Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Carlos Benevides: Toronto Mike'd #659

Episode Date: June 3, 2020

Mike chats with Carlos Benevides about his career in radio working at 102.1 the Edge, moving to Kitchener, returning to CFNY, the state of radio, and much, much more.

Welcome to episode 659 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Palma Pasta, enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Garbage Day. Weekly reminders for garbage, recycling and yard waste pickup. Visit GarbageDay.com slash Toronto Mike to sign up now. StickerU.com. Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals for your home and your business. The Keitner Group. They love helping buyers find their dream home.

Text TORONTOMIKE to 59559. And our newest sponsor, CDN Technologies. Your IT and cybersecurity experts. I'm Mike from Tontomike.com and joining me this week is radio broadcaster Carlos Benavides. Hey, Mike. Welcome, Carlos.

You know, so this is episode 659, you say, right? If I had acted on this sooner, like six years ago, could I have been in like the 200s or would that have been the 100s? I think you would have been in the 100s, I think. Because six years, I mean, we started this. I say we as if there's a whole team behind me, but it's, you know, me, myself and I. But we started this.

It just seems bigger. Like everything should be we. Like August 2012. So it's coming up on the eighth year. So if we were talking six years ago, you would have been like i think you would have been under 150 maybe whoa also carlos this used to be a weekly podcast that's why it's in the intro and even though there's going to be six episodes this week uh i still kind of put my tongue in my cheek and i call it a weekly podcast so well it's very impressive your number would have

been very low and you missed out. So shame on you. It is. It's all on me because you and I were tweeting back and forth way back when, six years ago, and I thought, oh, I should go on Toronto Mike. And then, you know, it happens, and then here we are six years later. Okay, now there were a few close calls. Maybe right off the top, we should shout out Brother Bill. Yes. Because I talked to Brother Bill,

who now goes by Neil Morrison. I don't know if you heard, but he told me I can call him brother. So Brother Bill, two weeks ago or so, was on this show. It was fantastic. But he wanted to congratulate me

on my great episode with Carlos Benavides. Like this is something he said. Amazing. Like I admit, like 659 episodes is a lot and I've had a lot of people, well prior to COVID, a lot of people came down here

and now we're Zooming. So I think like, could I possibly forget a guest? So I had a little moment where he's talking about this as if he heard it and he listens to Toronto Mike. So I had this moment of like,

wait a minute, Carlos, like I'm 99.9% sure I have never had Carlos Benavides on the show, but he had me for a brief moment. And then I had to break it to him that it was someone else's podcast. It was, it was a Matt Cundall's podcast. The sound off podcast,

I believe is the one he got confused with, which means Matt's got a tremendous podcast that it could be confused with this. So this episode is dedicated to Brother Bill because it's like he saw the future. Two weeks later, we'd make his dreams a reality. He's a seer. He's a seer, that Brother Bill. And I call him Brother Bill too because when I met him, that's who he was. He's Neil now and it's weird.

I still call him Brother. And it will always be that way. And he tells us, I don't know if you heard it or not but he uh he did he never liked the nickname brother that's right he did not like the name which i mean if i were brother mike i'd love it like please i know he's not a bill maybe that's part of it but that might be part of it brother neil that would work i think. So Carlos, tell us why. For six years, you knew I was interested in conversing with you. Why did it take a global pandemic to make this happen?

Please share with us, real talk. Why did it take? Because I've got a lot more time on my hands now, which is not true, because I have a three-month-old son. So I have less time on my hands now than ever before. Plus, I'm teaching still, and that's all been brand new. So basically I did a full life renovation in the past year. So I decided if I'm really busy,

I really want to pack in as much as I possibly can. That means Toronto Mike. It's like the cherry on top of my year. Okay. I'm excited by this life renovation or whatnot. Like, like, is this your first child?

Yes. Okay. So I don't know your age, but you're uh you're not 50 okay 50 all right so okay no it's not just just because you know uh i i talk regularly in fact i'm going to talk with him on thursday i talk with ralph ben murgy for example and he's got like a nine-year-old but ben murgy's way older than you and i and uh so i'm just i'm always interested in the uh the older dads oh Oh, Mark Breslin's another guy who started Yuck Yucks and he's a first time dad and is like, I don't know, mid sixties or

something, but you're only 50. How's it going? I mean, I, it's hard. I've got nothing to compare it to, right? First time dad. I think it's going well. Mind you right now, he just, you might hear him because he's a little unhappy right now. He does not like to nap, not enjoying the napping during the day. It's young. You can't really sleep train him this young necessarily, but he just does not want to sleep during the day unless he's on my lap or more specifically my wife's lap. You said three months. Is that what you said? Yeah. Yeah. At that age, as I recall, I've done this four times and I could tell you at that age, it's like going to war. There is no sleep training.

You sort of are at the whims of whatever the kid wants to do kind of deal. Pretty much. So I feel your pain. I can tell you it gets better. This is what everybody says. It gets better. So we're just waiting, my wife and I, for it to get better. And it is because now he's got a little more personality. He's smiling.

He's giggling. You see him engaging in certain things so it's it's getting better but it's been an amazing experience so far and um do i wish i'd people ask me do you wish you did it sooner i'm like well i probably wasn't ready sooner it happened when it was supposed to happen right right yeah and uh it's different for dudes as you know like you know we have this option like we can like at 50 let's have a kid uh it doesn't quite work that way with the mom so uh congrats man that's that's very cool thank you very much thank you very much it was quite a journey to get there he's an IVF baby so for anybody who has gone through an IVF journey I understand what that experience is like and I

think more people need to talk about that. I think sometimes people feel uncomfortable talking about IVF and the difficulty, the journey involved with that. And I understand that. And if anybody's going through it who wants to talk, I'm more than happy to help out, to listen, provide any kind of guidance. For those who don't know what IVF is, tell it for the lay people out there. Okay. know i do know some people close to me who have gone through this this is very expensive right it can be very expensive yes very expensive not that you can put a price on this the drugs really get expensive but right now in ontario you can get one round paid for but it doesn't cover your drugs essentially it covers the uh the procedure surrounding that one cycle so if you can get it done in one cycle,

you're pretty fortunate. The problem is sometimes it doesn't always happen in that first cycle. It can sometimes take years and years and years to make it happen. So I'm very happy for you that this did happen. And I'm glad you're reaching out. Like if anybody listening does have,

I know this is such a, you know what it's like with fertility and trying to start a family when not you know not everything is as easy as you see in the movies or whatever or it's like i watch shows sometimes i think i was watching a show called the unorthodox and i think they like i'll use my medical terms since this is a proper show but i believe they had intercourse one time this husband and wife like one time like one time yeah and she got pregnant like so it's like

and i'm thinking oh wow like uh i hope you know people don't think it's always going to be quite like that but i uh if anybody wants to talk about this are your dms open like how do you want somebody to reach out yeah you can reach out just via twitter uh via my dms i'm more than happy to uh to chat because i know it can be a struggle and sometimes it's hard to find people to talk to about that. But there is a community out there and yeah, I'm more than happy. No, very good.

Just talking about it will help somebody who's going through it. That's very cool of you. Very cool of you. Thanks. Now, you mentioned on Twitter. Yeah, so, okay, we talked about the six years in the making.

I think what the problem was is that you haven't always lived in Toronto. Like, are you right now i'm in kitchener i have been in kitchener for uh wow my god 17 years now coming up 17 years minus a slight little three month blip there and that was the second my second coming to the edge which we'll get to at some point i'm sure well yeah we'll definitely uh talk some point, I'm sure. Yeah, we'll definitely talk about that. Okay. So, we did come close. I just want to point out that when I was recording live from the

opera house at the party for Marty, as I told Brother Bill, I saw you in my peripheral. I'm trying to talk to someone. I think I went three hours without a break. So, I'm talking to somebody, whoever jumped on the mic. I know Pino is a great help here, wr wrangling people but i could see you in my peripheral vision and i had a mental note oh i can finally talk to carlos but then you know how things go and and uh you never

got on a mic well the same thing was happening to me inside the opera house because i had the same thing i was thinking oh i should go talk to mike and then i'd see somebody i hadn't seen excuse me in the longest time and I wanted to talk to them being Kitchener and being not far away from Toronto but it's not like I get back as often as I as I used to so I and plus these occasions always bring together people it's sad but people you haven't seen forever that you want to catch up with so it was exactly that situation for me too I thought I gotta go talk to Mike and then when I finally came out, you were gone. You had packed up. The show was done. I was like, damn. Yeah. I think I did three hours. I think I left like just as,

just before Strombo showed up. And I said, I was biking home. So it was like, I got to load up the gear and the trailer and bike home. And it had been three hours, as you know, but this is three hours without commercial breaks. is uh you know no songs that is taxing that is taxing and that's that's far also opera house is the other side of the world for me i had to that was a good hour at least an hour that's right you're in etobicoke boy just as i am okay so what part of etobicoke did you uh 427 and bluer is where i grew up right up off of ranforth uh went to silverthorne collegiate institute Institute. I know you're a Michael Power guy, right? I'm a Power guy, but you're not

too far from the Cloverdale Mall when you're up there. That's correct. I used to spend a lot of time at the Cloverdale Mall and Sherway, of course, but Sherway then was, it's not what it is now. Now it's like a megaplex. Back then it was just the sleeping giant. Well, now at Sherway they want to see your T4 slip when

you enter to make sure that you have the cash to spend because it's like... That you can afford anything that you're shopping for there. It's very different than I remember. Now it's like, yeah, it's Saks. And I don't even remember

these brand names. I just know they don't let me in the door of these places. I just remember working at the Eaton's in the watch repair. That was one of my first jobs in high school. Okay, so here's a fun fact for you.

Oh, Eaton's, right. I'm thinking of Sears. Okay, because Sears had a watch sears was there they were there now it's what is what is there now i think it's the uh i think it is the sacks they're okay because there's also a sports check a sport check on one end i yeah i'm trying to think i'd still go there if i need uh well sometimes if it's cold out or rainy or snowy and you want to walk around and maybe grab some like McDonald's or something and the food, the new food court there. Like it's a nice, it's a nice walking mall because it's like a, you can just keep going. It's a nice, well, it used to be just a simple like figure eight. Now it's, it goes off in a couple other different directions.

It's like a hospital that way. How long has it been? You just keep on building off of the thing. No, you're right. How long has it been since you uh been to cloverdale mall oh boy i i would say at least a good five five six years since i've been to cloverdale not at least since i mean since target closed how long was that yeah it feels like that was a good five years ago at least okay so that's about right then so you're are you uh you're familiar with the home hardware that's in Cloverdale mall?

Very familiar. I mean, you can get some good finds in there. Yeah. Okay. So, cause my daughter's orthodontist was attached to, was in Cloverdale. And so I would go there once a month. I would just take her there and then I'd walk the malls and the home hardware was the great, uh, like treasure hunt. Like just you'd find like, I don't know. Oh, Henry chocolate bars for like 39 cents or something like that. Anything and everything in there. I mean, it wasn't your true hardware store.

It was like a cornucopia. You never knew what you were going to find. And I always wondered, I'd buy like, I got to buy up these O'Henry bars or something. I'm like, I wonder why they're 39 cents. Like, are these like, were these, are these really like old? I always wondered like, how did this deal come to be?

Well, they're just competing with that dollar M in the mall too, right? They just, they're trying to try and undercut them whenever they can. Right. So still, okay. I know this area.

Well, I used to play, I'm trying to remember. I used to play slow pitch at a, at a baseball diamond, right in that hood that you go up at, but you're silver thorn guy. Okay.

So right there in Tobacco and tell me the, how you get to cfny like uh how do you end up on 102.1 the first round there the first round so i i leave silverthorne i go to university for um four years and i don't graduate i go to carlton and i uh i spend a lot of time not focused on school as much as I should have been. And the whole time I'm there, I'm thinking, I want to go to, I want to be in radio. So I started working on CKCU, the radio station there for a very brief period of time. And then I moved back to, to Toronto. And then, uh, that fall, I think it was the fall of 95. I enrolled in school and I went to Centennial college into their radio program. And from there, I ended up getting a scholarship to The Edge.

And they gave me, I think, $3,000, and there was an opportunity to work on the morning show. Wow. So I went and met Humble and Fred, and I sat down with them, and I was going to be the intern. And for some reason, I don't know, I'm just stupid. Maybe it was just timing is everything. I honestly believe timing is everything.

I said, no. I said, no, I don't want to do this i don't know why well it's probably they told you what time you had to wake up probably well no this is what my goal was to do mornings ultimately i wanted to be a morning show guy so i said uh i said no is it possible you had a bad uh first and i mean you know back especially back then uh howard wasn't the most, he didn't always roll with it, right? He could be a little prickly, like maybe. Listen, he could be, yes. But I mean, it's not like I didn't know that. And at the same time, it's just like, do you really want this or do you not really want this?

And at this time, I was working in film too. So I was starting to work. I started thinking maybe film is more for me. And I did like an entire year's worth of working in film. And then I realized, what am I doing? I hate this. I want to be in radio. So I ended up calling Phil Evans, who was the promotions director there, every Wednesday

at 1230 for, I don't know, eight weeks, 12 weeks, something like that. And the first message was really long, really long. Hey, it's Carlos. This is who I am. We met very briefly with Humble Infrared. I said, no, I didn't want to work there i'm dumb i really want to work there please please please please and the last message was basically hey phil it's carlos here's my number call me and he did and i got a job working in promotions that's how i got my foot in the door

okay okay so uh phil evans better known as captain phil captain phil who's also okay out west with uh not in white rock but i guess he's out there somewhere in BC. I think he's in North Vancouver, I think. For us Toronto guys, it's all one blob. It's BC, it's BC. I mean, I went to Vancouver before, but I still don't understand what's where. I just know, okay, Vancouver.

It's big. I was there last August, so I'd have no excuse here. I know you take a ferry to an island, and then suddenly you were Victoria and all that stuff. And I know you take that great highway to the Whistler. And what's the other one? Squamish? Squamish. What you want to do, though, if you can, though, is take a float plane to Whistler, which is what my wife and I did,

which is pretty spectacular. It takes 45 minutes, and if you're lucky, there'll be nobody else in the float plane, and the pilot will actually take you a little extra around before you get up the Whistler. So when you walk in the doors there in the promotions working with Captain Phil, what year are we talking here? This is 1998.

98. There was a great Pearl Jam show at Molson Park in Bury in 98. I have 98. So there was a great Pearl Jam show at Molson Park in Barry. That was the very first event that I ever worked at. You know what? Honestly, I didn't know that. I just, this is seriously because I remember I was going to,

I went, I don't know. I wouldn't say a lot of shows, but I would go to a lot of big shows, especially when there's lots of, I was a big Pearl Jam guy anyways. And that was the yield tour. And I was at,

and I just remember distinctly, I've seen Pearl Jam, I don't know, 12 to 15 times or something in my life but that show in 98 at molson park and berry might be my favorite pearl jam show i've ever seen and that's the first one you're uh you're working for uh that was the first time we ever i ever did promo and i was handing out a lot of swag including a ton of humble and fred condoms right right and the weirdest experience that first day i'm uh you know i'm in the park i've got the tent set up and there are like kids essentially coming up to me and one asked for my autograph and i'm thinking you don't want my autograph i just i'm

a new pro promo guy i just started she goes, but you work for the edge. I want your autograph. So I signed like a humble and Fred condom rapper for her. And I thought, okay, this is, this is interesting. I knew, I mean, I always wanted to be at the edge. It was my dream to be at that. I listened growing up and I kind of understood the power of what it meant to be a part of that. And I was just, to this day, I thought, okay. And I still look back on to that moment too.

And I think, how lucky am i to get a chance to work here and i mean because of that but because of what the edge represents now 98 i'm taking myself back and yes yes we were online but it was a whole different degree of online like uh you know i remember i'd dial up and then i would uh go to like sports illustrated uh and cnn had a site and I would kind of read, go join the forums and find out what we were saying about whatever Roger Clemens or whatever. But this is a different, so, so radio is still like very, very important. Like, well, it's not that it's not, it's less important now. I don't, I don't want to spoil it.

I still think it's important in some respects, but we'll get to that. Yeah. We'll talk about, I, I'm not, I'm not going to disagree it for you. I still think it's important in some respects, but we'll get to that. Yeah, we'll talk about it. I'm not going to disagree with that. But it was more monolithic kind of a culture. So the one station that you could tune into and hear like a Pearl Jam song for somebody growing up in the GTA was, I mean, hits, I guess, might play some Pearl Jam

and maybe you heard a bit on the rock in offshore or something, but the, the big station and the big smoke was edge 102.1. The edge. There was the edge. Then at that time, I mean,

it was Pearl jam, a lot of red, hot chili peppers, Jane's addiction, Nickelback, limp biscuits. This was like a limp biscuit corn. Like, yeah, this is like Limp Bizkit, Korn this is like

that's what we're playing at this point so grunge is kind of over and now you've moved into what you call maybe a new metal or something like that yeah it started to change in the early 2000s right a little bit more on this 98 show

because you were working it were you able to see uh see much of the concert uh i did actually i got a chance we because we stopped working once the show started so i got a chance to to watch the show which was which was amazing and we didn't leave that night because there was i believe somersault was happening the next day at molson Park. Yeah. So we stayed in like basically in a tour bus that night, got up and then worked the next show. So yeah, I got a chance to watch that show. And that was the first time I'd ever seen Pearl Jam. I haven't seen them 12 or 15 times.

I've seen them three times. They're fantastic. Because I remember the small stage, right? I remember distinctly, like I know Hayden was on the small stage. I remember Matt, I think Matt Good was there. Cracker was for sure there. They were know hayden was on the small stage i remember matt i think matt good was there cracker was for sure there they were like the big band on the small stage but as all systems go like there was a lot of it was great it was a great show before and a cheap trick of course a cheap trick open for pearl jam which was interesting but it was a so it was a great kind of a great day of uh tunes before you got to the big stage and pearl jam so it's great

great times yeah it was crazy it was great. Great times. Yeah, it was crazy. It was crazy. It was the first time I'm working promo and we're going to Molson Park in Barry. We're staying over and I'm giving away stuff and I get to watch Pearl Jam. Wow. Now, I need you to do a little name dropping. Like, who are some of the people that were at the edge in 98 when you joined?

Maybe shout out some people that were good to you. Okay, so Humble and Fred were doing The Morning Show with Sandra. Who was producing it at that time? That was Jason Barr. So it would have been Danger Boy. Right. Because I think you guys were trying to go through the lineup of Humble and Fred show producers. Right.

So I was like, basically I went, I don't remember, Greg Williams. Greg Williams. I was the first guy. I'm not familiar with him. And then Dan Duran. Dan Duran. And I believe it was Danger Boy. And then came Chicken Shawarma after that.

And then Bingo Bob, I believe. Yeah, I think you've nailed it. And that is it for terrestrial radio in that show, I think. Because when Humble and Fighter are fired from the mix, Bingo Bob is tossed out with them. That's it. And then all the future producers are just digital, like podcast era, if you want. And you're continuing this lineage of Humble and Fred show producers

now. I'm told I'm number nine. That's what I was told. So we've got Humble and Fred and Sandra and Danger Boy on the morning show. May Potts is doing Middays. Alan Cross is doing the afternoon drive. And then we've got Vishna and Brother Bill who are doing like evenings and weekend swing.

And then George is doing the Thursday 30 with Martin. And George had the craziest schedule, like the most insane schedule because he'd work a couple overnights. He'd work Thursday night and then he'd work 6 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. That was a shift. And then I was I would come in and do all the like six months after I started working in promo. I would fill in on any overnights there, basically. You know, that lineup sounds that sounds like a great lineup. I know this is a lot of this is like, what's the greatest music in the world?

And then it's whatever you loved when you were 17 years old. There's a lot of that going on. And although I'm in my 20s at this point, but 98, but that lineup sounds pretty damn good. I mean, I think I listened to a lot of Edge in 1998. Oh yeah. I know it was very controversial,

Brother Bill, when Alan Cross's name came up uh i don't know i don't know did you listen to the brother bill episode i did yes and i it seemed like uh there was a suggestion that like again alan's a great fotm and i really enjoy listening to alan but brother bill's point was that when it was all going down at the time that alan wasn't there that was i think brother bill's uh point i think that was think that was his clue. Yeah. See, I don't know because I never saw Alan. During the day, because I was always working in the middle of the night, I never saw anybody. I would kind of see people at meetings very briefly. So I didn't know what the hell was going on. I was just too busy trying to impress Stuart Myers, who was the program director, and try and get off overnights because frankly, it was killing me. I loved doing it, but I wanted to be on during the day.

Right. So how did your career at 102.1 progress? So you start off in promotions and then I guess six months later, you get a little bit of on-air time. And how does it progress while you're there? Then I'm doing consistent overnights. I think for a year, I worked constantly. I didn't have any days off just because I wanted to get the experience and they were giving me shifts so i'm like okay i'll do that and then uh i i think that's when stew meyers left and dave farrow came in shortly thereafter and then i started doing um weekend mornings so the all request breakfast saturday and sunday which was i thought i made it at that point because i always listened to the all request breakfast i loved listening to pete fowler do the all request breakfast.

I love Pete Fowler. I should have wore my lost Indy city t-shirt. I have four. I got my toque somewhere. I should have put that on too. But I was doing the all request breakfast on Saturday and Sunday mornings. And then I do a couple overnights and then I was doing evenings after that or, and then weekend afternoons pretty consistently three evenings.

And then the weekends and filling in on afternoon drive and filling in on middays. And then I started working with Neil Mann, who was the music director. I was the assistant music director. So I was in on music meetings and selecting the music, which was again, another surreal experience. I'm like, I can't believe I'm here actually helping pick the music that's going to be on the air in these music meetings now uh what kind of guy is i haven't actually met oh you know what i've met him in a completely different capacity so before i had a podcast i bumped into him uh humble howard was making this uh cheap game show thing and i bumped into neil mann at this this whole other universe thing. But what kind of guy is Neil Mann? And I'm going to preface this by saying,

now he's stuck in my head as the only guy at the party for Marty who said no to the invitation to come on. So it's like he's on my, he's on, I know, I know. But is he a good guy? Was he good to work for? Yeah, he was. I mean, he was the guy who actually, I went with him when I left the Edge

and I went out to Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo, to Dave FM. And is that Dave FM? No, I get my station. It's now Dave Rocks, essentially, out in Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge. And that's different than 91.5 The Beat. That's correct.

It's completely different than The Beat. The Beat's a top 40 station. Okay. And then Dave Rocks is basically an active rock station. Yeah, I got a lot of ignorance out there. You got to educate me. Okay, so how long in total this first round? How long?

Five years. Five years. Five years. And by the time I leave, I'm doing everything. The only thing I didn't do is I didn't fill in for Martin for a club gig. That's the one thing I never did. But I filled in, uh, after humble and Fred left Dean came on the morning show and I would fill in for Dean when he'd go on

vacation, I would just do everything, anything and everything. But there was no consistent spot for me anywhere. I was just basically filling in all over the place. I'm thinking, well, what's, what's going to happen here? Um, so I remember having a conversation with JJ Johnson, who was the general manager at the time. And he's like, you know, sometimes you have to leave to go to a smaller market and get some experience and come back. You could be waiting for a really long time.

And it had been five years. I wasn't getting any younger. And I was thinking, well, I want to do afternoons consistently. I want to work my way up to mornings. And Neil was taking over a station, a chorus station in Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo. And he wanted me to do afternoon drive. So I said, it was not an easy decision, but I thought I should, I have to go do this. And it could be, I'll come back. I figured a

couple of years I'll come back. Right. And it could be worse, right? Like you could have been going off to Timbuktu or something like the fact that, you know, this is a, you can drive to shows in Toronto, right? I mean, in Toronto. It would be perfect. An hour and I could come home and see my friends and family. My girlfriend at the time did not move with me. She stayed in Toronto. I was back and forth quite a bit. You were living in West Toronto?

At that point, she was in Coxwell and Danforth. Okay, that's not West Toronto. That's not West Toronto. Did I say West Toronto? No, no, no, no. My brain still remembers that you grew up in Etobicoke. Yes, I did. So going on the other side of Yonge Street and living out there was not easy, let me tell you. I have friends who grew up in the West where I grew up. I grew up, it was York, not York region, but York, the old borough of York. So it was very close. So it was definitely way West of Yonge Street. And until very, very recently when I started biking a lot of Don Valley Parkway

and like just a few weeks ago, I went up that steep pottery road and O'Connor and Pape and all these areas. What do you call that? East York. But until very, very recently, my East of Young knowledge was very like pathetic. Like unless it was the South part,

like I just, just because it's almost like all the, like I always say, like almost all in the Danforth Hall accepted and some like opera house and stuff. Most music venues I'd go to were West of Young. All the sports facilities everything was west of young there was nothing there east of young there was just uh i

just nothing scarborough was might as well have been like again it might as well have been tim timbuktu like it was another city basically i know it was all i mean at that point it was toronto and then etobicoke and east york and scarborough and all that it was they were in an entirely different world altogether and there wasn't as you say a lot of reason to go to that side of the city really and it was very industrial in parts uh obviously and that's begun to change now and it was um i mean now i love it i went to school out there that's where the centennial college campus was just off danforth out there so i got to know it very well and really enjoyed living out there so we got to shout out a couple of like east enders who are listening right now so bob willett of course yes he lives out bingo bob bingo bob jay and that's right the next one i'm going to is uh yeah who uh rob johnston i always

remember it's stunun, not Sun. I think he got shouted out in the Brother Bill episode. I think we were talking about where is... It was his birthday. Yeah. Happy birthday to... You don't get it again, Robbie J. Why, you're stingy with the birthdays. No, you get the one.

You don't get another one. Sorry about that, Robbie J. Maybe next year you get another one. His dad actually taught me grade eight wow i didn't know that is a small world i'm trying when jeff merrick announced that uh sofia yurstukovic's dad was his favorite teacher of all time at humberside collegiate this is the uh the next big bomb that robbie j's dad taught carlos benavides he did yes and he And there's something that he still tells me about that sticks in my brain that Rob will know because I'm sure he told Rob all the time.

But he heard me swearing in class once. And the thing is, I was brought to the front of the class along with my best friend Steve because we couldn't be in the back of the class. So he'd bring me to the front of the class and we'd sit at the front of the class so he'd keep an eye on us. But he heard me swear.

And then he stops class and he's a big man. and he looks right at me and he's just like carlos do you know that uh profanity is the use of a feeble mind trying to express itself forcibly oh and i looked at him i said no that's a good line not but it stuck with me i gotta write even though i continue to swear quite a bit he'd be very disappointed in me i my i mean my theory you know your kids only three months but at some point you'll realize to me context is everything like i actually if you pep a swear word used uh sparingly in the right context i'm a-okay with even from my kids like uh like spice right it's all context like it's you know don't call me a fucking asshole but you know but if you if if the leafs score an overtime goal and you go uh fucking awesome

or whatever or yeah like when uh when uh kawaii leonard hits that uh well it wasn't a three it was a two-pointer but hits that four bouncer against philly like fuck like are you kidding me like that's a great use of a swear word. So let me... Listen, I agree with you. Okay. Just, you know, context. You're right.

Context is king. So we're leaving now the big smoke here, but we're going to pause for a moment because as you know, you've had six years prior to COVID. You had six years. You could have come to the TMDS studio here. Correct.

You would have been sitting right to my left here and I would have been able to see you right there. And because you would have been here and I would have given you, and this is the truth, I would have given you a six pack of fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery. I know. And you would have driven back west with this beer, fresh beer, and not only only beer i would have given you a uh lasagna from palma pasta i know so that one really hurts you snooze and you're losing and i would have given you because i i i would love to find out where this ended up but i would have given you a toronto

mic sticker that was made uh by sticker you.com i have have a feeling of probably end up here on my Mac. I can, I can, I can put one in the mail, but I actually feel like if we just wait this out a bit, there will, we will cross paths again. So hopefully for a happier and happier times.

How are you doing with the pandemic? Like it's, you notice at the beginning of the pandemic, that was the first question and you want went, how are you holding up? But then that question, to me, it sort of dissipated. We all kind of adapted and it became the new normal. And now I don't even bring it up that often. But I know you have the newborn, so that's probably the primary focus.

But I mean... I mean, it's a double-edged sword. I mean, it's been wonderful because he was born February the 12th. And a month later, we were into the pandemic. So I've been able to be here and see him probably more than if I was at work. But the issue with that is that I'm consumed at times with work because I'm teaching now and the whole tail end of the semester was kind of blew up because I had to reimagine how I was going to teach that last bit without hands-on stuff. So

that took up a lot of my time and I'm still focusing on doing the teaching. So structure and discipline, I think, is tricky. I mean, it's all well and good to have a home office, but there's something about leaving to go to the office or wherever your place of work is and be able to come home and have it as sort of your oasis away from work where you can compartmentalize things. And I think for myself and for a lot of people, you can't do that right now. It's, it's there all the time in your face. So, I mean, that has been a juggling act. And also, uh, I know it's been, it's been harder, I think for my wife too, because I mean, she's got this newborn newborn. She was really looking forward to maternity and having people come over and see him. He's not met really anybody beyond my parents real quick once, her parents really quickly, and that's it. So that's been tough, too. Now, I would think, well, I have a four-year-old, so that's my frame of reference on this. I would think,

well, I have a four-year-old, so that's my frame of reference on this, but I would think having a three-month-old during the pandemic is actually a lot better than having a three-year-old during the pandemic. I would think so, yeah. They're so oblivious, and they're just a blob, right? Exactly.

And they can't, because a three-year-old, at some point, a three-year-old, when you reintroduce that three-year-old to society, if you will, I would think they would be like what we say, I guess it's called making strange, but the whole concept of other people is going to be kind of a mind,

a mind fuck for a three-year-old where as a three-month-old, it's, they just came out of that, you know, came out of the womb. It's like they're an ambiotic fluid or whatever. Like this is a, they're used to being kind of isolated. Yeah. I mean, it depends on how long this goes on because eventually we want to socialize him with other people beyond us i mean all right now his world is me and my wife and that and some people through facetime and skype my parents her my wife's parents you know family brothers sisters but that's about it yeah it's got to be tough but maybe at point, he just thinks that's the world.

This is how I experience the world. But right now, they're just thinking, I'm hungry. Oh, someone changed this diaper. I'm tired. And that's it, I think. They got the three emotions or whatever. He finally went down for a nap, by the way. He's been down for about 25 minutes, I think.

Maybe I should whisper for the rest of the afternoon. No, we're good. I've got the office a little farther away, so we're okay so you mentioned the bleeding end of the world for me it was this was like so uh prior to actually the last day i guess of of this would be uh friday the 13th in march but that because that day you know the four-year-old who was three at the time went to daycare and the six-year-old who was five at the time went to kindergarten and we have after school and preschool care and i you know i pay i pay pretty good bucks that i can basically come home at 8 a.m to an empty house and then i it's pretty empty and it's always empty until about 5 p.m like this was my life yeah and since march 13th uh there's never been a moment where i've

been in this home alone like that has not happened i go on bike rides where i'm alone but right at home so which which is where i've been working since 2011 uh that so it's just it's to me at this whole like this everybody's on my turf all the time but i've i feel i've adapted like now this is just you know it's been almost three months it's like yeah so then so but but i think we uh we're i think we're missing the uh the uh psychological effect of the whole this whole radical change to our lifestyle that we all kind of like i think yeah we might have adapted because i think humans are pretty adaptable animals but uh i think we're probably underestimating the psychological effects. Like, you know, like, so I always wonder, I have no doubt. I mean, you and I are connecting here,

but not in the same way that if I was sitting across from you, it's entirely different. It doesn't feel the same. It doesn't feel as organic. Right. And I think I feel it a lot. I know my wife feels it a lot. And I think a lot of other people are missing that. This is wonderful. Can you imagine if we lived in a world without this technology and this pandemic happened? I mean, 1918, Spanish flu. I mean, what in the hell would we have done then? I can't imagine what kind of world we would it be like. So thankfully we have this and we can do the Toronto Mike podcast, of course. Which is a miracle into itself that we continue here. So I should thank the pandemic. It into itself that we continue here. And I should thank

the pandemic. It made the Carlos episode possible here. So, alright, so before we get you, Kitchener, is that where Dave is? Is Dave in Kitchener? Yeah, both Dave and the Beat are in Kitchener. They serve Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Ayr, Brantford, London,

Woodstock, etc., etc. The Tri-Cities and beyond. It's amazing to me. I don't work there anymore, by the way. I don't know why I'm promoting it, but anyway, that's where I work., London, Woodstock, etc., etc. The Tri-Cities and beyond. It's amazing to me. I don't work there anymore, by the way. I don't know why I'm promoting it. But anyway, that's where I work. But yeah, I mean, you know, they still exist. So real talk here. But even though you mentioned it's only like an hour west or something to drive,

this is completely foreign to me. Like I've never heard a state. I know of them only from talking to people like yourself. But anyway, before I get to that, I just want to ask you, Carlos, if you could, after this call, go to GarbageDay.com slash Toronto Mike and sign up for this free service. It's basically great alerts as to,

is it Garbage Day? Is it recycling? You got yardways pickup. It really helps the show too. So I hope everybody goes to GarbageDay.com slash Toronto Mike. I actually sincerely love the service and give it a try. You can always opt out. If you don't like it, you can opt out,

but I advise you give it a go and, and you'll, you'll probably dig it, Carlos. So, well, today is garbage day. I can hear the trucks outside doing their work right now.

My garbage day too. We have the same garbage day, Carlos. Oh my God. Garbage twins. And I want to drop a number here. I don't think I dropped it in the same garbage day, Carlos. Oh my God. Garbage twins. And I want to drop a number here. I don't think I dropped it in the last couple episodes,

but Barb Paluskiewicz, she's with CDN Technologies and she loves getting, like, yeah, you can contact her at cdntechnologies.com. If you have any issues with your network or computer problems

or even want to talk about some IT services or anything related to computers, networks networks etc uh you you can always contact barb through cdn technologies.com but she tells me she really likes getting phone calls like so i'm gonna give out her number because you can phone and she'll and she'll talk to you and she just likes to have conversations with people about their issues etc 905, I think she's in Oakville. So 905-542-9759. That's to get a hold of Barb at CDN Technologies.

And if you have any questions at all about the GTA real estate market, and if you're thinking of buying and or selling in the next six months, Austin Keitner is the man to talk to. Text Toronto Mike to 59559. And let's get Carlos to Kitchener here so so tell me about your uh about your career in Kitchener post CFNY and get us to that point where you actually uh return to 102.1 for a brief period so So it was August of night two, August, 2003 that I, uh,

left the edge and went to, uh, to work at Dave to do afternoons. It was, you know, just a small little station course, didn't have any properties in Kitchener or Waterloo and they wanted to make, uh, inroads there so I mean it was talk about night and day I mean we're talking about going from Toronto the edge massive station huge listenership to a brand new station in a

studio that I mean it was it was tiny things just didn't work the same necessarily but I mean it was a good challenge to go from that the edge and go to a smaller station in a smaller market. I got to do a lot more than I was doing at the edge. So I worked there for six and a half years doing drive.

And it was great because for the first time in my radio career, I was actually doing a consistent show in one place at the same time. So people got to know you. You get to create relationships with people on a, a more tangible level. And that's the part of radio that I love the most out of anything is making the connections and going on and being a part of the community. So that was amazing. And I always wanted to do mornings.

Did you, I'm trying to think of F where was FOTM Scott Turner at? So Scott Turner at? So Scott Turner was when I arrived there, he was probably he may have still been in of my career because well, listen, Scott, he was on your podcast and it was amazing. And I love listening to him and I wish he was,

I could hear him more often because he's a fantastic broadcaster. He's a great programmer too. But he's a fantastic broadcaster. He's got tons of amazing stories. Agreed. But he, he was a program director for, for Dave.

And then chorus ended up buying The Beat from Canwest, who had divested themselves of that radio property. So he took it on at perfect. Scott Turner, top 40 station. I mean, this is a guy that worked at Energy for years and years. So he totally revamped The Beat. And about six and a half, four years later, there was an opening on mornings.

And I told him that I wanted to do mornings. And he gave me an opportunity to go and do the morning morning show at 91.5 the beat now for me that was a big switch i'd only ever done rock music to be honest i never thought i'd do top 40. okay yeah so so the beat is as the name suggests uh this is sort of like a rmb maybe just your like maybe something like you'd hear on like virgin 99.9 right now. Pretty much, yeah. Top 40 station. Top 40 station. And was the plan, tell the truth here, Carlos, was the plan to use your morning show at 91.5 the beat as a, like a jumping spot to eventually be the morning show host at 102.1 the edge?

I mean, I can't say that that was the main reason for it. I just wanted to do mornings ultimately. And I thought if maybe there's an opportunity to that that was the main reason for it i just wanted to do mornings ultimately and i thought if maybe there's an opportunity to do that down the line perfect that would be great um and uh that didn't happen but because i mean they literally just took a morning show from uh 107.9 hamilton correct right and dropped it it is now a bad timing in my opinion I like so those guys are FOTMs and I really like them a lot but that to me the timings I think that's a tough time to start a morning show gig is uh when COVID breaks like I think that's just unfortunate timing but uh I mean you you could argue that it may actually be better only because according to

some research right now listeners listenership has increased. More people are looking to make connections in the world that exists right now. And they don't have a big following with the edge, but at least hopefully, you know, people follow them over from, from, uh,

from why I went away to the edge. So are you, that's an interesting point you just made. Like, cause my, again, I don't work at radio. I don't,

I don't see all this stuff, but my feeling is radio's best friend is the car. This is my feeling. And you can, please, when I finish the statement,

you can say, I vehemently disagree with you, Toronto Mike, but I feel the car is the best friend of radio and that the morning drive and afternoon drive,

well, the word drive, it's because people are stuck in in traffic they're commuting to and from work the commute for people in the gta is very long and uh you're listening to terrestrial radio and that when covid broke a lot of people's uh commute uh disappeared and their car time plummeted. Right. And traffic jams almost disappeared overnight. And in my, and this is me, I'm not talking news radio. I mean, music radio. I would think that the pie would shrink is my gut feeling, but you tell me that might not be true.

Well, we're still trying to, when I say we, you were talking about we earlier. I mean, I'm not involved in any way, shape, or form in this, but it's the research that's going on. For example, Jacobs Media is doing a number of research projects on what's happening with listenership with COVID-19. with an audience so much so that you don't want to miss what they're talking about. So even if your life changes and you are now dealing with the pandemic, you're going to want to take them with you wherever you are. You're a smart speaker, your phone. We have the technologies for people to take them with them wherever they go. So having a strong dynamic show that makes those connections is really important, which

is and maybe we'll get to this, I think part of the problem with The Edge for the past six years is you haven't had the ability to create that on a morning show because they change it so consistently. But I think that's really, really important. It's creating a heritage or at least knowing consistency that people, it's habitual. Radio listening is habitual. You know somebody's going to be there at a certain time, even though your life has changed and pandemic is here and you don't know what's happening. You can rely on that person on the radio to, A, comfort you, maybe make you laugh, make you think a little bit. And that's really what radio continues to do. to do. Now, the trick is to get people to follow out of the car and with a smart speaker and with your phone, but that's compelling content, compelling personalities, because everybody plays

kind of the same music. And people can go to Spotify and can go to Apple and get all that music. So what's the draw to radio and to the same thing? Podcasts is compelling conversations, interesting people saying interesting things that make you want to listen. Do these shows, though, allow the personalities to speak like beyond, you know, you got 90 seconds and then. Well, that's the one thing about working with Scott and working at the beat. And I think for most morning shows, I mean, Scott was very much about personality radio. Now, we would talk. I think we had we had four or five breaks in the morning,

so we could talk for about three or four minutes, approximately, and he would say, listen, if you're going to go longer, that's fine. Make sure it's really good, but we weren't drilled down to a minute, two minutes necessarily. On a morning show, you have more liberty where you can expand and go a little longer with that.

And hopefully that's the mindset of the programmer. It allows you to do that personality radio is very important now the last the last morning show on 102.1 that had you know a number of years under its belt was uh the dean blendel show and i mean blendel uh i understand there were times when he he was given like i don't have the exact numbers but he might have been given like 12 13 14 minutes in a row to just talk yeah like he was given that because he had established himself with that audience and they trusted him and he had some really fantastic numbers for a really long time and he did that show for 13 years that is like an eternity in in morning radio in a major market now derringer been there longer, but again,

that's an example of someone who has created a relationship. When you think of Q107, you think of Derringer right away. Right. And then I think the only one who could beat that probably is Marilyn Dennis in this market. Yeah, exactly. Been there a long time. Now, so since Blundell left 102.1, you referenced this, but it's been, left 102.1 you you reference this but it's been uh no in my opinion no show has had a chance to kind of gain traction it has had enough time to get a fair shot and i won't i can't remember anymore but i know fearless fred was in there josie die was in there i know that adam was in there with melanie i know that uh they had a brother sister duo come from vancouver for a year that was fairly recently and now the y108 morning show has been uh dropped in there like the b team

i believe is what they call themselves now the b team right the b team so so i think you've covered just about all ramifications i don't know if it was the exact timeline of it but as i think that's a perfect way to describe it because most people aren't as invested as you or i in this so they couldn't even necessarily tell you who was on the morning show when they just know that they haven't been there long enough to make uh a connection with them like just the uh ruby and alex right we're there for one year one year that's it that's not enough time to get an audience to want to listen to you it's going to take i say at least three to five years. That first year doing a morning show

is just you figuring things out for yourself. And if you've never worked with someone before, figuring each other out. So you've got at least one year. I say three to five for a morning show to really establish itself. Why is the station so impatient now? Like, how long will they give the B team?

Like, I know you don't have the crystal ball in front of you and you're not in the boardroom there making these decisions. But you mentioned Ruby and Alex. And by all accounts, lovely people. They relocated for the gig. And to make room for that duo, they turfed Adam and Mel, I believe. So basically, you're going to remove Adam and Mel, so they don't have enough time to kind of gain any.

And Adam had been there a long time, as you know. He had been. A long time. And now you've removed them. Adam's now, by the way, on Hits FM. He is. And Mel is somewhere. Is she at Indie 88?

She's at Indie 88 doing middays. Good for them. Okay. And then you got Ruby. And Indie 88 is something we should talk about too. Yeah, I do. Because I want to talk about Bookie soon. So here, yes yes we'll definitely do

that so you have um where am i now yeah so so why remove and again i don't i'm not a radio programmer but why remove and by the way 590 has similar problems but that's a whole different uh podcast but you why remove the uh adam and mel show to make room for the siblings you're going to move from vancouver if you're only going to give them a year before doing something completely different. I just don't understand the long-term vision. I don't know. There may be other factors at play here that clearly we're not aware of. I think part of it is this is a massive city, Toronto we're talking about, with big numbers and big money. So if you're not delivering those numbers, we can see them now with PPMs daily. Before there was a diary and in a market like Kitchener, I think, sometimes. And you can really look at those numbers to the point where it's a detriment to someone over time. continue to like they have an advantage because they've worked together already and they come from a market that's relatively close so maybe they brought listeners with them who maybe had

been checking out what was happening maybe it's hamilton toronto i'm not sure that listeners would have necessarily gone over and checked with them if you're a toronto listener and you mentioned indie 88 so this is also the big you know big change is that there was no competition for this kind of music forever and suddenly and again this is similar this i change is that there was no competition for this kind of music forever. And again, this is similar. I find a lot of parallels between the Fan 590 because they had the same situation. And now suddenly they have bonafide competition at $10.50. But the Indie 88 exists.

And I don't get the full book, but if you look at things that leak on the internet and certain demos, 88's caught 102.1, which we probably wouldn't have predicted. I don't think we predicted that would happen because of the huge head start in the market. Sure, but the edge hasn't done itself any favors by the morning show issues that have been going on for the past six years. So Indie88 has been consistent with their shows. Also, if you look and you break down the shows on Indie88, your morning show is Josie Dye, who used to work at The Edge. Your midday show is Melanie, who used to work at The Edge. Before that, it was the late, great David Bookman,

who was part of The Edge fabric for years and years and years. Alan Cross worked at Indie88 for a time after he was let go by the Edge before he came back to chorus. That offers instant credibility to a brand new station. Your Afternoon Drive is Lana Gay, who worked at the Edge some time ago. So you've got a whole bunch of ex-Edge listeners working at this station, which I think is out-Edging the Edge and just what they're doing in the music they're playing from a personal perspective as someone who worked there. No, I, excuse me. I agree. I'm a little choked up. I'm so passionate about this subject.

I agree completely. You mentioned Bucky. We, I think last week was the anniversary of his passing. Correct. And his birthday. And his birthday, right. He would have been 60, I believe. Yes. The big 6-0. And we talked about this, so if people haven't heard yesterday's episode of Toronto Mic'd

with Mark Weisblot from 1236, there was a great deal of bookie talk off the top of that episode and we discussed all this. This funny quick story is that Stephen Page played, he was doing a facebook live tribute to bookie and was going to play uh brian wilson and he exchanged he said i recently learned uh that

the first time that i played this was on a ciut show hosted by dave bookman and the funny thing is we played it because uh the reason the show he heard that from me on toronto mic where i i shared that and i learned it from wise blood. So we were joking how it all comes together. But could you take a moment, please, Carlos, and tell us a little bit about what it was like working with Dave Bookman? Well, when I first, I'd heard Bookie. But to hear Bookie and to meet him is an experience because um well he was not different at all in any way shape or form he was the same bookie he was off the air as he was on the air he never stopped

moving he was just full of like this nervous energy which was really contagious i worked with him doing uh live on the edge for a short period of time before uh i killed the show i guess i don't know after i did the show was done so i i had the pleasure of time before I killed the show, I guess. I don't know. After I did the show, it was done. So I had the pleasure of working with him on that show. He was just so smart, so funny, so willing to do anything, and also really willing to just share a ton of experience that he had and just knowledge. And his energy was infectious.

I mean, when you're around somebody who has that much positive energy, it rubs off on you you can be having a shitty day like a really shitty day and it's easy to have a shitty day sometimes but then you hang out with bookie and you realize i'm not having a shitty day anymore because he's just so happy all the time and i would talk to him about the young and the restless and i talked to him about sports i mean he loved his ottawa senators which you know he and I never really could see eye to eye on that, but he would talk about anything music wise and sports wise. If I had a question and I didn't know, I'd say bookie and he would have an answer.

He would know about something all the time. So I learned a tremendous amount from him, not just from, you know, being an announcer, just being like a person, just being a good human being i mean his whole thing courtesy is contagious he was always he was just always big on being a positive good person i don't remember ever seeing him in a bad mood he was always just in a really good mood we lost him far too soon and now uh yeah if you let's take a moment maybe if you could talk about working with uh Streak, who I guess now it's been about almost 11 years since he passed away. Yes, which is crazy. I never got a chance to work directly with Martin like I did with Dave.

And I found getting to know Martin a little not as easy as getting to know Dave. And I actually, I got to know Martin and got, not as easy as getting to know Dave and I. Actually, I got to know Martin and got closer with him after I left and went to came out to Kitchener here. He was always just he would give me a hard time because that was

Martin. He would give me a hard time. Much like Howard, not in the same way, but he was again I like Howard, not in the same way, but he was, again, I think with Martin, it was kind of a larger than life thing when I met him because I heard him in the clubs. So just getting to know him was really cool. I just say, I can't believe I'm hanging out here with Martin Streak. Same thing with Dave Bookman.

But I always was concerned with Martin because I just, I wasn't sure if he was okay. He always, he just seemed later on, just before he passed on, that seemed to be that he was doing much better. He sounded so much better on the air. I remember messaging him saying, you just sound like you got it together.

And then shortly thereafter he was, he was gone. And I remember the last message I sent him was like, I'll be in Toronto at this point, at this time. Do you want to meet up on this day? And he's like, yeah, for sure, let's meet up. And that was the last time I ever talked to him. We never got a chance to meet up with him.

And I remember listening to the Thursday 30. I'd be at work finishing my show with Dave, and I'd be listening, and I'd message him, and he would shout me out on the air. He was just a genuinely good person as, as with, with book. He had his demons though. Clearly he had some things that he was,

he was fighting. And, um, I didn't realize them as much at the time as I, as I did now. And, um, uh,

I just, I feel lucky that I got to know both of those guys because they were both genuinely good people in different different ways i don't think i'm properly explaining uh that but i don't think it's a i think when it comes to uh martin streak and i say this only as somebody who's talked to so many people and asks them about their memories and thoughts on martin is that like if you for example you know i saw you in the peripheral at the party for marty and that day i had dozens of people telling me stories about streaky stuff and i one of the stories that sticks out of my mind is from craig venn and what i thought was interesting was that it was craig venn it it was complex like it wasn't

you know some people just say oh what a great guy love the music there'll never be another one like you know end of story and it's like okay wow and then but sometimes it's not quite as clean cut and dry as that like sometimes it's not quite as simple as that sometimes it's like usually it's far more complex like so it's just and even brother bill bring it back to to bill when i asked him about martin streak you know it's uh it's not a all or nothing kind of thing when you're describing somebody of that character. And I just remember he was,

he would always call me Carlos blah, blah, blah, because he couldn't pronounce my last name, but that's what he would always say from the moment I met him to the time because he had his, he had his sticks, right?

I mean, beastie brothers, I became Carlos blah, blah, blah, whenever we talked all the time and um i was i mean it was ridiculous and uh i like it's kind of like howard i'm his i'm his half mexican even though i'm portuguese i'm his little half mexican right i mean we talk about bingo bob

he's only bingo bob because uh at some day when he was in the humble and fred studio as a probably an intern uh howard decided he was bingo bob because he had he did he called in the Humble and Fred studio as probably an intern, Howard decided he was Bingo Bob because he called out the letters at a bingo hall or something, right? So it's sort of like, yeah, Howard would kind of... And I mean, there's some names that did an age as well that are not politically correct that people like Todd Shapiro had, right?

So... Yes. Which we don't need to repeat now, but they wouldn't fly in 2020. And that's another one that you have there. And Chicken Shwarma, right? Yes. He didn't even know what Shwarma was.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he's a great guy. And he was really helpful in that party for Marty, too. He did a great job. Well, Andy, I have to give a shout-out to Shwarma and to George, Strombolopoulos, because it was those guys that helped me get on the air back at the edge originally because they both went in and talked to Stu Myers, who was the PD at the time and said, listen, this guy cares. He's give him a shot.

He deserves an opportunity. Right. And Stu listened to them and I got my chance. So I have to thank them for that. And also Phil Evans for hiring me. Sure. And Neil Mann was always a big uh supporter of me too so so here let's let's get you back to the edge for that brief period because i'm curious so how long that

wasn't that long ago when abouts did you do your return that was 2014 so i was doing mornings at uh the beat and there was this was after dean had left so they were looking for a new morning show at that point so i applied for the morning show i'm doing mornings i want to do mornings so they ended up hiring uh so it was dominic josie and greg beharel that was the show that they they put on the air and um there was a midday opportunity so uh blair bartram who was the the uh program director called me up. I had gotten to know him and he knew of me so he offered me the gig. He's like, I think you'd sound really good here on the station. I know it's not mornings. Is this something you sure you want? And I'd been telling anybody as long as possible, I want to come back to Toronto. It's my home. I want to come back and work the edge. So I came back and I

took the gig doing middays. But things at the edge were unsettled. Um, the show before me, that morning show didn't last very long at all. It was done almost about the same time I was done. Cause I think my departure was really sudden for a lot of people. There were some management changes that happened. Blair was no longer my boss. Um, I was wondering what's going to happen here. What's happening here with the edge? To be perfectly honest, I came back to Toronto and I wasn't looking for a lot of money, but I didn't get any money to come back to Toronto.

So I'm thinking, okay, I've got this wonderful, beautiful loft that I live in in Kitchener. I can't afford to buy anything close to this in Toronto, you know, just a little bit of something would have been nice. So it was a number of those factors. I was seeing somebody here. I also left a show that I loved with people I worked with. I really enjoyed working with and we had a really good thing. So in mid days, really, I just didn't enjoy doing mid days. I liked interacting with people. I liked having more freedom. Talk about a minute at a time. I didn't have a lot of time to talk on the air at the edge. So it was a lot of those things. I was commuting for the longest time. That was exhausting, speaking of the commute. So it was a number of factors that led me to just say, you know, maybe this isn't the right time or place for me. I think I should go. And there was still

an opportunity. I was talking to Scott Turner and they didn't fill that spot, my spot at the beat. So I went back. Well, it makes sense to me, all of it. And the part, because the only reason to go is it could be, I guess, like a launching pad

to doing mornings on 102. Oh, I shouldn't put, I mean, there's lots of reasons, I guess, to go back. You wanted to be back in the big smoke or whatever. But it's interesting that I guess, so you're a successful morning show guy in Kitchener and a midday spot in Toronto, and there's no change in compensation. Is that what I'm hearing there? Yes. So that was disappointing. Not surprising,

but it was a little disappointing at the time. Now, if I had stayed longer than three months, maybe that would have changed. I don't know. if I had stayed longer, maybe there would have been an opportunity to move into mornings, but look, if I had probably wouldn't be there anymore. So when I look back on it, I think it was probably the, it was the right decision in a lot of ways, as much as I love that station and I, uh, I wanted to work there. I mean, I did it already. I got a chance to go back. It just wasn't, there wasn't a place for me at the time. No, I get it. I get it. And that commute would, I'm like, I've been without a commute now for nine years. But prior to that, I had a commute to and from work and I could never go back now. Like, it's like, like, I'm way beyond, you know,

it doesn't matter what you offer me. I mean, maybe if you offer me a 10 million a year, we could talk or whatever. I'll figure it out. But I mean, you really can't put me back into a lengthy car commute. I don't mind a bicycle commute at all. In fact, I'd probably enjoy that. But a car commute, I couldn't do it. Like, I just can't imagine having to do that every single day from. Yeah, I hated it.

I mean, my commute to work at the beat was eight minutes. And then I was basically two hours driving part of the way. And then the go train the rest of the way. from my yeah i hated it i i mean my commute to work uh at the beat was eight minutes and then i was basically two hours driving part of the way and then the go train the rest of the way i mean sometimes i would stay in the city at friends places stay with my parents but i was like i was a 47 year old man i just wanted to be in my own space i just wanted to be in my own place you're getting too old for this shit yeah yeah in some ways yeah no that's uh i mean i think it's just a that's that's i think maybe if anything good think it's just a, that's, that's, I think maybe if anything good comes out of the COVID thing, I'm thinking there'll be maybe less, less commuters possibly when this is all.

Definitely that's going to happen. It's already starting to happen with businesses. They realize that, um, you know, uh, I read something in the global mail and it simply said that, you know, our thinking for a long time was that, uh, employers, employees hated working from home and or sorry employees loved it and employers hated it's actually the opposite okay because i so i worked i worked for a uh for several years uh since 2011 not anymore because now i run my own show here at tmds but i worked for a german software company and they had a big management

change in the new and so i i was recruited by a guy who happened to work remotely in Toronto. And then this big upheaval, new management comes in, Germans take over, if you will. And they basically had this... Very efficient, aren't they? There's processes for processes for processes. To me, it's almost like death by process, but that's a whole different podcast. But the big thing was they really were against remote employees they said if you wanted to work for them they had

two offices one was near atlanta georgia and the big one was in frankfurt germany and if you weren't able to go into one of those two like they were really against it i got grandfathered in i think i went another four years when they had this policy where no remote employee, like I grandfathered in and I made another four years out of it. But they were, this is not that long ago. They were adamant that they didn't want people working remotely. They wanted you in the office. And it just seems so antiquated to me to hear this philosophy. Like it just seemed like the opposite of where the world was going. But I digress. I think there has to be a balance between those things. Honestly, I think to be able to have the freedom to work from home and then be able to go in.

And I think you need that to have some face-to-face and also just to be around people and have some sort of, again, I'm talking about connections, but face-to-face with camaraderie with your coworkers is, I think, really important. I think that's the thing that people probably miss the most right now is the cliche of water cooler talk, whatever that might be.

Right. The social interactions, for sure. Absolutely. So you go back to The Beat, 91.5. But then I'm going to read, this was like, I think this was in the global news site or something, some Corazon property. It said, after nine and a half years at 91.5 The Beat, Carlos Benavides announced Monday morning that he was leaving

the station to join the staff at Conestoga College. So, tell me about that decision. Firstly, the obvious question I have to ask is, was that really Carlos' decision or was that something that somebody tapped you on the shoulder and says, hey, what if we change it up? No, no, no. That was my decision

completely. Um, and it was really tough decision, but there was a, it's a fantastic opportunity to go and work, uh, at a college, right. To teach, uh, what I've learned for the past 20 plus years to a whole group, new group of students. Um, I looked at the situation. I'm not getting any younger. I'm working at a top 40 station. I mean, how much longer can this go on? Really? I think it could have gone on for a little bit longer, but somewhere along the way, it wasn't told directly to me, but somebody in management had mentioned that they didn't like me mentioning how old I was on the air. So I could see how, oh, okay, maybe they got a problem with that down the line. So do they know how old Roger Ashby was when they finally shuffled him out

the door? That's the thing, right? I mean, he did absolutely fine. And I think if you're still, I don't think I sounded or acted 50 or whatever that means. My age 50 today in 2020.

And I'm so close to 50. I could hit a rock. Maybe that's why I'm thinking this way, but it's not the same as 50 was, you know, back in like 1980. It's, it's very different.

You got a three month old at home and you're, I'm guessing you're healthy and active and you probably feel like you're 30. You know, I don't feel 30, maybe 35. I need to get running again, Mike. I've been very bad with my running recently, but I also worked with a co-host, Laura Geddes, who is fantastic, who's also 22 years younger than me so that was sort of the context of our conversations I mean when we'd come at things there was a generational divide a pretty significant one which made for a lot of fun so we had to contextualize that I had to mention how my age so that was again a little part of it. Ultimately, I just looked more, I was having a child. What's my future going to look like?

The industry itself, I mean, for me, because I've been in it for a little bit longer, I mean, I'm not young anymore. I just decided that it was probably a good opportunity to go and try something new. I just needed something different. I needed a change for myself personally, too, as much as I love radio and I still do. I wanted to try something new. I just needed something different. I needed a change for myself personally too, as much as I love radio and I still do. I wanted to try something new. I needed to challenge myself. I kind of love the idea of like leaving your comfort zone almost and trying a new taking on it. It's exciting. That's pretty much what exactly what it was. I was getting really comfortable in doing what I was doing. And I, again, I don't want to, I want to stress the fact that I had loved doing it. It was mornings.

It's what I love. That station was fantastic. The listeners, I mean, I miss the connection, especially during what's going on, everything that's happening now to be able to be there and provide some sort of comfort or escape for people. I miss being able to do that, but I also thought about being able to give back because I think that's really important. It's what I tried to do working at the beat with a couple of different initiatives I did over the years.

Oh, like 30 deeds in 30 days, for example? 30 deeds in 30 days for volunteerism and also did the 24-hour walk for Heart and Stroke for five years in a row where I raised money for the Heart and Stroke Foundation, things like that, which I think are important. This is part of that same thing as to I spent the first part of my career for me. I figure I'm spending this part of my career for others and sharing with others and hopefully getting them to where i was so conestoga gave me that opportunity and it's been uh it's been a lot of work it's been a little

stressful so far but it's also been really really rewarding and speaking of that i need to get you to come and talk to my class about the juggernaut that is Toronto Mike and the podcast. I've talked to, what's the college? Durham College? I've talked to Humber College. But your college sounds like it's a long bike ride. Whereabouts is it? Well, it's

in Kitchener. It's just off the 401 at Homer Watson. But the beauty of it is that right now, probably for the next three terms, we're going to be doing classes via Zoom. No brainer, man. I'd be happy to, anytime. Absolutely. I'd be very happy

to. Now, you do have, here's another excerpt that I got from a Rogers website. That one about you leaving the beat was from a Chorus website. Well, here. It tells me that you are the new host of Jack Up, which is very different from Jack Off. That's a whole different story.

It's a different show. Yeah, that's a different show. Jack Up, the 80s. This Jack Up, the 80s is on Rogers Jack-branded stations across the country, except not in Vancouver. I don't know what that's about. What happened? Is there a Jack station in Vancouver?

There is. Larry does that show. Uh, so he's a, he's a heritage in that market. So he does Jack up the eighties there. I do it in Victoria, Calgary, uh,

London, uh, Smith falls in Halifax. That's cool. That's on noon to one Monday to Friday. It's all eighties tunes. I mean, it's everything that I grew up on.

Uh, I mean, I try and think back to, um, Monday to Friday, it's all 80s tunes. I mean, it's everything that I grew up on. I mean, I try and think back to me in high school running home to watch Toronto Rocks with John Major. That's pretty much who I'm channeling, like that person in those experiences when I do this show. And speaking of which, whenever I hear your podcast intro, which I do like, I can't help thinking that you should take the Toronto Rocks intro and make it Toronto Mike some way, some how. Can you get the license for that?

I can't even find, I mean, you can go to YouTube probably thanks to my buddy Retro Ontario, but I can find opening theme on YouTube. But it sounds potato quality, as the kids would say. Like, I can't find a clean uh audio version of that toronto rocks theme song if anyone listening can hook me up uh because you know powerful people in the industry are listening right now i gotta say i love toronto rocks too yeah i should have warned you before cool uh that john major the late great john major i list i watched and i do know that uh their guests sometimes brad uh he passed away did brad Brad? I was in Brad Giffen, right? I'm trying to think of all the Toronto Rock hosts.

But J.D. Roberts would fill in once in a while too. And I had a poster. So I just talked to Shirley McQueen on this program. Yeah, I heard that podcast. And I have a poster. It was given to me by Joel Goldberg because they had a show on CFMT called, I can't remember what it was called.

Say Something or Say Anything? I can't remember. Something Else, it was called. Say something or say anything. I can't remember something else. It was called. Meanwhile, you had Samantha Taylor doing stuff. You had Toronto rock and you had much music just starting up with like Michael Williams and Erica M is in there. Anyway, this poster, uh, I was looking at, I was thinking I would like to have everybody on this poster on Toronto mic'd because I loved all those video shows in the mid eighties, late eighties. Uh, so everything is possible. I can even. Roberts, but of course the great John Major. Not a possibility.

He passed away far too soon and will not be appearing on Toronto Mic. But yeah, that sounds like a cool gig you got going on there with the Jack Station. It's great. It's an hour every day, and it's perfect for a part-time job on top of what I'm doing with the college. It keeps me engaged in radio, which is great. Rogers has been very kind to, to offer that to me and give me the opportunity to have a national show,

which is also really cool. So thank you to Rogers and Paul K and Brady Kingsbury who sort of hooked me up for that. So it's been a really great, it's been a really great fun opportunity for me to still do radio. Cause I knew I was going to miss that as much as I wanted to leave and try something new. I still want it to, to be in radio. So awesome. I do remember, uh, of course I remember we had a Jack station here for, for many years and I quite kind of dug the vibe of it, but a long time ago now, but the, uh, the Jack stations are pretty

cool and it's good to hear that they're still around because I'm so Toronto centric. I, I'm, I'm glad to hear there's a whole network of them. You can listen on radio player Canada to any number of those stations or online at each one of those, uh, state fine radio stations, new to one, uh, a Monday to Friday in whatever market that you're in. So if you want to hear Carlos, uh, you don't have to go to Conestoga College, although it helps. You can tune in to Jack Up the 90s.

Sorry, Jack Up the 80s. The 80s. Right. I would host the 90s show. If you want a 90s show, let me know. Oh, okay. Throwing that out there. But if Rogers can afford my very high price tag.

So Carlos, six years in the making. Yes. You just made your Toronto mic debut. Feels good. Is that the truth? Is that the real talk? I want to make sure that it was everything. And again, it would have been better in person. So, considering we're doing this on Zoom, I thoroughly

enjoyed the conversation and I'm thinking maybe next time, maybe when this is all said and done, you come back and kick out the jams with me. What do you say about that? I would love to kick out the jams. I'm already thinking about some songs. There will be some Kraftwerk in there.

I know that for sure. There will probably be some Julian Cope in there. Some Yes, because I'm a big Yes fan. Okay. I'm all over the place here. I realize that. So I know for a fact Joy Division 2. I was going to say, that was the whole idea of Jack, right, when it launched, was that you didn't know what was going to play next, right?

Yes, and Dave. When I went to Dave in Kitchener, that was essentially the same. There was also a Bob. They were all the same format, essentially. You just never knew what was coming up. Is there a mic? Has anybody started a mic? That's a great question.

I don't think there's a mic. There's an Alice somewhere in the States, but I don't think there's a mic. Well, this is a mic. And you were great on Toronto Mike. Carlos, thanks so much for doing this. What number were we? I'm about to read. 659.

See? Are you going to get a 659 tattoo somewhere? You'll always remember. 659. And that brings us to the end of our 659th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Carlos is at Carlos Benavides.

Do you want to spell Benavides for people? I know how to spell it, but spell it for people. So it would be Carlos A. Benavides. Or just ask just Carlos Benavides. Now I'm mentioning my Instagram. Carlos Benavides. So C-A-R-L-O-S and then B-E-N-E. V as in Victor.

I. D as in Donald. E-S. Or you can search I am Professor Carlos B. I am Professor Carlos B. Correct. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery

are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. The Keitner Group are at The Keitner Group. CDN Technologies are at CDN Technologies. And Garbage Day, they're at GarbageDay.com slash Toronto Mike. Sign up now.

It helps the show. And I'll see you next week. The future can hold all due for me and you. But I'm a much better man for having known you. Oh, you know that's true because everything... This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Roam Phone. Roam Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls.

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