Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Bingo Bob Willette: Toronto Mike'd #61

Episode Date: January 10, 2014

Mike and Bingo Bob Willette talk about his days at CFNY 102.1 with Bookie, Todd, Jason, Dean Blundell and Martin Streek.

What up, Miami? Toronto! VK on the beat, uh-huh, check, uh-huh I'm in Toronto, baby, wanna get the city love I'm from Toronto, baby, wanna get the city love I'm a Toronto mic, wanna get the city love My city love me back, for my city love Welcome to the 61st episode of Toronto Mic'd,

a podcast about anything and everything, often with a distinctly Toronto flavour. I'm Mike from torontomic.com and joining me this week is Bingo Bob Ouellette and hosting this audio file are the good people at Core Fusion. Welcome to the Toronto Mike Studios. Bingo, Bob Ouellette. Good day, Michael Toronto. How's it going? Oh, thanks. I was going to say, looking at you, it's like looking in an East of Young mirror of myself.

That's right. We've had this conversation a few times. The East versus West debate of toronto that is uh never ending now my i was born and raised west of young in toronto and you have uh you were born and raised east of young in toronto and i'm more i have to admit i'm most comfortable when i'm west of young street and i am most comfortable when i am east of young street i think i was born and raised in the east end uh i still live in the east end i do work in the west end now i haven't that's for the last couple years i work in the west end but i've always either worked pretty much right on young street or just right around there but i do

live i i you know what i'm i've grown an appreciation for the west end and um you know i used to dj uh quite a bit in the west end so you know i've always had i've always i've visited the well you can't stay east of Yonge because all the entertainment is west of Yonge. Not anymore. Unless you go to the Phoenix. Not anymore. Is that true?

Or the docks? No, no, no, no. You know, actually, you know, Toronto's East End is really coming together. Leslieville has some, quite a great selection of restaurants and bars now. Riverside, which is right around, you know, basically.

Sure. Basically, Queen Street from the Don River East has really started to pick up, if you will. And I should be careful. I'm not familiar. I need you to be like my East of Young tour guide. I could. I could host.

I would do that in a heartbeat. Yeah, it'd be fun. Take photos, document, archive this in the Toronto Mike archives. Because comfort and familiarity, I was born at St. Joe's in Parkdale and then raised sort of Bloor West Village North kind of deal. Then I went to Michael Power High School at Islington and Dundas. And I swear, it's like we led mirrored lives because i was born at saint mike's hospital there you go and i went i went to saint patrick's high school on the danforth uh you know so it is it is funny that uh

and then we you know we met through humble and fred and uh we often will, and we often will joust. And we're both Pearl Jam fans. Huge Pearl Jam fans. And we will joust playfully on social media regarding the East versus West thing. But I've grown in appreciation. I really like, you know, I actually work at Kipling and Dundas, which is an absolutely horrible stretch of anywhere. It's just horrible. You've got the Six Points Plaza. Six Points is the best thing. So that gives you some ideas. I know this. I go to

Dundas Street Grill frequently. Yes. Do you frequently? Yeah. I would say frequently. You and the blue hairs? Once a month. I'll meet friends there. It's because the kids can eat for five bucks. Nice. It's not a bad spot for the money. No, it's great. So yeah, it's fun. But other that other than that

i look out at the abandoned uh canadian tire yeah that's right there's the the honeydale mall which is the ghetto mall yeah they have they have a mall mart there yeah that's sad when the walmart's move out and nobody wants to move in so i mean it's all time they're gonna eventually they'll be all condos that way when i went to high school at michael power this is before it moved near centennial park i was the last graduating class of what now it's condos michael power place which is near where you work actually uh we used to go to g and b burgers uh we called it garbage and barf burgers and we used to make the long trek to g and b burgers which i guess just recently got torn down i think i don't even know it was across from apache oh okay and apache i guess is on the right beside you know what that g and b burger is a starbucks now is where this is that the starbucks there's

a starbucks on the set there's a very this is now a starbucks across from a starbucks there's one in the six points yes yes and there's one like literally yeah for the uh the go train and subway subway people yes this is very very riveting for people who listen to the Mic'd Up podcast who aren't from Toronto. Listen, you know, I just talked to Howard because we're having many discussions about the iTunes ranking. Yes, I saw that. I know.

And it's caused great debate. Like, how do you rank in iTunes? And I'm analyzing data and it's like I'm trying to crack the algorithm. And I realized that this is a Canada chart and my title is Toronto Mic'd, itunes and i'm analyzing data and it's like i'm trying to crack the algorithm and uh i realize that this is a canada chart and my title is toronto mic which means everyone outside the gta hates me and won't even listen so i'm essentially i'm i'm tack i'm conquering the canadian charts gta listeners only that's right and then you know what that's fine because really the reason they hate us is because we really don't care what anybody outside of toronto thinks well center

of the universe exactly and the ones who do listen outside of the GTA are like their former Torontonians. Expats. Absolutely. And there's lots of Toronto expats out there. Yes. I'm not one. I've only ever lived in Toronto. Me too.

I've only ever lived in the 416. Yeah, me too. Me too. It's wild. Because we're old men now. No, it's true. How do we afford this? Well, it was funny.

I saw on your blog the other day, you posted something about Toronto being the most youthful city. Yes. And you had a comment at the end. You thought that was great. But how can any young family... I know what I just paid for the place you're in right now. I don't know what you think of the place,

but it's not a mansion. It's a nice little home. It's a fine single dwelling. Yes, it's a fine single dwelling. It is. It's a three-bedroom average Toronto house. I don't know how. I mean, I'm pushing 40.

Like, I can see 40. I don't know how a young person could ever afford to buy a place in Toronto. I don't know either. We were... I was just talking about this. I was... I bought early in... I bought young.

I bought my first house at 25. Yeah, me too. And that... Because I... But I bought west of young. I bought east of young. Yeah. I bought in what is now Leslieville.

It wasn't when I bought, but, um, it's funny, you know, you talk about, uh, you just made me think something. You're pushing 40. Yeah. Uh, I turned 38 next week. You're a youngster. And, uh, I was, um, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm kind of in denial about it because, you know, when you're 37, you can still say you're, you're in your mid thirties, but you can lie and say you're in you can still say you're you're in your mid-30s

but you can lie and say you're in your mid-30s because you're not but when you're 38 there is no there is no denying that you are pushing 40 so anyways i just wanted because you said that i was like oh man i've been having the pushing 40 thought quite a bit lately well i'm i'm i literally uh i hit that mark in the summer like i'm gonna hit it in june oh wow yeah that's how that's how close it is well yeah let's see if i make it that's a long way to go uh let's quickly just uh tell everybody how we know each other and who the hell you are yes so i met you i think i was trying to think today how did i meet bingo bob i think it was at uh dan duran's house when humble and fred had their very first podcast recording after so it's's the first Christmas after Howard gets fired from, which we'll get into,

I guess. Yeah. I got, uh, yeah. Mix 99.9 fires Humble. Uh, they had already fired Fred the year before.

And then we all are going to, we're going to have a Christmas podcast. That's right. Maybe it was the 20th anniversary. I don't know, but we were all going to do it at Dan Duran's house. And at the time I lived at Jane and Annette. That's right.

And it was a very short walk from me to Dan's house, who I saw on New Year's Eve. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I heard you on last week's podcast talking about the... Oh, the big shit. Yes. Yeah. That's right. Yeah.

Great Dane poop. The biggest shit I've ever seen outside of a zoo. So we all converged, and it was like a reunion. I saw you showed up. Andy Wilson, I think, showed up. I don't know. Maybe. No, this is pre-Andy Wilson.

I got my clothes. This is like 2006. No, Andy was around then. Yeah, we met Andy at Andy actually, I think, was with us even as far back as AM 640. Oh, he was there then. And Pete Cunio was there. Scary Pete. Yeah.

Scary bald-headed Pete. Pete Cunio. Did Jeff Domette, did Shawarma come? I can't remember. I know he was at the anniversary show at that pub. Yes. But I don't think he was at dance that day. I have a picture somewhere.

But that's how we met. Yeah. Yeah. That was, and because you hooked up with Humble because you want, you like, I don't even know how you hooked up with Humble, to be completely honest. You know, I honestly, I think he Googled himself. Yeah. And I was number one for his name. Because your blog. Yeah. Yeah. how you hooked up with uh you know i i honestly i think he googled googled himself yeah and i was number one for his name because your blog yeah because i wrote uh i i to be honest i never heard

humble and fred on mix and we're gonna get into this sure i know but i never heard humble and fred on mix uh don't tell him that but well i didn't like the music and i actually listened to howard stern but i uh, I started getting searches in my log file. I've been having this blog for 11 years and I checked the log files and I learn a lot by searches that happen. And the searches were humble Howard fired. And this is before it was in the public domain. And I Googled it. There's nothing in the web about humble Howard being fired, but I write an entry, humble howard are you okay and in this entry i basically say i'm getting a lot of searches for humble howard fired does anybody

know if humble howard still has a gig something to that effect right it turned out i don't know where the searches were coming from if it was people on the inside circle seeing if it's on the web and the reason i know about the searches is because i was number one for humble howard's name so they would click through the first result they got to see if it had anything about him being fired. I basically, and this has happened before. I know, I get this a lot. I know. So the searches for Humble Howard fired

before it went public basically tipped me off that something was wrong. And then at some point he emailed me, gave me his cell number, his old black, it's now his Android number, but he called it his BlackBerry number, I remember. And we became friends. He took me flying. And then when it came time to do podcasts, I was the closest geek, I guess, who spoke XML. And he's like, hey, you speak XML, and we need XML. And would you like to be the digital producer? And I said, well, hell yeah.

Sure. Why not? I'll walk to Dan Duran's house for that. That's right. Okay. So that's how it happened. There you go. So that's how we met. And you are, and we're going to get into the steam career of Bingo Bob Ouellette, but you

were the producer of the Humble and Fred show? I was the last producer of any on-air version, over the airwaves version of the Humble and Fred show. Did you produce it at CFNY? I was an associate producer then. I was not the producer. I started off in 97, I guess, maybe 98. Oh, yeah, here, tell me.

How did Bingo Bob break into radio? I was listening to the radio one morning and listening to The Humble and Fred Show. was listening to the radio one morning and, uh, listening to the humble and Fred show. And at the time, um, they had, uh,

different people, Jason bar, who is now on the bigs and bar show. Yes. Um, he was the producer at the time and they had, uh, this other kid,

uh, this is fine. Young gentleman, Jeff Domet working on the show as well. Uh, chicken shawarma was his nickname and he was going to produce live in Toronto on the edge with kim hughes i know kim she's on cbc sometimes yeah so kim this live in toronto was a magazine style

music show uh these it was a great show which doesn't george strombolopoulos took over for a while brother bill there was a bunch of old edge names there and um so he was leaving shawarma was leaving and they said hey we need a new intern. So email us if you want to be. So I got on my compact computer and sent an AOL. Sent from my AOL account. Sent an email to like edge at passport.ca or something. Oh, yeah.

I remember those passports. Absolutely. Yeah. So I emailed. Long story short, they said, come on in. I came in at At the time, I was going to U of T for English and sociology. I went to U of T for English and history. I went English. Double major. Oh, I never finished.

I have a diploma somewhere. Nice. Good for you. I keep dust in the drawer. I got nothing. I was going to U of T part-time. I was a mobile DJ. I used to DJ weddings, bar mitzvahs, all that stuff. And I was also a bingo hall caller and manager. I managed a bingo hall. So I walked in, hung out with Howard for the day. Fred was off.

His back was messed up. And so the first meeting was not with Fred. I sat next to Howard the whole show, and he just asked me questions in between being on the air. And he said, I like you. And I was Bingo bob as soon as he figured out that i worked at bingo hall that first day i was nicknamed bingo bob i was gonna ask you the origin but it's right away it was pretty straightforward it was pretty straightforward and uh natural started off uh as a as an intern and i can remember so what an intern does on on

a morning show is things like back in the day i'd have to i would record television shows on vhs and bring it in and i would pull clips from it and and record them onto mini discs is this like uh when are we talking here 97 97 98 yeah something like that so i'm like taking clips from friends and uh seinfeld well maybe not seinfeld but definitely friends we used to play clips from you know we use them as bumpers coming in and out of things yeah or use them as part of id so i i would make those and then i remember the first time i made a promo which is like the daily highlight you take the funny part of the show you're like and there's an intro and an extra you put that together and i remember i i hearing it on the radio in my car it was a phenomenal moment i was like oh my i made that i made that you're now officially in radio

yeah it was cool and um i became kind of a character on the show they brought me on to do different things and um during that time uh i ended up um getting a gig in promotions as you know handing out humble and fred condoms um at different concerts and whatnot at the horseshoe i've seen these condoms yes um nobody should ever use those. I'm allergic to latex. Lucky you. Honestly, because the problem was they were stored in a vehicle.

We used to keep them in the car. How many children are here in the GTA as a result of your shitty condoms? Of broken Humble and Fred condoms. Lossy waiting to happen, Bingo. Hey, it wasn't me. You can talk to Chorus Entertainment now. Anyhow, yeah. We'll get to that.

And then my first regular gig was the on-site producer for the live to airs with Martin Streak. We did Friday, Saturday, Sunday nights from various clubs. And I was RQEQ on that. He didn't want to call me Bingo Bob. Okay. So I want to ask you about Martin Streak. So I know you work closely with him. Yep.

I listen to these live airs. I mean, keep it locked, keep it loaded. Keep it tuned, locked, and cranked. That's it. Okay, good. He was just such a fixture on that station. As a guy who, you know, we're similar ages. I'm a little older, but not too much older.

I mean, the 90s for me was 102.1, the whole decade, basically. And that's my, you know, formative years. You know, you're in high school and university in the 90s. Those are my high school, university days. And Martin Streak was such a big part. So tell me a little bit about Martin, working with Martin, what that was like. Okay, so the first, soy was a great guy and everybody you know obviously posthumously everybody says nice things but he really was this larger than

life guy um he uh i'll tell you why like a story the first time i started working with him he's like i always he he one of the things that i learned from martin is he always thanked everybody who was anybody who was in the booth working in the booth like he's like aloha bobby rose lighten it up or um or uh scary jerry doing all these different like i can hear him doing that yeah yeah and it would be like you know dj dwight and anyway he didn't want to call me bingo bob he's like that's not cool you cannot i'm not calling you bingo bob what can i call you i said you can call me what bob he's like nope nope got to come up with something and he's like uh what's like, what's your middle name and what street do you live on? I said, my middle name is Richard, and I

live on Queen Street. He goes, we're gonna call you Dick Queen. I was like, no, you're not. You're not calling me Dick Queen. He goes, okay, RQ, RQ, RQ. And at this time, I think like The Phantom Menace or something. Anyways, he's RQ, RQ, RQ, R2D2, RQ.

RQ EQ. You equalize things. You're RQ, RQ, R2D2, RQ, RQ, EQ. You equalize things. You're RQ, EQ. And that was it. I was RQ, EQ. And,

uh, so some people still know me as RQ, EQ. When I say what people are like, uh, you know, bingo, Bob,

there was a whole generation of people. I think of our age who probably didn't even get up in time for the morning show. So they knew of humble and Fred, but they didn't necessarily listen to it. But there's a whole bunch of people, uh, who loved those shows. And, uh, Marty was, um, he was, bunch of people who loved those shows. And Marty was,

he was a, he was a party guy. He was fun. He was a fun guy to work with. And we're talking tight quarters. Like we were sitting in like small DJ booths, three, four men,

grown men sitting together or standing or whatever the case may be. And you know, I never had an issue. I don't think I ever had an argument with them the whole time I worked with them. I've had others from CFM Y on the show who talk about Marty and his demons. Is that something you, did you ever,

uh, I never, I, you know what he would, he, uh, we, we all drank,

we all drank like fish. Uh, we, there was a lot of drinking. Uh, I, uh, witnessed,

uh, I never witnessed any hard drugs. Because, I mean, first of all, everybody has nice things to say about Marty. It sounds like he would say hi to everybody. He didn't have some kind of a hierarchy or whatever, or you were beneath him or whatever. No, no.

I mean, he was an alpha male though. He would put you in your place in his way. I've seen him do it. He was an alpha male. And you knew he was in charge all the time and i think and there was some issue you know at different points i know there were some issues with him and dj dwight but i again i never none of that was ever part of my world i was i was always uh i was always uh lucky in that way i never never had a problem after martin the streak was let go by uh edge 102 did you did you talk to him yeah yep texted with him

so how what kind of. What kind of mind space was he in? He literally, as I understand, and I didn't know Marty personally, I was just a fan, but he literally had the Spirit of Radio logo tattooed on his ass. He truly identified with this station. Absolutely.

He was let go. Yeah. You know what? I texted him. I said, hey, dude, sorry to hear what happened and he texted me back i blame you you know and he said he's all good and i ran into him um sometime between you know his passing and him and it was like two months i know about two months yeah and i ran into him and we talked and he was like i got he had all these great projects ready to go he's i'm gonna do this i i'm gonna be fine it's gonna be great i've seen trailer he had a show he was gonna do called backstage pass yeah and he had i know the first the episode i saw he was talking to the guys from uss that's right yeah and i've uh because

i used to uh do some work with redfish now defunct redfish and they were involved in that project so i got all the footage that's right so it definitely looked like he you know the future was bright for yeah martin streak yeah and in july 2009 of course he he killed himself yep uh we obviously we i think on i know on facebook because i'm the guy who posted the facebook message on toronto mic.com but he wrote something about let the questions begin or something to that effect. What I remember was... It read like a suicide note. It was. Let the stories begin.

Let the stories begin. Yeah. And it was like something about flipping the game board. I'm done playing or something. And I got a call from Lana Gay, who was Bean Girl. That's how we got to know Lana. She was a Ryerson student who came in to take part in one of Humble and Fred's really tough contests.

She had to sit in a, in a bucket of beans essentially. And I got a, I got a, I got a call from her and before it went public and, and she told me, and it was just a horrible moment. It was not good.

That was a bizarre night because I was getting, I was getting, I was getting correspondence from people in the know people I vetted and saw the, who they were and knew that they wouldn't be joking about this. No. And I went, I remember when I wrote that entry that night,

it wasn't on the web and I wrote an entry, Martin streak is dead. And I had this, it was just that night. I think I became a go-to source almost like in the comments amongst like alumnus of cfny alumnus and it was just so sad and interesting at the same time like it was so tragic somebody who just seemed so full of life just would take his own life at that point yeah you know what what i think what i what bothers me when i think

about it is i can't i think about how sad he must have been uh or angry um to do that while his mom was still alive because he loved his he had his mom's signature tattooed over his heart uh he was a big fan of his mom's so for him to go and do that with his mom still being around, it really saddens me to think about just how low he must have been. It just seems like such a conscious decision, though. It seemed like he just decided to check out. Yep. And I mean, as someone who actually knew him, I guess, do you have any idea what was in Marty's brain? Or was it just these demons I've heard others speak of, potentially?

Or was he just not interested in continuing to play this game? I don't know if I'm qualified to answer that. No, you're not qualified to answer that right now. No, because, well, for a lot of reasons. You know, Marty and I worked together very closely for a couple years. And then, you know, what happens when you don't work with somebody? You just see them every now and then and uh you know i would consider him a i i consider him a friend and he was one of the people who i did try to stay in contact with but i didn't

uh as much you know it's one of those things i wish i had a blah blah you know um so i i if if i knowing the martin streak that i knew it was a live fast die hard right right you know like i'm just you know what i'm better to burn up and fade away that yeah like neil young yeah that kind of thing it was just like you know what and again i don't i think it was a you know what i i can't live the way i want to live so i'm not going to live and really it's impossible for us to to know considering you know mental health issues and everything. This is very serious, complex stuff. We can't know. But while I have somebody who actually worked alongside him and knew him, I've got to ask the question because it's so – looking back at that period, it's just so sad and bizarre.

Let go two months later to end it all. It's so tragic. It doesn't make any sense. And I think that's kind of the common thread with suicide in tragic. It doesn't make any sense. And I think that's kind of the common thread with suicide in general, is it doesn't make any sense. And we're the ones left with the questions. You mentioned his mom.

Those who loved and cared for him are left kind of holding the bag with terms of, like, could I have done something? Yeah, no. And I still, every now and then, when I'm on the air on Proud FM, I find myself emulating him in it and i always

try to give him do the locked and loaded thing again uh keep it tuned locked and cranked that's it yeah and it was like where is it what it was i used to be able to do it pretty well it was uh um what do we uh well 410 410 410 uh 410 no 410 what was in the street it was the brand uh it was the the club in girlington he ended up calling it. What was in the street? It was the club in Burlington, he ended up calling it, right? It was the kingdom. Kingdom, yeah. Kingdom, 410 Plains Road East.

410 Plains Road, yeah. In Burlington. In Burlington. Keep it tuned, locked and cranked. Nice. Yeah, it was good. He had a few. He had a few of them.

They're escaping me right now, but he had a bunch. And I learned a lot from him as a broadcaster and just had a a really good time with him now back to humble and fred did you uh learn a lot from them i learned everything from them um that's what howard that's what howard tells me to say um no you know what yeah absolutely um freddie uh kindly said early on in my career he goes you're going to be a general manager career he goes you're going to be a general manager someday he goes you're going to be a program director he would know as a former program director in peterborough yes exactly well this was prior to that so you know uh yeah you know uh i learned

everything about radio from those two guys and uh the cast of crazy people we've had we had surrounding us can i ask about some of the cast when does uh jason barr show up jason barr was there before me so jason barr who is known as danger boy yeah and he spoke in a scottish and a scottish accent so he was there when you got there yep he was the show producer so he was your he's the guy pushing the buttons did you take over for him yep okay okay just get the timeline yeah so when when we left um 102.1 to go to AM640, Jason stayed and worked on this brand new show. And that's when Danger Boy became Jason Barr. Yes. On the show with Dean Blundell and Jason Barr.

And there was another guy there who you guys affectionately referred to as Retod. No, we didn't do it. Who called him Retod? Dean. That was a Dean thing. Are you sure? Why do I think that was a Humble and Fred thing? I guarantee you Humble and Fred did not call retied? Dean. That was a Dean thing. Are you sure? Why do I think that was a humble and Fred? I guarantee you humble and Fred did not call him retod.

Retod was a Dean thing. It's a Dean thing. I'm almost, I. So the Danger Boy was a humble and Fred thing. Danger Boy was a humble and Fred thing. And retod was a Dean thing. Yeah. Yes.

That's offensive. Yes, I know. To retods everywhere. Exactly. So, okay. So what was the role of Todd Shapiro when you were at 102.1 with humbling he was an intern okay so he was an intern he was an intern and he wasn't there very long uh he's um again i think i was just on the humble and fred podcast for the christmas show

and they were talking their last christmas show when we were talking about how todd came in uh he was on uh the reality dating show and he came on to oh the uh lofters no i was after lofters came after the oh like a blind date or something yeah one of those ones i can't remember what it's called now yeah so okay so your producer and um okay no sorry sorry i gotta get this right danger boy who is jason bar he's producer yes you and todd are both interns at this time i'm so i'm technically associated i'm an associate producer still was working with marty in the clubs on the weekends and uh working in promotion and getting paid a little bit to actually be uh on the humble and fred show uh like cutting ids and different things okay i'm gonna actually

have just uh fyi todd shapiro will be on this show he's getting married to a russian girl this is what i've been told and then he's coming in to i'm gonna ask him some questions nice but uh now i know so when you go to 640 uh mojo 640 with humble and fred yeah uh jason barr uh and stays with todd shapiro and dean blundell comes in from Windsor. Yes. Did you meet Dean? What did you think of Dean? I did meet Dean. I never had much of a relationship with Dean. Did Dean not like you because of your soft hands? Possibly. Honestly, all of my recollections with Dean were very short.

I don't think I ever had a conversation with him. In the past couple of years, we had sort of a rapid fire series of firings at your old Alma Mater 102.1. Yeah. So we had, I just have a little list to remind me, but the big names would be like Jason Barr. He goes first, I guess, in my little list here.

Do you know why Jason Barr got fired? I have no idea. Do you still talk to Jason? No, I don't actually. Not that we're not. Because he's a big shot on the Bigs and Bars show? No. Won't we turn your calls?

No, no, no. Just one of those things where, you know, Jason's got his wife and kids and he's got his life. He's no longer, he's far away now, right? He lives in St. Catharines or something? He's out that way, I think. Yeah, wherever, like 97.7 is out of St. Catharines. I would imagine he's living out that way.

And then what about Bookie? Bookie gets fired, and we kind of all saw it coming, but it was still kind of sad, since after Martin Streak, he was sort of the last link. To the old CFNY days. Yeah, and Bookie, again, I'm not, never, I have had conversations with Bookie, and I like Bookie.

He's a good guy. I'm glad to see he's landed on his feet at the new indie radio station. Yes. And, you know, yeah, there was a bunch of people. And, you know, when Marty was gone, they got rid of Barry Taylor as well. The same day. Yeah, that's right. It was the same day they did that.

Yep. So, you know, it's radio. You get hired to get fired. Do you have any inkling as to what happened with Todd Shapiro? That seems to be a question everybody's asking. It happened last July, I guess. Yeah, I saw Todd for the first time since that, just before Christmas. I didn't really talk about it.

I have lots of stories, but it's all rumor and innuendo. Well, those are the best, Bob. No, you know what? I don't know i know that there was i hear there was a contract on the table and it ended up getting pulled at the last minute that's all i really know so todd do you know he was a contract employee he wasn't like a chorus employee i assume when he started i don't know it's just an assumption the way i i think i think he probably would have started as a chorus employee and then whether or not he signed a contract as a talent, that might have changed along the way. So speaking of contracts at CFNY,

any idea what happened to your buddy there, Dean Blundell? So this is the big news in 2014. Yeah, Dean Blundell, let go. Yeah, I know exactly what happened. He got fired for doing some stupid shit. But he's been doing stupid shit for a while. Is it just like a straw? It's the court thing, I think.

As soon as you get the courts involved, I think that's where it went wrong wrong yeah yeah you're right you know what he's had is he that show had their wrist slapped so many times by the cbsc uh and to the point where i think it could be a combination of straw that broke the camel's back and you can't mess with the courts and you can't mess with the lgbt that way. Okay, we're going to get into that because you have an interesting vantage point on the LGBT community, which we're going to get to in just a minute. Do you know what Dean Blundell, what kind of money he was making? No. Somebody tried to tell me he was in the seven-figure range.

I've heard my sources, and I don't know anything. I know less than you, but i know people who claim to know i've been told around a million dollars a year i'm that surprised it surprised the hell out of me except who what do i know no that surprised me like that's aaron davis money like you know 13 years oh absolutely heritage show uh in the demo number one in the demo uh no i get it hey maybe it was it just surprises me that's all right yeah of course and i mean we can get into the conversation of you know the ratings system changing you know we're going from uh an old diary market to a ppm market and how that would

you know if i always say that would help him right because it would help him young people don't fill out the journals no no they don't and they're you know and the other and that was the whole problem you know i mean humble and fred you know i think if humble and fred were on the air in a ppm market i think the numbers would have been a lot different 20 years ago they sent me a diary yeah the bbm and it had a two dollar bill in it yeah a two dollar bill and i remember to do it yeah so i got my two dollars did you fill out your diary yeah you would too because you're like you're like a media fan f Why do you think Humble and Fred went to number one in 97? No, it was because of you. You got Humble and Fred

straight across the board. Yeah, of course, of course. Nice. Absolutely. That's funny. So, would you, I guess the reason I'm harping on some of these 102.1 personalities

is because I look at the search logs, and just like I saw Humble Howard fired before everyone knew, the amount of search traffic right now on Dean Blundell would blow your mind. Oh, I know. It's bigger than... You know what?

The big thing in... First of all, our friend Todd Shapiro there had massive search numbers in 2013. And another guy named Rob Ford, okay, has always had constant, especially this last year. But these Dean numbers are something else. Really? It's surprising, isn't it? It's like the awareness or the curiosity around,

you know, if I could get Dean Blundell on this podcast, I'd be number one on that damn iTunes chart. Yeah, you know, it's interesting because he was a polarizing object, obviously, a polarizing character. But there's no denying that he had a huge following and there is an appetite for his type of humor. Do you think the the audience for Dean Blundell increased compared to the Humble and Fred audience? Like, do you have an idea?

So did he in that demo? Because I know that's all about the demo, I guess, which I guess is young man, I guess. Well, the thing is, yeah, like his show, I think, was geared towards a younger man than the Humble and Fred show. I think his show is definitely an 18 to 24 year old show, whereas I felt the Humble and Fred show was a 25 plus show. And as much as you know, we love, you know, dick and fart jokes just as much as anybody else. But there was there there was whenever Humble and Fred were doing anything, I always felt there was a humanity to the way they did it. Whenever Humble and Fred were doing anything, I always felt there was a humanity to the way they did it.

There was an air of, they're in on the joke too. And I never got that with Dean. Just as a listener. He came across more as like a bully. He's very bullyish. Yeah, very bullyish. I always found that his show, this is just my personal opinion, was like fun with the less fortunate. Not even fun with, it's fun at the cost of,

you know, marginalized people. And that's what I, you know, uh, that, that's the way I found that. And that just didn't appeal to me.

And I know some people love that kind of stuff and that's fine, but it just wasn't, it wasn't like whether or not. So do I think his numbers were more than, were there more people listening to Dean Blundell than there were the humble and Fred show? The numbers say, yes,

I don't necessarily believe that i think if we you're talking two different types of uh marketing i can't see how in 1994 when grunge is blowing up oasis is all these years yeah the the music is the music alone would keep you glued to what for me i can't see how when humble and fred are playing the biggest songs in the world and dean didn't have that the like me like alternative quote-unquote modern rock whatever you want to call it hasn't became like three days grace and stuff like that that's not like waking up and hearing even flow yeah exactly i can't and when even flow was new and huge and people wanted to hear it uh i can't see how humble and fred didn't have at the very least you had pumpkins and yeah i mean it was

just a huge time for music huge time like offspring and green day and have, at the very least... You had Pumpkins, and it was just a huge time for music. Huge time. And then you had Offspring and Green Day and all this. Yeah, the post-grunge punk stuff. Yeah, no, I think... I can't see how Humble and Fred wouldn't have had more listeners. It's a total supposition, though. So in early 2001, I guess it was, how do you get in that Humble andred bucket to move to 640 do they

do they ask you if you would move to 640 and you say yep i'll go with humble fred yep okay so you go to mojo radio yep first of all what did you think of mojo i'll start with that okay so uh you know you got to remember the the radio landscape at the time was really interesting because Chorus had just bought Wick. And Wick was Q107 and AM640. So to be honest, it was really weird to see Q107 and The Edge in the same building. It didn't make sense. But not that – I mean, I love the people who work there. We got to know them. But you were enemies for so long.

Yeah. It's like now with Bell buying – now like what 99.9 and 104.5 are going to be in the same building that's just wrong and exactly but it's it's fine it's like rogers and bell co-owning the toronto exactly um anyhow so um they needed you know so i uh you know the am640 the only thing it really had going for it uh was they had they were the home of the leafs they had the leafs rights so they had to do something that was going to be... And strategically speaking, you're like, okay, Q107, get the old dudes. The Edge, get the young dudes.

Mojo Radio, get the dudes who want to listen to talk radio. Right, right, right. So let's try. Let's own men. Yes. Great idea. It's a good idea. Let's own men. Mojo Radio, and I remember the big first meetings when we were talking about what Mojo Radio is going to remember the big first meetings when we were talking about what Mojo Radio

was going to be. And we were told we were going to be the Maxim of Radio, the Maxim Magazine of Radio. And I think that's where we failed. We shouldn't have been the Maxim Magazine of Radio. We should have been the Esquire Magazine of Radio. Right. And I think that that's where it failed. And then, you know, so we come out of the gate with, they don't promote promote humble and fred they don't promote the talent that they have on the show they promote

chicks in bikinis holding tools i remember lots of orange yeah the orange was the color and you know what orange it was eye grabbing huge huge billboards with you know chicks holding you know in bikinis holding drills and whatnot and it was a good idea but that didn't really represent what the radio station was all about uh because you can't talk tna like you know like you can you can sell tna but you can't talk tna for 24 hours a day true so you know and you had some great talent there you know do you remember who was there when it launched stafford was there yeah uh it was the humbling fred show followed by ripken right um who is now in winnipeg um uh yeah uh mike stafford was there scruff connors was there and uh and i think and at one point john derringer would come down the hall after the

after his show and uh and do an hour-long show as i remember that right yeah and there was also um there was a mojo magazine show hosted by may potts another cfn wire of course who's at boom 97.3 now uh yeah so that was that the lineup was strong like it was really interesting lineup and what convinced you to follow humble and fred to mix 99.9 at some point they jump ship they weren't fired they actually they jump ship they, they jumped ship. They weren't fired. They actually jumped ship. Obviously, they got an offer. They couldn't refuse it.

I keep wanting to call it Virgin. Mix 99.9. 99.9. And what, they came to you and asked you if you'd like to come along for the ride? Yep. So for you, did you get a bump or was it similar? It was good.

Like what happens to a producer guy when the big name... It's not... Producers don't get those big contracts. But yeah, it represented a pay increase, yes. And you were not on contract, right? You just come in as an employee. As an employee, yep. And that was...

Was it Astral at the time or Standard? Standard Radio. Standard Radio up at 2 Sinclair West. And Humble and Fred... I was sitting in the room with Humble and Fred every morning. And I knew something was up, something was going on. And they pulled me aside and said, we're going to the mix. And do you want to come?

And I said, yeah, we'll do it. Sure. I love those guys. And it was, you know, we were there, well, three years, I guess, just short of three years or so. So how was it when Fred got let go? So he gets let go first, and it becomes the Humble Howard Show. The Humble Howard Show. So what was it like?

It was strange. It was very strange. From a personal standpoint, I got to be on air more. And at the time, I was doing a weekend shift in voice tracking, like recording overnight shows. So as a jock, I got to grow. Howard was always very good. I used to know write jokes for the humble report and different things and so from from a from a very very selfish standpoint um it was it was an it was a time for

me to grow and and at a time and i felt like it was like howard and i against the world to be honest because we were like we were in there every day we had judy croon in there with us who was uh who was very funny and she's a stand-up comedian and we i thought we did an admirable job given what we were what was thrown at us so what was the dynamic like though so they hire humble and fred then they decide we'll just do humble and from for your perspective did you notice something's missing like the fred component missing like did oh how did the actual well i think they can both dynamic change yeah i think they can both exist without each other obviously you know but um well that's yet to be proven bob i know i know it's true well no they did you know

howard was on boom for a while and freddie was a pde and stuff so you know um you know my memories of of the show uh with just just him and I and Judy are positive. But yeah, no, Freddie, there's a reason that they were named Best Morning Show in Canada like five times. There's a reason for that. Those guys, they have a natural chemistry that you can't just recreate. Were you and Howard fired at the same time? Yes.

So was it like the same day, I guess? Yes. How did they tell you? Because I think Howard has some story about having to go downtown or something. They wanted him to go downtown. Oh, and he said, just tell me on the phone. Yeah, yeah. Because I guess he smelled it coming.

So did you smell it coming? You know, no. Because Howard talks like, you know, he'd make jokes in the hallway. Dead man walking. Yeah, well, he did. And you know what? I'll be honest. I didn't think, well, they're not going to fire me, too. Yeah, well, he did. And you know what? I'll be honest. I didn't think, well, they're not going to fire me, too.

Why would they throw the baby out with the bathwater, right? You know, I got a call from the general manager's assistant. It was so funny. We did the show in the morning. And Howard was on vacation. So I did the show in the morning with, like, Julie James, I think. Yeah, it was Julie James, myself, and Judy Kroon did the show. And I went home,

and I got a call at my lovely East End, Leslieville home. East of Yonge? East of Yonge. And it was the general manager's assistant, and she's like, hi, it's blah, blah, blah. Normally, you know that Pat Holliday

wants to see you at 5.30 today. Uh-oh. And I guess at that moment, you know what's going on. I knew. It was like, got, boom. Guy been there. That same feeling. I was like, holy crap.

I'm going to get fired. I'm getting fired. So I said, okay, I'll be there. I hung up. Well, at first I said, could you tell me what this is in regards? Of course. Why not give it a shot? Yeah, yeah.

She's like, no, I'm sorry. I honestly don't know. Okay, fine. Click. Go on email. Start grabbing all my emails. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Forward, forward, forward. You're lucky you don't know. Okay, fine. Click. Go on email. Start grabbing all my emails. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Forward, forward, forward.

You're lucky you got that heads up. I know. Sometimes it's like you walked out by security. So, yeah. So, well, because I was already gone for the day, I guess, you know, because it's like two in the afternoon. Morning shows, you know. Yeah.

Hell, we're done at 9.01. No, I'm kidding. It depends. The producers aren't. Yeah. And anyhow, so you get the call. So I go in and Karen Steele, who's now the program director for 92.5 Kiss here in Toronto and Pat Holliday, who's the GM there.

He's retired now. They're like, hey, Pat. That's my Pat impression. If you knew Pat, that's really funny. Yeah, I don't get it, but I still enjoy it. Karen's crying. And I'm really sorry to do this. And I was like, all right, fine.

I was like, they gave me like two months pay. How long were you there? One month short of three years. Oh, yeah. So one month per year. That's fair. Yeah. So the employment lawyer would say that's fair.

Yeah, exactly. But the kicker of it all, the thing that pissed me off the most of it all yeah i had voice tracked the overnight shift for that night and they played them oh yeah even after they fired me so you're still i'm on so i'm sitting in my backyard in the summer and i'm listening i got the radio on i said if they play those things i'm gonna and sure enough i come on the air i'm like you gotta be kidding me i was so mad and uh yeah so you were unemployed for a period of time it was six months six months that's not too bad no it wasn't too bad but you landed on your feet yep i uh i was gonna insert a joke and then i don't want to come on so we have uh you got a

gig as program director for proud fm I started off not as program director. I started off as the morning show producer with Ken Kostick and Mary Jo Eustace, you know, from What's for Dinner. He's passed away. He's passed away since. Yeah. So what happened was I was kind of, I had a bunch of different offers. I could have gone back to chorus, actually, to go work in Cambridge at Dave FM with Jeff Lumby, who was doing the morning show at the time.

Yeah, I know Jeff actually. Yeah. Howard, I know him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So they wanted me to co-host and do sports and operate the show. In Cambridge. In Cambridge. Scott Turner is the program director there.

With one T. Yes, that's right. Okay, right? S-K-O-T. No, I think it's a C. Is it? S-C-O-T. Yeah, no, I don't think he's that street. I think it might be SKOT.

Maybe. I'll have to look it up. And people would know old CFNY listeners know Scott Turner from the Energy 108 days and him and, you know, they did him and Deadly Headly and a bunch of guys. Anyways, he's a really good guy. I think he was there with Fred when Humble went to 99.9 and then came back.

Because back in like 1990, like in 1990, Howard quit Humble and Fred 99.9 and then came back because back in like 1990 Howard Scott humble and Fred to go to 999 and then I think Scott Turner takes over humble so I think it's Scott think you're right Fred in the mornings I think you're right then humble comes back comes back that's right wow yeah yeah that's what well predates me but yes yeah yeah for sure um yeah early in high school yeah probably or maybe even grade 8. Maybe. So I don't want to go to Cambridge, to be honest. You're a nice-to-go guy.

It's really west of Yonge. Yeah, I have a house. My wife at the time worked at, or it was my girlfriend at the time. I go, no, she went. Yeah, because you say wife at the time. It's something I might say when you have a different wife now. You have the same wife you always have. My girlfriend was working for the Royal Ontario Museum, had a great job.

I'm like, we're not moving anywhere. So I didn't take that. And I ended up, I answered an ad for Morning Show Producer for Proud FM. And it was about, you know, it basically said, you know, you don't have to be a member of the gay community, but are you familiar with the gay community? Do you like the gay community? Exactly. Are you an ally?

Do you have an issue with the gay community? Are you a bigot? If you're a bigot, don't take this job. If you hate gay people, you don't want to work here. And shortly after, so I'm actually about to celebrate my seven, that's seven years ago is when I started. Seven years ago, January, like this week, I think.

And we went on the air in april april april 16th and uh any and we uh i started off as the morning show producer quickly became the assistant program director and then music director and then within a year the original program director had left and i was the pd so i've been a pd at proud for like six years so are you are you still the pd at proud are you like uh the pd of all the evanov group no i my uh my title is regional program director and program director that's a big title sounds a lot more important than it is it's been a lot but you have a business card i'm not on me right now no that's all that matters yeah i do have one that's a monster yeah

yeah regional program director so so how what does that involve, program directing Proud FM? Program director. You know, it's funny. People, what does a program director do? Basically, the way I put it is you're responsible for everything that comes out of the speakers. So every on-air thing, ultimately, you have to answer for. And beyond that now, you know, actually, Astral was the first one. They were starting to change program director titles to brand directors.

Because it's also about your social media. It's about your website and all that. So it's everything. You oversee everything. I'm the brand director for Toronto, Mike. There you go. Yeah, nice. So tell me, what's the difference between music for an LGBT audience and music for boring heterosexual people like you and I?

I always say the music on Proud FM is... Lots of Cher? Yes. Pop music from the 70s to today um with a with a concentration on artists that are uh reflective of or speak to the gay community like uh what have i done to deserve this uh what are they what's Shop Boys. Pet Shop Boys. Yeah. This is what we're talking about, right? Yeah. So how many times a day would you play Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive?

Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive probably gets played. It's in our gold category, our gold 70s category. It would get played not daily, but it would get played. Alongside It's Raining Men. Yes, also same category. What would you say is the most popular song on Proud FM that isn't like a current song? That's really interesting.

Is it It's Raining Men? No, no, no, no, no, no. You know, people love I'm Coming Out, Diana Ross. Of course. Diana Ross would be a popular singer. That was the very first song we played was I'm Coming Out. Good one. You know, we actually, it's really neat because we play music.

Our playlist is so much bigger than every other radio station. We play so much more music than anybody else. So we get requests for all kinds of stuff. Where is it on the dial again? 103.9. 103.9. And how is that transmitter doing? Like, can I get this thing in this new Toronto neighborhood?

You could get it in your car here for sure. I don't know. It's depending on what kind of receiver you have in your home, it will be dependent. I have a Denon, a really nice Denon shelf system that I get it in my house, no problem. Is it true that you have applied to the CRTC for a signal boost? Yep.

Because I just read, oh, it's not secret. Everybody knows that 88.1 had a signal a signal boost yes well 88.1 has this radio station thanks to us in an indirect way explain okay so proud fm is on the air on 1039 we have what's known as a second adjacency when you have a radio station when you own a radio station like the evanov radio group owns 103.5 z103 you have a right to um a clear signal on either side so that's why you in toronto you have 104.5 there's no radio station in toronto or the immediate area at 104.13 you know whatever sure it would interfere exactly so the people who own um proud fm have been applying to put a gay radio station on the air for quite

some time, all the way back to when flow 93, five first signed on. That was the last full signal in Toronto. Uh, and they didn't get it. It went to the milestone people and they got flow long story. Anyhow.

Um, so we apply as soon as Ryerson lost their license, soon as CKLN loses its license. Uh, one of our vice presidents, very smart woman named Carmela. She applied to move one Oh 3.9 to 88 one and get better. KKLN loses its license. One of our vice presidents, very smart woman named Carmela, she applied to move 103.9 to 88.1 and get their 800 watt signal.

Good idea. Great idea. The CRTC said, well, we can't just give it to you. We have to do an open call. So we did. So over the course of two weeks. So here's one thing.

Don't tell me radio's dead because do you know how many people applied for that? 50. 27. 27 people. So over the course of two weeks. So here's one thing. Don't tell me radio's dead. Do you know how many people applied for that? 50. 27. 27 people. And it's not just apply as in, oh, I want to apply. You have to put a full president. There's money involved.

You have to put money down. Because I applied. Did you? For Toronto Mike. So anyways, the people who own Cool FM and Rock 95 in Barrie. Rock? That's not Oshawa? No, no, no.

That's 94.9 in the Rock. No, it's whatever. There's a Rock station and a Top 40 station in Barrie. The dude who owns that, he got 88.1. So anyhow, so yeah, so we applied for it. They won the bidding process. We didn't.'t interesting what do you think of 88.1 uh you know i've actually gotten to know the pd there a little bit adam he's a good guy thompson adam thompson i tweet with him oh very nice that's how i learned that's how i uh you and i are like tweet buddies yeah yeah yeah when you tweet the same thing you

facebook which always i never know where to answer. You know what? They're just linked, right? So when I tweet... Unlink that because I get confused. Am I going to Facebook this for like the 10 people that might see it or am I going to put this on Twitter for the people? For the full people. I would tweet before. For that, I would tweet.

I would not Facebook. Interesting. Okay, good to know. All right. I'm getting some... My two cents. And I am number 14 on iTunes. You are.

It's funny. You actually have that sign in front of your house. Oh, you saw that? That's brand new. I just painted that on iTunes. You are. It's funny. You actually have that sign in front of your house. Oh, you saw that? That's brand new. I just painted that yesterday. It's nice. It's nice. What do I think of 88.1?

I think it's a good station. It's got some interesting things going on for it. I personally enjoy a lot of the music. Me too. I think bands like MGMT and Passion Pit and newer stuff like, newer stuff like, you know, Churches and Haim. And I think it's all good stuff. And I think it deserves to be on the radio. So, you know, we dabble in that because, you know, Proud FM, we play pop music.

So for me, Haim's a pop song. You know, I like playing that song. Churches, that's a pop song. I know it's with an alternative or electro feel, but it's still all pop music to me. So when I can, I'm always trying to push the boundaries of what pop is on Proud. And I like what they're trying to do there. I think out of the gate, they had a half share point, two plus in the full market, which I think is what I said. If they come out in the first book, they had a 0.4.

I said, if they get a 0.5, they should be happy. And they got a 0.4. So good for them. They had no marketing at the beginning. Now they've got got their big ads out they've got big billboards they're spending the dough which is great um i wish them well i'm having two things are happening very soon one is i'm actually going to bike over to the liberty village studio and rain reina yeah afternoon yeah right uh i'm gonna get a tour and Raina. Yeah. Afternoon. Raina Duras. Yeah. Right. I'm going to get a tour. Nice.

And I'm going to sit in on some stuff and write about it and take some photos, which is interesting for this radio geek. Yeah. And I have a friend of yours, Alan Cross. Yes.

Who is coming on this. He's got to go to L.A. And then when he gets back from L.A., he's going to sit in the seat you're in right now. Right in the Mike Boone studios. I've got like a thousand questions for this guy. So he's going to sit in the seat you're in right now. He's going to sit right in the Mike Boone studios. I've got like a thousand questions for this guy, so he's going to have to book the afternoon.

Alan's a great guy. And Alan, when I got fired from the mix, Alan was one of the few guys to not only answer my email, he took me to lunch. Nice. And we sat, and he was the PD at the Edge at the time. Right. And we went down to Mr. Green Jeans in the Eaton Center

and had lunch. And there was nothing there for me at the Edge at the time. We went down to Mr. Green Jeans in the Eaton Center and had lunch. There was nothing there for me at the time, but he's truly one of the good guys in the industry. At the Indy 88, he calls himself a guidance counselor. I guess he's advising Adam and adding some expertise.

It's an interesting role and I don't really know exactly how it works. I'm sure he'll be able to explain it to you right but uh you know he's their imaging voice yeah so every time you hear an 88 he's also imaging guy on ox tv right yeah well yeah he's the imaging voice of any kind of new rock that's funny yeah you know it's funny because you know i heard steve anthony as an imaging voice of a christian radio station so funny you know people take the gigs you know you get the gig where you get it. Cocaine Steve. Cocaine Steve.

Is that what you call him? I didn't say that. Wow. I'll edit that out. I don't know Steve. I know Steve. He's a good guy. I know he was a morning show guy with Fred as well.

Yes, he was. You're going to name all the morning show guys on 102.1. That's true. You're going all the way back. I work with Geats now, so of Pete and Geats. He's like an engineer, right? He is, yeah. Haydu?

David Haydu. David Haydu, yeah. Cool. You are a radio geek i just know a lot but i'm also uh i cleaned up i just told elvis this on episode 60 i do i try to play jeopardy if i'm around at 7 30 i'll play my wife in jeopardy and we have a scorecard and everything wow and i got five out of five on the rap category the other day and then the day before i went five out of five on 1950s baseball. Wow. Just want to throw that out there.

Good for you. You're very proud. Not just radio. Don't call it a comeback. No. I'm also, as I posted recently, W5H champion from 1986. W5H. Oh, my God.

Yeah, of course. I was captain of the team. Actually, we were second in the metros because we didn't have a mega city back then. So all the cities. We won Toronto because we were in Toronto. And then we went to the metros oh we finished second we were a very small school yes pious attempt at jane and bluer i know i know it it's sort of the west end so if you were a west end yes you would go i went to saint williams which we called saint welfare because it was funny when you're in grade eight. So what's the future for Bingo Bob? So you're happy, of course, picking these tunes for Proud FM. What's your dream job?

General manager of Toronto Maple Leafs. You know what? I take you over. What's going to happen with Carlisle? Do you think he's sticking around the whole season? I don't know. I think they've tuned him out. Yeah, I don't know.

I watched the HBO special. It was just so awkward. It was so weird. Do you think he's... Do you get the idea... I get the idea that he has a very young team and he's coaching old school. Like, it's a misfit.

I don't think he's... Like, I noticed a contrast between him and Babcock where Babcock seems like a more modern coach and Carlisle seems stuck. Like, I just... I get a Rob Ford vibe off of him, to be honest. But he just seems kind of stuck in, his trans am and his eighties rock.

It just seems kind of guy for this team. I don't know. I mean, you know, it's, you know, you wonder like, does he have the players that he needs for the system he wants is the big

thing, right? You know, like, does he, you know, you know, you're not going to get Kadri to play two way hockey.

You know, you're not going to get, I think they're going to destroy this kid because i see and i know he has my my buddy mike muzzin hates cadre of a passion really yeah hates of a passion i don't know why because uh yes he stepped back compared to last year yes he's taking a step backwards but he's still a young skilled forward like they grow on trees like the Leafs have these things, like, in abundance. Yeah. And they're all flocking to Toronto. I'm sorry, but guys like that, first of all, the guys who are a little better than Kadri

never make it to free agency because their teams just lock them up for 10 years or whatever they legally can do now, eight years, whatever. Seven or eight. Seven or eight. I mean, these guys, like, the team Canada players are just not available.

Damien Cox has a good article today in the Star, actually, about, yes, the Leafs are out of the playoffs, but don't panic. Because this is not... It might be... Last year was interesting because it was a shortened season, but they probably shouldn't have made the playoffs last year. And actually, losing to Boston was probably the best thing

that could have happened in the long term. Because if they had have won, they might have actually beat the Rangers. And then all of a sudden, people, they're in the conference finals. They'd probably get blown away by whoever they were playing. Heaven forbid. And I think that this team, if they get, I don't know. I don't know.

It's frustrating. You and I are the same. I'm a huge Leaf fan. Me too. My grandfather was buried in a Leaf jersey. No joke. That is amazing. Yeah. My grandfather was buried in a Leaf one. I'm a huge Leaf fan. My grandfather was buried in a Leaf jersey. No joke. That is amazing. Yeah.

My grandfather was buried in a Leaf jersey. I'm a huge Leaf fan. My wife gets so mad. She's like, every year you get so excited and they always break your heart. And I was just like, why do you bother? I said, I don't know. We're the same guy. This is the thing that unites East of Youngers from West of Youngers.

We're both Leaf fans. Ridiculous. Born and raised. Me too. Born and raised Leaf fan. I was Wendell Clark in 86 and we swept the Blackhawks in three. This is the best of five series.

First round. And then we went to seven against St. Louis. And I mean, this was my thing. And I love the Leafs every season. And I try to stay a realist, but sometimes,

you know, the bias sets in. Of course. Yeah. The Leaf-itis or whatever. Leaf-itis, yeah. And I have no, like,

I know we're not a very good team, but I feel like we could slip into the playoffs and steal around. And you never know. And if Bernie, and I have no, like, I know we're not a very good team, but I feel like we could slip into the playoffs and steal around. And you never know. And if Bernier, and I'm team Reimer, but I will acknowledge,

I don't know, whoever gets the gig, it looks like it will be Bernier, but if they stand on their head, I'll convert. Just steal around. We should have won last, you know,

we won't talk about it, don't talk about it, it upsets me still. No, of course. Monica, she saw when the, was it Fratton? No. The goal that put us up by three, was itadden or cadry cadry maybe yeah maybe fradden you know

what it was cadry yeah yeah because fradden had a breakaway and missed yeah it would have put us up by four okay so when cadry you know you're a leaf because you keep saying us okay sorry yes uh when cadry scored to put us up by three i actually actually leapt. I don't have a good vertical. Basketball, my vertical. But I leapt over my head. The highest leap I did in my life, I think, was that leap after Kadri. It was done.

Put a fork in it. It's done. I remember I was sitting in the basement with my wife and I was nervous, though. I was like, oh, no. I did not leap. I was happy that they... But up by three in the third with 10 minutes left, I leapt. I still had a bad feeling. I felt three with 10 minutes left. I felt like, what, no. I did not leap. I was happy that they... But up by three in the third with 10 minutes left, I leapt. I still had a bad feeling.

I felt three with 10 minutes left. I felt like, what are they going to do? Pull the goalie and score two goals? We all know how we felt. Anyway. It didn't work. Anyhow, well, yeah, I don't know what's going to go on with the Leafs.

Yeah, so anyways, I want to be general manager of the Leafs. The other day, I tweeted that I thought I might be named to the Canadian Olympic team, but... No, I did the same. I played the same card in 2010. I wrote a blog entry that I thought I had a chance because I Canadian Olympic team. I played the same card in 2010. I wrote a blog entry that

I thought I had a chance because I started playing again. When they announced the team, I said, I can't believe it. I didn't make it. I have all the intangibles, the heart. I was playing my ass off. I said, I can't believe I was left out. I played that same joke in 2010 and I was going to do it again in 2014. Then I thought,

I see Bingo Bob's doing this. I'm going to give it to him this time oh nice thanks I appreciate it I appreciate it any if anything uh any final thoughts you want to share to the this massive audience now that we're number 14 and I to number 14 and I tune this is very intimidating uh no you know what just uh if anybody you know check out proud of m.com uh our webs and listen to the station it's a even like. Yes, it's a radio station programmed with the gay community in mind, and all of our jocks are gay or members of the gay community.

It's for everybody, though. I like to think... The PD before me came up with, we're an all-inclusive radio station. You're not heterophobic? We are not heterophobic. If you like pop music not heterophobic we're not heterophobic and if you if you like if you like pop music it's a

it's really good and if you're sick of kind of the high rotations hearing the same song every hour with pop you know we play we play current stuff

we play gold it's a fun radio station to listen to and I'm really proud of it and if you want to hear more Diana Ross where else are you going to go well exactly

you know I mean you could go not even boom I guess I don't know I don't know who else thanks for having me dude thanks for doing this man Exactly. I mean, you could go, not even boom, I guess. I don't know. I don't know who else. Thanks for having me, dude. Thanks for doing this, man.

I always liked you. What, are you killing me now? I'm killing you. I always liked you. No, because now you don't say that. Because if you were, heaven forbid, because I believe in heaven, if you were to somehow disappear. Right. You would become a. Yeah.

You would become an idiot. I will be the number one suspect. So don't even joke about that. Okay, I won't. And that brings us to the end of our 61st show. You can follow me on Twitter, at Toronto Mike. And Bob will now tell us his complex Twitter handle.

It's pretty straightforward. At Bob Willett. Willett is spelled just like Gillette, but with a W. Spell it anyways. People are stupid. W-I-L-L-E-T-T-E. See you all next week. Bye. I want to take a streetcar downtown. Read Andrew Miller and wander around.