Edgar tweeted back uh how does he deal with bunkus i find him hard to take on the radio in person i'd have a huge problem so this is a listener i did see that one okay so yeah sometimes if i get a dm then that'll be a gotcha here's the thing yeah uh yeah i don't i think uh jd is necessarily a friend of toronto mike I guarantee you he's going to listen to this episode and especially when he finds out that he's mentioned there's a segment about him

but yeah no JD and I are different dudes and JD he's yeah he's he's a lot but that's I think both of us can be a lot like I can be a lot to him he can be a lot to me and I think especially like on a day like today we're up late watching Leafs and Raptors and we're kind of right on little sleep we can get

in each other's kitchens a little bit but that's working every day with somebody i think it's incredible to still have the relationship that we have after two years of of three hours a day and countless hours outside of the the time that we're on air that we can still, we don't hate each other's guts because a lot of people that have been in this industry have done similar things, have wanted to wring each other's necks. The apparent knock on, by the way, when I tune in to the good show,

it's just good show. I was good. Oh my goodness. I have a, my, my apologies. My research staff put it on there. Okay. When I tune into good show, Facebook, you know, right. Okay. I was going to. Oh my goodness. I have a, my, my apologies. My research staff put it on there. Okay.

When I tune into good show, Facebook, you know? Right. Okay. I'm with you now. Is it the Ukraine or Ukraine? That one always confused me.

Ukraine. Okay. So, cause on Seinfeld, it's like the Ukraine is not weak. Yeah. He should have said Ukraine. I know.

And then his risk board goes flying. I know. And that's where most of us get educated is to geopolitics. They're from Seinfeld episodes. So that was a mistake there by Jerry and the gang. Okay. So when I listen in, I enjoy your back. I think J.D. Bunkus is a very knowledgeable guy.

Oh, he's like one of the smartest people I know. And his ability to retain information or access and debate. Like it's, yeah, it's wild and it maybe it would be different if he had two kids under the age of five but yeah he doesn't and he has the time to consume everything but also yeah he has an incredible brain do you think that's why he's what i would refer to as polarizing like i think it's because he's wilner had a bit of this for a long time too on jay's talk because i'd have him on and I'd explain to him all these comments I got about...

I should have mentioned Wilner also as one of the guys that helped me in the business. Because yeah, Jay's was always my passion and I worked alongside him and produced a bunch of Jay's games and he was super helpful also. He is a great guy. I always stand up for Wilner.

If anybody tries to say something negative about Wilner, I get right in there. Let's go. Now, where the hell was I going? Oh,ner, I get right in there. Let's go. Now, where the hell was I going? Oh, you're talking about polarizing. Yeah, he's polarizing because he has big opinions and he doesn't back down. But like Wilner, who was very knowledgeable about baseball, and there was

a sense that Wilner was being, and I didn't feel this, but a lot of people definitely did because they told me about it, that he was being condescending. And then when I look at the comments on that Ashley Docking entry I wrote, I see several comments from people saying J.D. Bunkus comes across condescending. And then when I look at the comments on that Ashley Docking entry I wrote, I see several comments from people saying J.D. Bunkus comes across condescending. I'm wondering, is there a correlation

between very deep knowledge on a topic and appearing to be condescending? I think for sure is that, yeah, he's put in more hours than anybody that's listening to him. He's watched more, he's read more, he's put in more hours than anybody that's listening to him he's watched more he's read more he's yeah experienced more sports and has thought more about his sporting opinion than i it's very unusual rare to see somebody step into the room with more on sports that are happening right now

than jd bunkus like nobody's more prepared than him and he he knows that like that's part of the reason is that he he fuels himself on that so that he can um he can be as aggressive as confident as he is in his positions in his passionate defenses of things and he's not afraid to be as passionate as he is which I guess can yeah can come across wrong to people but if you if you're just looking at the words like where's the inaccuracies and I mean

this because I know JD is listening to this right now so JD this is just for you you are invited to come and be a special guest on and let's prove Ben wrong he doesn't think you're going to do it and I want you to prove them wrong and get on this show. So reach out to me, Mike at Toronto,

Mike.com or DM me on Twitter. They're open at Toronto. Mike, let's make this happen. Uh, Rogers sports net PR will, will even approve you because they, uh,

just approved Donovan Bennett, uh, and they approved you and David Amber. So ask Donovan about JD too. That'll be good. Yeah. Let's just, he's,

uh, he's in the schedule. Good. When's he coming up? Uh, July. No, I'm kidding. I kid. Ask Donovan about JD too. That'll be good. Yeah. He's in the schedule. Good. When's he coming up? July. No, I'm kidding. I kid. It's probably like April.

I got to check in, but he's coming on. Because you got to pick up your kid at three o'clock, I'm going to set you free. But I have my final question is about your goal. So you're still a young man,

36 years old. Here you are with the show after the morning show. I'm led to believe all the money is in the drive spots. Not to say you're not making money. You're dressed nicely. I think you're making money.

I didn't pay for this. This is also, this is, yeah, this is, somebody bought me this. Okay, but you got a nice watch there. You seem to be doing okay. This was, yeah, a nice watch. This is like- Casio?

Fossil. It's a $200 watch, which I say, yeah, it's fine. But yeah, this is, I've only owned two watches in my life that were more than $50. This one and the one that preceded this, which broke, so I had to buy this one. But yeah, it's a $200 fossil watch. The morning show and the afternoon drive, which Tim and Sid

have right now. Those are sort of the spots I understand where you can make the most money in radio. That's what I'm told. I've never worked in radio. I'm curious as to your goals. I know you said you want to be in TV, on the radio side would you be interested like what if and i'm not saying anything negative should happen to wonderful mike zigomanis or scott mcarthur hopefully they have long runs but should they quit let's say they quit to go somewhere else how would you would that be a position would you love the good show sorry would you love good show

that's hard to i like the done there would you like good show to be the morning show on fan 590 or perhaps good show could be where tim and sid are and they could focus on television what are your radio goals and what are your overall goals in the sports media world so individual like personally i've accomplished just about everything i set out to do in this industry like i said like doing a highlight show on tv was the thing that i most wanted to do and continuing to get to do that. To host a daytime radio show on the most listened to sports talk radio station in the country. Have like have Dan Schulman on yesterday like we did or Jalen Rose today. That's it's awesome.

Awesome stuff. But yeah, I mean, there's no doubt the the drive spots are different than the daytime but yeah it's still an incredible honor to be on five days a week on this this uh institution of canadian sports media which is the fan 590 so i i think where you get into big time troubles and i've seen it happen in this industry and at that station in particular, is when you start really like outlining your plan to that degree, which is it's ugly and it's not good. And yeah, all you have to do is work hard. The work will speak for itself. I'd love to have a 30 year career in the industry, which is like, yeah, it's maybe unrealistic because you look at the people that have done it.

It's a few and far between. But to actually to put a pinpoint on exactly where we want to go, first of all, I think it's limiting too. And who knows what sports talk radio looks like in five to 10 years also. Right. You could be a hologram or something. Well, and I think already we've sort of, yeah, we could be a hologram. Maybe, yeah, just brains in buckets or something. Right, like Futurama, right? Yeah. But I think already we've kind of, yeah, not bucked the entire establishment of sports radio,

but the podcast is a big part of what we do. And like that puts us on the level playing field of everybody, right? Like our podcast, our Leafs hour, it's out in the world before lunchtime. People can listen to that on their drive home. They can listen to our show on the drive home if they want, if they so desire that, that still exists. We, we live in that space. So I don't think it's a huge game changer to be officially on one of those, those drive

slots on terrestrial radio. I was going to suggest, cause my understanding is a Rogers sports net owns primetime sports. Like the name. This is my, I don't know. That's true. Have you heard anything about that?

Who owns primetime sports? Right. Yeah. Okay. We bring it back. We bring it back and you're the host. Yeah. Okay.

Okay. I don't know. I'm just trying to brainstorm with you here, but I don't know. I feel like, yeah, it just trying to brainstorm with you here. I don't know. I feel like it would be a different feel. Yeah, go from Bob McCowan to Ben Ennis and J.D. Bunkers. I feel like people would break their necks with the speed change there.

You just need to be a little grumpier, like a little crankier. Yeah, I kind of feel that way after having three hours sleep last night a little bit. Well, thanks so much that you did the whole three hour show at the Fan 590 and then you made your way here and you're going to pick up your kid and you're going to be on time. Thanks for doing this, Ben. This was a lot of fun for me. Yeah, it was fun. Thanks for having me. And that brings us to the end

of our 593rd show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Ben is at Sportsnet Ben. Not Benis. I'm at Toronto Mike. Ben is at Sportsnet Ben. Not Benis. It's Sportsnet Ben. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta.

Sticker U is at Sticker U. The Keitner Group featuring Austin Keitner, a high school friend or classmate of Ben Ennis is at the Keitner Group. And Banjo Dunk is at Banjo Dunk with a C. See you all next week.

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