Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Bob Callahan: Toronto Mike'd #215

Episode Date: February 2, 2017

Mike chats with radio deejay Bob Callahan about his years on 680 CFTR and Mix 99.9 and.... well... every Toronto station you can name and why he left it all to become a detective with the Toronto Police Service.

Welcome to episode 215 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a local independent brewery producing fresh craft beer. And Chef's Plate, delivering delicious and locally sourced farm fresh ingredients and refrigerated kits directly to your door. ingredients and refrigerated kits directly to your door. I'm Mike from TorontoMike.com and joining me this week is former radio DJ Bob Callaghan. How's it going, Mike? Great. Welcome, Bob. Great to be here. Thank you so much for the invite. No, great. You said, I mean, when you came to the door and I heard your voice, I'm like,

that's Bob Callaghan. Well, I don't know anymore. It's been a long time. 15 years, in fact, I'm like, that's Bob Callahan. Well, I don't know anymore. It's been a long time. 15 years, in fact. I was driving here thinking, how long has it been since I've done anything? And it's been about 15 years since I've sat behind a mic. Is that right? Yeah.

That's amazing. So I'm surprised anybody can remember my voice or name, to be honest with you. Well, you know, I'm prepared because there are some younger listeners who might not remember Bob Callahan the way I remember you. And we'll get into this, a deeper dive. But I remember you from CFTR, 680 CFTR. And I'm going to play a clip. Maybe I'll start off by refreshing people's memories.

Just allow me to play a clip of you on CFTR. That's cool. Let's listen to this. 680 CFTR, 50,000 watts of continuous all-hit music. Commercial-free Sunday brought to you by Lobat's Blue

and the Blue Zone. It's out there. 8 past 8, this is Bob Callahan. Upcoming this hour, Musically Got Anya, Waxette, Paula F. Dool, and your favorites at 872-C-F-T-R.

872 Hits, we'd love to hear from you. Here come the fine young cannibals. I can't stop. High numbers at zero, same day before, Tuesday. You see, I just wanted to hear these hits. Like, remember, 872 hits. I haven't heard that in a long time. Oh, the great 80s. Wow, 872 hits in the good old days where you didn't need to mention the area code.

That's true, that's true. It was 872 hits, 872 CF days where you didn't need to mention the area code. That's true. That's true. It was 872 hits, 872 CFTR. I remember the numbers. So when was the last time you heard yourself? Hopefully that hasn't been 15 years. I'm sure that's your ringtone, I bet, when your phone rings. Ironically, you got that off of YouTube. Yes, I did.

So ironically, a lot of people stumble across that and bring it to my attention in my current profession. And they get quite a laugh out of it, to be honest with you, because firstly, I had hair back then. It's true. And I was much younger. And a lot of people remember the 80s, you know, and that era of radio in Toronto. A lot of people I've been referred to as a nostalgist, you know, and it's not that I'm still living in the 80s. Okay, I live in 2017, but I have fondness for things I listened to as a young man and as a teen. And let's tell people now, so this will be the teaser, let's tell them now what your current

profession is. And then after this quick sponsor mentions, we'll go through it in chronological order and explore that in more detail. So what do you do today? I'm currently a detective with the Toronto Police Service. Crazy. Yeah, it's just a complete about face. And I made the decision, well, 18 years ago, I guess now, to change careers. And we can talk about that more. We will.

But yeah, it's a totally different line of work. We will. And we'll definitely talk about that more. I have a lot of questions. But for those who subscribe to this podcast, if that sounds familiar, you're actually not the first guy to come here and sit in that seat who was a radio DJ

and decided to go into law enforcement. You're not the first guy to do that, which is amazing because Pete Fowler, for those listening, he's a member, he's with the OPP today. That's right. And he was on CFNY in the 90s as a DJ and he decided to change careers as well. I definitely remember Pete being on the air. I don't know him personally, but it's interesting that we would choose sort of the same paths. Very interesting. Now, a couple of notes before we do the sponsor mention.

Those expecting to hear Ed the Sock right now, so Bob Callahan, you're not Ed the Sock for the record. Negative, no. He had to postpone due to a family issue, so he's going to come on as soon as possible, but he had to cancel this week. It's funny, last week Andy Frost had to postpone, so that's two weeks in a row. But I'm very glad you're here. Do people still remember you as the Callaghan Man? I think they do. Certainly in radio circles, maybe not so much in policing, but definitely

when I connect with old friends and whatnot, they remember the Callaghan Man. And just, you don't have to tell us if you don't want what your name is as a police officer, but Bob Callaghan is a made-up name, right? This is not your actual name. It is. And that's kind of got its own story to it. Tell us that story then.

All right. I mean, James is my actual real middle name, as is Bob. So I used to use Bob James for quite a few years on the air before getting to Toronto. And just as I was making my debut on CFTR as an on-air person, I remember the program director saying, you know, we have a Chris James working here, who I think you had in recently. I did, yes. KJ the DJ. So it was suggested that I choose a new last name just

to avoid confusion on the air. And I was reluctant to give up my middle name of James. So it was literally about five minutes before I was to debut on CFTR. And I was nameless and I didn't know what to do. And in fact, Steve Gregory, who I was relieving that night said, uh, let's name the new DJ. So we had all kinds of crazy suggestions on the air, Bob, blah, blah, and you know, all these crazy names. So, um, as, as it turned out, there was a television in the studio and I glanced up and there was a Dirty Harry movie on. And, uh, uh, I thought, yeah, Callahan, that sounds bad. And, uh, and it sort of morphed into the Callahan Man. But what's ironic about it is that years later,

I would go on to become a policeman. You know, I love good name origin stories. And that's funny. And Chris James, by the way, don't you think it's strange that he builds his name as Chris James and then just suddenly changes it to KJ as if everybody's going to realize KJ is Chris James? Do you think that's a strange move?

Well, I'm thinking back to the days of CFTR, and I think we used to call him KJ on the air. See, I remember, because I was a CFTR guy until the flip, which we'll talk about in 93, I guess, when it went all news. I listened to CFTR. I remember him only as was a CFDR guy until the flip, which we'll talk about in, it was in 93, I guess, when it went all news. I listened to CFDR. I remember him only as Chris James on CFDR. Yeah.

You know, he probably used both, in fairness to Chris. Great guy, by the way. Yeah, yeah, I know. He's great, for sure. Did you ever cross paths with Ingrid Schumacher? Yes, but it was almost literally at the very tail end of my career. In fact, I was already a police officer, and I joined in 1999. That was the year I sort of transitioned careers.

But, you know, radio is in your blood, and with our schedule, you get a certain amount of days off, and I thought, how can I best utilize my days off as a policeman? Well, I started to network and ended up freelancing at Chum FM. So Rob Farina was a friend of mine who brought me in, and he said, yeah, you can do some shifts on your days off. So I did get to meet a lot of great people at Chum FM, including Ingrid. So I did get to meet a lot of great people at Chum FM, including Ingrid. So I did get to know her a little there. So the big Toronto radio news this week is that after 40 years at the same station, first

of all, that's amazing because how many people? Nobody. Nobody working today, I don't think. The closest you get is you got Ashby, who was at 1050 and switches over to 104.5. So technically he doesn't count, right? Because that's two stations. But Ingrid, who's been on the show, yes, it's, I don't know, 77, I think, was when she started at Channel FM. Amazing. Great lady. And talk about longevity

at one particular station, right? I wonder what her severance looks like. I'm just curious. I don't know. I know that she's lawyered up because there's a quote from her in the Toronto Star. Hopefully they work something out there. But it's just too bad that after 40 years, she was walked out last Thursday. And I know it's a business, but I just wish they gave him a chance to sort of maybe say goodbye.

I don't know if that's just... Am I dreaming in Technicolor? Probably a rarity in the world of radio, or at least it used to be. Probably a rarity in the world of radio, or at least it used to be. I can speak from personal experience, and they never really give you any time behind the mic once you're a former employee. I feel like this should be like if you've been on the air for more than four decades, maybe there's an exception there. But who am I? What do I know? I love your story, Bob. We're going to dive in.

First, I want to urge anyone listening, if they want to help crowdfund this project, patreon.com slash torontomike. There are big orange buttons on torontomike.com if it's too difficult to spell Patreon. So get over there and click through and give what you can. I don't know, a dollar a month, whatever you can. In front of you, there's a six-pack. I've noticed. This is from Great Lakes Brewery,

but I have trouble saying brewery, so let me call them Great Lakes Beer. That's fantastic. And these are tall boys too. Yeah, and you've got a mix there. There's some IPA in there and some of their regular stuff like the lager.

There's a lot of Canuck Pale Ale is in there. You've got kind of a wide assortment there. So take that home with you and enjoy responsibly. You're a detective. I don't have to tell you that. Yes, never drink and drive. Never drink and drive. I do appreciate that.

Thanks, Mike. And in fact, I brought a little bag here for you. I was going through some personal radio memorabilia, and I thought you might, there you go, you might appreciate that. I'll make it noisy for them. So I have a beautiful, did you wrap this yourself? There's like beautiful tissue in here. Well, actually I hired someone.

All right, let me see. There is a Z103. This is the T-shirt for Z-103 Hits Music Channel. This is an Evanoff group? That is, yeah. And I'll be honest with you. I hunted high and low. I wanted to get you something that said CFTR on it.

And I don't know. I guess so many years have gone by now. I don't have a lot of stuff left or something from the mix, perhaps. But I did find that. It's brand new. This is great. Yeah, this is perhaps. But I did find that. It's brand new. This is great. Yeah, this is fantastic. You will start seeing, I take a photo after every episode with guests and

I always realize like, okay, you can't keep wearing the same t-shirt for each photo. It looks like you don't change or whatever. So I'm like, I better change my shirt today. Like today I'm wearing this Great Lakes Beer hoodie that they were kind of providing. Look at that. Sponsors everywhere. That's very nice. It ties right into the six-pack here. This is fantastic.

So I will start taking photos with my Z-103. And I know I see those guys on Dundas, near Six Points. They got their office there. That's great. Thank you very much. You're welcome. I think I only did maybe three or four shifts on that station, ironically, but

anyway, it was part of my collection. Thank you. I think this is a new tradition. When guests come in, when I give them the beer, they should give me something. Absolutely. And it's funny, the last law enforcement guy, Pete Fowler, who came on, he came with gifts. He gave me an OPP cap. Oh, did he? Yeah, and a

bicycle jersey that he had because he knew I was a big cyclist. Honestly, you cops are the best. I'm going to start just interviewing police officers. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. One more mention here and we'll dive in. This is Chef's Plate.

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just for being on Toronto Mike fantastic beer and food. Does it get better? Honestly, Mike. What a great thing. And everyone else listening, you can get two plates for free as well by going to chefsplate.com and use the promo code

Toronto Mike and that gets you two plates for free and give it a go. Use that promo code Toronto Mike though and it shows that it was you get for free. And give it a go. Use that promo code Toronto Mike, though, and it shows that you get that discount. So great. Good stuff. Thank you. No problem.

So most listeners do remember you from CFTR, but can we go back to the beginning and maybe you could tell me a little bit about why you ever wanted to be on the radio and then how you got your foot in the door in radio. Yeah, that goes back a long, long way. I grew up in Thunder Bay. It's quite isolated, of course, but nonetheless, it was where I grew up.

And I think we had maybe three or four stations there when I was young. So I remember my dad dragging me out to, I think it was car shopping one day. And one of the stations was doing a live remote broadcast, and I was just in awe, just watching it. And I mean, it wasn't, you know, like they do them today, where it's just essentially a microphone. I mean, he was playing records, the whole deal, right live from the dealership, and I just stood there for hours watching, and I said, this is what I'm going to do. Awesome. And I don't think my dad was too impressed with that. But so it literally was a passion from that point on.

And I got into it quite young. I was still in high school and I was able to sort of worm my way into one of the three stations in town and started doing Joe jobs. And I remember the program director, he was actually quite a large news director in the Toronto market, you know, a decade before that probably, Ray Erickson. And he said, I understand you want to be on the

air one day. And I said, oh, absolutely. He goes, midnight tonight. Nice. And I said, are you kidding? And you had these pipes at the time or were these still in development? In development. Mine are still in development? In development.

Mine are still in development. I can't wait till they kick in. Yes. No, you have a great voice. See, now in every episode I mention I have a terrible voice. I'm just fishing, hoping you'll come back and tell me I have a great voice. Please continue. Well, you do.

So that was my debut, and it was interesting, to say the least. I mean, can you get greener than that? Right. So I think I was in grade 10. Wow. So this is CJLB. CJLB in Thunder Bay. Yeah.

Cool. I worked with, I don't know if, does Glenn Walters ring a bell? No. Probably long before your time. But he was, he was an announcer up there. I believe he was known as Big G Walters in Toronto. And he was big in the 70s here. And I don't know what in the world he was doing up in Thunder Bay. I would guess it was semi-retirement. But Glenn was a great friend of mine and a huge inspiration and a mentor as well. But Glenn had worked Toronto. huge inspiration and a mentor as well.

But Glenn had worked Toronto. He worked CFTR. He worked, I think he was on Chum. But he was also, more impressingly, huge in the U.S. markets as well. He worked New York, L.A. And in fact, when he was in Los Angeles one day, I remember him telling me this story,

if you don't mind me telling it. No, go ahead. He was, I think he just got off the air and he was cutting through the reception area of the station and some guy was standing there and Glenn said, can I help you? And he said, yeah, I'm shooting a movie. He said, I'm a director. He said, I'm looking for a guy to play, sort of do a bit in the movie where he's the radio announcer on the air. And he said, well, ironically, I do afternoons here. Maybe I can help you out.

So as it turns out, it was Steven Spielberg, and my buddy Glenn was in the movie Jaws. Wow. I just got a Jaws t-shirt because I saw Gore Downey wearing it on that tour, and I'm like, it just changed the whole meaning of the shirt to me. Sure does. So I've been wearing a Jaws t-shirt often lately. That's great. Yeah, I think I saw a photo of you.

Yeah, that's my new shirt. So yeah, that was a pretty cool story. But Glenn was one of those guys that had done a full career, and he really was just up there to sort of have fun and wind down. So I sponged everything I could off of him. So, okay, so you do, I'm trying to get you to CFTR here, but Thunder Bay, it all begins for you, and then you're here and there, I guess, including Montreal.

Is that right? Well, I think if I recall, I went to a small little market called Marathon after Thunder Bay. I was offered the morning show there, if you can believe. Can you tell me where Marathon is and why do I not know Marathon? Yeah, it's in Ontario.

It's right, pretty much between Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie. And it's right, it sits right on top of Lake Superior, basically. And what was interesting about that, I thought this will be a great opportunity, right? Going from, I think I was doing evenings or

something in Thunder Bay and he said, you'll be the morning man. And you know, everybody aspires to be a morning guy. Sure. So I went there and ironically the entire station was contained in a house trailer. Okay.

Yeah. Okay. And I was like, wow, this is pretty weird. And he said, until you get a place to stay, you can just live in the back of the trailer. And, you know, it wasn't a 24 hour operation. So in the morning he had showed me how to kickstart the generator and the transmitter.

Wow. And I did the morning show. I remember distinctly one morning hearing a loud gunshot go off and scared the crap out of me. Turned out it was an OPP officer, ironically, and he just shot a black bear. Oh, wow. Right outside of the studio window. And we didn't have soundproofing at all. So the windows were, in fact, wide open. So I just thought, maybe radio's not for me.

That's funny. So that was Marathon. It was a quick stop. And then I said, no, I need to see the big city. So I came down to Toronto. A friend of mine was working for Hockey Night in Canada. He was a cameraman with the CBC. And I ended up getting a tour, ironically, of CFTR.

I thought, no, I want to go down and see what a real radio station looks like. And they hired me to be a producer. I didn't have enough air experience to be on the air then. But so I ended up working with the greats that were there in the mid 80s. That was 1985. That's fantastic. But that's your first tour duty with CFTR because you're, That's fantastic. But that's your first tour duty with CFTR because that's not your 1988-93 run that I know you from. So I guess you leave CFTR the first time and you end up in Sarnia. Yes. Rogers owned two stations in Sarnia. And again, I was too green to be on the air in Toronto. And back then you had to actually pay your dues and work your way into a major market. So I had no qualms.

You still have to do that, right? I don't know. Some people avoid it, I noticed. They start at the top, if you will, in Canada. They do. I think that what threw me, and we can talk more about why I changed careers, was that was part of it.

A lot of times, it just seemed that people were coming right out of college and getting a prime spot in the number one market in the country, and it didn't seem right to me. So, but, sorry. No, that's okay. But you, of course, you're in Thunder Bay, Marathon, Sarnia, like you're working your way to the big smoke. Yes.

And Sarnia was great. I mean, I only spent a summer there. I think it might have been the summer of 86. And I went on, I started with their FM station. It was CJFI, not to be confused with CHFI. But it was, again, a Rogers owned station.

And they were playing light music, not exactly what a young kid wanted to play, and transitioned up to their AM, which was CKJD, and they were sort of a top 40 thing. But what was great about Sarnia was that I had complete exposure to the Detroit market. And they would just boom right into the city, and I could listen to them daily. And, you know, they would just boom right into the city and I could listen to them daily. And in fact, I got to know some of the guys down in Detroit and I'd go down and shadow them and Z95.5 and these huge stations. Dick Burton was there. And it just, again, you know, it just helped me develop into who I eventually became. Cool. Cool. And so you leave Sarnia for London?

Not London, England. Hell no. Yeah, London, Ontario was another great spot for me. It was about a two-year run. Don Bodine, I believe he's out in Winnipeg still or somewhere out west. He was golfing one day, I think, and had heard me on the air in Sarnia,

and he said, how would you like to come and work for me starting Monday? And that seemed like a logical next step, so I spent two years in London. And what brought you to Montreal? Well, again, the urge and the itch to break a major market. You know, I wanted Toronto ultimately, and I thought, no, Montreal, it was a chum station, chum group. So I went out to work at, well, I was doing imaging for their FM, which was Shom. And I was playing oldies on CKGM, which had a lot of history and whatnot. But, you know, and playing oldies was fine, but it wasn't where I wanted to be.

But next is the big smoke, the CFTR. So do they come calling? How does that come to be? No, I was begging almost daily. Luckily, when I had left CFTR the first time, I had kept in touch with, well, certainly all of the announcers. But I got to know, well, Sandy Sanderson was there, of course. But they had hired a Sharon Davis, or not Sharon Davis.

I'm trying to think. Live radio. It's been 15 years. Sharon Davis was Montreal. Oh, it'll come to me. Okay. Oh, that's terrible. Anyway, and I ended up essentially just calling almost weekly. And as it turned out, I believe it was Jeff O'Neill that I had replaced.

He was moving on to other things. And they brought me in to do Swing. 1988. Sharon Taylor, that's it. Sharon Taylor. No, I see. It would come to you. It happens to me all the time.

And something that happens to me a lot, because I do live to tape, so we're not live to air, if you will, but I don't edit anything, so it might as well be live to air. And there'll be some obvious thing, like the Tom Cruise movie with the fighter jets. What was that called?

And then, like like for some reason, because you're kind of, I'm doing this and this and I'm doing this, it just isn't in my head. And I'm like, why can't I remember the name of that movie? And then like, oh, you know the movie I'm talking about.

And then after we hit like stop, I'll be like Top Gun. Yeah, exactly right. And it just drives me crazy. I just want to go in and edit it. And I'm like, nah, you can't just do that. But okay,

so you're at CFTR. Now I got some CFTR questions for you. And you already talked about KJ. So you're still in touch with KJ? I think, you know, Facebook is a wonderful thing. And I think we're on there, but it's not like we chat daily or anything. You know, Jesse and Jean, I think I'm still connected with them. And Steve Gregory, just trying to think of some other names. Bill Hayes, a great friend of mine. So I do try and make efforts to keep in touch with people, but it's tough. You know what it's like. Yeah, for sure. For sure. KJ was in my chat with KJ, which I'm guessing you've listened to that. Have you listened to that episode?

I did. It was awesome. Because that was, to me, it was great. Except I got a vibe from KJ that he wasn't comfortable talking about the past. This was a vibe I got. And there was a moment in that podcast, and I don't think it comes through because I think it worked out okay. But in the room where it was like, this is going to be us talking about the past. KJ, I'm sorry, but I need to ask you some CFTR questions. I know you don't. And I'm like, but I need to ask you some CFTR questions. I know you don't. And I'm like, it was very sweet of the man to come and visit me and sit there and give

up his valuable time and everything. But it's sort of what I do here, talking about the past. Well, the past can be blurry. And KJ's had a very long career. And, you know, a lot of the years that he's been on the air have been at CFTR and I'm sure he had many, many stories, some I'm sure he couldn't share with you maybe. Well, what happens sometimes, I think you have trouble at some point remembering what are the stories that I share and the ones I can't. And when you're in doubt, you're

better to just shut up. True, true. Because otherwise, after we stop recording, he'll be like, you know how you don't edit things? Well, you're going to edit things because I need that story taken out. So, KJ, talk to me about Bill Hayes. So, for those who don't know, and I don't think anyone listening does not know, but Bill Hayes is John Derringer's brother. He is. Absolutely.

They're brothers. And I worked with Bill for quite a few years. We still talk today. He's an amazing broadcaster. I mean, we worked again together at The Mix, ironically. And, you know, it's almost like a pattern. You end up working with the same folks, but at different stations.

And I think I worked with Tom Rivers at three different stations, if I can recall. We're going to get to Tom. But Bill, yeah, we worked at CFTR and then later on at Mix. But amazing voice talent as well. It's just incredible. I think CFTR was the first station where I knew all the on-air people.

This is the first time in my life where I actually knew the schedule and I knew the voices and who they were. There's no pre-CFTR in my lifetime where I can say that's true. And Bill Hayes, I definitely remember Bill Hayes from CFTR in his voice. And his son now is on TSN Radio 1050. That's right, too. That's right. I remember Bill telling me that, yeah.

Yeah, and John Derringer, who's really John Hayes, is one of the guests I've been sort of pursuing the hardest and the longest, and I'm still striking out. So maybe my gateway is, if you can help me get Bill Hayes in here, maybe Bill gets John in here. Well, I can try and make that happen. You just got to lean on him. You're a cop. You just got to kind of lean on the car with a baton.

I know you can make things happen. So yeah, Bill Hayes, great. Now, Steve Gregory, you mentioned. Tell me a little bit about Steve. great. Now, Steve Gregory, you mentioned, uh, tell me a little bit about Steve. Well, the first time I worked at CFTR is, uh, uh, we had the luxury, uh, of, um, producers, uh, board operators, if you will. And that's what I was doing the first time I went through. So I was working, uh, various shifts, but I spent a lot of time working and producing Steve's show. So I got to know Steve quite well. And, uh, as I did KJ, and great guy.

He's still out in Ottawa, still on the air, and learned a lot from all of those guys, that's for sure. You mentioned board ops. This is episode 215. I've never shared this story. You don't have an op. I don't have an op.

I am the op. I have a buddy in radio who took me in one time because he was appearing on a radio show, and I was watching the kind of recording, like a real radio station. And the board op was doing all this cool stuff. Like it just looked amazing. Yeah. And I was like, that's really cool. That's amazing.

And then afterwards, I said to my buddy, I said, man, I would love to do that. And he just looked me in the eyes and says, you can't afford to do that. And I got this real sense that like that job is paying thirty thousand dollars a year it's they seem to work they seem to do a lot off a lot for it really is an art you know and and it's when I went there the first time I I was I would do anything I'd mop the floors if I had to right but but you start to do the job and you realize how important it is and how you really have to work in unison with the air talent.

And it really changes the quality of what's coming out of the speakers. And I don't know if the US markets have board ops or not. I think it's pretty much a rarity. But I know 1050 Chum had that luxury, as did CFTR. And at the end of the day,

like you say, it's really two separate jobs. The announcer can focus on what he wants to say and be very polished. The backselling and all that. And the technical end was all handled by the producer and it really is involved. One time I saw Stu Jeffries working a show on, this is Easy Rock, so before Boom,

and he was doing the show and it's the first time I saw a guy do the show with no board op. Like he was his own board op. Yeah. So you're right. There's some guys today working who just do it themselves

and they do their own board, but there's a lot of shows, especially morning shows and drive shows, but a lot of shows still have the board op doing all the technical stuff. That's good to hear because, you know, it really is a distraction. You know, there's a lot to it. You know, I know computers have sort of taken over. But, you know, when I was an op at TR, we had carts and, you know, tape and all this old technology.

But even now, you know, I it's it's a great thing to have your own op for sure for sure uh you you were at cftr from 88 to 93 so uh did you get to know mike cooper oh my god mike cooper best of the best i to watch mike speaking of board ops he had an amazing op too and and just to watch him do his 5'10 stupid joke of the day and everything. Stupid joke of the day. So much went into that, and it was all done live. There was nothing pre-taped about it. And an amazing man.

He, heart of gold, and I can't say enough about Mike Cooper. If at any time you get the urge to drop one of those things, like an all-hit radio, 680, CFDR, whatever, call it 872 hits. If you ever feel like doing that, go ahead. Just jump right in and do it. Anytime, absolutely. I appreciate that. I can listen to all the old sound checks just for that stuff.

But yeah, Mike Cooper is recently retired and hopefully enjoying retirement. He was at CHFI with Aaron Davis for several years at the end there. But yeah, he's a guy. I tried to get him in here. His wife was sick and he couldn't come in.

And I think the ship, I don't think, I think that he's sort of like one of those guys who isn't going to talk about the past anymore. And I think I missed my shot. But yeah, Mike Cooper's a legend in this city. Absolute legend and just a hero, you know. Speaking of legends, the late, great Tom Rivers. Yeah.

So, shotgun Tom, the Tom Rivers Air Force, Air Force, that's another program. Tell me about Tom, who left us all far too soon. And you said you worked with him at three different stations. Yeah, I mean, CFTR was the big one, but in fairness, I was more of an evening announcer there. So Tom was, you know, we were opposite ends of the schedule. Yeah, you'll never see each other, right?

No. Maybe company meetings or something? Yeah, drunken parties and whatnot. So Tom was, again, an unbelievable professional. And just what a career that Tom had, you know. Just every time you turn on the radio, it would just be a career that Tom had. Every time you turn on the radio, it would just be a treat to listen to. And

I can't say enough about him. Just incredible man. When I close my eyes and remember that, because my alarm was set to hear Tom Rivers when I woke up for school. And I'd hear Tom Rivers. And I remember Chicken Man for example and all this stuff. It's just ingrained in my head. And I think Eric Thomas is the Raceline guy. That's right. Yeah, Eric example, and all this stuff. It's just ingrained in my head. And I think Eric Thomas is the raceline guy.

That's right. Yeah. Eric was there. And I think he was doing sports as well, if I remember right. But he was a big part of River's morning show. And speaking of board ops real quick, because I noticed a lot of jocks, if they change stations, they try to take their ops with them. I don't know if you've ever seen this.

Because I'll talk to somebody like, okay, so Humble Howard will leave CFNY for the mix, let's say, in like 1990 or something like that. And he'll take his board op with him. My last guest took that guy's job at CFNY when he left with Humble Howard for Mix 99.9. Interesting. So this is, I think whenever they switch to Mix 99.9, which I think is 1990, if my brain is remembering. Yeah, that's... I think that's the year. I know that's before you got there, but we'll get to that.

But yeah, so just a side note about board ops is sometimes, yeah, they may move with the show when the show changes. It makes sense, right? Because you get to, as I say, you're literally a team and you get to know the on-air guys so well as an op, and they don't even have to ask you for what they want. You're already two steps ahead of them, right? Right.

You've got the chemistry and the rhythm down. I know a lot of times you'll take a co-host with you, but I didn't realize that the guys were taking their ops with them. That's great. Yeah, often, often. Tom Rivers, by the way. So CFTR, obviously, you work with Tom Rivers. Right.

What are the other stations, even though we'll get to them? I'm trying to, I think we crossed paths at, I believe it was called Easy Rock, which is now Boom, right? Yeah, 97.3. I think Tom was there briefly, as was I, and then at The Mix as well. Yeah, crazy, crazy. And you mentioned, so we talked, let me talk about, well, Jesse and Gene, let's talk about them. Because they're recent guests, but they were Skyped in.

By the way, Gene had like a great microphone setup in his home in California. Right. Sounded like he was sitting beside me, honestly. And somebody made this comment on my blog, TorontoMic.com, and it made me laugh because they said, Jesse sounded like he was kind of in the bathroom. He was gone from the toilet. Yeah. I wouldn't put it past him. So the audio quality was different for Jesse than it was for Gene. But tell me what it was like working with these two guys. Unbelievably crazy would be an understatement.

Again, they were brought in and started doing afternoons, so I would get to see them. I'd relieve them quite often. And just party animals. I mean, there were just no rules with these guys and very unpredictable on and off the air. I got the sense Jesse is the wild, the crackerjack, if you will. You don't know what he's going to do next. And Gene is that straight man who's the wild, the crackerjack, if you will. Like, you don't know

what he's going to do next. And Gene is that straight man who's trying to keep it all in check, if you will. Yeah, that's a good assessment. My brief experience of Jesse and Gene. Because even setting up the,

getting them both on, because I was, originally it was just going to be Gene and I. Right. And then it became Jesse and Gene. And you don't hear

Jesse and Gene together very often. You know, it's been 15 years for you. It's been a while for them, but it's been a while for them too. I think they did a few days on 1010,

and that's it from the past 15 years or whatever. So I was quite excited to have this happen, but it was really like, you could see Gene was herding cats

to get kind of Jesse in line, like what time? So yeah, those two, definitely Jesse, he didn't know what he was going

to do next. Yeah, they again had an amazing career, especially here in Toronto. And some of my fondest memories of CFTR are of Jesse and Gene and some of the antics and craziness that went on. And that's off the air, too. We had some great party moments.

Those are the stories you can't share, especially if you're a new profession. You've got to keep the illusion. Well, I can't share one. I believe they were just recently brought over to CFTR. And I think we were going out for a ratings party or something to that effect, or maybe it was to welcome them. I can't quite recall. But at any rate, the crew from CHFI had gone out the week before. I think it was ratings. And I don't know, maybe say 10, 12 of them. I can't remember what the bill was, a couple thousand bucks, right, full out. I think we were $12,000 or $14,000 or something. And it did not go over well with Sandy Sanderson, that's for sure.

We just went nuts. We're going to hear Sandy's voice in a couple minutes, actually. Because, we're going to get there, but of course, the whole on-air crew that wasn't news, essentially, is going to be let go in one moment because the format is switching, of course, from top 40 to all news. And this is in 1993. But one more guy on my list I want to ask you about is Tarzan Dan, because he's at CFDR in this era, right? Yeah, Dan came in. Don Stevens was now the program director,

and I think they had worked together out west. So one of our meetings, Don had mentioned that he was bringing in what he referred to as a teen specialist, and Dan certainly was. He was very unique. He had just a crazy show himself. And it was huge. It was absolutely huge. I remember High Energy and he had a

YTV show too. The teen specialist. He really was. Great term for him. Do you know what Tarzan Dan's up to now by any chance? You know, I have lost touch with a number of people. Dan's one of them. I want to say he's out west, but I know he was.

I think he's out west too, actually. I don't know how far west. I think he was Vancouver, but he may be somewhere in the middle of the country. I have memories of this last summer he was in town to fill in for a Zoomer, like a 740 Zoomer thing for Moses. Oh, neat. Not the biblical Moses, the other Moses.

And I, because I remember reaching out to him and his schedule was so jam-packed, he couldn't fit me in that time. But I do believe he is out West, actually, now that you mention it. Is there anyone else at CFTR I should be asking you about? Because 88 to 93, all five years I listened. Well, I mean, there were other announcers there.

Certainly, I mean, Bob Saint was there when I first got there. I think he did a nice nine to noon shift, a tough three hours. And Bill Hayes followed him. And Gary Bell was doing... Oh, Space, yeah. Space was doing nights. I'm trying to think. Well, Jeff O'Neill was still there.

I know I ultimately replaced him, but when you think of voiceover talents and whatnot, Jeff is still on the air doing spots today. I pulled this clip for KJ, I believe. I think. I can't remember anymore, but I had this clip already pulled, and I remember now that there's way too much Starship

or Jefferson Starship at the beginning. That's why I'm still talking. But this was the final song CFTR played in 93 before the format flipped and there's still all news, you know, doing traffic and weather together and all that jazz. So any moment now, Sandy Sanderson

will pipe up and we'll just listen for like 30 seconds of Sandy. I'm Sandy Sanderson, Executive Vice President and General Manager of CFTR. This is a sad yet exciting moment in the history of this incredible radio station. It marks the end of one era and the beginning of a new one. And like all major transitions, it involves mixed emotions. For nearly a quarter of a century, CFTR has been a powerhouse of today's music, appealing to a large and vibrant audience. Over the past several years, however, the popularity

of contemporary music on the AM band has diminished, and we find ourselves in a situation that requires a change. Effective immediately, CFTR will become known as 680 News, providing Toronto with an innovative information service that has never been available before. All right, Sandy goes on, but that is the introduction of 680 News. Yeah, the end of an era, actually, and the beginning of another. Tell me, though, about how, because Jesse and Gene told this story, but I want to hear your version of how you're all told that you no longer have a job at 680.

Where I should open a beer. No. Yeah, that was an interesting day. Not a great day, of course, to be an announcer on CFTR, but nonetheless, I think we all saw it coming. I mean, a lot of the guys I worked with had been through situations like this. I had not. That was my first official firing. Thank you. Right. It's good, actually.

It's a good run. If you're going to be fired from a station, it may as well be a good one. It's not an Ingrid Schumacher run, but it's pretty good. No, no. I think I was about five years there as an on-air guy. But yeah, I mean, we all went together, which was kind of nice. I mean, it sucks to be the only guy I can. But so, yeah, we were all corralled into a hotel room,

if I recall. And right there, I mean, something's up, right? I mean, why would we be doing that? So, I mean, I was sort of 50-50. I thought maybe we're going to be doing a format change, maybe playing some new music. But I thought, no, this is AM. I mean, FM seems to be where it's at at that time.

So I think the writing was on the wall that day, so everybody got their fill of muffins and free coffee and whatnot, thinking, yeah, this is going to be it. And sure as shit, Sandy let us all go. And, I mean, it's business, right? Did you notice that the news people weren't invited? Like, Dick Smythe's not here, where's Dick? Now that you've mentioned it, yeah, that seems peculiar.

Yeah, we, you know, it was an announcer's meeting. That's how it was propositioned to us. And, but, you know, I think Jesse was cracking jokes, which kind of lightened the mood. And we were all out looking for work shortly thereafter. Yeah. By the way, Dick, because I mentioned his name now, Dick Smythe is doing ads for some cream or something.

Some kind of, I see it when I watch like the National, for example, they'll air these Dick Smythe ads. Really? This is a recent development. So I know he's like 83 years old or something, but he's got that George Carlin white ponytail look going now. Yeah, amazing. Yeah. So he's still out and now. Yeah, amazing. Yeah.

So he's still out and about doing stuff. Incredible. Yeah. A legend again, right? So many legends I've worked with. You don't do a Dick Smythe impersonation by any chance? No, I don't. And that's how it looks to me.

What was his catchphrase again? And that's how I see it. Yeah. Something like that. Okay. Dick Smythe. Okay. But you're all fired at once, which I guess if you're going to be fired, it's nice dying breed, right? FM was where it was at.

And ultimately, that's where I ended up being on the air. Well, let me run, can I run down, let me run down the roster of stations you appeared on before the career switch, okay? This is all pre-career switch because I have questions about that. And actually, I will play something when I get to your Buffalo.

I have another sound check of yours from KISS 98.5 in Buffalo. So first, I guess you're at Easy Rock for a spell. Yeah. How long at Easy Rock? Just a cup of coffee? To be honest with you, the day we were fired from CFTR, I literally just went home and started phoning people.

I mean, there was nothing more. I don't think we had email back then, or did we? No, because I'm thinking, I was at U of T, I can do this for you. 94 is when, you're close to email, but I doubt you had email in 93. I think you needed a year or two more. I think 94 is when my U of T address showed up.

I think the telephone was still the way to communicate back then. So I did just that. I started phoning people and saying, hey. But the problem was everybody from CFTR was now available. So there was a lot of good talent saturating the GTA market. So a lot of them seemed to want to hire announcers on a freelance or part-time basis. And nobody wanted to offer me, me at least a full-time gig

at that time so you're at easy rock for a bit and you're doing uh some oh you're in saint catherine's at 97.7 hits fm i was like city tv i was everywhere seriously these are all stations like beloved stations uh iron mike how was he did you know iron mike No, I don't think he was there. He wasn't there at the time. All right, Energy 108, you're at? That was when they were playing dance. This is Don Burns and Scott. Yeah, Headley, Deadly Headley. Right, the CFNY guys, Scott Turner.

Scott was there. Actually, I was there twice, and Scott was there both times. He's a program director now at The Move. You know The Move? This is The Flow director now at The Move. You know The Move? It's just The Flow became The Move.

And that's, yeah, he's there now as a program director. Scott's an awesome guy. Scott was spelling his name S-K-O-T when he was on

CFNY and then it's changed to the S-C-O-T, but it's actually supposed to be S-C-O-T-T. So it's like he misspelled it twice, but that's a whole

different Scott. Scott is a great guy and he has a $7,000 bicycle or something. Does he? Just like that. Yeah. He can probably afford it though. I think so. I think so. So, uh, all right.

And here you're at, you're in Buffalo at KISS 98.5. Tell me a little bit about that. And then I'm going to play a little bit of you. Yeah, that was an interesting opportunity. I was, I was actually very jazzed about that because, um, I, one of my dreams, uh other than CFTR, was to work in the United States. And I'm the furthest thing from being an American citizen. So I thought, I don't know how this is going to ever happen for me.

But I somehow connected with the program director there. And he said, well, we'll just start the paperwork, right? We'll get you whatever documents and visa you need. But in the interim, you can come down and pull some shifts and you'll be an intern like Monica Lewinsky. And I went, well, I hope not. That's not in the description. No.

So I was going cross-border almost weekly, and it was really neat. I mean, American radio has a totally different feel, you know, and KISS 98.5 is, is a, is still a great station. And, uh, even though it's, uh, I think Buffalo's number 50, uh, in the market, uh, down in the U.S. I thought, I don't care. There's a lot of great talent that went from KISS 98.5 directly to Z100 in New York. I mean, Kit Kelly and, um, uh, who's the lady that does the morning show there with Nicholas Pickless, uh? Janet Schneider.

She did a run through Z100. And I thought, maybe this is my gateway. You never know, right? Right. So anyway, I did some shifts there and I really enjoyed it until I got caught. So because you didn't have the right documentation or? Yeah. They took exception to the fact that I was going across, even if I was an intern and doing it strictly on a volunteer basis.

I was abruptly told that I was putting an American announcer out of work, and I saw that. Right, right, right. Let's play a bit of you there. Oh, by the way, Nicholas Piccolis, since you dropped that name to it, he also is a YTV guy like Tarzan Dan and former CFNY guy Nicholas. That's right. There you go. So let's play a little bit of you on Kiss 98.5 in Buffalo. At McDonald's today.

Awesome. Why is last price and participation may vary. Kiss 98.5 active with her. Get ready for this. Partly cloudy and cold tonight. Going all the way down to 20 tomorrow. Cloudy, breezy, and sleazy. High 44, and it looks like rain for Saturday.

It's 30 in downtown Buffalo. Jimmy Cliffs on Kiss 98.5. I'll tell you what, he's going to give you a couple of tickets right now to Kissmas Bash 93. You're going! I am? Yeah! All right! Congratulations from Kiss 98.5!

I am? Yeah. All right. Congratulations from Kiss 98.5. Buffalo Sabres Hockey. See, that sounds to me like that's a radio DJ right there. It's cold. Although 20 sounds warm to me. What's going on?

I'm just kidding. Yeah, no, I had to learn the other Fahrenheit scale. That's right. And after that, you're at the Hog. That's where Jesse and Gene went after 680. That's right. So after that, you're at the Hog. That's where Jesse and Gene went after 680. That's right. So I probably worked with them there as well. It's just all a blur, of course.

That's 640 for those who don't remember the Hog. And their awful imaging thing, which was, I won't, it started like a... Right? That's right. You remember this? That's right. Oh, man.

The Hog. The Hog. And then you're at Mix 99.9. Yeah. JJ brought me in. Again, he couldn't offer me anything full-time at that point, but I was doing shifts there as well. I was all over that.

Sure, because Q107 is next. You should give me the list of stations you did not appear on. Well, CFNY was the only one I think I didn't work at. When people ask me, well, where did you work? I say, well, the only one I didn't work at was CFNY. Oh, man, it's true, because you were at Kiss 92.5. Yeah. And that was, that's a country kiss?

That was, yeah. The ones that were giving the mugs out. Yeah, of course. So Danny Kingsbury brought me in, and again, I did some freelance there. I worked with great guys again. Dan Williamson was there, Larry Fedorik. Wow, just a lot of great people. Larry, he was on, is he ever on CFTR?

Yes, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I should have mentioned him. All right, great. And then you got a full-time gig at Mix 99.9. Yes, eventually JJ saw the light and saw that, you know, he wanted, there was a spot for me basically. So I came in and if I remember,

I started off doing evenings and then I worked my way up to middays. And by the time I left the mix, I believe I was the assistant program director working quite closely with JJ. And do you remember the roster at the mix at the time, some of the names that were there? Well, it too, you know, a lot of people went through.

I think we had a revolving door. I'm not sure. Well, definitely Tom Rivers, as I say, was in there briefly. Larry, Carla Collins, Dan Williamson for a long, long time. I was relieving Dan. He was afternoon drive. I was evenings. Amazing guy. And I worked with him again at Kiss Country, ironically. But then Rob Christie came in, and the whole morning show had changed, and then I think that's when I went into middays.

Julie James was there. Who were some of the other people? Lisa Brandt. Yeah, yeah. Lee Marshall. A lot of people. Crazy. Okay, great.

And then after that, you were at Energy Radio, which is... Yes. 108, Energy 108. I was so happy that I didn't have to... I was getting a bit of a reputation as being a radio whore. Like I had to drive all over the place and I had a beeper. And so when I ended up landing at the mix, I was so happy.

And I worked there for, I guess it was, again, about a five-year run, which is pretty good. Right. I guess it was, again, about a five-year run, which is pretty good. Right. And then after the mix, I think that's where this Z103 t-shirt came from. I think I did a couple of shifts there, and

again, I was looking for a full-time job. And Energy brought me back. Scott Turner was still there. And that was when they were just converting. I think they were Shaw, and I believe Chorus was buying them out. Right. So I ended up going there. converting, I think they were Shaw and I believe Chorus was buying them out. Right, right.

So I ended up going there. I was hired to do midday. And with the understanding that eventually once Chorus took over, we would become bigger and better and we were going to be simulcast or syndicated or whatever you want to call it. But I moved into the afternoon drive slot

and we were in, of course, Toronto, the GTA. We were in Kitchener-Waterloo. We were in London and quite possibly Ottawa. I can't remember. And this is, so this is your last radio stop before the career change. Yes, and that was awesome as well. I mean, I was a little disgruntled by this point

because I had a couple of firings under my belt now. And I was thinking about a career change, to be honest with you. But with that said, energy was awesome. And I worked with Stu Jeffries. He was doing mornings there and eventually made the swap, switched out, became a cop. Did you ever watch the series?

It predates The Naked Gun, I guess, but Police Squad? Yeah. I'm old. They're great, because I love The Naked Gun, and then I went back and realized, oh, there's this series called Police Squad. This is where it comes from, and some of the same gags and stuff, but just fantastic. So here's some Police Squad music for you. So, okay, this story fascin comes from and some of the same gags and stuff, but just fantastic. So, here's some Police Squad music for you. So, okay, this story fascinates me.

I love a good story. And so, you're bouncing, you're like Dr. Johnny Fever, you know, up and down the aisle. That's so funny that you would refer to me as that because everybody at my current job calls me Johnny. Oh, that's great. And then when you were, even the story about your name origin where it's like, I always remember Dr. Johnny was on the air and he's looking at his coffee cup and he's like, Johnny Caravello, Dr. Johnny Sunshine, and then Dr. Johnny Fever. Like, this is my name now. You do have to keep it straight. And when I was on all of those stations, sometimes I do two, three different stations in one day and I'd literally have to focus on

getting the call letters. That's amazing. Like I've heard stories from people who were doing traffic on many stations. Oh, Colleen Rusholm tells a story where she had a different name for each station she was doing traffic on. And one was actually her real name. And then one was Colleen Rusholm. I think that's a fake name. And there's other fake names she used.

But yeah, you can slip up pretty easily and say the wrong call letters and all that jazz, right? That's crazy. So you decide, okay, so you decide, maybe it is a wise move for me to pursue a different career. And then you were drawn to law enforcement. So why were you drawn to, why did you want to become a police officer? Well, I suppose it was always something that I thought about. When I lived in London and worked there, my roommate, ironically, was with the OPP out that way,

and he'd said, you know, you're a young guy. We could use someone like you on the force. And I think he planted the seed almost. And I said, well, that's all well and fine, but I haven't done everything that I wanted to do in radio, so I still had a lot more to do. So I sort of put it in the back of my mind, and in 1999 I just thought, I think the timing is right.

And policing takes a certain amount of maturity as well, right? You don't want to be a young guy with no life experience. So it seemed, and from a financial perspective too, I mean, you know what radio is like. You've interviewed a lot of folks and you've got a feel for how ruthless it can be. I was tired of the shit, to be honest with you. And I think, I mean, just hearing your story, as you said, unless you have one of those revenue generating spots, like there's a morning show or afternoon drive. You're right. The compensation is, how do I say this, lacking somewhat. Absolutely.

So you need, and actually today, I don't even think those slots guarantee you. The days of the John Derringer and Aaron Davis and Roger and Marilyn stuff, those are done. Unheard of. Unheard of, right? Those contracts have disappeared. Yeah. Or the Bobcat, I always think of those.

Those are like your 1% guys or whatever. So, and for job security, a police officer made a lot of sense and I always, like I mentioned,

Pete Fowler off the top because his story is very similar but he told me that he realized he had gone as far as he was going to go on radio.

Like he wasn't going to be the, I don't know, you name it, he wasn't going to be Bobcat. Like he wasn't going to be, you know, Roger Ashby.

So then he decided to look for the future of a stable, decent paying job, like a real job. And he wanted to become a police officer. Yeah. Again, I don't know Pete, but it's almost a mirrored image of me

as well. I mean, you have responsibilities. I had a mortgage. I had a wife and children on the way and whatnot. And to be fired just absolutely sucks. So, you know, I know that I have a good career and a paycheck that's going to be there every two weeks. And you have, I'm asking you this now, any regrets at all? You made the right call? And you have, I'm asking you this now, any regrets at all? You made the right call? I did.

I mean, don't get me wrong. You know, radio is one of the professions that it certainly gets into your blood, right? And I enjoy listening to radio. I do it every day. I try and keep in touch with people from days gone by, but it's difficult. And, you know, should an opportunity ever present itself, I would seriously consider it, you know, or maybe after I retire, who knows, I'll go back full circle. Well, even since you became a police officer, you did work again in radio. You mentioned

15 years ago, and I'm going to guess that last, that 15 years ago was Chum FM. Yes. And actually that was a gift as well because, um, you know, I really only had two, you know, things that I didn't really accomplish in the world of radio and that was to work at 1050 Chum in its glory days. I kind of missed it there, but. You need a time machine for that one. That's right. Uh, but I mean, CFTR were, were the ones that literally kicked them out of the game, you know, if I think about it. So, but, you know, Chum had a certain history. And so there was that. And then again, to work major market in the U.S. was something that I had hoped to accomplish. But luckily, yeah, Rob Farina was a guy that I kept in touch with. He was at CFTR in the early days and he brought me in. I was doing strictly freelance

on my days off as a policeman and enjoyed it very much and got to know guys like Roger Ashby and Ingrid and Lee, who was there? Lee Eckley was there. He's in Oshawa now at the Rock, I think. I just chatted with him because he confirmed the ingrid news so i broke that story because he had confirmed it with ingrid directly so yeah just you mentioned that name and yeah i'm pretty sure he's working at the rock in oshawa now yeah and and greg lee was there and uh he was a guy that was on 10 50 chum and and i would listen to uh you know so it was it was kind of neat to to work with some of these people and at a huge station. I mean, Chum FM is still doing very well.

And it was a real treat to work there. And that's the best of both worlds for you because you've got your career to pay the mortgage and raise your three kids, right? So, you know, you've got obligations there and you can do that there, but you can still live your, I want to say almost like your dream.

You always wanted to be in radio and you can still do that at Chum FM with your freelance announcing there for a few years. And you approach it differently too, right? When it's your bread and your butter, you do as you're told. And I think I knew that I, you know, I was very professional, of course,

at my time at Chum FM, but I went in with a different mindset that I don't, you know, this is something I don't need, it's something that I'm doing because I want to do. And it just, it was more freedom. Like it was peace of mind, right? For sure, for sure. And just to mention Pete Fowler again, just I know that what he's done recently is he wanted to kind of do that again.

But like you said, he's going to pay his mortgage and everything as an OPP officer. But he started a podcast called The Lost Indie City, which I don't know. I've never asked him. I don't think there's any money in it for him. I think this is a labor of love, but he puts this together, and it airs on different stations syndicated,

and you can download it as a podcast, but he plays the songs he loves, and he assembles them by different themes. He might say, this is the best soundtrack song or whatever. He'll do different themes and then put it together and he gets to still do that, but he doesn't have to worry about paying the bills with that. It's like for love. That's a great position to be in. I mean, I assume he has a home studio like yourself here and, um,

he's able to do that. Um, I had thought about doing that, uh, sort of as I had transitioned, you know, 18 years ago into policing. I thought that seems, when I was doing a lot of voice work, that seemed to be the way the trend was going. Instead of going to a professional recording studio and having all the suits sit there and watch you do your thing, it just seemed to be you would have a home studio, high end, high quality,

and do it once the internet came and just fire it down the line. Yeah, you just needed technology to catch up, I guess. And that's where it is today, yeah. So who knows? Maybe Bob Callahan will get a home studio for Christmas. Well, Bob, here's what I'm thinking. So you said it's been 15 years, right?

And right now, you sound like you haven't missed a beat. Well, I do speak on the police radio. Dispatcher or whatever. Yeah, I bet you that's why your buddy recommended you become a police officer. You could be the... You never know. You, I bet you that's why your buddy recommended you become a police officer. You could be the... You never know. You can do that.

It's funny. When I worked at Chum FM, Bill Marshall was there, and he was... Bruce Marshall. Sorry, Bruce Marshall. Yeah, I know where you're going with this, because it's a fun fact. Tell us. I was going to share this anyway. It is a fun fact, because he was doing...

He's a firefighter, and I think it was north of the city, maybe Unionville or something like that. But he and I would get just a great chuckle out of it saying, we need a paramedic and we're all set, right? A cop and a fireman. Yeah, so if you're listening to like a swing shift on Chum FM, like in whatever, 99 to 2002, you might be, yeah, listening to a cop and a firefighter.

You never know. That's fantastic. And what's the more fulfilling work, like being a DJ or being a cop? Which is more fulfilling? Well, I mean, policing is a whole different thing, right? I mean, we help people daily, and we're doing all of that stuff. We're saving lives and helping victims of crime. So radio is more of a feel-good kind of entertainment type of industry,

and policing has a more serious side, obviously. Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. I was figuring you'd say that, and then I was going to ask you what was the more fun work, because I envision, although I'm sure there's some, I can't imagine the police officer work that you've done. And I'm purposely not asking you a lot of police questions, only because when Pete was on, to reference that again, that was the deal we had where I wasn't allowed to ask him policing questions because the OPP

had to approve his appearance and there's this whole PR thing. Yeah. And he could talk about anything he wants about radio as long as he didn't talk about cop wars. You can tell me what, obviously you can share what you wish, but I would think that at least

the radio, that's the, I guess that's pure fun, you know, there's no victims, there's no... True. The only victims are the announcers when you get your ass fired. Or when you get your paycheck, I thought you were going to say. No, I joke. I joke. I'm just jealous.

So after 15 years of nothing, you appear on this show here. Do you think the spark has been lit from this hour we've had together by any chance? I have to say that it has because, you know, I've been listening to the podcast. A friend of mine at work introduced me to your podcast. Okay. And I've been listening to a lot of them and enjoying them greatly. A lot of great names, great interviews on your part. And it has rekindled a lot of memories.

And it's making me think. Like I say, it's in your blood, right? So you never know what may be in store. If you need any help with podcasting, you have a friend here now and I can help you. Thank you, Mike. And I know a guy, an audio guru, Andrew Stokely, who would help you out with all this, the gear and all that stuff and help recommend and set you up. Although you probably know that world better than I do, that's for sure. Well, it's about team, right? Working with people.

And what's your title with the police? Detective. Detective? Yes, I detect things. Amazing. I watched a lot of Law & Order growing up, and Briscoe and Logan were my two favorite detectives. And I was always like, that looks amazing. That's cool.

You had two cool jobs. You're a lucky guy. It's true. I'm very fortunate. And your pipes are still intact, so you can pick this up again anytime you want, I think. Thank you very much. I may do that. And that brings us to the end of our 215th show.

You can follow me on Twitter at Toronto Mike. And Bob, are you on Twitter? Not really. I have an email address I can give you. Yeah, sure. Go ahead. It is Callahan, C-A-L-L-A-H-A-N underscore man at Yahoo.com. Yahoo!

And our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer and Chef's Plate is at Chef's Plate C-A. Thank you, Bob, for the T-shirt. Thank you, sir. And see you all next week. me today and your smile is fine and it's just like mine and it won't go away cause everything is

rosy and green