Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Claude Feig: Toronto Mike'd #1315

Episode Date: August 28, 2023

In this 1315th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with CBC News' Claude Feig about his broadcasting career with Global, The Fan 1430, CFTO, TSN, Newstalk 1010, AM640 and CBC. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Pumpkins After Dark, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

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making his Toronto Mike debut is Claude Fay. Welcome, Claude. Thank you very much, Mike. Great to be here. Seeing the lineup that you've had on in the last little while, I'm honored to be part of it because you've had wake up the machine here, but I'll say, okay, G word, what's the news? And often this is just before I'm going to sleep and I'll hear your voice. This is a recent phenomenon. I'll hear your voice giving me the hourly news

from CBC. So is this like, this is afternoon for me, but is this morning for you? It is because I just worked last night. So we're doing this on a Monday. I worked overnight and I get home at six in the morning and I sleep till about one. Usually that's the usual routine. And then I get up and have breakfast and get ready. And then it's a good drive out here given the great toronto traffic and construction that we're dealing with whereabouts did you come from from the east end east of

toronto east of toronto oh my goodness oh my goodness i feel now i feel bad no not at all no it's good listen and it's it's not as far as uh my buddy mike richards had to come out here when he comes out here so uh so i. So I've got nothing to complain about. My goodness. Mike Richards had a big announcement to make. He's left Terrestrial Radio for a new digital streaming enterprise. He seems quite happy. Yeah, I know.

Good for him. And I mean, in these days, and I also teach, so when I'm talking to my students and I'm trying to explain to them about the business, it's not what it used to be. It's not our business as we grew up. So when I'm trying to talk to them about, you know, what direction they want to go, a lot of them seem to be already determined that they're going to have their own self-content and creator, much like what you're doing here.

They're not really aiming for like a network gig or a radio station or TV station as we would have in the past. Some of them still get in, but it's a different mentality now because it's a different field. It's not what it used to be. That's for sure. Well, Claude, I was going to ask you, I was going to ask you, you're teaching, tell me if maybe you're not teaching exactly this, but at some point recently you were teaching radio storytelling. Maybe you're not teaching exactly this, but at some point recently you were teaching radio storytelling. Yeah, so I teach at two colleges. I just finished teaching at Centennial, and it's a sports journalism program.

It's a post-grad program. It's like 14 weeks. And then I've also taught at Seneca, my alma mater, for the last couple of years, teaching both radio and television. So storytelling, yeah, that's part of it but it's putting together the newscast or putting together a tv cast or a story you know the basic stuff that uh you know you still need to do to to work in this business and that i did for i mean i'm in my fourth decade now so wow i've done this a long time all right so because when i read this radio storytelling my brain just translates it to podcast storytelling like it's the same discipline

it's essentially the the like you said everything's changed like when you're talking to students maybe third not that you were doing about 30 years ago is yeah you try to get a gig at a radio station or whatnot but today uh there's just so few jobs in radio, right? It's just such a different landscape than it was 30 years ago. There's no doubt. I mean, when I was in school, you basically had three directions you could go. You could go radio, TV, newspaper. And everybody had one discipline that they thought they'd be good at. A lot of people who ended up in television actually started in radio. That seemed to be like a foot in the door for some reason. That was like, understood, go do radio first, then you'll be on TV. And then if you want,

you could also write whatever. Nowadays, it's all up in the air. Now you've got people, and certainly at my old place where I worked at CFTO, which we all affectionately call CFTO, you've got people who are actually reporters, who are shooting their own story, who are writing and editing their own story, and also posting an online article. Right. So you're like a five or six tool person, but not because they think you're really talented. It's because it's by necessity because there aren't a whole lot of people left. What a difference. Holy smokes. But know storytelling audio storytelling is a skill that will still be valued it just might not necessarily be on your terrestrial radio station that you uh

yeah and it's interesting because some of the ones i've worked at uh you know until i got to cbc there there's always a different mindset because i mean their their number one goal is ratings we want to get people listening so So we want to do whatever it takes. We're going to push buttons, whether you're a host, whether you're a reporter, whatever. When you get to CBC, where I am now, and I've been for 10 months, it's a different mindset because it's not about ratings for them. Even though their ratings are pretty good on radio, it's about being transparent, trying to give people an audience and because we're a national broadcast i'm doing a newscast every hour out to the whole country and you got

to be mindful of the region you're in at whatever hour and that kind of thing but you're trying to appeal to everybody and trying to give them as much information about whatever's going on obviously right now the fire situation in b BC and in the Northwest Territories and everything, the flooding that happened in Nova Scotia, like all those things. And sometimes we're their only lifeline to get information, especially late at night. So I feel it's an added responsibility

and I'm not there to try to score points as far as I wonder how many people listen. We're trying to give people the information they need because that's the mandate for CBC. Yeah, you said it, the M word, mandate. And I always wondered, like, when you have a private enterprise, let's say like Bell Media, where they live and die by ratings, and here's an old phrase from the Big Eight,

but if it bleeds, it leads. Like, there might be a tendency to build your newscasts with content that'll keep people tuned in. And, you know, we're at CBC. Now, I want you to tell me because I have my own biases I bring to this thing. I do enjoy my CBC news. But like you'd be more apt to deliver the important news, whether it's sexy or not. Right.

Yeah, you're going for the, you know, for the meat and potatoes, as it were, right? You're trying to give people the goods, and you're not trying to sensationalize anything. We're not trying to, you know, if it's a big breaking story and we do the breaking stinger, it's because it's a big breaking story, not just because we want to say it's breaking news. So, you know, certainly on the radio side. But I think that's just the common goal there it was very refreshing to to find all this out when i got there about how they operate and what their goals and intentions are it's just very different than what i came from the last few years and it's been nice who do you write your own newscast that you speak i do and

the the thing is uh with the anchors it, it's not unlike television in most places. You have some stuff written for you that comes from the reporter who files their story. And sometimes you have a writer who does it for you or a producer. But when I work overnights, I'm on with one other person, a technical operator who actually helps me with getting audio clips and this kind of thing and writing some stories. So sometimes you do, sometimes you don't. It's a collaborative effort, which I think is also nice. So not everything sort of falls on one person's plate. And I think that also enhances the product because you've got more than two eyes on something and you can hopefully get the best out of whatever that story happens to be.

Could you name check who's on this team with you? I've had visits, for example, I've had a visit from Tom Harrington, but who's on the team? Well, Tom, he's the guy that I noticed was here a little, I don't know, I'm not sure how long ago, but he- It's a backyard episode, but that tells me it's either 2020 or 2021 because i did that in the pandemic right of course um so he's he's probably predominantly like it's funny because i i have filled in for him sometimes when he's away and so i do his his gig which is usually noon to eight at night um and the other person i work with on the overnights is a gentleman named neil

hurling yeah i want to shout out Neil. Yeah. He's a listener of the program and we've exchanged many notes and I have promised Neil. So we did Tom, we're doing you Claude and we're going to get Neil Hurland on Toronto Mike. He says he wants to come on. So this is going to happen. And for that episode, I still need to explore your status because I can't tell if this is

a contract that you're doing. Are you here for a short time? Are you're doing are you here for a short time are you are you hopefully here for a long time like yeah I'm on I'm actually I signed a contract with them last year so it actually expires at the end of this month but I'm already extended beyond for work okay for work uh you know there's um you know we'll see where it goes but I'm very happy there um and Neil was one of the people who trained me on the overnights. Cause there's, let me tell you, there's one thing to know how to work your, your, uh, your system, uh, the lineup and all that kind of thing for people who are geeked out about,

uh, you know, uh, broadcast we're on the iNews system. Uh, so learning all that, and I used the iNews system when I was on TV so it wasn't new to me it wasn't a foreign concept but you still have to learn some nuances about work especially working overnights and so Neil was the guy that worked me you know helped me through that and I had a couple other people train me as well uh but uh and now I'm sort of helping people out when they need help because I've been there. You're the veteran now. Well, 10 months.

10 months, yeah. But it's been nice. Like I said, it's a collaborative effort there. That's what I really got right off the hop is that everybody there is in it as a team. Nobody's trying to outdo anybody. And, you know, the bottom line is get the best story out every time. Now, you dropped the name Tom Harrington and Neil Herland. Tom, who I've met, seems like a sweetheart and he's got great pipes.

Have you ever heard him sing? I have not heard him sing, but I would say he comes across as a person who would probably have a pretty good tune, yeah. He's got good pipes on him. You've got good pipes on you i'll just say your news delivery i i like it very much and neil hurling i i don't know if i should do the impression but i can kind of do a he's got a certain style to his you know i'm neil hurling

like he's got a style to it and uh when he comes on i'll do more that's the beauty of radio and anything everybody's got their own style you're not there was a time right where everybody was supposed to sound the same. We were all supposed to sound like Ted Knight, like good evening, good news and whoever else. But I think the beauty of, uh, you know, evolving in this business, whatever way, good and bad. One of the things is it's become more conversational when you hear newscasts. Uh, and like I said, at our place, they still like the steady, just give us the story kind of thing.

Just the facts, man. Just the facts. You don't have to go over the top, which is kind of nice, because other places, they really were pushing for that kind of thing. Sure. As if somehow that magically is going to draw people.

If people like you, they like you. If they don't, they don't. If they like your station, they do. If not, they don't. Right. like your station, they do. If not, they don't. Right. And don't abuse the breaking news stinger. That's the greatest sin, I think, in most newscasts. Breaking news.

The sun has come out. I mean, again, if that's a mandate from above in management, thinking that somehow you're going to hook people, I think a lot of people become immune to all this kind of stuff anyway. Every time you see a breaking news, yeah, what? Trump got his picture taken or, you know, whatever else happened. You got to raise that bar.

You do have to raise the bar a little bit, yeah. And also there should be a time sensitivity to it. I don't want to hear at 4 p.m. about the breaking news when that was the breaking news at 10 a.m., right? So it's like there's got to be a time at some point it's no longer breaking. It's just news. That's true.

All right. Now, Claude Fay, I dropped the G. Did you hear that? Yeah. You don't hit that G. Why didn't you hit the G? Because Jason Portwando told me you don't hit the G. Jason Portwando was here earlier today

and I was telling Claude Fay he's coming over. And he says, don't hit the G. You say your name for us now. No, you do hit the G. Okay, let's hear it. Claude Fay. Okay, so that's good. I can throw't hit the G. You say your name for us now. No, you do hit the G. Okay, let's hear it. Claude Fague. Okay, so that's good. I can throw one at the bus.

I don't know what Jason, what was Jason talking about? Jason says, he says he works. I think he was scamming you. I think he was setting you up. Right, it's not like him, but he might've done that. So you know Jason, right?

Where did you work with Jason? Well, I didn't work with him directly, but when media actually was big in Toronto, when every station had out and every outlet had people, had people, at one time he was at 680, and then he went to Sportsnet at another point. So our paths would cross in the field all the time, and then the last few years, he was part of, and he is part of Woodbine Racing. And so at the very least, I would see him once a year at the O'Brien Awards, which is for standard bred racing. I would get invited every year usually to hand out an award and just be there.

And so he was one of the emcees with Ken Middleton. And if not, I would see him out in the field somewhere and usually at the track. So our paths have crossed for years. Yeah. Well, here's how much I trust Jason. So I know it's claude fag okay i listen to you i deliver the news on cbc on the regular and he told me he's mike mike he's talking about you he goes mike he's from venezuela and in he gave me a whole story about how in spanish it's fay not fake and he went on and on and he i don't he might have been

pulling my leg but i bought it hook line and sinker like i'm like mike you're gonna really impress him by you're not gonna say the g and fig and it turns out i did the exact opposite so poor wando i think he he scammed you okay scammed you but um yeah so the name isn't Venezuelan. I was born in Venezuela. My parents are both European. They met in Venezuela, but I grew up there for the first eight and a half years of my life. So, uh, but the name's not even from Venezuela. No, it's not.

What's he talking about? It's not. It's not, but, uh, okay. So I do want to hear about your move to Canada, but I need to address something. So we know you love sports. Love sports. Do you like music? I do. I was, you know, I want to get back to the music thing when you're mentioning Tom. And I was actually in a boys choir when I was a kid, when I was, uh,

in my, my teen preteen era. So I was in a choir for a couple of years. So that was kind of cool. We got to travel a little bit. Do you sing at all? Like I'm listening to the pipes in the headphones. I bet you can sing. the voice is probably a little rough this morning because i just worked overnight but uh i love music like i've always loved and on the way here like i've got serious on and i'm listening to 80s all the time i love i love music okay you love 80s music so i'm gonna play a song i'm gonna please bring it bring it in the background here as i tell my story here let me bring her down so my last recording of toronto mic episode 1314 was with canadian singer songwriter jane sibery yes jane's had a few uh hits in her time but the first big one we all know was, uh, Mimi on the beach, which I'm playing in the background and Mimi on the beach,

uh, fixture on CFNY and on much music. And, uh, we'll give it a moment and then I'll ask you about it. See that giggle of guys and girls. A typical day at the beach

Well typical till I make my speech This song's seven and a half minutes long, by the way. There's a girl out on the sea It's good Canadian content. I'll tell you that. Not that I can legally play it, but don't tell anybody. Okay.

Not that I can legally play it, but don't tell anybody, okay? You can play it. You've got a Socan thing going on in CBC, but that doesn't seem to exist here. Sitting there like a typical girl Well, this is not a locker room I like that line. That's a surfboard, not a yacht I like that line. Such a funky little different song, right?

At some point when she gets the chorus, I might bring her up again. But this story is kind of about sports, and it's about music. It's a convergence. It's a few clots. On Friday, I'm talking to Jane. Jane's kind of a typical artist. It's a different convo because she's kind of interesting and quirky and I like talking to people like that. But at some point, I set up

this fun fact I want to draw upon her. And here's the fun fact, Claude. The director of the video for Mimi on the Beach, the song we're listening to right now, the director of this video is a gentleman who many years later would go on to father the most decorated Olympian in Canada's history. Okay, so just let us sit with you for a minute here.

Just let us sit with you. So, do you know, do you, Claude Fague, know which Canadian has won the most medals in the history of this country's participation in the Olympic Games? Are we talking Penny Alexia? Correct. Yeah. Okay. Hold on. Here it comes.

Small world. Every stretch from white sand up to the open sky. Love the shining sea again and back to me. And me, me on the beach. Me, me on the beach. Me, me on the beach. Quick side fun fact. This is one of a trio of these great Toronto beach jams from the 80s with Echo Beach by FOTM's Martha and the Muffins

and Cherry Beach Express by the Pucca Orchestra. So there you go. Okay, but Mike, I tell this fun fact to Jane Sibury, and she literally kind of, there's a pause, a bit of a pause, and then she's like, I don't think that's an interesting fact. Like, this is when she stops down to tell me that fact is not particularly interesting, okay? So, Claude, I need you, before we learn more about the life and times of Claude Fig, I need an official ruling from you, okay?

You work for the CBC. We can trust you. Is the fact that the director of Mimi on the Beach, the first big video from Jane Sibri, is the father of, not just, because Penny's brother is in the NHL. He always gets overlooked when I do this fun fact. That's right. But Penny Oleksiak is his daughter. Please, Claude Fake, is that or is it not a fun fact? It's a great fact because he fathered two world-class athletes.

I mean, if you're in the NHL, you've got to be pretty good. And if you're an Olympic champion, swimmer, world championships, all of it, I mean, you've got to be pretty good. And I thought the icing on that cake is the fact that, because earlier today when Jason was here, he was here with Donovan Bailey, and we always talk about the fact he's got two gold medals. But Penny Oleksiak, and being in swimming discipline really helps you, but I've lost count, but she has more medals than any Canadian ever has ever had.

Like, I just can't, I'm with you, Claude. This is a very fun fact. No, it's great. And then this is coming off as it dovetails off the World Championships on the weekend where Canada scored six medals, which is their best total ever, and top finishes and everything else. And it was a great foray, hopefully, into next year's Olympics in Paris. But what a showing by Canada.

And one of the things that you heard from Perdita Felicien, who's the last athlete to win a medal at those games, which was 20 years ago. A gold. Yeah, a gold, of course. She said that the transparency of the organization now in Canada and the way athletes are being taken care of and looked after is way, way better than even when she had it,

and she still won a gold, but she's saying she has seen the transformation, and she said that's definitely she has seen the transformation and i think she said that's definitely lending uh you know support towards the athletes who now feel more empowered and obviously the results are proving it love it and you know we finished one two in the decathlon and according to this is today donovan told me the last time canada finished one two in a world championship was when he and bruni surin finished 1-2 in 1985, I think it was. And those are two pretty good runners there.

And Donovan, my one-time basketball teammate. Tell me that story. We just played on a media team a few years ago. He's your tall guy. How tall are you? I'm 6'4". That's tall. Well, for me, I'm 5'9", so 6'4 sounds tall to me. No, it was kind of fun.

You know, we'd have these media games against different organizations or schools and so on. One time I played on a media team that played the Argos in a pickup game during the offseason at Centennial College in Markham. All right. And it was a Markham Road. But it was pretty cool to be on the floor with Donovan. I'm looking at him going, this guy won two gold medals. Like, this guy's a stud, and he's playing ball. He's just good at it.

He loves playing basketball. Yeah, he's a good athlete. And I think that's also a common denominator with a lot of athletes that you see. They may excel at one sport, but they're just good athletes because they can excel probably at a few sports if you had the chance. Like story of brendan shanahan as great a hockey player as he was hall of famer apparently he was a better lacrosse player he and his brother mimico represent that's right that's right i'm in i'm in lacrosse country yes i am and i covered lacrosse for many years with the rock it's gonna get to that on tsn and so uh but just hearing some of the stories

that guys like gary roberts and joel newendike who played out in whitby and apparently and their lacrosse program is pretty good out there my son played for them for a little while and i mean you know those are athletes those are people who can you know excel at more than one sport they happen to pick one that made them pretty rich and pretty famous because they're really good at it. But you find a lot of times these athletes are really good at a lot of things. Oh, yeah. And wasn't it Dave Winfield was drafted

by four professional teams? Four sports, yeah. I think three sports but four leagues, I think, is how it works. Yeah, that's right. All four majors, well, you know, all four majors that you're not counting hockey, obviously. Oh, yeah.

He was not drafted in hockey for the record. So baseball, basketball, football. But it was two basketball leagues that drafted him, I think. Well, I mean, it was. Was that AB? Oh, when does, I don't know. No, no, no. How old is Dave Winfield?

Okay. Okay. So Dave Winfield obviously drafted in baseball. He was also drafted by the NFL, into the NFL, I believe. He could have been, yeah, he could have played any sport. And then I feel there's another one, which is either another football or another basketball league, is what I think.

Listen, he was a big guy, 6'6", athletic. You saw what he did on the baseball field. We saw it with the Jays. He was the hero in 92 one of the heroes in 92 and got the big hit got the big hit and uh so winfield wants noise right claude i'd see that he did and he and he got it uh so it was great uh so yeah you find a lot of these guys they're just they're just good athletes and that's and that seems to be overlooked a lot of times and um you know people can get down on an athlete when they're not doing well.

But what it took for them to get there and, you know, how talented they really are, I think a lot of times people miss that. And, you know, we all did in the media too. It's very easy to sit and point fingers as to why the Jays suck right now, why they can't win at home, you know, all of this. This is a broken team right now. But it doesn't mean that the guys on the team aren't talented and can't do well.

It's just not come together and I'm not defending them. They, they have, they've had a lousy record at home. They, they don't, you can't lose to a sub 500 team at home this late in the season when you're chasing a playoff spot and think that you're going to get into the playoff. And that loss yesterday was tough. That was tough. It's a tough one.

Oh, my goodness. Okay. So more Jay's talk later. But so you mentioned you moved at eight years old. You moved to Toronto here from Venezuela here. But I have a question about your mother. So actress and model. Yeah.

Can you elaborate? Like what kind of an actress was your mother? Well, first of all, she was Miss Grease at one time. That's a fun fact, by the way. I'm going to use that as a fun fact yeah and uh so she did some uh work in europe uh in movies uh you know italian movies primarily she she's multilingual um so by the time she got to venezuela she was there acting and uh you you know and being a model and that's where she met my dad and so when I was born I was around the studio where she worked and and they actually put me in a couple of commercials as a kid I think that's where I got my exposure to the if you want to

call it the limelight or what it is to be in front of the bright lights and the cameras and all that and that always fascinated me like I always thought even as a kid, it was like, wow, this is cool. And so by the time I came here and then I started watching sports and by 10 years old, I knew I wanted to be a sportscaster.

Like I would sit in front of the TV and mimic the announcer and try to call the play and whatever, even though my English still wasn't great. When we first got here, I didn't know much English at all. I spoke like first got here, I didn't know much English at all. I spoke like this right now. I didn't know much English. I knew chair, door, window, high.

That's all we learned in Venezuela. And so I went to summer school for a couple of years, caught up on the English side, and it kind of went from there. But it was always in the back of my head that this is what I wanted to do. And, uh, eventually it happened, but I mean, it was, um, you know, and I was always a sports fan and I played sports as a kid. Uh, I grew up playing soccer and baseball in Venezuela, which are the two big sports. And my idol was Pele who was just up the road in Brazil. And, uh, so that was, uh, and it was great when I got a chance to meet him years later here in Toronto. Spoiler alert.

I was going to ask you about that, but here, do it now. So since you've brought it up here, how did you get to meet Pele? So he came to Toronto first in 1998 and then 2002 to promote the World Cup. And so 1998, we had thesedowns at one of the hotels and as soon as i walked into the room i was like nervous shaking like i was like a mess because there's my idol and i first of all i want him to be a nice guy which he was he was great good so i i told him that i grew up in venezuela and that i watched him all the time whenever they were on tv and he's and then we started speaking spanish which was great because he was multilingual

as well right because they speak uh yeah they speak portuguese there in brazil but right so he noticed during the start of the interview that i was nervous and i couldn't i couldn't blurt out a question like i was i had never and i I didn't know what was going on. It's like, what's the matter with you? Okay. Pelly sit in front of you. You got to relax. And he talked to me and he said, Hey, Claudio, he called me Claudio, which is my real name. Right.

He said, it's okay. You know, he settled me in and then it went from there and it was amazing. It was a great interview. That's like my most uh treasured interview ever um and that's where also where we found out more specifically because i don't think a lot of people knew how he got his nickname pelle because his real name is edson arantes dos nacimiento now that wouldn't look good on the back of his shirt but apparently when he was a kid he'd get in the scraps in school and the kids started calling him pelle because in spanish and portuguese pelle means to fight so he said that's how i got my kids started calling

him pelle and the name kind of stuck so i thought that was really cool too that he told me and i think other people probably knew but and then he came back four years later to promote the o2 world cup right and then he sees me and it's like oh god I hope he doesn't think I'm an idiot because I was you know the interview wasn't great whatever the first I like it was for me eventually but initially the initial meetup as soon as he sees me hey Claudio how are you that's amazing he remembered he remembered me and we did this and this time we did a stand-up interview yeah and it gets better because we did a stand-up interview in front of you know there was a few people there and I didn't mind that and i see somebody take and there are a lot of people

taking pictures because it's pelle of course they're taking pictures right when we're done with the interview the one of the photogs comes to me and she's she worked for the toronto star and i can't remember her name and i wish i would because she did me in an unbelievable favor she said you know i took a couple pictures of you Pelly. Do you want me to send them to you? Wow. And I said, Oh yes, please. And that's, it's framed in my, uh, at home and in my office. And it's like, uh, it's, it's one of my, and there was another keepsake cause he signed something for me and I have that picture with him. And of course we lost them this year and, um, that was tough, but, and it's an amazing keepsake for me and I'll always cherish that day.

Unbelievable. Okay. So before you get to meet Pele, uh, you're, you said you went to summer school, you caught up with your English and then it's a, you mentioned earlier that it was Seneca. That's where you went to, to, uh, to study radio and television. Eventually. So I grew up in North York and I went to grade school, Rockford Public School, shout out. And then in high school, I went to William Lyon McKenzie in North York. Quick aside,

the Rockford Files has one of the greatest TV theme songs of all time. It does. It does. It's great. As a kid, I used to watch that show. I love the car he drove, but I just like, I don't know.

I just got hooked on that show, but the music for sure. And Mike Post, what theme song did he not write for any TV show in the last 30 years? Well, it's funny because you mentioned Mike Post because he's done them all, but he also, of course, did Law & Order, right? It was a Mike Post jam, right?

Yep. And Law & Order Toronto, I found out, like, is filming, somebody I know is going to be like an extra in Law & Order Toronto filming tomorrow. Okay. So shout out to Mike Post to, uh, yeah, he's, uh, he's, he's, uh, he's composed a TV theme or two, but okay. So Rockford back to Rockford. Yeah, no, that was, that's where I learned to play basketball because when I came here, I was not a big kid. I was not tall and lanky. I was very short and kind of stubby. And that was

just another sport that we got introduced to. I also got introduced to floor hockey, which I loved and I had never seen hockey in my life. And, but basketball, I played on the, I made the team, even though I didn't play much, but it was just fun to be around it. And then that's where my, and then as I started to grow, that's where my passion for basketball, because I played tennis and I swam and I did different things. But once I got tall and in high school and I realized basketball is a sport I want to play, and that's what I stuck with. And so that became the signature sport for me. There were no club teams like there are now, which I think is great for the kids. They have so many options to be able to play somewhere else.

Putting on a high school uniform was a big deal. And so to be able to suit up for my high school basketball team was great. And then I got a chance. So what would happen is I would go to summer basketball camp in Parry Sound, a place called Manitowabing Basketball Camp, which was a great place to go. And they'd bring in like current NBA players or coaches. They brought in George Carl when he was still coaching in the CBA. Right. So pre-NBA, this guy, you would run through a wall for this guy. He was that motivating a guy. So you got to see players and one of the Boston Celtics of the mid-80s, Gerald Henderson, who was a point guard, who was on a couple of those championship teams. So he came up. And so by that point, I had grown and I went from, in grade 11, I went from 5'10 to 6'2 over the summer.

And then I grew another inch in 12 and 13. I still had a grade 13 back then. And so, you know, my love for basketball. And then one of the counselors there asked me to come play at Seneca. So like a slight recruiting job, you know, it's not big money, nothing going on, but I wanted to keep playing. And so I went to Seneca and I played there. So I just love this. I still play. We have a men's league. We didn't play, obviously, during the pandemic, but I've been playing for the last 20-plus years in a men's league, two men's leagues out my way once a week.

Any other members of the media, medias of the member? That's how I talk. That's why I'm not on CBC. Any other members of the media that you bump into in these men's leagues? No, not out my way. But it was when we had that media team that we would play different organizations for charity and so on. Then you'd have everybody get together. You know, Brad Fay.

Good FOTM. Yeah. And like I said, Donovan was on one of those teams. We had different guys. And so it was a lot of fun, but always great when you see, and especially if you're covering basketball, you'd know who the guys are that probably played it because they're so passionate about it.

And it's just a different vibe. And so I was lucky enough to be at the raptors first ever game oh i know see your another spoiler alert here so here let's get to your notes by the way your computer's you know you're so used to uh producing and crafting the stories that you i don't even need to be here to be honest but here i gotta get you to 95 i want to get to that first raptor game okay so i know you start you start start at CTV Toronto in 94. Is that right? Yes,

that's right. Okay. So is there any, is it global TV? Like, did you do any mainstream media prior to? but not on air. So I got in my first paying gig in the,

in the, in the business was in 1988. I got into global television as an editorial assistant in the news side, right? So it was just to get my foot in the door. I had tried and tried after I graduated from school. Things, you know, it was tight to get in. I mean, there were jobs, but it was just very tight because they wanted people with experience and so on, and I get it.

So just a sidebar, you talked about your buddy who's doing the background work. I did that for a couple of years out of school so i was in a lot of stuff as a background uh also as a stand-in also as a double can you name one like something we might have seen okay well we can find you in the background okay well and i went back in i went back in the last five or six years as well so i've been in shows like suits and designated survivor those are big shows yeah but back in the last five or six years as well. So I've been in shows like Suits and Designated Survivor. Those are big shows. Yeah. But back in the early, in the mid 80s,

I was a one day stand in on Three Men and a Baby, which was the Tom Selleck movie. I was supposed to be a stand in for him because I had the duster like he did, but they never used me. And it was, let me tell you, I got to watch Leonard Nimoy as a director. a director yeah and watching and this was a disney production so everything was like bang bang bang on time let's go and they were shooting at the what is now scotia bank uh

plaza downtown when it was still being built so all those scenes that if anybody's seen the movie when they're in these in this elevator going up and down and anybody's seen the movie, when they're in this elevator going up and down. Everyone's seen the movie, Clyde. They're in the movie. Everyone in the certain age is seen. So that's the building. But the great thing that day was, and Ted Danson was in the movie as well. Of course. And Steven Guttenberg.

So the two of them were drawing a lot of attention the day I was there because the women were just fawning all over them, understandably. And Ted was in the midst of Cheers having a great run, and Selick was having, you know, Magnum P.I. fame. So people were lined up across the road, and they would periodically go over and sign autographs and then go back to work.

Like, I thought that was pretty cool. But so I got a chance to see that and be around a lot of A-listers. I mean, Burt Reynolds. I was around Burt Reynolds twice for two different movies he shot here, right? And let me give you a quick story, buddy. I got stories all day, but I don't want to eat up your time. But he came and shot a movie here where he played kind of like a serious detective.

So we're shooting at the old Montreal Bistro downtown on Adelaide, which is no longer there. And they shoot the scene. Everything happens. Everybody goes home. We get a call the next morning. It's almost frantic from our agency. Everybody has an agent that books them for all these things.

They say they need everybody back to that same place tonight to reshoot the scene. They didn't like something. You know, they go back and watch the rushes and different things they didn't like something so they're asking everybody to come back so i said okay well i don't have anything else going tonight i'll go so they get through it shoot the scene and you can see there's a little bit of tension in the room i remember that because they're reshooting a scene that they had already done they wanted it right when the scene's over and he doesn't have to do this this is burt freaking reynolds yeah he goes around and he shakes everybody's hand and says thank you for

coming back wow like yeah for a period of time he was the biggest movie star on the planet he was and he also shot another movie here called switching channels with christopher reeve and reeves and Kathleen Turner. That was kind of fun. Wow. Because Kathleen Turner was in her. These are A-listers, man. You're working with A-listers. Christopher was in his Superman era,

and Kathleen Turner was, you know, Romancing the Stone, War of the Roses, all that, right? So that was, but being around these, and you know what it also did for me, to be honest? Yeah. It didn't, it made me under made me realize i don't get like i don't get blown away when i see them yeah it's cool hey that's a big you know big star but i think it also taught me a little bit of self-control so that when i

started interviewing big name people you know excluding pelle when i lost my mind you were still nervous you know i met dr j uh larry my mind. You were still nervous. You know, I met Dr. J, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan. When I interviewed those guys, Patrick Ewing, whoever it was, there was a bit more of a calm demeanor because I had been around people who were pretty famous and you just try to control yourself a little bit and not act like a goofy preteen, which is what I did with Pele.

I totally get it. No, listen, once i had uh chuck d on toronto mike do you don't get nervous talking to paul or whatever no it's great and it so again i got and i had thought for a while to actually maybe pursue a gig behind the scenes in tv production with the movie because there was so much being shot in toronto at the time and i talked to some of the people i actually talked to the production people behind the scenes saying hey so what's this like like they said well it's great money wise but we don't have a life because we work 20 hours a day and you know and then you're not guaranteed your next shoot you have to get and these people when

there were still pay phones yeah they used to be on the phone between shoots trying to secure their next gig like that's how cutthroat it was because there's nothing was guaranteed. So it opened my eyes up to that side of it. And I never had an interest like to be an actor or anything like that. So it was just more about being in that environment. I thought it was kind of cool, but let me tell you, and I know there's a strike right now and the writers and the,

and the actors, those people work their buns off. They do a lot and they commit a lot of time and effort. And yeah, the big time celebs get paid a lot of money, but all these other people behind the scenes, they're not getting paid millions of dollars. You're so right, man. It's a hustle. It's a grind. It's their career and they do a great job. And I hope they get this sorted out because there's a lot of good people in Toronto right now hurting because there's no work. Well, my first question was, how can Law & Order be filming?

I thought because, you know, Handmaid's Tale, all these things have shut down filming. It's because if you sign the contracts before the strike, I guess you are obligated to fulfill the contract or whatever. So that one got you under the water. I guess that's why TIFF's still going to go. They're going to have TIFF here even though a lot of stars may not come in. But, no, it's an interesting business people don't realize how hard these be and how long the

hours are and yeah it's great when your face is in front of a camera but everything that it gets to get to that point is is amazing how they do it well it's like when you dream about being a professional like i have a son right now who's he's decided he's going to win uh he's going to help canada win four world cups you know he's really big on soccer whatever but you know in his mind in his in his mind is he uh he thinks he's gonna be like uh um i don't know alfonso davies like this is but you know awesome yeah dream big man dream big but it's like it's like when you want to be an actor and you're younger it's like you're gonna be tom sellick or burturt Reynolds. Like you never think you're going to be that, that schlub who would ever have the small scene.

He's going to get on the pay phone and find out when he's getting his next gig so he can make his rent payment or whatever. Oh, that's true. And, and listen, a few years after that. So it was kind of a full circle moment for me.

Years later, they recruited a lot of the sportscasters in Toronto to be on a show called players, which was an ESPN show about a football team. They were shooting it at the Dome, and they asked a whole bunch of sportscasters to come down and throw a couple of lines at a couple of the actors. So we all did that. And that was kind of fun, because now I was actually an actor for that scene for that day, not behind the scenes. They had extras and different things. It was all all the setup and it was like i felt really comfortable because i had been in that sphere in the past and as it turns out

when they ran that episode they cut all of us out this is the other the other fun fact about being in in television and and movies your scene doesn't always make it and for some reason they cut everybody out they didn't like us i guess they didn't like the toronto sportscasters yeah you know that's a good point like when you film your scene and you you tell your family and friends that hey i'm in this movie and then there's that what if you you know what you don't get to see the movie till it comes out right because you're not a big enough star to get that privilege so it's like it's like uh do you want people to come see what if like you need to go opening day to confirm you're in

it before you tell your friends and families to go see this movie you'll see me in it yeah i saw myself a few times as an extra in some of the movies i went to see like police academy four i was in that was shot down around here as well it's down at what is now humber college okay is that four okay because definitely the first the first, that's the Commandant Lessard. Yeah, they were all shot here. Now, it's funny that you're following Steve Guttenberg everywhere, right? Because he's in Police Academy. He was in everything in the 80s, wasn't he?

Yeah, Short Circuit. God, he was in everything. I think Short Circuit 2 filmed here, too. I don't think the first one did, but the second one did. But he might not be in that one. That Police Academy 4, and I had watched the first few. It's like, I can't believe I first one did, but the second one did. But he might not be in that one. That Police Academy 4. Yeah. And I had watched the first few. It's like, I can't believe I'm in this movie.

And I'm watching it in Hightower. Of course. He was a big man. Like, he was an ex-football player. He was 6'8". I saw him, and I went, holy crap, this guy is big. He was a big guy. Tackle Barry's in that?

I'm trying to think of my best friend. Yeah, but I had a bit of a crush on Leslie Easterbrook. Of course. Like, everybody did but there was an an unknown actress who was on her way up in the can i guess can i guess you want to guess i'm gonna guess janna jones no no she's at a police academy right she is in a play but i know it wasn't her so she's i'm watching this they're shooting this scene kind of a bit away sure we're talking number four oh yeah okay definitely yeah so they're shooting the scene and i'm looking and and at a distance and i'm going wow that there's a blonde girl in there like blonde actress and she's doing a scene with i can't remember who she was doing the scene with but all the guys were like wow

she's really good looking she's really nice when it was done and a couple of years later we realized that was sharon stone okay that's a fun fact too right there all right so i now my brain wants it my brain i didn't confirm this on google but i feel like janet jones was in police academy six you're probably right i think she was in a police academy remember and when i talked to the people there who were doing these movies i said you guys keep doing these why they said They said, we've got them written up to eight because people still want to see them. And I think it stopped at six, but they had it written till eight.

I'm not surprised. Hey, listen, moneymaker, right? Listen, that number one, I reference all the time because there's literally, you can see like Hightower learning to drive like down the street from where I live now. It's like, it's all happening in this neighborhood.

Okay. So I want to get you, Claude, to CTV Toronto, but just run through. So you mentioned you did some work at Global TV, sports editor and producer. Then what's next, TSN? So I got in as an editorial assistant on the news side. And then about two months in, I found out there was an opening on the sports side, which happened to be Sportsline, when Jim T was hosting along with mark hebshire so i went yes guy i went over and um i introduced myself and said hey you know i'm a big sports person i'd like to see if i can get in and so they found a spot for me it was part-time but um i was thrilled because now at that time they were the only

highlight half-hour highlight show in canada that was before tsn started doing that and before sportsnet came along and the score so it was great to be part of it because all they did was live and die for highlights if there were highlights out on a satellite somewhere they were bringing it down because they wanted to fill that show so i got a chance to initially just cut highlights watch watch the games. I got paid to watch the games and write highlights. And then they asked, then I started producing weekend sports with Bill Bird. And I also got to go out into the field and it was like a field producer kind of thing. So I got to do a lot of different things there, which was great because it really set me up

for when I finally got my on-air shot. But in between that and getting the CFTO, I worked at TSN my first time around. Was Hebsey nice to you? He was. They were all good to me. Everybody there was good. It was a good team. It was a good team.

Everybody was nice. And Global has a special place in my heart because that's where I met my wife. Wow. So, I mean, here's another fun fact. Yeah. I was in line to get a sports casting job in Edmonton that Jim Taddy was vouching for me for. And I thought I had it. I was the front runner apparently.

And I was going to be a co-host with Darren Detition. Wow. Had a place called ITV in Edmonton. I've heard of it. Yeah. And it fell through. It just didn't it, yeah. And it fell through. It just didn't happen. Right.

And I was crushed. So I stayed in Toronto because I was ready to go. I had packed up. I hadn't packed up, but I thought, I'm ready. I don't care how cold it is in Edmonton. I don't care how much snow it is. I want to go. I want to do this.

Right. It didn't happen. I was crushed. I stayed in Toronto, stayed at Global. it didn't happen i was crushed i stayed in toronto stayed at global and you know within i want to say within two months uh my wife walked into my life because she had just migrated here from ireland started working there and i guess as they say the rest is history what was she doing at global she was uh initially just a receptionist and eventually she ended up in publicity promotions that kind of thing and she was there for 18 years

amazing okay that there's more fun facts I will say Hebsey because I co-hosted a podcast of Hebsey for five years and now he just golfs for a living he does apparently he's really slacking off now I hope every day on social media I have to see him golfing yeah like it's literally

I don't know what happens in the winter. He probably finds warmer climate and he just golfs there. But he's a man of his word though. He did say, he goes, I'm retiring. I want to golf. And that man golfed. Okay. So I think every single day since we recorded Hebsey on Sports, he's been golfing.

So once he left, then Don Martin came in for a while. So I got to work with Don. And then after I left, Gene Principe came in for Don. There you go. Cause Don went off to, speaking of golf, I think he went off to play in the senior Canadian tour. Cause he was a good golfer.

That's very good. So, I mean, that show for a while carried a lot of weight. I'd go out places with friends and all, and I'd hear people tie. Yeah. Did you hear what Hebsey said?

I want to know what Taddy said. Well, you're listening. You're sitting with a guy who that was everything to me was going home and watching and making sure I was catching Sportsline. Yeah.

Absolutely. It was a great show to work on. One more little thread here before we talk about what you did at TSN. Tom Selleck, you brought up Tom Selleck, Selleck, Tom Selleck. Not Bob Selleck.

Not Gordon Bob. Not Gordon Bob, yeah. Right, right. You know, Bob should be an FOTM because Gordon's an FOTM many times over. I got to get Bob on the show. Okay, so Tom Selleck, Burt Reynolds, Jim Taddy. What did those three men, and apparently you at the time, what did you guys have in common?

The duster. Yeah, great mustaches, right? I just want to point that out. And I didn't do it because I had a mustache since I was probably 17 in high school. People thought I was older. When we'd show up to play a basketball game, they'd all be looking like, hey, wait a sec, this guy looks a little old to be playing high school. And I was the same age as they were.

I just had a stache early on in my life. I don't know why it came in. But I actually posted a picture about a month ago on Threads, which is, you know, I'm not on it a in, but I actually posted a picture about a month ago on threads, which is, you know, I'm, I'm not on it a lot, but a picture of me and Davis Schneider of the blue Jays with that duster. And I said, I think his, I think the reason for his success is probably the duster. And the irony of those pictures is that we're both the same age in the pictures. Oh, that's right. Yeah. I'm a little older now, but at the time when i took that picture and when he took his we were the same age that's wild that's wild all right now it's funny that

you went to the land of gino retta because you said i gotta follow all the mustaches sure there's a great one at tsn and then and uh let's shout out also he's an fotm gino but let's shout out jim van horn as well but yeah great jbh nice guyB.H. Nice guy too. All of them. Oh yeah. All of them. So what were you doing at TSN and Fan 590 before we get to the CTV? And then I have a little treat for you regarding the first Raptors game. Okay. So at TSN, I actually got a call from an ex-Globalite, Mitch Azaria. Who's an FOTM. There you go.

See, I'm going to keep dropping names. I love the FOTM. So he called me and said, we're looking for production people for this new show for Dave Hodge show called Inside Sports. FOTMJ There you go. See, I'm going to keep dropping names. I love the FOTM. So he called me and said, we're looking for production people for this new show for Dave Hodge show called Inside Sports. FOTMJ Dave Hodge. There you go. Come on. It's happening. So I got on board and I was anything from a chase producer to a story editor, different things. And again, that was great experience because now I was doing it at a network level and a couple of times i got out into the field as well which was kind of cool um one of the one of my wins that year for the for the station and for the show was they had been trying to get marv levy when he was coaching the bills they had been trying to get him in a

double ender to talk to dave and there was never the right time there always seemed to be a problem with timing and I don't know if the Bills were just playing hard ball whatever the Bills are in the midst of that four Super Bowls in a row of course you know we didn't win one but no they were still pretty good team very good teams so they said why don't you go down to Buffalo we'll send you with a cameraman to Buffalo see if we can line this up in person so I went down there talk to the PR guy i'm a nobody i'm just a production dude uh i have no clout i can tell them about the show but they're in buffalo we're in toronto they don't they don't know what tsn inside sports is so i'm um i'm just trying my best and just saying look we just need them for a few minutes like i just started pleading and we got

them we got them and when I called back here and said, we've got them, they were like super excited because it was a big get. And I mean, Marv Levy's, it was a big deal, not just because of the bills, but obviously his time in the CFL,

everybody knew who he was. So anyway, that was, that was pretty cool. Yeah, that was, and that sort of also, that was another teaching point for me is how to try to work your way to getting an interview or getting somebody to sort of.

Sometimes you got to beg for the interview. Well, I didn't quite get on my knees, but it was pretty close. But sometimes, yeah, you have to kiss a little butt. And that's an unfortunate fact of life for anything, right? Okay. So we're talking about this great Bills team with Marv Levy, of course, Jim Kelly is quarterback. And then we have, I think we're talking about 30 years ago. Okay.

Didn't you feel like Marv Levy was old 30 years ago? Didn't you? I distinctly remember thinking they had this old, white-haired guy coaching the team. 30 years ago, he was old. He was a good coach, though. He was a good, everybody respected him. They loved him.

And he was old school. But he's still here. This is my point. He's a guy you think he must have died 25 years ago marv levy is alive today how old do you think marv levy is he's got to be in his 90s now no 98 years old good for him god bless him may he live forever no shout out to ridley funeral home here no i mean he's you know he was just a good coach and he was an intense guy, but he was old school and he got results. And I know they should have won two of those super, I know we can revisionist history and all that. They obviously wide, right. There's one that you might win another, but that's the only one they really, they had another game that they were in

against. Uh, I think it was one of the games against the Cowboys that they could have won, but either way, how I remember it, Claude. It's not like I was a huge Bills fan, but they were a good team. Should have won against the Giants. They just didn't get any breaks. They just did not get any breaks. No, and Thurman Thomas, didn't he forget his helmet or something? There was a lot of, you know, we are own worst enemy stuff going on with that team.

They made their fans want to shout for different reasons. That's right. That's, yes, good reference there. That's right. Make me want to shout for different reasons. That's right. Yes, good reference there. That's right. Make me want to shout. All right. So Fan 590 quickly too because we've had a lot of Fan 590 alum on this show. I saw that.

I saw that recently. You had Scott Metcalf here, right? Yeah, twice. Once to do the 30-year history of the fan. In fact, I'll show you this quick because it's right beside me. But he gifted me this. Oh, very nice. 1430. That's when I was on the air with him. 1430.

In here, it's like they talk about the BBM ratings. And for the fan, 1430. I wonder if your name's in here somewhere. No, I was only a part-timer. So it was great because I got in. So before I got to the fan, TSN, and this is kind of ironic, Tsn had a radio service in the 90s

where they used to beam out hourly sportscasts across the country to any station that wanted it they could download it and run it in their own newscasts so i was i i heard about this and i went to the guy who was running it his name is doug Hobbs. And he said, yeah, we could probably use you part-time. And I said, okay, great. So that got me on air in Toronto because I would do these updates. And then we would do a live update with 1010, which is a place I ended up working at years later. So I was able to get some experience that way.

And that, in turn, opened the door at the fan when I went to see Scott Metcalf, where I said to him, you know, I'm doing these updates for TSN radio, even though they're not heard every day here, unless you download them. Um, and he said, okay, let's put you on air. And that's how I got in there part-time. And I was, um, I was taught by a great guy, Dan Dunleavy, who's now the voice of the Buffalo Sabres. FOTM Dan Dunleavy, please. He showed me the ropes there. He's a good guy. He was a good guy. And so at the time, you think about this,

Dan Dunleavy was there. Well, here it is. This is so rude of me, but I'm going to walk through the Fan 590 Day 1 lineup just for nostalgia. So this was September 4th, 1992. And then if I miss anybody, you can point them out there.

But okay. Your morning show was Mike Inglis and Joe Bowen, five to nine. This is day one, okay? Then FOTM Mary Ormsby and FOTM Steve Simmons, nine to 11. Then FOTM Damien Cox and FOTM Gord Stelic,

where it was like noon to one, I believe. Then FOTM Damien Cox and FOTM Gord Stelic, where it was like noon to one, I believe. Then FOTM Dan Schulman with FOTM Barb DiGiulio, one to four. Like that's crazy right there because you're going to point out Dan Schulman was there for goodness sakes. Yep. Crazy.

Then non-FOTM Bob McCowan and Jim Shakey Hunt. I don't know what that is, four to seven or something, maybe five to seven, whatever. But then Mike Hogan, FOTM Mike Hogan, and then FOTM Jim Richards and FOTM Norm Rumack were doing like 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Crazy, right? And yeah, Scott Metcalf was the executive producer and sports director. Right. So he gave me in.

So by the time I got there, which was about a year later, so I was doing nights and weekends, which is what you do when you break in. And so, yeah, Dan Shulman was hosting with Shaky Hunt. And who else? Oh, so I had Barry Davis as a tech op. FOTM. Behind the glass. Right.

And Straubelopoulos was a producer there. Right. Like you think about a lot ofolopoulos was a producer there. Right. Like, you think about a lot of people who got on air that were there. And no, they were all good people. And like I said, I was kind of in and out because I was just a part-time thing. But everybody was nice. I didn't sense any egos from anybody and so on. any egos from anybody and so on. So I stayed there till 94, uh, off and on. Um, when I got my chance to go to SIFTO, um, and shout out to Dana Levinson. Oh yeah. She calls it SIFTO too.

Yeah. Right. One of my, one of my teammates, great, great person. And, um, um yeah she was great to work with for many years there um and uh you know it was just uh it was a great foot in the door for me obviously to get on tv but i mean that place was like a second home i think for all of us who work there it hurts us so much to see where it's gone because of cutbacks and everything else in the industry but you had to be like a second family because we were there a lot and together and you know it doesn't mean that people didn't kind of rub each other the wrong way from time to time but that's also being part of family right and but it was it was a great environment there's a lot of good people there yeah like seven you did 17 years there am i right yes that's right right So before, because I do want to ask you about a few people you worked with there, but I

do want to play a clip because we know... All right. Let's get ready to raise the curtain. Here is Gerardo, the home opener. Let's join PA announcer, Herbie Kuhn. Okay. I'll break it down. I think there's like an instrumental before the whole thing.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Raptors! So those voices we heard, and I'm going to bring it up when we hear the players, but we heard, of course, Leo Roudens, FOTM Leo Roudens, and FOTM Rod Black calling the very first Toronto Raptor game, 1995. And you were there. And it's at the Dome, right? Right. So the first regular season game was against the then New Jersey Nets.

Right. But the first game ever, the first preseason game ever, was out in Halifax at the Metro Convention Center. And our department had decided days or I don't know how far in advance. They said, we're going to go there. We're going to follow the Raptors because they played two games in the Marathon. Let's listen to the lineup here. And the moment we've all been waiting for.

Herbie sounds exactly the same. The starters for your Toronto Raptors! Oh! Raptors! From Big Croatia, 7-foot pole center, number 3, Zona Tabac. On Tab back. From Villanova, a 6'9 forward, number 54, Ed Pitney. Out of Tennessee State, a 6'11 forward, number 34, Carlos Flores. He was an interesting cat.

There's a guy. Yeah, little did we know. Mighty Mouse. Wow, this all begins here What do you remember about By the way, Brendan Malone Great guy, absolutely great guy And he knew he was He was in a no-win situation

With his team But he was in a no-win situation with his team. But he was a pro. He was positive. And he always had time for you. Excuse me. And at least that part of it they got right. And I felt bad for him when they let him go just after one year because then they brought in Darrell Walker.

And, oh, God was they won a few more games the next year but um that was a topsy-turvy time until Glenn kind of took over and things started to happen but um yeah so the first game the first pre-season game was in Halifax so we get out there and we do our stuff we do a pre-game hit into our newscast and then postgame. And then we start hearing back here that everybody's scrambling. All the other outlets are scrambling. What? CFTO had a reporter in Halifax for the preseason?

Yeah, it's their first game ever. So why wouldn't we? Which I loved it. I loved the fact that it was me because I was obviously a big basketball guy. So I was living the dream because I had always thought and hoped that Toronto would get an NBA team at some point. So I'm actually sitting there watching the Toronto team play their first ever game, which was cool. And they win and everybody's excited and they scored like 120 points, if I remember.

It was like everything went great. And then the next day they move on to St. John, New Brunswick, uh, playing and they played the Sixers both nights. The next night they're in St. John at Harbor station and St. John, New Brunswick, and they lose. And then it kind of comes back down to earth pretty quick. But by the next day, a lot of the other station that scrambled people to get in there so that they wouldn't miss out because they saw what we did the day before. So kudos to our sports department at the time, Jerry Dobson, and everybody for saying we're sending somebody out there because this is important. And I was obviously very thrilled.

And then obviously watching the first game, even though it was the Dome and it's half empty, kind of didn't have the ambiance, but to have an NBA team, because they had had exhibition games there in the past, but to have a home team playing in a real game and it didn't matter who they were playing, they were playing New Jersey Nets, whatever, it didn't matter. And then they win. And it was just a great feeling to see NBA basketball had finally arrived in Toronto. Without a doubt here. Now, you mentioned the team you worked with at SIFTO, CFTO, now, I guess, CTV Toronto, Jerry Dobson. Can you talk about, Jerry, FOTM Joe Tilley, there's Lance Brown,

FOTM Sunil Joshi. Shout out any of the people you worked with at CFTO. Yeah, and the other guy was george bryson i mean we had a we had a big when i started there we had 13 people in our sports office for a local newscast think about that but it wasn't just the newscast we were doing a blue jay show when we still had the rights it was a bbs uh station so we had drawn a blue jay right so we would be on the road with them doing stuff for content and we also had a sunday magazine show sports beat today which ran sunday nights for a half hour where we would do feature stuff and different things so everybody

was busy the whole week doing all that stuff plus the local newscast stuff. And it was a great place to work. And then unfortunately, BBS and the Bassett family sold CTV. And the new ownership came in, and that was Yvonne Fetsan. And they had major layoffs right off the hop. And they chopped half our sports office, and they chopped half our newsroom. It was not a fun day. So we ceased to be what we were. And then we just became kind of like the sports segment during the newscast.

A year later, Sportsnet came along. And so we had some affiliation with them. So we got a chance to work network stuff for them. I went over. I did some anchoring, some fill-in anchoring, some reporting for them. So, you know, for about a year, sports kind of took a – kind of had to lay low with our company until SportsNet launched, and then things kind of got back on the rails a little bit better.

But we had a – you know, like I said, Jerry was a great boss. You know, we just had good people in there. Everybody got along. I know it sounds cliche and it sounds like a team thing, but it's true. And I'm a big team guy. I always have been. I think it's important that when you work with a lot of people, everybody tries to get along. Doesn't mean you're not going to butt heads about stuff.

But overall, it was a good place to work. Like it was a global and like it was, um, like it is now at CBC. So, um, I think that's just important. I don't care what line of work you're in. If you have people that you have to work with, you obviously want to be able to get along and, and have a common goal and all that stuff. And that's, and that's what it was there. Well, I know, Claude, I know you're hungry because you're chowing down there. Sorry, it's a power bar. I can see that. I don't want to lose you.

So the power bar, but here, because you're a hungry man, okay, I'm going to give you a large lasagna to take home with you. Oh my God. Okay. It's frozen in my freezer right now. I've heard about these famous lasagnas. Yes.

Palma Pasta is where you go to about these famous lasagnas. Yes. Palma Pasta is where you go to get these famous lasagnas. Excellent. And everyone raves about the lasagnas from Palma Pasta. All the Italian food you get from Palma Pasta is delicious. So don't leave until I fill that box.

So make sure it's really heavy when you leave. Okay. Excellent. So you get a Palma Pasta lasagna. I do want to shout out Palma Pasta because they're going to feed everyone who comes to TMLX 13,

which is happening on September 7th from 6 to 9 p.m. at Great Lakes Brewery, the Southern Etobicoke location, which is 30 Queen Elizabeth Boulevard. So if you come to TMLX 13, Claude, it's a long drive,

but if you came, Great Lakes buys you your first beer. By the way, they're sending you home with some Fresh Craft beer. Oh, that's awesome. It looks great.

Delicious Fresh Craft beer. I was there yesterday to pick up some new supplies. So they're going to buy you your first drink at TMLX 13, and then Palma Pasta is going to feed you. So come on out. Hang with me. Anyone listening is invited. All listeners, all FOTMs invited.

TMLX 13. So be there. I mentioned earlier that I was not going to shout out to Ridley Funeral Home with Marv Levy. Long may he run, but I do have a gift for you from Ridley Funeral Home, Claude. This is a measuring tape. You never know when you have to measure something, man.

Keep that handy. Thank you. Insert joke here. Okay, so shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. A couple of quick events I want to tell people about. We're running out of time for Getting Hip to the Hip. It's happening on Friday night, 7.30 p.m. Getting Hip to the Hip, an evening for the Downey Wenjack Fund.

You can save 10% with the promo code FOTM10. Go into the Toronto Mike feed. I dropped an episode early on Friday in which Jamie Dew, I now call him JD, but he kind of outlines exactly how the night's going to go. Sean, FOTM, Sean Cullen is going to be a funny guy.

And then there's a great, he is a funny guy. He's going to be funny. Cause that's what he does. And then a story about him too. All right. So give me, give it to me now.

He came into our station one time at TSN radio with Mike Richards. And he, he had heard me doing my update and then he said uh hey let me see that script so i handed him a script and he starts reading what i had just read in his you know a character yeah a very uh very uh witty funny way it was very funny i think he read it as Othello. It was something like that. Yeah, he's like a thinking man's comic. It was hilarious. It was absolutely hilarious. Anyway. He was on Mad TV for a while. I saw his stand-up back

many times at events, charity events, whatever, but he's just a funny dude. Funny dude? Well, you can come for Sean Cullen. He's worth it because you save the 10%, so it only ends up being like a $36 ticket. Then there's a Tragically Hip tribute act. What do you call that, a cover band of Tragically Hip, we're going to hear that, and then we're going to see a live recording of Getting Hip to the Hip, and then more Tragically Hip cover band, it's going to be a great night, there's a silent auction,

there's a whole bunch of cool people going to be there, I'm going to be there, Mike Epple's going to be there, you should be there, use the promo code FOTM10. Save 10%. And I do want to shout out Pumpkins After Dark because it's coming soon. It's in Milton. Pumpkins After Dark is a great event. Your kids will love it. Your grandma will love it.

You'll love it. Award-winning event. And you can save 15% this month if you use the promo code TOMIKE15. And last but not least, Claude, if you have any old electronics, I don't know, in your garage or your attic or something, old tech, an old phone, an old

8-track player, whatever you got going on there, don't throw it in the garbage. Those chemicals end up in our landfill. It's bad for everybody. But if you go to RecycleMyElectronics.ca, you can find out a place near you to safely drop off those electronics, to be safely recycled, properly recycled. That's your homework, Claude Figg.

Absolutely. Good cause. And Porwando, if you're listening to me, how dare you tell me to drop the G? I already am like self-conscious about how I pronounce words because I'll pronounce a word like I'm thinking of this Jays team. So this Jays team that you mentioned mentioned earlier it's a good team completely uninspiring like i there's a hundred things i'd rather do than watch this team and i just want what i felt in 2015 i want what i used to feel in the good old days and i always say we need a shot of mookie wilson but say the name mookie wilson for me mookie yeah i'm i'm messing it i how come i can't say the name mookie wilson i'm saying mookie it's mookie i'm screwing it up we all get caught with some word that we can't spill out that

everybody looks at you what do you mean you can't say brewery brewery say it again brewery say no you have to enunciate which is that's why you're at cbc brewery because you know some people it rolls off the tongue a lot easier. Just a quick thought. You mentioned Jays. Yeah. Blake Bell wrote in when you said you were when I said you were coming on. Blake Bell. He's got a great Twitter account which is basically this day in Dave Steeb history.

It's really good. Yes I follow it. He would love any question anything you want to share with us about covering the Blue Jays. Okay. Well because he's a Dave Steeb fan, retire 37. Retire 37. That's all I have to say. There's no reason.

But we have no numbers retired, right? They had Alomar's number retired. Now it's unretired. Well, they sure did unretire that. Do you have any idea what's going on there? Well, I mean, Hicks is wearing the number now. Yeah. That's unretired.

You're absolutely right. But I don't remember the Jays retiring a number. Yeah. He was the first guy, first player, first and only player. Everybody else they put up in the level of excellence. Right. But his number was actually retired. What a fall.

That's like an OJ Simpson-esque fall from grace. Well, yeah. I mean, it's unfortunate because when he was here he owned this town like he owned it he's here five years and he was yeah he was the greatest athlete you know by by far even bigger than wendell dougie you name you name it i mean they had some great athletes here during that time because the leafs were pretty damn good team too you had dougie but it just seemed like alomar owned the town that that's all. And he won two championships with this team. He was a clutch player.

And beloved, right? Oh, totally. Totally beloved. And now, persona non gratis. These names have been ripped off the level of excellence. They try. I think once in a while, they have to show him in a highlight

when they're doing a tribute to the 92 or 93, but you can tell they don't want to. They've stopped celebrating the big home run. And you have to wonder what his big brother, Sandy Alomar, who was just here on the weekend as a coach for the Guardians, what he's thinking when he walks into this stadium, you know, knowing what's happened and so on. But Steve, for sure.

I know he had some disagreements with management and different things because he was his own guy. He was a feisty competitive guy. He was a feisty, but he was his own guy feisty competitive he was a feisty but he was the he was the what i would call now um he was the original um who's the pitcher now with the jays who can't get it he doesn't get any run support uh he's starting the night i don't know why i'm blanking out now but okay anyway i'll get you the name but no but the fact is that steve through the early years when they weren't very good, he was awesome. I mean, he was just, he was winning on a losing team. And then finally,

when Bobby Cox came in and they started to turn things around and they didn't need him to be fantastic because they had guys who could hit. And then he kept winning games and he was an all-star, like all of it. He finally got his no hitter, you know, a few years later. But there's a guy, he's the all-time winningest pitcher in franchise history and his number's not retired. Nobody's going to match his numbers. Nobody's going to match his- It's not a franchise that retires numbers. No, but if you were going to do it with any of the players that you had, he has to be there. Roy Halladay has to be there.

Gosman pitches to him. Yeah, it's Kevin Gosman. I know why I blanked out, because that's the way the whole season's gone. I blanked out on times at this season because it's unwatchable. But Kevin Gosman must feel the way Steve used to feel, which he can't get any run support. There were games where Steve would pitch his butt off and the team couldn't score for him but he he just

never got enough run support but I think with Steve that's an easy one like okay you know uh Hernandez was a nice player but that's not like Dave Steve's, should be hanging up there. End of story. You've sold me. I love Dave Steeve. I loved watching him with the Jays. And I think we used to value wins more than we do now. I feel like a big season for Steeve would be like 17 wins. Where then you'd be like, oh, you know, Jack Morris had 21 wins or whatever.

But I think now we've kind of evolved that wins are not the best indication of the quality of a pitcher. Well, I mean, because you could still have a high ERA and have a lot of wins. But the thing is, if they value pitchers so much that they're giving them the gazillions of dollars to play every fifth day, you know, you still have to – it's still a vital part. So if a guy's going great, like analytics out the window,

if somebody's pitching a two hitter through six, you leave them in like that was old school now. Oh no, they're coming around third time through the order. They may find they haven't figured them out all day, but magically they're going to figure them out on the third try when somebody's thrown, you know, bullets all day. I don't, I'm not a big fan of that. Yeah. We need a new law, like a new rule in the major league. You cannot pull a pitcher who's pitching a no, no, like that should be like a new rule. Yeah, I'm not a big fan of that. We need a new law, like a new rule in the major league. You cannot pull a pitcher who's pitching a no-no. That should be like a blanket rule. Hello, Tampa Bay Rays, Dave Snell, World Series, must-win game.

Let's pull them. He's only given up two hits. Let's pull them, and then they lost. Right. Good for them. Well, I'm old school with you, man. Yeah. So great run you had at CTV slash TSN there.

That was a good long run. But why did it end for you in 2011? So in 2011, I got an opportunity like Mike Richards did, like a few of us did, to go over and work at TSN Radio because it looked like it was going to be a new challenge. It was within the same company, so I wasn't leaving the company. I just thought, and it was going to be eventually in the same building that I was in, which was great for commute-wise and all that, and familiarity.

It just seemed like a good idea. One of those, it seemed like a good idea at the time, and it did initially. Then things just kind of went south. Everybody, they started trying to make too many changes. They thought somehow that you know launching this new station we were going to beat the fan within the first year which was ludicrous because the fan had a 20-year head start um and then just a lot of things just went south they started making all these changes and different things and it just never it never panned out and

it was unfortunate and then they had uh you know, you know, in my case, they had, um, Bell bought another company. So they, they likened it to, um, or, or they, they said the reason I was getting let go was because of, um, this merger with another company and cutbacks and whatever. So they bought me out and that was after two and a half years there. And they actually did me a favor because it just wasn't going great. And, um, you know, and you've heard this story from a few people who work there, including the aforementioned Mike Richards. So, um, you know, just, you know, just some things just, you kind of scratched your head on and, and these, and, and then talking to a lot of the people that they brought into

that station who were dedicated lifelong radio people who were scratching their heads going, what are they doing? That's when you knew there was a problem. Like I was a TV guy who came back to do radio. I had been doing TV most of my career and I was still going to do TV with TSN. So I didn't give up the TV altogether. Um, but just for whatever reason, you know, things just kind of went sideways there. And it was unfortunate because there were a lot of good people who came over there and it

just never, it just never worked. It wasn't quite as bad as what they experienced years earlier when they did the team. But you know what, the way you're speaking about TSN in 2011, very similar to the way Mike Richards is in this group too, but like Paul Romanuk or Jim Van Horn, the way they would talk about their experience at the team, which you're right, it was like, I don't know.

It was only a year, literally a year, and then they pulled the plug, yeah. But a lot of good people came over in high hopes and Chum was behind this. That's right. Like you said, about a year and a bit. And then they said, let's go back to oldies. Yep.

And apparently their ratings were better with the oldies because they just didn't put enough effort and time into the radio side and the sports side. And for them, it was all about the ratings. Okay. So you're packaged out, I guess them, it was all about the ratings. Okay. So you're, uh, you're packaged out, I guess, uh, TSN radio there. So I basically sat on the sidelines for a year. I was able to still do some work for the national lacrosse league. Well, tell me about that. Cause you're, you were very involved with the NLL.

I was, I was part of, we were part of the rock, uh, the Toronto rock came to TSN in 2010. And I was the host sideline reporter. Uh the rock, the Toronto Rock came to TSN in 2010, and I was the host, sideline reporter. Dave Randolph was doing play-by-play. FOTM Dave Randolph. Brian Shanahan. Okay. Shani, the other Shani. Right.

Is that his brother? Yes. Because I wonder if he went to power, because I know Brandon Shanahan went to- Yes, they're both great lacrosse players, and Shani played pro lacrosse, like Brian did. Right. Brendan could have have but chose this little thing called hockey right um so it was great because it was a sport that i had never

played but i really felt i had covered it years earlier from the time they started i was covering the rock even going back to sports net um i would go and cover the rock because the games were on sports net when sports net first launched so um i was around it rock because the games were on Sportsnet when Sportsnet first launched. So I was around it a lot. The guys were great. I liken them to the CFL guys. They're not there to be become millionaires. They're there because they love to play and they're good athletes. They just don't get paid as much as everybody else, but it was just great to be around them. So once I was packaged out at TSN radio, the league came to me and said, we want you to keep, we want you to work for us. We've only got a handful of games that we're going to produce, but we want you to do the play by play. And I said, oh, okay, great. I appreciate that. So I was able to do that, including the championship game in 2013, which was kind of cool. which was kind of cool. But then I was, like I said, I just kind of laid low. Once 2014 came,

TSN called me and wanted me back on the TV side. So I started doing stuff for them. And I went back to doing rock games on TSN and different things. And then it was just piecemeal for the next few years, a little bit here, a little bit there, nothing permanent. I went back to CFTO in 2016 as a backup anchor for a few months. And that was kind of cool to sort of, I felt like I had gone home and some of the same people were still there. So that was fun. And then that ended kind of abruptly through no fault of my own. I don't, they still haven't, you know, they just stopped calling me. And so then I turned to radio, back to radio, and I got in at 1010 and I started doing news. So that was my transition at that point was sports is done and I'm moving over to news. Right. And that's where my foray into news happened. And it's been, it was there, then Global 640 Toronto and now CBC.

Okay. So News Talk 1010, this is in the days when they had a, they had an actual news department. You were part of an actual, there was actually, I get to tell my great grandkids, there was actually a news department, a News Talk news department. It's almost like you can say now there used to be sports departments in Toronto at all the TV stations and radio stations. No such thing anymore. I literally do that with my older two kids.

I'm like, we used to have sports commentaries. We would have Rick Hodge and we'd have Henny and Fred Patterson. I grew up listening to Henny every morning, man, going to school. That's who I wanted to listen to. Peter Gross. I know up listening to Henny every morning, man, going to school. That's who I wanted to listen to. Yeah.

So yeah. Peter Gross. Okay. Shout out to Peter Gross. I know he was here recently. Yeah. With Scott Metcalf. Okay.

That was quite the day. I mean, they had every outlet had a sports department and rightfully so. This is the biggest city in Canada, biggest market in Canada with a lot of stuff going on. And for some reason, the two main players now, Bell and Rogers, have decided local sports doesn't matter anymore. We won't cover it. We may send a news reporter once in a while. Yeah, whatever.

University, high school. I mean, for a lot of kids, that was a big deal. And then obviously covering all the Toronto teams. Nobody's doing that anymore on a regular basis. Wow. Okay. So 10-10 up until February 2021. And I do use the, I do say the R in February. Give me some points for that. But up until February 2021, News Talk 10-10, CFRB had a news department. And that day, that was a big day for cuts by bell media because not only did fotm barb de julio and fotm ted wallachian get it but the entire news talk news department was

axed and you know either russ courtney hayley cooper lucas myers some guy named claude fig yep that's right some guy compared to the other people. Yeah. I was, I was, um, you know, we were all called, we were told there's a conference call. And usually when there's been layoffs, when you get a conference call, that's usually in the past, that was a good thing because that meant they had gotten rid of the people and not that you felt good that anybody got let go, but we had heard that it was coming so we get a call they say this conference call we somebody comes on the line and says you're not your mics have been muted we're not going to let you talk so this is what's going on it was like 30 seconds it could

have been a recorded message for all we know and then they phone hung up only did we find out in the next day or two that it had been everybody. I thought it was me and maybe a couple other people. It was everybody except the program director. That's a horrible way to do it. That's such a, I know it's like you're shrugging your shoulders. Like this is the corporate world we live in or whatever, but Matt, there's got to be a better way, man. Like you're letting someone go their livelihood. You got kids, you know, you got a mortgage, et cetera, et cetera.

And you're losing your job without, come on a conference call to hear recorded your services. Your services are no longer required. We'll send you a folder. I'll give you a better one too for both radio, not just at News Talk, but on the TV side where they had layoffs as well. They told some of the people there that they had to stay another month before they could get their package. They needed people to fill the air slots. So imagine being the one that gets told, you're gone, but you still need to come into work for the next month so that you get your package. And that's how you get a half-assed performance.

That was pretty cruel. That's cruel. But I think the way they dismissed you on February, whatever it was, February 2nd or whatever, 2021, that was a pretty cruel way to let somebody go, tell them that their livelihood is- Yeah, but you know what? I had gone through it.

To me, the bigger kick in the butt and in the gut was the first time in 2013 at TSN Radio. Because that encompassed everything I had done, and that was like a 20-year career with the company. So that one hurt a lot more. The second one still hurt, but it didn't have quite the same impact. I could see that. I felt worse for the other people who had been there for a long time,

who were the full-timers and who had young families or were getting married. That's who I felt bad for. And as it happened, within a couple of months, I was able to, you know, make contact with 640 because I knew a couple of people there. And they were happy to bring me in. So, I started there in May or April of that same year. So, I was basically on the sidelines for about three months. And I wasn't even sure then if I was going to continue in this business. I really, it was the, you know,

sit back and think about life and what do you want to do now and all this. And I'm not getting any younger. And so all that stuff went through my head. Like, did you think about, you know, driving a truck? Seriously, like you're thinking, I'm going to go work at a warehouse nearby and do whatever to make money.

Well, I mean, people like, I'm thinking of Stormy Norman Rumack or Scott Ferguson. There's a whole bunch of cats from the sports media game. Howard Berger works at a funeral home. That's right. But it's not Ridley Funeral Home, so don't you dare go there. Come on, what are you doing here? But yeah, sometimes you got to do what you got to do. And if you can't pay your rent and feed your family with a job that doesn't exist, you got to do something else. No, you got to do what you got to do and if your job's if you can't you know pay your rent and feed your family with uh a job that doesn't exist you got to do something else no

you got to keep working you want to work and i wasn't going to sit around and um so i i honestly thought for a little while there that maybe i'm done and like i said uh i was able to connect with global and they had some good people jason chapman was a guy jason oh you know him okay good yeah uh i'm not dropping names here because i i it's like you don't have people that i worked with right uh so he brought me in and um i was there for about a year and a half and then this opportunity at cbc came so for for a change i actually walked away on my own terms from global which was kind of nice and they were very good to me about, you know, there was no animosity or anything like that,

which was great. Uh, cause you just never know. Um, but yeah, so, uh, I managed to continue my career and I'm very thankful and grateful for

everything. And I just love broadcasting. Like I love sports. If I could go back to sports, I would. And I, and periodically, you know, you get sports items into a newscast. It's gotta be a big, big, big broadcasting. Like, I love sports. If I could go back to sports, I would. And periodically, you know, you get sports items into a newscast anyway. It's got to be a big, big item. You know, like last night, the Elks finally won at home for the first time in four years.

Like, that's newsworthy, certainly for people in Alberta. But, like, this poor team hasn't won a home game since October 2019. That's wild, right? They finally won. Wow. World Track and Field Championships. I mean, obviously what Canada did. So you do get a chance to talk some sports.

The Canadian Open this year, Taylor with Nick Taylor with an unbelievable play. Sure. So it's still kind of nice to be able to mention some sports stuff once in a while, but obviously you're not doing it with the same frequency as you've been used to in the past. But think about this.

Even doing that is more than what the two sports radio stations in Toronto do because they don't even do sports updates anymore, which just blows your mind when you think about that, that two sports stations who talk sports don't do sports updates. You listen to stations in the States, and there's nobody that's not doing sports, you know, ESPN, whatever their show is, they have updates, Fox updates. Like it's crazy. Like this is where we've gotten to in Canada, which is just, and I'm going to be biased because I'm a sports guy by, you know, in my heart.

The fact is we should be, you have a lot of things to talk about here. How do you not have people doing updates is, is crazy. Yeah. I mean, I've seen the, the cutbacks, if it's not your core programming, like if it's not the actual blue Jay broadcasts on sports net or things that around that, uh, they're just not spending money on it. Yep. And that's the bottom line, right? Literally the bottom line is they don't want to spend money then they wonder why people aren't watching or listening it's because you're not spending money well they won't even spend money on tim and friends like that's where we're at now it's like go back to jane dan yeah that was a pretty

successful tandem and they decided oh we only need one person like they've done this across the board on the news side as well, apparently, with some of their morning shows across the country where they had a tandem. Now they have one. They just wanted to cut back. It's painful. So when you're instructing your students about radio storytelling. Run as fast as you can out of the classroom now.

Do you look them in the eyes and say, oh, there's a future in it? Or are you like. Well, what I look them in the eyes and say, oh, there's a future in it? Or are you like? Well, what I tell them is if you're in your heart, you feel there's something there that you want to pursue, do it. But understand that I don't want to be glass half empty guy. I want to be glass half full because I hated people who would come in to my classroom who said the same thing. Oh, don't bother. It's too, there are too many too many people not enough job i want them to feel like there's an opportunity but the beauty nowadays is they can create some of their own

stuff they don't have to work at a like as you said a terrestrial you can do it yourself if you have the drive like you know a guy like uh like me miked in toronto yeah you know like that that kind of stuff i'm doing i'm literally doing it myself right now. You are. And Claude's witnessing this. There's no one here to help me. I'm staring in your basement right now. Yeah, that's a nice coat rack you have over there, by the way. Claude, I enjoyed this very much. Thank you.

It was great. From now on, I'm going to nail that G. It's going to be Claude Figg. I'm going to nail it. I actually did that. I did that one time. Brad Fay and I were hosting Sportsnet Central, which is what it's called now. And I said, hey, welcome in.

We're the two Fays. I have an extra G or I have an extra G note or something. I made reference to it because it was Fay and Fade, which can be a tongue twister. But anyway. Rumor has it he might be returning soon to celebrate 25 years of Sportsnet. That's a rumor.

So don't go spreading that rumor. But the return of Brad Fay and maybe Jamie Campbell as well. Nice. Good guys. Both good guys. Well, you're a good guy. You've earned that lasagna. You've earned that beer.

Can't wait. The beer and lasagna tonight, man. It's on. Let's go. And that brings us to the end of our 1,313th show. I thought it was 15th. Oh, yeah. What did I say?

I said, you know what? Thank you for being here. I know. The numbers can be tongue-twisting. And that. I thought, wow, that's a lot of shows. You know what, Claude? I'll fix it in post.

And that brings us to the end of our, you know what? Now I'm actually going to go in real time. I'm going to go see, is it 1315? Let's just check out here. What was Jane Sibury? And now I'm actually going to go in real time. I'm going to go see. Is it 1315? Let's just check out here. What was Jane Sibury? Jane Sibury was 1314. Okay.

It is 1315. So I'm actually following Jane Sibury. That's very cool. Very cool. And you agreed with me. That's a very fun fact that the guy who directed Me on the Beach fathered Penny Oleksiak. Two world-class athletes. Not one, two. And that brings us to the end of our 1,315th show.

You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Claude, where would you like people to follow you? They can follow me on Twitter, at Claude Figg. With a G. With a G. That's why Port Wando's not following you. They can follow me on Twitter at Claude Figg with a G. That's why Port Wando's

not following you. He doesn't think there's a G there. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery or at Great Lakes Beer join us for TMLX 13 on September 7th.

Palma Pasta's at Palma Pasta. Don't pop those Palma Pasta peas. Getting Hip to the Hip is at Getting Hip Pod. I'll be there on September 1st. That's Friday night.

Recycle my electronics. We're at E P R a underscore Canada pumpkins after dark or at pumpkins, dark and Ridley funeral home or at Ridley FH. See you all later this week when my special guest is, where's my drum roll here? Oh, Later this week, when my special guest is... Where's my drum roll here? Oh! The return, in person, the return of Lorne Honickman.

See you all then. Well, I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in Spain And I've kissed you in places I better not name And I've seen the sun go down on Chaclacour But I like it much better going down on you Yeah, you know that's true because everything is coming up.