Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Gene Valaitis: Toronto Mike'd #637

Episode Date: May 5, 2020

Mike chats with Gene Valaitis about the rise and fall of Jesse and Gene, The Team 1050 fiasco, his stops at Q107, 680 CFTR, AM 640, 1010 CFRB, a couple of great fun facts about his connection to The Parachute Club and MuchMusic and more.

Welcome to episode 637 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Palma Pasta, enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees From Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville Garbage Day Weekly reminders for garbage, recycling and yard waste pickup Visit GarbageDay.com slash Toronto Mike To sign up now

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five, nine to get the zoom URL for their virtual open house on Saturday. And our newest sponsor, CDN Technologies, your IT and cyber security experts. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me is Toronto Radio veteran and one half, exactly one half of Jesse and Gene,

Gene Valaitis. Hey, Mike. Nice to see you again. Great to see you. Thanks for having me on your podcast. Always a pleasure. Thank you for the invitation. It's amazing you've yet to be at the TMDS studio, because this is actually the third episode of Toronto Mic'd where we could hear your fantastic voice.

Because if I look at my records here, you and Jesse reunited in a sense, because you guys were both on episode 212 of Toronto Mic'd. But more recently than that, I got to actually meet you for the first time at TMLX5 at Palma's Kitchen just in December, 2019. So it was great to actually meet you and thanks for coming to TMLX5. Oh, pleasure, pleasure, pleasure.

You say that now, but we're just starting off here. We'll see how that goes. Now, first and foremost, we're going to get into the sad anniversary that we're not celebrating today. But firstly, I want to just ask you the important question, which is how is your health? You had a heart condition of sorts, and I want to know how you're doing. Oh, my God, Mike, that was a million years ago. I don't even think about it. I had a mild heart attack. It was hereditary. I had two stents put in my heart, was in the hospital for three days. I don't even think about it. How long ago was it? Let's see. Nine years ago. I had to think about that.

And you never think, so there's these, your heart's fine. I just, I guess I don't know much about these heart conditions, but they sound scary to me because the heart's sort of important. scary to me because the heart's sort of important. Yeah, just a lot, just a lot. Yes, it was, there is heart disease on one side of my family. And as the doctor said, I had a minor heart attack right on time when they expected and had a couple of stents put in my heart. And actually, a week after I had that, I was on a flight and off doing business again. And so it was really, it wasn't one of these go to the hospital and an ambulance thing falling down on the floor. It was just a little bit of chest pain. And I'd read an article that men are always in denial. So I went to the hospital, got it checked out, a couple of stents, three days later, gone. And honestly, I don't really even think about it to be quite honest

with you if i may uh what would have happened if you had ignored like so many men will get a little chest pain and ignore it like they'll blame it on i don't know the the chili they just ate or something like yeah like what would have happened if you had ignored that symptom um the doctor who put the stents in my heart at st michael's Hospital in Toronto said if I hadn't have come in when I did and the reason why I did is I was on an international flight once and I'm not one really for watching movies on airplanes I prefer to read and I read an article about a guy who had a heart attack and he outlined the fact that most men are in denial when they have chest pain. And in the article, he said, go to the hospital. And if the nurses in emergency end up laughing at you because you only had a bad case of gas or indigestion, well, it's better that you had it

checked out. And in fact, when I went to the emergency department, the chest pains had subsided, but I got it checked out anyway. And they give you three little tests to see if you have an enzyme coming out of your heart. And the first two tests came back negative. And in fact, the guy said, well, you're probably going to be going home in about 30 minutes anyway. But then the third one came back and there was a doctor there and they said, you had a myocardial infarction, which is medical term for you've had a heart attack. And I said, No, no, you must be mistaking me for the old guy in the little waiting area beside me. He goes, Oh, no, no, it's you. And we're going to take you up into this operating room now. And we're going to give you angioplasty and you may require a stent. And if things are really blocked up, then you're going

to have to be having bypass surgery. And I'm like, what? So in any event, I had the two stents. It was a very quick procedure. And the guy who did it, getting back to your original question, said, had you not come in when you did, which was one o'clock in the morning, he said, you'd be dead by now. Wow. Yeah. So I was sitting in this hospital bed when he said that. And on the wall in front of me was a clock with a second hand that was ticking away which i thought was interesting poetic justice and at that point in time i used to be quite a watch guy um i took off my watch and i threw it in the garbage and i've never worn a watch since then wow and and the story behind why i threw my watch away was

since then. And the story behind why I threw my watch away was, for the rest of my life, I was going to decide what time it is, not other people. You know, now I feel guilty for telling you what time this recording was. It should have just been when you felt like it. But that story has such an important message for men and women listening, but particularly these machismo guys who think that, oh, I got a little heart pain, I'm fine, I don't need to see a doctor, because you would have been dead. And I think there's a message in there

that don't ignore these symptoms and don't be afraid of looking like a guy, like the nurses laughing at you because you got a little gas. It's better safe than sorry when it comes to your heart. Well, it's interesting because I've told it to a lot of my male friends and I've told it on some radio shows. And because, well, like I

said, it happened like about 10 years ago. Again, I, you know, I'm not even sure what year it was. I'm just kind of gauging it. And I've had a number of people who've called me and who said, you know, I heard the story and I had chest pains and I actually went to the hospital because I remembered the story. And one guy, a friend of mine in California was, he was actually having a heart attack and he ended up getting stents in his heart. And the only reason why he went was because of the story. So, you know, it's not something I really talk about a lot, but I think it's a valuable story and guys should know it, you know, and it's the same thing with guys getting a colonoscopy to get, you know, the parts checked out as well. You know, it's sort of invasive. It's not exactly the most pleasant thing in the world, but if you don't do it, you can get something very, very terrible and die. So, you know,

men are bad at these sorts of things and we've got to take care of ourselves because we have families and people who depend on us and friends and life is good so you have to do these things you got to pay attention and i'm glad it was mild and you made such a complete recovery that you don't even remember it or think about it this is good news so we start with some good news and now we're going to do a quick fun fact because we're always loving how people are connected in the uh toronto famous or you know canada famous uh village that we have but tell us how are you yeah well we're getting to the famous part right now how are you related to canadian musical royalty uh the parachute club let's just give us the fun fact of how you're connected to uh the parachute club uh lorraine sagato the founder

of parachute club is my sister-in-law well i don't know i think that's cool man that you're connected to the Parachute Club? Lorraine Segato, the founder of Parachute Club, is my sister-in-law. Well, I don't know. I think that's cool, man. You never know who's connected. And you're related through marriage to Lorraine Segato, which is very... And she's on the island, right?

She lives on the island? Well, I don't talk about where people live. Okay. I think she's been public about that, but that's okay. Oh, okay. Where are you right now? How how about that don't give us your address or anything but where can i i won't do that i might i am for the first time in many years back in toronto and how long have you been back for now uh seven months i came back from van Vancouver. And is it true you came back for TMLX5 at Palma's Kitchen?

Uh, of course, Mike. All right. Why else would I possibly come back to Toronto? By the way, great lasagna. Thank you for your sponsorship, Palma Pasta. People should go there. And Gene, if I ever get to see you again, which I hope I do when this is all over, I got a case of Great Lakes beer for you. So I owe you some beer. No, you don't owe me anything.

I'm happy to come on your show. I'll take care of you, buddy. Before we get to that anniversary I alluded to off the top, I want to give my condolences to Banjo Dunk and everyone who knew and loved Bob McNiven. Bob McNiven was a founding member of Whiskey Jack, and he passed away yesterday. And I just want to say, Dunk, we're all thinking of you,

and we know it's a great loss, not only for you and people who knew him, but for the Canadian music industry as a whole. So sorry that we lost Bob yesterday from ALS. Sorry that we lost Bob yesterday from ALS. So now that on that sad note, here's a sad fact that it was 23 years ago today. What happened 23 years ago today of significance in Toronto radio history, Gene? Cinco de Mayo, May 5th, 1997.

Jesse and Gene were taken into an office. We were told that we didn't follow direction. We were told that we used really bad language. We were told that we did very bad things on the air. We were told that we were both being fired. They gave us a letter to sign. They gave us a few little things and they walked us out of the building, Q107 up on Yonge Street, north of Finch.

And because we did not follow direction, because we used terrible language, because we did awful things on the radio, we were replaced by Howard Stern. Okay. So, firstly, a shout out to Mark Hebbs here, who reminded me the other day. There's a Jesse and Jean Way, right? Yes. Is that close to that? Young and Norton, right?, there's a Jesse and Jean Way, right? Yes. Is that close to that? Young and Norton, right? Where would we find Jesse and Jean Way?

Yeah, it's a little alleyway at Young and Norton. And while we were on the air up there, we had a very good relationship with the then mayor of North York before he became the mayor of Toronto, Mel Lastman. And we convinced Mel that he should name this little laneway after us. And he did. And I've driven by it a couple of times. The sign is still there. I don't think it's something you find on Google Maps. It's just kind of like one of those things where they just put a sign up and ignore it kind of a thing. But it was nice to have. And on my 60th birthday, when I had my 60th birthday, Jesse got one of the signs because there was three or four signs. And he had it beautifully framed and had it all wrapped up and gave it to me on my 60th birthday party.

And I have that. It's really beautiful. And he has one framed as well that he has in his office. So it's a kind of nice keepsake. Now we're going to get into this, but you had the two tours of duty at Q107. And that's basically how you got that laneway named after you, right by the Q studios. And they let you go, as you just said, for those reasons you just spoke about.

But like, I'm going to just speak as myself at a listener. It sounds like they were looking for an excuse to get you off the books because they were going to syndicate this New York shock jock, Howard Stern. Like, it just sounds like it was an excuse. What do you, you know, that can't be the reason they fired you. Well, a new program director came into the radio station and he came in from Edmonton and, you know, I think he wanted to make his mark and make a statement and try to rise above everybody else in the city. He treated us, I'll be honest with you, he treated us rather poorly and I guess we reciprocated in kind. And I guess we reciprocated in kind. And I think he had missed a luck in getting us out of there.

His main priority in coming in there was getting Stern on the radio in Toronto. Now, you know, what was interesting about it is the local media, the print media. I mean, trying to get them to write anybody in radio was absolutely impossible. But when Howard Stern came in, they had an electronic news conference. And all these reporters who would never pay any attention to anybody in Canadian radio were suddenly, you know, down on their knees, you know, salivating that they actually had an opportunity to ask Howard Stern a question. And in subsequent times, I asked a lot of these guys, well, why didn't you give the local talent the sort of publicity or at least a little bit of ink like you did with Howard Stern coming in? And it was Jewish grandmother guilt all over the place, but the vast majority of those guys, they don't write for newspapers anymore because it's all about clickbait.

And that industry changed as well. Right. I mean, just the fact that there were people writing about radio at all back in 1997. Well, just a few. Just a very, very few. Well, a few more than there are today. I think I might be the last guy writing about radio. I don't know. Actually, you may be. might be the last guy writing about radio i don't know i think unless it's uh actually you may be but there's another guy who follows radio closely and he was at that that news conference you're that digital whatever that that news conference you're describing that announced howard stern was coming to toronto a guy who asked a question on that uh news call or whatever that was that

conference has a question for you right now so i want to shout out fotm mark weisblot from 1236 mark oh god mark he's fantastic he uh he had a question for you gene he says and i'm going to read it verbatim here from mark why does gene a man who made his living off the dumbest media ever get so incensed about paying attention to Marcella. So he's referring to the chair girl. And I'll let you respond to Mark. Mark wants to know, I guess, have you called him out on the attention he's been paying or others have been paying to chair girl?

Oh, boy. The question actually comes as a bit of a surprise. I think the only thing I've ever said about Chair Girl, like I say about a lot of things, is we have to stop making stupid people famous. And really, I think that's the only thing I ever said about that. He seems to have taken umbrage, I guess, because he he's he's very into the chair girl story and does receive pieces of feedback that maybe he should stop shining a light on this person, which sounds like you'd echo those sentiments here. Well, I think the only comment I ever made, but I've made this about a lot of people, is we should stop making stupid people famous. And until you ask the question, I I really I don't even remember saying anything to Mark about that. I am a big Mark fan, though.

I will be honest with you. He used to post a lot on a radio board in Toronto and was driven away by a lot of really negative, cynical people. And I don't blame him for that. And his 1236 publication is something that i've been getting since day one and i read it well almost every single day he's a very talented guy and one of the few people writing about radio in canada who actually knows the subject very well oh you had me at hello are you kidding me i give that man uh two and a half hours a month to just talk to the people about the differences he's observed. And I would give him more time,

but I really am exhausted at the end of that 2.5 hours. I'm just physically drained. So I can't do any more. But yeah, he's a, he's a wealth of information and people should subscribe to that newsletter at 1236.ca. Here's a nicer question. So that's the,

that's the harshest this is gonna get gene but notorious bab i know and i didn't know that would blindside you because i just assumed there was a history there no okay no notorious bab uh tempted to ask gene if he remembers the time he and jesse got this really crazy guy calling in and they got him on the phone to his this poor woman in japan to ask about the easy p not sure if you'd remember that though but i do and it was the funniest thing ever so do you have any memories of this call to japan about easy p well you have to remember uh we did an awful lot of phone calls an awful lot of phone calls during the time that we were on the air together right and um you know um i saw that on twitter the other day and i was

trying to remember i sort of remember something in the back of my mind but i no not really but i'm glad you enjoyed it but that dynamic I totally understand that because somebody might catch that at the right time, at the right age, where it resonates forever. Like forever, the Notorious B.A.B. is thinking about that bit. Meanwhile, for you and Jesse, it's probably literally one of 10,000 bits or something. And of course, for you, the sands of time is going to get lost in the shuffle. But for Notorious BAB,

he or she is never going to forget that easy pee call to Japan. So you've made a lot of people happy. Listen, and I'm happy people have, and still to this day, I'm very happy and grateful that people would listen to our show. You know, it's my, it's my career. It's my profession. It bought the food, it paid the mortgage. And I'm, you know it's it's my it's my career it's my profession it bought the food it paid the mortgage and i'm you know i'm always delighted when i meet up with people who say that they they used to listen to the show very very grateful for that never take it for granted it's hard to believe it's been 23 years since jesse and jean were on the radio. People probably come up to you as if they heard you in, I don't know, 2009 or something.

To me, it blows my mind that it's been that long. Yeah, me too. But as we're about to discuss, you've been all over the radio since then, just not partnered with Jesse Dillon. But we'll get into that in a moment. Here's a question from Sean Hammond for you, Gene. Is the Pavarotti ordering breakfast skit ever going to be released? Do you remember the Luciano Pavarotti ordering breakfast?

Yeah, of course I do. Sure, that was Tony Daniels, our cheap voice guy. And wasn't that on a CD somewhere or was it not released? Maybe it wasn't. Sean sounds like a completist. Like I think he's got that CD. I feel like he might be the authority here, but let me build upon Sean's question and ask if there's any plans at all

to like archive old shows and bits somewhere online where fans can access it on the internet? Well, interestingly enough, and I have to credit Jesse on this, he recorded every single show that we ever did. And we have them all. And we were in the process of archiving them to be used in a special project, which unfortunately, it's a very, very, it's a very complicated story. Unfortunately, it was put on pause in August of 2019. However, that pause button, I believe, if everything goes as planned, should be coming off. And we will hit the play button very, very soon. Exciting. Is there any Jesse and Gene podcast element to this thing that's being unpaused?

Yes. Yeah, actually there is. It's a lot bigger than just that, to be quite honest with you. Well, do you want to spill any more tea or have you spilled enough? No, that's a little taste out there for you. The drip, drip, drip campaign has begun, as they say. Okay. Then I'll ask one last question on that because I have to. It's my job here. But is it this podcast that would be Jesse and Gene?

Is that Jesse and Gene live in 2020 or is it Jesse and Gene archived from a previous era? Both. Oh, intriguing. Okay, look at archived from a previous era? Both. Oh, intriguing. Okay, look at that. Breaking news. Okay, good. I'll have to follow up with you as the months progress and find out how that project progresses. It would have happened by now, and it would have been ongoing.

And again, it's a very complicated story, i i really can't get into it because uh for a couple of legal reasons as well but put it like this google is what stopped it and google's motto is we will do no evil and google is the most evil corporation on earth bar none uh that's probably, I'm guessing, due to the power they wield as a gateway for many to the World Wide Web. Exactly.

It's probably, and I'm not defending them in the least, because I know exactly what you're saying, if they've damaged your business efforts on a dime, it sounds like a tweak to an algorithm can basically blow up an entire business plan, because they have that power. blow up an entire business plan because they have that power. They put an entire industry out of work within 30 days. And it was 586 companies in 22 countries around the world employing thousands and thousands of people.

And it sounds like this got you in... is it you and Jesse's business venture that might have been affected by this Google change? Well, let's just say a lot of business ventures were affected by that. Well, I'm sorry to hear that. Yeah, it's tough when you got no control over something that, you know, takes people and their smartphones and the internet and directs them through the web to where you... We will do no evil. Yeah, right. I guess they should change that motto there okay yeah maybe so a few months ago gene i follow you on social media i follow you and i think this might have been on twitter but i also follow you on facebook and you have these interesting posts you you create and one day somebody must have been maybe it was like radio day or something. And everybody in radio, I follow a lot of people in radio.

I follow not everybody. It was like documenting a list of all the stations they worked at. And you did this. Yes, I remember that, yeah. And I said, I'm going to copy this now because one day Gene will return to the studio. And then COVID hit and I realized we're going to do this on Zoom. But still, I'm going to go through it and then say something, if you will, about each stop. There's a few more memorable stops where I might have some follow-up questions.

Okay, hit me up. Chum AM and FM. Sounds like that's your first stop in radio. Believe it or not, it was. I was attending the radio and television bachelor of arts program at Ryerson University, class of 78. And I was desperately trying to get into any radio station in Toronto to work as an intern or to run and get coffee or anything like that. And, boy, I tried and tried and tried. And it was just, you know, I mean, how old was I? 18, I think. And I couldn't even get past a lobby door. I did decide to stop phoning people. And I showed up in the lobby of Chum at 1331 Yonge Street, where I insisted I had an appointment to see Dick Smythe. it, I had an appointment to see Dick Smythe. Now, Dick had been out for a liquid lunch and came back in. And the receptionist working at the switchboard, imagine that, said, this person here had an appointment with you. And he was, yeah, come in, come in anyway. And I had some documentary

that I had done, and he put it up on the reel-to-reel tape player and he started listening to it he said oh it's not bad not bad all right listen well yeah we could use you in the newsroom you know getting tape taping speeches you know how to work with tape so suddenly I was an intern in the chum newsroom working with all of these legends, Jay Nelson was the morning man. And eventually it led to me doing the overnight news, which was 60 seconds long at from one o'clock in the morning to five o'clock in the morning. We called it news in a minute with nothing in it. The, the overnight disc jockey was a guy by the name of John Roberts, who's now with Fox News. Wow. The morning man was Jay Nelson. The morning newscaster was Dick Smythe. Brian Thomas was the morning newsman

on Chum FM. And eventually, so basically Dick Smythe was the guy who really taught me how to write. And Brian Thomas was the guy who taught me how to deliver. And eventually I got to do the Sunday morning news on Chum FM. You have to understand, like, I was like 19 years old. There was no way I should have been doing that, but I was. And when I graduated, J. Robert Wood, Mr. Wood, probably one of the greatest minds in Canadian radio, said, you know, you're never going to make money working here. You need to leave and come back and become a really big threat. And that's how you're going to make money. And he said, we want to keep you in the chain. So from there, I got my first full-time,

full-time job. So you have to understand, like I was like working at Chum and Chum FM like overnight and all, but I was also attending school and doing my assignments. And I literally most days slept like about 90 minutes. But then he got me a job at CFRA up in Ottawa, where I was the evening newscaster. And occasionally, I would host the campus club for Coca Cola. And the host of the campus club for CocaCola was Nils Lofgren, who recently passed away at CFRB, who was helping people with their addictions. So that was an interesting stop there as well. He used a different name on the radio, right? He had a radio name. Yeah, I just can't think of what it is right now.

Yeah, Mark Wiseblood is speaking of the devil. Mark, that's Mark Elliott. He had a radio name. Yeah, I just can't think of what it is. Yeah, Mark Wiseblood is speaking of the devil. Mark, that's Mark Elliott. Right, right. He memorialized Mark Elliott on Toronto Mic'd when he did his recap. Another reason why it's important you listen to what Mark has to say, because I don't think many other places paid Mark Elliott to do justice with his passing. Yeah, I agree. Back to Chum real quick, to give a little perspective to the young'uns out there,

how big a station that was in the late 70s. Like 1050 Chum. Am I right that Jim Van Horn was still there when you were there? Did you overlap with him? Yes, he was. If I remember the lineup, it was Jay Nelson. And after Jay Nelson, it was John Gilbert,

who did a talk show until noon hour. after jay nelson it was john gilbert who did a talk show until noon hour and then i believe it was terry steel from noon till three i don't recall who was doing afternoon drive there was i mean there was a lot of really really big was ashby there because this is ashby's time there right uh yeah but he he wasn't i don't think he was he the morning man at chum fm at that point i'm not sure no pete and geats were yeah pete and geats were the the morning guys oh that's 104.5 right we're talking 1050 okay okay gotcha gotcha gotcha yeah i mean all in the same building right so right yeah absolutely no just uh that i know jim van horn good fotm he uh he was a rock jock there on 1050 chum in the late 70s.

So I just want to shout him out. But then you go to Ottawa, and you have a couple of stops in Ottawa to put in some reps, I guess, improve your game? Yeah, at CFRA, that was a lot of fun. And then, is it another Ottawa? So is CFRW

and CFRA, is that like a affiliate? No, CFRW is in Winnipeg. So I went to CFRW Q94 in Winnipeg. And being the real smart Canadian that I am, I moved to Winnipeg at the end of November. And within a couple of weeks, it was minus 15 million degrees. I almost died walking home from the radio station one night. I took a, I took a wrong turn and it was dark. I was doing afternoon drive at Q94. I thought I was taking a shortcut. It was, it was like, it was like minus 38 degrees

and at minus 40 Fahrenheit and Celsius meet. And at minus 38, that's where, um, antifreeze starts to turn into a slurpee. And I was so cold and lost that I actually went up to a house on some street in Winnipeg and I knocked on the door and I said, can I please come in? I'm lost and I'm about to freeze to death. And I'm not kidding. And the guy brought me into his house and made me a coffee and drove me home. Like, seriously, I was so cold. I knocked on a stranger's door and i was

just honest i said i'm about to die here yeah even just frostbite right that doesn't take long for even frostbite that's uh yeah you don't realize how dangerous it is to be exposed to that kind of element so you had to get yourself out of winnipeg it sounds like yeah yeah so i uh i didn't have anywhere to go and i quit i just left. I couldn't handle the cold weather anymore. And very nice people there, but Winnipeg just wasn't my kind of town. So I left. And you came back home? Yep. And I guess this is where people like myself, you know, discover you exist, Gene. It's Q107. This is your next stop. So how do you get into, how do you get the gig at Q? Q107, this is your next stop.

So how do you get the gig at Q? Well, when I was working at Chum FM, I, at a couple of events, met Gary Slate. And he knew of me. I knew of him. And he was going from working in sales to being the program director at Q107. And we were at some event, and he asked me what I was doing. And I said, I really need a gig. And so he invited me in to do a news edition and I got hired to be a reporter throughout the week and to do the Saturday and Sunday morning news there was a guy by the name of Dave Budge who most recently was running City TV he and a woman woman, Valerie Ambrose, at that point,

were doing the morning news with Scruff Connors. And I filled in for Dave Budge. And I just was, you know, very conscious about the fact that I should really be very, very good during this vacation period. And, you know, I mean, it's, it's not very nice, but Dave got told that he was going on the weekend and I was going to be on with Scruff. And that started the whole thing at Q107 with, it started Scruff and Gene, and that was five years. And then it was, gosh, for a little while, I guess it was Steve Anthony and Gene. And then it was Brother Jake. And eventually it led to Jesse and Gene. And Brother Jake is a very good friend.

And for last year, after Roundhouse Radio fell apart in Vancouver, Jake and I were doing a Saturday morning show on TSN 1040 in Vancouver. So it was nice to reunite with him and get back together again. But you know what, with all these guys in radio, I've always had really good relationships with people. I've never burnt any bridges. And I've remained friends with everybody that I've worked with. Well, good, because I can see that these people keep coming around in your professional life. Well, they're all friends.

Right. And like Bill Carroll, for example, right? You were working with him at Q during this. No, I hired Bill for his very first big Toronto job. And he kept giving me audition tapes and I kept telling him he sounded awful. But he kept bringing tapes back and to the point where I thought he was good enough. And I gave him the weekend job.

And after about two weeks, Gary Slate came to me and said, fire this guy. He's terrible. So I sat down and I worked with Bill and worked with Bill and worked with Bill. And, you know, eventually I'm living in Southern California and, you know, who's doing middays at KFI. Right. Bill Carroll. Hi, Bill Carroll. And during this COVID-19 thing, I've been actually back on CFRA with Bill Carroll every morning at 9.20 doing a positive COVID heroes story on CFRA. So what goes around comes around. Yeah, no doubt, for sure.

That's very, very cool. Now, Jesse and Gene, though, the first iteration of you guys is here in this stint with Q107. And was it great chemistry off the get-go? What a Toronto tandem. When I think of morning radio, you know I work with Humble and Fred and I think they're fantastic.

But I'm the one who, when you were on their show this morning, I stuck in the notes the open question. Is there a Humble and Fred without Jesse and Gene? Because Jesse and Gene, you guys, this is like 86 when you guys start. Is that right? 86 or so?

I don't know. Something like that. Something like that. So you guys were on the air at Q for a little bit. And then they try to, in my opinion, that kind of is an impetus for Danny Kingsbury. I think it was Danny who helped bring Humble from Montreal and create the Humble and Fred duo that went for, you know, is still going today, to be honest. So it's just an open question if Humble and Fred would exist if there wasn't a Jesse and Gene in this market. Well, I was working during the morning show with Jake Edwards and the program director at that time.

Well, I don't know. I don't think he got along with Jake. I think Jake was a little too popular. And Jake was transferred over back to a station in Winnipeg. And it wasn't a very popular move at the time within the station. But this guy was flown in from Calgary. And they sat us in a room on a Sunday afternoon and said, can you guys work together? So we talked and yeah, I thought this is an interesting guy. He thought the same.

So lo and behold, about a week later, it's the Jesse and Jean show. And it was absolutely the worst radio since the beginning of radio at Signal Hill. And it was just terrible. I mean, it was awful, awful, awful. Gary Slate, the program director, sat us in the room in his office and said, he said to Jesse, he goes, this doesn't sound like the tape you sent me. And he said to me, he goes, you've worked with lots of people. And he goes, you just sound terrible. And he gave us, I think it was $300. And he said, take this money, go out and get drunk

this afternoon and find out what's wrong. So we did. And we came in the next day. And from that day on, it was magic. I knew exactly what Jesse was going to say before he said it. And he knew exactly what I was going to say before I said it. And it just absolutely clicked. So that's the best $300 a radio station owner could ever spend. How did it click? Do you have any explanation there? No, I think we just had to get to know each other and laugh a little bit and i think we were both uptight about a new situation

but it did click after that and it was um it was just onward and upward from there and so a lot of fun you know i think the thing that we both share in common is the fact that uh we're preparation kings and radio to do a good radio show. It was all about preparation, preparation, preparation, local, local, local, and really working around the clock, being cognizant of your competition and constantly wanting to beat them. And at 107, I guess the key competitor would be at that time because Chum FM had already changed.

At that point, they were already changing into like... Chumm was always the enemy always okay i hear you i hear you scum fm is that what they were called i don't know no no we didn't but chum fm we always considered them the enemy we didn't really consider cf and why the enemy back then because they weren't quite yet up on the cn tower and they were considered sort of an indie station by most people but of course you know cfmy came into their own cfmy was just one of the great radio stations of not only canada but the world why do you and i remember listening to you jesse jesse and gene on q107 and i still remember

jokes about am radio like i think jesse would go hard at am like uh like you know am was the land of i don't know. I can't remember the terminology anymore, but the sense was, uh, losers are on AM radio and here we are on QN07. But then I, so I just remembered those statements when it was announced that you guys were going to be on 680 CFTR somewhere. Evelyn Macko, I guess, yeah, you can see this. So this is a, uh, an old 680 CFTR. I don't know what this becomes. I'm not going to open it, but I don't know.

It becomes something. I think it's a sponge. A sponge, right, maybe. So Evelyn gave me this. So I guess this is a long-winded way of saying, did CFTR make you an offer you couldn't refuse? Is that what happened there? Bingo.

Bingo. Bingo was his name-o. So you're off to CFTR. Again, reunited with Dick Smythe at CFTR, right? Not at first. We were doing afternoon drive, and eventually we replaced Tom Rivers and became the last morning show at CFTR before they fired us all and went all news. Right. So you're the, so yes, you were afternoons, Tom Rivers in the morning. I talked to lots of people, you know, from Larry Fedorek and you name it, who worked with Tom Rivers, and Tom Rivers is a great broadcaster. I loved listening to him, but it sounded like he was not a friend of management.

Like maybe he was tough to control and restrain. I don't know. I know you didn't work with him directly, but that's the sense I get from, well, you know, I, I, I knew Tom very,

very well and just absolutely love the guy. And I believe he, and the guy who was running the show back then, Sandy Sanderson and Sharon Taylor got along very, very well. I think it was a numbers thing. Really? I don't really think it was Tom's attitude because the guy is an absolute

professional. And, uh, you guys take over mornings at 680 CFTR. And then, of course, they go all news. So that means Dick gets to stay. But Jesse and Gene have to go because it's going to be all news now. I know you did go into great detail about this in episode 212. So I won't make you tell the whole story.

But share with us just how quickly you land at am 6 40 after you get or let go by cftr um the next morning at 10 o'clock yeah wow that's now now it wasn't the same money and the morning show that we took over had a 0.2 share. And the guy who was doing the morning show was very, very upset that we got it. And so we just did our thing. And because they were not paying us the kind of money we were making at CFTR, well, nobody was back then.

I mean, it was really good. How good? Would you tell us? Only because people have come on the show and sort of told us about the salaries, people like Humble and Fred have disclosed, like, would you share Peter Gross and John Gallagher have shared, would you share what you were making at CFTR? No, I don't think that's important. But we,

we were offered a lot less money, but we were offered a very big ratings bonus. And it was kind of like if you get a one share, you get $10,000. And if you get a two share, you get $20,000 and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And it started taking bigger jumps the higher the share. And if we got a seven share, we got a $100,000 bonus. So we started working there in June. The next big rating period was in the fall, and we got a 7.2 share. And at 7.15 in the morning, we had a larger quarter hour than Chum FM. So suddenly, they had to give each of us a $100,000 bonus check, which was, believe me, not in the works

or the budget. However, it did make the station successful, and they could finally charge a lot of money for advertising, so they brought in a lot of money. And it was a very unique station, because it was Jesse and I in the morning, followed by Bill Carroll doing a talk show at noon. Jesse and I in the morning, followed by Bill Carroll doing a talk show at noon. Oh, we lost you for a moment. What was it at noon? Sorry, because you did cut out for a moment. What happened at noon? Tarzan Dan did a countdown show for one hour. Then it was back to talk and a lot of other stuff. And then Tarzan Dan in the evening. It was it was really almost very, very eclectic, bordering on sort of like a college radio station, but with people who were more talented and professional than students at a college radio station.

And it didn't have a real specific format, but it was a very neat time. We had a lot of fun. And Danny Kingsbury was the program director. It was a very neat time. We had a lot of fun. And Danny Kingsbury was the program director. And I remember when we were hired, he said, go on, do whatever you want to do. Play music.

Don't play music. It's up to you. Just don't break the law. That's freedom you don't get anymore on Terrestrial Radio. Well, but they had no listeners. It was a 0.2 share. That means that the parents of the guy doing the show were the only listeners. It was a 0.2 share. That means that the parents of the guy doing the show were the only listeners. It's possible they're getting closer to that these days. I don't know. I don't get the book, but it's amazing that you took them to the seventh share in a pretty short period of

time. That's the power of your brand, right? Your reputation in the city. It was perfect timing. the power of your brand, right? Your reputation in the city. Well, it was perfect timing. Wow. So what happened to the Jesse and Gene show on AM640? Like, why does it end on that station? You know, I've never really figured it out.

I went on to do some talk radio. Jesse was doing some other stuff. But then we were reunited back on Q107 after like about a year. Okay, before we get you back to Q, because this is, of course, this is the time where you come to Q and you get replaced by Howard Stern. So we're going to, that's the next stop for Jesse and Gene. But you did stick around 640, right? So Jesse leaves, is that right? And you stick around 640 to partake in the talk?

Yeah, I did a show for a little while with Jane Houghton in the morning, who I had previously worked with at Q107 doing a show called Barometer. Right, right. I remember Barometer. And that's from an era where foreground programming was necessary for CRTC compliance?

Yes, you had to have spoken word content for some unknown reason. Right, because I've had many chats of scott turner about all the shows they introduced uh on cfny etc to comply with that uh foreground now there's a there's a name in broadcasting who a person who does not get enough accolades is scott turner man he's brilliant i've all you know i've never met scott turner and I've always been a big, big fan. You got me, man. In fact, just prior to COVID interrupting things dramatically here for everyone, he was coming back here to – we do this thing where every decade,

he kicks out jams and talks about the stations he worked at in great, great detail. It's amazing stuff. He's got that whole Energy 108 pedigree after the CFMI stuff. And he was at Flow 93. Honestly, you're right. Completely underappreciated. And more people need to know about Scott Turner and how fantastic he is. Awesome.

Glad we could shout out Scott there. Even though he kept changing how you spell his name. I think it's S-C-O-T right now. It's radio. It doesn't matter. I know. But I know David Marsden had him at S-K-O-T for a while back in the day. And there's somebody else, Marsden, man.

He's just incredible. What can you say? What can you not say about David Marsden? Did you miss him at 104.5? He had already gone, right, by the time you started? Yes, yeah. And then you never did work at 102.1 right right no never had the opportunity the mars bar back to 640 before we get to uh somebody

named ross mcduff on uh and i i i uh i'll just read what ross said and then you'll i know you're gonna answer it appropriately but uh ross mcduff says remember when you co-hosted with that lady who eventually got her own tv show? Those were some awkward moments. This is Ross talking. But I did hear from other people who said they were curious about the Jane Hodden, Jean Valaitis show. Maybe you could address Ross's statement

and talk about that show because you're both very talented broadcasters, but maybe you lacked, is it possible you lacked that great chemistry you had with jesse when you were teamed with jane well i don't know what he means by awkward moments because jane and i were just reunited doing a talk show like we had done before and we were good friends and we are still good friends and honestly um i'm i'm not sure what he's talking about so ross you'll have to tweet at gene later with the follow-up. Yeah, I really don't know.

It was a different kind of a show. It wasn't the Jesse and Gene show again. So maybe he mistook a change in attitude and seriousness for what he may have interpreted as being awkward. But no, there wasn't anything awkward about it, no. And as you know, a lot of people don't like change so you know they would think that would be quite the i would think you'd get some culture shock if you went from hearing uh gene and jesse to gene and jane i think that was rather different show but now uh one more thing before we get to the cue uh that album we referred to earlier the jesse and gene album i think it was 94 or so uh uh there's some uh people remember

uh am640 you guys kind of went at management for not promoting it enough i'm just curious how much of that was bit and stick and how much of that was real uh did you feel they should have promoted the album more i think management at that point in time wanted to have a greater say what went on one of the albums. And we just sort of put it together with Sony music by ourselves. Um, but, uh, no,

I, I, them promoting it. No, I think we promoted it a lot in our, in our show. I think they just wanted to have more direction in, in where,

where it was going. Gotcha. Gotcha. So you're at q107 we opened the show by kind of talking about uh a program director who we didn't name but uh and i understand that's uh because he's no longer with us is this uh we don't want to speak ill of the uh of the oh his name is pat cardinal okay i wasn't sure because you i noticed you didn't name him and i thought maybe we weren't naming him so okay so so I don't know, you know, uh, he put,

it's like this, like I said, uh, about when he came in, he came in from Edmonton, he wanted to make his mark. Uh, he was very forceful in his arrival. Um, he was extremely critical of us and I guess we got a little critical of him and it wasn't the greatest situation. Now later in life I wasn't there but Jesse met up with him at some sort of a industry convention in Toronto and you know he he apologized to Jesse for the way the whole thing went down. So you know bygones are bygones you know it's you're coming into a big market from a small market and you want to make your mark and you know you want to make people think you're coming into a big market from a small market and you want to make your mark and you,

you know, you want to make people think you're the, the newest, best thing. And, and you know, and that's what he did. It's odd,

no hard feelings at all. No. And it's almost like, I almost get the sense that there's an old expression you kind of hear in sales or in business where it's like, no one got fired for hiring IBM. There might've been a sense of like going big, the most famous radio jock on the continent,

bringing him in. There's such potential upside that he might have just seen the stars in his eyes and wanted that possibly, I would guess. Putting myself in his shoes, which I probably shouldn't do. But okay, so you guys are replaced by Howard Stern. And then I want

to get you to 1050, but you did a show on 1010 CFRB before you moved on. Yeah, Afternoon Drive. Cool. You've got quite the resume. I'll just say we're almost at the end of the Toronto part, but that's quite the resume, Gene. Do you ever step back and say,

like with pride and say, I did that? Are you proud of your legacy in this market? Well, yeah, sure I am. I still wish I was a part of this market and I've attempted to be a part of this market and I continue to do that all the time as well. Okay. So let's, uh, let's, let's do the team 10 50 part. Cause you've worked with so many people I'm friendly with and consider friends here. Uh, so how did your move, uh, to the 10 50, sorry, I guess it was called the team. It was syndicated sports programming across the country, the team 10 50. And you were a, a, a member of the day one on-air staff. What can you share with us about how you ended up there? Like, did they reach a tappy on the shoulder and say, hey, you interested?

How did that happen? Well, I was working at CFRB. And prior to working at CFRB, I was very, very good friends with the guy who was the program director. But as the program director at CFRB, he had missed a lock on me and just really hated what I was doing. And it just got to the point where I couldn't work with him anymore. And so I'm very big on if things aren't going well in life, because life is short, that you shouldn't go into a job that you can't stand every day so I quit to get away from him and I was lucky enough to get the job at the team radio network which was you know Chum AM and I was lucky enough to work with Brian Henderson and we were actually on the air together when 9-11 happened and stayed on the air from the beginning of 9-11 right through till four o'clock in the afternoon when Jim Van Horn came on because he was the afternoon host.

So we were broadcasting right across the country in all the team radio stations from Vancouver to Halifax describing the unfolding events in New York on 9-11. Could you elaborate a little more? That's like that is the biggest news event since you started in radio and to be on the air live when that was going down. Can you share with us a little more about like, what was that like? Like, I can't, I can't imagine, but share with us a little bit what it's like to cover 9-11 live for a chain of stations across the country. Well, it, I mean, it was probably the ultimate event, but I did have some history. I was one of the first people on the air at Q107 when John Lennon died. I was on the air when Terry Fox had to stop his run in Thunder Bay. Jane Hott and I were on the air at Q107 when the Challenger spaceship exploded.

We were doing barometer. I've been on the air for a lot of different things, but 9-11 certainly was really, really big. It was a little more personal in that I had spent a lot of time in New York City. I had a lot of friends who worked for Cantor Fitzgerald. So I was literally on the air when one of the towers collapsed. And I feared that a lot of my friends who worked for Cantor Fitzgerald were in that building. And I just didn't know. Subsequent to that day, though, I learned that they all died.

Oh, my goodness. I'm so sorry. That's that personal angle. I can't imagine. But you're a pro. I guess you were able to deliver the news as you learned it. Deliver the news as you learned it. And I'm sure a master storyteller, much, much, much better than I was. But I think I'm okay at telling stories.

And I think when the two of us were put together, the chemistry on that day bonded a friendship that lasted for years right up until he died. There was just something about being on the air with a fellow broadcaster describing the events of the day that nobody could have ever imagined. But yeah, we formed a very, very unique bond and a very, very unique friendship. And whenever we would get together subsequent to that, there was something really special there. He was a great guy. Well, let me share a quick story with you, which is in the mid to late 80s, I used to phone a number. A phone number which would then have a recording of the Brian Henderson sports commentary from 1050. And I would listen to it every day.

I would listen to it on the phone. This was something I did because I like to hear the sports commentaries yeah yeah no he was uh his commentaries were amazing he was a really he was a crazy crazy nutty guy but very very talented and you know there's a fine edge between brilliant and crazy as they say and and um he uh he walked that edge very carefully wow now you mentioned jim van horn was there uh stephen brunt was part of the team there. Paul Romanuk. I'm just going to name a few more names that people who listen to this show

know very well. Mike Richards. Yep. And Mike, Mike is one of the most talented guys in the country. Mike. Yeah. And Mike is on the air at Saga.

I believe it's 960. Yeah. In Toronto. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. It's the morning show there, yeah. And Barry Davis, too, who I believe came over to the Team 1050. Wasn't he also there, right? Barry Davis. Yeah, sure was.

And he's got a show on that Saga station. And another gentleman who came over from the Fan 590 to the Team 1050, who's actually somebody I've been trying to get a hold of for years, but just this week, Jerry Howarth finally put me in touch with him, and he's my guest tomorrow,

so this is a way to promote tomorrow's show, but ask you about this gentleman, Scott Ferguson. Yeah, well, Scott Ferguson and I worked in the Trump newsroom, and Scott prepared all the sportscasts for other people to read at the time. And so, yeah, we worked together, um, when we were both very, very young and both in college as interns and chum, and then reunited at the team when he was doing sports,

really, really super talented guy, just so knowledgeable in baseball. Yeah. And it'll be interesting to catch up with him tomorrow because yeah, good guy, man. Okay, good. That's tomorrow. So everybody tune in tomorrow morning. We're going to talk to Scott Ferguson. Now, this story here, I've talked to Brunt about it, Van Horn. I've talked to Romanuk, Richards. Just tell us about the end of the Team 1050, if you will. Well, I had been involved in a...

Jesse and I and a lot of other people had been involved in what I like to call a gangbang firing. That was at CFTR, where they said we were having a meeting in a hotel room and the entire announce staff was there. And they told us they were going to all news and we were all fired. So I sort of knew the hints and what to look for in case this was going to happen. And I remember I started warning people that we were all going to get fired and everybody was just laughing at me. And even at the meeting, I was saying to these guys, I said, look, guys, I said, like, I don't know why you're all laughing at me,

but we're all about to get fired. And guys were just like, listen to the light. Then we all did get fired. And I will just remember one thing about that day above everything else. And that's Paul Romanoff jumping up, his eyes bulging out of his head, screaming and yelling at Jimmy Waters and this other guy who was the program director, whose name I don't even remember. He's from Halifax.

And he just went like ballistic. Like I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head. And I thought he was going to run and try to grab Jimmy Waters and strangle him to death. Wow. I mean, he just, it was just,

it was like amazing. And everybody was looking at me going, how did you know? And I'm going, this guy is. Anyway, I just got my, my little severance package and went home you had seen that movie before so yeah you knew how it ended but i think what trick people right i think if i remember mike go back to so romey quit a good gig at tsn for that opportunity so i think if you were a couple people right yeah and that i't remember, but approximately 18 months

before they pulled the plug on the team, I believe. It was a pretty short run before they said, we're going back to the golden oldies or whatever. Yeah, it was a real mess. I think it was Mike Richards who said that this mass firing, at CFTR when they did the mass firing for the non-news people, I guess it was at a boardroom or something like where wasn't this it was in a hotel meeting hotel meeting room but this one was at was it at a restaurant because mike richards talks about buying drinks and then having to pay for them no no it was uh it was done in the chum building

and then everybody had to leave and they had security guards and much music there i think i didn't go with the guys but i think a lot of them went and had drinks afterwards all right well i just went home i'd been fired before so right you knew that you knew the drill now okay so that that essentially is the end of your uh toronto radio career because you is this where you decide to relocate leave uh your hometown and uh live elsewhere right and you end up on the west coast so tell us a little bit about that because you were uh on episode 212 you were in california yeah well i my first stop was hong kong and i lived in hong kong for about two, and I was working in private industry. And then I was from Hong Kong to Dallas, where I ran a company in Dallas for a gentleman out of St. Louis. It was very successful. So I was offered a job in Southern California. I was

offered a job by the guy by the name of Bill Farley, whose claim to fame was he was the CEO of Fruit of the Loom and invented the Fruit of the Loom guys. And I ran his supplement company, a company that sold vitamins and in the direct sales industry. And I sort of got tired of working for bosses who like to scream and yell a lot. So I started to consult companies in that business. And that's what I did for a number of years, but always wanted to get back into radio. And your next stop at radio is Roundhouse Radio. I guess it was two weeks ago, approximately, maybe three. It's all blurred together now.

Yeah, Jody on. Jody Vance was on. Yeah, we talked a lot about roundhouse radio 98.3 and it sounds like that was a community station of sorts maybe a smaller signal but uh almost how they got how they got their license and the license was uh don schaefer led the investors to get the license and i worked worked for Don at Q107. He was also the general manager when I was at Q107 for a little while after the Slates left. And a friend of mine in Kelowna, who's a very good radio announcer, said, Roundhouse Radio is looking for a morning man and a midday host. So I phoned up Shafe and I said, I hear you're looking for a morning host. And he said, yeah, who do you know? And I said, me. And he said, I can't afford you. And I said, well, let's just make it work. I said, you want to fly me out? And he said, we don't have any money to fly people out. And it was a low powered station to serve specifically the city of Vancouver. So I listened to the radio station. And it was basically tree huggers

interviewing tree huggers. And I think their only audience were the parents of the tree huggers interviewing the tree huggers. And I said, let me come in and do a real news morning radio show. I'll have an opinion, but I'm not going to be an angry white guy. But I'll also do some funny things as well. And he said, okay, so we agreed on a price. And I said, when do you want me to start? And he said, two weeks ago. So, um, lo and behold, like four days later, I'm in Vancouver and, uh, and I start, uh, the, the morning show. And they also at that same time hired Jody Vance to come on right after me at 10 o'clock. Wow. Two big names. And it, well, I certainly changed the dynamic of the morning show around.

And Jody certainly changed the dynamic of middays around. And, you know, without patting us on the back, I'll pat Jody on the back any time. But I think we were instrumental in changing the dynamic of the radio station and attracting more listeners. Unfortunately, the investors who claimed they were in for the long haul got cold feet and decided that they wanted to get out after like about two years or so. And you know what, Honestly, in terms of my solo career, that was my favorite gig ever. And sorry it had to come to an end so abruptly,

but it's tough business these days for the big signals, let alone the small signals. So yeah, too bad the investors pulled the plug on that. But having you and Jody, that's instant credibility for a radio station, for sure. and vancouver is a very very very interesting market indeed i i really love vancouver i love the love the city a lot did you consider i know you've you've come home now for for a stretch is there anything that drew you home or did you did you think did you uh did you just choose to come back home for a while like did you consider just staying in vancouver, I did stay in Vancouver for another year after the radio station stopped. And again,

I said, Jesse and I had a project going, but thanks to the folks at Google, that got sidetracked. I'll be polite. And generally, when things kind of end and it's just not happening, everybody goes home. So home for me is Toronto. And I decided that, you know what, I was going to be reflective about what I was going to do because things had fallen apart basically. So I got in my car and I drove across Canada. I really, really took my time.

One of the great things about driving across Canada when you have time is stopping and really seeing what everything's about. I think everybody in our country, I don't know if they have the time to do it, but I truly believe that everybody in our country should drive the TransCanada Highway right across Canada. It's the most amazing thing. And one of the great things I discovered was Lake Superior. And Lake Superior goes on forever and forever and forever and forever. And it was a very relaxing, calming drive. And like I said, it really took my time getting back to Toronto. I think I took like 28 days. I stopped everywhere. I stopped so often along the shores of Lake Superior and just had a really, really nice drive back into the city.

Sounds like it was almost spiritual for you. I would say so. Yeah. Well, I'm a person who I've been practicing meditation for like a long, long, long time before people even talked about it. And I think with this COVID virus thing, while people are freaking out about lockdowns and this and that and the other thing, I felt that my time throughout this lockdown

has been very enjoyable and extremely calming. We've got to get you on Ben Murgy's podcast. He's doing a spirituality podcast called Not That Kind of Rabbi. And he, he just spoke with Tara Sloan, who is a practicing Buddhist and like yourself, meditates on a regular basis. Well,

it's, you know, you know, it's like, I don't tend to make a big deal out of it. It's, it's kind of like this. Most people have a shower in the morning, you know, and as do I. And I think

if you want to have a little bit of balance in your life, doing something like meditation, it's not for everybody. And it's difficult to learn how to do. But I think it does bring a bit of calmness into your life. So that when we're faced with something like the C-19 virus, you don't end up freaking out about being locked in your house. And I find it interesting that most people say something like, I'm stuck at home. I'm stuck at home. And I find that rather weird because I say, man, I love being at home. I'm not stuck at home. And just imagine that. You spend all this money on your house and furniture and property and stuff.

And when you have to spend time there, you're suddenly saying, well, I'm stuck here. No, no, no. You're not stuck there. Enjoy your time. Enjoy being alone with yourself or with your family or something else. It's not about being stuck at home. Attitude is everything, right? You changed that word stuck to safe.

And you present it as I'm safe at home. And it completely flips the whole mentality. And I love being at home. And you know what? You're right. And the word is mindset. Everything in life is mindset. And I purposely do things every day in my life.

I'm on social media, not because I like it. I truly believe that social media is the feces stained toilet bowl of the internet. And if you have a lot of followers, you're simply the most popular person at the lunch table of a mental hospital. But it keeps my writing skills sharp. And I write a lot of comedy. I've written a lot of comedy throughout the years, and I've sold it. So I mean, I guess I'm being serious with you, because everybody's serious with Mike, because you're like everybody's therapist. But you know, comedy is my thing. And making people laugh is my thing. And that's what I do. Well, not everyone's serious with me. You should listen to the Andrew Crystal episode from last week and you'll,

you'll hear a little different slant there. What's Andrew Crystal and the singer. I forget her name now. Oh, Sass Jordan. No, not Sass. This was a couple of years ago. Oh, Molly Johnson. Yeah. Molly, who I know well. Molly actually sang at one of my weddings. I've been married more than once.

And you know what? I'm sorry. I only listened to a bit of that podcast, but something went sideways there, Mike. Oh, I know. I know. I know. And I've been not anymore. I'm like you in the heart condition.

You don't think about it anymore. I don't think about Molly Johnson anymore. But for a while afterwards, I literally was dissecting it. Where did I go wrong? And I replay it back in my head. It became a little bit of an issue where I was trying to figure out. I had done it a few hundred times and all of a sudden this happened. It hasn't happened since, by the way. So I've come to the conclusion I caught her on a bad day is the conclusion I've come to. Yeah. Well, I think you're like many broadcasters here. You know, you put on a brave face, but our feelings get hurt very easily and we never admit it. That's right. And I'm going to ask you about the last person you worked with professionally on the air in Vancouver, who's somebody I listened to because I did many a champ. I was a big fan of the champ. I'm going to get to this gentleman in a moment.

I'm going to encourage Eugene and everybody listening to us right now to go to garbage day.com slash Toronto Mike, because garbage day ends the guesswork related to the collection of waste and recycling subscribers. You don't have to worry about missing a collection or figuring out what bin to put out at the curb. I really enjoy these messages. I get a text once a week.

It reminds me what to put out and it's just, just cool. And you'll thank me later, but go to garbage day.com slash Toronto Mike to do that. I also want to welcome Barb and the good people at CDN technologies, the newest sponsors of Toronto Mike. If you want tips for setting up a safe work-from-home network,

I encourage you to go to cdntechnologies.com slash WFH. That stands for work-from-home. And if you have any immediate IT needs, call Barb at 905 542 9759.

Gene, how is Brother Jake doing? Brother Jake is doing great. He's fully retired. See, like, you know, I was mentioning before that I have a lot of friends in the industry. Jesse and Brother Jake are two guys who I talk to almost every single day. Now, Jesse and I text back and forward. And it's interesting about Jesse and I text back and forward. And it's interesting about Jesse and I texting back and forward. If we were to publish the texts that we have gone back and locked up and put in some sort of psychiatric facility because the texts are so bad and so i put it like this right when when people die

jesse and i used to have a feature called dialing for dead people and it would really infuriate people because somebody would die. And it would be in the news that morning. And we would say, okay, you know, Toronto Mike died, you know, let's do dialing for dead people. And what would happen is the phone would just ring and ring and ring. Now, one of the people who became a big fan of our show was Jay Nelson. who became a big fan of our show was Jay Nelson. And before Jay died, Jay used to call me a lot and would give me jokes and would have suggestions for phone calls because Jay used to do a feature on 1050 Chum called Hello Toronto, which was one of the original phone phone out call like prank calls in Canadian radio history. So he was a big, big fan of our show.

And we had him on our morning show a couple of times, once at CFTR and another at AM640. And he said to us guys, he said, when I die, he just seriously play dialing for dead people. So when he actually did die and it was the next morning, we did dialing for dead people. I mean, the two of us were crying in the studio because he was, he had become such a great friend of the show.

And here we were actually, and we said, Jay said that if he died, he wanted us to do dialing for dead people. So we did dialing for dead people, but getting back to Jake and Jesse, like the whole story is I talked to these guys every single day or text them back and forth every single day. And Jake and I are just the best of friends.

And Jesse and I are just the absolute best of friends. And I've just maintained all these friendships in the business. I just think these guys, it's a brotherhood and a sisterhood. And all of these people who I've worked with, I've tried to maintain that friendship and really talk to them. I love talking to these guys. Next time you're chatting with Brother Jake, let him know that there's a guy in Toronto

with a podcast who would love to chat him up. Sure will. I'll be talking to him this afternoon. Okay, don't forget to let him know. I won't forget. And I don't want to forget Johnny D. Don't worry. I know you're almost done.

Gene, you almost served your time. You're doing great. But Johnny D. had a quick question. Ask Gene about Lotto Max and lotteries. He was pretty wound up about them a few months. I don't want to wind you up again, but do you have a statement you'd like to make about Lotto Max and lotteries? I think I posted something on social media.

I'm very concerned about people who gamble. Like. I don't have a gambling problem or anything like that, so let me state that off the top. But you see a lot of people who can't afford to be spending money on lottery tickets and they spend them on lottery tickets when your chances of winning are very, very low and the money could probably be better spent on things that are really significant in your life. And I think there was a jackpot that was like $70 million and people were just buying tickets and the jackpot wasn't being won. And, you know, I just said, okay, you know, we it's, we got to stop this now. Like let let's end lotteries. Let's not give people false hope that they're going to win these things because your chances of winning a great big lottery, you know, are better than having a polar bear eating you in the middle of a street or something like that.

Right. But I don't know. I just. I am with you. I work closely with a gentleman who is public. But these questions you're asking me from people are just like, I'm just scratching my head. I know. I don't know.

You know what it is. Don't got me thing right there. If the question I think is unfair or uncool. No, it's not unfair. It's just like, I just never even thought that would have been a question. So we'll close with a question for me. And it's a trivia question for you, Jim Volaitis.

Let's see if you can get this. Can you name the first woman vj in much music history yes my ex-wife katherine mcclenahan see don't you think that's i don't think people know that i don't even think that's on the wikipedia like i think that's a a fun fact that you were married to the first woman vj in much music history that's right and we are still very good friends. Do you know, I know you know this, but to continue the fun fact, do you know who she was married to after you?

Yeah, Bill, good friend of mine. For the people listening. Oh, he was the big, tall, dumb guy on the TV show called Coach. Yeah, that's one big claim to fame. He's the big, dumb guy on Coach. But the second big claim to fame for a younger audience is he's the voice of Patrick Starr on SpongeBob SquarePants. Yeah. Well, when I was living in Southern California, those guys lived only about a 30-minute drive away from where I was living. And we would go visit them all the time. And I was at Catherine's 50th birthday party, Bill and I were good friends. And yeah, you know, you stay friends with people. Life's too short.

Gene, you're the key to so many fun facts I can drop on Toronto, Mike. Thanks so much for letting me do the proper Gene Vallaitis deep dive. Your next visit will be less intense. It'll be more fun for you. Okay. Well, thank you for inviting me on. It's a pleasure as always.

And congratulations on the fact that you keep growing and growing and growing and growing and growing and I still can't believe that Bob McCowan was not number 600 or 500. Oh, 500. Yeah, he missed his shot there. Whatever became of

him? I don't know. No, no, listen. Bob is an absolutely fantastic guy. I miss him on the radio. I am Bob's number one fan. He is the best. Well, I was a fan too. That's why I wanted him to be number 500. I am a fan, is what you're trying to say.

Have him on the show. I would love to have Bob McCowan on the show. And I'll give Jake a shout out for you as well. Thank you for having me today. Thank you, Gene. And that brings us to the end of our 637th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike.

Gene is at Gene Valaitis. Spelling Valaitis is a little tough, so I'll help you. S-M-I-T-H. Yes, it's Volitis has like an extra I in there. You'll figure it out. Google it. At Gene Volitis. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer.

Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. The Keitner Group are at The Keitner Group. CDN Technologies are at CDN Technologies. And Garbage Day, I know Gene's about to do this. You're going to do it too. GarbageDay.com slash Toronto

Mike. See you all tomorrow and my special guest is Scott Bergeson. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Rome Phone. Rome Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls. Visit RomePhone.ca to get started.