Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Geets Romo: Toronto Mike'd #470

Episode Date: May 28, 2019

Mike chats with David Haydu, better known as Geets Romo, about his career in radio, especially his years with Pete Griffin co-hosting the Pete N' Geets show on CHUM-FM and CFNY.

Okay, good day. I'm Bob McKenzie. This is my brother Doug. How's it going, eh? And don't forget to listen to Pete and Geet on TFNY. Yeah, I think they may be hosers. Yeah, me too. Toronto I'm in Toronto where you wanna get the city love I'm from Toronto where you wanna get the city love I'm a Toronto Mike, wanna get the city love My city love me back, for my city love

I'm in Toronto where you wanna get the city love Welcome to episode 470 of Toronto Miked A weekly podcast about anything and everything proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, property in the six.com Alma pasta, fast time, watch and jewelry repair camp. Turn a soul sticker.

You.com and our newest sponsor. Kappa DL LP CPAs. StickerU.com and our newest sponsor Capadia LLP CPAs I'm Mike from TorontoMike.com and joining me is David Haydu better known as Geats Romo from

Pete and Geats welcome David or may I call you Geats well everybody else does the only person that calls me David is my wife well then may I call you Geats? Well, everybody else does. The only person that calls me David is my wife. Well, then let me stick with Geats. But nice to meet you. This is amazing.

It's nice to meet you, too. I've heard a lot about you. Oh, good things? Or I need to know. They're all good things. And I listened to your interview with David Marsden. Oh, Dave Mickey. By the way, do you have any audio of Dave Mickey,

not Marsden as, you know, the Chum FM guy and CMY guy, but... I have a couple of things because I was his operator. When I first got into radio, I was his operator in Hamilton at CHIQ. And back then he recorded two singles. One was called Granny Kitch, the part-time witch.

And another one was Dear Mr. DJ. And I have those copies. Because when I had him on, I'm doing my homework. Before my time his of course his uh 10 50 chum days where he's dave mickey but i'm reading about like how popular dave mickey was and the turnouts for dave mickey and i was desperately searching for some i don't know some a sound check or something of dave mickey on 10 50 chum i couldn't find anything i probably have some stuff on reel-to-reel tape uh but the problem

is uh i don't have a reel-to-reel machine anymore and uh a friend of mine doug thompson does but oh doug is the uh he archives all the history of 10 50 chum that's right as i recall yeah he's my my one of my best friends okay okay because we had a run-in once on uh the soundy board the uh okay and i'm trying i can't for the life of me i'm trying to remember what i did that ticked him off but uh anyway he was upset or something but then we we made amends via email where he realized he overreacted and he actually listened he listened to uh the the episode I did of John Donabee. Okay. And then I guess he said, oh, I like what this guy's doing. Maybe I won't hate on this guy.

Well, John Donabee is one of the guys that I've known the longest in radio business. So we're going to get into that because you got the Donabee at Chum FM, but then he's at... Donabee at CKFH. Well, yeah, which is... The FH is Foster Hewitt, right? That's correct, yeah. And then, of course, when you go to Q, it's Donabee's, the guy who lures you to Q107.

Is this right? No, what lured me to Q107 was the fact that I got fired from Chum. Okay, so here. So everyone listen, we're going to step through this chronologically, of course, but we're going to start with your name. So I've always known, I have to admit, when Pete and Geetz goes off the air in 87, I'm

like 13 and I'm listening to Tom Rivers on CFTR. Okay. So first I should state that right up front. And the show I listened to in my formative years or whatever is actually Humble and Fred. Okay. Okay. Yeah. But through Fred, who's a friend, and I want to thank Fred right off the top for giving me your email address.

I told Fred, I want Geetz on the show. And he's like, write him. And then. Yeah. Well, Fred's a really good guy. Yeah, for sure. And Fred was the sports guy with Pete and Geetz. Absolutely.

Right, right, right. Yes. Freddie P on Student Sports. So we're going to step through this, but I didn't know Geetz Romo. I thought you just invented this name, but we're going to play something and then we're going to talk about it.

How to speak hip. How to speak hip. Absolutely. So here's a couple of minutes of the intro on how to speak hip. Hey, look, you know, like if you bought this record to on how to speak hip. Just relax, baby. Me and this other cab are going to straighten you out. This is a new departure in language instruction. For English-speaking people who want to talk to and be understood by jazz musicians, hipsters, beatniks, juvenile delinquents,

and the criminal fringe. What time is it? I've got to make a phone call. Shh. The twilight world of the American hipster is an important American subculture with a language all its own. To enable you to speak this language of hip exactly like the hipsters themselves, we've provided an actual hipster to teach you the correct pronunciation and delivery

of his language. Ladies and gentlemen, your instructor, Mr. Geetz Romo. Look, it's going to be a long session, man. Let's sit down for some pizza or something. Mr. Romo, would you speak into the microphone, please? I just want to say there's a wonderful thing, what you're doing, you know, so the public can pick up on what's happening. Like, you know, straighten everybody out and let them know where this whole other scene is, where it's at. So everybody will stop coming on all the time.

And then we'll get, you know, world peace. That was Del Close, who was the original Geetz Roman. I heard the name Del Close, Del Close's uh name of geats and i i thought it was what a great name for a non-air guy and so i started to use it well about four years after i was peeting geats uh del close comes to toronto and he phones me oh and-oh. And I figure, oh my God, I'm going to get sued. Right? Right. And Del said, he said, you know,

you've made more money out of that name than I ever have. So he didn't want his cut. No, he didn't. That's good news. He was a really good guy. Okay, so did you own this album, How to Speak Hip? No. Did you own this or you just heard it?

I heard it. Okay. You know, as a matter of fact, I think it was Doug Thompson that originally played it for me. And I said, what a great name. Geats Romo. Yeah. Now it's great. The album's great.

Like, so I only learned when I was doing my, you know, Geats homework, I realized, oh, you're named after this character, this Dale Close character in this How to Speak Hip album. And then I started listening. It's actually really great. I'll just play a bit more of another cut, and then we'll fade it down and move on. Mr. Romo, I must admit that I'm puzzled. You hipsters claim to be such relaxed, free spirits, yet your rules for social behavior are even more set, tight, and rigid

than those of square society. Yeah, well, D, it's simple. I'll spell it out for you. You know, a lot of the simple, everyday behavior is illegal. So there's always a lot of heat on the scene. And, you know, you've got to protect yourself. Now, if you break the rules of hip, you get put down, that's true.

But you break the square rules and they throw you in the slam, and that's a big difference. Anyway, there's only two basic rules in HIP. You protect yourself from the possibility of police intervention, which means you don't associate with uncool people and things. And you protect your state of mind. Now, that means you don't want anybody around who's going to bring you down, right?

We talked about that. You understand what I mean? You follow the hip commandment. Thou shalt not bug thy neighbor, which means be cool. That's all. Cool. Cool is a word that seems to change meaning

every time it's used. Yeah, it does. Cool it means stop it. Okay, this is great. You can find this on youtube but the uh what i liked is um it's still true like so this album i think it's 1959 yeah that's a long time ago and it's still true the word cool it's still a word we use in so many different ways like every day i use the word cool like that hasn hasn't changed. Yeah, that's true. Yes. Yeah. You know, by the way, you know what a geets is? No.

Geets was a slang term for a slug that you drop into the phone booth to make a phone call. Okay. And they were called geets. I had no idea. Yeah. That's fantastic. So I'm tweeting out that you're coming on the show. And I got a couple of friends who have been on this show

who worked with you, had a couple of things to say. So I want to say hello, first of all, to Andrew Stokely. He helped me back in the day when I was, it was a different board and different, lots of things were different, but he helped me when I started this like seven years ago. He helped me sound good. Because what do I know about sounding good? You know,

but I went to Andrew Stokely, a friend of mine. So Andrew says about you Geats, just tell him thanks for always answering a 17 year old's questions about radio and gear. He was always so nice to me at 83 Kennedy road South. Wow. That's from Andrew.

He must, yeah, you must, he must've been there when he was very young and you helped him out. And Robbie J., Rob Johnston. Yes. He says, say hi to Geetz for me.

Learned a tremendous amount from David during the years at 83 Kennedy and then won Dundas, one of the true gems in the business. Well, I've always been an engineer. When I started, well, basically as a, I started when I was 14 years old. And I started as a gopher, you know, and you know what that is, hey? Go for this, go for that. That is correct, yeah. And then I ended up operating and then I

started doing some engineering. When I was in school, I ended up going to Radio College Canada and became a second-class radio operator. I was going to get a job on a ship as a radio operator. Cool. So I've always been an engineer, and I still am to this day. Yes, and we're going to this day. Yes. And we're going to talk about how you balance that. Because it's fascinating because you're on air in many characters, including Geetz Romo.

And then you're also the guy, the engineer who's got to make it all sound right for stations. So we're going to talk about how you balance that. But Gene Valaitis from Jessica Jean. Wonderful guy. Yeah, he's a great guy. He was such a great guy that I broke my own rule. I like to do in-person interviews. I don't like to do the remotes, like the phoners or the Skypes or whatever.

But I wanted Jesse and Gene together on my show, and they weren't willing to travel to Toronto to make the appearance. So I actually did them via Skype, and it, you know, via Skype. Uh, and it was, it was great. But, uh, Gene Valaitis says, uh, one of my most respected pals. I love David. Talented, innovative, funny, ironic, and a whole bunch of other things that make me love David. So got a big fan in, uh, Gene. Oh yeah.

He was, he was always really terrific to me and we got along really well. Good to hear. Good to hear. All right. I want to get you to Chum FM and then pick up the Pete and Geet story from there. But first. That's where it started. That's where it begins. So let me give you some gifts right off the top. So, uh, there's a pasta, this is frozen lasagna from Palma Pasta. Okay. That's nice and cold. Yeah. I just took it out of the freezer. That's

frozen solid. Hopefully you'll be able to lift that to the car, but that's courtesy of Palma Pasta. It's a meat lasagna because you asked for meat. Yep. And I want everybody listening to know that if you want authentic Italian food, you've got to go to Palma Pasta. They're in Mississauga

and Oakville, so go to palmapasta.com to find out the exact locations. Palma Pasta. They're in Mississauga and Oakville. So go to palmapasta.com to find out the exact locations. Palma's Kitchen is their new location. It's fantastic. It's near Mavis and Burnham Thorpe. If you go to Skip the Dishes, you can now get them delivered

on Skip the Dishes. And if you're catering an event, of course, they'll do delivery for that. And you can order that and set that up at palmapasta.com. So enjoy your lasagna. I certainly will. There is a case of beer for you.

Yeah. So you've got Great Lakes Beer. They're a local craft brewery and they've been a proud sponsor for many years now of this show. So they're helping to fuel this, which is we get to talk to Geats and Pete and Geats, which I think is amazing. So you're taking that home with you. Okay.

Enjoy. I was actually there yesterday. Am I leaving now? Yes, that's it. Play out. Do you know how much time I spent putting clips together of Pete and Geats? Could you imagine? I guess I could do that without you.

Like I could say goodbye to you now and just play the clips. No, that's no fun. No way. Enjoy your beer. I certainly will. And remind everybody that June 27 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

TMLX3, that's the Toronto Mike listener experience, is taking place on the patio of Great Lakes Brewery. If it rains, we're going inside,

but hopefully it doesn't rain. That's an exciting event for me and I'm hoping all listeners and guests like yourself make an appearance, and lowest of the low will perform, which is amazing. So that is June 27th.

Get that in your calendars. Geats, there's some stickers in front of you, and this one's here, a temporary tattoo. This is, yeah, the Toronto Mike, the coveted Toronto Mike stickers from stickeru.com. So I gave you a sticker, you stickers, you can remember where to go.

If you want to get a, like one or many custom stickers made, not just stickers, I should say decals, magnets, buttons, temporary tattoos, anything you stick,

right? It's a fantastic. Like I said, you upload it to the website, sticker you.com order as many as you need. And they do great work. They're in Liberty village. So thank the website, stickeru.com, order as many as you need, and they do great work. They're in Liberty Village. So thank you, stickeru.com. There's an exciting contest coming soon from stickeru.com. So there's your gifts. Thank you. Enjoy. You're going to be well fed,

and you're going to have some beverages. Are you a Toronto Raptors fan at all? are you a Toronto Raptors fan at all? I've never really been a basketball fan because to me, basketball is a 30-minute sport or a 30-second sport. Oh, usually I hear the last two minutes. You know, and boy, you know, I have trouble trying to understand what is a penalty and what isn't

because, oh, I thought he was fouled. And so much judgment on the ref's judgment when it comes to fouls. Yeah, you definitely have to kind of watch a lot to kind of see. And then sometimes there's these missed calls you don't understand. And sometimes there's the phantom calls

that become the start. Oh, just driving to the net untouched, suddenly that draws a foul. So you're right, There's a lot there, but there's room on the bandwagon for you. If you want to, it's not too late. Yeah.

Well, I'm up and off the bandwagon a lot, especially with the blue Jays. So you're not on it right now. No. Oh boy. Are they bad? They're bad.

It's, it's all about watching the kids, I guess. So you got a couple of sons of a hall of famers and that's your, that's your draw, I guess, watching that. That's right, yeah, because it's going to be at least five years before they become a contender again.

Yeah, it's too bad. 2015 and 2016 were a lot of fun, though, for sure. So, okay, we're talking raps. That gives me an opportunity to talk about Brian. Propertyinthe6.com to talk about Brian. Brian Gerstein, I always mention him with the raps because he's a Raptors devotee on Twitter. And he is a real estate sales representative with PSR Brokerage. If you're looking to buy and or sell in the next six months, you really need to give Brian a call. Meet him for a coffee. You can talk wraps

or you can talk about the condos that PSR are exclusively selling, not just the Galleria Mall, but yes, the Galleria Mall development. So Brian's at 416-873-0292. And you can find Brian, who's also a great honest guy, you can find him at property in the six

dot com i'm gonna take you in the time machine for a moment david and then uh david see david's your name i feel i should call you david but i want to call you geats but you've given me permission so i'm switching it now from now on it's geats i'm gonna call you geats but you've given me permission so i'm switching it now from now on it's geats i'm gonna call you geats but i'm going to put you in the time machine and we're going to go back 40 years ago so oh my god this is a long way back 40 years ago this week and this is not a pete and geats clip that's coming but this is what was number one on the billboard hot 100 40 years ago this week. Rasputin? No, good guess though. You'll get it in a second here.

Sitting here eating my heart out Waiting, waiting for some lover to come Dialed about a thousand numbers lately Almost rang the phone off the wall There it is. Donna Summer. Yeah. You're not a, what kind of music do you listen to? Like, what did you listen to? What do you listen to?

What genre? Well, when we started at CFNY, I got really into the CFNY music. Before that, like, you know, as I say, when I started when I was 14, I was into the 60s. And I knew a lot about the 60s music and the 70s. Then, you know, at Chum FM when I was doing a swing as Phil In. Great name, by the way. Yeah, yeah. People would phone me and say, Phil In, is that your real name?

And I said, yeah, yeah. Well, what's your dad's name? I said, Ramada. And they say, I said, I'm just doing this as a hobby, you know? So no disco in your... No, not really. Not really, no.

Donna Summer's an artist where I only associate her with one little brief era, and the disco craze of the mid to late 70s, and that's it. I can't imagine Donna outside of that genre. Yeah, that's like when the Bee Gees changed. Right. of that genre. Yeah, that's like when the Bee Gees changed. Right.

Because the Bee Gees were really a chum FM entertainment group. And then they went into the disco era. Right. The Saturday Night Fever and all that. For sure, for sure. So why am I going back in time to listen to a disco song from 40 years ago? That's because of Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair.

They've been doing quality watch and jewelry repairs for over 30 years, closer to 40 years ago. That's because of Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair. They've been doing quality watch and jewelry repairs for over 30 years, closer to 40 years. And if you mention that you heard about them on Toronto Mike, you get 15% off any regular price watch battery installation. Go to FastTimeWatchRepair.com for a location

closest to you. Goodbye, Donna. And there she goes. And there she goes all right geats get me get me to chum fm 104.5 okay uh i was hired uh at chum by larry solway and uh larry hired me because i i just had left um ckfh i was uh as a matter of fact i was the operator that operated the hockey game when the leafs won the stanley cup this in 67 wow okay that that's uh that tells us that the reason we haven't won since is you stopped doing that. That's right. Yeah. Uh, and, and so, um, when I, when I got, uh, fired from CKFH in radio, you get fired from almost every job. Um, when I got canned from there, uh, I applied at a chum and Larry Solway hired me because I knew how to sail.

And he needed a crew for his boat, so he hired me. Oh, sail, S-A-I-L. When I first heard you say that sentence, I'm thinking you were going to be a salesman. S-A-L-E. No, S-A-I-L. So I ended up operating for Jungle J. Nelson. And the first day operating for him, people told me, you know, when I first was at Chum, oh, he's a hard guy to work for, you know, he's going to scream and holler at you

and he'll throw his headphones on the table and all that. So it's the very first morning. And I made a mistake. And Nelson takes his headphones off and slams them down on the table, and he pushes the talkback button, and he starts screaming at me. So I push my talkback button, and I said two words with an F and an O. And he said, what did you say to me? You can say it on this show, by the way.

I said, fuck off. He said, nobody talks to me like that. I said, fine. I put my coat on. He says, where the hell are you going? I said, I'm going home. I don't need this shit from you. And he says, well, I don't know how to operate.

I said, well, you better learn because you got two minutes left on this record and that's when we were just playing records of course right so after after that uh two minutes we we got to be the best of friends as a matter of fact he ended up becoming um he was the master of ceremony at barb and my wedding you know we were very very close. So you stood up for yourself and he respected that. That's what it takes sometimes. Yeah, I guess so. So, okay.

So we all know, okay, so Pete Griffin, your longtime cohort, if you will, on the Pete and Geet show, he was at, he was at Chum FM. And so he would bring, he would bring you on as fill in. So that's the, is that? No. Okay. No.

Uh, what happened with the fill in was, uh, I, I set this all away. I said, geez, I'd really like to do an air shift. And so he went to Gary Farrier who was running Chum FM and said put dave on the air you know so i started doing the all night show when pritchard was off like i do weekends and uh so farrier says oh you better give yourself a name and i didn't want to be called dave hado or on the air or anything like that so i said fill in you know because i'm filling in right yeah and in of. And in, of course, obviously it's I-N-N, so it's fill in. Yeah. It makes sense.

So then one morning, Griffin was having a problem on the air with a turntable. And he was complaining about it on the air. And I heard it, and I was working also in the engineering department of CHUM, because I was always an engineer. Right. So I go walking in to the control room with the microphone wide open,

and I said, I went into one of my characters, Beans Rontosh, it was a Hungarian accent. Right. I went in, I said, well, what Rontosh, who has a Hungarian accent. Right. I went in, I said, well, what is the problem here? Have we got the problem? And he looks at me, because I had really long hair then,

and he looks at me and goes, this guy is kind of strange. And he says, I hear from the engineering department to help you make for good. I said, oh, okay. He says, well, turntable keeps getting stuck. I oh well the problem is here is your needle is not sharp and at the time i was working on a piece of metal in the engineering shop and i

had a file in my hand so i took the pot the potenti, and pushed it up for where the turntable was, and I took the file and I filed the needle. So the noise was just absolute incredible on the air. And then I put the record back on, and there's no needle left anymore, of course, and I'm going, very good, good know and i leave and like i come come back in later you know a couple minutes later after he had another record running and i put in a new needle and i left and then a couple of minutes after that bob lane who was running

chum fm walks into engineering and says, all right, who did it? And I said, ah, that was me. He said, great. I want you in there every morning. Wow. And that's how it started. But did they want you to be Beans Rontash? Or is it just...

Just to do whatever I do. Because, you know, I was known for doing a lot of jokes around the station all the time and so that's how it started and I owe my career to Bob Lane to Duff Roman and David Marsden amazing amazing so speaking of David Marsden he'll come up later because eventually we get you to CFNY so we're definitely there's lots of Marsden coming up. But specifically, tell me how you owe your career to David Marsden at Chum FM. Well, because of the fact that,

well, one day we're walking down the hall, I'm walking down the hall, and David's walking down the hall, and we bump into each other, and he points at me, I know you. And I said, and I know you. we bump into each other and he points at me,

I know you. And I said, and I know you. And so, but for us to go to CFNY, it was, I believe, oh gosh, 1980, I think. Yeah, well, okay. I have it somewhere, but I'm going to try to keep this chronological and get you back there but yeah okay it is 1980 no no pete griffin comes to cfny in 1980 so marzen brings griffin but you don't apparently know until 82 no no no no no we come together you come together okay so

okay we're gonna get to that so we got you at Chum FM. These characters, I want to know, is it always improv? Are they ever scripted? Never scripted. See, Pete would ask me a question and he wouldn't know any way which way I would be going. He would have an idea of what he wanted to talk about and I would be completely opposite. And so nothing was scripted, and nobody could understand that. There was a couple of times that we did a couple of reunions, and one of them was on Chum FM, and the general manager of the radio station,

we were filling in for Humble and Fred. Oh, that's at CFNY. Yeah, at CFNY. And we were filling in for them for a week. 97, I remember this. And so the general manager of the station, Hal Blackadar, said, well, Geetso, since you're the engineer,

I'll give you the day off so that you can write your scripts and all that. And I said, scripts? What scripts? They couldn't understand that. Right. I mean, I listened to a lot of you guys over the last few days,

and it's so, it's unbelievable that it's all improv. Like, it's all hilarious. And so Pete doesn't know which character you're going to be? No. He doesn't know which character? Because there's so many characters.

I'm going to play, let's play a little bit of a character called Mac Tavish. Arr, arr, arr, arr, arr. Exactly. So here's a little bit of that and again all my clips i should point out all my clips i think are from cfny i had a very difficult time finding uh chum fm clips of you guys but i probably talked to the wrong people but uh let's play you should have

talked to a guy by the name of andy palindore okay andy by the way has a youtube channel with some great clips but even those i found were all from CFNY. You're right, I should have reached out directly to the gentleman. Okay, let's hear this clip. Ah, here he comes, hairy legs and old McTavish McRomo. Everybody else came back from California on time, and here's McTavish, he's two or three days late. I'm just back right now.

How do you explain that, McTavish? I came posted. Oh, you mailed yourself back. That's right. You know, I only got 13 cents in the United States of America there to mail a postcard, so I dressed up myself as a postcard and came posted. Well, now, how do you... Excuse me there.

How do you explain... Ban with your buzz off. Come on, boys. Cool it. Put the pipes down there. You explain. Burn with your buzz off. Come on, boys. Cool it. Put the pipes down there. I notice they've got antifreeze in the bags again. That's right. They're warm.

Well, it must be kind of expensive going down one way. You've got to pay 32 cents. That's right. It was really expensive, you know. Did you get a refund? I did not get a refund. It was 32 cents to go, but it was only 13 cents coming back. Did you have a good time?

I had a great time. I understand some of the Disney representatives came up to you and wanted to use you as a ride. It's right there, you know. You know, the wind was blowing there, Peter, and people were hanging their coat on certain parts of my body. Man. Oh, God. Now, I got many more of those coming, by the way, but I'm dying to know, when you listen to that,

like, first of all, how long has it been since you listened to Pete and Geet's clip? For all I know, you do it every day. What do I know? No, a long, long time. Long time ago. How does it feel? Like, tell me.

People remember us for better than we were that's how i always look at it you know because they only remember the greatest hits right they don't remember the stuff that didn't work yeah that's that's life man that is you know yeah i was like oh remember that great vacation you're just remembering that you're on that beautiful sunny day you're on the beach or whatever but you forget like the five days where you just got black fly bites and it was raining or whatever. Now, the Disney world comes up a lot when I open up questions.

Like I have a gentleman, I think it's a gentleman named TH who says, ask Geetz about his hidden Mickey mouses. Does that mean anything to you? Yeah, well, I'm a big Mickey mouse collector. As a matter of fact, I have a Mickey Mickey Mouse collector. As a matter of fact, I have a Mickey Mouse watch here. And, see.

Oh, yes. I know if this ever needs a new battery, I know a place. Yes, I know. Okay. So in Disney World, comes people like asking, so. I did some work for the Disney Corporation. I did the audio for the the disney corporation um i did uh the audio for the rescuers down under i remember the rescuers down under and uh john candy uh who

is a good friend of mine uh i had built him a studio in los angeles and uh he was asked by Michael Eisner to play the part of the albatross in that animated movie. And Candy said, well, I'd really like to, but, you know, I'm pretty busy in our own studio. And I'd have trouble trying to get over to Anaheim to do the audio. Well, Anaheim was 10 minutes away from Candy Studio. So John said to them, I do have my own studio if you want to come here to record. So Disney decided to send a group of uh their engineers and artists over to candy studio to have a look at it and uh one of the guys was uh doc kane who uh was the

head of audio for disney and uh there was an artist and and then there was another sound engineer, and they used to call them ears. Everybody had nicknames at Disney. And so I'm there, and I said, okay, this is the board. Here, sit down here. And the doc says to me, he says, oh, you're going to let me operate? I said, of course. Why not? He said, well, nobody else ever lets somebody else touch their equipment.

Then I said, hey, what are you going to do? You know? So he was running the board, and Candy was in recording a few sample voices in that. And Doc turned around to Ears and said, Ears, what do you think? And Ears said, best sounding studio I've ever heard. Wow. Wow. And, you know, this was you think? And ears said, best sounding studio I've ever heard. Wow.

Wow. And, you know, this was still in analog days. Right. So they decided that they're going to use John and they're going to use the studio. And so they said, well, okay, we want Geetzats or david geats as the engineer and uh candy said oh there's a problem because he only comes down on the weekends because he's got a full-time job so i i decided uh they said okay we'll book the studio on the weekends so that's how they did it you know and then i i um was talking to doc kane while we're recording and all that uh during the next few months and uh i said you know i i'd really

like to work at disney and he said well you know there's no jobs here right now and i said oh okay so uh i'm sitting in candy's office with him and we're just shooting the shit. And the phone rings and it's Michael Eisner. And Eisner says to John, I'm sending over a little gift for you, for the kids. And thank you for recording the rescuers. And Candy says, yeah, that's great. By the way, I've got a buddy of mine looking for work. And his name is David Hayden.

And he did the engineering for rescuers. So I get back to my hotel room that night. And the little red light is flashing. And I pick it up. And it's Doc Kane, and he says, Keats, I've been told to hire you. You've got friends in high places. So you're going to have to go for an interview at HR.

Can you come tomorrow? And so I go, yeah, sure. So I go over to Anaheim for the interview, and I'm sitting there with the HR person. And, uh, she says to me, says, well, Mr. Haydu, why do you want to work for the Walt Disney company? And I said, well, I've been in radio for, since I was 14 years old. I said, I'm, i think i was around 50 at the time i said i'm 50 years old now and in that time i've worked for a lot of mickey mouse companies i want to work with a real one now so they were going to hire me right on the spot but i uh didn't take the job because of uh family problems that we were having.

And so I never did go there full time. But that's amazing that John, the legendary John Candy and you became so tight and he did that for you. Well, he was really, really tight with Doug Thompson because Doug Thompson had a program called Radio Candy. Doug Thompson had a program called Radio Candy. And Radio Candy was on 650 radio stations in the United States. And it was a four-hour program, and Doug wrote and produced it. And Candy was saying,

boy, you know, it's costing us a fortune to keep renting all these different studios. So, uh, Doug said, we should build our own studio. And John said, Hey, that's a great idea. And he said, um, well, we'll get, we'll get ours built. And Doug said, no, the only person to build it is Geats. Nice.

And Candy said, I didn't know Geats built studios. And he said, oh yeah know geats built studios and he said oh yeah so i built the studio and then um he would have all these people in you know from second city rick moranis for one who worked at chum right yes yeah he did the afternoon drive and uh it was funny one day um i'm in the control room in in candy studio and I'm just finishing up a few things. And John Candy comes walking into the studio with Rick Moranis and Rick Moranis looks down at the floor and says, oh my God, it's Geetz.

And I look up, holy shit, Rick. Well, I think I got to get Doug in here, Doug Thompson. Now I feel like I got to get him in here, Doug Thompson. Now I feel like we got, I got to get him on the show. Oh, he's a, he's a amazing person. And I just remember the guy, I just remember the reason Doug was pissed at me on that board. And it has to do with another morning show. I won't name his name, but another morning show guy at 102.1. So I'll tell you later, it's another one well after you uh that that was the issue but we'll talk about that one later so that's amazing about john candy and we talked so mctavish we heard a little mctavish and big red right now i am big red that's right and he's this is a like red fisher

right this is yeah yeah it was a takeoff on Red Fisher because with Red Fisher, every time you'd go into the lodge, there'd be the big moose hanging there. Well, you know, I had a lodge too, Big Red Rommel's Lodge, and I had the ass of the moose up there because the hunters took the head all the time. I have a question from a James. He wants to know, how is Uganda geats?

Oh, that was a very, very good one, but I can do that no more. Oh, no, you're not allowed. Not allowed. I was going to say, are you allowed to do that anymore? No. That was my next question. You know, all the characters, even McTavish and Beans Rontosh, even though I

am Hungarian, Beans Rontosh is a Hungarian soup. Because you're of Hungarian descent, I think you have license to do that. I don't think so. You know, somebody will be complaining about it. I'd give you a pass on that one.

Well, there's another Hungarian soup called Bob Lebesh, right? And when I was hired at Evanoff Radio, I knew that one of the guys was Hungarian. And before they could even say my name, Geetz, I stick my hand out to him. I said, hi, I'm Bob Levesh.

And he looks at me, that's bean soup. Oh man, that's great. Do you have a favorite character? Not really, no. You love them all equally, like your children. Okay. Do you mind spending a couple of minutes just telling me uh what kind of guy john donabee was to work with

at chum fm oh he was fantastic well i see i worked with john donabee when i first started with him was at ckfh he was doing the show the whole bag uh which was a brokered program of rock music and that and new music and that's where we we first started he's got great audio because he was telling me about how like the chamber brothers would record there he'd have like reels and reels of this stuff yeah yeah yeah he has great great stuff have you ever interviewed him yes he was uh fantastic Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's really a terrific guy. I've known him, God, since the early 60s. Wow. So we've talked John Donabee and David Marsden, both of whom will come up again in this story.

But let me see. Is it fair to say that Pete and Gates and Chum FM were the first morning team in Canadian radio? Not the first, I don't think. morning team in canadian radio uh not the first i don't think uh we we've kind of fashioned ourselves after bob and ray which were a couple of american comedians that were doing okay but they were doing in the states but you're number one in canada probably um probably yeah we might have been i you know i'm not 100 sure of that but uh after us then there was millions of right you know two man three men 12 man shows that's right that's right you know what's a really good thing tell me

was uh when i was on the airs fill in and all that yeah back in the days when there were still LPs, we used to get free records. Okay. Well, I would get free records from all of the record companies for Gates Romo, Fill In, Warren Down, Beans Rontosh. Oh, wow.

Like, I'd get like 12 copies. That's hilarious. So you mentioned Warren Down. I want to give credit to the right guy, though. Oh, yeah. So Dale Cadot, he's actually in Vancouver. He says this episode will be a classic, so hopefully we beat his expectations here.

But he says maybe worn down can give us a traffic update. So I, again, this is from CFNY, but this is some worn down. Blue Peter from CFNY 102 and Falling. And back there, Enjoy Yourself from the Specials. Let's look at traffic. Here's worn down. He's from CFNY 102 and falling and back there. Enjoy yourself from the specials. Let's look at traffic. Here's Warren down. He's doing the looking. Yeah, I'm doing the looking and I'm doing the talking. Now, one of the vehicles off to the side of the road now on the 401 westbound approaching Bayview. That's in the collectors. All lanes are open though. People are just exchanging lunches there, Petey. Metro police are taking care of an accident in the east end at Kingston Road and Paysack.

And that's traffic, Pete. TTC and Go Transit are rolling along fine. Rolling, rolling, rolling. Raw mule, no, raw mule hide. Raw hide. Raw hide. At the airport, C.P. Air says all its flights are on time. A couple of changes from Air Canada, though.

Flight 771 from New York at 825 has been canceled, and flight 605 from St. John's is arriving 40 minutes late at 920. You know, we got a call from some stewardesses that work at Air Canada, and they're going to send us over some of those Eagle brand peanuts that American Airlines have. Oh, that's what you think. Watch it. The peanuts will get lost. It's 721 think. Watch it. The penis will get lost. It's 721. Steel 6, experience it.

I got to say, man, I could listen to those old clips because it's just amazing to go back and hear how things were. You guys are having way too much fun. Yeah, we had fun. It was fun. And that's why I stayed with radio. To me, I never had a job. You know, it was just a fun thing. But even the engineering part, right?

Because you have that balance and we'll talk about it throughout, but you're an on-air guy. And that's how most people know you, Geetz Romo, on-air guy. But then there's David Haydu, the engineer. But I don't drive a train. That's right. That's right. As a kid, I remember that confusing me. Like i'm gonna be an engineer and yeah we're gonna be in the caboose right yeah

that's right well the thing is with an engineer and the fact that i was on the air uh when i designed studios and i've done quite a few of them i designed it as an on-air person where an engineer would say for a remote control, well, I should put it over here on the wall because it's easy. Right. Well, no, no, no. I need it right in front of me. Right.

You know, well, why do you want that? Because I need it in front of me to work properly. That's a good point. You can put yourself in their shoes because you've been there, done that, bought the t-shirts. That's right. in their shoes because you've been there, done that, bought the t-shirts. That's right.

You know, when I'd build a studio or whatever, I would go into a general meeting with all the announcers and I'd say, okay, write down what you want before I build. Your wishlist of sorts. And out of the 15 people, I'd get maybe three. You know, so when any of the other 12 would say, oh, why'd you do that? Why didn't you send me something?

Right. You know, so screw you. No, that's a great, great idea there. That's fantastic. So you're, okay, so to set the record straight in your Chum FM tour of duty here, you guys go through 1978. So you guys are the first morning team in Canada

and the ratings are pretty tops, right? The ratings are excellent for Pete and Gates on Chum FM. Yeah. Why do you leave Chum FM in 1978? Was it 78 or 77? I thought it was 77. Oh, well, you would know better than me.

Well, not really. Okay, well, then I have my notes say 78. I thought it was 77. Okay. I got fired from Chum FM. And he denies it to this day, but it was Warren Cosford that fired me. And the reason I got fired is because I did get my severance,

and I had a contract, so they had to pay me for the six months for the severance. And the day I got fired, two days later, had a job at q107 wow okay so what's so what's that reason because if pete and gates are so successful uh on chum fm doing morning show uh what is the what is the reason that you're let go like uh just like a money thing uh not really it just things weren't working out okay okay i'll just put it that way okay that's fine okay so you're a free agent so to speak and then uh is it is it fair to say that uh donabee is a big reason why you end up at q107 um well it's a good thing that i

did end up at q107 and i also ended up working with Donabee. But, uh, the reason I got there was, uh, I was still doing the Fairview electronics commercials. Right. And at 1030 at Albion road in Toronto's West end, I still remember that line, but, uh, and they're no longer there. And I, I think it's a pot shop now, but, um, I went down to Q107 at Bloor Street. Dave Charles was running the radio station at the time. He was the PD. And I met with him. And he said, there's no room for you here, Geetz.

And I said, oh, OK. And I dropped off my commercials. And I'm standing in the lobby waiting for the elevator. I dropped off my commercials and I'm standing in the lobby waiting for the elevator and Alan Slate, the owner of Q107 at the time, comes out into the lobby and he sees me. He said, hey Geetz, why aren't you working here? And I said, because there are no jobs. Who told you that? I said, Dave Charles. Oh, okay. Where are you going to be at four o'clock this afternoon? I said, where do you want me to be? He said, I want you to be at home. So I was at home and at 4.05, I got a phone call from Dave Charles and said, come down here. We got to talk. You're hired.

Wow. See, friends in high places are working out for you, Geats. Yeah, they did. Yeah. That's, by the way, you mentioned Fairview Electronics. So this is fun. So let's listen to this. Okay, Geats, hold up that map of the city of Toronto. Okay. Now point to the big X on the map. That's where we are now.

See the two little guys talking into the microphones? Yeah, I can see them right there. That's you and I. Now, with the pointer, show how you get to Fairview Electronics, 1038 Albany Road. Well, you go along the 401 here, right? Then you get to Islington Avenue. Right. Then you go north on Islington Avenue all the way up to here.

Right. Which is Albion Road. Right. Now, right in beside Fairview Electronics, you can see a whole pile of other stereo dealers. But go in, check those dealers out out then go into fairview electronics and make your deal because that's where you're going to get the best service the best equipment and the best people and they're going to show you how to put a system together the proper way point to one of those bargains quickly right over here we've got a complete system featuring avant 4ax

speakers the sdx 5000 pioneer receiver a cs60el Turntable, and an RSM240X Cassette Machine by T-Yak or, shit, Techniques. I didn't see that. Let me check my map here. For $17.99. $17.99. Why don't we get that one on tape? That's classic.

Oh, God, yeah. You know, because all of our commercials I had lived as well. Nothing was scripted. Because I'm rhyming off all this equipment, and I just made a mistake. Ah, shit. Did you get wrist slap or anything for that? No, absolutely not. Okay, good, good.

I'm glad to hear it. That's classic. Okay. Now, so we've got you at QN07, and this is a good time. So we're about to do the CFNY portion of the podcast. So first, we're going to take a quick little break here because I want to tell you and everybody listening about rock star accountant Rupesh Kapadia

and his team at Kapadia LLP CPAs. They're CPAs, so they get the numbers right, but these people see beyond the numbers. Anyone listening who would like a complimentary 15-minute consultation with Rupesh Kapadia, honestly, if you're thinking of doing anything that you need, like a CPA's advice on for best practices or any advice at all, and you want to run something by him, take advantage of this. Write me an email. I'll hook you up with Rupesh. This guy is not your father's accountant. And let's hear from

him. This is Rupesh Kapadia. Hey, hey, hey, this is Rupesh here. And did you know that you only work for yourself and not for the government right after June? And it's called the Tax Freedom Day. So the Tax Freedom Day was June 10th on 2018. And we don't know when is it going to be in 2019. But let's hold on and just wait and pay all our money earned so far to the government and wait for some time in June to get a Tax Freedom Day for 2019.

Thank you. Well, that would be very good because I should be talking to him. You really should. And I dare you to do it in that accent. He probably hit me. Actually, he's a cool cat. He would definitely not hit you. He's a cool cat. So thank you. On the web, they are capadillp.com. Go to torontomic.com. I have the logo there. You can click right through. And, oh, this is one more opportunity before May ends. If you want your children in French camps, the biggest French camps in the GTA are Camp Tournesol French camps. They've been doing it since 2001. they've got 15 campuses across the GTA

go to campt.ca and find out what day camps and overnight programs they have and when you do register your child for a French camp at Camp Ternasol and you really should do it now because it's May, it's like almost June you need to get your child registered

use the promo code Mike 2019 that saves you some money and it lets Camp Ternasol know You need to get your child registered. Use the promo code Mike2019. That saves you some money, and it lets Camp Ternusle know you learned about them from listening to Geetz Romo on Toronto Mic'd. Geetz, get me to CFNY here. Why do you leave Q for CFNY? Okay, that was a bit of a

strange one. It was, I believe, Humber College was having their commencement exercises for the broadcasting. And they invited David Marsden from CFNYny pete griffin from chum fm and myself from q107 to speak

to the students right so the three of us are there and we did the little speech and then afterwards after that um marsden said hey you guys want a coffee so we went down to have a cup of coffee and marston said uh would you guys ever work together and we said oh yeah sure but uh it ain't gonna happen at q and uh i said i'm not going back to Chum. And Marston said, no, I got something else. You come to see if and why. So, you know, we said, yeah, yeah, we'll consider it. So then, you know, it took a few months of talking privately and that. And then one meeting, the final meeting to decide, we were going to have dinner at the hotel,

which is right at the foot of Yonge Street. I forget the name of that. That's the Sheraton? It could be the Sheraton. It was a different name back then, but there was a really great restaurant there. And so we're going to meet the three of us so off we go and little to our knowledge at the same time that we're going to

be meeting there the cab canadian association of broadcasters was having their big luncheon or big dinner there and like we're trying to keep this really quiet. Right. That we're even meeting. Right. So every broadcast owner in the country is there. So we ended up having. You picked the worst place.

Oh yeah. Life of Geetromo. So we ended up having a dinner in the hotel room of Pat Hurley at CFNY and that's when we ironed it all out. Wow. That's amazing. So David Myers already brought Griffin, Pete Griffin to CFNY.

So he was already there. No, he wasn't there yet. So, okay. Yeah. That's the detail that I have completely wrong here. Yes. I was led to believe that he was already there and then you were kind of brought in.

So very interesting. Okay. So is it, did Marsden, I've had a lot of conversations with people like Alan Cross or Fred Patterson or Ivor Hamilton. And we discuss, you know, Marsden's style and it was essentially, you were free range, right? Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Completely free range. Uh, Marsden would say to us, uh, Hey, you guys,

uh, do you want to pick your own music? And I said, no. He said, well, why not? I said, well, we picked the music. Then you're going to be having music meetings with us and say, why'd you play that song at that time? I said, I don't give a shit about the music. Right. I said, we'll play whatever you want. I said, it's boss radio. You play what the boss says. That's right. But there definitely was freedom. I know that there was a sticker system or something, like you had to have a certain number of these colored stickers or there's some system, Scott Turner explained explained to me with the records like you had to you had pretty much uh free range over what you played as long

as there was a certain number of cuts from this color-coded yeah because because of the canadian content rules and and all of that kind of stuff but that whole sticker system really started at Chum FM. And it was Bob Lane that put it together. And Bob Lane had a box of 45s, right? And he called them significant singles. Now, each shift was about four hours long. And in that time period of significant singles of your shift you had to play one i never ever played one i never played any wow so bob lane would say geats you didn't play your significant single oh i forgot times have changed, man. Oh, yeah.

And now it's all completely programmed. I don't think there's anyone on, at least in any, I'm not counting like a CIUT show or something. I'm thinking of like the mainstream stations. I don't think there's anyone with a shift, I don't think. It's funny, we just lost Dave Bookman. Yes. He was a really nice man.

Tell me a little, I mean, so for listeners uh on thursday mark wiseblot from 1236 comes in every month that we do uh like a two and a half hour recap of the month and like canadian media or toronto centric stuff and we're gonna off the top we're gonna do a bookie tribute on thursday but uh geats tell me about what you the man dave dave bookman that you knew he he was uh he he loved music you know and he loved all the new groups and especially the canadian groups and uh you know at the time when when i was there still at uh jump or at cfny uh he had complete freedom to do whatever he wanted to do. And that was really good because that doesn't happen anymore. You know, absolutely not.

Everything is, you know what? They hardly have any jocks on the air. It's all voice tracked, you know? True. And where there's a guy in Toronto, he's probably voice tracking for Montreal and for Halifax. And, you know,

like it's, the business has really gone down, down the hill. Now. Yes. Okay. There's less. So there's less opportunity for somebody to get on air now because of the

voice track and everything. But also, uh, is it fair to say they've kind of, uh, taken that creativity out of it? Yes. You don't have free reign.

You guys were just spitballing and improvising, and it worked because it was authentic, organic, and fresh where you couldn't do that today. I brought up Bookie because he had a little more control than your average. Even Indy 88, before he passed, he'd he'd do like a weekend morning show or whatever he had a lot of control over a lot of the tracks which is really uh unique yeah he could well he could still pick from what was there what was available to him because with computer now with what's on the music of the computer you might not have the track that you want right you

can't just bring your uh records from home yeah hey very rare that you even find a cd player anymore in a radio station oh man that's that's so true so yeah we lost a good one in bookie he did love the music and we'll talk more about that on thursday for sure. So you did lots of skits. I'm going to play another. This is a little longer. I think it's, I just like these old clips. I'm going to play a little. It's going to be a few minutes of you guys

just to give everybody a real sense of what you sounded like on CFNY with Pete Griffin. Talking Heads from CFNY 102. Good morning, Gates. Good morning, Gates. Good morning, Pete. How are you today? Not too bad. Busy.

Can't really stop to tell you how I am because we've got so much stuff to give away. It's unbelievable. We'll be giving away the 250 Elite Honda Motor Scooter a little later this morning. Yep, yep, yep. A weekend with Kathleen Turner. That's another story. That's right. We can explain that right now.

Clue number one for the Nissan. Yes, the Nissan. That's the 4x4 that we'll be giving away. We want to remind you about the first annual Upper Canada Waiters Race on Ice. But there's no time to talk about that now. That's right. Because we have to move along. We have more information concerning...

Information package coming at the bottom of the hour. Let's see. Let me tell you this. You're beautiful, don't ever change, and we must have lunch real soon. One of North America's two great radio stations, CFNY. You know, Deeds, earlier this week when we were at Eaton's, a lot of people came up to us and asked us about that particular station identification. You say one of two great radio stations in North America.

Yes. And they asked us, what does it mean? Well, we really didn't have an answer at that time, and we decided to reactivate an old Pete and Gates feature called Disc Jockeys Around the World. We thought by calling at random some of the other radio stations that are active on this old Dust Bowl, we might find out what the other great radio station is.

So we're placing a call right now, and I believe this is going to be an overseas call. Hello? Radio 1? Hi, it's Pete and Geach from Toronto, Canada. Can you hang on? Yes. 22 minutes after 1 in the afternoon, this is John Rhind, Radio 1 BBC,

one of the world's two great radio stations. You two, with or without you, from their spectacular hot new album, it's Move Over, Sgt. Pepper, Move Over, Disco Duck, Move Over, Gino Vanelli. This is Vinyl to Remember, a disco file under Incredible.

John Rhind, Radio 1 BBC Home Service, 21 minutes past one o'clock. Remember, tonight at 10, it's the Hello Show with Lee Carter, our friend from Canada. Tonight, Lee chats with Bono. Unfortunately, due to a bit of a cock-up with Island Records, it will not be Bono from U2, but rather Sonny Bono. He has an incredible new album that will jump right out of the box and onto the lorry. And Lee will chat later with Morrissey from those scrumptious smiths discussing how to insult waiters and meat eaters in steam baths.

I'll return right after this. Hello, John. Oh, John. Hi, John. John Rind, is it? John Rind, yes. BBC One, can I help you? Yes, Pete and Geet from Toronto, Canada.

We have a station identification on the air that says CFNY, one of two great radio stations, and I know that you have a similar station ID there. Absolutely. It's BBC One, one of the world's two great radio stations. We're a bit of a mess up here, I think. Well, we should be like, we're the number two, and then you're the number one, I guess. Well, it could be that we are number two and you're number one. Of course, we don't have numbers, let's se, as in those cheap North American Lee Abram consultants

that sort of disgustingly AOR stadium rock toffee-mails. Yeah, you'd have a nice day. John. Business make money, money, money, money, commercialized radio. John, I know you're busy, but the station ID says one of. It doesn't say we're one or number two or number two or number one. Can you hang on a second? Hello?

John Peel, 22 minutes after, 1 o'clock, Radio 1, BBC, one of the world's two great radio stations. Listen, we have a new promotion. Be a DJ for a day. We ask you listeners to go out drinking with us until 4 in the morning. Then we'll do the morning shift. We'll go home. But we'll first make sure that none of the turntables work and we'll bounce your rent check. John Peel, Radio 1, back after this.

Hello. Hello, John. Well, if you can shed any light on this situation, we'd appreciate it very much. I'm afraid I can't. I'm John Rhine from Radio 1, BBC. That's all you've been saying. I beat Sessions albums out, like John Rhine Sessions. Yes.

No, no. John, thank you for your trouble this morning. John Crane? You're going to continue to use that. Hang on a second. And remember, folks, it's the Spaffatory Contest. Listeners invited to identify any conservative member of parliament in this steamy picture of a West End London bathhouse. Look carefully.

Back at you. Listen, I must leave. Okay, John, thank you for your trouble this morning. Do you have some super tramp up next, I suppose? No. As a matter of fact, we've got Bob Geldof. Irish. Yes.

Buddy Irish. Radio 1 BBC, Morrissey time is 23 after 8. Yeah, that was Mike Stafford. Yeah, let's talk about that, okay? So Mike Stafford was fantastic there. Yeah, he was our newsman. You know, Stafford and Patterson were, you know, they came on the show with us as News and Sports.

Let's spend a minute just to visit this. So Mike Stafford, who's been on this show a couple of times, he kicked out the jams here. He's now a morning show host himself on 640, Guns N' Roses Radio. No, sorry, it's Global News Radio. Yes. I got that confused. But tell us, just tell us about the man Stafford and working with him on the Pete and Geet

show. He was an absolutely brilliant guy. By the way, did you know that he was on Jeopardy? Of course. We did a deep dive his first time here. Yeah. He was on Jeopardy. Yeah.

deep dive his first time here. Yeah. He was on Jeopardy. Yeah. And he missed the, the, the, for the, for the final Jeopardy,

he missed the answer of Kennedy. And he worked on Kennedy Road. Oh, poor Stafford. But yeah, he seems very sharp. Very, very,

very, yeah. Maybe too bright for his own good. Who knows? I know. You can't be too bright. So Stafford's still, still, uh, uh, active. I'm sure. Uh, did you have any pride when you learned he was going to finally be a morning man after so many years? You know, I, I, you know, I haven't listened to him because, uh, you know, I don't listen to radio that much anymore. Um, I, you listen to my xm serious xm and even there there's

nothing is real anymore no you know so where do you go for like authenticity like have you found it in podcasts or like what would you listen to you You know. You just, yeah. No, I don't listen all that much, you know, because I work for Rogers. I do their transmitters maintenance. And so when I'm going off to their transmitter sites, I listen to their stations there. Sure, sure.

Now, okay, so we talked Stafford doing the sites, I listen to their stations there. Sure. Sure. Now, okay. So we talked Stafford doing the news, but Freddie P, uh, was doing sports. Uh, so spend a little time,

a lot of, I've been very friendly with the Humble and Fred show for a long time since, uh, their podcast began. Um, I play, I'd like to think I played a key role in getting them back on the air after, uh,

Freddie P was let go from the, uh, program director stint in Peterborough and Hum Freddie P was let go from the program director stint in Peterborough and Humble Howard was let go from Boom. Yeah. And they're like, what do we do now? Nobody will hire us. And I'm like, well, you don't need them anymore.

That's right, yeah. You don't need them anymore. You can broadcast without them. I was on their show as well. Yes. Yeah. And, you know, they were also on uh serious for five years yeah and uh the fact that they let them go to me was ridiculous because they did a fantastic

job i have theories on this you want to hear i feel like it's because humble and fred did their show from the humble and fred studio as opposed to the one downtown. Liberty Village. Yeah. And everybody, for example, a Todd Shapiro, for example, he's all, was also on that station, but he was in there, their premises, like kind of, they had more control. They had more control over them. You know, and as soon as you go away from quote the control. Right. They get upset. So I sincerely believe that if Humble and Fred, you know, commuted to Liberty Village every day and did. They'd still be control. Right. They get upset. So I sincerely believe that if Humble and Fred,

you know, commuted to Liberty Village every day and did the... They'd still be there. Right. That's what I believe. Yeah. But that's a shame because, you know, I thought they were even better than Opie and Anthony.

Those are names I... See, I listened to a lot of Howard Stern and that's how I kind of learned about Opie and Anthony. And I think a Buffalo station had them, I think, for a while. But I get hazy with the Opie and Anthony. But I have a question about Humble and Fred, which I'm going to dig up here. I want to give proper credit here.

Okay. Gentleman named Jeff Rabb with 2B says, he wants to know your opinion on why the industry hates Humble and Fred. So that might be a faulty premise, but this is again from Jeff Rabb. Do you have any thoughts on this? Like, does the industry hate Humble and Fred? No, I don't think so. They just don't understand them, you know, because they did their own thing.

They couldn't control them, you know, and it's all about control. You know, you don't want somebody to think for themselves them you know and it's all about control control you know you don't want somebody to think for themselves you know here read this one liner here that's why you know on that last bit with all the giveaways that is so goddamn true you know we're looking at this and we and we made fun of it a lot and we'd always always say, you know, if we're doing a remote, and Marsden used to get really pissed at me, we'd say, come on out, we've got a lot of plastic crap to give you. You know? He'd say, guys, you don't say crap.

Gifts. Was Freddie P., I mean, you've already said some positive things, but when he was your sports guy, was he great to work with? Yeah, fantastic. He was really good. Both of them were. You know, it was sort of like a family. Right.

And when you leave, and we'll get to that in just a moment, that you leave CFNY, then, of course, I think there's a few different attempts at a morning show. I feel like Steve Anthony's in there and maybe Scott Turner maybe. Yeah, Scott I think there's a few different attempts at a morning show. I feel like Steve Anthony's in there and maybe Scott Turner maybe. Scott was in there for a while. And Freddie P of course. Freddie P though remains the link. Freddie P is the link between

the Pete and Geet show. He became the Geets. He became the Geets. Right. And they went to Montreal and this stand-up guy on the air with Jeff Lumby in Montreal named Howard Glassman kind of gets recruited over and they try something new. I think we're in 89 now.

Humble actually leaves 102.1 for 99.9. Just when it was rebranding as Mix 99. But then it comes back and I think they're still together. But there was a good solid decade of uninterrupted Humble and Fred on 102.1. But back to Pete and Geetz here. There's a question from Wade who wants to know, can you ask Geetz if he knew Reiner Schwartz? Yes,

I did. Can you talk a bit about Reiner? Yeah. I first met Reiner at CFNY, no, Chum FM, at Chum FM. Reiner was doing, um, no, Chum FM. At Chum FM, Reiner was doing,

did he replace Marsden? I think he might have replaced Marsden at Chum FM. And that's when he did the show on the seven words you can't say on radio. And that ended him there. And then he ended up at uh at uh eventually at cfny when mclean hunter uh took i mean mclean hunter i called him mclean hunter yeah these were some uh rough days for the uh cfny oh yeah yeah i you know what it was funny because we went through

five owners when i was at cfny And I remember the last one that came in was McLean Hunter. And I was also the engineer. And I'm sitting in the chair across from the general manager. And I looked at him and he looked at me and I said to him, well, how long are you going to be here? I did outlive him. Now, and we went into great detail with people like Alan Cross in the past year, but there's an attempt to popify the station in order to, I guess, get more mass appeal to sell it for a higher price.

So you would hear like a, I don't know, like a Madonna, for example, would suddenly be played, which was for the spirit of radio, faithful, sacrilegious, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah, well, when Marsden left, before he left, Don Burns was put in as PD. And Don Burns, another wonderful guy,

really good guy, and he was mainly, at one time, the voice of CFNY. We heard him in a clip. We heard him in that clip. Yeah, he does all the IDs and all that. Right. Remember when Mars, well, he would have meetings with Pete and I,

you know, every, maybe once a month or something. But Don Burns, every day, we'll have a meeting, and we're sitting there and he says now gates gates you you you you gave the time just before the weather and then the next break you gave the weather and then the time why'd you do that and i said because i don't like you i don't know so i'm starting to get a glimpse of why you got fired. It's a, you're tough to control. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I've had, I've heard people say that, uh, that's very true. Uh, Captain Phil Evans. Yes. Out West.

Yes. He's out West. Uh, he, he wants me to ask you about when Pete thought he was fired and when you did the show from the, uh, the carnival next to the chicken factory.

Oh God. You know? Yeah. When we, there was a carnival, you know, they set these carnivals up in parking lots. Yes.

Well, they, they set one up in the parking lot across the street from us. And we went over because we thought they had our women locked up in their tents. And so we, we took the roving microphone over. Yeah. Phil Evans was another really, really good

employee at CFNY. He's a promotions director, right? Yeah. He was the PD, promotions director. Yeah. So Phil was nice enough that I did an episode. We called him Captain Phil. Captain Phil.

You know why? Remind me. I think I knew and then I forgot. Tell me. He ran, you know, those boats that go through the Toronto Islands and all that? Yeah. Well, he ran one of those boats and then he

ended up coming to CFNY to do promotions. So we called him Captain Phil. That's the origin story. Fantastic. I know he's a nice guy because on the fifth anniversary of Martin Streak's passing, I put together a little episode of some people who worked with him sharing their memories and stuff. And Pete, we did it. That's another one we did via Skype from wherever he is in BC.

Is he Vancouver? He's around there somewhere. I think Vancouver. Right. And he contributed to that episode because, uh, Martin was his, uh, the best man at his wedding. Yeah.

So, uh, do you have a couple of minutes? Uh, do you remember working with, uh, Marty Streak? Yes,

I do because, um, uh, I was instrumental in, uh, doing all the equipment and that for the roadshow and Marty was hired to work the roadshow. And, uh, for the road show and marty was hired to work the road show and uh he was so proud that he got his license to drive the truck the big five ton truck right and uh there's a bit of a funny story yeah about the road show um i iver and a bunch of the guys they were um

decided to have a party at iver's place and they set up the big 12 foot screens and the screens were front and back you could view it didn't matter that you know it was really state-of-the-art stuff. Right. And I get a phone call from Peel Regional Police that the roadshow crew was arrested because, well, what the hell for? Well, they're making a lot of noise. And I said, uh-huh. Where? Well, they were having a party.

And they're right beside a church. And at 3 in the morning, they were showing porno films on the video screen. So I had to go down and bail them out. Man, that's unbelievable yeah marty was really a terrific guy and and you know when he when he got let go yeah um 2009 he gets let go with barry taylor yeah as a matter of fact it was at david marzen's birthday party and he came up to me and he told me that he got canned and I said Marty don't worry about it I said it happens to us all right I said if you need help to get a job I'll give you all the help I can because there's a lot of stations out there that could use you

you know and uh it was what a week later that uh two months i think it was a two months yeah two months but uh yeah and in fact we're coming up on the 10th anniversary uh this july 10th 10 years same with pete like you know pete right pete's gone yeah uh yeah in fact i'm gonna play a little i liked this bit because it's very interesting to take us back to, I think we're in about like the mid, mid eighties with this clip. And there's a lot of stuff like Toronto stuff that I found very interesting, just revealed in this.

Uh, this is a bit you did with, uh, Pete. And then we'll talk a little bit about, uh, all those years you worked with, uh,

the late great Pete Griffin. So here's a little more Pete and Geats. It's time for another visit from the amazing Romo. Yes, Peter, because I know all, I see all, I feel all. Oh, I'm here. So here's a little paperweight. Yeah, that's right. Here's another. You got another crystal ball. Always keep a backup ball at all times. I've got a lot of balls. Okay, I'll roll it over to you.

I want you to have a look. Okay, let me have a look. Crystal ball. Made in Japan. All right. A forecast. See if you can see in that crystal ball. Shake it up a bit there.

Okay, I can see snow. Right. The future of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Yes, I can see a grumpy old man. I wonder if that's Harold Ballard. That's Harold Ballard. Want to fine-tune that a bit? Yeah, that's Harold.

That's Harold. He's shaking his fist there. This is an old ball because he's still behind bars in this one. Smiling. I see. Isn't that absolutely amazing? He must be smiling. What, he's going to trade the whole team? He's going to sell the team. He's going to go into floor hockey.

Alright, now, another prediction. Look into that crystal ball. I'm looking, I'm looking. See if you can see the location for the new Dome Stadium. Yes, I can, Petey. Is it clearing up in there? Yes, it is. It's going to be in Hamilton. That's where the Dome Stadium is going to be.

They're going to build it there by mistake. Absolutely amazing. I've got $5, Peter. Yes, $5. Okay, let me have this. Now watch this $5 disappear. Went right into a wallet. Absolutely amazing.

Because I can do it all. Thank you, Amazing Romo, for those predictions this morning. You know, and for everybody, Torians today, buzz off. That's good advice for Torians today. 758 from CFNY, Dexys Midnight Runners. Where are they? Here they are. All right.

Fantastic. I miss those days. Like, where are we going to put the dome stadium well we now know the answer and it wasn't Hamilton by the way you were in you and Pete were in an unwatchable film with all due respect to Gord Depp who's been on this show

and the spoons are fantastic but listen to the city yes yes alas but you know yeah that was a Ron Mann film and as a matter of fact it was the uh premier film at the film festival wow and uh they did it up the station did it up real big for us uh because the spoons and you guys were so uh intertwined and the spoons did the music right yeah they did the music and uh we we we went to the film with um the limo and we're sitting there watching this thing as we're slinking lower and lower in their seats and i took a magic marker and i started to color my mustache

oh boy it was awful yeah Yeah, it's on. Retro Ontario, Ed Conroy, who will be on the show in early July again, he actually has grabbed a bunch of this from one of those free previews of the Super Channel or First Choice or something. And you can find this on YouTube, but don't bother. Okay, so...

They ran that movie millions of times because, quote, Canadian content. That's the secret, right? Absolutely. They ran that movie millions of times because, quote, Canadian content. That's the secret, right? Absolutely. Now, why do you quit CFNY in 1987? Well, Pete and I worked together. And on the air, everything was great. but we were not the best of friends.

And, you know, I just felt it was time. Irreconcilable differences? Yes, yeah. Because I was just about to ask you about your relationship with Pete. As you mentioned, Pete passed away about 10 years ago, 81 years of age. Yeah.

Yes. And so when you leave CFNY, are you leaving for something else? No, I still stayed with CFNY and I stayed as the engineer. Right. And from there, I expanded out my engineering position with other companies. And, uh, you know, I, I, I did, uh, studios for, you know, candy and people like that. Right now. Uh, so Pete Griffin goes off to, uh, Smith Smith's falls and, uh, he does some, uh, sort

of softer stations, if you will, and kind of into retirement. And, uh, and you of course, uh, stay at CFNY, but doing the engineering, uh, were you happy to get to sleep in? Was it, how was, was that? No, I still wake up early in the morning. Um, and, uh, you know, I stayed until, uh, 2001 when I got a phone call from Paul Williams and Jim Waters at 1050 Chum. Right. And they wanted to talk to me about building a sports network. And so.

I know the station well. Yes. The team. the team. So I built the team, uh, the sports network for, uh, chum. And, uh, I must say that, that job, when I worked at chum, uh, was the best job I've ever had in radio and working for Jim Waters was the best job and best boss I've ever had. And, uh, after I built the team, they, uh, uh, came to me and, uh, Jim did at the Christmas party and said, Hey, I'd like to talk to you in my office on Monday. And I said, sure. And so, um, that's when he offered me VP of Engineering for Chum Limited.

Good for you, man. Amazing. So, you know, that was, you know, absolutely fantastic. That was, I think I was there till, oh, 2009, I think. Wow. And that, so that's after 21 years at CFNY. Yeah. That you moved to the Chum Radio Group.

Back to the Chum Radio Group. Sorry, back, right, of course. Yeah. Now it's funny. Because I was fired three times at Chum. Yeah, well, you know what? That's okay. Wendell Clark played for the Leafs four times, I think.

So there's no shame in that. And like you said, in radio, that's what seems to happen routinely. CFNY was the only job I quit. Yeah. I actually quit. You actually quit CFNY. Yes, because you had the offer you couldn't refuse from Chum there to go set up the national network for the team.

Now, when you do quit the morning show, so when you decide you're no longer going to be on air with Pete and Gates, what's the story I was reading about how uh pete pete didn't get a heads up until uh you ended the monday morning like so like were there any goodbyes i guess i'm just trying to as you exit pete and geats which of course was the morning show for uh so many torontonians well there were there were goodbyes, but they were many months before that I actually did do it. Gotcha. It wasn't a very nice leaving.

And, you know, mind you, we did make up after the fact, you know, a few years later. It's, you know, even Bob and Ray were not the best of friends or Abbott and Costello. You know, to bring it home, Tom Cheek and Jerry Howarth didn't hang out and spend time together. No, no, that's true. They had good chemistry on the air. And you and Pete Griffin, just hearing these undeniably excellent chemistry. No, that's true. But they had good chemistry on air. And you and Pete Griffin, just hearing these undeniably excellent chemistry. Yeah, yeah.

It was on air. It was on air. And, you know, I, you know, I was, I was always a hustler of work. I was a workaholic really. And, you know, as soon as I finished the on air at nine o'clock in the morning off i go to engineering or right you know i you know even at chum fm uh i remember pete started at 5 30 in the morning and i started at six so So the VP of CHUM said, you know,

Geet should be in here doing a traffic report, you know, at quarter to six. Right. So I said, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, of course. You know, I always agreed. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're going to do that. Just do whatever you want to do.

Right. So what I did is I put a traffic report on cart. And Pete played that for two years. Oh my, I thought you were going to say two weeks. Two years. Two years. Unbelievable. Before they found out.

Unbelievable. The same cart every day for two years. Because traffic probably was fine at that time of day. Yeah. Traffic's just starting to build. That's amazing. Yeah. That's incredible, yeah. Traffic's just starting to build. That's amazing. Yeah. That's incredible.

It took two years for somebody to notice. Now, that reunion, you alluded to it earlier, but in 1997, I guess Howard was not on the show. I don't know if he was on vacation or what, but Freddie P and Pete and Gates, a reunion. That's right, yeah. And so I don't remember the details, but did it go off the rails at some point this week?

Like did it all go smoothly? Oh yeah. Yeah. Well, no. A-okay. Okay. Everything was A-okay. So I have some bad intel that, uh, okay.

So, uh, it was a, and how was that week with, uh, Pete? Like at that point you had already made him. Okay. It was just as if when we first started, you know, because when the microphone goes on, you go on, you know.

I do a podcast with Mark Hebbshire called Hebbsy on Sports. Oh yeah. Yeah. And Hebbsy, I just, he likes to know who's coming on. And I'm like, you know,

Keats Romo's coming on. He goes, he was responsible for the audio at the Dome in the ACC. Is this true? Is there a... Not quite. Let's get this right here. Okay.

What I was responsible for was when the team, Chum, was doing sports, I put in a transmitter inside the dome because you couldn't pick up 1050 chum inside the dome with the roof closed. So I put in a transmitter tuned to 1055 on the dial. And most radios, AM radios, are rotary dial. So when the dome's closed, I turned on the transmitter.

And you know the back net yeah yeah well that's metal right so i use that as the antenna oh wow you know and i ran five watts in there uh so that's that's what that was you might be the only guy hired for the team that had his that was good for his career like it was good for his career. Like it helped, it helped his career. I'm just realizing because I've had people like, oh my God, long list now, but Paul Romanuk and Jim Van Horn. Yep. Jim Van Horn, fantastic guy. Romanuk, he and I and Mike Brophy did the Olympics.

Oh, cool. In Salt Lake City, the hockey. Yeah, that was a big, the first gold in 50 years or something. And Romanok, to me, was one of the finest play-by-play guys ever. Also a massive fan of the spirit of radio. Oh yeah. 1980s. In fact, I can tell this story, but he's been on the show for what we call what you're doing now,

which is like the deep dive, right? And then he was going to come back and we were just going to play music and talk about David Marsden era CFNY. This was the whole episode with Romanek. He absolutely loved the music. Yes. You know.

But just before that was going to happen, he was surprised with notice from Rogers that his services were no longer required. So everything got put on the backburn. And I got a, I think a little time is now that we've had a 18 months pass or whatever, I'll revisit it with him and see if he's up to doing that episode.

Yeah, I would hope so. I'll tell him he needs to be listening. Yeah, what's he doing now? I believe he's looking for another opportunity right now. I don't believe he's landed anywhere quite yet uh now he's he's in a good place in that uh his wife has a very good job so it's always easier you can take your time finding the next gig yeah but as i say he's one of the finest play-by-play guys ever you know and i'm glad you gave a shout out there to jim van horn because uh of course there's two lives to j. He's got the rock jock on 1050.

That's right, and sports. He was like an employee number one at TSN. That's right, yeah. And, you know, he was on the team, of course. He did Afternoon Drive. Right. And, you know, he was a terrific, terrific guy to work with. And even, you know, I remember him as a jock too.

And, you know, when 9-11 happened, the team immediately at that point turned to news. And because of the coverage of the people that were working there, like the Romanox and, and, and, and Horn, other radio stations across Canada asked to pick up the feed from us. And we said,

yes. Wow. You know, well, I think Brunt was there too, right? Steven Brunt. Yes.

Yeah. I remember all the, a lot of guys there. Yeah. Brunt was easy to work with too. Gates. I got to say, man, it says 90 minutes here, but I don't believe it. It feels like 10 minutes, but I could have done another 90.

At some point in the future, could I get you back here? Sure you can. I really enjoyed this. Thanks so much. I know it's a little bit choppy, but that's me. No, actually, that was perfect. So be you, be you. But I'm so choked up here, I can hardly speak.

I need to get myself a drink of water. But thank you so much for doing this. Every once in a while, Humble Howard will make a comment about how Humble and Fred should be in the Radio Hall of Fame or whatever, Canadian Radio Hall of Fame. And I was on their show last week, and he said that sentence. And I chimed in immediately and said, Pete and Geats first.

Oh, thank you. Pete and Geats goes in first, and then we'll talk about Humble and Fred. So thank you so much. Oh, you're welcome. Thank you for having me. And thanks for the lasagna. Lasagna, beer, and stickers, and free consultation with Capadia. And if you buy a condo from Brian at Property in the Six, the lasagna. Lasagna, beer, and stickers, and free consultation with Capadia.

And if you buy a condo from Brian at Property in the Six, it'll be the perfect run there. So thanks so much. And that brings us to the end of our 470th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Now, Keats, you're not on Twitter, are you?

No, I'm not. I'm the only person in the world not on Facebook. Oh, you're nowhere. I'm nowhere. No social footprint. You're the smart one then. Yeah. They can't data mine your thoughts and dreams there. That's perfect.

So you won't find Geats on... But you find... Don't worry. You heard this. We're going to get Geats back so you don't need to follow him on social. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Propertyinthe6.com is at Raptors Devotee. Game one is Thursday night.

Can't wait. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair is at Fast Time WJR. When Pete's Mickey Mouse... Pete. When Geet's... Yeah.

Pete, rest in peace. When Geet's Mickey Mouse watch needs a new battery, he knows where to go. That's right. Sticker U is at StickerU and Camp Turnasol is at Camp Turnasol and Capadia LLP CPAs

are at Capadia LLP. See you all next week. with the smell of snow won't be today and your smile is fine and it's just like mine and it won't go away cause everything is rosy and gray well I've been told

that there's a sucker born every day but I wonder who yeah I wonder who yeah I wonder who maybe the one who doesn't realize there's a thousand shades of green