Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Colleen Rusholme: Toronto Mike'd #97

Episode Date: November 27, 2014

Mike chats with GTA radio personality Colleen Rusholme about her life in Toronto radio, my Rick Hodge incident, the irony of Stu Jeffries and more.

Welcome to the 97th episode of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything, often with a distinctly Toronto flavour. I'm Mike from torontomic.com and joining me this week is GTA radio host Colleen Rusholm. I am number 97. 97. I'm 97! Better late than never. You want your headphones jacked up? Yeah, that's what my thumbs up was for.

People like the inside radio stuff, so you have to say that stuff out loud and they know what's going on. Sorry, I know. I wanted to make it seem like... You know what? Wilner last week actually wanted them quiet. Really?

But usually, guys, the radio people are deaf. Like, they're partially deaf and they need it really loud. I'll tell you... Is this better? This is great. My whole career, I've always had my headset one off, one on.

So I'm actually deaf in one ear, not the other. Which one? My left ear is, I can hear much better than my right. It's a funny habit that we can get into from the start. That's the opposite of Q-tip when he says never on the left because my right's my good ear. You are also a rapper, I can tell. Yep. Did you like, I saw you bobbing your head to the theme song.

Did you dig my Toronto mic to theme song? Who did that for you? Ill Vibe, his name is. He's a local rapper. I love it. What else does he do? He does stuff with interesting people, like Decisive and him have done some project lately.

I don't know if you know Decisive, Derek Kristoff, who has agreed to come on the podcast and we've never picked a date, but he's kind of a big deal okay that's cool he's no maestro fresh west no well who is um do we have outgoing music though like when we're done the interview are you gonna play some uh lowest of the low it's like a tradition i saw them at the horseshoe two years ago come on do they have new stuff uh they broke up i think ago. Come on. Do they have new stuff? They broke up, I think. I don't think they have new stuff, but they broke up. Lowest of the low brings me back to being 19 and drinking in bars.

Shakespeare, my butt. That was the. Yes, that's right. And the 102.1 played the hell out of like salesman cheats and liars. Salesman cheats and liars. Right. And of course, Henry needs a new pair of shoes. Yes.

And the Bleed a little wild tonight. Bleed a little wild tonight. Damn, damn the circumstance. Oh, yes. Like the great tunes. Great tunes. And the

See if I'm white. I think it would have been See if I'm white at the time. Yep. They were all over Lois L.O. Good CanCon, which is rare these days. No, it's great.

Now, I don't know if you listen to what do we have now like ubiquitous synergy seeker i'm trying to think of like local bands local bands that are getting radio air time you don't hear about oh and the two uh who that who's the toronto the the arkells arkells okay we got to get into hamilton because i know that you're uh you live in toronto i do you work in hamilton i do this is going to be a significant part of the later discussion okay we can do it now we can do it later this is your. I do. This is going to be a significant part of the later discussion.

Okay. We can do it now. We can do it later. This is your deal. First of all, this is the third scheduled recording. So first time you said you were sick. Were you really sick? I do a lot of voice work along with the radio show.

So when I lose my voice, it's done. I had to protect it. So were you on the air in Hamilton? I was not on the air that day. I can check protect it. So were you on the air in Hamilton? I was not on the air that day. Because I can check the records. Why don't you go ahead? Because I would never lie because you can check. And then the next time, I'm sad to say my co-host's father died. So I couldn't come because that

was the funeral day. Can you produce an obituary to confirm the story? Do you want me to? I will. I'll just go right to Facebook. No, I trust you. Okay, good. So I only canceled twice and I made it on the third one. But you were 15 minutes late. I just want to know if you were appearing on the social, for example, would you have called in twice? You couldn't make it? I'm going to tell you something about myself.

Tell me. Weißt du, dass ich bin Deutsch? Do you know what I just said? I've been to Germany several times. So kannst du ein bisschen Deutsch reden? I'm German. I don't like to be late. The trains are very precise in Germany. It made me, this is a big BBM day.

We got our results for Fresh FM today. So I need to stay behind with my program director and look at some numbers. Were they good? And cry and laugh up and down. You know, we don't prescribe to PPM in Hamilton. It's still the diary. So, I mean, you know, Oh, that's the diary. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, I mean, you know, it can be good or bad. Uh, I'm going to have to wait to the end of the day to actually see what the good stories are for fresh, but there's always some, which is good. That is

good. Okay. I'm just busting your chops here, but I hate being late. I really do. Tell me you're, uh, we're going to get into some of the, uh, big deal radio stuff you did with easy rock and boom and stuff. But tell me like how you started in radio. I know that I'm reading your bio somewhere and it even drops Q107 and I have no memory of you on Q107. I need you to refresh my memory. How does this all begin? What question do you want to answer?

Do you want how I started? Okay, start in radio. Yeah. I was a co-op student with my high school, Cameron Heights in Kitchener, Waterloo. And I really wanted to work at 570 Chime and AM 109. So that was my, I was 16 co-op student with my high school, Cameron Heights in Kitchener, Waterloo, and I really wanted to work at 570 Chime and AM 109. So that was my, I was 16 years old. I got to get coffee for the morning shows at the time, which I don't know what happened to them. George Michael actually is still on Chime, which is now 96.7.

Formerly of Wham. Yeah. Isn't that funny that he has the same name? That's crazy. So I got to participate in that. And then I helped with my teacher, Mr. King, at the time, start the very first high school radio station that you could be heard outside. It was like two watts.

That's crazy. I know. We didn't have one of those. Well, I know. This is where I started. So I did the morning show. I was the program director, and I was the sales manager. Every Friday, I would go to Dr. Diss' downtown kitchener.

They'd give me 60 CDs, and I'd take them home for the weekend. Nobody knew that I put them all on tape. So all the jocks would have this fresh music weekly. That's amazing. Yeah. I was a teenager. So I was getting up at four in the morning, even back in high school. That was my start. And this, this is your, so you've always wanted to be in radio. You know, it's funny when I, when people ask me that I can't think of, of anything else. I'd be six years old

with my ghetto blaster with a really thick plain record button that was really hard to push down at the same time did you have dual cassette uh no I was excuse me I'm a kid from the 70s so um I would honestly I'm not I'm gonna check your birth certificate 40 okay well I'm 41 yeah so I had a dual because I mean I'm just saying they did exist. I got it at Consumerist Distributing. It was Citizen. No, it was Citizen. Consumerist Distributing. Yeah, I'm done with that.

The biggest disappointment. Can I have this? We don't have this. No, absolutely. I've written about... That's exactly right. You have your little pencil and you do it and you're all excited.

And no, it's never in stock. It's never... My Cabbage Patch doll wasn't in stock either. Oh, I'll bet. Yeah, it was a sad... Still not in stock. It's still not there. All right, so...

Yeah, they did have just Miss Talking. Like, you'll bet. Still not in stock. It's still not there. All right. So yeah, they did have just miss talking like you're 20 years older than me. She's got like six months on me or something. Yeah, maybe, maybe a bit more. Yeah. So from there I went to Humber College and I got to do an excellent program through CFRB called CFRB Summer Beat. Do you remember that? Nope. Okay. So basically there were three of us hired and every day we were responsible for two 60-second human interest stories. We're talking reel-to-reel splicing, going out on the street with those big heavy recorders that I think my shoulders still sore from.

And I was responsible for that. So that was really my big radio start, and I was just quiet, and I shut up, and I paid attention, and stayed, and stayed. And they hired me as a reporter for on weekends. I have a you, I have a question cause I've never felt I had a very good radio voice. Okay. It's just my perception. Like what if you sounded like crap? Like, is it just you scored, you got lucky that you actually have a very nice radio voice? Is this like, is this, you had to be never considered my voice in any of these decisions with my life.

I didn't, if you think I have a nice voice, thank you very much. I actually have the same voice that my mother has. Um, but I, I never considered it. I always thought, cause newer type radio isn't about the voice. No, exactly. But, but it was in the eighties, like the Tom Rivers and everything. Like it was the voice, right? I got my biggest start from, get out of here. You know, he was, I was my morning show, uh, the rivers air fart force rivers air force. So you don't remember calling my show? Oh, no. It wasn't Rivers. Rivers Air Force on Talk 640.

Yeah. Well, no. I was listening on 680. Okay. That was the old CFTR, Tom Rivers. Yeah. So I was with Larry Silver, Evelyn Macko, and Tom Rivers. We did the mornings on 640.

Okay. So this is after he left CFTR. Is this the Chog or something? Is this the Hog? This is Hog. I remember the Hog. 640. Wow. It was fantastic. And that opened up the door to Q because they were 10 feet away. And my program

director program, uh, Pat Cardinal rather gave me those opportunities too. Cool. No, that's cool. I, I honestly, that was, that was my morning show. Uh, Tom Rivers. And I remember like stuff like, yeah. And what was the, uh, chicken man or something? was cftr days i only know i don't know the hog i just know the cftr days yeah yeah he he was a legend and the nicest man i've ever met i have a i could thank him for a lot sadly he's gone now but uh yeah way young right like he was like way too young i don't even think he may have been 47 or something or am i just maybe 50s yeah yeah that's right and him and larry silver were best friends so i always think about larry He may have been 47 or something. Or am I just maybe 50s? I think he may have been 50. Yeah. Yeah.

That's rough. And him and Larry Silver were best friends. So I always think about Larry and I'm sure he misses his friend. Wow. All right. That's a cool mentor though, if you're going to have one. The best mentor. Gave me fantastic advice.

And so this is how you break into radio. How far are we from this Q107? Why don't I remember? Because I used to listen. I used to listen to Q to listen to hunger man kogan afternoon drive maybe i was gone by then do you remember him nope yeah i honestly don't maybe you know what i was a big 102 guy for all of the 90s like and then uh i q was like q10 zeppelin i used to call it well it was classic rock and then it flipped to pure rock do you remember the pure classic rock and then it flipped to pure rock. Do you remember the pure rock days?

But I remember the pure rock because in the late 80s, I used to listen to the top 10 of 10. And that's when I would first hear Guns N' Roses, for example. They played the Appetite for Destruction. But that was still before they were named pure rock. Right. Because it was just Toronto's best rock. Toronto's best rock.

I had a sticker on it. Toronto's best rock. Yeah, so it's evolved a few times. But I was there in the pure rock days doing Afternoon Drive with Hungry Man Kogan. I had a sticker on a... Toronto's Best Rock. Toronto's Best Rock. Yeah, so it's had a few... It's evolved a few times. Right. But I was there in the Pure Rock days doing Afternoon Drive with Hungry Man Kogan. And then... What happened? Then John Derringer came along

and I coasted with him. And then from there, I wanted to do Morning, so I went to Energy, which... 108. Well, no, they flipped. No.

The all-hit superstition. You're teaching me so many things. 95.3, it flipped. Okay. Wow. Yeah, so now it's Y108, 95.3, which has been a million different formats. What do you think of John?

Only because we have a mutual friend who hates John Derringer. Who? Humble Howard. Does he speak publicly about that? Yeah. I would never speak at a school. I would never speak at a school.

This is actually fodder for his daily podcast. Derringer. It might be more like. Did you talk about Derringer on a show? He did. So it might be more like. They talk about Derringer and Blundell and stuff. Because I believe it would be more like Derringer hated Humble.

So Humble's reacting to this hatred he's getting from Derringer. It could be. And if you know Howard, he doesn't like being hated. He takes it very personally. What's Derringer like as a be. And if you know Howard, he doesn't like being hated. He takes it very personally. What's Derringer like as a human? I've never met the man, but what's he like as a human being? I can't tell you what he's like as a human being.

I can tell you what he's like as somebody I worked with on the air. Okay, tell us that then. I'll tell you. Oh, I hear a baby. There's a baby in this house. We have a baby up there. We'll get him on the mic.

I'll tell you. I learned a lot from John. John is a seasoned pro. That man could turn a microphone on and be the most compelling, still some of the best radio I've ever heard, ever. He was the most generous to share the airwaves with. He was the first guy in the room that would be, hey, Colleen, show me what you can do, and I would create characters. That was Swan Stevensonson for a while on q107 it was quite funny

and he would sit back like a flapper is that a flapper it was like a flapper but she really was my crazy sister and she was very jealous of me it was like this whole character yeah very good but he would sit back and he would put his hands behind his head and just let me do it as far as a human being goes i don't know him on that level. And actually, I haven't seen him in years. So I hope he's doing well. He works for the same company. I hear he's doing okay with that company. I think John's doing just fine.

Professionally and money-wise, I think he'll be okay. He's one of the last old school guys, big morning men, that still bring in those numbers too. And deservedly so. He works hard. Yeah, he's been there a long time. I remember him back in the day and then, of course,

he did some fan 590 stuff when he came back to the city. Like, he went to Montreal or whatever. He did some fan stuff. With Jimmy Lang or the old guy who passed away. Oh my god, he used to talk about him all the time. Marsden? Yes, Pat Marsden. Yeah.

That's one of the stations. I don't listen to that many stations. That was one of them, 590. And I remember the Marsden. I was Diane Stevens on the fan 590. Okay. So tell me this story. That was just a traffic job. I used to do airborne traffic.

So I'd cross the bridge or rather get on the ferry at the bottom of Bathurst. Yeah. And go to the hangar. And I do one traffic report on a mic that didn't sound nearly as good as this. And the airplane would be running. I could hear it. So I'd press a button and go and do my traffic

for one of five radio stations where I had four different names that I had to remember. Isn't that weird? That's wild. And then I'd have to run out. The pilot would have the door open. I'd run into it sit down slam it we had to reach a certain elevation in order for the broadcast to pick up

so he'd go as fast as he could so i could be diane stevens on the fan 590 for my 620 cut in do you remember all the names like uh could you still remember the name colleen rush home colleen frasendorf which is my actual name um uh d Diane Stevenson, and I don't really remember the other one. There had to be a few different people because they're all for competing radio stations, right? Okay, yeah, I was going to ask you why, but that would make sense. Yeah, it was Skywards Traffic. So you're not really a Rusholm? I'm not really a Rusholm.

I lived on Rusholm Road in Toronto three different times. That's how you come up with your stripper name, I think. Kind of. Your first pet and then your street that you grew up on. So what would yours be? I don't know because I never had a pet growing up. I never have. Oh, my God.

This is the saddest story I've ever heard. Do you have a pet now? No. What's up with you? I know, but I do have three kids. They're kind of like pets. They're not like pets. No.

Because pets, you can just give back to the shelter. They're not as obedient. That's right. That's right. No, I don't know my stripper name. But okay, so Rush Home because I was going to start

with a terrible joke about how like, hey, I'm glad you rushed to my home. But then I nixed it because it wasn't funny enough. Look at my face. That's why it was nixed.

You think that's the first time I've heard that one? Yeah. It was going to be funny when I did it right after I introduced you. And then I realized, oh, Mike,

that's like the corniest worst joke you've ever written. Don't even go there. A woman had a tour once at Q107 and she came into my booth and she said, I like your name. Where'd you get your name from? I said, oh, Rush Home is my street name.

I said, my real name is Friesendorf. She went, oh. And looking back, she gave me a really odd look. I got an email a month later from her saying, hi, Colleen Rush, it was so nice to meet you. I got an email a month later from her saying, Hi, Colleen Rush. It was so nice to meet you. I want to tell you how happy I am that you told me that you used to live on the street and that that was your street.

She thought it was my street name. Oh, I see. Like a gangsta name. That's hilarious. It's my favorite story. And I had to tell her, I said, no, no, no. Street as in my address. So I lost some cred.

But for two months, she thought I was a street dog. Well, you have some ink, I see. I do. So you got like, you're kind of streety. Yeah, I'm kind of gangy. That's what I am. This is Boris. This is a tattoo of my dog's name.

Nice. Your dog is Russian. He is. He came from a Russian puppy mill. I'm not proud of my decisions in life. But now he's 11 years old and he's very cute. No, I'm very nice. 11 is a good age for a dog.

For a purebred Frenchie? I hope he's still alive by the time I get home. No, so do I. That's funny. I can't believe this is a first. I should play the breaking news music. Rush home. I mean, I don't know. Maybe everybody knows this. Rush home to me sounds German.

Do you want to hear my real name? Yeah. Colleen Friesendorf. My dad's name is Werner Gunther Friesendorf. Everyone's German as they come. But you know what? I had a boss at the time, and this is way before the days of George Strammelopoulos. Thanks for giving us that awesome name.

Exactly. Those names weren't really popular at the time, so he said give me your street name. I said it's Rush Home. He goes, that's what it's going to be. My father to this day is so disappointed that he never got to. But you know what? At CFRB, I was Colleen Friesendorf with your CFRB summer. Because your dad is a character you bring into radio shows. Well, it's not a character. It's himself, I guess. But he plays Papa Rush Home. So he's adopted for the character he is. He has adopted the fake name. Every radio station I've worked at, Papa Rushome has a bit on it. To this day, he doesn't know why he's funny. That's when people are funny. They're not self-aware. He has no idea. I love those people. And they're so hard to find. When you find one who's not self-aware, it's like you just want to keep them that way and just somehow yeah that's perfect yeah i love my papa he's a good guy good um okay so at some point you get to easy rock and this is when

i first hear of calling rush home so did is there anything between these uh yeah i miss anything uh i went to the all hit superstation 95 3 at that time where i worked with uh big d darren layman which was my second tour of duty because I actually did mornings at Z103. You have no idea. I've been everywhere. That is everywhere. I think you're everywhere. I've been everywhere.

Then that flipped to country and then it became Stu Jeffries with Calling Russia. And this is 103? No, this is when the Superstation 953 turned to country, 953. No, country 953. Where am I i now what city is why do i not know these hamilton so hamilton yeah but our hamilton studios moved to king and dufferin at that time do you remember that we all amalgamated with cmt no i gotta i avoided the country music scene well

there you go you and but i remember a kiss sadly many others otherwise it would still be i honestly to this day i'll reject anything that's about country. Stu and I used to always say, if we just had you for a week, we would convince you that you would like country. I don't think I could give you an hour. Okay, so tell me, though. Okay, so from there. It's a Hamilton station that's broadcasting at King and Dufferin? Yes, mornings and afternoon drive, we're broadcasting there.

So Stu and I did our show there for a couple of years, and then we were approached by the good people at Easy Rock and they liked our sound. And country, as you know, is very AC. It transcends to many formats. So then we went off to Easy Rock. And is this the, what year are we in approximately? Oh my God.

Do you know that I'm the worst with years? Barb DiGiulio was horrible at the years. My brother's still upset about it. 2004? 2004? Okay. I like Barb DiGiulio. Yeah, the years. My brother's still upset about it. 2004? 2004? Okay. I like Barb DiGiulio.

Yeah, she's lovely. She was very nice. She's on 1010 now, if anyone's looking for her. I don't think I knew that. So I'm going to have to tune in more to 1010 because I love that station. I don't know if it's a drive or... I don't know. To be honest, I don't listen to any 1010. I never have.

Where do you get your talk outlet? I listen to Cbc radio one yeah a lot and i bike to it and everything and then i i will listen to the fans sometimes with bobcat uh in the afternoon yeah what's going on yeah okay but otherwise i'm a big podcast guy like i i what are your favorite podcasts i listened i'm now listening to uh first i've downloaded all of the serial podcast from the american, this American life people. I started to listen and I get why people are pushing me on. I have them all.

And in fact, I heard they're going to do a second season, but I haven't started. I'm waiting for like some time. I do listen to Humble and Fred every day. Yeah. They're fantastic. It's never nice to hear them on that platform,

isn't it? Yeah. Because yeah, they can just do anything. They can really be the true Humble and Fred. Yeah. They're the funniest. Yeah. And they seem to be making Humble and Fred. Yeah. They're the funniest. Yeah.

And they seem to be making a go of this. Yeah. It's been three years. And I just, yesterday was in, I don't know if you heard of this thing called Google Plus. Yes. Okay.

It's like, I go there and it's like tumbleweeds blowing by. But I wrote something in like summer of 2011 when we were planning this Humble and Fred podcasting thing. And I was just asking like, would you listen? Would you download it? Whatever.

And then I realized, like, that was over three years ago and this thing's still going strong. So they just had, like, a 25th anniversary. You should have been there. Were you not invited? I was at one Humble and Fred one and I couldn't make it to another one. It's fine. You went to the Wayne Gretzky's one.

I did. Yes, very good. Yeah, that was a Christmas party. That was fun. Yeah, two years ago. Then there was one in the East End of Toronto. Yeah, that was the Christmas party. That was fun. Yeah, two years ago. Then there was one in the east end of Toronto. Yeah, that was the 20th anniversary. That was the 20th anniversary.

And I talked to Howard today, actually. I gave him a call before I came here. And he wants me to drop by on the 23rd. So I'm going to try to make that. They're going to do like an... Are you going to go? The open... Oh, is it a Festivus thing?

It's like on the 23rd, they're going to do this open studio. Well, I might go. It's like three clicks away. Yeah, you're so close. I might go. Yeah I might go like, it's like three clicks away. Yeah. You're so close. I might go. Yeah. Bike over. Where the hell was I?

Podcast. There's a couple more. I'm going to drop real quick. I enjoy this, you know, Jonathan Torrens and Jeff, I mean, Jeremy Taggart.

I know them both. I didn't know that they do. Yeah. Okay. So they've both been on this show. See, that's a sellback. So people can go back and find them.

But Torrens and Taggart have a podcast that I enjoy. It's very Canadian. Are they friends? How do they know each other? They just met. I don't think they were longtime friends or anything, but they met in Toronto and then they both had interest to get into radio.

And then they started the podcast in the same way that, you know, Biggs and Barr started a podcast. And then somebody said, hey, let's hire them. Yeah. The same model where you just start doing a podcast and try to said hey let's hire him yeah this same model where you just start doing a podcast and try to sell it to a station yeah funny I know you never know so Taggers and Torns I listen to and there's a new one by Jesse Brown I've been listening to

uh he's a independent journalist and he's been in the news lately because he broke the Gian Gomeschi story he was the one that broke he was the guy who took it to the star that's how Kevin Donovan at the star so he's worked guy who took it to the star he that's how kevin donovan at the star so he used to work for cbc and stuff and now he's independent and he has a podcast called canada land and i've been checking that out okay so anyways i should write these notes down especially the tagger one i like him i avoid a lot of the big u.s ones i actually like canadian stuff like so i i get a lot of can con from the humble and fred and torrens and taggart and uh canada land and toronto mike i'll listen to my own do you listen to just every day just laying in bed

see what i don't talk to me and listening mike why did i say that i'll say why did i say that why did i not go with that great calling rushed to my home joke i'm gonna tell you something about being a radio never go back and listen unless your program director makes you because you'll always hate yourself. Is that right? We're the most self-deprecating, hate-filled people towards ourselves I've ever met. See, because I had to put in the reps.

I feel like the only way I was going to get better was, A, do a bunch. So I would interview anyone at the beginning. I've raised the bar quite a bit now. I need big-time, interesting people like Colleen Rushmore. But in the beginning, I would have interviewed somebody who, I don't know, cleans the floors or whatever. But in the beginning, I would have interviewed somebody who cleans the floors or whatever. But that's how you learn your technique.

Honestly, anyone could have come on. I would have anyone in the podcast and talk to them just to get some reps in or whatever. And the only way I felt I could get better is if I actually listened to every episode as if I was a fan. That's a good point. My regular co-host Elvis will not

listen to himself. Who is this person? He buddy who does he's in tomorrow tomorrow morning actually he's not here today he lives in like north oshawa he's not committed he's not committed no he's not but when uh if i play even a little bit of him just to do a sound check or something he freaks out like i can't hear myself is that are you like that or no? Oh, I don't know. What did you just ask me? Like, will you listen to yourself on the radio? Like, will you go back and listen to anything? And if I have to, sometimes we play replay on weekends, but I get irritated by myself sometimes by my own self. I get irritated. Sometimes I'm proud of my work. I mean, we all work hard, but I'll hear things as certain little, my voice or like, why didn't I come up with that word?

You know, what's happening to me now is I can't hold names or movie names or entertainment. It's happening to me, too. I know it makes me insane. Earlier when you came in and I was trying to come up with a name. And what was I don't even now remember what name I was trying to come up with. But do you remember? Oh, yeah. I was trying to talk to you about not Cinderella, man.

What's the other boxy movie? The Hurricane. And you couldn't pick The Hurricane. Yeah. Yeah. That's okay. It happens with age. And I can see it.

And sometimes I can see the actors and I can see the movie poster and I have to read. And sometimes I see the movie poster and I read the name off the poster in my mind. You have a gift. It's not a gift because I should have that name on instantly. I know. But it goes for it. I want to know who your high profile people are. Who has sat in this chair?

You really want to know the big ones? Okay. Are you glad you're sitting down okay so we mentioned mike wilner yep can you believe mark hebbshire has sat in that seat really hebsy i love him he's come into my morning show too he's a really great guy he was a very interesting interview isn't he he's a hyper guy he can talk for a lot. Maybe you know, I have a lot of morning show guys, people, I should say, like, for example, Mad Dog. Love him. Do you? Well, I worked at- Because I can tell you're being sincere.

I am being sincere. So I worked- Because you never said that when I mentioned Derringer. Ah. I know. You're trying to pull stuff out of me. No, I wouldn't. I kind of like your style.

So tell me, Mad Dog seemed like a really nice guy. I worked at Easy Rocket that then turned into Boom. I was with Stu for a while and then Humble Kim, Colleen, and Rick. Oh, yeah, which I'm going to get to right now. Okay, fine. But anyway, Mad Dog- like a really nice guy. I worked at Easy Rocket that then turned into Boom. I was with Stu for a while, and then Humble, Kim, Colleen, and Rick. Oh, yeah, which I'm going to get to right now. Okay, fine. But anyway, Mad Dog, he was always my own spoiler alert. He was always the consistent guy down the hallway. Him and Billy, and now with, oh my God.

Maura Gearson, who is lovely. Should I have her on? Because I don't know much about her. Have her on. She's interesting and funny and drop-dead gorgeous. Have her on. You had me at gorgeous. Of course I did.

And Mad Dog's a great guy, too. Oh, and I don't know if you listen. Speaking of Fan 590, so both of those guys have been in separately. Walker and Brady. Okay. Greg Brady. I'm guessing some big names. I don't know.

Jeremy Taggart's been here. I mentioned that. Jonathan Torrens. Alan Cross. Ever heard of that guy? Of course. I know. So he was here. todd shapiro um mike let me think you know i should add the sock

do you like how i just turned this interview around yeah you're in the video i gotta now i'm excited to tell you all the big names did you meet him in person then or was it actually at the sock that you both that made no sense but i did both no No, I did both. I had this, okay. Before the interview, my thought was like, this is silly. You got to talk to, uh, Steven Kersner. He's the guy who's going to be sitting there and talk to him about this. And then,

uh, I talked to Steve about it and he's like, well, just interview both of us. And then I'm like, yeah, you know, I really want to interview Ed,

but I just thought it would be silly. So we did a whole thing where they're both there. And then Ed went to the washroom, literally like we had footsteps and Ed walked. And then I'm interviewing Steven. And then at some point Ed comes back from the washroom and we start talking about like things like Gomeshi and Ford nation and things like that.

You ever, you ever work with Gian Gomeshi? I did not. Um, I used to see him. No, you know what? I used to see him at events and i am i he

always and i know hindsight's 2020 but he always came across as a pretty arrogant prick i spent two hours with the man not uh he was i was uh it was actually humble and fred's podcast so he he was in and oh so you met him then yeah and kelly catrera was there who knew him i work with kelly now yes yeah yeah i gotta get back to my notes. We got to get to this good stuff. But bottom line was he seemed nice enough. Like, I mean, we didn't have one on one stuff like this or whatever, but

I mean, he was very pleasant with Humble Fred and Kelly, who he knew all three of those people. Right. I was the guy in the room he didn't know and he was polite enough like shook my hand, looked me in the eyes and said, hello. Well, that's good. I think he said, hello there. Hello there.

But now in hindsight, he's like pretentious in hindsight. Like I didn't have it at the time. And now I see, oh yeah, you know, and looking back, he was like a pretentious. He always came across that way to me. But I'll be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the CBC. See, that's it. So I listened to a lot of CBC and he was, you know, his show was, depending on the guest, was a big deal.

Well, he got a lot of attention for some of his interviews too, which now we're finding out he didn't have that much to do. He had a full team. Yeah. How nice. That's the thing. He did that essay every morning and it turns out they were handed to him. He didn't even write it.

Like someone should write, if someone wrote me these essays, I could be the new guy. And you should apply. Apparently they're looking for somebody. I heard they're looking for a woman. I'm going to write my own essays though I could be the new guy. And you should apply. Apparently, they're looking for somebody. I'm going to write my own essays, though. That's important to me. You should submit this podcast. I got stuff to say about Damon Stoudemire and stuff. I've been holding on to.

Okay, we're at Easy Rock. And you're with Stu Jeffries. How is the relationship with Stu right now? Amazing. Talk to Stu. He's a nice guy, right? He is what you think he is. He is the coolest, most down-to-earth guy you'll ever meet.

Continues to be my best friend. I'm actually very lucky. Most of my co-hosts that I've worked with through the years, I call them successful marriages because we've all remained friends. It's been a great dance when we were on the air together. We always learned a lot. But Stu, definitely. Darren, who I work with now, one of my best okay so let's okay so can't say enough about well we're

gonna get the howard because uh i'm a little fascinated on the boom thing he probably does so you have you're at easy rock and you're doing cmt stuff as well like there's some cmt stuff going on cmt went together when i worked at country 95 before uh easy rock this is so that's all part of the same company i blocked that station on my television. Would you knock it off? I don't like country music. I like some old stuff. I'll listen to some Willie Nelson.

I just can't stand like Keith Bryant or whatever the names are. See, we have to start over. Can we do a country podcast together? Do you like country? Yes. Or are you just faking it for your audience? I absolutely love it. Okay.

No, you know what? I'll tell you one thing about formats and radio. Yes. There's one format you cannot fake, and that is country. The listeners and your fans can smell it a mile away. They know. So I didn't have much of a choice but to become a fan, and I actually truly was.

Since you're still great friends with Stu, what was it when you found out they were letting Stu go at Easy Rock? It was a weird time for us. It was really weird. That was these little clues in the business. It'd be like, hey, did you hear that our coffee sponsor this morning isn't brought to you by, how did they change it again? Stu and Colleen, sponsored by Coffee Time,

ended up being Easy Morning. So I went, Stu, kiss the death, kiss the death. So it was tough for us. We maintained our friendship throughout that time, but it definitely was a little awkward. I had to continue with my career and he understood that. And that's when the whole humble Kim and Colleen and Rick thing happened. And we flipped a boom.

But before you flipped, you had, so yeah, Kim Stockwood comes in and Rick Hodge. Yes. Rick Hodge. We did that as Easy Rock. Sometimes I forget.

You know how I know that? That's when I first met you. Yes. I sat in, I'm going to jog your memory now. Yeah. I was like live blogging going to jog your memory now. Yeah. I was like live blogging a morning show at Easy Rock with all four of you guys. So.

Did you like met me? Yeah, you were, you were lovely. I have still have photos of us together. Oh, nice. When was this? I'm going to say this was 2006 or something. When Colleen was, I always look at pictures as 110 pounds. That's what I was.

I can Photoshop it. I'm just kidding. So, Kim's fantastic. She's, we're still in touch too. And Rick Hodge, love Tim.

Kim is the, you're richer than you think person. She is. She's the voice of Scotiabank. So you hear her every day. And she also had a huge hit on Canadian radio called You Jerk.

Yeah, yeah. You know that one, yeah. And she does the Christmas song they resurrect every year at this time. It's a marshmallow world. That's right.

So Kim Stockwood and Rick Hodge. Okay, so Rick Hodge was a member of a very popular morning team. It was my mom's morning show. Roger, Rick and Marilyn. Forever. Institution. And he was seduced, lured. He was.

To, I'm going to call it astral, but it might have been standard. I don't know how these things work. It was astral at the time. There you go. Astral. And he was, I remember, because I sat in, I now can speak with authority that he would be down the hall on 1010. His job, that's what it entailed.

He had to do a bit on CFRB and then he was required to do, I think, one bit an hour with us. I think he felt pulled in a lot of directions. I think it was very awkward for him. Now, when you say that he got lured, I think that's a decision that he wanted to make. I think he was ready to make a change

after being part of that institution of Roger, Rick, and Marilyn for so long. No doubt, because you can only be seduced so much. You have to want to be seduced. But, so he did want to be seduced. And it was a great carrot. Who wouldn't have gone for it? It seemed like a great deal.

But is it fair to say he wakes up every morning and regrets that decision now? What would you say? I don't know. I think Rick's doing okay. I think he's pretty happy. He's in St. Catharines? Where is he? Hamilton?

St. Catharines? Niagara Falls? Niagara. Yeah. And he's on Easy Rock. Because there's like Easy Rocks alive still. There's many. They're like the McDonald's of AC radio.

Because I actually was just thinking of him the other day because I did help him with some stuff. Like he had a blog and stuff when he first got fired. And then he just sort of disappeared on me. Yeah. But he's still working and doing well. And you should become his Facebook friend. He's pretty active you so the day i sat in did you notice tension is that what you're gonna bring up uh yeah so i didn't attention so i and i wrote about this so i'm

actually okay but now there's a new audience that might be interested many times so in your perspective okay so i remember i sat in and i was literally live blogging so every few minutes i would write an update of stuff going on. Yeah. And okay, this is how I remember it. So Rick runs from his 1010 booth into the Easy Rock studio. And there's going to be a bit now. And the bit was Jimmy Fallon's every song sounds like, I don't know anymore, but it was like all 80s songs sound the same. And he's got a bit, Jimmy Fallon did.

And they played it. I think it was Jimmy Fallon.on they played it and i guess there was supposed to be a discussion i just remember uh the bit i remember a lot of arms up in the air and i remember him being flustered and kind of storming out like he wasn't happy with how the bit went and here's the thing when you're coming into a room where the train's already started, it was really hard for Rick. It was hard for anybody. My God. And he was a seasoned pro at that time. So, I mean, it was frustrating for us to keep him up to speed and not his fault that he

had to run in because he was only required to do that one time an hour and he was already busy at CFRB. So, yeah, it felt stilted sometimes. It was tough. And maybe, and I think me and him talked at length about this because he was, he wanted to talk about it when I wrote, I wrote about it and maybe I should, I don't know anymore what I was supposed to do. I'm not,

I'm an embedded journalist and I didn't think it was that offensive. So I kind of, I did write about it. To be honest, I just wrote about what I witnessed because I thought it was interesting. And then he was telling me about, well, as I dealt with him,

it seemed very clear that that wasn't the usual Rick. Like maybe I caught him on a bad day or whatever. I don't think you caught him on his best day. I don't think you did. He just had to pull that boner when the embedded journalist was hiding. Maybe it was your fault. You put too much pressure on the room.

Yeah, because there's more readers of the Toronto Mic than there were listeners at the time of Easy Rock. I don't know. No, I'm kidding. Of course, that can't be true. Actually, coming near the end, you could be right. So, I just wondered, okay, so do we agree that if Rick Hodge had a time machine, he might go back and stay with Roger, Rick and Marilyn? They seem to

just kind of pop in a new guy and carry on. I don't know if he's the guy that would look at life that way. I would hope not because that's a regret that you can't change and that's a waste of time. I would hope you wouldn't think that way. I'm going to try to get him in here. You really should. But he lives out there now. He's a lot of cats. Yeah, I remember that was the thing. He lived up north at the time, north Toronto, and he had a lot of cats. He did.

Like too many cats, like an illegal number of cats. No, no, it was legal because of his property. But I wonder if he still has cats. He had a loophole. He found the cat loophole. Yeah, I'm never thinking though that there's a flag, you know. Oh, that's a lot of cats. So what were your thoughts on having that four-person team? At the time, I don't know. So eventually they fire Kim and Rick at some point and trim it down to you two. Yes. And at the time, did you think it was like maybe this could work,

the four-person team? I think us as a group looking back, if we would have been honest with each other, we would have said that no, it wasn't going to work. When you have four breaks an hour at two and a half, maximum three minutes with four people, everybody's fighting to get their time on the air. We had to really watch.

And the way that you saw the room, the way that it was like a horseshoe, we couldn't all visually see each other. So Kim was to my left rick would kind of be behind me howard was in front of me and our producer andy was to my right what was we relied so much on hand signals and who's gonna have the out and who's gonna start the bit and it was it got very stressy for all of us and that's a small room to have stress in. Yeah. You know, in an environment. They just don't give you enough room to do your thing. It seems like you have such a limited time before you got to kind of cut to some kind of.

Of course. And look what you're doing. We just talk, talk and talk. That's it. Cause I have no sponsors, no boss. Oh my God,

we have to get you a sponsor. Yeah, but then I will, but then I still have to maintain this control over my content. Screw the sponsor. Like I noticed, even Humble and Fred, if somebody starts telling a story, let's say about, I'm going to say a five-hour energy or something, they step right in there.

Like you can't say anything negative about five-hour energy. Well, because it might be a sponsor. It is a sponsor. That's okay. Hey, when it comes to money, you got to be fair like that. I know. I know. And I get that.

That's why I won't make any money off this because uh hey this remember these microphones weren't free this this podcast costs me money i bought these brand new can i ask you yeah okay so everything that puts this podcast on the air is sixteen hundred dollars what so i'm gonna say i'm gonna say no it was honestly the thought on this and the investment i had a buddy named andrew stokely who does audio for jay's games on sports net and i had him help me pick everything out and put it together and everything and i actually spent i would never normally i never spend that money on anything i bike every day and i wouldn't spend anywhere close to that on my bicycle well but this you're investing in not only it was three years ago like i'm actually glad i

did it i've got 97 episodes and it's been great fun and I'm going to, you know, keep going. I got some ideas. But yeah, each microphone is like 300 bucks. These are nicer than mine. Yeah, and I thought like I got to get three of them in case, you know, I could have three people. Maybe I almost got a fourth,

but then I'm like, let's see if this... Then you'd have to hire Humble, Kim, Colleen, and Rick and there would be too much tension. Yeah, that's my fear. By the way, we're all friends. It wasn't tension that we felt for each other. It was tension in the room. I just want to be clear on that.

No, I know. And I know that Rick is actually a really nice guy. Oh, he's lovely. Because I dealt with him on a bunch of stuff since then. He has such a heart. He's the most giving person, truly. So the irony to me is that... So, okay, so first we get rid of a couple of members of this team.

Now it's you and Humble for a while, a long time. But eventually they fire you and Humble. Oh, you flipped a boom, obviously, first. We flipped a boom, which was fantastic. That was a really fun station. You know what it is? May Potts is there. May Potts is there, Stu Jeffries.

That's a weird thing. So we left and Stu comes back. See, radio is so strange. Don't close doors on anything because you never know when you're going to be back. Tom Rivers would be the first one to say that with his career too. Yeah, so that was an odd thing. Howard and I kind of felt it coming and it does. And that was the first time I'd ever been fired.

That's my question. Is that the first time you were fired? That was the first time. What's it like? How do you fire Colleen Rush home? Like, come on. Oh, gosh. I remember standing in that lobby knowing it was coming down.

And my knees were shaking. And my neck felt really hot. And a friend of mine from Promo came off the elevator and went, Colleen, what are you doing here? It's four in the afternoon. You never see boarding school people. And I said, I don't think it's a good reason why I'm here and she just sort of

turned white and walked away and you know what they treated me well we had a good sort of exit plan for me and my contract and I got a gig

three months later which was awesome but I know it's been tough for a lot of people some people get fired and kind of don't land on their feet

and I feel really lucky and fortunate that I did they say in radio you're hired to be fired I mean so many great so many great DJs People get fired and kind of don't land on their feet. And I feel really lucky and fortunate that I did. They say in radio, you're hired to be fired. I mean, so many great DJs have been fired. Yes. And it's based on money.

Sometimes it's change for change's sake. And sometimes it's just like a need a new face or a new image. Need a new sound. We're flipping formats. Guess what? The company's being bought over. Guess what? We don't like the diary that, you know, the, the,

the PPM that came back and we're not going to, there's so many reasons. There's so many reasons. Sometimes just having a new program director. But you guys were replaced by, like you were saying there, you were replaced by Stu Jeffries. By Stu.

They fire Stu, bring in Humble and the gang, and then they fire you and Humble and bring back Stu. What can I say say the industry's crazy stew's doing a great job he's holding he does it all himself right like he does in that room that i was in with uh andy wilson was in there and then you four uh that's the room it's just stew in there and that was our room is easy rock and our room is boom he's a he's his own board op yes and yeah he tight and bright is what they say in the business.

He can run a good board. Yeah, Stu's doing it, and he's doing well. Cool. And yeah, I'm glad to hear that you guys are still buddies. Yeah, totally. Through that. That's cool. And you got hired at Vinyl 95.3 with Darren Laidman.

Yes. Did I say it? Laidman? Third tour duty with Darren Laidman. Isn't that funny? That's, yeah. We've been friends for over 20 years. We kind of own each other.

And I should point out, 95.3 is in Hamilton. Yes. So you commute every day. I do. I do the commute. But at that time of morning, it's pretty easy. Oh, yeah, because you get up at like 4 a.m. or something. I get up at 3.30.

Oh, wow. I know. That's why I look the way I do right now. Oh, you actually look fine. Come on. We're going to take a picture after this. Oh, my God. Actually, let's do mine first.

We can go in front of the Leaf banner there. I would love that. We should talk about Leafs, too. Yeah, so I do that QEW drive. I mean, I get there 40, 45 minutes, and it's about an hour, hour and a half going home. So it's all right. It's off hours, off traffic. Now, I know you're still there, and you just told me you got some results.

So hopefully you're there for a nice long time here. You never know. You never know. I'll tell you one thing, Mike. I don't rely on anything anymore. I just do my job and I do it well. That's a good idea. Yeah.

That's all you can do. So you were vinyl though. That was kind of like Boom, right? It was kind of like cuts from like... A little more classic gold than Boom was, less 80s. But they flipped it to fresh FM. They did. By the way, that's the fourth time I've worked for the frequency of 95.3.

The fourth format. That's amazing. It's crazy. So they can't figure it out over there. Now they're on fresh, which I'm guessing this is like Rihanna and Lady Gaga. Yeah, it's CHR radio, but more like it. A lot of Ariana Grande, or do we have... A lot of the hits is what you're hearing on fresh.

Okay. Yeah. And you mentioned Kelly Couture is what you're hearing on Fresh. Okay. Yeah. And you mentioned Kelly Couture is there? Yeah, she's doing Afternoon Drive. Kelly makes me laugh. She's a pretty funny woman. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I should get her in here, but she's like in...

She would come here in a second. ...Georgetown or something. Yeah, but she works at 640 once in a while, too. So she comes by here. You can easily get Kelly in here. I'm good. Because one time I did do her a solid favor, as they say. So maybe she'll come in. What did you do for uh, there was a, when you Google her name, there was a website

that would come up that was not positive about her like 10, 10 appearance or something. How do you delete? Well, you can't delete, like I can't go delete someone else's website without the password. But, uh, I did work with her to reach out to the author of that site and to basically, uh, explain how it's affecting your, cause she was out of work at the time and it was affecting her like pursuit of work. Well, of course, because when you, you know, right. People Google you. Employers Google now. Yeah.

So, I mean, we did get that deleted. But I also, I also wrote about her just for the sake of ranking for her name. Like, so I actually wrote like, so I made sure I I made sure I put Kelly Couture in the right place. And then she made a nice positive thing. That's nice. I had a, this is silly, but Fearless Fred. Do you know Fearless Fred? Yeah.

So he went on Humble and Fred's show via phone and said some, he misplaced some anger onto me where commenters on my site said some things he didn't like and he attributed these comments to me. So in his mind, any comments on Toronto Mike were written by Mike. Which is silly, right? I never said anything. It's silly, but when people are angry

they come to these conclusions. I guess, but Kelly did come to my defense to sort of stood up for me with Fearless Fred to basically say like, I'm a good guy. You are a good guy. I try. When I get fired,

are you going to like do fancy stuff on the Googles for me? No, I might fire Elvis. You might become my co-host here. This is all the way home. Why don't you forget this? No offense, this fresh thing, forget it. Come here, do this. We'll do it every day.

Okay. And we'll get sponsors. And there's a McDonald's at the end of the street. Yeah, there's a McDonald's right there. We can get so fat and do podcasts. Seriously, Okay. And we'll get sponsors. And there's a McDonald's at the end of the street. Yeah, there's a McDonald's. Yeah, like Mimico's right there. We can get so fat and do podcasts. I love it. Seriously, that's what you got to do. Oh my God, I love that you have an Andre the Giant mug.

Yeah, that's the real deal too because I had it since I was a kid. Oh, that's awesome. And I'm repeating myself now. I told this to somebody on the air, but I was at Hulkamania in 87 when he, I think Wilner i was telling but uh he came out for the machines he was banned from the wwf so he had to wear a mask but we all knew it was him oh well it's hard to disguise that body yeah and they were i think it was the killer bees they were i think it was killer bees they were do you remember the cartoon of course wendy richter cindy lauber andre the giant yeah. I remember the live bits between the cartoons. Yeah.

And there was one where Andre the Giant got into a small car, like a little Fiat or something. And he had to put his body through the sunroof and his arms were over the car like, I know no one can see this, but like this. And he, I remember Andre saying, it's too small. It's too small. I remember it vividly. It's not funny, eh? Big John Studd and the whole gang.

Big John Studd. Who was... Captain Lou Albano was on that, of course. Who was girlfriend was Elizabeth. I know we're getting off track. Macho man. Macho man. He was a spider man.

That's right. And he did a... Back when I thought wrestling was real. Well, I knew it wasn't real, but it was awesome. He did a diss rap album, Macho Man, in which he went at Hogan. And one of the cuts is called, Be a man, Hulk. Don't be scared. You're running from the Macho Man.

That's what I heard. So he does this rap. I'm going to actually look for that. And I played it for my son, who's 12. Yeah. Okay. My son. And my son loves diss tracks.

He goes back in old Emin eminem archives and like or whatever this is when 50 cent went at the game and he's got he loves rap diss tracks and i played he actually loves macho man's rap diss of uh hulk hogan the rap diss i'm gonna look it up and it's wicked he's like rapping he's like he's talking about how hogan you do these movies go straight to dvd meanwhile i'm starring in spider-man except he's like he's like just dissing stuff about how Hogan, you do these movies, go straight to DVD. Meanwhile, I'm starring in Spider-Man except he's like, he's like just dissing stuff.

It's amazing. It's gossip. Yeah, it's pretty cool. Yeah. Where am I? Darren and Stu. If you had to choose

between Darren, Stu and Howard. That's not fair. Come on. Okay, would you date any of these guys? Is this the date Mary Kill or F Mary Kill?

Can we swear on this? Yeah. You can swear on it. That's awful to ask me. Like I said, I look at them all and continue to as successful marriages. They've really worked. We got to know

each other. We knew the nuance of each other. We did a successful dance. You love them all equally. I would pick them all for different reasons. But I'll tell you, I love Darren. And I also miss working with all those guys. But I feel like they're still in my life. You know, I still talk to Stu and Howard.

I still have them. Even though I'm sure Howard wants to date me. The only reason I'm saying these things is because I want to start gossip. You know he's single. I know. So I'm thinking maybe it's time he hits the rush home. He'll jokingly suggest you're too old for him. I know he will.

He just did an hour ago. I did speak to him recently and he did reveal he has seen a 38-year-old. Wow. I 38 and where you're at, you can throw a rock and hit that. That's the same. That's like right behind me. I know. I was like 38 five minutes ago.

Yeah. Yeah. She's in the same truck. Yeah. So i know i was like 38 five minutes ago yeah yeah she's in the same truck yeah so i mean he would date you he maybe he would date me i'm just kidding it's too late it would be the weirdest dating situation ever but people would talk about it the podcast would be lighting up with the rumor mill if you guys were spotted on the town together do you uh and this is a little sensitive and I had no one in Hamilton will listen to this podcast because it's Toronto. Mike, how do you know?

Cause it's Toronto, Mike, uh, Hamilton, they don't like Toronto. That's not even true. I think that might be true. I'll tell you working in Hamilton every day and spending so much time

there. And I do spend, you know, I don't just spend mornings there. I always feel like people who aren't as savvy with trains and stuff like that. They, they look at going,

it's going to the city and it's going to take us some time. That being said, Mike, you know how many commuters come from Hamilton every day? A ton. A ton. Look at the QEW in the morning. They're all coming from the Hammer into Toronto. Do you though look at your current gig

with this chorus-owned station in Hamilton as a stepping stone to getting back into the Toronto market? It's not about getting back anywhere. It was about me getting a job that I loved working with Darren. So you don't see it as a stepping stone. You see it as... I don't see it as a step back, if that's what you mean.

Not back, but more like is the goal to get back on the air in Toronto? No. If I were unhappy, I'd probably answer differently. You know what? I was lucky to have a job. So I never looked at...

Hamilton is an extension of Toronto anyway. My Toronto people have followed me, Mike. They have followed me. Do I get the station in Toronto? Of course you do. Where's your radio? What's a radio? I have a yeah

well my son my son my 12 year old lives back there does he he gets his own basement yeah because i have uh three bedrooms upstairs and i took one with monica and michelle got one my 10 year old and my newborn has a crib in my other room which used to be a lot of children that's that though well actually it's just yesterday and i don't know if i'm allowed to talk about it just yesterday monica came up to me and said she thinks jarvis needs a younger brother or sister uh like this happened yesterday for the first time we had always talked about one kid and you know i know what you're gonna do i said let's when you we'll talk about it like when you go to work. How do you feel? I always felt like I wanted... How old was your newborn?

Seven or eight months, maybe. Okay. I always felt I was done with my... I had a boy and a girl who were healthy and happy and awesome. And I felt I was done. But then I didn't see my life changing where I always didn't see myself married to somebody else. Well, of course you didn't. Yeah.

So at that point, I realized that it's not fair. Like she wants a baby of her own. So I very quickly embraced this third child because now she has a child and I have three. Yes. And I honestly have been thinking, okay, cause I'm 40 and seven.

I always feel like I'm done. And then she said that yesterday and now it's like, uh, I wouldn't bet against it. Like I can see myself getting talked into it here let's end the podcast go upstairs right now you know can i say something to you yeah you have ted danson hair is that uh but ted danson's bald no he's not yeah he well then you have ted danson toupee hair is that it's so thick and nice and the weight i'm

watching damages right now so okay um you obsessed with him. Oh, okay. You have Ted Danson hair. Does that make any sense? Somebody please look up a picture of Toronto Mike and look at it. Well, Ted Danson, A, he's very handsome. He is. You kind of look like him a little bit. He's extremely handsome. Have you heard that before? Never heard that in my life. Never once in my life has anyone compared me to Ted Danson.

Are you going to tweet this? No. I'm going to show you. You can if you want. I think I might. I'm not good at pictures. I've been told I don't know how to smile. Oh, it's a glare. Okay. Do you want me to move?

No. Stay there. Stay there. No. Boo! Okay. If it's Ted Danson's fake hair, I'm happy because he is a handsome guy. Are you sure it's bald?

Yeah, I'm 100% sure. Why do you know that? I just know it. I just remember like when cheers was wrapping up i think they talked about the piece he had to wear because he's got he has a big bald spot i know he i know he's bald but he wears a piece anyway all right we're getting like a monk track he's got the monk hair like where it's a big circle on top like that's bald but his fake hair looks like your hair which he spends a lot of money you know he's got nice hair for an older

dude uh alec baldwin i'm watching like 30 rock and i'm thinking like i hope i have hair like that when i'm here you have so i'm gonna tell you right now if you're 40 40 you have that you're fine that's a solid head of hair i love hearing this and i have that widow's peak you know where it's like the vampire widow's it looks cool and it's kind of grayish oh yes and this is a natural gray yeah yeah you notice they don't sell touch of gray for. You men are lovely. And this is a natural gray. Yeah. You notice they don't sell touch of gray for women. Like men can buy like, they buy.

We want to keep it salt and pepper. Yeah. It's a man thing. It's sort of a horrible double standard. It is. It's awful. Because I'll never dye my hair

because I don't care if I have white hair. You have a young face. You don't have wrinkles. This is all about me complimenting you. No, this is, now you've changed all these awful questions

I was going to ask. Go ahead and ask them. No, I have not. There've changed all these awful questions I was going to ask. Go ahead, ask them. No, I have not. There's nothing awful to say. I was going to ask you maybe if you watched if you have a Leaf game and a Raptor game at the same time, what do you do? Okay, so you're a big hockey puck head.

Would I call myself a puck head? No. But you're a big, you're not, are you a Raptor fan? I'm a Raptors fan, especially when they made the playoffs last season. But let me tell you, I'm a Leafs raptor are you a raptor fan i'm a raptors fan especially when they made the playoffs last season but let me tell you i'm a leaves fan i am a leafs fan so last night last night okay i actually my son had a basketball game which was exciting to me because he's always been hockey baseball and it was his first ever house league basketball game with last night i went to the game awesome of course i went to the game but then i get home and now i got two choices i got there's a Raptor game on and there's a Leaf game on.

And I think the old Mike, back in the day, it was really heavy Leafs. And I might pop in and see how the Raptors are doing. But I found myself last night. They were both exciting games, I should point out. Yeah. But I spent more time on the Raptor game than the Leaf game last night. It's because your son's now invested in the basketball. No, it's because they're amazing.

That's nothing to do with a kid. Nothing to do with a kid. Nothing to do with a kid. Nothing to do with a kid. 13-2. An exciting and very... This is the most likable hockey team we've had since Dougie and Wendell took us to the conference finals in 93.

Finally, slowly liking them, aren't we? Or would you say it's the most... See, you're a fan guy, so how am I going to talk this with you? No, since the Rudy Gay trade, which was like this time last year, since then, this team, and I was, sad story,

but on New Year's Eve, my good buddy who was a big Raptors fan sold me on this team, and he had a long talk. He passed away in April. That is some sadness I had to bring to this discussion. Why are you smiling so big? I'm just always happy.

I was like, that's the saddest news. I know. I was amused by the fact that I was going to bum you out so hardcore during this Raptor talk. But since the Rudy Gay trade, and I'm not a big... I like basketball,

but I'm a hockey guy and a baseball guy. I like basketball. But this team is truly lovable. They are lovable. You want a week for the country music thing with Darren or whatever? You give the Raptors two games. Watch two games. You'll be hooked. You're using the same

analogies, country music. Right. You will love Raptors the way I will love the country music. I like Raptors. I like being at a Raptors game, actually. Yeah, me too. I wish I had access to tickets. Me too. Don't we all. I get to see the Raptors and Leafs live about, you know, it's like Haley's Comet.

I know. A little more frequently than that, but I'm lucky if it's once a year. Yeah, me too. And I'm just going to check. Are you getting ready for some out music? No, we do have a couple of minutes. So is there anything else you want to chat about? Just about my feelings and how.

So are you, you have a dog named Boris? I have a dog named Boris. Are you single right now? No. Asking for a friend? Why? Who's asking? I can't tell you. You're lying. You're a liar. Pants on fire. You're right. I have no friends. Oh. But okay, are we allowed to name the big, broad neighborhood

you live in? This is not... I live in the Junction Triangle. The Junction Triangle. Newly named Junction Triangle. Is that a real estate punk move? Kind of. To me, I'm from that area and I can tell you it was Kiel and Dundas, okay?

This was the junction, like the heart of the junction. That is the traditional junction. That's on the other side of me, but I'm on the other side of the bridge. Do you like Vesuvios on Dundas there? Love Vesuvios. I eat their carbonara all the time.

I'm going to get this right. My nephew's mother works there. Oh, nice. But when I was younger, that was my favorite pizza ever. It's changed a lot, hasn't it? Not Vesuvios, but the whole strip. Oh, yeah, the strip. Yeah, they're trying to make it trendy or whatever.

Yeah, they are. It is trendy now. There's a great Mexican joint. There's now a brew pub. Yeah, it's fantastic. You know who lives near there? Scary Pete lives close to you. I haven't seen him in a long time.

He's scary looking. I saw him at that horseshoe thing. He's scary. Yeah. That's why. He's got a lot of voiceover stuff too. When you do voiceover work, because he's the shredded wheat guy.

Yeah. He writes all that music too. Does he? Oh, yeah. He's a musician. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's got a fake name when he does music. He calls he writes all that music too. Does he? Oh, yeah. I know he's a musician. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's got a fake name when he does music.

Like he calls himself Peter Bloom. Peter Bloom. Once in a while, we still have a good relationship with him on course. We'll play some of his joke songs.

Oh, yeah, yeah. He does a lot of parody songs and things like that. What kind of voiceover work do you do? Like are you the voice of something we might have seen? I do.

I've done many things throughout the years, many television shows, narration. Uh, what I'm doing now is two shows for food network, one for food network, Canada, one for food network USA, and also a few alternative channels in the USA. It's called food factory. So we, you know, that show where you see how ice cream cups are being made. That's my voice. Uh, yeah Which ironically, I do the show with Stu's brother, Todd, who sounds exactly like Stu. Isn't that right? So a lot of people listen to the show and go, oh my God, it's Stu and Colleen. That's actually amazing.

Yeah. It's really odd. And I do a show for HGTV called Home Factory. Okay. I'm kind of busy. That's the station because my wife likes that Love It or List It. Yes. You know, my ex-wife loves it too.

Love It or List It is fantastic. And your ex-wife likes it too. So she was like the List It. See you later. Yeah, that's right. And one of the fixer guys on that show, his daughter is in the same class as my daughter. Oh. That's my connection to Love It or List It.

I guess so. It's a good show. It's reality TV. It's not that real because sometimes they look at hoses that aren't even for sale. Seriously. Like, oh, this is up for this money or whatever, whatever. It's not even for sale. Yeah.

So that's how real that is. You know, I did do a real reality show called Instant Cash. You may not know it by name. What network? It was on TV Tropolis. Do you remember when people would walk up to a bank machine and all of a sudden they'd have to start playing a game for money? Do you remember that at all?

Not at all. Well, now the story is boring. No, it's great story. I was the voice of the ATM. That's cool. Yeah, it was pretty fun. Do you know the cash cab guy? Because he's not far from you.

Adam Groh. He's closer to High Park. I'm going to tell you right now. Adam Groh lives in the Junction, actually. I thought it was near High Park. His office is on Wallace, which is right down thection, actually. I thought it was near High Park. His office is on Wallace, which is right down the street from me, and he does live in High Park. I run

into him at the hole in the wall. That's amazing. And Adam Groh needs to come on the show. He is the funniest, coolest dude ever. He can tell you tons of stories. My son played baseball, House League, Little League, or whatever they call it, at High Park and at the banquets. Adam Groh was the em high park and at the banquets. Yeah.

Adam grow was the MC of all the banquets because his kids came through that organization. Cool. Yeah. That's my Adam grow connection. He's a foster parent. You know, is he, he takes in little babies.

So that's like the most selfless thing you could do. Oh my God. He, yeah. And he doesn't talk about it. I'm just bragging about him now. Cause I have to know that about him, but he'll have little babies and then he has to say goodbye to them after a few months.

And him and his wife, they're like the nicest family. Who does that? That's amazing. That's amazing. And Cash Cap, I'm speaking of Elvis again, but he was on an episode of Cash Cap once. And it airs a lot. It does on Discovery. He'll get lots of texts and stuff like, oh, your episode's on.

Because I don't know. I think they have like eight episodes, and they just air them all over and over again. I think they're shooting some new ones now, I think. Oh, I want to go on Cash Cow. I know. Who doesn't? Okay, so you watched the Leaf game last night. Yeah.

I didn't watch the Leaf game. Leo Komarov with two goals. I go to bed. What time do you go to bed? That's okay. 7.38 and then I watch Netflix and I fall asleep. I always listen to the Leafs game on the radio in the morning. I hear what happens. Have you ever seen them? On weekends, I watch the Leafs game on the radio in the morning. I hear what happens.

Have you ever seen them? On weekends, I watch the Leafs game. Okay. So, okay. Yeah. So you're waking up at 3.30. I forget that. That's insane to me.

It's a sad story. Like I'm lucky if I can get out of bed by eight, it's amazing. I know. So right now, what time is it? So right now, oh my God, it's coming on like midnight for me. I know. I'm starving. Listen.

So I'm going to start getting hangry on this podcast. No worries. I'm going to play some Lowest on this podcast no worries I'm going to play some Lois to the Low oh thank you okay call me smoking cigarettes

are you yeah like drinking export you're on the Spadina streetcar I lived at Queen and Bathurst for years

so I'd go to Studio 69 with Brother Bill Neil Morrison yes who was on my podcast recently changed his name he's in BC now

is he doing well? they let him go because you're hired to be fired I loved him on there, he was very cool say hello for me we talked about Martin Streak I adored him he was a cool dude

and I adored him as a fan more as a co-worker he was a little bit before my time I used to go to all the Edge events when I was a cool dude and i adored him as a fan more as a co-worker he was a little bit before my time uh i used to go to all the edge events when i was a no i was only a fan i never knew him otherwise and uh yeah he's a solid guy five years gone so i talked to brother bill five years ago yep nice oh there's the vocal yeah here he comes and that brings us to the end of our you know what number is this i should know this is it 97 i'm gonna remember forever that i'm 97 and i want to have a t-shirt that says so i now refer to people by their episode number like yeah 97 she was like oh jonathan torrence oh yeah number 66 that's what I say. Hey, tell me, what's Jonathan Torrance's story?

Is he a single guy? Married? What? Married with kids. Yeah? So is he actually... He's in Nova Scotia. Oh, I knew he was in East Coast.

Or is he like actually 50 but looks 30? He's like... Because he looks so young. I'm going to put him at like 45. I'm going to put him at... But he doesn't look so young. Yeah. And he grew his hair for Mr. D because...

Right. Mr. D has short blonde hair and they needed to differentiate or something. So he's got... Yeah. But he still does a lot of the trailer park stuff. That's his big... I actually think he should be considered for the Q... I don't know if they rename it or whatever. The Q job. It would be fantastic. I've heard

that they're looking for a woman. Wow. Is that a good source? Because I will play the Breaking News music. I don't have any names for you, but I've heard through other sources. Hold on. Breaking News. A new female host for Q on CBC

will be Colleen Rusholm. No, I would never want the gig. I mean, give it to me if you want. You don't have to do any research because they write everything for you. Well, I'm going to tell you, that's one of the biggest things. You don't have to fake it. because they write everything for you. Well, I'm going to tell you, that's one of the biggest things. Because you don't have to fake it.

Must be nice, buddy. Oh, I love this song. Here, be quiet for a second so I can hear it. This reminds me of my ex-boyfriend, Jeremy. Jeremy Taggart? No, I didn't date him. He's cute, though. He's got long hair.

Drummer. Man can drum. Drummers are crazy. Thank God I'm dating him. He's cute, though. He's got long hair. Drummer. Man can drum. Drummers are crazy. Remember that. Bank of our, yeah. Oh, that's bringing back some memories. Thank you. All right, I'm going to try this again with the right show number.

97. And that brings us to the end of our 97th show. You can follow me on Twitter at Toronto Mike and Colleen at CRushHome which I prefer to read as Crush Home. With an L.

Crush Home. Not a real name. No. See you all next week. Love you.