Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Gord Rennie: Toronto Mike'd #982

Episode Date: January 10, 2022

Mike chats with producer Gord Rennie about his years at EZ Rock, working with Erin Davis and Mike Cooper, their move to CHFI, Darren B. Lamb, Maureen Holloway, the big change, and his new gig at GNR 640 working with Greg Brady and Kelly Cutrara. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, StickerYou, Ridley Funeral Home and Patrons like you.

Welcome to episode 982 of Toronto Mic'd, proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery and the GTA. StickerU.com, create custom stickers, labels, tattoos and decals for your home and the GTA. StickerU.com Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals for your home and your business. Palma Pasta Enjoy the taste of fresh homemade

Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Ridley Funeral Home Pillars of the community since 1921. And patrons like you become a Toronto Mike patron today at patreon.com slash Toronto Mike. I Mike from Toronto Mike.com and joining me this week is technical producer at

GNR 640. Shout out to Axel Rose. It's Gord. Rennie. Welcome Gord. This is great. Thank you. Well, that's high praise. Now I'm nervous I won't press the right buttons because it's not often I'm

in the presence of someone who presses the right buttons for actual terrestrial radio. But what's it like for you to watch like a podcast get made when you've been spending so many years, you know, helping radio get made? Actually, this is quite interesting because this is my first podcast

that I'm actually going to be part of from start to finish, like either participating in or listening. Or listening? Yeah. Is that possible? I don't know. I just, I have, since I started doing mornings, my TV movie viewing has just dropped right off. Is that because you go to bed at like some ungodly hour?

Like what time do you go to bed at night? Well, it depends on my nap in the afternoon. But like, for instance, for now, since, you know, normally I would be sleeping, but I, you know, took time out to come here because it's great. Like, you know, I would go to bed now at took time out to come here because it's great. I would go to bed now at probably about 8, 8.30, but I listen to my body. When it says you go sleeping, you go sleeping. Right. Okay. Well, I

would think, and we're going to get into all this, but I would think doing what you do in morning radio, that's like you kiss your social life goodbye and then all that stuff like oh, there's a big Leafs game tonight. And I don't know if you're a sports guy or not, but oh, you know, like everybody's watching the Oscars or something. Like all that stuff kind of goes out the window.

Like that's the sacrifice you've decided to make. I've watched the beginning of lots of sporting events and lots of, you know, Oscars and whatnot. And then it's just, yep, it's biddy-bye time. See, the opposite works. If you just watch the end of sporting events, you're good to go. But just watch the beginnings, not so much. Well, with all the prep services and interviews and stuff that comes in overnight, I'm well-versed in what happened the next day. I didn't see the actual Chargers game yesterday,

but when I woke up, I knew all about it right so right then you see you see the highlights and that that's good enough for me now and i i've over my career i've seen just enough to get by to either talk about it in a like a party setting or on the radio or uh just enough to uh hold my own in a conversation. I get the gist of what's going on and then I move on. Speaking of moving on, what is the final day by which I can say Happy New Year to you? Is it okay today to say Happy New Year to you? You can. Some people just go supernova about it,

but I believe it was the 6th, I think it was. I remember Larry David, I think on Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry David said it was January 7th. I think that's the last day by which you could say Happy New Year, but, you know, screw Larry David. Happy birthday. Sorry, happy birthday. Happy New Year.

And when's your birthday? Are we close? No. March. March. March is my birthday. Oh, my youngest has a March birthday, so, yeah, she's March 15th. Oh, March is my birthday. Oh, my youngest has a March birthday. So, yeah, she's March 15th.

Oh, March 16th. Okay, you missed the Ides of March. I did, but I was half hour away from being a St. Paddy's Day baby. Oh, okay. So, you're like at 11.30 p.m. You made your debut. As my brother was fond of saying, during Johnny Carson's monologue, I was born. That's right. That's right.

So, happy New Year to you, Gord. Happy new year to you. I love having Gords on. Many great Gords have appeared from Gord Stelic to Gord Depp to Gord Martineau. These are some of the great Gords that have made an appearance. I've met two or three of them. Okay. Martineau and Stelic.

And, okay, I'm surprised you haven't met Gord Depp yet. And, okay, I could, you know, I'm surprised you haven't met Gord Depp yet. I'm sure we could send Gord Depp over to the 640 studios at some point to sit down with you guys. Totally. Maybe when this Omicron disappears, we'll make that happen. There's been a loss. I got to shout this out because FOTM, there's a great FOTM. He was my co-host for 76 weeks of Pandemic Fridays. And then he, well, then we parted ways.

This is back in August 2021. We had TMLX8 at the patio of Great Lakes Brewery. By the way, Gord, since I said Great Lakes Brewery, I've got some fresh craft beer for you. Oh, awesome. To enjoy. It's delicious and brewed right here in Southern Ontario. But all this is to say

Stu Stone, of course, is one of the great FOTMs and Stu Stone, I hope I have it rolled up. Let's listen to this and let's talk about this before we get into your radio career. You are now about to witness the strength of Bob Saget. Bob Saget.

Bob Saget. Bob Saget. Have you ever had one of those nights that started off so damn good? No fights, no fuss. It's understood that when you go to the bar, man, we ain't leaving till there's girls in the car. Well, this night started off just like that, except Jamie's in the driver's seat, Saget's in the back. We rolling on 20s to the club, pull up front, Saget's in the back seat, rolling a black.

Ballet opens up the door to park the car, the bouncer at the front don't want to let us in the bar. Bob says, here, let me show him some affection. Then he walked up, wound up, cold clock decked him. Started screaming for the bitch to respect him. Next thing you know, we're in the VIP section. When crew runs deep like this, you wanna brag it. I'm rolling with Sagitt. I'm rolling with Bob.

I'm rolling with Bob Sagitt. This, of course, is Stu Stone and Jamie Kennedy and their jam, Rolling with Sagitt, which, of course, Bob Sagitt was a great sport about. He has a cameo in the song and he also is in the video.

Very shocking news yesterday when Bob Sagitt, we learned that Bob Saget was a great sport about. He has a cameo in the song, and he also is in the video. Very shocking news yesterday when Bob Saget, we learned that Bob Saget passed away. What I'm hearing is just such a nice, sweet man. And you kind of got a feel of that from Full House. And, you know, some people are calling him America's dad, but I think that... Well, we gave that title to Bob because we took it away from Bill Cosby. That's true. Deservingly so.

We stripped the title from Bill and we said, Bob, it's yours now, buddy. Yeah, and I got respect for him when comedians show respect for a fellow comedian. Apparently, he could go into the dark corners of comedy. If you've seen The Aristocrats, then you know what I'm talking about. He is the champ at that. And did you ever see the movie Half-Baked? Yes. So he's got that great cameo in that too.

And again, this is not 640, so I can tell you that great line about have you ever sucked dick from marijuana? It's like, wait a minute, this is the dad from Full House. Then you're like, oh yeah, this is his stand-up. It's raunchy. I love that juxtaposition between the wholesome TV dad on Full House and the fact that he was as blue AF when he was on stage doing stand-up. Totally.

It's such a loss too. When we were recording this, it's, you know, when we were recording this, it's the mystery of what happened because he tweeted about three in the morning yesterday after his gig. Very sudden.

Yeah, that he had a great time and he had all these dates booked. So, but you don't know what's, we don't know what's happened. It could be something, you know, he just had a heart attack or something. Well, that's my, you know, I'm not going to put money on it because I don't know what's happened. It could be something, you know, he just had a heart attack or something. Well, that's my, you know, I'm not going to put money on it

because I don't have a clue. But when I hear a 65-year-old, you know, who felt great the night before and then drops dead very suddenly like that, it's almost always the heart, right? It's like something with the heart. Or some kind of aneurysm, which, you know,

I don't need another thing keeping me up at night. Right. It's like, that can take you out just like that? Well, that's it. You know, I mean. Your number's up. And then it's tough on the survivors, right? It's, again,

another sponsor of this show is Ridley Funeral Home. And it's really about comforting those left behind. And I just want to let Stu Stone know I'm thinking of him right now because not only did he do the jam with Bob Saget, but he became good friends with Bob,

because like you said, Bob's a sweetheart, apparently. And by the way, in Toronto, Bob Saget directed that movie Dirty Work with Norm MacDonald and Artie Lang. And it's hard to believe that suddenly Artie is the last man standing of that trifecta. And we lost Norm last year, and now we've lost Bob Saget.

We were playing a couple of clips from Norm and it was about 10, 12 years ago. Just, it was at, I think it was his roast, Bob Saget's roast. And the nice things he said about Bob is just, you know, it's, you need to hear those words at times like these. And no matter how it strikes you,

for me, that kind of, I did the, when I heard the news, it kind of takes the wind out of your sails and other people you know they grew up with full house or just devastated like it's one thing when you learn 99 year old betty white passed away and you're like okay well that makes some sense here and then you learn somebody like sadly somebody who was battling cancer or something passes away and you're like oh they were sick that's terrible news Bob, we didn't get a heads up, right? So it's like, you know, here today, gone tomorrow. So it's a lot tougher. And Norm was

battling cancer but didn't reveal it to us. So we got that news and it was very sudden for us fans. But again, anyone who knew and loved Bob Saget, much love to you today. That's a tough one. Yeah, let's slow the pace. Betty White, Sidney Poitier, now Bob Saget. Let's just ease up, okay?

It's enough. It's enough. But, Gord, there's so many more famous people now. Like, I feel like you can't slow the pace because, like, as television evolved and then, you know, in movies, you know, it became more plentiful. Like, we just created too many famous people.

Yeah. There's a lot of famous people now. And, you know, you throw YouTube into the mix, right? Right people yeah there's a lot of famous people now and you know you throw youtube into the mix right right so it's a youtube star and it's just a sign that you're getting old it's like okay i don't know who that is join the club i'll get my my 17 year old it's two floors up in school on the internet i'll get her down here i always have you ever heard of this person and my son who's 20 i'm like there's a rapper well some rapper was shot or something and i'll be like have you ever heard of this rapper and it's like he's like no dad but uh

apparently he had a mixtape that was making the rounds and you get to kind of catch up on this but uh yeah hey so not to uh uh give you a whiplash for this this this hard turn here but uh i gotta know because i'm gonna tell you this gourd when i was young I was a big fan of WKRP in Cincinnati and I watched it in syndication and I would be like I'd see like Dr. Johnny Fever or Venus Flytrap or whatever and I'd be like that's the coolest

job in the world like I just thought that was the coolest job and then I never felt I had anywhere close to the right voice to actually consider pursuing a job in radio. So I never did. And it's kind of funny that now here we are talking on mics and it's being recorded and heard by thousands of people. But when did you, Gord, realize that you wanted a career in radio?

It's funny because when I was in high high school so this would be 19 uh spring of 1992 and so i was in the guidance office talking to the counselor who was also the football coach and uh he said you got your uh prospects ready for university right and i'm thinking oh no no i'm going uh thinking about college i'm more of a hands-on kind of person i don't know what i'm thinking about but and he goes oh those are supposed to be in yesterday yesterday so he says oh i can i can pull some strings and get uh get some things in uh if you do it tonight and bring it in the next day right so i come home and yeah and i'm going i'm looking through the books and i'm going i don't know what to do what and it comes across radio broadcasting and it's like and i'm reading it and it's like you know, I like to make actual mixtapes like on cassette back in the day.

And I used to, you know, when they got warped in the sun, the plastic in the center, I would take those out and change the tape and add more leader tape if I wanted to. And I said, I'm good at that. I know how to use the pencil to wind it up tight. So let's do that. So I kind of figured out from that point to this point right now, this is very second. Yeah. It was decided in a night. Wow.

I mean, I watched WKRP too. And I always, you know, I always shake my fist at the radio announcers because you're talking over my intro, my favorite song. You're writing my mixtape. Yes, that's right. You're right, because they like to hit the post, right? So that means talking over the instrumental at the beginning. So you need those jams that sort of start with a lyric.

There's no one's talking over this one because there's no room. But you're right, it always bugged me if I was recording. Because I used to record, for example, CFTR had a top six at six. And I'd want a certain song I thought was on the top six at six. And yeah, if you get that clean record, that was everything to us. So shout out to the DJs that would kind of not trample on the songs for us once in a while. But back in the day, listening to CFTR, and then that's all they did. They just talked up intros.

It didn't matter if it was six seconds or 45. What was that guy? What's his name? Mike something? Mike they what was that guy what's his name mike something mike cooper i feel like there's a that's his fault hey so we're gonna talk about cooper and a whole bunch of stuff but uh i find it amazing so you yeah the mixtapes we all did that but until that day you had to submit something i guess it was humber college that's the college you went to i went to yeah humber was the only one that was silly enough to uh let me yeah i got i got uh bumped out of ryerson i never got in there and uh and then there was a couple others and then so humber accepted me so off i went to college and you know fresh face kid and

going in there and i got an offbeat kind of humor right so? So when we were writing commercials and stuff, my commercials were always Elvis-based because I'm a super Elvis, super nerd. Wow, I see your shirt. I should tell people we're going to take a photo, but I'm going to make you take your jacket off for the photo, okay? Okay. Because there's a regular on this program,

well, not regular, he was on for Festivus, which was December 20th, but Elvis, and it's not his real name, but his license plate says Elvis. He just adores Elvis with all his heart. So you're one of those. Yeah, I got a, you know, taking care of business tattoo. I mean, you know, I'm a freak fan.

So anyway, I would write commercials based on, you know, his old movies coming back to the theaters. And when you had to do radio labs about a format, so you had to pick a format, and then you had to just do the whole thing as if it was that format. So, you know, mine, of course, was all Elvis all the time. Right. You know, we just played all Elvis music and did the weather at Graceland

and all those kind of silly things. And then, uh, I realized as you got into the second year that, uh, technically I took to like a fish into water, right? It was just,

I knew the, how to press the buttons and it was reforming and, and it was exciting, right? Yeah. Cause I can't, you know, obviously I've never worked in radio.

Um, fun fact, but I like, like I would hate to think, like, all I was going to do is talk into this microphone. Like, the fact that I've got a few different things going on and I got, you know, I might bring some music in here and I have to actually press some buttons to make this a podcast.

Like, I find that the fun stuff. Like, I like to press my own buttons. Well, the thing is that, too, it you're you're sectioning off parts of your brain to do certain things all at the same time right and so i found that i could i could do that it was our final exam one year was like people were crying it was it was so tough and um it uh you had to back sell a song right and then this is back in the day when we had still carts i was i went when i went to college it was in the the changing of the guard from cds to hard drive music so the station had everything it had records it had carts and it had cds and it had hard drive music and so you'd go from one to

the other and so i learned how to do all that stuff about you know queuing up the record and so you hold it back a little bit so it doesn't go and then it starts playing right and then uh you're doing all this stuff on the fly and it's just like i just did it and it was like it just felt so comfortable like an old pair of jeans and it was so that part was fine i loved doing that part right it was the announcing, which I thought, like you, I don't have that radio voice. Well, you thought you had to sound like Tom Rivers. That's what screwed me up, actually, thinking, oh, I've got to sound like Tom Rivers. And as you can hear in

your headphones right now, that wasn't going to happen. I'd have to start smoking, maybe drinking some whiskey. I don't know. That's the secret, right? I asked that straight up. I said to Jeff Woods one day, like, how can I sound like you? Because Jeff Woods, think has the coolest voice and he's like you gotta i can't do a jeff woods but you gotta start drinking and smoking at eight years old like me or something i'm like oh i get it the trade-off is you get the great voice but you're lucky to live to 70 like

i'm not sure i want to do that yeah some people just you know like some people have it naturally the aforementioned cooper just you know right is to quote Mike, he has a voice deeper than whale droppings. And it's just, that's just the way, uh, it's just the way he was built. And it's just, yeah. And it's just, uh, uh, I thought that that was my weakest part of my game as it were. And so that's what I worked at. And I always took the last shift during the radio broadcasting day because it was an extra hour. Everyone else had two hours. You had 8 to 11 to do the final hour. And you don't need broadcast to the parking lot and the residence.

It's as far as the station goes. Now it's on the internet. Right. And anyone around the world could listen to it. Right. Then it was just, you know, you get the phone ring. It's like, can I hear your request, man? And it's like, are you for the residence? Yeah. And it's like, oh, by the way, you know you get the phone ring it's like can i hear your request man and it's like are you for the residents yeah and it's like oh by the way you're not on the air

it's like okay okay would you someone hear the song if you can't hear it i love it man like that's so cool so you you picked the right profession because uh you loved it you were good at it and you're still doing it today so we're gonna cover a lot of ground here i think that's totally cool did you want to name check your high school i know we referenced it but you want to just check people love to hear other people who went to their high school like this is exciting for people what high school did you go to i went to david and mary thompson collegiate in scarborough was on the lawrence avenue sadly no longer there it's gone it just got demolished this past summer so is the school like the school's gone

or just the physical building? Well, the physical building. Okay, only because my high school is gone, like the physical building, but they just, they took the name to another building. Oh yeah, no, this is gone, gone. All right, all right, all right. But I always think like, oh, you want to go,

like reunions and stuff. It's like, wait, that's not, doesn't mean much when it's not your building. Like just, you know, like, we'll meet you at great lakes and we'll have a beer or something but yeah this was floating around for a while that it was going to be demolished and the u of t was going to buy a place and and so when the the last reunion came my brothers and i went because they went there before me and uh just to walk through the halls and it's like the the hallway's the same colored paint and and it it's like a a time machine you just walk in there it's like it Just to walk through the halls, and the hallway is the same color paint.

It's like a time machine. You just walk in there, and it smells the same. It looks the same. It's like, oh, my God, I'm 14 again. That's great. I think we're similar vintage now that I hear you name-check these years here. But what's your first radio job at a Humber? Let's see. They said to go two years, two years with sending out demo tapes,

and if you don't get anything, you should think about a change of career. So then I got close to the end of two years, and then I got a call from a guy named Tom Tompkins who worked at a place called Pelmer X, which is a division. I know it. It's Weather Channel. Yeah, it's a division. I know it well.

I have a good friend who used to work there. Yeah, he used to have this weird oversized house in Mississauga. It's where the Maryland-shaped buildings stand now. Oh, yeah. Let's call that Here Ontario in Burnhamthorpe. Yeah, it was Robert Speck Parkway. Yeah, wow. Been there.

Yeah, and so I'd walk in there. I was like, this is not what a radio station is supposed to be. You go into the basement, you're supposed to go on the top floor and you see a view of the city. But I went down in the basement and Tom was there. And he goes, you know, I had a last minute person quit on me. Can you learn this job in two hours and do a shift? Absolutely, sir. Wow.

Right. And then then you know he just sweat drops sweat drops for six hours right and i had a baptism by fire my friend exactly i had a two-hour training shift with a guy by the name of bill coulter oh yes we we know that name wow this is at the weather network and uh cb24 now yeah well now now he's at cb24 for sure so yeah he trained me and then I did that first shift, and I started working there as an op, and they had at their height, they had like 280 stations, mostly in the interior of the country,

in BC and Manitoba, and because it was satellite, it was, you know, regular radio feeds couldn't get there. So it was great until it rained. radio feeds couldn't get there. So it was great until it rained. And when it rained here in Mississauga, it was, I'd say on the phone all the time, I'm sorry, sir, it's a rain

fade. So the signal would go on and off with the rain. They weren't happy. And then the peak of it was when 1050 Chum, the sports station, when it was playing oldies, we would do like the weekend.

Pelmer X would take over for the weekend. Wow. So yeah, and I called it at the time the Tar Pits of radio because it's where people went to either finish off their career or have a paying gig while they waited to get back into regular radio. Interesting. And guys like Tom Rivers passed by. Wow. And Bill Hayes. of uh derringer

yeah exactly he's been here by the way i'll shout name check i'll shout out the people who've been over to the uh the studio here and the late mark chambers him and i would talk forever and uh in all these all these guys i just i was soaking it in just listening to them talk about radio and there was one guy i don't think it was his name but it was his radio i believe it was randy owen okay and he was like a big jfk conspirator conspiratorist and i would always take a step away from the window because the way he got deep i was waiting for a bullet to come in through the window and just take him out he was so but all these guys were great. Eva D, Eva D did Cryin' Lovin' or Leave Em. Did like the only request show on this, you know, it was basically just, you know, voice tracked.

Wow, I didn't even, yeah, this is why, I'm still surprised. So when Tom Rivers passes through, is that like between gigs, like CKFM in 99.9? Like, do you have any idea when that was? I know he was on, with Larry Fedorik, he was on, I want to say, 99.9. Yeah, in my timeline, I started there in 96. Okay, 96.

So now we're, maybe when he came it was 97. Because he's been gone a long time now. Yes, he has. So it's, yeah. Yeah, 97, 97 98 around there okay but they had to do because we had 200 stations they had to do you know you're listening to you're listening to you're listening to and go through all the call letters all the call letters of all the stations it was a long process and but it was like that was my first exposure to

yeah and they paid you real money right this is not one of the yeah you got an actual paycheck got an actual paycheck it was, you got an actual paycheck. Good for you. And it was like, this was awesome. It's like, now I'm living the dream, and people are coming in because it was AC, Hot Country, Regular Country, and Oldies. Right.

And so all these country artists were coming in. It's like, you wouldn't bat an eye to see Faith Hill walk by. Wow. The chicks come in. You know, all these people that are coming up, they're not at the Super Stardom yet. And Jan Arden and Shania Twain was there. Wow.

Alabama and all these. Kenny Rogers, I had this tape forever. Kenny Rogers coming in and actually thanking me by name. Okay, mind blow, because that's my mom's favorite artist of all time. Kenny frickin' Rogers. Love it, buddy. Lady is an awesome song.

That's a great Lionel Richie jam. Yeah, and that's my mom's favorite song, too, by Kenny Rogers. Lady. Lionel Richie did an album called Tuskegee, and it was duets of his songs with the people that made them famous. He did Lady with Kenny Rogers. Talk about having your mind blown right there. That's one of my all-time favorites.

Love it. Well, at some point when you kick out the jams, I want to hear some... Maybe that jam will make the cut. Maybe. It's a little bit of a tummy rubber, but... So quietly, underneath that chatter about... so i timed it all wrong you're probably already disappointed in my skills here but i thought i was ready for some uh to see how

you got to easy rock because at some point easy rock shows up on the resume of course and we have a lot to talk about there but i was playing in the background i guess i could why not uh so so how i guess let me ask you this and maybe i'll bring back that jam I played because that's my Easy Rock anthem. But even though Easy Rock would never play it, but that's another story. Tell me how you end up at Easy Rock. Well, PelorX gets sold, and they become Medianet, and they move down to Sherburn.

And so for extra cash, I started doing a show called Delilah at Easy Rock. Of course, yeah. So I'd work at Medianet because I was the imaging producer for all the stations. Right. So then I'd do that from 9 to 5, and then I'd hop in my car, go up to 40 Eglinton to Easy Rock, and work 6 to midnight. And at the time, you know, you're living in my parents place rent

free got two jobs coming the money is just raining from the sky i thought right he's like this is great and then um and then they started asking me to train people for the morning show and the morning show at the time was mike and christine mike cooper and christine cardoso yes so i started training these people on the board and and then I'd send them up. And then I'd see them two weeks later and say, how's it going? Say, oh, I don't work there anymore. Oh, okay. And then this happens to about four or five people, and then they just said, do you want to do it since you're training them all?

And I said, well, I mean, I got to leave a full-time gig. I can't leave a full-time gig for a part-time gig, right? And he's like, no, no, we'll make a full-time gig. Because Mike Brown was the producer there. And so they only had one producer. So I was like, I can't leave a full-time job for a part-time job. He said, no, no, we'll make it full-time. So then the week after 9-11.

Wow. Right? So that's still fresh in everyone's mind. full time. So then the week after 9-11. Wow. Right? So that's still fresh in everyone's mind. Of course. And everyone's still kind of scrambling. I start mornings. That's my, at Friday during the 9-11 was the last time I stayed up late and slept like a normal person. Wow.

Okay. So let's listen to a bit of another gourd here. So lots of gourds. This gourd sadly never appeared on Toronto Mic. But let's listen to a bit of this gourd here so lots of gourds this gourd sadly never appeared on toronto mic but let's listen to a bit of this as we talk about easy rod actually two gourds in this jam actually right this is a two gourd band to tragically hit yeah so you get lots of gourds here. That was another one. It was like everyone knew it was coming,

but when it still happened, it was, again, the wind just, it's taken out of your sails. So the story goes that this song, My Music at Work, was inspired by a billboard that Gord Downie would see that said, I think, Your Music at Work or something like that, that Gord Downie would see that said, I think, Your Music at Work or something like that,

which was, of course, a billboard for 97.3 Easy Rock. That's right. So this is the Easy Rock anthem, even though it's safe to say Easy Rock never played a single song by the Tragically Hip. I don't recall. There's no way. Yeah, there is no way. Shout out to John Tesh, though.

I had a buddy who worked at Easy Rock just before it flipped to boom, and I still remember, I think, well, Lisa Gibbons and John Tesh, all these older Entertainment Tonight personalities seemed to have voices on the show, on the station, I should say. That was a big coup to get Lisa Gibbons, because she kind of launched Mike and Christine and the whole station to the upper level now. It's like, now we're taking on the big boys of CHFI and CHUM,

and we're coming for you, because we had nothing to lose. We were trying new things, and one day I walked into the station and the receptionist, I can't remember the politically correct name now, but the receptionist at the time, she... Administrative assistant? Administrative assistant or administrative professional. Administrative professional day. Yeah, even better.

Even better. She was an opera singer. Oh. So that's what I said. And then I said, what can we do there? Yeah, even better. She was an opera singer. So that's what I said. And then I said, what can we do there? So then we came up with the idea, Easy Rock Opera. And it was a game show where she would sing a line of a well-known song in her operatic voice. And you had to guess what it was.

We do crazy stuff like that all the time. Mike and Christine would act out a line from a movie, added the background music and all that stuff, and you had to guess what it was. All these crazy things that we did that the three of us gelled together, and then momentum was gaining, and then we get bought by Standard. Okay, okay, so pause right there for a moment. Now, you worked quite a bit in your career

because, of course, we're going to get to your CHFI years, but give me the straight-up goods because I really, really want Mike Cooper on Toronto Mike. Like, I think this would be a great place to, you know, share his career and stuff, and it hasn't happened yet. I haven't given up, but tell me what you can about the man that is Mike Cooper. I first met Mike at a staff meeting for Easy Rock

because he was doing the morning show and I was doing their weekend oldie show. Mike and Christine, they would voice track it. So I'd hear his voice all the time and it's like, his voice is familiar, his name is familiar. And then we'd go back to the aforementioned CFTR and I end up realizing that I listened to him every afternoon.

The stupid joke of the year. That was a 5'10", was listen to him every afternoon. The stupid joke of the year. That was a 510? Was it 510 stupid joke of the day? He'll be quick to tell you it's three published books of the stupid joke of the day. Bestsellers too, by the way. I'll bet. Again, I'm pretty sure you and I are either one or two years apart

in age if we're not exactly the same darn year based on all the clues I've gathered. But yeah, if you were listening to Top 40 Radio at that time, then Bill Hayes was another guy who was there. Larry Fedorek, I mentioned him. He was there. Tom Rivers was there in the mornings. And Mike Cooper, Afternoon Drive.

And let's not forget KJ. That's right. Chris James. That's right. We never called him KJ back then. All these people that you're exposed to, and then you hear that name and go, that sounds familiar, and you realize what it's connected to.

So yeah, I met him at the staff meeting, and they welcomed me to the station, and he goes, oh, you're doing a great job Saturday nights. And that filled me full of confidence. Sure. He never listened. He never listened. But he's good enough you know that filled me full of confidence and he never listened he never listened but he's good enough to know that like he he will be the first to say he always

takes care of his producers because they take care of him they make him look good and so you get uh you get that confidence right away when i started working with mike and christine in the morning it was uh you know christine would be you, talking about certain other things that was beyond Mike, right? And Mike's more of a meat and potatoes kind of guy. Likes to cut the grass, you know, have a nice cold beer, barbecue. And, you know, Christine has a little more of the finer things in life, right? So I could talk to her, I could talk to him. And then we just sort of hit it off.

And he'd tell you if he was sitting here that when he first met me, he thought I was a mute. Oh, because you were shy? Well, yeah. A lot of radio people have that problem. Like in real life, they're really introverted. Is that the word? Introverted, yeah.

And they don't like to go out to big crowds. Oh, maybe there's that feeling like, because when you have a live mic in front of your face, you're on, right? You're literally on and you're in performance mode. And maybe there's a, you don't want to have, like if you're around other people, you might feel this need to turn it on.

And it might be a lot of work to be on all the time. And you might not want to be on, which means you might just avoid the whole scenario. That's why I find comedians are like that, especially the ones we had in the morning. Well, mornings are not really comedians' wheelhouse, right? Right. They're not really funny.

They're just, yeah, that's great. That's great. That's great. That's funny. It's like you're supposed to be funny, but you're not. So, yeah. Be more funny. It's interesting, Christine Cardoso,

because she's still on CHFI. You'll hear her do a newscast with Gurdeep and Pooja at CHFI today. Yeah, she's great. I could talk all day about how great Christine is. Here's your opportunity. I brought a sleeping bag, so I can't stay over. She took me under her wing, and then she told me about,

you know, how to, how to handle big name people, because I started realizing that, you know, who Mike Cooper was, and then you start getting the start to hyperventilate a little bit, realizing that you're working with this guy. And she just said, Don't know, he's just a regular dude. And you just, you know, right, make sure that you don't, you know, don't make us look bad, Make sure that you don't make us look bad. Try your best to do that. And that was the first piece of advice that I took to heart. You're there to make them look good.

It's not about Gord Rennie. It's about you've got to make Mike and Christine sound good on the radio. So whatever you give them, it can't be uh, you can't, can't be wrong. It's gotta be like the right information, right? Because that makes them, you know, look silly.

So that was the first, first great step was to just make them shine. And then, you know, once, once you get to know Mike and now it's like, you know, it's,

he's, he was like a, he's like a father figure. Is it, it's, as it's gone on, like an older brother. And it was,

he's, he's just, he's so great. And he's like, and of course he's mellow father figure is it it's as it's gone on like an older brother and it was uh he's he's just he's so great and he's like and of course he's mellowed over the years but uh to hear all the stories like he he could have a another bestseller in his hands if he could dictate all the stories that he's he's had over his career all right so let's let's talk about it's funny the timing of this that you're here now, because I also, like yourself, who was booking guests for, you know, Mike and Christine to talk to, and I know you would book like a William Shatner or Rick Mercer or something. So I book guests for Humble and Fred to talk to, like four days a week. And believe it or not, the guest tomorrow on Humble and Fred is Julie Adam. This is the... Oh, wow. I know. So this is all tying into the story now and you know where I'm going, but just to let the listenerships know. So at this time,

now you're at Easy Rock. You're not at CHFI, but at CHFI, it's Aaron Davis in the morning. And was it Bob McGee? Yes. Yes, right. It was Bob McGee.

Because Don Daynard had retired. Yeah, he left in 99, I believe. Right. Still with us, by the way. Not too late for me to get done. Note to self. See if Don Daynard will do Toronto Mike. Okay.

So Aaron Davis, Bob McGee. There's a decision made by Rogers there to let Aaron Davis go. Yes. She was fired. Yes, which is a major shock to everyone. She got fired. And so it's like major shock to everyone. It's like, she got fired? And so it's like, well, this is our chance.

Right. This is our chance. We made them blink. This is what we thought. We made them blink, right? Because we were coming on strong, and we were doing stuff that people obviously liked, and we made them blink.

We made them change people. Right. And so, yeah, because we were pretty close with them in the ratings for a couple of books. And I think we passed them once or twice to take them down. Wow. And this is in your targeted demo, which do you remember?

I'm assuming it's a woman of a certain age range. 25 to 45 or 25 to 54, in that range. Right. Okay, so when Erin Davis is let go from her perch there at CHFI, where she had been a very long time, Easy Rock seizes this opportunity and scoops her up. Well, Christine got pregnant pregnant and she was having she was having her baby so the thought was you know what is she gonna what are we gonna do when

she goes on bat leave for a year or whatever right so they were thinking about all sorts of names uh you know one that came up was beverly mahood you know on pick a puppy on the cmt her name came up she was uh she was a country singer okay and uh and so you know mike and i said yeah whatever and then they then they said aaron davis i was like aaron davis like she's the enemy right she's on the beach this is what we were we were supposed to do was to knock her off the perch and just leave her on the beach right mike and i were totally against it and then uh you know she comes comes in and they turn on the mics and the very first break they did is like, oh boy.

Well, she's very good, right? So, I mean, she's very good. And if her and Mike have any chemistry, and obviously you knew right away they did. Like, Bob's your uncle, let's go. Yeah, and the beauty thing about that, for CHFI anyway, was that they had like six months to a year. I can't remember how long they were there to work out any issues that they had, like timing issues or, you know, any personality issues or who says what and who goes where.

And, you know, Mike said, this is my station. I drive the bus. And then once you have your roles defined then they were off and running and then it just just kept getting stronger and stronger and stronger and then you know aaron brought what what she's strong at into the uh to the mix and mike you know was he's the jock and you know again the meat and potatoes guy cut the grass and you know it's all mike so it's like everyone was covered so it was like a little woman said you know this that's so me and then they would say oh mike's just so like

my husband or you know my husband says that and so this is where the magic came in that little that little area of everyone's getting covered and then what mike's also fond of saying is make them laugh make them cry right so then it's you can, you can go from a serious subject to a silly one and then back to a serious one. And, you know, people were there along for the ride and they just, they just loved it. So the, the great, this is one of the great Toronto radio stories, of course, but the, the outcry when Aaron Davis is let go by CHFI,

especially considering we didn't have Twitter back then. I know Aaron had a blog because this was a time of blogs. She still has that blog, of course. I told her because I've had a blog since 2002. Aaron shortly thereafter arrives. We might be the longest two serving Toronto

bloggers. Not that she's in Toronto anymore. Basically, Julie Adam realizes I screwed up, or we screwed up. We need Aaron back. And so she comes in one day with this big grin on her face and

says to Mike, guess what? I'm going back to CHFI. And he goes, oh, good for you. And she goes, I only said I'd go back if you'd come along too. Wow. So I was like, wow. Wow. And then Mike.

Wait, wait, did you, when you hear this, are you thinking like there goes my meal ticket? Like what are you thinking when you learn that Mike and Aaron are going to leave Easy Rock to go back to, or for Aaron to go back to CHFI? I didn't think about it directly, what, what's going to happen to me, because I just, I didn't realize, you know, how things work in radio yet. And that, you know, sometimes a new broom sweeps clean, as a, you know, found out recently.

And, uh. Yeah, we'll get to that, don't we? And, um, yeah, so then Mike said, pulled me aside later and said, well, I'm not going unless you come along. I said, oh, man, that's, you know, that's so touching, right? And it's just like, it's great when someone, you know, has your back like that. And so it was funny, too, because my niece came in to job shadow me because she was interested in a radio career, she thought. niece came in to job shadow me because she was interested in a radio career, she thought.

So she spent the morning, you know, with the show. And then, you know, the boss comes in the office and said, so asked her to leave, right? And then said, so what's going on? And I don't know if Aaron mentioned this when she was here, but she is not good at poker. She cannot keep a poker face. Right.

She's not a good bullshitter? Is that what you're telling me? No, yeah, she is not good at poker. She cannot keep a poker face. Right. And she's not a good bullshitter? Is that what you're telling me? No, yeah, she is not. Where Mike, on the other hand, could sell you a hunk of a car with no wheels on it. Right. He's got a great poker face, right? And so, yeah, so then she got let go, right? Yeah, because you... Got relieved of her duties once you find out that you're going to the competition, right?

And then... But I think Mike had no compete clause. So he had to hang around for six months right so there's again just to be clear here so there's a period of time when aaron davis is not allowed to be on the air at chfi like because it's right or is that is that because she's am i do i have it right like so like when she's she has her last shift at Easy Rock, is there a period of time before she can be heard again on 98.1? In her case, I don't think so because she was let go. But does Easy Rock have a non-compete thing?

And I don't even, again, I would love to know the legality of these non-competes because I hear about them all the time in radio. We're going to get to them again soon with uh you know poojank or deep but uh like like perhaps aaron wasn't allowed to appear on a competitor station post easy rock is that possible well it's it all depends what's in the contract right the the contract is what states it and in mike's case it was six months right so okay so, okay. So at some point, at some point, again, my kids are all in school. As I say, my wife just came down to the printer.

Hi, Monica. Scored. Hello. Okay, there she goes, everybody. Okay, so at some point, though, Mike Cooper and Aaron Davis return, they show up on CHFI and you're the,

what's the title you rock is it like technical board operator what is your it was technical producer so it was produced yeah because uh the whole thing was what we there is a producer already there again right and his name is ian mccurther okay we're gonna just the general general because aaron speaks quite a bit and it's very highly of uh you know i feel like like I know these people cause I've had, because Aaron's been over a couple of times and she's great with the inside radio details, which I absolutely love. So I feel,

I know this gentleman, Ian, Ian MacArthur, but the team, just to recap the morning show team at CHFI at this point is Aaron Davis and her name's first. This is the big thing to Aaron when she goes to CHFI, it's Aaron and Mike.

Yeah. As it should. Yeah. And where Mike had said at the Easy Rock rock i'm driving the bus right he came to chfi it's like this is your station aaron's driving that bus yeah and he was i mean that's you know that's kind of lacking in a lot of you know with egos and stuff like that it's like his was like no i'm here to you know to come along for the ride. This is your station. These are your people and you preside over this land and

I'm just here to soak up the sunshine. And I mean, it sounds like CHFI wanted Aaron back and Aaron literally says, I have a condition and that condition is that Mike Cooper is my co-host. So Mike gets pulled into that and then it sounds to me like Mike's like,

I want my technical producer, Gord Rennie along for the ride. So there's this whole, like you're in this like a current almost where Aaron's sucking you guys all up. And next thing you know it, you mentioned Ian MacArthur. So we have the team now of Aaron and Mike on the mornings and you got a

producer, Ian MacArthur and technical producer, Gord Rennie. And we're going back now. This happens, starts in 2005. That's right. Okay. I meet Ian.

I go in to meet Julie Adam to talk about things, and she says, well, here's Ian MacArthur to meet. So, you know, I'm looking at the website to get some background and get myself familiar with the people that are there. And, you know, I see Ian, and then I see Ian for the first time. website and to to get some background and myself familiar with the people that are there and uh you know and i see ian and then so then i see him for the first time right and he's quite different from his picture right and i said no no it's not that's not you right because he had an old picture okay because he had more hair he's a little skinnier hair i got you so he had put on a couple

of pounds and lost a bit of hair yeah homer simpson style so but then yeah we we yeah, we sit down and we talk and he goes, well, what do you like to do? And it's like, well, I just, I like the, just the nuts and bolts of the show. And he goes, yeah. And I was like, and he goes, well, you've known Aaron and Mike now for a year and you know Mike. And he goes, you know, and I like to book the guests and to do all that stuff. And I go, good, because I don't like doing that. So, so it's like, it like everything kind of fell into place.

Complementary skill sets, we'll call it that. So it's like we took on the role together. And then again, it was just like a laugh a minute. Like the laughter from the moment the mics go on to the very last sign-off. It was just, the laughter was just tremendous. And this is 16 years, approximately. 16 years. Not

all of you, because we'll talk about some of the personnel changes, but you and Ian, at least. Well, Ian leaves before you. We'll get to that too soon, because we'll keep it chronological. But for you, Gord Rennie at CHFI, approximately 16 years. That's right. Good for you, man. Yeah, it was great. It's hard to believe, actually, when you

actually put a number on it to think about. It's like 16 years. Right. And you think about certain years and certain things that, you know, you've done and, you know, that station and that morning show, it allowed me to travel.

Like, I've been to Jamaica a few times mexico right and and dominican and all the things that radio has you know allowed me to do i mean i went to disney world like i never went to disney world as a kid right right and so you know it was uh it was my wife's birthday and so we were there in disney disney world right it's just so great wow and it's like and we stayed at a place it's like i had no business being in that room right it's like there's no way i still even if i saved up from the very first job to now i still would be able to afford that room and so those are the the the perks of of radio and and to be like a part of

people that come up and they they know you and it's like they know your dog's name and and that stuff is is great to interact with listeners to go a week away in the sun is that those things were tremendous and i think that was a great building process right away as soon as uh soon as the show got together was to have a week in the sun wow with 40 listeners and you know their partners or friends that so it was 80 people and then you know they tell people how great it is and they want to get in and it got to near the end there way before every everyone kind of was going their separate ways was that people were buying these trips just to be part of it and they wanted to see the show i'll bet because because as we know uh when you enjoy

a morning show it's your family right you're sort of like you wake you know you spend your mornings with these people and uh you start to think of them as members of your family like this is like the the dynamic at play there well this is what i i'd always uh talk to aaron about because she'd always want to be on the on the beach it's like, A, it's dark. And B, it doesn't matter if you're in a conference room. They want to see the show. They want to see how you guys interact together. They want to see what happens when the music's playing

because they're usually listening to the music. They want to see how the cake gets baked, right? This is our chance to see how that cake gets baked because all we hear is what goes through our speakers when the red light's on but it would be yeah i i always personally when i had the rare opportunity and it didn't really happen until i kind of started working with humble and fred on their podcast but like if humble had a book to promote he'd go on like jim richard show for example and then just going with him to kind of watch how that cake gets baked fascinating to me

it's uh well it's part of the reason i'm pressing buttons over here right now uh ian macarthur on twitter when he heard you were coming on toronto mike t says uh ffs which stands for for fuck's sake we're not on the radio gourd i could say that for fuck's sake uh gourd if you discuss the incident there will be hell to pay now I know Ian's doing some funny there but are there, I'm curious if there are any incidents that you're simply keeping in the vault and won't be

sharing today? The only ones that are in the vault are the ones that I honestly can't remember well I don't keep them there forever because that's how Ian and I formed our brother relationship, I went to his place I think it was a couple weeks into working and he invited me over for dinner i show up with flowers for his lovely wife anita with a note that says i'm sorry for anything in advance and so yeah we just we had a barbecue or drinking and then uh you know we're sitting on the porch

and he's telling me things i'm telling him, and I wake up the next morning and have no recollection of it at all. I just knew that it was just bonded so much right at the get-go, and you just knew from the very beginning, it's like, you know, this guy's special. So Ian's a good guy. Actually, we'll bring him up again later because I have some events chronologically I need to cover with you, but we're almost getting there.

An interesting question came in from an an fotm who goes by the handle hey ref 88 hey ref 88 says at what level and i'm curious about the two at what level do radio guys get contracts aka a bit of income security like Like, could you speak to that? Like, because I know I had a conversation with a woman who recently left radio. Her name is Megan Edwards and she was on the air in Vancouver. And she was very clear, and this episode drops Wednesday for those who are curious,

but she was explaining like how she would work part-time. So she would work, I'll make up the number, like for 26 bucks an hour. And then she would, you know, depending on the hour spent or whatever. So when do you get contracts slash full-time employment in radio? I think that's a,

hey, I never really had a contract. I was never, never offered a contract. I was always part of the, of the payroll. So you were basically in, because this all industry

could relate to this you're a permanent full-time employee of whatever it's called rogers media or whatever yeah okay so there was no contract so it was like you didn't have to worry about that i mean it doesn't mean you're immune to anything structural you can fire anyone for any reason as long as you sever fairly when i first started there was yeah there was there was talk you know that some people you know how they if they negotiated got bonuses for ratings right right and so i mean that all depends on each individual but usually it was all the experience i knew with contracts was um the announcers right announcers were on contracts and anybody else was just on the payroll right you were just a permanent full-time employee and uh like like yeah so you know again anyone and people sometimes think like oh you can't just

fire someone like of course you can like the whole thing there if you talk to any labor lawyer is severance like if you're not going to fire someone for cause like someone's doing a good job but you're going in a different direction you might relate to this we're going to get there you can say goodbye you just yeah you need to negotiate a uh like a i guess we'll call it severance but some kind of a package and uh everything's fair game there i believe uh when tish was here because i was gonna ask you about tish she's she's marvelous she's just yeah i mean her and i go back to easy rock days she'd come in and fill in for the morning show and right she'd always i always marveled she had these books and all these books with all you know this before the internet so they had all her little clips of paper that she would

she would put in there and she was just great but yes um like with mike he wanted me there and that's like a lot of talent comes in and they're comfortable with a certain person. That means the world. That means they can hit the ground running. So it's, which like Tish, I brought Tish up because you mentioned that this is part of radio. Right. Always has been and always will be.

Right, because Tish, for those who haven't listened, by the way, you know, pause this episode and go listen to Tish Eysen because she came over here, I guess a few weeks ago. And I was personally, not, I shouldn't have been surprised, but I didn't realize how much I was going to enjoy the Tish Eisten conversation. Like it just caught me a bit off guard only because this might shock you, Gord, and I'll have to edit this out of the final release, but I don't listen to a lot of CHFI. Like that might be a shocking revelation to you that I'm not listening to a lot of when

Tish Eisten was on CHFI, But she was delightful and had the best radio stories, whether it be in Thunder Bay or in the Maritimes. But just Tish was amazing. And she had a Keith Richards for President t-shirt, which I thought was very cool too. Yeah, she's very groovy. She throws that word out.

Yeah, she's groovy. She really embodies that word. Hippie chick is what I was thinking. Here's a hippie in Soho. Let's say hippie chick. Yeah, she's embodies that word. Hippie chick is what I was thinking. Here's a hippie, you know, Soho. Hippie chick. Yeah, she's great. Okay, so speaking of great here, so now we're going to talk about these dominoes that fall at CHFI here. But I want to ask you, is Michelle Butterly a delight, or what can you say about Michelle Butterly?

I love Michelle Butterly. She is a delight. And when I got let go, she was the first person that uh that i hugged when i left and she stayed in contact and she's uh she's always a big supporter of mine and so you know i truly appreciate that i remember the first time i was there at chfi we had the first ratings party which was good and she was going to leave because you know she didn't uh nobody usually stays like oh no no come on stay because well nobody nobody goes drinking or anything so i'll drink with you and so yeah we had a great time and as we hit it off again and it was just things

just kind of fell into place immediately and that whole family just gelled like immediately and that makes all the difference when you're, because what time is your alarm going off at this point in your life? I'm sure it's still going off around the same time, but what was it going off at when you were going to see Aaron and Mike and CHFI? Yeah, it was around quarter to three.

Man, dude, like, like that can't be good for you. No, it's not. I mean, humans are not,

aren't meant to get up at that time, but you're still doing it. Like, what did you wake up? What time, what time this morning did you wake up? I woke up. It's a little later now because I don't have as much prep to do.

I just have to prep the show. You just have to do Greg Brady's hair. Is that it? His makeup and hair. Okay, please continue. We'll get to Greg Brady later. Yeah, we'll get to Greg. 3.15 is my wake up time now.

Oh, you're practically sleeping in. Hey, at that time of the morning? Every minute counts. It does. You know, yeah, you do that for decades of your life. Okay, I'm not going to jinx anything here. I'm sure you'll live to be 100, which is here. So let me, on that note, Gord,

Ridley Funeral Home wants to give you some fun gifts here. So don't read too much into that but this is the measuring tape that Tish Eyston keeps in her purse at all times

that's courtesy of Ridley Funeral Home and to keep you safe out there Gord I love this the people I have to pull this part here that's right

okay oh wow that's great yeah this is like just a flashlight you know safety

when you're walking in the morning when it's dark I need that. Yeah. So that's courtesy of Ridley Funeral Home. Thank you to Ridley Funeral Home for the amazing support over the years. You got your Great Lakes beer.

They're wonderful. But I have a lasagna for you in my freezer, buddy. What? You're not leaving here without a large meat lasagna from Palma Pasta, authentic Italian food. They're in Mississauga and Oakville. Go to palmapasta.com. Honestly, dude, you'll love it.

And if you haven't had it yet, you're going to be switching your loyalty. I'd love me a good pasta. This is awesome. Thank you. And a Toronto Mike sticker printed by the good people at stickeru.com. Everybody should go to stickeru.com

to get your stickers, your decals. Love that. All your stuff, your badges. Yeah, just they're awesome people. They're in Liberty Village, but decals. I love that. All your stuff, your badges, your, yeah, just they're awesome people. They're in Liberty Village, but that's an e-commerce, so anywhere you have the internet, you can get your stickers from StickerU.com.

Daryl Henry would love that. He has his briefcase. He keeps all his prep and stuff in. Well, you want one for Daryl? He's got bumper stickers all over the place. It's actually, the bumper stickers are what keep the thing together. Another sticker. There you go, Daryl.

Don't say I don't do anything for you. Okay. So here we are. You, Ian, Aaron, Mike, happy family. And again, let's be delicate about this part because Aaron did come over a second time. So Aaron's first visit was with her husband, who I call Miles Long,

because when he was producing Bobcat Show in I think 1430 or 590, I can't remember where they were, but he was known as Miles Long. So yay. And then the second time Erin comes over, it's after she experienced a great personal loss in her life and we had a heart-to-heart about that. A very difficult conversation,

but worthwhile to listen to because it's real, it real it's reality and she gives us the story about i guess you were all on location uh please correct me was it jamaica it was jamaica jamaica and she got the phone call that her uh daughter passed away very suddenly uh i think it was her first mother's day like the whole story makes me really choke up yeah it's a great tragedy Aaron so this maybe you could speak to your perspective on this that what's it when you hear that news

as close as you were to Aaron I can't imagine what that like what that does to the to you and the professional setting there of the show like that's just devastating just when personal trauma you recap that I still get the same cold shiver that i got because i was back at the station okay so you're in toronto yeah because i'm hopping the board because there's that moment aaron describes

the moment when she's told her daughter had passed away and then aaron goes this is aaron's story you can go to her second appearance at toronto mic'd which you should it's a great episode and she's talks about going on with the show. Like she's going to do the show that morning. And somebody, maybe it's Mike Cooper, but somebody, maybe it's Ian. I don't know. It's both of them. Yeah.

Somebody says, like Aaron's in shock, clearly. And she's going to do the show after learning this news. And you're in Toronto at this point to do the opting. So, yeah, that's what they were saying. It's like she wants to do the show. And it's like we were all saying, no, no no no no no no even the even the listeners that are there is the word circulating right because it's it's it's hard to uh you know have that face or the you know the show doesn't have to go on and so uh i just said i'll call

daryl the aforementioned daryl henry right and i pick up the phone and call him and uh we you know i'm playing spots and uh music and uh i didn't have time to sugarcoat it for him he picks up the phone right and he's still sleepy and i said daryl uh lauren's dead you got to come in here wow and he goes what i said i'll tell you on the way just get in here right so he he hauls ass and gets in there in time and you know then i can explain the whole thing right it's just you know i think back you know i could have had a little more tact but it was just the pressure of the situation and my own thoughts and you know like what are we going to do? And, you know, I am not there with them, right? That was the biggest thing.

It was the distance. And same for her. She's down there and Lauren's back here, right? And that's where... In Ottawa, I believe. Yeah, in Ottawa. And that's the only place, you know, she wanted and needed to be. And you can't, right?

And so, yeah, that, it was just, it's one of those things where it's weird even to think back on it, to be part of it, to hear those things. I can still hear the words, like, because I was hearing it through the talk back, like the mumbling. It's like, I can hear Ian in the background going, what's going on?

What's going on? And then this, you know, then, you know, he had to tell me, right. So it's, it's, yeah, it's, it was a heavy, that was, that was for sure. It's like something that, you know, obviously no parent wants to be a part of. Oh God, no, yeah. And to, you know, to process that from, from afar and, and to be in front of, you know to process that from from afar and and to be in front of you know people it's it was kind of a very public uh a tragedy happening to her when it should be very private now now on that note though uh at the time when there's no show from jamaica there's no aaron and mike that morning

it's uh presented to the listenership of CHFI that there's technical difficulties, right? You just simply explain to the listeners that the reason you're not hearing Aaron is a technical problem. Yeah. So yeah. So you're not ready to, you know, it's, it's Aaron's call when you're going to. Exactly. Cause it's very, very private. And so it's already, it's like, it just, she just has to come home. Yeah. So, you know, we'll, we'll hold the fort and keep things together until, until she was ready to share. I mean, and, and Yeah. So, you know, we'll hold the fort and keep things together until she was ready to share.

I mean, and now it's, you know, she writes a book and she talks about it. And Mourning Has Broken, I believe, is the name of this book. I mean, God love her for that. I mean, I don't know how many times I would want to relive it. that i mean i don't know how many times i would want to relive it but i mean if that's part of the healing process is to you know help others deal with it which she she seems to uh to she does quite well like she's handled others other tragedies like for other people with such grace and compassion that it's uh it's uh it's a it's amazing to see uh how she deals with this and how she continues to deal with it and it keeps uh it keeps lauren alive in a certain way and it

keeps her memory alive and and the spirit that she had because you know up until that point everything was just ticking along great and that was the first part of a the wonky wheel happening to that show so at that point aaron takes obviously some personal time to process and grieve etc and uh when aaron's ready so so her spot is waiting for her when she's ready to return to the radio and i like how many like how long later do you have any memory what are we talking here a few months later yeah it was it was too soon it was the only thing in my mind but it was her call right it was her call yeah and but i mean that's just years of you know muscle memory and training and having to get back because but i can see i can actually relate like i think maybe

at some point you realize you know you, you want to go back to work. And I could kind of see why she'd want to return. Oh, I could totally relate. Because when I was, I think it was, so this was August of 06. So we'd been together almost a year. And my father passes away. And so the very next day I came into work. Because there was nothing for us to do at the moment

and I said to them, I said I just want to laugh I just need to laugh and it's like I need to be made fun of and the usual ribbing and poking that they all do, we all do I wanted that in my life to ease the pain of the loss

so I think she wanted a bit of that too, just a little bit of normalcy to keep going. And if Mike makes her laugh, there's not much more therapeutic than that at that point. Yeah, I totally see why she wanted to return. Yeah, exactly. So Mike himself, though, Exactly.

So Mike himself, though, has a, you know, has to deal with some personal tragedy as well, right? Yes. His beloved wife, Deb, who's just an absolute sweetheart. I'm sure she's one of the upper angels already up there because she is just, she's really amazing. She was a really amazing person and just, you know, took to everyone like they were part of the family. And when she found out that I liked lemon meringue pie,

every time I'd come up to the cottage, she'd go, I'll be back in a second. I didn't know you were coming up. And she'd leave and come back with a pie. Wow, that's sweet. Right? So, yeah, she was diagnosed with cancer. So that fight went on for for a long time.

And Mike chose to step away from radio to spend more time with her right during her fight. Yeah. And near the end was like he, you know, he goes, I've taken care of thousands of people over my career. Now I just need to take care of one right and so that's you know he's they went they traveled and they did the he always talked about going to uh ireland and england to go to castles and they did that and they had the time of their life and you know she uh they went to high tea and he you know introduced her like you know like a celebrity would and they you know they had they had a million great times. Right, good. So, okay, so Mike leaves the show and the replacement is someone else

who has to wait out, I suppose, has to wait out some kind of a non-compete, right? Because if I have my Toronto Radio facts right, and I think I do, we have already, the great Rick Hodge who's an fotm himself and it's been over a couple of times i like rick quite a lot i had some coffees with rick i used to have double double at tim hortons okay and we're at coffee at some point we're going back

now 15 years or something and rick says he goes that shit'll kill you that's what he says to me and no joke for some reason it just hit me at the right time like shortly thereafter i switched to black coffee and now i can't believe i ever drank it any other way like this is my real life story if you ever have a sip of double double you'd freak out go right okay so i know like i have a french press every morning it's a pretty i have a pretty big yeti thing and it's that's like my drug of choice in the morning. And completely black. Thank you Rick Hodge. But Rick Hodge of course, speaking of standard, Rick Hodge leaves Chum FM which is

owned by Bell Media to go to a standard because he's going to have a gig where he's doing like some stuff on Easy Rock. Speaking of Easy Rock, we have Humble Howard and Colleen Rushholm and who is the Newfoundlander who I hear tell me that my money... Kim Stockwood.

Yes. Good thing I pulled that one out. Okay. Shout out to Kim Stockwood. You're richer than you think. That's what Kim likes to say. Okay. But he's also on 1010.

He goes down the hall and does some commentary stuff on CFRB at the time. So he does that. And then he's replaced on Roger and Marilyn with a gentleman named Darren B. Lamb. So Roger, Darren, and Marilyn, I guess they're calling that show. And then at some point, Darren B. Lamb leaves Chum FM,

104.5 Chum FM, to join Aaron Davis at CHFI. So that's the replacement for Mike Cooper. Is that Darren B. Lamb? That's right. Okay. It was a month of guest hosts because Mike left at the end of January of 2016.

And so we had like Ed Robertson come in. He had great, great stories. He told this one story about Prince and how the keyboardist couldn't get this lick right. And Prince was getting a little irritated with the takes. And he goes, well, Prince, this is a hard lick to play. Prince comes over, looking at the keyboardist, reaches over the keyboard, and plays it backwards perfectly.

That's a great story. I love that story. Prince is a musical genius. And Ned had a whole bunch of stories like that. So, yeah, a month goes by. And then on February 29th, Leap Day, 2016, Darren B. Lamb starts at CETUFI. Okay, and please tell me, as technical producer,

you'd have the greatest perspective on this outside of the general. What was the relationship like between Aaron Davis and Darren B. Lamb, having been somebody who had been witnessing Aaron and Mike Cooper for so many years? It was different. I mean, I don't think Aaron was in the right headspace.

Because, you know, when Mike left, she had always said, I really don't want to be with another dance partner. Right? And like I said, she came back too soon. I think she needed more time away. Or just realized, you know, I need just a whole new change of direction. And again, there's other things. Again, it's Aaron's story. You can listen to it.

But as we speak, I believe Aaron's grandson, who, you know, was the, again, I mentioned that Lauren passed away on her first Mother's Day. She had like a baby. Yeah. Tragedy, you know, it can't get more tragic, I suppose. But had a baby. Yeah. Tragedy, you know, it can't get more tragic, I suppose. But he had a baby, and this baby now lives on Vancouver Island, I think Victoria or something, I'm not sure, with Aaron. And they live, they see each other regularly. Now they do, yeah.

Now they do. But at the time, this child is being raised in this, Coco, I think was the nickname, if I'm remembering. Colin. Colin, and I think they called him Coco or something, which is cool. Same age as my son. He's in Ottawa.

Yeah. So there's also this dynamic going on, which can be, geography can be difficult. Yeah, it's just, I mean, it's where Aaron and Mike, instant chemistry, that's rare. That's rare to have that right away. And most of the time, it just doesn't work.

But do they do? My question, I'm curious. I'm curious about the interworks, the radio. Do they do a chemistry test before they bring on? Like, this is a very big morning show in this market, the CHF. This is not small potatoes. This is a big, big show. And this is Aaron Davis, and it was Aaron Davis and Mike Cooper.

Very successful, very big radio show. Mike's leaving for personal reasons. Now, do they do, does Aaron and Darren, do they get sent away somewhere for a weekend or something to see if there's chemistry there? They did get together in Darren's place in Palm Springs, I believe it was. And they did hang out together and came back and thought it was great. Okay, so they passed the chemistry test. Well, yeah, they, you know, off the air.

But they didn't do an actual show test. Okay. Like, you know, a series of mock shows. And it just didn't work out. I mean, that's the bottom line. And that is the story of a lot of shows. Right. You can put two people together all you you want and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't sometimes it it starts it seems like it's going to be good and it just it's just not because it's

just it's personality and it's and you know where you had two veterans like uh uh aaron and mike where you didn't think it would work and it did. And then, you know, where you think, well, this should be fine. It never really, the cogs never really clicked together. It's funny because I've had on Carla Collins has been on,

but I've had Steve Anthony on a couple of times. He's come over and Steve shoots from the hip. He's just straight up. He was talking about his show. He had a show with Carla Collins. Yes, at The Mix. At The the hip like he's just straight up like when he was talking about his show he had a show with carla collins yes right at the mix at the mix yeah and he's just straight up like the chemistry was just it was terrible he said that was a terrible show because they never quite mesh yeah they never got together i remember steve would always run down the hall because it was mixes at the end of the hall and then it was easy rock he'd come in and and it's like this is 4 30 in the morning burst in like kramer and he's he's working on his materials like steve steve it's

too early he's back on the coffee he yeah but he used to put like five or six sweeteners in his coffee like forget double double he literally it was just he had to take a sip once it was ridiculous but so shout out to steve anthony i think he's in Prince Edward County right now. Okay. So he always wants me to invest in like cannabis projects in Jamaica. This is... Oh. Yeah. So let me know if you want to invest. I'll hook you up. So I've said too much. Darren

B. Lamb, Aaron Davis. Then we get the surprise announcement. And I still remember she left before Christmas. So Aaron announces she's leaving the show because she's leaving the province. That's right. She, you know,

she finally, I think she came to the realization that it's just like, this is, this is what's best for her is to just have a clean break. She, there was too many, too many sad memories of Lauren at the cottage at, in the condo and, and

here. And so it's like, she just needs a clear break to clear, clear her head. And I said, that's perfect. I mean, you should totally do that. I mean, you, you don't owe anybody anything and you just need time to, to clear your head and who knows what you can do afterwards. There's nothing wrong with taking a step back. And if you want to come back, I'm sure there'll be a chair or something waiting for you. And if she made the money I understand she was making and she invested wisely and

I know she's, you know, a lot of guys are, I'm on my third marriage and that's where all my money went. She doesn't have that issue, then you can afford to do that. Yeah, exactly. And, you know she sold the the uh her cottage up north which was uh which was on uh a nice piece of land sure it's uh it's you know it was kind of rocky for you know if you like to drink on the weekend i thought it

was a little dangerous if you have little wobbly steps but uh yeah it was a very nice piece of land and a very nice piece of property. I'm sure she made some great money and moved out west and I think really rejuvenated her cells and her batteries. And look at her now. Again, the book and doing this tour

and talking to people. And I think she found a you know the a new path that was you know meant for her she seems happy yeah and that makes me happy and that's the main thing right it's like you can't keep coming back to a place where you dread right because you know she had said times in her her early career which is and everyone's done this gotta get up in the morning to go to a place you don't want to be. Sure. Right?

It's just, you know, because your heart's not in it anymore. And you've gone to the well so many times. And, you know, maybe it's time to entertain yourself and, you know, think of yourself first as opposed to, you know, the listeners. So now we have Darren B. Lamb in his spot. And now we bring in from Q q107 maureen holloway yeah we uh we did some keep going i'll turn off my phone it's humble howard glassman by the way

is humble a good guy oh well it's a great guy. I know. I just was curious how you'd answer that. But yeah, he is a great guy. Again, because he was at the mix, Humble forever at the mix. And, you know, he'd come down and we'd chit-chat in the morning before the shows would start. And yeah, I always had a great relationship with Howard.

They regret that move, of course, but hindsight's 20-20. Well, yeah, exactly, right? If you look back at anything, you could But you know the move I think they regret? I think they felt they were, and maybe they were told it, I don't know, but they felt they were too old for 102.1, and I think they're

like, they're about 40 years old at this time or something like that. They thought they were too old for 102.1, so they took the opportunity at Mojo Radio. Oh, Mojo. Remember Mojo? Yeah. Which is on, you know, chorus owned on the AM dial. Some frequency, 640, I think.

640, yeah. You might know about that frequency. We're going to get there very shortly. But then, of course, they got an offer they couldn't refuse or they didn't want to refuse from Standard

and they ended up doing a mix and that didn't work out there. But they probably wish in hindsight they stuck it out at 102.1 because as they remind me, Howard Stern is still doing his show and he's what? Is he pushing 70?

I don't even know, but he's right there. So, okay. But we digress. Let's get back here. So we got, what was it like? It was, wait, where were we? Maureen Halloway and Darren B. Lamb are the morning show on CHFI?

And it's still you and Ian the General, right? That's right. So this time we auditioned. We had an audition and had a mock show. And again, I got the same type of feeling with Mo that this is the person we need. Well, she's very good too. I think she's great. Yeah. Tons of time for Mo. I think she's very good too like i mean she i i think she's great yeah i i you know like tons of time for mo i think she's great and uh and uh yeah we she came in and we did we did a

couple breaks and it's like i said the same thing i said i said to darren i said i have the same feeling with you two that i had with aaron and mike right it's like this is you know this is good i like it and then uh yeah so okay so now we're almost up to speed here um but now at some point and please share what you're able to share again it's not all your story but it's up to you you're a smart guy but at some point uh darren b lamb this is early 2021 i want to say but darren b lamb's voice is no longer heard on the station uh like i have big fans of that morning show that would reach out to me because you know i'm 2021, I want to say. But Darren B. Lamb's voice is no longer heard on the station. I have big fans of that morning show that would reach out to me because I'm Toronto Mike and I'm writing about radio and they're like, where's Darren B. Lamb?

And I'm getting these regularly. Now I'm getting them for Ryan Doyle. But I was getting them for Darren B. Lamb. They still have his name in the show title, but he's simply not working anymore. What can you say? Because people are very curious.

What can you say, Gord Rennie, about the absence of Darren B. Lamb on that morning show? Well, what can I, I can say, and it's going to suck for an answer, but it's the truth is, uh, I don't know. Okay. Well, that's the truth is i don't know okay well i don't know i don't know what happened and uh he went on vacation and they sent us a note saying he's going to take some time uh to reflect and that was the last i've heard of heard spoke with him so it's you know again it's like i don't know and uh and then you know, elaborated on what was going on and just following their lead. And sure.

And yeah, it's, so it, it sounds like that he retired. I mean, again, it's just. Well, he has, I will say there, there is a social media post from him in which he says he's retired. Yeah. So there you go. So, again, you get to a certain point where. But, I mean, he's our age, right? Like, I don't.

Is he retired? Okay, fine. You know, to each his own. Please continue. But, yeah, I mean, you get to a certain point where it's like if you don't need it anymore. Like, if financially, if, you know, he feels that he's set, he doesn't need to get up in the morning anymore. And cause it is a grind,

you know, don't get me wrong. Right. Like we've talked about the, the weird hours. And I mean, I'm just, you know,

dragging my ass into the studio to, to push buttons and cut tape. He's there, you know, trying to bring the words to life. Right. It's like, you know, you know, from doing a podcast, you know, trying to bring the words to life. Right. It's like, you know, you know, from doing a podcast, you know, there's the words are there.

It's how you bring them to life is what, you know, separates those people. Because you can put a standard couple sentences in front of them. And, you know, because people say, oh, yeah, radio. I could I could do that. I could talk to my buddy all day. And it's like, it's not like that. I mean, it's taking those words and, you know, elevating them and making them compelling and not making them sound like you're reading a script. So if Darren is listening by any chance or a friend of TBL is listening and can get the

word to Darren, there's an open invitation for you to come on Toronto Mic'd and even if we zoom it, just to tell us what the heck, how you're doing and what's going on there. So now I think next in our chronological order, so Darren has left the fold and Mike Cooper returns. Well yeah, because technically he never left. He was still doing the

oldie show every Saturday night. He'd come in once a week and it was good for him because during this time his wife had passed. Right. And so it was good for him to get out of the cottage and come down and interact with people. And we'd have a good laugh and go to the keg and record a couple shows. And then he'd come back a couple weeks later. And so then he gets this

call and he goes he goes what do you what do you think you know should i should i do this and at first i didn't think that him and mo would gel i thought they were too much of the same personality type right right and that was my that was my initial reaction and then you know boy i was wrong again because as soon as they we did another we a couple of mock shows and it was like, okay, this is great. Okay, let's slow our roll here because if it's so great, and again, at some point now there's a retirement, and I don't like this word retirement. And again, if Ian, the general would like to come on,

I'd love to get Ian McArthur on Toronto Mike as well. But there's a very public retirement of Ian, the general, but it always felt to me as just an outsider looking in that he was being retired. It never felt like Ian put up his hand and said, I'd like to retire. What do you say? Did Ian MacArthur retire or was he basically,

was his position eliminated there? His position was, I believe believe eliminated because he did say on air that it wasn't his choice to go okay but he that word retirement means different things to different people but to me retirement to me is somebody deciding that they don't want to work anymore i think the he always says that uh it was uh he needs to be pushed into certain decisions says that it was, he needs to be pushed into certain decisions. And so when that was presented to him, decided to take it. So they made him, they gave him, they said, okay, you're out, but here's a very nice package on your way and peace and love to you.

Yeah. Which I believe, because, you know, I don't know the ins and outs of that, but he seemed very happy with the decision. Once it was made. Well, that's good. I mean, you're talking about 30 years. Because Bob Cole's still upset he's not calling Leaf games or, you know, Hockey Night in Canada games

because he was retired. Yes. But he... Ian made total peace with it and he was so looking forward to it. Okay. And, yeah, he's still a very, very happy guy. Well, but does...

Ian's not an old man, right? What is old, right? But Ian, he's just not, he's done? He gets to have that wonderful retirement we always read about growing up for you? Awesome. Okay. What a lucky son of a gun.

He's 50-something. You know what? 50-something is young. I just want to point that out. 50-something is young in this day and age anyway. But good for Ian. So Ian's now gone. I mean, 30 years in one job.

Right. Like in one station. Right. Because you go to radio school, the first things they tell you is to be prepared to move. Right. Go to small, you know... Yeah, go to...

Not even Kamloops. It's like outside of Kamloops is where you start. Right. Fort Francis or something. And then you work your way back to the big cities, right? But, you know, he walked in from Ryerson and, you know, he started there and he's never looked back. Wow.

So, I mean, that's a great, that's a long time. Oh, no doubt, no doubt, no doubt. I just wanted to get the facts from a man who would know here. So, at this point now, we're almost up to speed here. But of course, Maureen... So do you get notice at the same time approximately that Maureen Holloway gets notice? Like are you basically...

You talked about sometimes... I know my buddy Bingo Bob. He was the producer. Oh, I know Bob. So Bob, you know, Bob Ouellette, who's been on the show many times. He was the producer for Humble andred when they were at the mix right and when the mix said good well first they say goodbye to fred and then a year later they say goodbye to humble but when they said goodbye they said also goodbye to bob willett poor bob willett because that was like a

full like you said sometimes you get swept up in these big changes or whatever you get caught up in the fact that mike cooper and maureen holloway are leaving the morning show at chfi you get caught up in that and you're also uh swept out that's right so tell me how you did they call you in a room and is it the story where you're your boss and someone from hr has a folder like like how does this go down you were there again you were at i'm going to get the right dates here you were at chfi since 2005 and this only went down fairly recently in 2021 uh like how did it go it was it went pretty much the way you just described it yeah and uh it's just we're making a change like oh okay well that that kind of stinks but and they say here's a folder for you to review yeah and i reviewed it and then i went on my merry way and then uh you know it's there's a a flood of emotions because uh i'd ever been let go before right this is my first time of being

part of the you know structural change and you know you're not part of the future anymore so there was that to go through it even though it was it was not it wasn't a feeling at the back of my mind it was it was kind of like a i was thinking of 40 60 60 that i would stay and 40 that i wouldn't so then when i walked in there and it was like oh okay, okay, there's the HR person. So it was, you know, it was, again, it was, you just get through the barrier of it. And then now it's the, I'm in the abyss. Like I've always been able to, when the water comes over the deck of the boat and your feet get wet, a rope swings in front of me and I take it. but a rope swings in front of me and I take it. Right.

And I had a couple of ropes swing in front of me with some, some job offers and the rope snapped a couple of times. So there wasn't, it wasn't anything there. So now I'm in, I'm in the wilderness. Right. And you're looking for a rope.

Yeah. Cause you don't, you know, although I mean, Rogers took care of you like it was fair. So you have a bit of time. Yeah. I mean,

it's just, you have time to kind of take a step back and just let your emotions calm down, right? Right. Because you get from all of this, how dare they let me go? Don't they know who they are? I've been there because there's that moment where you realize, oh, this corporation decided they're better off without me than they are with me.

And that's psychologically, you have to kind of wrestle with that a little bit. Exactly. It's like, you know, what happened for 16 years? And then it's, you know, and then it's like, well, you got paid for 16 years, right? Right. Yeah, you don't own the station, right? So then, you know, you get time to do that.

But I only had a week to kind of kind of you know just kind of be on the beach because then the very next week my wife has a stroke oh no right and that's terrible yeah and we you know we got her to the hospital in time and she's fine now and there's no no repercussions or anything but it was like we acted fast but it was just like you go from uh getting fired one week or let go to, you know, to having this other life event happen. And then I get a phone call from Mike Ben Dixon. Right, from 1010. Yeah. Or formerly from 1010 because he's no longer there.

And this is actually the day before my wife had a stroke and it was Thanksgiving weekend. Right. So I said, well, let me think about it on the weekend. You know, it's nothing full-time, just part-time stuff. And I said, well, let me think about it in the weekend. You know, it's nothing full-time, just part-time stuff. And, uh, I said, well, let me think about it. And then, so then the stroke thing happened. And so then it took my, took my time with that. And by the end of the month I said, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll do it. Cause you know, I would, I brought up, you get a job opportunity, you take it. Right. And then you go through it. And it's just, again, it's like when two people come together for a morning show, it doesn't click. It just didn't feel right. It didn't feel right for me, but I have tons of respect for technical producers of talk radio. You know, I thought I was busy. They are busy because you have no music to hide behind. That's right. You can't throw an Indigo to the Vita. From, you know,

10 minutes an hour of talking to 10 minutes an hour of spots and it's all talking the rest of the time. It's quite the difference and it was a lot to learn. But there was a lot of people there from Easy Rock days because when, you know,

1010 was part of the Standard family. Right. There was a lot of people there that... And that's like to claire right is that where that was uh back then right then yeah back then because that's where i when i was on that gym i wasn't on the jim richards show but i was with humble howard who went on the jim richards show two i remember it was two uh it was like yeah st claire and young yeah to st claire and we always kid kidded ourselves when we were uh on easy rock because we were number one in the city, number three in the building.

It was always the logo was hidden behind a tree. Right. It's never given the time of day, even though we were number one in the city. But yeah, so then I decided that this wasn't for me. It wasn't a good fit for you. Yeah, and so then I just said, I can't do this anymore. And it was only part-time.

So it felt like a step back to like doing weekends and right and filling in for stuff and it's like this i i need to spend my time looking for uh full-time work and then uh and the rogers had set me up with some great transitioning uh companies that uh you know polished up my resume and got my LinkedIn profile all, you know, jazzed up. Sure. And it was great. I mean, I thank them for that. Right, all part of that exit package, I suppose. Yeah, so it wasn't like, you know, kick to the curb or anything,

but it's, you know, it was a little tender for a little bit. It was a little tender for a little bit. Right. And then I get a call from Patrick Malkin at Global News Radio 640 Toronto. GNR 640. Okay, now I will say you work with a couple of FOTMs here. And I will just say this because I know he's listening. But a great FOTM is Greg Brady.

He's been over many times and he came over last summer and it was one of the best episodes of 2021 like he just wanted to share his experience working in a toxic work environment at 590 and he was very happy to be having the morning show at 640 so when Mike Stafford was letreg brady got the gig this is shortly i guess after right was made official i guess after labor day and greg brady has uh toronto today on 6 40 from 5 30 a.m to 9 a.m and exactly so so you get this call because they were looking for a producer of the show like like what's your role with on the toronto today show of with Greg Brady? They had a technical producer and I don't know what happened to that person, whether

they left or moved up the chain, but it happened unexpectedly. They didn't expect to be looking for someone so quickly because by the time I got let go in October, that person was still in the position

because if I knew two months later I'd be working again, you know, I would just enjoy myself a little more and not be freaking out all the time. It's like, how am I going to pay the bills? How am I going to pay the bills, right? And then I interviewed with Patrick and we hit it off well. And then he called the next couple days later and said, do you want to meet with Greg and the producer, Sheba Siddiqui, and then have a Zoom call?

And then, because Greg and I go back to Rogers when he was at the fan. Him and Andrew Walker. Of course. And also an FOTM, by the way. Oh, right on. They had, Julie Adam got a ping pong table. And so they were playing it in the lobby in the elevator.

It was the only space where you could do it. So we're leaving, you know, after the show and you see these guys and they're just giving her. Yeah, I bet. And they're just, it's like, wow, that's very intense for ping pong. That's what I thought to myself all the time. It's good exercise. Yeah. And so I knew, I all the time. It's good exercise. Yeah. And so I knew of Greg.

So then, yeah, he said he was very excited to see my name come up in the pile. So we hit it off right away and, you know, had our interview. And then, you know, a week after that, I was offered the gig. Okay, good for you. You're back in the game. It must feel good to get that full-time offer again because you weren't off that long. Like a lot of people have to sit on the sidelines for a lot longer than that but you got a full-time radio gig and it's mornings uh at chorus owned uh global news radio 640 and but but they it's not just

the greg brady show right because you work with uh fotm kelly catrera as well right i do and uh you know she told me this morning to tell you that I should say that I love her and she's great. She's very talented. And what else is written? I have the same script here because I love Kelly. You know, Kelly once had a blue moon because she was also on Humble and Fred show before she joined 640. And I got to know her in that experience. And I got to know her pretty well and always liked her, firstly.

I also used to listen to her on 102.1. She took over for Mae Potts, you know. Beloved Mae Potts. So she knows how tough it is to take over for a beloved figure in the marketplace. But she was great on 102.1, and I like her personally. She once defended me

against Fearless Fred, and I've never forgot that. So thank you, Kelly, if you're listening. And, you know, once in a while, she'll phone me or whatever. I'll phone her about something or other, and I've never forgot that. So thank you, Kelly, if you're listening. And, you know, once in a while, she'll phone me or whatever. I'll phone her about something or other, and we'll start shooting the breeze. And I'm like, I dig this person. So I'm glad you're working with two people I like quite a bit.

You're working with Greg Brady and Kelly Catrera. And Kelly shows 9 to noon. That's right. Okay, good people. Yeah, she's great people. We hit it off right away. And, you's great people. We hit it off right away. And I hit it off with Greg right away. It's just, it's difficult to form a relationship,

especially on the air, when you're not together. Yeah. I mean, Greg was in the, we were in the same studio together. At least we could talk about stuff during commercials. But now with Omicron, he's in another booth like he still comes in but he's in a booth we're not in the same room right so and kelly's at home right kelly's at home right and you know the producers are at home and uh dave bradley the news guy he uh he's in another booth so like i've seen uh dave and greg in the flesh okay and everybody else

has always been you know either a disembod And everybody else has always been, you know, either a disembodied voice or the talk back or, you know, on Zoom is the only time I've seen them, right? So that's a challenge. But I mean, I'm starting to, now I get the technical stuff down because again, it's like, you know, Newstalk, it's all. It's different, right? Yeah, you still, there's a bit of a learning curve

because it's just a different variation of the beast. And it's, you It's different, right? Yeah, you still have to use a bit of a learning curve because it's just a different variation of the bees. It's all new equipment and it's, you know, the operating system is different and you know, I was familiar with they have this thing called Burley that most stations have for news and stuff like that. So I was familiar with that, but I didn't use it extensively at CHFI

like I do now. Right. So it's just a learning curve and all the buttons and it's just, it's time. You just need to be doing it because the six o'clock hour and the seven o'clock hour and the eight o'clock hour and the nine,

the buttons and the, you know, doing that stuff, it's all the same. Right. It's just different pieces and I find too that they have like the intro music,

right? Yeah. To come back from commercials is very it's the chance for each host to have their personalized right flavor to it right and and greg has has a list of stuff and it's different from kelly's let me guess uh let me guess greg brady 80s music uh not all of it no no well he kicked out the jams here. I got to dig up his jam kicking, but I would have guessed a lot of 80s stuff. No, there's 90s and it's gotten down.

Sure, he's got to have some Oasis in there, sure. There's some Oasis in there, yeah, for sure. For sure. And then I've worked with Alan Carter over the holidays. Also an FOTM? Come on, you've got to acknowledge these things. He likes some hip-hop and some... I've got to get him.

You know what? He's got to come back and kick out the jams. He does. It's time. He'd probably give you a Spockian eyebrow going, really? I will reach out to him again. He was great. He looks a bit like Nick Nurse,

which gets him a free beer now and then. So he can just come over here and get his free six pack of Great Lakes. And then Kelly's more of a 90s, kind of off the beaten path. So her musical taste was a little harder for me to figure out because I wasn't listening to a lot of 90s music

because again, the aforementioned Elvis T-shirt tattoo. Yeah, you and my buddy Elvis are both, I find, a little young for this Elvis Presley infatuation. Usually it's older people. Well, I was right into the 80s music, and then as the 90s kind of approached, I just kind of... You missed all the good stuff.

It just wasn't for me, so I just went back further. And so now I'm, you know, don't get me wrong, there's great tunes in the 90s. I mean, to me, great music is great music. It doesn't matter what genre you're talking about, but I'd like, you know,

I'm a Frank and Elvis and Dean Martin kind of guy. Okay. The Elvis I prefer is Elvis Costello, but we'll save that for your jam kicking. Shout out to Declan McManus. Okay. So 640, again, you're with Greg Brady and Kelly Couture, and you're putting in your reps

now and getting the hang of it, and you're digging it, right? Oh, yeah. I'm loving it. You're a happy camper. Okay. Mark, this listener Mark, wants me to ask you, what's the best advice you ever received, and what's the best advice you have to offer? The best advice I got was from daryl henry when i was you know when i first started easy rock because he was there too and he just said never um play an id or cut off a song in mid vocal always wait till the end of the vocal before you either play an id and i've always you know i it

was in my head this morning when i'm playing the intro music before you play you're listening to i always wait till the proper beat or like a post or that i've always kept with me and the best advice to give is what i always give to kids is that uh show up and do what's asked of you at the very, very least. If you're asked to put in six hours, you show up ahead of time, put in your six hours, and you're a step ahead of the game. And then everyone else who doesn't do that falls by the wayside, and now you're two steps ahead of the game. And all you've done was to do what was asked of you,

and then it seems like you're doing above and beyond, and all you're doing is what is asked of you. Now, on that note, because this is now a Monday, so basically, Gord, we're going to take a photo by the magic tree there. And then I'm going to have this episode in the feed, like, I don't know, 10 minutes after you leave because it's all live to tape as you hear.

But I am dropping an episode on Wednesday that I've already had this conversation with a woman named Megan Edwards. And in that, she talks about this culture in radio where you just, the culture in radio to always say yes. She explains it was like ingrained in her college, like say yes to everything. And it really does work.

I hear lots of great stories. But I'm wondering when it's unpaid work, is that still the same? Like you should still say when it's uh unpaid work is that still the same like you should still say yes to all the unpaid work because down the line they'll actually compensate you for your efforts if you're starting if you want to learn as much as you can learn then yes say yes because you know chances are you don't have a family or a mortgage or car payment you're just you're at a school right and it's easier to do that it's like but as you get older and as the the burden of life you know yeah i know

put on your shoulder you get crushed underneath it you you can't afford to to do work for free and you got to be paid for the skills you've acquired that's where it's like i've acquired these particular set of skills over a long period of time, and then you should be paid for that. Excellent. Global News Radio, John Oakley's there, but there's rumors swirling. I don't know if you follow these rumors, but that John might retire. This is the rumors.

Have you heard any of this? I have not. Okay. And then there's other rumors, like who takes over for John when he retiresires but you haven't even heard that john oakley might retire one day soon rumors so of course you have no idea who might fill uh fill that spot well kelly and i were talking it's like a there's nobody there now in the building because of omicron right it's just the bare bare minimum of who has to be in there and that's usually all the technical producers and engineers and a few announcers but it's uh you don't see anybody and you don't have any yeah so there's no uh i know what you're talking about you're talking about the passing your desk and shooting the

breeze and saying oh i heard this and then you talk to somebody oh i heard this and then you start yes and because the other big thing again i mentioned i got lots of uh lots of emails when darren b lamb was no longer on the radio and i got lots of emails when darren b lamb was no longer on the radio and i got lots of emails when ryan doyle was no longer on that radio and i know this is at 10 10 but he uh he's an fotm as well but he and his fellow fotm mad dog uh jay michaels was his co-host for the afternoon drive and i know this is not 640 it's the the rival station you're your rival now they're the enemy now but the the pop fairly popular in that, at least in that subset,

right? That's a popular afternoon drive, the rush. And suddenly one voice is gone. And for a while, they still have call it the rush with Ryan and Jay or whatever. And then at some point it becomes the rush with Jay. And at some point,

Ryan Doyle deleted from the website. This is the 404 kiss of death. Every time you get 404'd on a website, it's bad news. I take it you haven't heard anything about Ryan. Like, he's not showing up on 640 or something. You don't know anything. He's just setting him. And you mentioned Mike Bendix.

And Mike Bendix, at least he publicly, like, you know, acknowledges on LinkedIn, et cetera, that he got fired. He's not at 1010 anymore. Ryan Doyle, that's just radio silence over there. So that just, that silence leads to rampant speculation.

And I end up with all the emails. It does. And again, you don't know, like, especially with COVID and stuff, it's, it's taken its toll on,

on, on announcers that have to do it every day. And I'm sure people are rolling their eyes going, ah, come on. But when you have to talk about, about it all the time, like Greg and, uh, and Kelly have to, and then, and then you have to immerse yourself in it cause you don't want to be talking out your ass about it. Right. So it's 24 seven.

And then you got your own problems you know with you know kids and you know your own health right so you just you just can't get away from it that's what i'm that's what i'm finding from being there is like when you're in a music station and you're doing the you know the top five dog breeds right on an ac station right which is which is a valid break bested show it's a valid break and you're doing it to entertain the audience right right and it's you can kind of stick your head in the sand for a little bit and not have to worry about it you'll hear about covid numbers and whatever in the newscast but you're not talking to the you know the science table you're not talking

to you know stephen lecce or who we're trying to get and uh about schools and stuff it's like this is not heavy stuff like that that's heavy shit man it's every day right and it's like it's relentless takes its toll even hearing you talk about it's uh stressing me out so i can't imagine immersing myself in it so and i mean for you know this is year three now so it's like some people just just just, they just, I'm out. I'm done. Right? So, and I,

you don't know the whole story from, from people, right? And as you know, often it's not our business, right? Like, so there's, you know, if, if your, your health is not my business. Exactly. And so, well,

well, now it is. Because we're in the same room. Well, are you triple vaxxed? Yeah. I know. That's why you're here. I do. I got notes.

I'm telling you, I get notes because I still have in-person guests. But I will point out my in-person guests, I always ask that they be boosted and not have any symptoms and not have any contact with anybody. But I'm also of, and again, maybe I should go on Greg Brady's show and talk about it, but I am of the belief that we're all getting this thing now. Like this is not something we can run from. I would like to delay getting Omicron just simply because I want my two youngest

to have some time after their second shot because they just got their second shot. So it takes 14 days to take full effect. So I'm like, okay, let's push it then, give them a good chance there. But in terms of like dodging, like in the matrix, I'm dodging Omicron.

I'm of the belief that if this thing's doubling every two to three days and you're living in this world more than I am on your show, but it's not something we can dodge. This is coming for you and just get your vaccinations.

I'm boosted. You're boosted. Get your vaccinations. Exercise, eat well, take care of yourself, take your vitamin D, get your vaccinations. I'm boosted. You're boosted. Get your vaccinations. Exercise. Eat well. Take care of yourself. Take your vitamin D. Let's hope for the best here. You've got a good shot, but I don't

believe we can necessarily avoid Omicron. It's not going anywhere and it's contagious as fuck. Exactly. It seems like it's coming for everybody. I want you to say that tomorrow on Tuesday. It's contagious as fuck. Then I'll come And it's, it seems like it's coming for everybody. I want you to say that tomorrow on 20th. It's contagious as fuck.

Then I'll come on your show and say, well, I followed your advice, so now, so now I'm on your show asking for a job. Now it's an exit interview of Gord Rennie,

who's no longer at Chorus. But hopefully it will, it will peak and crest soon because if it's following what it's doing and what it did in South Africa and in England, then it should be in what it did in south africa and in england then it should be in a couple weeks near the end of this month hopefully listen that's on

the record there i'm going to cut out that excerpt and play it every morning to get me ready but again stay healthy gourd i'm glad that you weren't out of work too long. Most radio people I know personally have had that meeting in a room with a guy with a folder. And it doesn't sound fun, but it happens in all industries, not just in radio. And, you know, you've got to make lemonade out of lemons. And now you're kicking some ass at 640, and I wish you nothing but great success going forward. Thanks, Mike. I had a great, great time. Is there anything you were like on the drive here, whatever you're like, I got to make sure I say this or

share this story. And then it never came out. And on your drive back home, you're going to be like regretting the fact you never said that because this is your chance before I say, and that I got one quick story for Mike's birthday, Aaron rented a limo and, uh, uh, her husband, Rob, Mike, Ian, and I, we went to Buffalo to the Anchor Bar for wings for lunch. Okay, great. And so we were, you know, we got pulled over at the border, surprisingly, because it was like, you know, 1130 in the morning. And they're going, why are these guys a little tipsy? And then the driver, God love him, talked us into the border.

And because, like, you know, you listen to the story, you're going just for wings. You came all the way from Toronto just to go for lunch. I love him. Talked us into the border. You know, you listen to the story. You're going just for wings. You came all the way from Toronto just to go for lunch. Right. And we did. And it started off sketchy, but it ended up as a great day. Well, I'm glad that you didn't drive home with the great regret we didn't get that story.

Because I love that stuff. But man, you'll be back on this show again. Please say hi to Greg for me. I will. He was this last summer. One of the most talked about episodes of Toronto Mike was Greg Brady in the backyard. It's great. And,

uh, say hi to Kelly for me because, uh, it's been a long time since she's been on Toronto Mike, but I'm going to get her back because, uh, I love that chick. Can I say that?

I love that woman. I do. I think she would be something she'd call herself, but Gord, thanks again for this, man. That was great. I had a great time. Thank you so much.

And that... That brings us to the end of our 981st show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Gord, remind us, what's your Twitter handle? It's Gord S. Rennie. Don't forget the S. And it's 982ndshow. I thought for sure I'd be linked with 981.

This is 9... Oh, my God. Did I get the wrong number? Gord, you're the producer around here. You're right. This is 982. That's right. Stop the tape.

What a mistake. I'm going to redo the whole thing. No, no. You're 982. And that brings us to the end of our 982nd show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Gord is at Gord Rennie.

Any relation to the guy that Rennie Park is named after? No, actually. Greg brought that up a couple days ago. I love Rennie Park. I played hockey in the Swansea Hockey Association. We played there. And my oldest son played there too. And in fact, my youngest son was a Timbit there.

My daughter was a Timbit. A lot of stuff going on there. Love Runny Park. It's a great tobogganing hill too. So no relation. Okay. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta.

Sticker U is at Sticker U. And Ridley Funeral Home is at Ridley FH. See you all tomorrow when we dive deep into the history of New Wave in Canada with Brother Bill, a.k.a. Neil Morrison, Cam Gordon,

and The Spoons Rob Pruce. Prus.