Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Dani Stover Returns: Toronto Mike'd #375

Episode Date: September 13, 2018

Mike chats with BlogTO podcaster Dani Stover about her new gig and what's happening at indie88 and 102.1 the Edge before kicking out the jams.

Welcome to episode 375 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery located here in Etobicoke. Did you know, Dani, that 99.9% of all Great Lakes beer remains here in Ontario? I did not know that. of all Great Lakes beer remains here in Ontario? I did not know that. Now you know that because GLB, brewed for you, Ontario.

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and turnkey construction services across the GTA. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me is blog TO podcaster Dani Stover. Hello. Welcome, Danny.

Thanks for having me. Welcome back, I should say. And again, I like to remind people when someone returns, because you're going to kick out the jams after we catch up. But if people want to go back and listen to the deep dive, like the A to Z of Dani's career in broadcasting, that is episode 118. And I'm going to read the description I wrote at the time.

This will be fun for us. Mike chats with Dani Stover about her years producing the Dean Blundell show on Edge 102, which, by the way, Robbie J tells me it's 102.1 The Edge. It's not Edge 102. Apparently it was Edge 102 for like a cup of coffee in like maybe the early 90s or something. Oh, and what is it now? 102.1 The Edge. Is it though?

I'm kidding. I'm kidding. No, I have. We can talk Edge stuff if you want. I'm so curious about things going on over there because I don't know what's going on over there. But, okay, so we talked about your Edge stuff. Oh, we talked about why you were fired.

But you have to go back. We don't need to revisit these sad things. Oh, your battle with depression and your, well, you were on the air in Peterborough at the time. So much fun stuff.

I know. And you were in, yes, but you were in Peterborough. So we need to catch up. Okay. First of all, that episode was one hour and 18 minutes,

which will be, will go longer today because we have to kick out jams. Yeah. Okay, good. As long as you know. I don't want to find out you have an appointment in 60 minutes. Okay, let's say you were last on the air at The Wolf in Peterborough when you were here last year. That feels like forever ago.

Yes, yes. Yeah, I was doing mornings in Peterborough at The Wolf. Not anymore. Were you working with T.J. Connors or no? I was doing mornings in Peterborough at the Wolf. Not anymore. Were you working with T.J. Connors or no? I was. Yeah. Okay. Because he was just here. He's a very nice guy. Yeah. Love T.J. He's yeah, he's amazing. There's just not enough time even to get into. He's got some stories. I got some, but I hope he wasn't offended. I really wanted to talk about Scruff.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Did you know Scruff? I did, yes. And is he as advertised? Like, I envision this. I know he likes his drinking, and I think he likes to have a good time. Oh, yeah. Scruff was a party guy, right?

He was. I think it was the Puck and Pint, maybe on Park Hill Road in Peterborough. I'm probably screwing this up and this is like blasphemy since I lived there for five years. But yeah, Scruff Connors was a fixture and a great time. Many, many fun nights and afternoons at the bar with Scruff. And mornings. And TJ. Well, and mornings with TJ. Yep. Mornings with TJ. Uh, so awesome. Peterborough. So what happened, uh, since we last talked to you in Peterborough, like you're obviously not in Peterborough anymore. You've left Peterborough. So did you just want to come back to Toronto because this is the center

of the Canadian universe? I would say yes. Like there was always, um, I always wanted to be in Toronto. I always wanted to work in Toronto. So I knew that going to Peterborough was kind of like the stepping stone for me. And it just kind of got to the point where I felt a little isolated. Not that I didn't have great friends and people in Peterborough that I loved. I just wasn't ready to settle down there. And I kind of felt like I'd hit a bit of a ceiling at The Wolf. I was doing a lot of extracurricular things. The morning show was doing really well. I loved working with Brian Ellis and the team there.

But I kind of felt like I just kind of hit my max and was ready to bounce. You're like the goldfish or whatever that needs a bigger aquarium. Like you outgrew your fishbowl and you needed an aquarium. Yeah. You know what I mean? And then you could grow because you couldn't growgrew your fishbowl and you needed an aquarium yeah you know what i mean and then you could grow like because you couldn't grow anymore in that fish yeah i just yeah i wasn't ready to to kind of pack it in and do mornings um at a classic rock radio station forever and you know i loved it there and you know years from now i might be in a position where i'm like that is the perfect gig um but at the time, not so much. It makes sense to me, but what do I know?

So you now, as I recall, you were on Indie 88 for a while. Yeah. So what were you doing on Indie 88? Well, everything pretty much. I was doing, I filled in pretty much every day part, including mornings. I was a weekend gal for a while. Yeah, it was an amazing station. I feel so lucky and blessed to have spent a little bit of time there.

It's an amazing team, small team. They work really hard. Just kind of getting back to what radio was all about, which was really nice. But yeah, mostly weekends. But if Lana was away, I'd fill in for afternoons. Every once in a while, I'd get the call to come off the board for mornings. So lots of different hats

over there. I need to levy some real talk here. I like that station in the 88, and I root for that station. But I'm struggling with the personnel there because I'm fine with the

fact that bookie wouldn't come on because i've always loved bookie i think he's great and he kindly said he didn't want to do the podcast and then i asked him a second time years later and he said he was still not going to do the podcast so i don't ask him anymore and i'm fine we'll put him aside i wanted uh i asked lana gay who was like really close with my buddy bingo bob oh yeah yep and uh she politely declined she didn't want it and then she didn't want to come on the podcast i'm like oh god i just want to like talk to some indy 88 people uh because josie did it when she was at 102 but yeah she hasn't come back since she went to indy i asked her she didn't want to come back and then i uh so fine then i thought okay my best friend from kindergarten, his cousin was working at Great Lakes Brewery,

which we're going to talk about in a minute because I was there last night for TMLX2. I have to tell you all the fun you missed out on. So Danny, her name's Danny too. This girl's name is Danny. Small world. Oh, maybe I know her. Yeah, because Danny is dating Carlin.

Oh, okay, okay. So I don't know if you know her. Maybe you bumped into her at like Trinity Bellwoods with the cool people or something like that. So Danny's cousins with my best friend from kindergarten who I saw last night at Great Lakes Brewery, actually. But Danny's dating Carlin. So now I'm chatting. Danny and I are friendly and friends. And I'm chatting up Danny.

I'm like, come on with Carlin. And finally somebody's gonna come on from i thought like this was all for sure now it's happening carlin i didn't want to come on either okay so now i kind of then now i'm like nobody will come on from indie 88 and then i'm it sounds like such a sad story but then finally do you know brent oh i love brent okay oh you're having fun well i he wanted. Well, he's all into coming on. And I'm like, okay, good. We book him.

He's kicking out the jam, so he gives me his list. I spend lots of time with these kick out the jams. I like to get a good version loaded into the soundboard. There's like prep work. I mean, it's all set up. And then he sends me an email. Oh, they changed my schedule. I can't come in anymore.

He was supposed to come in this week, Brent. And I'm like, oh, that sucks. But I'm all set. Just let me know your schedule. We'll book another time. Just come on in and let's do the episode. I'm all set. And he's ghosting on me now.

Oh, no. What's that about? We were scheduled for, I think, Monday, I think. So I'm now venting with you because you're friendly with Indie88. And I said, I like the station. I like the spirit of that station. Why can't I get anyone to come on? Well, I mean, because it is such a small station.

I mean, when I was there, I was the only one who could fill in. And, you know, things did happen kind of fast. And if someone was off or something. So, I mean, things do change and schedules are weird. I don't think it has anything to do with you. And I'm sure Brett will come back in. But why don't they want to promote the station? Like, I mean.

Well, they got billboards now. Okay. Yeah, no, I see that. But wouldn't it, like, this is a way to reach people who love radio, I think. Yeah. Like, why not? Come on. It's not like I'm going to.

I like the station. We're just going to have a nice chat about the industry and everything going on. Okay. So if anyone at Indie88 is listening, come on Toronto Mic'd. And Brent, let's reschedule because you're jammed. Or you know what I'll do? This is my threat to Brent. I'm going to threaten Brent right now.

If he won't come on, I'm going to kick out his jams for him. How much of his own band did he pick? None. What's his band called? Sure. What's his own band did he pick none what's jack white sure what's his band called it's called sure oh my god that's like who's on first yeah that's funny here i'm gonna just give you a look at the list and i won't read them all out loud in case he comes on but uh yeah we start with the white stripes yeah yeah and yeah he's kind of an emo kid i i think he was it's a good list like i enjoyed and some of the songs were new to me because he's kind of an emo kid. I think he was.

It's a good list. Like I enjoyed and some of the songs were new to me because he's cooler and younger than me. Oh, he's so cool. That's the thing about Indie 88. When I went there, I went from being at a station where I was the youngest. I pretty much introduced them to Twitter, you know, back in the day. I bet. Then I come to Indie 88 where I feel like the oldest and most uncool person. And it was a real wake up call for me.

Now, you are younger than Lana Gay. I know that for a fact. But you're right. And Bookie is the I guess he's the resident grandpa. Well, and here's the here's the thing about Bookie. After, you know, we worked together at the Edge. We weren't super close or anything, but I'd see him in passing. And then when I first saw him working at Indie 88, he's like, hey, Danny, you know what? I want to apologize. I'm like, oh, why do you want to apologize? He's like, I don't think I ever said bye to you all those years ago. And I'm like, oh, my God. Is he just like a reserved guy? I mean, I only know a couple of email exchanges, but he's very good on the air.

I really think Bookie's a great broadcaster. Oh, yeah. Yeah, one of the best. But I also get the idea maybe he's a private kind of reserved guy. Very, yeah. He's not out there. I mean, he knows what he likes

and he goes hard on that stuff. And I think he's a professional and he's one of those guys that just this plethora of knowledge when it comes to music and the scene. Yeah. But he's, yeah, he keeps to himself i respect it okay so you're at indie 88 and you're doing a lot of different things but you uh are not there anymore what is it what bright

light did you uh were you drawn to that would cause you to leave indie 88 assuming you did choose to leave yeah um i i was looking for that that full-time gig i was looking for something that was a little more um you know guaranteed and a little bit more money because you know moving from peterborough to toronto it's expensive um so yeah so i was just looking for something you know more of a career move and i saw a posting for a blog to wanted to do a daily podcast. I should have applied for that. Come on, Dani. I can't believe you didn't.

I know. I didn't know. I'm not cool. I didn't know. So wait a minute. Just to slow down here. So BlogTO, which is like... I know.

This is so stupid. BlogTO, because I've been aware of BlogTO forever. It's a very popular Toronto blog. Although it's like a professional blog. Yeah. I would kind of describe it as like and this is like very grand terms but you know how how google kind of we had the internet and google kind of made it easier to find things on the internet i feel like blog to is the google of

like toronto restaurants and businesses yeah like every if you're searching any kind of restaurant or business and you put it into google the first first within the first three things, it'll be a blog to post. And, you know, if you're going out for dinner, if you want to find a cool cafe, if you want to find a great brunch place like blog to is the place to go. And I remember because, you know, I've been I've had my own little independent blog for since 2002. So I'm always like, you know, who's who are the Toronto blogs or something? And what happened? What's the current status of Toronto-ist? Like, is this shuttered? I think it is shuttered.

Yeah. I mean, I heard whispers or seen some maybe Twitter bios of people who are like, I write bylines for this, but I don't know if it's still around. But this was a boon for BlogTO, right? Because I would guess that there was some kind of competition going on here. But it sounds like you're last man standing. I think it's good for BlogTO because if there were all the Torontoist readers

would have naturally, I think, flocked over to BlogTO and you've got the market. Yeah, I mean, now you've got like Daily Hive, you've got Narcity, a lot of radio stations are trying to keep up with that kind of content. Yeah, but they do a terrible job. The radio stations do a terrible job. But BlogTO does a great job.

And they decided to get into the podcasting business, which makes sense. Yeah. Because, I mean, this is where it's at. I think it's a cool channel. I'm a little biased, but I love podcasts. And you got the gig to be. So tell me exactly what you do. First of all, what is the name of this podcast?

It's called Only in Toronto. Only in Toronto. Yes. And I subscribe and I listen. And it's called only in toronto only in toronto yes and i subscribe and i listen and it's been going on a couple of months is that something yeah we launched uh june 1st and uh it comes out twice a week so we're already on like episode 28 or 27 i think 28 comes out tomorrow yeah that's great and uh tell me what you do. Like, you're not just the voice of this podcast. Like, tell me, like, all the A to Z of what you do for Only in Toronto. Well, I guess one thing is, like, BlogTO is not a huge team.

I think that's when I went in there, I was expecting this huge, you know, like, BuzzFeed style office where everyone's, like, hanging out. It's very small. So, and they do so much work. Like, it's a hanging out and everything. It's very small. Um, so it, and they do so much work, like it's a small but mighty team. And, uh, the idea was to do a daily podcast, not unlike, you know, uh, today explained or, um, you know, the New York times daily one or whatever they have. I think it's called the daily. Um, so that was the idea. Um, however, because it is a small team, it was just me, uh, at first. So what I do basically is chase stories. I'm conducting the interviews for a time at the beginning. I was, you know, editing everything

together and putting it out. You're extracting the Simpsons soundbites. All of that stuff is all me. I appreciate that. But yeah, but, you know, and I have my boss who would, you know, kind of steer me in the right direction and hook things up. And the team would, you know, come to my aid with contacts and ideas. But basically, yeah, it was a lot on my plate as far as getting the interviews, going all over Toronto to find them, speaking to business owners, restaurateurs, and then coming home and sitting in a small room and patching it all together for hours. Yeah, it is. I mean, it's well produced. So there's lots of time involved in putting this together.

So if you're doing two episodes a week, it almost sounds a little ambitious. Like you must be always on this. It's one of those things. I feel like, again, I feel like my comparisons are all very grand. But with Saturday Night Live, it's like you put on an amazing show and you're like, yay, let's celebrate. And then Monday morning, you're back at it and you got to write a new show.

And sometimes that show can be really bad, which is great because then you've got the opportunity to put out an amazing show the next time, but there's no rest. It just keeps going, going, going. It's a huge cycle that never stops. Now, so You'll do episodes themed. For example,

I enjoyed the Vegandale episode. My wife sews stuff and she often has me go to a place right next door to one of those things. Designer fabrics. Is that what it is? I know they have old antique sewing

machines in there, but I go for pickup. So I go in and I say, oh, there's an order for Monica, and they hand it over, and then I bike it home to Monica. This happens all the time. So I'm always right there to pick up these sewing things that she's ordering from this place. Say the name again? Well, Designer Fabrics is right across from the library there,

but they closed. But I think there's a bit of a district, so maybe there's another little sewing store. It's like Toronto's Fabric District? What would you call that? Fabricdale? Fabricdale, that's right. So Vegandale and I was interested because I'd heard stuff about what's this

Vegandale and you explained it nicely and I needed the 101 and what the hell was going on with Vegandale. So I quite like it and you'll do different neighbourhoods and stuff like you'll kind of conquer neighbourhoods and recently there was an episode I was quite excited to listen to where you conquered New Toronto. Yeah. Which is where two things struck me. One thing is it seems like that's like I'm going to guess that's the furthest west you ventured in this

podcast. Yeah, so far, for sure. And New Toronto. And I live in New Toronto, so I should declare that. But it's really tiny because it's nestled between the much bigger Long Branch and then the mighty Mimico. And it's really small. Like geographically, it's a small little pocket. And I mean, I love the place, but I was like, oh, I got to hear this. Like, what's going to happen here? I kind of had these grandiose visions. So she's going to make New Toronto sound really, really cool. And then you did, you go, you went to the village, uh, vinyl guy, uh,

to the cool spot. And that was a good chat with Keith. And I liked that. Uh, and then, and then quickly moved on. Like that was it. Well, so we kind of started, this has gone through a few iterations in the short time that, that the podcast has been out, but, uh But we initially obviously wanted to be a daily that seemed to be very, you know, not sustainable at the time. We might go back to that format, but we played around with the very thematic episodes. The idea was to put out a full New Toronto episode. I think, you know, there wasn't enough excitement. Well, be honest with me. It just kind of ended up being, you know,

when you're telling a story and you're trying to like get to the crux of, you know, why people should spend time here. It just. But you should have consulted me because, for example, Olenka, who runs Sweet Olenka, her first, like she started in New Toronto and she lives in New Toronto. Like, so if you could consult me, I mean, if you could afford my TMDX, TMDX, TMDS services, but, uh, I would have helped you. But yeah, you went, you went to, I could have

helped you out, but there is some cool stuff going on in new Toronto, but it's so small. Like, what are you going to do? Talk to the new pizza hut that opened up? Well, there's Sydney grind, which is a new coffee shop. Um yeah, that's true. That's just open. There's a place, the Pigeon, there's the Cellar Door. Cellar Door, yeah. So I did speak to those places. Again, it's just, you know, it's a matter of, you know,

a couple of things, like audio quality is a big one. And then, you know, making sure that they've got compelling stories. And not that they didn't. Let me understand this. There's an excellent new Toronto episode on the cutting room floor.

Pretty much. We'll release it as a bonus episode of Toronto Mic'd and then promote it but i'm just kidding with you about the new toronto thing you obviously said to yourself next time i'm doing mimico because there's you could you know oh yeah shoppers drunk oh yeah oh actually and i did i have on the cutting room floor san remo bakery we talked to them about gelato although that's mimico yes yes you out, you're on Royal York now. That's, do you know the boundaries? Can I quiz you just a tiny bit? When does Mimico become New Toronto?

Is it, is it at Islington? I'm not even sure. it's, it's, once you hit the numbered streets, you're now in New Toronto. So the actual division is actually, yes,

but it's actually Dwight, which is the street. Just, it's just right. It's basically first street. I always say it's easier to say first street, but it's technically Dwight, which is right beside First Street.

But yeah, so there's no numbered streets in Mimico. That's the pro tip for you. Fascinating. And here, just to really geek out and be boring, is that Mimico is a panhandle. So Mimico is both east of us here and north of us. Ah, okay. Because the rail track is the division.

Then above that, you're still back in Mimico. Just to mess you up. Would you refer to New Toronto as the beaches of the West? That's a term I've heard thrown around, but it always comes with an eye roll. We wish. I don't know. I've never heard that term locally. Once you're south of Lakeshore,

it's like leave it to beaver, beautiful residents. Lakeshore remains it's like leave it to beaver, beautiful residents. Beautiful homes. Lakeshore remains delightfully sketchy. Like come on a Friday night or whatever and walk Lakeshore. Like the character, I love it. And it's funny, my daughter doesn't love it and my wife doesn't love it. And I just think it's, I never feel unsafe. It just feels very like, it feels a bit like Parkdale kind of, it's got this kind of like character to it

that I kind of did. For sure, for sure. I had a great time, like I walk in the streets and then talking to business owners when I did that, spent the day here in New Toronto. And I,

I have no other reason to come out here as, except to, you know, be on this show. Come on this show. Okay. What about,

what about the fact that Toronto Mic'd is brought, is podcasting from New Toronto? There could have been a Toronto Mic'd segment. A crossover. I'm trying to put you on a hot seat Okay. What about the fact that Toronto Mic is broadcasting from New Toronto? There could have been a Toronto Mic segment. A crossover. I'm trying to put you on a hot seat here. Is it working? So, okay.

So, this is a fantastic opportunity for you that you're now the manager, I don't know, the producer of this. Yeah. He's producer, host. New podcast from BlogTO called Only in Toronto. Fantastic. Congratulations to you. That's fantastic.

Thank you. Now, last night, last night, is that one of your jams? No. Maybe Brent's. Yeah, maybe it is. Last night's a great jam.

But you were busy taking classes at SCTV. Is that correct? Well, Second City. So the Second City Training Center. Yeah, Second City. So the Second City Training Center. Why do I call it SCTV? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So Second City Training Center does classes.

When I moved to Toronto, that was kind of the thing I wanted to do is take improv classes. So I went through the program. I did like your level A to E. I took long form classes and now I'm in the conservatory program, which you audition to get into.

And then basically at the end of a year, you take your classes once a week and you put on a big second city main stage style show. So we're at the process where we're kind of at the end of it. We've got a couple more months and then our show will be in December. So we're in the kind of the throes of writing and getting things up on stage. And it's a, it's, it's, it's a, it's a work, it's a work in progress.

Amazing. And that's a valid and solid excuse as to why you were unable to come to Great Lakes Brewery last night. I can't miss a class. I know, I know. I'm, I'm serious.

I think you're off the hook. I got lots of good excuses, but we had a great time. So yesterday night from six to 9 PM was the second, I call it TMLX2, which is Toronto Mic Listener Experience 2.0. And fantastic turnout, like the band, the Royal Pains were fantastic once again. So thank you to the Royal Pains. All of you did a fantastic job last night. And I encourage anyone listening who needs to hire a band for your function,

hire the Royal Pains. I'm telling you, like, they played a lot of hip and Oasis and Stone Temple Pie, a lot of 90s rock stuff. They were fantastic. Like, they were real. I'm not kidding. Real solid. Everybody loved them.

Hebsey was telling me he couldn't believe how good they were when they covered the Tragically Hip. Hebsey's a big, you know, hip head. And so hire the Royal Pains. But the Royal Pains were fantastic. The weather was amazing. Gare Joyce and David Schultz, who are famous sports writers, they did 10 minutes of stand-up each, and they were fantastic.

I mean, I was just laughing out loud. And there should be video, because Kevin McGrann, who's a sports writer for the Star, I saw him recording both sets. So there's video footage. I'm going to track it down and share it. But hilarious. Past guests who showed up, it was great. It was weird because the

Jays were playing and Mike Wilner was at my event last night, which was strange. And I said, how come you're here if the Jays are playing? And he said, he has the day off. So, yeah, Wilner was there, and it was great to see Wilner. Of course, Mark Hebbshire was there. I'm trying to think.

Humble Howard showed up. You know Humble Howard. I do, yes. He showed up, but very briefly. The funny thing is, I had a schedule, like who speaks. I was making a speech, when the stand-ups, whatever. It was all very strict. And Humble took the mic and made a little speech.

And he wasn't on the agenda. And I had this flashback that the last time Humble Howard made an unscheduled speech at an event of mine was my wedding. Oh, wow. And it was an infamous moment where he had too much to drink and he alienated an entire race of people. I know. It was quite controversial. My wife's family still talks about that man. That man.

But he was much better yesterday. But who? I don't want to miss anybody. Lou Skizis was there. It was great. Oh, cool. Keegan Matheson, who is a fantastic baseball writer. He covers Toronto.

Did Freddie P show up? No, because Freddie P, as you know, once he's comfy in Brampton, you know what it takes to get him even here, which is southwest Toronto, not downtown Toronto. He told me once, and he was half joking, he doesn't go east of Islington, I think, was what he says, or something like that. He humorously told me once uh unless he's going to

the you know tin palace which is a whole separate thing yeah but uh this was a little bit tiny bit east of islington not too much east but a little bit but he doesn't know he was happy in brampton he did not come but uh who else am i missing that was there i mean andrew stokely who's the audio guru who helped me set up the studio, it was great that he was there. Elvis was there, who's a buddy who appears on lots of episodes. Oh, bum-bum, just scanning in my head here. But, yeah, I mean, of course, David Schultz and Gare Joyce were doing the stand-up. But lots of listeners were there who were at the first one,

a lot of new listeners I met for the first time. Like, just a fantastic vibe a fantastic uh time and now i'm wondering like when should i do a tmlx3 because i enjoyed the first two so much so so danny i'm gonna be uh sending you an invitation when i figure all that all right you come to my main stage show in december my final con show and i'll come to your your next event this show though what are you doing is it it you've got a skit or something? Well, we basically write our own sketches. So we'll have a premise idea.

We'll improvise it out. So it's all sketch through improv, which is what Second City is known for. And we'll have an idea, say, okay, listen, this is going to be set in a doctor's office. And, you know, here's my something that's going on in the world. We're going to set it up, improvise some beats,

and then eventually write the scene, put it up on the main stage. So it's you and how many people in this sketch? Well, I mean, the sketches could be anything from like a mono scene to a group scene or classes like 10 or 11 people. So yeah, that's the class we've been working with since January.

If you have a mono scene, I'll come watch it. You come perform it at TMLX3. You perform your scene at TMLX3. Just think about it. Yeah, get my team to come perform some improv for you. Yeah, seriously. That would be great. Can I get a suggestion? We alluded to the station

you used to work at, not Indie88. We did allude to that. I'm talking about 102.1 The Edge. And do you still have any friends on the inside at Chorus? At Chorus, yes. You don't have to name them. You just have to tell me.

You do know some people. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Okay. Do you have any inkling, like have they given you any heads up or do you have any insight into the fact that the rate, I don't know, I don't know much about radio, but there's a ratings period going on right now right like after labor day and

uh there's a vacant morning show at edge 102 i'm calling it edge 102 i don't care but this and i just observe the industry i'm not in the industry but this seems like i don't remember this happening before where you turf the morning show in august I've seen that happen many times, but usually you put in a new show in time for this period of post labor day, but there's no morning show at edge right now. You know what could be the case is because now we're on PPM, which is like the personal people meters, which isn't the diary ratings. Ratings are always happening. Like definitely September is the big one for your advertisers, but I think there's a little bit more room for them to play around with some finding something that really fits. But you said that even if I

just extract that quote from Danny Stover, I take that quote, September is the big one for advertising. Like to me alone, that's the reason enough that this just seems like, did they have something in place that fell through? Is there something more radical afoot here, like a bigger change than just sliding in a new show or whatever? And be honest, if you have no insight or if you have no comment, that's cool, of course. I don't want

you to get in trouble for talking out of school, but do you have any clue what's going on? I do not. 100%, I do not know the direction that they're going. I mean, you can see what they've done in Ottawa and bringing in that Seattle based morning show. I believe afternoons they just announced Meredith Geddes will be doing it. She's from Seafox and does Winnipeg as well. So they're really working with this kind of syndicated voice across chorus.

Definitely because it's cheaper. I think chorus is kind of being blood dry right now. And that's that's not a new thing um and i remember back when i was in peterborough um they were looking to fill a mat leave in calgary and i did that so this is not a new thing like like i would do that from a closet space voice track for calgary middays and fearless fred was somewhere else too i know he was doing a like a voice track in a show yeah yes I know Carly does stuff um for London so I mean there's just there which I don't hate them for doing that I don't think it's a bad

thing I think uh moving away from local is an interesting choice and I don't know that Toronto like the edge is specifically ready to do that or nor should they um but I think maybe they're just playing around with the idea of like hey Hey, we're not going to rush to find a morning show. We want to get the right people in there. So you know what, if we take a hit for this one ratings period and find something that works, that's worth it for us in the longterm. I think it's more of a longterm game.

Cause they really have struggled in that slot. Well, finding something since, well, since the blend. So I look at the three big shows. There were always these attempts at other things. You have Pete and Geats.

Long time show. I was listening to Tom Rivers on CFTR. I'm a little older than you, but not old enough that I can say I was a big Pete and Geats listener. I've got to get Geats Romo on this show. I saw him the other day. I've got to get him on the show. That's an aside.

Pete and Geats, long time. They have a little stuff here going on. Freddie get him on the show, but that's an aside. So, Pete and Gates, long time. And then they bring in, well, they have a little stuff here going on. Freddie P was on that show with Mike Stafford. Freddie was doing sports. Stafford was doing this. And then they bring in Humble from Montreal. Now you've got Humble and Fred. Now, you know, Humble goes away to

99.9 for a little bit, comes back. This is in the early 90s. But then the show goes on a long run, like it goes a solid decade, where it's Humble and Fred on 102.1. And then Dean Blundell comes in from Windsor and Blundell Show. I don't know if you've heard of it, the show, the Blundell Show.

Have you heard of it? I think I'm too young. You're too young. You're too young for Blundell. You're too good for that Blundell nonsense. So that went a long time. And then, I don't know if you heard about it, but that got canceled.

And then they tried a bunch of stuff. I remember a lot of people, they put, Josie was in there for a while. Dominic Diamond. Right. Greg Beharal. They had Fearless Fred was in there for a while. Yeah, Mel. Yeah, with Mel.

And then most recently, Adam and Mel. And then they let go. They fired Adam and Mel, which is a common radio happening. Yeah. Even though Mel is five months pregnant. Yeah, yeah. That sounds cold to me but i'm not in that business what do i know but adam and mel turfed and then right now uh nothing

permanent and hasn't been anyways we'll see what they do over there but it's just interesting that they've been well i've got two rumors yeah okay i like rumors okay so these are based on substantiated these are based in absolutely no fact. These are just like, you know, I have some of those whispers in the wind. Someone said that they might be flirting with the idea of a country flip, which I think is absurd. Although there is no real big country station in Toronto

and country performs well in Calgary. It's their biggest station. You know, London, I think just got a couple of years ago, a country station. Rumors is a complete rumor. You've been very clear.

This is just rumor. The second one is quick hits. So tell me what that is. Well, instead of playing a four and a half minute song, we're only going to play you a minute of the song and we can play more music and we can keep the attention span of the younger generation does any station have that right now in canada i i feel like they've maybe tried it out in other places maybe montreal or maybe ottawa or something like

that interesting you know what that is kind of what you hear when you listen to let's say on a friday you're listening to roz and mocha let let's say. What's the DJ's name? Climax? Something like that. They have a guy, I think he's a lawyer actually. DJ Climax is a lawyer? I think Mocha told me that. When he was on the show, I think he told me that.

I hope I got the right names. Because I get confused between DJ Climax and DJ Starting From Scratch. I don't think I've ever heard their names out of context before. By such a white guy with no coolness. Could be Starting From Scratch. DJ Starting From Scratch. When did you start your scratching? So when they do their mixes where it's just they play about a minute of a jam and then they

bleed in another song that's honestly how i listen to music now like even if i'm listening to the radio it's like next next next next right so this is no attention span you're not and and my and he hasn't released new stuff in forever but i was a massive fan of girl talk do you know girl talk greg gillis i think his name is and he hasn't put out anything in a long time but I used to spin I thought I still think his last two particularly but I lost three really but really good stuff where it's just a mega mix uh he just mixes up a bunch of songs and it's great you know some of I I can say this now because I'm out of the radio game one of my favorite pieces of programming in Toronto radio ever is Sunday afternoons. And this was because I was

driving back and forth from Peterborough. Sunday afternoons was my drive back to Peterborough and it was Manzone and Strong. It still is Sun Life Sundays or whatever they do from Cabana Pool Bar on Z103. It's commercial free from three till seven and it's house music. It's my favorite. You're finally coming out of the closet. I can now, I wanted to tweet them. I wanted to show from the mountaintops that that was my favorite thing. This is the biggest moment in Toronto Mike since Jeff Woods told me he's 80-20.

80% of his lovers are women and 20% of his lovers are men. Wow. Very courageous. He came out, he wanted to be himself. This cannot be up there with that. This is right up there with that.

No. Danny Stover was a big fan of, why is it Z-103? Why not Z-103? Why not Z-103? Why are we not proud of our Canadian heritage here in Commission? Oh, I don't know. Come on. But I digress.

So, you know, their headquarters are, like, close to here, because Bingo Bobby used to work. That's the Avedon group, right? Yeah. That's on Dundas. Okay. So, those are interesting rumors. I have no idea who your sources are, if they're any good,

but obviously you just heard chatter. But this is not chatter from some stranger on a subway, right? This might be chatter through somebody who's in the business, maybe. So maybe. Honestly, it was probably like, oh, you know what so-and-so said? They said that it might be this. And it's not like a high up brass person. I heard rumors, too.

People like to tell me different rumors. And one rumor I heard is that they were going to bring back Dean Blundell and the negotiations got really close. And then this again, rumor, I have no idea if it's true, but it got really close. Then it fell apart at the last minute.

And now they're starting, starting from scratch. Look at that. Holy smoke. And on that note, we're going to kick out the jams in just a minute, but I was just curious about the 102 stuff since you used to work there. Yeah, I have no, I have no idea.

I find it very interesting, though, that they have an empty morning show. Right. And Adam Wilde is this wild card. See, I'm going to do puns for the rest of the show. But Adam Wilde quit his job at Rogers. Did he really? Is he not doing afternoons at 92? He quit Rogers.

He quit. And now he's on the sidelines and I feel like he's either going to show up at a Bell Media station like a virgin. I know his mom works for Bell Media

because she's Marilyn Dennis. Maybe he'll just go to TV. I don't know. He's got his podcast too, right? Maybe. Wouldn't he be a potential Edge 102 morning show guy or am I crazy?

I mean, at this point, anybody is a potential morning show person. Am I a potential morning show guy? Honestly, I think it's fair game. Or am I too? I mean, at this point, anybody is a potential morning show person. Am I a potential morning show guy? Honestly, I think it's fair game. Or am I too old for that now? They want the young ears. Just kidding. I've never had a nibble from radio for obvious reasons. So

we'll stay tuned to the 102 stuff. Let me see if I've caught up sufficiently. You're happy? I'm glad you're doing this, STTV. You're happy? Everything's good? Yeah, everything's great. And Only yeah, yeah. Everything's great. And only in Toronto sounds great, so you keep that going. Thank you. And I do have a note from a Steve Gizma. He says

Danny's amazing. Do you know Steve? I do, yes. I like that name, Gizma. I think it's Gimza. Is it? I don't know. I don't often say it out loud. Maybe you're right. Is it Gimza? I think the M comes before the Z. Dyslexia coming in here. Maybe I typed it out wrong. Gimza. Oh, I like Gizmo better. Tell me you should change it. Uh, well, and the reason he brought that up is. Oh, so wait,

let me read it first. Yeah. Don't forget to ask her about, uh, story time drag. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, Steve's wife, Bree, um, we, her and I run Drag Queen Storytime, East Toronto Drag Queen Storytime. So basically we kind of are the liaison between libraries and schools and drag queens in the city. And we combine the two and have these wonderful story times for kids and families that are very inclusive and very educational and whimsical and all of that stuff. So that's been going on for maybe just over a year. But this past Pride Month in June, we were busy like a few story times a week. Wow.

And that's still going pretty strong. So that's a fun little side hustle that we do. And yeah, it allows me to work with drag queens and children and libraries, my favorites. That's the great trifecta. Yeah. That's great. That's fantastic.

Good for you. Good for you. Good for you. And sorry, Steve, for calling you gizmo when you might be a gimza. I'm sure it happens all the time. Yeah. Yeah, get used to that mispronunciation. Great.

Now, I want to play a question for you from Brian. So Brian Gerstein is a real estate sales representative with PSR Brokerage, and he's also a big BlogTO fan. And he's got a question for you. Let's hear from Brian. Hi, Danny. Brian Gerstein here, sales representative with PSR Brokerage and proud sponsor of Toronto Might and also longtime follower of BlogTO. I can be reached by call or text at 416-873-0292 for all of your real estate needs.

The fall market has arrived with the kids back at school. Now is the time to reach out to me so I can properly prepare your home for sale. Danny, eight months ago on BlogTO, Tanya Mock covered Korean fried chicken chain, My My Chicken, at their second restaurant in the annex. It just so happens that My My just opened up this past Friday in Thornhill, a five-minute walk from my house, where our dining options are not as plentiful and diverse as in the downtown core, so this is a big deal where I live. Danny, your first podcast for blog to cover two other toronto chicken restaurants so what is it about chicken that keeps attracting you to covering it have you personally tried my my and if so what do you think i love it uh i have not

tried my my um but you know what if if he's recommending it, I might have to. And yeah, there's a few chicken places. I think that, well, I mean, St. Matthew's was one that we covered in their Portuguese chicken place. And they've been around for many, many, many years. But the new kind of trend I think we were seeing was this Nashville fried chicken. And so that's like this greasy, like you're using the full chicken and that's at Chica's in the junction. So, I mean, I'm not like a huge chicken person, but our first episode was the theme of chicken. So it's close to my heart for that purpose. I don't have a thing for chicken. But chicken's a staple. So of course it's going to show up and there's a good Portuguese chicken place on the Queensway.

And I forget the name of that neighborhood. That's north of Mimico, but I think it's called Stonegate or something like that. Oh, really? Something like that. It has all these name of that neighborhood. That's north of Mimico. But I think it's called Stonegate or something like that. Oh, really? Something like that. It's all these neighborhoods. You know, Toronto is just a collection of neighborhoods.

Totally. And that's what I'm discovering through this BlogTO podcast. It's just, Toronto does, for a newer city, there are so many stories and places to explore. And there is that cool history that's very unique to Toronto. And your neighborhood, it's ironic because your name is Danny and your neighborhood is the Danny, right? You're a Danforth girl?

Yeah, I feel like I would consider it either a Greek town or a pape village. I feel like a little east of me is where we get into the calling it the Danny. Okay, but that sounds... It sounds disappointing. No, you're out of my jurisdiction now with all this east of young chatter oh yeah but uh bob willett speaking of bingo bob we have this ongoing every time and i just saw him i was at smashing pumpkins with him like last month or something and we're gonna do something together with podcasting uh don't poach him from me, blogTO podcast person. But he talks about East of Yonge

the way I talk about West of Yonge. And he swears by East of Yonge. And West of Yonge is foreign to him. And I'm the exact opposite. It's interesting how that works in this city. Yeah. A lot of West of Yonge people rarely venture East of Yonge.

Oh, one of my favorite things to do, though, is exploring a new neighborhood. I don't really want to be cute about it, but I don't really see these borders so much anymore. So Yonge Street's not like a big wall? No, not at all. Yeah, there's so many different

amazing neighborhoods that you can just explore, and you know what? You can get there by subway or bus. Or Uber. I heard. Or bicycle. Yeah, of course. Which is my preferred. I heard. Or bicycle. Yeah, or bicycle. Of course, yeah. Which is my preferred. Even better.

I think that's the best way. I did mention the TMLX2 yesterday, and I just wrote about it on trauma-mic.com if you want to see photos. But that was at Great Lakes Brewery. Great Lakes is just a fantastic sponsor of this program, and they're solid citizens. They bought the first beer for everybody who showed up yesterday. Oh, that's nice. The first beer bought for them, which is awesome. just a fantastic sponsor of this program and they're solid citizens. They gave,

they bought the first beer for everybody who showed up yesterday. Oh, that's nice. Bought for them, which is awesome. But they also bought you six cans of beer as well. So there's a six pack in front of you, Danny.

Sweet. All yours. Enjoy responsibly. I will. Tasty, fresh, local craft beer, uh, from Great Lakes Brewery.

Thank you. Thank you, Great Lakes. Beer? Paytm Canada. I got to tell everybody that if they want $10, this is a way to get $10 right now. Seriously, you can just right now pause this program and go on your smartphone and you can end up with $10.

Here's how. Go to paytm.ca. Download the Paytm app for your whatever, your Android or your Apple device, and then install Paytm. Set it up. It takes seconds, and it's very intuitive to set up Paytm. And then pay a bill. Like, I don't know, hydro. All bills can be paid on Paytm.

You can't find one that you can't pay there. So pay a bill. Pedro, all bills can be paid on Paytm. You can't find one that you can't pay there. So pay a bill, and when you pay that bill, there's like a promo code thing you press, and put in Toronto Mike. One word, Toronto Mike. And they'll give you $10, and they call Paytm cash.

But it's real cash, you can use that $10. You can buy stuff, but you can also pay another bill, and use that towards that. So like, first thing I did when I got this promo code is I paid a bill, like a $70 bill, got a $10 and then I paid like another $50 bill, but I only had to get $40 to pay that $50 bill because $10 came from Paytm. And to me,

this is a no brainer, but just do it. Two, 10 bucks. Yeah. And it's a great app and it costs you nothing and it's, uh, makes it super easy to pay your bills and you get Paytm points and so and you can use your credit card for everything which lets you

get points on your credit card like points yeah i get uh no what do you call that president's choice oh i love those points i know because it feels good yeah and now they're all linked up because law blah owns everything so it's uh yeah it's fun to get points. I'm with you on that one. I'm with you. Is there any Pearl Jam on your jam list? No. Yeah, I realized a couple things while putting together my list for you.

Working in classic rock and alternative rock radio has ruined me. I don't see any Deep Purple on this list. No, no. No Smoke on the Water. Although, you know, actually, yeah. That one would be maybe on my tertiary list. No, no. No smoke on the water. Although, you know, actually, yeah, that one would be maybe on my tertiary list.

I also noticed no ACDC and you call yourself a true wolf. No, I do not miss ACDC at all. We're so close. I can't wait.

We're almost at jam kicking time. But I want to just tell everyone about Senses Design and Build. They provide architectural design, interior design, and turnkey construction services across the GTA. So if you're in the GTA and you need such services, you contact them right now. 416-893... What is their number?

416-931-1422. Or make your life easy. Go to censusdesignbuild.ca and schedule your zoning and cost project feasibility study. Do it up. I had a good talk with those guys. Ken, Ken Yu is his name. I think that's a fun name for a person. Ken Yu? Can you? Can you do this? Can you? Can you not? Yes, right, right. And they are renewing for the rest of 2018. So that's good news for Toronto Mic'd. Exciting news. Dani. Yes. Are you ready to kick out the jams? I think so, yeah. I'm a little nervous because my my songs aren't the coolest. Please. Did you listen to Mike Wilner's jam kicking?

Cool has nothing to do with it. I want you to be honest with me. We're going to play your jam. Your jams are your jams. I can't wait to find out why you love this music. Don't worry about being cool. Seriously. You know the coolest thing in the world is not caring if you're cool. Oh, okay.

That's what's cool. That's it. Well, then screw this. That's why I'm the coolest guy ever. All right. Let's do this. And remember, I'm hoping you've heard Kick Out the Jams, but I start playing the jam. You can talk whenever you want because they're your jams.

You can talk whenever you want, but I will fade down at some point and listen for your sweet voice. Okay. So here we go. This jam was hard to find, so I actually stole this from YouTube. So maybe this is like a... Ah, yes. Yes. So much pride on me, I'm a prodigy. I'ma do my thing, no apologies.

Coconutty rose in my skin regime. Yes, I love, love, love, love. What's her name again? It's Lizzo. Poppin' Power Rangers, purple, yellow, pink. Power Ranger reference. Yeah. I don't know what my mama think. Feeling like a stripper when I'm looking in the mirror. Power Ranger reference. Yeah.

It was hard to pick just one Lizzo song. It's a fun jam, Danny. Excuse me while I feel myself. I don't So, tell me a little more. This is called Excuse Me. Excuse Me, yeah. And you know what? It was. It was honestly, like, this was one I was like, Lizzo's for sure on the list. Which

Lizzo song will I choose? I encourage you to listen to every single Lizzo song. I got to give credit to Ryan Lalonde, Chorus Peterborough. He saw her at Bonnaroo, was like, Dani, you've got to look her up. You'll love her. And then we went to a show at like the Velvet Underground. And I was like, just in hard love. And anytime she's come to Torontoonto uh i've seen her uh i went to a show at the portlands like cmw what did this weird little festival that was like an attempt very poorly attended no it was like a big field uh they had like a stage on one side a stage on the other

side and like dozens of people in between that's it uh and she was on stage and i went and she's like hey does anyone want to get up on stage and i'm like oh my god yes i was like i've never felt like more of a white woman a basic white woman in my life but i tried to dance and she was like what's your name and i'm like ah we're best friends uh i love her i saw her with a heim this like a month ago i went by myself uh and i just lived my best life. Awesome. That's amazing.

She's the best. I love her. And I feel like she's on the cusp. Like she's going to, you know, explode. I hope. I hope. I love it. Yeah, she doesn't need a crown to know that she's a queen. I love that message.

Very body positive she's got dancers she's got like you know female empowerment she's got it all good for lizzo yeah you sold me on lizzo i'm gonna be checking out well and you know the day after donald trump was nominated um samantha b on her show uh was like you know what i know this is tough times in the world and we're all kind of reeling from the pain of this uh and she brought out lizzo and lizzo has another song um that that she she performed and it was like very emotional very moving and she's just yeah she's a powerhouse i love her have i sold her enough lizzo everybody stop what you're doing get some lizzo going sounds. Let's kick out another jam. in this trap Titty so pitiful Fishing queen Jezebel should be criminal Don't make sense for a bitch

to be this in doubt Rock to the side When it's at the sound Watch me drop drop drop into the ground Rock for the floor Drop to the floor

Add up the tens to get the score I've been that bitch Yes I love that drama Fishing feminine up and come on From the Clintons to the Obamas

I keep it tight Now they call me mother Jaded queen bitch I love that drama Fishing feminine up and come on From the Clintons to the Obamas Danny your songs are making me want to dance I keep it tight, now they call me mother. Jaded queen bitch, I love that drama. Fishy feminine, up that cover. Danny, your songs are making me want to dance. Yes.

RuPaul. Call me mother. Yes. How can you argue with a line like, my pussy's about to end this drought? I wasn't familiar with this song until you put it on your list. Although Lizzo too. These are two jams you've introduced me to.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, as much as I love Lizzo, we got RuPaul as well. The two faves. As much as I love Lizzo, like, we got RuPaul as well. The two faves. Sounds good in the speakers and the headphones, too. Think of this as, like, pop-up video for, like, audio. Like, you could just be like... Black Blamazon. They know my name because I'm on another echelon. Miss Automatic, Supersonic, I'm a Sassatron. if this is like pop-up video for like audio like you could just be like Danny's now dancing

Danny's dancing I'll do a death drop Have you ever Seen RuPaul perform this job? No. You know what? I think RuPaul's

one of those people I could not meet. It's one of those never meet your idols. I've heard stories. I just think that I have to love RuPaul from afar. What stories have you heard?

I mean, just stories like in person, she's not, you know. Is the D word involved? Do you know the D word? The diva? Yeah. Well, I think so. Do you know it's a d word involved uh the diva yeah well i think so but you know the word is heavily weighted and can be very controversial well oh no is there something you

need to listen to episode 368 which i used the d word and was uh i paid dearly who who was who are you talking to molly johnson okay interesting your homework is to listen and then give me your feedback don't meet your heroes yeah i mean i love rupaul so much i've been a fan of rupaul's drag race since like it came out um and it's starting it's not starting but i mean a few seasons came on netflix now it's this big huge thing and rightly so i mean it's not starting but i mean a few seasons came on netflix now it's this big huge thing and rightly so i mean it's the best show of all time um but i'm missing out on the best show of all time i thought the wire was the best show of all time but i mean what i know i'm just i know they're i do love the wire too is that what you're telling yeah yeah i mean if you love reality shows if you

love uh you know dress up if you love dancing and singing if if you love, you know, cattiness and fights and also like politics and LGBTQ history and all of that stuff, it's got it all. Danny, those are some of my favorite things. I'll be checking it out for sure. Now, I love this third jam. I'm not going to explain to the people that you gave me the best direction ever I've gotten kick out of the jams, which is you basically

named the artist and you wrote I could pick anything from this artist except this one song. So I have, and I have in my I could pick anything from this artist except this one song. So I have, and I have in my collection, the entire catalog from this artist. Oh, did I say except this one song? I think maybe that was the one song I wanted. Okay.

I'm going to read it verbatim because I can't paste it in. Honestly, anything, comma, but the one with Rihanna. Oh, I see how you read it then. I meant honestly anything, but the one with rihanna i would take okay because you okay because okay oh my god i took it exactly so that's funny it's fine i thought you said i love all of his music except the one of this one don't you dare play that one so what i did what i ended up doing was i chose my favorite song from this artist fair enough yeah they're all good and i i will say this is my and i have his entire catalog. This is my favorite Drake song.

Okay. Which I think might surprise. So I'm kind of kicking out the jams through you. So I appreciate this. So here we go. What's up? Been a minute since we kicked it, you been caught up With them bitches, I don't get it, you're a star, love You shouldn't have to deal with that

I'd never make you feel like that Cause I love me I love me enough for the both of us That's why you trust me I know you've been through more than most of us So what are you? What are you, what are you so afraid of? up Darling you You give but you cannot

take love Yeah, I needed to hear that shit I hate when you're submissive, passive aggressive When we're texting I feel the distance I look around and peers that surround me, these niggas tripping I like when money makes a difference but don't make you different. Started realizing a couple places I could take it.

I wanna get back to when I was that kid in the basement. I wanna take a deeper than money pussy vacation. And influence a generation that's lacking the patience. I've been dealing with my dad, speaking of lack of patience. Just me and my old man getting back to basics. We've been talking about the future and time that we wasted. When he put the bottle down good at niggas amazing Well, fuck it. We had a couple coronas. We might have wrote a white paper just something to hold us We even talked about you and a couple of moments

He said we should hash it out like a couple of grown-ups you a flower child beautiful child I mean your zone looking like you came from the 70s on your own My mother is 66 and a favorite line to hit me with is who the fuck wants to be 70 and alone y'all don't even know what you want from love anymore i search for something i'm missing and disappear when i'm bored so i know i almost forgot this was your jam not mine okay well on this yeah tell us why you love drake well i just think drake is first of all any song that he puts out is becomes my my new favorite song whether i I like it or not. It just happens. I just feel like he's such a champion for Toronto.

Maybe not so much of late because he seems to be, you know, kind of ghosting us a little bit, but I just, I love how much he loves Toronto and how much he reps the city and how much, you know, he's proud to, you know,

back the city that I love that I grew up in. And I just love that kind of attitude. And I think he brings this coolness factor. And I think he brings this kind of cred to it. And I know that there's people that disagree. And I, you know, heard people that kind of like roll their eyes or be like, screw those people. But I love Drake.

Yeah, I just think he's awesome. And I love his music. So there. No argument for me. great ambassador for the city yeah great artist uh and you're right every new drake jam becomes like a jam idea even if i don't like it nice for what fancy even songs i don't uh love at first like god's plan at first i married god's plan i didn't think i loved it and then it grew yeah you can't help it that. God's plan. The first time I heard God's plan, I didn't think I loved it. And then it grew on me.

Yeah, you can't help it. That's since me too. Where I'm like, nah, this one's not the one. Oh my God, I can't stop listening to it. So the sweetest song. So it's sort of my jam too. I have to tell you that I love this one the most because I love, he does his thing.

It's a very simple song. I like the piano part. And Drake does his thing. He's doing it right now. His killer flow. But Janine Aiko, the way her voice works with his and she's the singer on this song just uh to me it's perfect blend and this song is from nothing was the same 2013 it's called uh from time well and that rihanna one that i was like everyone but this one that that song is

close to me because it uh what's my name is that yeah my few Rihanna jam yeah and I love them I know they're not together but when they were I was like this is the best couple ever and so it's uh yeah I just love the video my boyfriend and I would like sit and listen to that song over and over and over again so it's it's kind of our. That's a great, yeah, that's actually, I mean, I'm thinking of Drake number ones because I like the track Canadians who get the number one on the Billboard 100, the Hot 100.

And that one went to number one, that Rihanna jam. And Drake's number one right now with In My Feelings. That's the number one song right now. He's actually a string because he was number one with God's Plan. And what was the one I'm missing? The summer, the earlier summer. Nice for what?

Yes, nice. What a jam that is, right? That was so good. When that comes on in the car radio or whatever, it's like, just turn it up and go. Yeah, it's so funny because I was driving the other day and every car I passed that had their windows open had a Drake song blasting.

Also, that song has Big Freedia in it, and I was very close to adding a Big Freedia song onto this list. It's another one I think people should know about. So we're going to come out of one Canadian hit maker to another. Are you ready? You gotta go and get angry at all of my honesty You know I try but I don't do too well with apologies

I hope I don't run out of time cause someone call a referee Cause I just need one more shot This song is the best, I don't even know. I know you know that I made those mistakes I think for a lot of people like me we were like what's the big deal

about this guy he's nothing special until this song and then I think a lot of guys like I said oh I can get it now because like

this is a great pop song this is a great singer yeah and the video is amazing I'll never I will never tire of this song and it's so Canadian of him to have a song called Sorry yeah and you know what and the video was amazing Amazing. I will never tire of this song.

And it's so Canadian of him to have a song called Sorry. Yeah. And you know what? And the video was amazing too because it's all women. It's some fly girls dancing and no Bieber to be seen. Like when George Michael did the video for Freedom 90 or something in which he did not appear even though

prior to that all the George Michael videos focused on George Michael yeah so I thought that was a cool move and I thought you know

like the dancers were amazing their outfits are cool and this song's just fun like I just like I said I'll never it always puts a smile

on my face I will never get tired of hearing it I can hear it literally over and over and over again speaking of hits so this album this is called purple right is this the name of that album no purpose purpose purple is stone temple pilots okay okay nobody should confuse stone temple

pilots and justin bieber as i just did so purpose is the album it was hit after hit after hit like number one hit after hit after hit this is the period now where canadians dominate the billboard because this guy keeps pumping out hits the kid from ajax is pumping out sean mendez yeah pickering sorry that's okay it's just because i'm from pickering oh my god very protective you're right some 41 is from ajax yeah yeah i sold goalie equipment to the drummer of some 41 back they had their. They had their moment. Fatliff and all that. They had their moment. I saw Avril Lavigne is releasing a new album.

Yeah. Speaking of Sum 41. Okay. Who else is making the hits? Oh, yeah. The Weeknd. Yep. Drake, obviously.

Alessia Cara. Yeah. So. I feel like there's more. And this is just GTA. I mean, if you consider Stratford GTA. But good for Bieber. I'm still trying to learn this dance.

Learn the what, sorry? The dance. Oh. Yeah, it's great. It's a catchy song. Like it's a perfect pop song, really. It's catchy as all hell. You're going to have this stuck in your head for the rest of the day.

And I know what you mean. Like it's probably not cool to put like a Bieber song in your top 10, but it's so cool that you did. See, it's all come around. Yeah, you know what? Let go of the cool factor. I love this song. You can come at me if you don't think so.

Come at me. But this song is a little cooler for your street cred at BlogTO. Let's hear it. Well, sometimes I go out by myself And I look across the water. And I think of all the things, what you're doing. And in my head I paint a picture. Since I've come home, well, my body's been a maggot

And I miss your tender head And the way you like to drag it Won't you come on over Stop making a fool out of me Why don't you come on over Valerie Oh her voice Valerie I'm all over Valerie. Oh, her voice.

Valerie. It's got so much soul. So much soul. This song, it's near and dear to my heart. I went to Amsterdam a few years ago, like a kind of a solo trip. Although I had like family there, but they were working and stuff. So I was out on the town a lot by myself. And I went into this cool like piano bar. People were smoking. It was like red and dingy, like red walls, boots. And I would go there like every night to have like a

nightcap or whatever. And they'd have this like amazing singer and pianist every night. And they performed this song and I remember it just got me. I was sitting at the bar like, oh my God, this song is so amazing and I'm in such an amazing place and it was really this huge atmospheric moment for me and so I've just always,

this song has been very close to my heart for that reason. That's quite the city. And Amy Winehouse is incredible too. You're right, the voice is I can't believe that That voice is amazing And that city, Amsterdam's a great city I actually think maybe If you took away GTA cities

The city I visited the most I think is Amsterdam Yeah, me too Definitely it's up there They got it all figured out there They got the canals, they got the cycling They got it all figured out there. They got the canals. They got the cycling.

They got that live and let live vibe. Just drink in Vondelpark. It's all good. Yes. It's a great song. And there's a few different versions. I think there's even a more poppier, upbeat version of it too. This one's a little more soulful. You know, that's how I roll. I'm a soulful guy. And you really appreciate her voice in the headphones. Like, I think this is,

we listen to so much music and it's great. It's around you, but when it's in the headphones, it's like, it's up a notch. Yeah, wow. I'm all over Valerie Valerie Valerie Valerie Oh, Valerie Valerie Oh, Valerie. Oh, Valerie. Oh, Valerie. Valerie.

Yeah. Valerie. Why don't you come over, Valerie? Over Valor I can't explain No game I contain Thank you. Is maybe dream of you Falling down When you're around You're the only one You're the only one I'm so wrapped up in a pit The only one.

The Black Keys. It's funny. My listening habits are very millennial-esque where I'm not a big album listener. And I always felt like weird or like almost like a fraud working in radio because people would be like,

oh, this album, this album, this album. And I was like, eh, I'm kind of a singles gal. But this album was one that I just could listen to back to front, back to front, back to front over and over and over again. And I kind of listened to it

during a time I was in Peterborough. I was just going through it. Like I was just kind of having like this emotional, like weird journey. Like, what am I doing? Like, why am I here? Oh my gosh. Like I'm making all these mistakes. And this album just kind of was like the soundtrack to that.

Wow. And yeah, every song on this Brothers album, in my opinion, is a banger. And like together as a full album, it really does kind of take you through the motions as well. I love it. And that's really the beauty of music, though, that you when you're going through something, because we're all going through something at some point. Like you can often you can tap into a certain a certain like an album, like a certain song or an album. You can kind of you can almost like read something into either the lyrics or the melody and kind of, it can kind of help fuel you like as you plow through. Yeah. And every,

even as I'm listening to this, I'm like, oh yeah, I can remember hearing the lyrics and being like, oh, this is so me in my life. And then the next song will come on. I'm like, oh, this one is so me in my life. And it's, yeah, it was just one of those things where I could put it on and like sing every song on it, or it's just one I could have in the background if I needed to kind of get through something, I'd throw it on. So it was just kind of that album for me. It helped me out. I just want to say, let me go on the record.

Toronto Microscope and Record State, this is a fantastic band. I just want to go on the record. They're going out there and saying it. I know, and I want them to do something else. I know Dan Arbach had some new stuff out. It sounds kind of more like honky-tonk, for lack of a better phrase. But yeah, I really love this band.

This by far, though, is my favorite album of theirs. And I cannot listen to Gold on the Ceiling anymore. Yeah, that radio did kill. That happened to me. One of my favorite bands is Pearl Jam, and this came up just in the last kickoff. I think actually yeah gregory strong and yeah uh jeremy's the song so i actually was okay with the overplaying of alive and even flow and stuff but jeremy got so destroyed for me like i can't listen to j i haven't been able to listen to jeremy since like

a month after its release yeah it's just radio can kill. You know what's nice though is taking that break and then when you hear it again at that right moment, it's going to be like, you're going to remember all over again why you fell in love with it. And you're like,

oh yeah, that is a great song. It's not the song's fault that it was overplayed, you know. This is a good choice by you here. I like the vibe

of your jams. You got an eclectic mix going on here. Yeah. Lizzo, Black Keys, Bieber, Winehouse and it gets even more eclectic in the final four.

Okay. You have to take my word for this, okay? But I refuse to truncate a song so you're going to have to enjoy the... No quick hits here. You want to promote

something in the next 20 seconds uh obviously listen to my podcast right yeah when you're in there giving toronto mike five stars or whatever you do in itunes and leaving a review that it's the greatest thing since sliced bread do the same for uh yeah yeah please only in toronto Who did this go out to? Me? Me? Like the romper room. This is eclectic, listening to it back. Don Dada, fuck Papa, you gotta call me Francis M.H. White intake, light totes, tote iron. What's told in shootouts, stay low and keep firing. Keep extra clips for extra shit.

Who's next to flip on that cat with that grip on rack? The most shady, Frankie baby. Ain't no telling where I may be. May see me in D.C. at Howard Homecoming with my man Capone gumming fucking something. You should know my steelo went from 10 Gs for blow to 30 Gs a show to all Gs with O's. Outro Music Like a pedal kit, you're delicate. You better get who sent you. You're still pedal shit. I got more rides than Great Adventure. Biggie, how are you going to do it? Do it.

Kick in the door, wave in the 4-4. All you heard was Papa, don't hit me no more. Kick in the door, wave in the 4-4. It's just bouncy. All you heard was Papa, don't hit me no more. Kick in the door, wave in the 4-4. Great selection. All you heard was Papa, don't hit me no more.

I don't even, it's hard enough to kick out the jams, but how did you come up with which Biggie song? Okay, so I got to give credit to my boyfriend, Adam, who is always putting on the tunes. He's got a very interesting and eclectic kind of music taste as well. And this is just one that he'll put on, and I'm like, oh, can you play that Biggie song again? Kick in the Door, I love it.

There's just so many elements to it, too. You can kind of hear the little buzz of the record. You can hear like it's got all these like kind of bells and whistles. There's that one bell that goes off on my left, my left ear. Yeah. Yeah, there's kind of like fuzzy sounds, you know, and I just I love the idea that Biggie kind of

you get you got rappers kind of in my heyday in the late 90s and the 2000s where it was like all about the cars and the bitches and the Hennessy and all this stuff. And Biggie was kind of rapping in that generation of like just a day in the life kind of styles. Like he talked a big game, but really at the end of the day, he was just trying to get by and he was just trying to like make ends meet. He was just trying to stay alive. And it sounds awful coming from me. I shouldn't be talking about this stuff. But I kind of love where he comes from with his...

You can appreciate art from a different perspective. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I love this song and I just feel like it's one of those ones you're getting ready to go out on a Saturday night and it's just like having a drink at home before you head out and throw this on and I'm just in the mood. K home before you head out and like throw this on. And I'm,

I'm just in the mood. Kicking the door. Biggie Smalls. Like, I would love to be in the producer's studio and just like see how they're like, Oh, you know what I think I should add here is like this little fuzzy, like I can't do it,

but like, how did they, there's the little dings. I would love to be a fly on the wall while they were putting this song together. This is your second choice by an artist who died far too young after Amy Winehouse. I'm going and they were mine I'm 22 years of age, I ran across some bullshit

People promise you vote a jay, but don't forget they are pissed No hints, it's quick, it's like the water in grit They got another boy, who can rhyme and do the fight flip And that's I-I, I better get by here cause my ally I'm supposed to flip that crazy shit while I go look for some stock I need some dick size, dick size I need some dick size, dick size I need some dick size, dick size I need some dick size, dick size This is Soul Flower.

Yeah. Farside. Before you begin, I have to say there's a great Fushtikins influence, I feel, in this style. But please. There's a line in the song, caught him in the ass with a downstroke that I think is hilarious. I'll be quiet when it comes up.

But I saw these guys at Field Trip. Well, point at me when you want me to turn it up. I'm sure you'll hear it. No, not yet okay so uh i went to field trip and these guys were headlining and man they put on a good show and they're old like they're they're getting up there such a great time and it was like people of all ages enjoying the show i remember seeing these kids like on their dad's shoulders like one on each shoulder and they're just bopping to it uh you know every song that they sang was a banger here it is i feel like uh we had aarside jam kicked out super recently.

Was it Greg Mastrom? Somebody recently kicked out Farside. They've got so many great songs. Yeah, big fan of Farside. And have been before I saw them live. And then I saw them live and I was like, oh, wow, these guys deliver. Really fun, high energy dance party. Nicely done.

I love that you've got so much hip hop. We don't get enough hip hop. Too much Bruce Springsteen. Oh God, no, never. Sorry, Bruce. Although I do like Glory Days. Glory Days. Yeah, but it's ruined.

Even that, I'm like, no offense. That's the first Bruce Springsteen album i was exposed to born in the usa he's got a cute bum i'll take your word for it but yeah it was on the record i know of course it has a red bandana in the pocket yeah you know it i know it of course that's one of the great album covers of all time And of course that had the Dancing in the Dark, which had Courtney Cox in the video.

Oh yeah. That was a good album. It's ruined for me. Right. Do you remember, you're very young, but do you remember a hip-hop band called Doss Effect? No. Maybe I would if I heard a song. What was their big hit?

They Want Effects was probably their biggest hit. Booshikins were kind of a sillier version of DOS FX, but a similar kind of a rapping style. But, um... I digress. Yeah, that's kind of like my style. I like the upbeat, the poppy, the bouncy. Because it gets you dancing.

You like to dance. Yeah. I like to bop. Here's a throwback for you. Baby, baby, baby don't leave me Oh, please don't leave me All by myself I've got this burning, burning, yearning Feeling inside me

Oh, deep inside me And it hurts so bad Deep inside me. Ooh, deep inside me. And it hurts so bad. You came into my heart. So tell me. With a burning love. That stings like a bee. Now that I've surrendered.

The Supremes, Where Did Our Love Go? I love this generation of music. I think the last time I was on here with you, the last song I played was a Sam Cooke song. And I'm just a huge fan of this kind of Motown era and female voices and the kind of wall of sound that they create um no specter yeah like i just feel like yeah i just eat it up i love this type of music this is the kind of stuff i'll put on at home when i'm like making food or uh yeah it's just it makes me happy it makes my heart smile you can't go wrong with this and uh this is one of the Supreme's best songs.

And that's, man, what a group. And I know Diana Ross recorded her own version of this song. Like, there's a Diana Ross version of Where Did Our Love Go? But this is the bonafide Supreme.

Yeah, the Supreme. I like the Ronettes, you know, like Marvin Gaye, like that kind of era of music. And I think the next song, too, is a little bit from that as well. What's the jam in Goodfellas when they're going to the back of the restaurant

and they're... Well, this is one too. I'm like, I know I have to pick like a Motown type of song and going through like this, even just the Supremes library. I was like, oh, there's no wrong answer here and the production too like talk about listening into your headphones like you've got that whole kind of full sound

we need more Supremes on Kick Out the Jams. Thank you. It's all ending too quickly. I can't tell you how much I love kicking out the jams with someone. It's fun. When you send me the list, I get excited and I get the list and I'm like,

oh, and I don't always love every song. Everyone kicks out lots of times. I actually may be indifferent or maybe I don't even like the song, but I just love to hear it like from your perspective and then hear why you love the song. Like I can't tell you how enjoyable that is for me.

So I'm sad that we are now kicking out our final jam. I know. And I tried to sneak 11 songs on it too. Yeah. And you repeated a jam. So I get a list of 12. I should. Yeah,

that's true. Danny, I hope you do better production on the only Toronto because I got 12 songs and I realized, oh, there's only 11 unique songs here, but only 10 and you had to cut one, but you did not cut this one. So let's kick it. Dusty old recording. Yeah. I tell a joke or two Although I might be laughing loud and hearty

Deep inside I'm blue So take a good look at my face You'll see my smile looks out of place If you look closer it's easy to trace the tracks of my tears. I need you. I need you. Since you left me. Yeah, this one's in the same vein as The Supremes.

My mom listened to a lot of music growing up. She had a big record collection and she would make mixtapes and she would sing. And so this was one I remember listening to a lot as a kid. And it wasn't until I'd heard it more recently and realized I knew every single word. I knew every single like nuance of the song because I just listened to it ad nauseum as a kid. And so this is one of those songs that like I think it was maybe one of the first songs I remember listening to the lyrics and being like, oh, wow, music can be sad. Like music can be tragic and can also be beautiful. And I think this song has those

elements and for me it was just kind of like wow how can something be so beautiful be so sad and then it's just one of those songs i just i like to think i can sing but i i can't and it's one of those ones i just love belting when i'm alone yes smoky robinson and the Miracles. Tracks of my tears. So you had to go every little up and down, little word. I wish you had been singing the whole time. I wanted to, but I'm like, I can't do this. No, it makes it better. Sarah Boesveld sang along to some of her jams.

It's hard not to. And when I listened back, it improved the song. It gave it more soul, if you will. But Dani, thanks so much for coming back. Thanks for having me. It was fun. Updating us because you were in Peterborough, then you were back in Toronto, and now you've got this really cool...

Seriously, I now produce other people's podcasts as part of my own digital services company i can tell you that you have a good podcast on your hands there uh i'm i'm jealous this is the greatest compliment i could give you i'm jealous because that's a great gig you got a you know blog to is a great blog and you got a great podcast there so good on you yeah and they come out twice a week like it's it's a it's really like we're creating this huge body of work and it really is if if you love Toronto, if you love food, and if you don't hate my voice, like, I encourage you to give it a listen.

You have a great voice. No one hates that voice. I know that for a fact. And if you're interested not only in how the food tastes, but if you're interested to know if it's Instagram worthy, I noticed you will have fun with the Instagram stuff. So thank you, Danny. Maybe you can talk

to the Indie 88 people about coming on Toronto Mike's. Tell them it's not so scary in here. It's a good time. They can have free beer. Yeah.

They would love local craft beer, I would think. So they should come out. And that brings us to the end of our 375th show

you can follow me on Twitter I'm at Toronto Mike Danny is at Danny Gray yes G-R-E-Y G-R-A-Y really?

yes that's my second mistake here oh my goodness yeah don't follow that other Danny Gray that's an imposter she's a hack she's a hack

our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer Don't follow that other Danny Gray. That's an imposter. She's a hack. She's a hack. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Propertyinthe6.com is at Raptors Devotee. And PayTM is at PayTM Canada. See you all next week. It's been eight years of laughter and eight years of tears. And I don't know what the future can hold or do for me and you But I'm a much better man for having known you

Oh, you know that's true because Everything is coming up rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow Wants me today And your smile is fine And it's just