Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Gord Martineau: Toronto Mike'd #484

Episode Date: July 9, 2019

Mike chats with legendary CityTV news anchor Gord Martineau about his years at CityTV, the great personalities he worked with, his cameo in Dirty Work, why he's no longer on the air and much, much more.

City Pulse, everywhere. Sparky. Welcome to episode 484 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Propertyinthe6.com, Palma Pasta, Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair StickerU.com and Capadia LLP CPAs I'm Mike from TorontoMike.com and joining me is a man who needs no introduction. But he'll probably get one anyway.

Gord Martineau. Welcome, Gord. Thank you. You came all the way from downtown toronto yes i told you my flight was late here in tobaco but i made it well i have the helicopter pad out back for vips like yourself so and i know you know some flattery will get you everywhere so i told you before i press record that bluest eyes I've ever seen. Thank you. Just in the shirt.

Tell me you wore blue because you know what brings them out. No, not at all. It just happened to be the cleanest one in the closet. No method to the madness there. So thanks so much. You're one of the great Canadian gourds. I mean. Usually when you hear about someone named Gord in either in any kind of production,

be it a television production or a movie or something else he's an idiot i i think anytime now trust me anytime you've seen oh a fictional boy his name is gourd he's usually a moron yeah maybe you're right uh like my the first gourd in my life was g from Sesame street. Yeah. It was a Gordon. And of course the actor who played Arthur Carlson on WKRP was Gordon jump. Yeah. And then you got hit. All nerds. But then you got, uh, light foot.

Oh, Gordy. I know Gordy really well. He's a great guy. And, uh, Downey. Yep. And I'm going to do them all for you. Stellick. Do you know?

I like Gord Stellick. Yeah, we're buddies. Kind of buddies. Yeah, we see each other periodically, and I really respect and admire him. So there's some good Gords out there. Yes, but even he will admit that most Gords are nerds. Well, regardless, I'm just honored to have you here. You're a big tennis guy.

Are you watching Wimbledon? I am. Disappointed withonish's performance yesterday i mean he had this guy down two sets to one he was serving for the match in the in you know in the fourth set and dropped it and then dropped the fifth i actually was watching and he had yeah he was in command and i had to go do something else and then pay, is very good. He's got a lot of energy, and he's a never-say-die, just like Coco Gough. Never give up.

And that's it for Canadians, right? We're done. No, I think we have Gabriela Dabrowski in the doubles. Okay. But you get out on the court to play often? Not as often as I'd like, but I really love it. Yeah, it's a great game. I love tennis, too. But, yeah, I was hoping Milos could go a little deeper. Yeah, it's a great game. I love tennis too, but yeah,

I was hoping Milos could go a little deeper in this. He's a very nice man. I've met him a number of times, and he has, because of his size and the way he plays, has been plagued with injuries over the last several years. I don't think an injury was the problem yesterday, just a loss of concentration. As I've heard it said,

tennis is 98% mental and the rest is all in your head. That's right. That's well said. My little connection is Brian, who's a sponsor of the show. He's going to ask you a question in a moment when we get back to Montreal. But he's friends with Milos' father in Thornhill. So we were actually working on doing something with Milos on this show.

But, you know, he's always training. It's tough to get him. Yes. It's a hard life being a tennis player. And not only is the training extremely rigid, the number of matches you must play, you're all alone. You're not on a team. It's all on you all the time.

So you've got to be mentally very tough and of course on seinfeld it's another win for milo which is a good line all right let's let's do that let's get you back to montreal so uh actually let me go right now to brian's question so the next voice you hear actually belongs to brian gerstein from property in the six.com but he'll nicely set us up for the time machine back to Montreal. Hi, Gord. Brian Gerstein here. Sales representative with PSR Brokerage and proud sponsor of Toronto Might.

Lately, I've been doing lots of leases. Got two clients' condos at Yonge and Eglinton, one in Richmond Hill, and I'm listing one called Minto Westside, brand new, at Bafferson Front. Contact me for any rental or buy and sell needs you have at 416-873-0292. Gord, like me, you were born and raised in Montreal. You went to Halifax right after high school for two and a half years, came back to Montreal where you were the weekend anchor in your 20s on CFCF on Pulse, which I find astonishing at such a young age.

Was this normal back then, getting an opportunity like this so young? No. Also, we are both huge Expos fans, and I can't wait for their return to Montreal. I am actually playing at Jerry Park August 18th against Bill Lee, another former Expos in a charity softball game. Bill the Spaceman Lee. Did it bother you that Washington just played a game in Expos colors? I know it bugged me.

I treated it as a cash grab only and had nothing to do with honoring the Expos. I think baseball fans in Montreal are very thirsty to have a baseball team back there, be they called the Expos or whatever. It's unfortunate it didn't work out the first time. And I look, you know, I see Brian's point, but for me, any promotion is good promotion in terms of getting a team back there and getting recognition.

That's a good point. Like, it builds at least awareness, gets people talking about the possibility. I used to love Bill Lee. The only baseball pitcher I've ever seen who talked to the ball before he threw it. Very interesting guy. Yeah, he was a, well, that's Spaceman, I guess.

He was a bit of a... Bill the Spaceman Lee. Bit of a space cadet. But yeah, what else did Brian, what was the first part of his, oh, Montreal. Like, okay, so you were 22 years old and you were... Well, there's, you know, he's got some facts. Well, there's a lot of stuff left out.

Okay, let's hear it. So I left Montreal when I was 19 and got a job in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, which is part of the Halifax metro area. And they were foolish enough to give me a job because I didn't even know what a microphone looked like at that point. But I knew when I was 14 years old what I wanted to do. A lot of young people don't know what they want to do at that age. A lot of people indeed go through their whole lives not knowing what they really want to do. I was very,

very lucky. I didn't realize how lucky I was until much later in life. But in any event, I did an audition. They gave me the job. I was there for two and a half years became the news director eventually and then moved back to montreal to cjad which is uh was standard broadcast at the time i think it's and then it became astral it's now part of the the big empire the bell media bell media yes and so i was doing evening news there with a guy the guy who had the uh the programming side of it was paul reed paul reed was originally from ontario i think he ended up in hamilton made a huge following in montreal so i did the news on his show every night and uh the pranks they pulled were like paul reed was a very funny guy we used to sit in the studio at cjd it was a really large studio for radio i mean radio you don't need a lot of space right uh but this one was quite huge

so he would come in he knew i was absolutely green he would come in and he would stand there and open the door to the studio and stand back so So he'd be about 15, 20 feet away. And he would start cursing. And I was, while I was on the air. Oh, right. And I didn't realize that, you know, we're using like the mics we have now. We had Sennheiser in those days. And they only pick up very closely to the microphone itself. So the audience had no idea that he was there and saying what he said.

But I was trying to get through the news. Anyway was my that was one of my so that's cjad yes then i left cjad okay went back to halifax gotcha uh because i knew that the idea of getting on day side somebody had to die or move and that wasn't going to happen. So I went to a station called CJCH, which was a rocker. And it was owned by, what the heck was the guy's name? Wayne, I don't know, the family name. Part of the brewery company. I think. Anyway.

That's like Alexander Keith's land or whatever. So I ended up doing the morning drive there and worked with a guy named Jerry Lawrence, who was a paraplegic. Jerry Lawrence ended up becoming the labor minister in Nova Scotia. But here, again, was a whack job. He was very funny.

So we had a glass wall separating the two of us. I would be in doing the news at 8 o'clock. He would be in the other studio to my right and so while i'm on air he was doing hands like his his legs were you know were useless to him right and he had them in braces but he would do handstands on the turntable while i'm doing the news and you know anything to break you up was the idea right so that was a great experience and then back to Montreal to CKGM. Okay.

Which was owned by. You got to update your wiki page. I think that's Brian's source on this. CKGM was owned by a guy named Jeff Sterling who was really out there. Jeff Sterling was a very wealthy man. He was originally, I believe, from Newfoundland, but lived in Arizona on top of a mountain. And so I worked at CKGM.

Then I heard about an opening on the weekend at CFCF, which was the Montreal CTV station. And I thought, well, they're not going to call me, so I better call them. So I did. I went over there. They looked at me, and first thing they asked was how old I was. And did you tell the truth?

Which wasn't very old. Yeah, sure, I told told them but my problem with getting a job in television at that time was looking old enough to stay up that late so it was it was an issue for me but they they said okay well we'll give you an audition anyway and they made the horrible error of giving me the script 15 minutes before they rolled tape and recorded and i've been very blessed with a very quick memory so i looked down me the script 15 minutes before they rolled tape and recorded and i've been very blessed with a very quick memory so i looked down at the script and i went really this is all i have to do right so they rolled tape and i rattled it off and and uh one thing led to they handed me the

job the deal was the caveat was i had to work five days radio two days television gotcha so i worked monday to friday at cfcf 600 and then saturday and sunday uh doing the television job on the weekend the 6th and the 11th so i worked seven days a week for three years now the fact it's called pulse news that's what it was called like that's just a coincidence right that you went from a pulse to a pulse okay so tell me because i don't know much about the montreal tim phelan he wanted me to ask you about your pulse news days in montreal and i'm like oh okay so tell me it was called the pulse of montreal was channel 12 okay so eventually when i wanted to leave um i i told him you know i went first of all

here's the story i went went CFCF in Montreal. I get a call from CFTO in Toronto. That's the CTV station. And they want me to come and audition for their night job. And at that point, I did not want to leave Montreal. I had a lot of business interests going on there. But I thought, got to be true to yourself. So I came up, did the audition, and they wanted to hire me.

The thing was, they called me on the very day i got my t4 slip so i knew to the penny what i'd made the year before right and i told them uh how much it was going to cost them and it wasn't much i asked for like a bump of about five thousand compared to what i was making they said no we're not paying anybody that much and the guy said wait a second i'll put you on hold he came back and he said all right we have a deal so then i moved to cf uh to to cfto i was there for three years got there in 1974 around the time they invented the wheel then the year of my birth by the way the main anchor at cfcf andrew marquis left and went to cb. So they had no anchor. They came to me and said, you got to come back. And I said, I want to come back. And they offered me a ton of money.

And I thought, all right, well, you know, I know the station. I know the city, of course, it's my, my hometown. So I went back there. It wasn't working. I told them just a few months after I was back there, this is not working. I'm going to leave. I had nowhere to go. just a few months after I was back there, this is not working. I'm going to leave. I had nowhere to go. And they said, well, hold on.

We are owned by this company called Multiple Access, which was the first real high-tech company in Canada. They said, we also own City TV in Toronto. And they said, we'd like you to work there. And I said, are you out of your minds? Nobody in his right mind would work at City TV in those days because there wasn't a newsroom. They had all these wacky shows. One of them was, I don't even remember the names of the shows,

but there were fistfights and, you know, it was crazy stuff. Right. Like Jerry Springer type programming. But they said, no, sit down. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to take the place apart and put it back together. So then they said, we need you to fly to New York to talk to Moses Nimer. Okay.

I flew down there, had lunch with him, and we came to the conclusion, it was his idea, but I totally agreed with it, that the idea that at the end of the day, before you nod off to sleep, your primary concerns are your job your neighborhood your family your your immediate world right so he said we're going to cover the the back we're going to cover the backyard like nobody else is doing because at that time every newscast in the world led national international but we were going to lead local no matter what it was always a bigger story locally and it became extremely successful man i i love hearing about these these so what was your first impressions of moses

um he you know is is a very bright guy and had these ideas but he assumed that the guy he was talking to was a half wit and that was me and i really resented that it was also the day of the the massive eastern seaboard power blackout 1977 the entire eastern seaboard of the united states and i mean the entire thing was blacked out right because it's in the son of sam movie right yes right right no power right so he said let's go for a walk in central park okay it's like eight million degrees and i thought okay i see what you're doing you want to wear me down you want to play with my head or whatever so we went for a walk and they said okay let's go back i said no no no it's nice out here let's continue walking so we did anyway you know we

talked about a million ideas and it was going to be called City Pulse because it was owned by Multiple Access, which owns CFCF, and it made total sense. Not a coincidence. Oh, amazing. That's how it became City Pulse. Even the news director, the first news director, was the guy I'd worked with in Montreal,

a guy named Bert Cannings. Let's get a little listen to 1977 City Pulse. Oh, God. City Pulse News. 90 minutes, news, weather, sports, and information. Our City Pulse News team's called Metro, bringing you up to the second developments in consumer affairs, health, business, and entertainment.

City Pulse News, the stories you need to know to understand Toronto. Yeah, that was it. It was called A Day in the Life of Toronto. As City Pulse anchorman, I'm constantly challenged by the question, how is this show different? What makes it unique besides its length? I say without hesitation that it's our people-oriented, street-based mandate as laid out by executive producer Moses Nymer and implemented by a dedicated, exciting news team high on Toronto, running hard to keep up with a galloping, fascinating city.

Moses insists that City Pulse be more than just a chronicle of passing events. I agree with him. Our idea is that life is more than hard news, and that each show is a daily installment in the real-life saga of what it means to be living in a wonderful town on the north shore of Lake Ontario, at the center of Canada, and determined to be great. There you go, a little flashbackback well but all of that was true yeah it was all true and uh toronto you see what it is now the the way it has grown from 1977 to now is astonishing the biggest buildings in this city when i first moved here were the royal york

hotel and the td. And that was it. There was nothing else here. And you couldn't get a drink on a Sunday. And then eventually the laws changed. You could get a drink on a Sunday, but you had to have a meal. So you get guys ordering a grilled cheese sandwich and eight beers.

So it was silly laws. It was very, very orange, as they say in those days. Yeah, Toronto the good, right? But the potential was massive. And it really hit in 1976 when René Lévesque got elected Premier of Quebec. So a lot of the investment and the big corporations moved because they were afraid their investments were going to go sideways. So they moved to Toronto, and this city has not stopped growing since 1976. Did Moses, or even better, at CFTO, did they ask you to change your last name?

They did. It was a big scandal. So tell me about that. What happened was they issued a news release. Well, first of all, they said, we want you to change your name, which is not unusual in broadcasting a lot of people do not use their real names they do now but back then it was not unusual at all for somebody

to have a name like i don't know john smith or whatever right uh and they said we want to shorten it to martin and they said what do you think and i went geez i don't know um i'll let you know but i got on a plane, went back to Montreal, you know, to pack up and everything else. They issued the news release without my approval. And so what happened was Blake Kirby, who wrote for the Globe and Mail, phoned Alan Hustak, who was a CTV reporter in Montreal,

and said, so tell me something about this guy Martin who's moving to Toronto. And Alan said, what are you talking about? He said, Martin. He goes, no, no, no, no. His name is Martineau. And so Kirby was like, what's that all about? Well, they must have shortened his name.

So they did. And this story kind of broke big. I mean, it was in Maclean's magazine. And at the time, there was a very tense relationship between English and French Canada, a lot of concern. So it was seen as, you know as kind of denying my French background. Which it was. It was anglicizing your name. Eventually, John Bassett Sr. stepped in and said,

that's enough of that. Just leave it alone. His name's Martineau, and that's what we're going to do. I think that's the right move. Yeah, of course. John Bassett Sr. was a lovely human being. A very sweet man. Everything I know about him is in,

there's a USFL documentary, Donald Trump. Are you talking about John Jr., though? Oh, okay, yes, I am. Yeah. Right. And so he's the one who launched it, got involved in sports. But the senior owned the Toronto Telegram,

which folded and later became the Toronto Sun. A lot of the employees formed the Toronto Sun. But John Bassett Sr. was a spectacular human being. Okay, Laurie, a couple of people came up. So I just mentioned you're coming on the show, and then people send in their questions. But Laurie says that her sister was obsessed with you. She even had a picture of you in a frame in her living room.

Was she visually impaired by any chance no but then duncan duncan career said be sure to ask him if his handsomeness got in the way of his career like yep did it ever hinder you no one took you seriously because you know they assume you must be stupid if you're you know look a certain way i get that all the time the same assumption they make about beautiful women. Right. You know, oh, no, there's got to be something wrong there. So, yes, there was that assumption.

But, you know, I spent many, many years trying to establish the fact that, no, I do have an IQ and I do have things to say. I love reporting. I love the news business. And I am reasonably intelligent. I'm not spectacularly intelligent, but reasonably so, and it has carried me a long way. So I kind of resented that kind of treatment, but I knew it was there.

Did you consider messing up your hair a bit, maybe uglifying yourself a little bit? I wasn't going to change myself to suit somebody else's needs. Good for you. To hell with them. To hell with them. Is it David Crombie who said that the city pulse news team was at 99 queen street east the city is your newsroom that's right is that that's a big quote yes and uh yeah i mean i will tell you it's a little i mean not not in 1977 when i was watching sesame street

but um when i picked are you still watching yeah because i have a three-year-old. Big Bird and all that stuff. Yeah, Big Bird's still there. The big change is that Snuffleupagus, Snuffleupagus, when I watched it, adults couldn't see him. And they always thought Big Bird was making him up. Well, I watched it every day with my kids when I had children. Could adults see Snuffleupagus?

I could always get into the characters and who they were. And I used to love it when they sang Put Down the Ducky. Yeah, Rubber Duck? Oh, it's the Rubber Ducky song, right? Put Down the Ducky if you want to play the saxophone. Right, right. Now there's some gems.

Anyways, the big change is that adults can now see Snuffleupagus because somebody pointed out that... Are we all worried sick about Sesame Street here? How do we get sidetracked? Oh, you've never heard this show. There's a lot of tangents for sure. Okay. Let me give you some gifts

because I have you at City TV and then you're going to leave and come back. I don't know if people even know you did that, but we're going to talk about it. But let me give you gifts. Great Lakes Brewery.

Brewery. Do you drink beer? It's okay if you don't. Okay. Yeah. There's tasty, fresh craft beer. I'm a malt scotch fan and a snob when it comes to that stuff.

But I do drink beer. You'll slum it with the rest of us once in a blue moon. And guests will come over and stuff. So you'll need some in the fridge. So that's courtesy of Great Lakes. Very nice. They're fiercely independent. They're here in Etobicoke, but you can pick them up in the...

I wish they will. Yeah, at LCBO. So thank you, Great Lakes, for that. That's not it because it's in the freezer right now, but there is a, yeah, so that's an empty box,

but Palma Pasta is a family-run Italian eatery. They have hot tables. You can get, you know, the frozen food.

I love my pasta. You're going to love what I have for you in the freezer. It's a large meat lasagna. So I can't eat

it on the way home. It's going to In fact, it's frozen solid, so you've got to give that like 24 hours in the fridge or something like that it'll be treated appropriately enjoy palmapasta.com if you want to cater an event with palmapasta they're on skip the dishes they've got four locations in mississauga and oakville stickers oh gourd i you can stick that on your car.

Go ahead for the camera. Alright, so there's a Toronto Mike sticker. There's a temporary tattoo. There's a Toronto sticker. This is all courtesy of stickeru.com. I envision like plastering the city with Gord stickers. That's what I think we should do. There you go.

I see the CN Tower here. this the the sticker i i recall when it was uh topped off 77 right yep when uh olga was the name of the sikorsky helicopter that hoisted the final communications tower up into up to the very top of the tower it was a big deal then i can imagine um that's like i mean all my four kids and even when they're all little they all kind of like had to shout out that tower wherever they saw it like oh there's the tower it's like that's home it's like most americans come up and say look it's the cnn tower oh no well yeah there's a an image thing here whatever you know well we're working on it all right we got you at city tv i'm going to play an ad.

Let's listen to it and then hear your cameo at the end. Hello, Ontario and all the ships at sea. Let's go to air. Cash for life gives a chance indeed to be a millionaire. Well, boys, pretty good show so far. And exciting. One of these tickets is worth at least a million bucks because I'm going to win $50,000 a year for life.

You and who, Sawshu? Well, fellas, his $2 ticket could win him a million. Easily as you and me. Hey, turn it up. It looks like draw time. Get your tickets ready. You could win a million. There you go.

So you did some work with Cash for Life. Yes. It was in support of charities and uh it was i don't want to talk down about it but at the time it was known as the ontario association for the mentally retarded and that of course is considered now inappropriate and it should be but um they were supporting charities in in ontario and and i was happy to do it good actually i was going to touch on this later but we can touch on it briefly here is that you've always been very charitable like i'm involved with four charities now and shout them out the herbie fund i do a documentary on it every year um i try to speak

loudly all over the place so that people will understand there are families who are really hard up against it. Their children are going to die unless they get surgery. And they have the unlucky circumstance of having been born in a country where they can't get the medical attention they need. And even if they could, they don't have the money to do it. These are families that are invariably poor. So that's the Herbie Fund at SickKids Hospital.

I'm also in support of Global Medic. I've been on their board for about 15 years now. Global Medic, they're actually located here in Etobicoke and run by a guy named Raul Singh. I call him Buddha because that's what he looks like. And very, very, very smart man. Was a Toronto paramedic and realized when health codes in Canada change, millions of dollars in equipment is called decommissioned.

So it ends up in a landfill or a warehouse. And if it's in a warehouse, it's going to be in a landfill. He said, this is ridiculous. There are all kinds of health agencies the world over who can use this stuff. So he would hold T-shirt sales barbecues collect 7 500 bucks when he did he'd pack the container shipping container full and he'd take it overseas and distribute the gear and he said to me one time because i used to do this series called the livable city and he said to me one time you guys should come with us we're going to

cambodia and i went yeah sure i have nothing better to do than i'll just drop everything and go with you but then i thought about it he had toronto police officers paramedics firefighters and and and um and and everybody from toronto all civil servants going on their own time to their own and their own dime to these destinations and to help to distribute this medical equipment i thought this is a hell of a story, a great Toronto story. So I went over and shot it, did a five-part documentary. It went over large, and since then I've deployed with them 11 times. Good for you, man. Two other charities that I've been closely associated with,

the Children's Breakfast Clubs, of which there are 24 in Toronto. It's hard to believe that there's that kind of need in a city as rich as this one, but it does exist. And the Second Chance Scholarship Fund, which is young people who have, quote-unquote, had contact with the law and are offered a second chance at their higher education. And many of them have taken advantage of it, and there have been some wonderful success stories that come out of there.

So four charities that I'm happy to be involved with. Fist bump for Gordon. This is good. Oh, thank you. Fist yeah this bump excellent good stuff uh and that herbie fund i think if you enjoy success somewhere you you feel kind of an obligation to hey say thing say hey thank you and it feels good right like it does it feels good to give back no question when we come out of the operating room with the Herbie Fund, because we observe all surgeries, and we go with the surgeon as he says to the families, your child is going to be okay. It's all right. You don't have to worry anymore.

The smiles, the tears, the hugs is powerful. And so that's the thing that keeps you going year after year. And if people listening now want to give to the Herbie Fund, like, is it just they Google it? It's with affiliates. They can do that, herbiefund.com, or they can give to the Gord Martineau Foundation. I have a foundation and all money is donated to my foundation. Go to the four charities I just told you about. Good stuff. Okay, great. Now, taking you back to the, I guess, very early 80s, so in fact, 1980, you're at City TV. Yep. Now, you tell me, what would cause you to leave City TV in 1980?

I spoke to a guy named David Mintz, who was the new head of everything at Global, and they wanted to make some serious changes to what they were doing. and they wanted to make some serious changes to what they were doing. I felt I had done, you know, pretty much everything I'd set out to do at Citi. So I signed on with them, and my co-anchor was going to be, do you know who Matthew Perry is? Of course.

Well, his mom, Suzanne Perry. Yes. She was Pierre Trudeau's press secretary. And so she was hired to be my co-anchor. And it was a disaster because, you know, they put this poor woman in the position of being a co-anchor and she had never been on the air. So it was really, really tough for her. And I thought, okay, this is the kind of brain power you're,

you know, you're putting her in this position. This is awful. They also had three news directors who argued constantly. And I thought, this thing is a mess. I got to get here so i went back to the city okay so yeah i have a note here that this is matthew perry's mom suzanne perry and you that was a highly touted dynamic duo like i got a lot of press she's a really really nice woman and and she's now married to keith morrison uh the former ctv anchor of course and uh so you know they put her in a very awkward position it wasn't fair what they did to her but they were just out to grab headlines any way they could

when you returned to city which was also a very big deal when you returned you made your return in i guess late 1980 i guess uh like does moses offer you more money to get you back like how do you play that do you just say well i spoke to he and a guy named Fred Klinkhammer, who was the general manager at Citi. And when I left Global, I didn't have a job. But they decided, okay, you better come back here, and we worked out a deal. Good stuff.

I have a little clip about your return from Global to Citi. So let's listen to this. Incidentally, some changes in the lineup here on Queen Street. Effective Monday, Gord Martineau returns from wherever it was and a vacation afterwards to rejoin City Pulse at 6 as co-anchor with Dini Petty. Dave Reynolds gets home from Italy on Thursday, rounds up this week on the 6 o'clock,

and then joins me here on the 10 o'clock news next week. Many hands make light work and I understand Dave plays Gin Rummy as well. We lost Bill far too soon. He was a great guy. I liked him a lot. Very serious intellectual. A very bright bright guy. And we got along really well and it was very

sad when he passed along. Yeah, he moved on to CBC. His wife is also extremely intelligent. Cheryl Hawks is her name. She's a writer primarily and she lost their son uh a couple years ago in a terrible tragic car crash and anyway so you know they've had some hard times but um nice couple love them what was it like working with uh dini petty it was fun she had a great sense of humor she was you know she was uh i don't know you probably don't remember this you were probably weren't even born yet well let's hear

i'll tell you say this she used to be the traffic person for for ckfh i think it was i only know it from history if you will because kfh is now the fan 590 okay because c8 oh yes because foster hewitt is fh and cfh right right right so she and she had a pink helicopter you know what she was a pilot a helicopter i believe it the uh mark hebbshire who i you know spent a lot of time with i think he worked at ckfh uh probably probably but pink helicopter right dini petty and then so she was your was she your like who was your co-hosted from 1977 was it dini petty or your, was she your, like who was your co-host from 1977? Was it Deanie Petty or was it? Well, Deanie Petty was the co-host.

And then after that, she moved to City Line, which was a new venture in the afternoons. So that's fine. And then there was just me. Bill Cameron and I were the only anchors at City. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. Okay, so that was, right. So I just want to make sure I got my clips played.

That was your return to City. So, and it's interesting because I'm sure many people don't remember that you actually leave City and come back, that you have that brief liaison. A cup of coffee. Right, at Global, and then came right back. I was on air for 11 days at Global.

Wow. It was a very unfortunate situation. And I always felt there was a job there left undone. But I could see it was not going to work. Just not the way, the design they had, and the way the three news directors had at each other all day. It was just, it was, you know, it wore you down. What can you share about the move from 99 Queen east to 299 uh queen west that was great

that was may of 1987 we moved from city from 99 queen east which is now the carbon bar and the carbon bar the restaurant section is right in the studio where where brian linehan both did our shows there was a smart man brian tell me about brian only because i actually will try to emulate a little bit of his style there's a guy that at one time was a film librarian and had a big big interest in hollywood and the film business and so he you know he also had a memory like an encyclopedic memory of everyone who had been in in films and then he eventually got a show called City Lights. And I remember limousines pulling up and you'd have Sophia Loren, Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster,

the biggest stars, whoever stars in Hollywood, came to be interviewed by Brian because they wanted to be interviewed by Brian because he was so smart and knew so much about their careers. He even said to Sophia Loren one time, you see that watch you're wearing? It's engraved. And on the bottom is, you know,

with love from Carlo. Carlo Ponti was her husband. And she said, how did you know that? So we had a whole resume of clips of the star saying to him, how did you know that? And so he was really smart. And it's important for context.

Like before the internet, which I do remember, remember before internet that was that was difficult to think there was no wikipedia no no no to research that you had to be you had to be really good at it yeah and brian was brilliant at good contacts we lost him too soon too yes we did yeah i was a big fan of uh city lights for sure now so 299 queen what was it, like, so you had, let's say J.D. Roberts, for example. You had crossovers, if you will. Like, what was it like when the cool kids or whatever, the much music kids kind of joined the party?

Well, everything has a lifespan. And in the music side of the business, your career is very temporary because tastes change quickly. But news is always news. And the thing I loved about my job, it was never, ever the same two days in a row. And so it kept your interest level there. And I was interested in news and current events

to begin with. And so for me, it was always fresh. Now, I'm going to play a clip of you in a movie. Yeah. and current events to begin with. And so for me, it was always fresh. Now, I'm going to play a clip of you in a movie. Yeah. Popular Norm MacDonald. He asked for me to be in that film. Norm?

Yes. Because Norm's brother works at CBC. That's right. Neil, right? Yes. Oh, wait, let me play the clip and then tell me the whole story here. So this is Dirty Works. Joining me now,

the man responsible for this glorious event, real estate mogul, Travis Cole. Thank you, Gord. I'm particularly proud of two things about tonight's event. First, all proceeds from the opera will go to benefit the homeless. And secondly, I have personally overseen every aspect of this production, and I believe it will go down in history as the finest staging of Don Joe. Ha!

Note to self. Stop payment on $50,000 check. Oh, Travis. Son of a bitch bastard! You idiot. In a startling turn of events here tonight at the Chelsea Opera House, real estate mogul Travis Cole has been arrested for fraud. Mr. Cole, anything to say?

Mr. Cole! There he is! That was shot at the Elgin Theatre in the interior, which is a beautifully designed theatre. You know, wonderful art deco decor and all that stuff, yeah. Now, so Norm personally, he wanted, I guess guess if you're going to have a news guy, he wanted Gord Martineau to be there. That's right.

And the news guy's name is Gord. So you're sort of playing yourself. Yeah. Do you have any further relationship with Norm or just that, that one interaction? No, no. But it was interesting, you know, to, to, to work in a film like that. I think Don Rickles was in it, and I think Chevy Chase had a role in it.

I'm not sure, but, you know, you meet a lot of very interesting people that way. Did you meet Chris Farley? No. Wish I had, because, I mean, what a talent, huh? Yeah, no, a lot of time for Chris. I thought if Chris Farley had still been with us he was rob ford yeah yeah you look at it absolutely dead ringer for him i think you're on to something there for sure and already

already lang was in that movie too he was good friends of norm mcdonald but that was 1998 i guess dude yeah i do remember them filming that they were filming some stuff at jane and annette i remember kind of yeah we did a bunch in front of Osgoode Hall. It was shot all over the city. So good for you, a movie star, Gordon Martineau. It was fun. For sure. Now, there's a gentleman named Romeo who wrote me this lengthy email,

but I'll take an excerpt, which he goes, Gordon Martineau is famous for many reasons. Around 2005, he had an important story to report. Toronto has lots of massage parlours, and when you go there and talk to the staff, they act like it's a massage parlour. Gord made a visit to Plush Spa near Dundas West Station with his film crew and started asking probing questions.

Then they put the footage on TV. So, I don't know, wherever he works, he calls it Tem. We rank that as Gord Martineau's most thrilling story. Really? That's from a guy named Romeo. Well, Romeo, I've had, thank you for your interest, but I've had way more interesting stories than that one. That's Romeo's personal.

Tsunami would be one. You know, I went over there and I was astonished at the destruction of that water could produce because you know a 40 foot wave and it's not just water it's rocks and sand and mud everything that the wave picks up on the way right to the coastline and in thailand for example it went a full two kilometers inland and smashed everything yeah no devastating yeah and i was in thailand uh sri lanka and indonesia and uh pretty fascinating stories but i've done a lot of them afghanistan was another good one yeah romeo we've done more important stories than the massage

parlors here but did you were you on the air on 9 11 on sept 11th 2001 i remember going uh for coffee and listening on the radio about uh a suspected bombing in new york city and i knew that there had been some some puerto rican radical organizations uh that that uh you know were engaged in in sort of violent action i thought oh that must be what it is i went went inside, got my coffee, came outside, and learned what was really going on, and it was a jaw-dropper. I mean, no one had ever seen anything like it. It was, I said right away to Moses Neimer, who came down to the newsroom, this is Osama bin Laden's doing. He goes, no, no, no, no, no, it's way more sophisticated than that.

And we had a big argument. I said, no, it's bin Laden. Trust me, it's bin Laden. And, of course, it was. Because I guess it was 95 or whatever when the first bombing if you will at the world trade center and that was that was osama bin laden yeah you were on that was a failure but yeah good thing it was yeah yeah yeah for sure uh is there any any other like thoughts that day because um toronto well torontonians who didn't know what was going to happen next right you know the towers came down and there was a pentagon thing the thing

the first thing the first rumor was well the police are now going to go over to the bmo tower and make sure everything's okay there because the rumor is they're going to attack that one of course it wasn't true but you know you get a lot of knee-jerk reactions reactions as a result something like that because people think to themselves automatically what if it happened here sure so well i know they did i know they did evacuate like towers downtown maybe just because the people weren't gonna we're panicking or i think maybe it's you know it it may have been a move also to reassure them that yeah we're on're on top of this thing. Don't worry. Man, what a day. Yeah, you never, well, you'll never forget that day.

And yeah. Now let's, so we talked about Deanie Petty. I'm just going to ask you about some other colleagues that you worked with. But first we played them off the top, but I'm going to just play them one more time here. Two, one. Happy New Year, Toronto. It's the biggest. It's the best. It's the only New Year's Eve bash you'll want to be

at this year. But City TV brings you live performances by Cassandra Bassick, TBTBT, and John James and the Mothers of Home. Gord Marko and Monica Neal host as the City of Toronto, Golden Griddle, and City TV present the 9th Annual Traditional. Gord Marko and Monica Neal host us for City of Toronto, Golden Griddle, and City TV. Present the ninth annual traditional New Year's Eve bash.

Be there. I think I did that for about 25 years, New Year's Eve. I remember romping Ron Hawkins in a fur coat. I still have the visual. There's a guy with a history. Wow. I mean, Bob Dylan came through town because it was Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks,

and he stole the Hawks band, the Hawks, and brought them with him on tour, and they changed their name to the band, and the rest is history, of course. He was an amazing human being. He had lots of funny stories. So you've spent some time. Did he sell the, he had that big ranch or estate? I think it's been sold, one out near Peterborough. Right. Yeah. But you spent some time. Did he sell the, he had that big ranch or estate?

I think it's been sold. One out near Peterborough. Right. Yeah. Did you spend some time there? Have you spent some time there? No, never been to the farm. But on New Year's Eve, we'd sit around for hours and talk about, you know, things that had happened on the road.

Yeah. And the shows that he did and the people that, the musicians that he toured with. the musicians that he toured with and he used to complain about john lennon saying you know that the guy came by and stayed at his farm and racked up an eight thousand dollar phone bill and never paid it just bailed and in in those days eight thousand bucks was like eight hundred thousand today so for sure serious come on that's that's not cool so he always resented that yeah and now the i mean i could ask you about any of those fine people. And I always wondered, why, by the way, did they stop having you doing the Nathan Phillips Square thing? Money.

It's always money. It costs about a million dollars to mount that show every year. That's expensive. And so I can see why they stopped doing it. But it's a shame because it was unquestionably, if you look at the tapes and you look at the Dick Clark show, ours was way better. Agreed.

It was a much tighter production. It was very slickly produced, and it moved right along, whereas the Dick Clark show always seemed to be disjointed somehow and badly produced. And, you know, people say, oh, you're just saying that. But, no, really really ours was way better than theirs i know i missed it when it when it went away like i i'm with you uh-huh definitely with you now i wanted to ask you about the voice uh mark daily sparky we call it we used to call

them sparky because uh we used to have a baseball team uh at city and we would play on saturdays and sundays out here in etobicoke, as a matter of fact. And, you know, the manager of the Detroit Tigers at the time was Sparky Anderson, so we thought, and because Mark organized a lot of it, we could start calling him Sparky. And as a human being, what was he like as a, I mean, we lost him far too soon as well,

but what was it like? Very dark humor humor very funny boy and we used to talk about our days in radio and uh the people that we worked with like dick smith and brian henderson and and richard scott and some of the huge voices in radio well mark actually one of his uh great stops along the way was the big eight in Windsor, CKLW. And so he worked with some really big people. Right. Because at one time, people don't, a lot of people don't remember this,

radio people were like the answer. They were gods in the business. They were hugely respected, very highly paid, and extremely talented. And Sparky was one of them. But we had a lot of fun over the years and really miss that guy to this day because we laughed. Because he had such an offbeat sense of humor,

he provided a lot of levity in the newsroom. I should let listeners know that the last appearance by Retro Ontario, we did a pretty lengthy Mark Daly career retrospective with a ton of clips. So if anybody out there has got the nostalgia vibe going, wants to hear some Mark, yeah, dig up the last episode of Toronto Mic'd

with Ed from Retro Ontario. Do that up. You know, another funny guy was Ed the Sock. Tell me about, okay, because Ed's been on the show a couple, twice. Yeah. Tell me. Steve Kersner.

Yeah, Steve Kersner. Oh, man, he had a really funny sense of humor. I used to love Ed the Sock because the thing was, if you're playing somebody else like he was, you could say a lot of stuff you normally would not ever say. For sure. And he was very clever, Steve. He is a very clever human being.

And, man, he made me laugh with some of the stuff he did. I was a fan as well and i remember the old cable 10 ed's night party with uh harland williams and some of these guys would be kind of co-hosting with him and just i loved it we we got along very well i like steve because he's adventurous and in a brilliant sense of humor good writer you know and uh a great sense of character agreed agreed colin vaughn uh any memories of working with colin tons tons tons i miss him so much because we used to we had this ritual every day at four o'clock we'd nip across the street for a cup of tea he drank coffee i drank tea and we would talk about what was going on at city hall and

i learned then that politics had to be a sport invented by machiavelli because it was so cloak and dagger it was all about how who owed who favors who did things for other people and therefore i did this favor for you you owe me a, and how people would compromise on certain issues. So he really gave me the backroom stuff at City Hall, which was enormously important. When it came to covering election broadcasts, I did every federal, provincial, and municipal elections for decades. He was always there, and we would confer during the days leading up to the election about how things were going to get handled

and what I should watch for. And characters like just i have more names to go here but just think and like you already mentioned dick smith i was going to ask about him next but these characters they were why i watched like i had i guess everyone chooses their station of choice for news i guess and for me it was a no-brainer i like the character yeah i like the vibe dick was uh very opinionated and i remember he would he would always start off he did opinion pieces for us on city pulse at queen east and he would always start out with something a little bit dramatic and he started out one day with i'm sick and tired of this arab bootlicking. And he would get people's reactions. But a very interesting guy.

Another guy, one of the best, well, not one of the best, the best person I've ever seen do an opinion piece without writing one word down on paper was Stephen Lewis. Tell me about Stephen Lewis. The former NDP leader. He was a guy who had total grasp of the issues and he had lots of opinions and he knew how to just carry it we'd see he'd come he'd walk in the newsroom sit down they start recording and he'd say how much do you want and they'd say well we have two minutes 30 seconds okay and he would do it almost to the second the man was absolutely

brilliant at doing that. Before I get to these other names, though, I pulled this clip just to give us a little flavor. I believe it's mid-80s. We'll play it and then we'll try to figure out when it was. From Men at Work at the corner of Edward and Ray, this is Toronto Television Channel 57, Cable 7. City TV, everywhere.

I'm Mary Garfellow. Tonight, profile of a cop killer. On City TV, Channel 57. Bring it down only because the audio is so terrible, but this was... Good evening. Here's what's happening tonight. The investigation into a gun battle in Etobicoke.

Two people are dead, including a Metro police officer. Good news for Canadian steel producers. Bring it down, because I should have made sure it was in stereo before I played it. It's a bad rip from that old YouTube clip. People will understand. A little potato quality.

Talking about ancient history. Right, but just to get a flavor. So that was my, I don't know what that was, 86 or something like that. Yeah, tell me about Peter Silverman. There's a funny guy. I had no idea how funny he was.

He didn't try to be funny, but he was just funny. And what a history. A tough guy. Was fought in the Six-Day War in israel and he's a paratrooper oh he busted his back wasn't afraid of anybody you know he had that famous quote when when he did silverman helps watch it buddy a guy came at him with a backhoe was going to run over him and silverman stood his ground classic oh he was fun. And because he was so stoic and so set in his ways, that's, I think, what made him funny.

And a lot of us in the newsroom love to have him around for that very reason. Watch it, buddy. What about my dear friend, friend of the show, Ann Romer? Yep. Do you know Ann? Oh, yeah. Of course.

What was it like working with Ann Romer? It was great. I mean, she was on Breakfast Television to begin with. Well, she was at Global before that. Yeah. I forget what she did there. It was kind of a lifestyle show. Anyway, yeah, she was on Breakfast Television for many years.

Had a huge following. But, you know, we only crossed paths when I was in earlier. She was in late. Right. And I would see her and we would talk. And, yeah, we only cross paths when I was in earlier, she was in late. Right. And I would see her and we would talk and, yeah, we got along great. She owes me an Ikea. She promised she's going to take me to Ikea for lunch. Yeah, I would hold her to that.

I'm working on it, but she didn't, and I have it recorded, so she owes me an Ikea lunch. Jojo Chinto. Ah, Joe. See, here's the thing. When we were designing City Pulse in the very beginning, we wanted to accurately reflect the multicultural makeup of the city. So we weren't going to have just a bunch of white reporters like existed at every other TV station because that's contrived reality.

It's BS with capital b and a capital s right and so we hired people like jojo tinto colin vaughn um bob hunter the founder of greenpeace you know we hired moses said one time when we were complaining that we needed some new reporters because some had left he said i don't want reporters i want wing nuts what he meant was i want a reporter with a very distinct personality there isn't a television station in the world that would have hired jojo chinto but we did because he was different and he was competent but he had an accent he's from ghana and so what and he was black so that's what we wanted. Yeah, Jojo, I mean, I recently had a phone call with the man

trying to get him in here, but yeah, he had personality. He loves horse racing. I don't know, his daughters are very successful in a sport. I want to say soccer. Yes, I think it's soccer, and I know she's... Basketball, maybe soccer. I think it's soccer because she's been very active in many sports. And she takes after the old men where she's just very strong-willed.

Right. Jeannie Becker was like working with you. Becker, yeah. She was fun. And knowledgeable in everything that she did. I mean, here's a woman who went on the air, but she knew, and she had this love of fashion and fashion design long before FT hit the air. Oh, okay.

But the thing is, the thing that most people don't know, or some of them may be aware of it, but all of the new channels and the new ideas that have like much music, FT, book, television, all this stuff came out of the newsroom. That's where all the ideas were. And in the early days at 99 Queen East, that place was an idea factory. Everybody in the business saw what was happening. And I went to work every day, just rubbing my hands together going, wow, I wonder what's going to happen today, because it

was an idea factory. The energy was incredible in that place and eventually everybody in the business wanted to work at city yeah it was it was a very highly because moses was willing to take risks is that a part of it if you have an idea for something today and you walk into a television station they'll tell you to get lost if you're an, let's say you're working in the newsroom or wherever you're working in the station, they'll say, well, no, we don't have time for that. Goodbye. But at Citi, it was, I want to see it.

Go out and shoot it. Let me see what it looks like because it might work. And so they never turned anybody down with ideas. They never looked down upon them or were critical of them. And people came up with wackiest ideas and a down upon them or were critical of them. And people came up with wackiest ideas and a lot of them were good. Right. I mean, Master T was just here and he

tells a story that he'd walk into Moses's office and tell him about this idea and Moses would say, go do it. Like, where does that happen anywhere now? But Moses had the foresight to know that, you know, just because it's an idea and it's different doesn't mean it's bad right let me see it i want to see it maybe it'll work right basement dweller is a listener of the program and he wants to hear if you have any stories about working with the legendary uh chief assignment editor glenn cole oh glenn cole yeah he well here's a guy who has a police history and every friday he wore a red blazer which is made and this is apparently he was highly successful at getting this and it was quite rare made from the exact same red surge as an rcmp uniform and very few people have ever been able to do that he was one of them because he had a lot of friends in policing and uh well he you know i mean we always had the

inside track on a police story because he knew he had such great contacts awesome uh jim mckinney howie yes i love howie i really love this human being he is uh the type of person that would literally give you the shirt off his back if he thought you needed it. He was such a generous human being. He still is. He works with troubled young people to this day. And his first love is golf. So he splits his time between golf and helping young people. And here's a guy that every athlete in the NHL knows, and they all love him.

And he had a nickname named Howie because there was another player, Howie Young was his name. And he physically actually bore a very strong resemblance to Jim McKinney to the point where they could have been twins. So just to confuse the issue, all the players in the NHL started calling McKinney Howie. So it stuck.

To tell the listeners, I've been texting Howie and it looks like he's going to make an appearance here uh in september love him he's a brilliant guy i love this guy man loved watching him that's for sure yeah and we're almost done i know i'm sorry we almost done the list but i'm i've got gordon martineau here i have to ask him what it was like working with bob hunter bob's a great here's a guy here's a really interesting guy you could listen to the stories he tells for hours i mean when he stood in front of the whaling ships in the saint lawrence on the frozen ice and was not going to move and you know you stand in front of an 80 000 ton ship you know that that revving up its engines and going to run over you if you don't get out of the way. And he stood there and he said, no way, that's not going to do it.

And this guy had balls and he was a really funny guy. He tells such great stories. A lot of them we cannot share on the air, but a very, very humorous man. Peter Gross. Peter Gross, yep. Who was on recently. In fact, he came on and was very open and frank

about some substance abuse problems he was having while working at Citi. What was it like working with Peter? Peter was lots of fun. And he was, I don't know whether he still has a gambling issue. Yeah, he says forever he's going to have the gambling issue. Horse racing. He would spend his time, they call it a rail bird.

Rail birds are people who stand at the rail at horse racing tracks and watch the races very closely. And that was his big thing whenever I knew him. And also he loved sports and he was very smart about it. And he's still on the air at 680 News, still going. But it's interesting to talk to him about the gambling issues. You really understand it's a disease.

This is a disease that the man has. And he knows he's a degenerate gambler. And he's always. Well, he and a few other guys used to go every year. They made this sojourn down to Florida for the racetracks, the dog racing and horse racing. And they would spend, I don't know, five or six days and blow all their money and come back.

Yes. Let's close. Actually, let's do two more. J.D. Roberts, because of course we now know him as, he's at Fox News now covering the White House. Did you see that coming when you worked with J.D. Roberts? Oh, sure. He wanted to get out of much because, as I said,

that has a lifespan of about five minutes. So he knew that any kind of longevity in his career was going to be done by doing something serious. And so I think he spoke to Moses and came into the newsroom and went ahead from there. And the late great, during the Raptors playoff run, I had Leo Roudens in here, and he was talking glowingly about his old friend.

Johnny. Johnny, John Saunders. John Saunders was my best friend, and it was a complete shock to me. I was sitting in the dentist chair, and Don Allen, do you know who Don Allen is? No. Revolver Films.

He's a film producer here in Toronto very successful one and he called me and uh he said are you sitting down and I said as a matter of fact I am I'm in the dentist chair what are you talking about he said John Saunders is dead and I couldn't believe it John Saunders and I spent many many many, many, many, many hours together. And we used to carouse together. Had a lot of fun. We both had the same kind of interests. And then he moved to the U.S.

I went down to visit him in Baltimore. I drove down. And he said, whatever you do, make sure you get off at the right exit. I said, well, if I don't, I'll just ask for directions and find the right one. He goes, no, no, no, no. He said, you're white. You get off at the right ramp or I'm telling you there's going to be a problem. And I said, what was it like in America

when he first moved down? He said, it's really different being a black man in America. And so he had those experiences. But here's a guy who was the number one raptors fan i mean his email even had a raptors tone to it raptors and and uh i knew he and his brother his brother was the first black nhl player uh bernie saunders played with quebec and john played hockey in university on a university scholarship at western mich. Uh, he is a beautiful, had a beautiful sister named Gail. Uh, we lost her a few years back and Johnny and, uh, his mother, Jackie, I knew her really, really well and nice family. And, uh, I really miss that guy. I spoke

to him not before, not long before he died and, uh, asked him how things were going. He said, they're great. You know, he was hanging out with Charlesles barkley right and uh i i said that must be a hoot because charles barkley has a great sense of humor and he said yeah he said we went into a bar one time and he said there weren't that many people in there and barkley yelled i'm buying a drink for everybody in the house and saunders said you know like are you stupid what are you doing that for? He turned to John and he said, you know what? I have $33 million. If I want to buy a drink for everybody in a place, I'm going to do it.

And so he was just a very gregarious human being. And so John really had a lot of fun hanging out with him. And so he went to his 60th birthday party in New York. And his wife, Wanda uh said it's going to be a surprise so come on down and anyway yeah a very very sad day i miss him a lot yeah i'm sorry for your loss yeah he was excellent just as a view of you and a wonderful human being i mean aside from being a very a very uh competent guy i mean in, in terms of broadcasting, he was great. I spoke at his memorial at ESPN,

but he was a wonderful human being at the same time, and that's why we got along so well. When Rogers took over, so you helped me out. Did Chum sold to Rogers? Is that what happened? I'm trying to... Chum sold to CTV. Okay. The writing was on the wall.

We knew that the sons and the sister were going to sell Chum. So they sold it to CTV. The government regulatory body, CRTC, said to CTV, you can have everything, but you can't have Citi. So they had to put city up for sale and rogers ted rogers who was also a friend of alan waters won't show him uh stepped in and said okay i want i'll buy it right because they said you have already ctv so you can't have city correct too many yes well it's a monopoly thing especially where news is concerned in public service

and uh it was um the beginning of the end for City because of the beginning of the end of the City that we knew. Right. Because Rogers, they were great at radio broadcasting, but they didn't know television. They thought they did because they owned Omni, but City is a totally different animal. Not only is it different from Omni, it's different from everything else in broadcasting,

and I think they really, it was a real jolt for them to try to figure out what to do with City. And it did appear from just a spectator's perspective that a lot of the things that made City cool, if you will, from Speaker's Corner to Ed's Night Party to Silverman Helps or whatever, like bit by bit, they were kind of gone. Well, bean counters run everything now.

They run them at Bell. They run them at City. They run them at every broadcast outlet in the world. And bean counters by nature are creatively bankrupt. They don't know creativity, have no respect for it, and don't care about it. Right, it's all numbers. Yeah, if it costs more than five bucks, we're not doing it.

You had a role in them building the, they had to move out of 299 Queen, obviously, because Bell Media now, that's their building. And Young Dundas, that was your idea? Yes. What happened was that Ted Rogers came into the newsroom one day when we were still at 299 Queen and said, we obviously have to move.

Does anyone have any ideas? I did. I'm an avid cyclist. So I knew that building at 33 Dundas was available. It was empty. It was owned by the Olympic Spirit Group out of Geneva. And it was a failure from their standpoint because they didn't run it properly. But it did sat there, I think about 18 months, was completely emptied, shuttered up and all that. And I knew that city, when you're talking city, it has to be right in the thick of the downtown area. Right.

So after a lengthy search, I phoned. I didn't search lengthily. I knew that building was the one we needed. So I phoned Ted Rogers on a Thursday afternoon. I said, Ted, here's the thing. That business is, that building is for sale and the Olympic Spirit Group owns it. What they're going to do is they're going to sell it to Google the following Tuesday and the rest of the property will be up for lease. So I'm sorry to tell you this, that if you want to make a move,

you're going to have to do it now. And Ted, we be downtown it's city tv don't put us anywhere else right and so uh to to my absolute astonishment he got in the car drove down with his wife loretta looked at the building and wrote the check the influence you have that's pretty good i had no idea it was going to work out that way but i said you know what you should really consider this because i think that's where we have to be all right i'm gonna ask you about a a little little bit of controversial topic real quick here but don't worry it'll get better but uh there was a tape that leaked it went viral yep um and you're probably you're probably tired of having to apologize for this or explain this off or whatever. But there was, I think it was Glenn McGregor, but somebody broke the story and this thing was leaked

and we all kind of watched it. What happened is when you record stuff, it's a promo, and you're talking about a story that happened, I think, over 20 years ago. And when you make mistakes, you have to re-cue the tape. Sure. So Ann Moskowski and I were doing a promo for the next day's newscast right and

we'd made a couple of mistakes so we're going to recue it well they're continuing to record this of course and uh um what's his name uh john gallagher walked by and i poked at him yeah and these are times when you do off mic stuff it, anything goes, you know, and you're just simply. So what happened was the recording, someone had leaked the recording to that fish rapper, whatever that. Glenn McGregor? Oh, no, Frank Magazine. Glenn McGregor is a failure as, I don't know what he's like as a person,

but he's horrible as a reporter and insists on continuing to be so. But in any event, he decided to write a piece on it. And unfortunately, there were a couple of things in there that had I had the opportunity to do it over again, I would have changed a couple of things. Not all of it, but some of it. I had Avery Haynes in here. She got caught with a hot mic. And I guess it's a great lesson for a

young broadcaster i told steve robert the news director said hire that woman because she because of what she said which was absolutely right on the money yeah yeah it was uh inappropriate but it was correct and i said they're firing her for that That doesn't make a lot of sense to me. That shows she's got backbone, and plus, she's a great reporter. She originally started in radio like I did, and a smart woman. I said, you better talk to her, and we hired her. I think she's fantastic. I'm glad you did that.

She's fantastic. Yeah. She's actually, yeah. What was it? Her sister is lead singer of emily haynes and uh she i think she's at marketplace now where she moved on fifth estate she's a w5 w5 that's the one she's at right yeah and yeah great job she is she's great and i'm glad you you did that because you're right uh it's kind of it's kind of scary that you something when you don't even you're not live anywhere that

you're but i guess the lesson is for young broadcasters is assume all microphones are hot. They're always hot. Right. They're always hot. Even if you're in a room and you're not wearing a mic, the mics are hot. Now, the person who leaked this to whatever, to Frank Magazine or whatever, was it like somebody just pissed at you and was it malicious or it seems like a dick move if I may say so? I think so.

Somebody doesn't like me for some reason. But you know, when you're in the public eye, not everyone's going to be in love with you you know i mean there there's going to be people it's the old saying if you stick your face out there somebody's going to slap it and so i don't know how that tape came to be leaked but it was and i have a theory about how it was done and why it was done but that's to myself and it was and that's that's the real involves a high-ranking politician who was mad at me because of the way i made him look when i when i i did an interview with him and he refused to answer my questions and simply walked away which was the the terrible thing to do. All he had to do was say, well, call my office

and we'll have it straightened out. But he never did that. He just abruptly walked away, arrogantly so. All right, one more little piece of controversy and back to the good stuff. So on this program here, Toronto Mic'd, I had Anne Roszkowski came on. Yep.

And obviously I'm just a news viewer who enjoyed watching City TV News, yourself and Anne, fantastic. But I'm going to play this clip because in the Toronto Mic'd Universe and this has become like an example of like unexpected real talk, I'd say, because people come on

and they don't give you the PR spin that you might give Rogers or Bell or whatever and they tell the truth, which is really refreshing and appreciated. So this is Anne and then I want to hear your, I don't think it was ever fair to you You might give Rogers or Bell or whatever, and they tell the truth, which is really refreshing and appreciated. So this is Anne, and then I want to hear your – I don't think it was ever fair to you that you never had a chance to respond to this. So all we got was Anne's side. So finally, you can set the record straight here.

So this is Anne Roszkowski on Toronto Mic. What had happened with Gord is Gord stopped talking to me for about three years. So as soon as Rogers came in, he kind of stopped talking to me. I mean, we always would have at least a friendly sort of exchange of hello, how are you? Right. But it wasn't, it wasn't, we weren't intimates at all. But then it stopped. And I, and I didn't understand that and then um uh and it and it and you know it would there were there were explosions of temper and stuff like that in the newsroom which you know was kind of strange and he wouldn't stand beside me like we used to start the show and end the show together but he wouldn't stand beside me until we were counting down three, two, one. And I was like, what?

What's going on? So I actually went up to him and I said, look, did something happen? Did I say something to you? Did I do something to offend you that I don't know about? But if I have, let me explain it. He said, no, no, no. It's fine. I'm just going through my own stuff.

I thought, okay. But I had opened up the conversation. I thought that would shift things, but it didn't. And so this kind of freezes me. Bring it down for you there, Gordon. The fact that when she says he didn't stand beside me anymore is because it was a change in format. The producers decided this is what they wanted.

So, okay, that is what they wanted so okay that's what they wanted and uh we got i as far as i'm concerned we always got along very well interesting i mean and i don't i know nothing except what ann tells me which is there's three sides every story everybody has a life everybody has issues everybody has good times and bad i i have had some terrible times personally in my life that have gone on while i've been on the air but they've never affected my performance and never allowed them to but you know you don't go into the to to work every day going yay you know some days are challenging and she was very clear that once that red light went on you were all pro you

you gave your all. Oh, that's what they pay you for. Right. They pay you to be a pain in the ass or to moan and bleed all over the place about your own personal life. First of all, it's no one else's business. Right. And you're not there to do that.

You're there to deliver a product, and you damn well better deliver. Because in her mind, she's convinced that for three years you wouldn't talk to her. That's just her miss, okay. I spoke to her all the time. Okay. All right. I have no sides.

I just wanted you to have a chance to retort because that's out there and it's like, it's not fair to Gord. I don't understand why she feels that way, but anyway. All right. So you're at City TV forever,

except for a brief stint at Global in 1980, of course. But then on February 29th, 2016, and I saw the replay of this, you say, up next, Modern Family, and you sign off as always. And then a press release came out to kind of shock us all, especially me. I was really shocked.

It was just real quick. I'll read just the first two quick paragraphs here. A well-known face to Torontonians everywhere. Tonight, Gord Martineau signed off as anchor of the Six O'Clock News for the last time and left the newsroom he has personified for nearly four decades. A leading figure in Canadian news broadcasting

and a Toronto television icon, the veteran news anchor stepped down from the position after a record 39 years in the newsroom. Gord is one of the most beloved anchors in the country, said Dave Budge, general manager of City News Toronto. Gord has been a trusted face invited into the homes of our viewers for the past four decades and a leader in the vision of city we look forward to working with gourd on the herbie fund

an organization that is dear to all of us and enriches the lives of children around the world gourd what the hell happened i need to know what happened well i knew the gig was up um i knew that they weren't going to renew my contract and um and February 29th was the day I was going to leave. That was how we negotiated it. And they said, well, we want to, you know, throw a big party. And what for? You know, there's no point. And they wanted to do the best of Gord Martineau kind of things.

And I thought, well, you know, it's all very nice. And thank you very much. But I'm not really interested in, you know a birthday cake or something you know or a cake or something that that you know where everybody has a slice of cake is his see a gourd you know i'm gone that's that's the the thing and i don't want any noise about it i'm just going to walk away and and that's the way i did it and am i right in assuming that they would spin it as retirement? Like they would say, oh, Gord's decided to retire? Because I hadn't decided to retire.

And I said, please don't use that word. But, you know, if we have come to a parting of the ways, then that's what we're doing. I'm going to continue doing the Herbie Fund, but that's fine. I don't want to party. Forget the party. This, I guess I'm wondering, because I was talking to somebody else,

a longtime Rogers employee who had a similar thing happen, and he literally found out like two days before his goodbye or whatever that your last day is Friday. In fact, I think, I don't think, I'll let him talk, he's coming back, but he'll explain exactly what happened.

But is this just not renewing the contract? Is it a cost-cutting? I guess my question is, is it just a question of dollars? Yeah, primarily that's what it is because broadcasting, well, any media, print or broadcast is suffering from severe challenges. And the fact that the internet has diverted a lot of the advertising dollars, there aren't the resources there used to be. And I understand that cuts have to be made. And it's painful, but they have to be made.

I mean, if the money isn't there, it isn't there. There's nothing you can do about it. I mean, other than drum up more advertising. But there's a limited supply of advertising dollars. And a lot of it has been diverted to other areas. What really succeeds these days is sports. Because it's appointment viewing yeah the game's on at six or two or one whenever it is but news you can get anytime anytime so you don't have to

wait till six o'clock to watch city news to get your news or global or cbc or ctv whatever it's all available online anytime you want and so viewership has been declining for many many years and it's now at the point where I don't know whether it's bottomed out, but it is the way it is. And companies cannot afford to do the same things they were doing years ago. We miss you on the air. Thank you. I miss me on the air. It's a job that I love, but I'm still doing Herbie, and I'm happy to do it. And, and you know what, what I'm really

happy about is my life. Now I can go wherever I want, whenever I want with whomever I wish. And I don't wear a watch anymore since I was 19 years old. I've had a watch and always looking at it. What time is it? What's next, next, next. I haven't worn a tie. I think I wore a tie once in the last three years and I couldn't care less. You look great. Thank you. You look happy. You look relaxed.

I am happy, yeah. It's funny you mentioned that you don't wear a watch anymore because this is a great question that ties into what happened to you with somebody kind of going through it now, I guess. But this is Milan from Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair. So if you ever dig up that watch and need it again, he can put the battery in. And if you mention that you heard about

Fast Time on Toronto Mic'd, they give you 15% off any watch battery installation. So go to FastTimeWatchRepair.com to find out a location near you. This much better voice than mine belongs to Milan. Hey, Toronto Mic'd. It's Milan from Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair. Hello Mr. Martineau.

It's truly an honor to speak to a Canadian broadcasting legend. My question, I'm a big fan of Bob McCowan. Like yourself, Bob was a fixture on a Rogers-owned station and well-regarded for his craft. Wanted to know your thoughts on the way his abrupt departure was handled. And do you see parallels on what happened to him and yourself? Yeah, there's a parallel.

And with the recent Rogers cost-cutting, could this be the end of another legendary voice in Don Cherry as well? Thank you, Gordon Toronto-Mike. Okay. I don't know about Don. I don't know what his situation is but obviously it's a money thing um when when you have people of uh i guess a certain station a

certain um stature yeah okay let's call it stature uh then they have a tendency to make more money than other people and they're there for a reason and the reason why people watch or listen to someone is because there's a subliminal bonding that happens they like you for a reason and because of that your numbers will increase in terms of audience numbers and so bob had huge numbers was uh you know highly regarded for many, many years. I know Bob, and I think his situation was handled in much the same way mine was. I wasn't aware that he was gone until he was gone. And so I assume it was the same kind of situation as mine.

Did your contract expire and they just didn't renew it, or did they buy it out? It was going to expire many months after I left, but we decided let's just call it a day. Have you ever tuned into City since you left? I have. I've watched a couple of times. Yeah, it's different now. And by that, I don't mean it's worse or better or whatever. It's just it's different. It doesn't have the same kind of flavor that City News used to have.

But, you know, everything changes. Everything comes to an end. Would you say it was better back in the day, or are you trying not to be the old man yelling at clouds? I would say it was better back in the day from the standpoint that it was more connected to the community i don't get that sense now city was dedicated to being involved with everyone in the community all causes all walks of life all peoples and you know we went out of our way and

it used to be it's not so much anymore but when you wrote in the city vehicle that had city news or city pulse written on the side people waved or they reacted to you right because they felt they had access and that access has disappeared what are you doing at uh 10 10 these days are you are you uh appearing on uh yeah they call me news talk 10 10 best uh periodically yeah it's called the round table and i'm happy to do that where we discuss current affairs, current events. Now, other than enjoying life, some people are hearing you now for the first time since you signed off.

How long ago was that again? It's February 2016. Three years ago. So you've told us you're doing well, that you don't have to carry a watch anymore, and you're enjoying life, and good for you. You've earned it. You deserve it. It was a watch anymore, and you're enjoying life, and good for you. You've earned it. You deserve it.

It was a hell of an adjustment. It was because I've had a job since I was 12 years old. And so to all of a sudden be adrift, as it were, was an adjustment. I had to figure out everything was totally different, and I had to get used to the fact that, that I wasn't needed there every day. And, but I was bound and determined to continue the Herbie stuff and I still do it to this day. Right. So other than your, your work with, uh, the charities that you mentioned and other charities through the years, you've been very, very charitable.

Uh, would you consider yourself retired now? Like now that you've kind of, no, no, I don't, you know, retired means to me that you're like the half past dead or something. I mean, it's, you know, you got one foot on a banana peel and the other one on a grave.

I'm not in that position. I, I, I'll be retired when they plug me in the boneyard. Let's put it that way. So what, what's next? Uh,

do you have any, uh, plans or are you, are you exploring any, uh options i'm looking at all kinds of different projects do you want to co-host ron and mike with me how much money you got boy i got beer and lasagna geez that might do it um no i've got a lot of things that i'm looking at things that may require they're non-broadcast and i'm happy to do that and uh you know i've met so many interesting people and people uh on the street you know will say hey how you doing how are things

going and and very respectful and i really enjoy that and uh you're going to take a photo with me just before you drive off today for 10 bucks hey i'll come up with that cash all right gordon martino what an absolute pleasure i want you were in my living room i always say you were I'll cash you $10. Hey, I'll come up with that cash. All right. Gord Martineau, what an absolute pleasure. You were in my living room. I always say you were in my living room literally for decades. You were my go-to news source. Thank you very much.

And you were fantastic. Thank you. Thanks so much for this. Yep. And that brings us to the end of our 484th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Now, Gord, are you at Gord Martineau? Do you actually man your Twitter account?

No. I noticed, but you're there. So you have a verified Twitter account, but you don't actually tweet. It was begun when I was at City. I don't keep it up because I kind of agree with Lady Gaga that much of social media

is the toilet of the internet. There's so much anger and hatred out there. I really try to avoid that. I've had enough of that. I've had enough of sadness over 50 years in broadcasting. I think I can do without it now. So don't expect a tweet from Gord, but he's out there. Maybe in the future.

Maybe there'll be something big to announce, and you can use that channel there. Great Lakes Brewery or at Great Lakes Beer. Propertyinthesix.com is that raptors devotee palma pasta is at palma pasta fast time watch and jewelry repair is at fast time wjr sticker you is that sticker you and capadia llp is at capadia llp if anyone listening would like a complimentary 50-minute consultation, Rupesh Capadilla, who is the rock star accountant who sees beyond the numbers, not like these bean counters we talked about, give me a call or write me an email or DM me, and I'll hook you up with Rupesh, and he'd be happy to tell you best practices and what you should be doing. He's a smart guy and easy to talk to. So thank you, Kapadia LLP. See you all next week.