Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Humble and Fred: Toronto Mike'd #200

Episode Date: October 24, 2016

Mike chats with broadcasters Humble Howard Glassman and Fred Patterson about their podcast, the state of radio today and how long they'll run.

Welcome to episode 200 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a local independent brewery producing fresh craft beer and chef's plate. Delivering delicious and locally sourced farm fresh ingredients in refrigerated kits directly to your door. farm fresh ingredients in refrigerated kits directly to your door. I'm Mike from TorontoMike.com and joining me this week are broadcasters Humble, Howard Glassman, and Fred Patterson, better known as Humble and Fred. You know what's really cool? I'm looking at your son and there's something about being two and a half years old.

He's just like, all he's doing is hanging around looking at his dad and some strange men, and he has one, if not three, of his fingers jammed in his mouth and his nose. And honestly, I've never seen a happier person today. This might be the first time he's wandered downstairs during an episode. That's how comfortable he is with your presence here.

You know, I often think about that, the uncluttered mind. And I often look at my grandson, John, and every moment of every day is just glorious to him. And he's not thinking of the next moment or the next hour. He's just thinking of right now because there's no clutter there. Sure, the children are, and we lose that somewhere along the line, but they're intensely invested in the present tense. Like Jarvis here just saw us, came upstairs, threw some fingers in the mouth and nose, and he's just bolted now. And he's not thinking, gee, I wonder what those guys thought of me with my hand in my mouth. And you know, it's getting younger and younger, the issues that kids have to deal with.

And I feel for them. Okay. I really do. I feel for you. This complex world we live in. Anyway, hi, Mike. Hey, throughout this episode, we're going to have a great chat, but I'm going to just sprinkle in some retro ideas. So once in a while, something will start to play.

It lasts like 10 to 15 seconds. I don't want you to be caught off guard by this because I'm going to dive into one really quickly right here. That's pretty cool. I'm going to play a bunch of those because they bring back good doses of nostalgia. Just remind me of

a previous time in my life. A young Mike. A young teenage Mike listening to Edge 102. Welcome back. You were last here. By the way, this is the first episode Jarvis has come to set. Jarvis, what if you went upstairs? Mommy's got you. Here's Mommy. Jarvis is going, look what I have.

Now he's got some kind of rope. I'm assuming it's something you and Monica use. Howard, I bet you he didn't come down here when Dave Hodge was here. He did not come down here when Dave Hodge was here. No, there he is. He's like, I got a rope to show you guys. Careful on the stairs. I love the fact that Monica and Boone haven't, you know, like, there's no stairway.

It's a full, there's no banister. He's just rocking it down the stairs. He normally doesn't come down. His older brother sleeps down here. So around the corner is where teenage James sleeps. Hold on. Let me just tell the boy to go up here. That is, that's actually against code now.

Is it really? He should have a railing coming down those stairs. Yes. Hold on. I want to hear what Jarvis has to say. This is awesome. It's the greatest thing ever. Jarvis is going to throw a full-blown shit fit

on episode 200. By the way, the last time you guys were here together, episode 100, so if people are getting a taste for Humble and Fred and want more, go to 100. But, I should point out, Howard came, he flew solo for episode 36. Okay. And that's where we learn

about his first marriage to was it Bruce Lee you married? Got married to? I married Bruce Lee's niece. In fact, it's funny on the episode that we just finished of Humble and Fred Radio and humbleandfredradio.com, we were speaking to a guy that used to work. His name

was Bob Wall and he was one of the... Him and Chuck Norris trained with Bruce Lee. And you mentioned your story, right? Yes, of course. You know what also made me stop, pause for thought during the show today? The woman on Friday who threw the pumpkin

seeds at the Prime Minister in Hamilton. We had her on the show. Uti Ochi. She was on the her on the show, Uti Ochi. She was on the show, not Uti Oti Ochi. It does. We kept screwing up her name because I think her name was Ute or something. She said

she used to listen to us. She went to Ryerson and I guess at the time we were wherever and I said, how old are you? And she said 50 and I'm thinking, well, that doesn't make sense, but yes, it does. Easily could make sense. She went to Ryerson in her 20s, say. When we started in 1989, I was 29 years old and you were 33. So in our heyday, and we had a heyday, I believe it was a Tuesday, in our heyday in the 90s, in that one day, I would have been early 30s, you were late 30s, and everybody who listened to us

was in their early 20s. So now a 50-year-old's like, oh, I grew up with you. But that, at first I'm thinking, oh, she's mistaken, and then I quickly did that math, and it was like, wow, yeah. But she did not go to Ryerson right after high school. There had to be a little gap there.

Well, probably. I mean, I figured that out. Hey, Mike, we don't know her life. How are you, though? Howard's episode 36. Freddie P., you're episode 34. That's like the A to Z of Freddie P.'s illustrious career in broadcasting.

34. And I thought I really wanted to save. I'm glad you're here because I really wanted 200. You had 100. I wanted 200 to be sort of a catch-up of Humble. Well, may we say that we're honored

that you would invite us back to your beautiful home with your lovely son and daughter upstairs sleeping? And may I ask who would give a shit? I'd give a shit. Oh, okay. It's all about me here, that's for sure. I don't have to worry about listeners like you guys. This is really like, am I happy?

And this would be good for whom? And this is the second. This is weird because normally it's a one-on-one. And I did buy three mics, but I never used three mics. But this is the second episode in a row where I used all three mics because just a couple of days ago, Christine Bentley and Kate Wheeler were here on these mics. In your careers, have you guys ever crossed? Did they tell you to paint your front door? Have you guys ever crossed paths with either Christine Bentley or Kate Wheeler?

Not I. Well, I hosted an event last year with Christine Bentley. And was she pleasant? Lovely. Lovely woman. Lovely woman. So they were here, and I'm glad I can use all three mics again today. As you guys know, I've listened to your show like hundreds of times.

I've listened to your Humble and Fred show. So I need to know from each of you, I'm very curious, have either of you ever listened to this podcast, Toronto Mic'd? I want Howard to answer first, looking into his beautiful brown eyes. You know, I would say yes. Early on when you first started, I listened to a couple episodes. I remember one in particular, you and Elvis, your best friend. He was on.

Wasn't he a co-host or something? Well, Rosie was a co-host. Rosie was a co-host. And then Rosie, I couldn't meet the conditions of her compensation package. She left and Elvis took over. And then I decided to change the podcast into these kind of conversations. I listened to the episode where Amanda, former

lady friend, was on. I listened to some of that. Yeah, I tuned in. Just some of that one? How could you resist that one because you want to know what she says about you? Well, that was a long time ago. I'm just saying. What about you? Have you listened to any of this? Fred, have you ever listened to any? Because that's disappointing a little bit because you're listening to the ones about people

you were literally sleeping with, and I just was, you know what I mean? That's what it takes to get you to listen. I've got to have your lovers in here. No, wait. I said to you early on when you first started, I tuned in a few times. I gave you some feedback. But honestly, no, I don't think I've caught anything in the 100 to 200 episode.

Okay, that's fair. What about you? You've never listened to one second of this. I'm watching a spider go down the wall there. That's cool. Look at that. The way he's scaling down. Kate Wheeler already told me I have an ugly basement.

Really? Yeah. I know. And my brother thought... Well, I'm telling you what, she's got an ugly basement. Fred, have you listened to anything since episode 100? Tell me the truth. It's okay.

Portions of Twitch. If the guest was appealing to you, like a Dave Hodge, for example. Yeah, I think the one that I listened to from beginning to end was the Mike Stafford one, because there was personal interest there. Did Stafford talk about snubbing you at the wedding? We talked a great deal about that. And then we talked about it on the show, and then you played all those sound effects,

and it rubbed everybody the wrong way. Oh, okay. Remember you played that? I don't remember. I was just poised for a nice moment, eloquent, reminiscing moment, and then Howard started hammering away on the macaque. On the macaque. Mold macaques.

Spoiled the fucking moment. Spoiled the moment another spoiled the moment sensitive moment Stafford got pissed off another Coon thought it was inappropriate and everything

fucking went to shambles from there and I haven't talked to Stafford since that was my question have you made amends to Stafford since then

no there's no amends to make if I walked up to the lake shore there and he was walking down the street and said hey do you want to go

have a beer? It would be that simple. So do you guys listen to any podcasts other than your own? I have. I listen to Marc Maron occasionally. You know, I've gone back and listened to some of his big

episodes. Mainly, recently I listened to him because of Gary Shandling dying, and I heard that. I mean, as a regular, it's funny, as a regular podcast consumer, I'm not it. What about you? No, I'm more of a live

AM radio, like really, if I'm listening, stopping down to listen to something, it just again, it's McCown in the afternoon on the Fan 590. I don't really listen to any news talk radio anymore. The other podcast I do like is, I used to like Alec Baldwin's Here's the Thing,

depending on who he's had on the show. And when I get in bed at night, I often all put on Sirius XM on my app, and there's a lot of talk radio on there. But again, it's live. So actual podcasts, no. Oh, I also listen... Should we say that? No, of course.

It's the truth. Well, we're podcasters. And you're pioneers. I listen to my other podcast, Swing Thoughts, although I've never heard a whole episode of it. Yeah. Well, it's tough. I have personally,

big time. If there's anything... Well, well no i hate looking at myself but a close second is listening to myself are you like that like i i just don't like i was on a podcast last week matt cundall i really haven't listened to it because i thought i'll just sit there be criticizing myself it's funny because i listened to it this weekend. Yeah, but it's different. But see, I would listen to you too. No, you wouldn't. Yes, I would. No.

No, I'd be more inclined to listen to you than myself. That's all. Well, I listened to it because I wanted to hear how you sounded. I wanted to hear how he sounded. And then I got just interested in what you were saying. It was funny because it was about us, but I thought it was very articulate. Was it distorted at all? No, everyone has great sound.

Like these microphones in this particular setting sound better than the microphones we have in our setting, and it costs $10,000. What costs $10,000? That board we just stuck in that. No, we can get these mics. our setting and it cost $10,000. What cost $10,000? That board we just stuck in that. No, we can get these mics. These are good mics, man.

Road Procasters. I know a dealer nearby, like Queensway and... We should try them out. Did you have to pay for them or did you get mentions? No, I had to pay cash, like full price. I also like these. That's what we're getting. No, I know, because the ones we had were too fucking bulky And long these are nice

These are from the same place Remember those ones we had with the long fucking rod Not really When we first started I don't remember anything anymore They were out of balance and we had to tape them Let me do a quick mention of some sponsors And then I want to do a deep dive into the state

Sort of the state of the union The the state of Humble and Friend. And then you're going to explain the beers, I guess, because it's your sponsor. Yeah, absolutely. Alright. Don't give up, you still have Humble and Friend. That was a friend of Dan's. I've told you that story.

That woman singing. I remember the day she, that was in Brampton. Yeah, exactly. I remember that day. That wasn't Kay Bush. Huh? No, I remember that day. That wasn't Kate Bush. Huh? No, it wasn't Kate. It wasn't anybody's Bush. Although you say that. We probably could have arranged at the time for Kate Bush to do that.

You know, she was afraid. So you know. Yeah, Mike. You know, she's afraid to fly. That's why she didn't tour very much. I've heard that. I've heard that. I got that off Alan Cross's.

Like the guy from The Cure. Has Alan Cross been in here? Yeah. Yeah, Alan Cross has been here. I was going to say, you should get Alan Cross's phone. Like the guy from The Cure. Has Alan Cross been in here? Yeah, Alan Cross has been here. I was going to say, you should get Alan Cross in here. He took a call during the episode. I still get notes like, I can't believe Alan Cross took a call during your recording. Well, you have the ability for people to call in here? Where? I don't see.

Well, I do, but we aren't going to do that. But he took a call on his cell phone. So firstly, if anybody wants to crowdfund this podcast and help me pay for these microphones, it's patreon.com. How's that going for you, by the way? It's not going as well as I had hoped it would go, to be honest. It's tough. We're going to talk about this because you guys did some crowdfunding that was far more successful. It's been tough.

There are certain keys along the way we'll help you with. Help me. First, get a crowd. Patreon.com. Yeah. I have a crowd. It's just getting them to take out a visa.

No, I know. You actually have, it's amazing what you've done here. We both were saying, like, it's remarkable. All joking aside, what you've been able to accomplish

without having to paint your front door. I can get rid of the spiders down here. So, patreon.com slash Toronto Mike. You can go to torontomike.com and click the big orange

button to become a patron. Give what you can, a toonie a month, whatever you can give and help crowdfund this. You guys mentioned the beer. Okay, there's a six-pack of beer in front of each of you. This is courtesy of Great Lakes Brewery and they want you to go home. I know Howard, you've given up alcohol.

Is that correct? Yes. So, you will give this to friends who visit, right? I'll give it to Fred. No, no. You know what? We should put them in the fridge. As you like it. That's another cool thing.

We were working on the studio last week, right? In a lot of workplaces now, it used to be like Mad Men and all that you've referenced. They would have a bar in the office and everybody would have a drink at the end of the day. Well, you can't do that anymore. I just thought that was cool yeah uh last week we're working on the office and i thought i'm gonna i'm gonna stop it and grab a case of beer and have it in the fridge and to offer it to whoever wants to come what's interesting we can do that if we were in a corporate environment we could not do that some uh progressive corp my wife works for a company with a uh open bar

okay it's a full bar on tap beer on on tap, and 24-7 if you have a pass card in the office, you can drink what you wish. Actually at One Young Street, which is the Toronto Star building. Some of these modern companies want their employees to spend more time at the office and less time away from the office. They have this free beer and stuff.

But on Mad Men, they weren't waiting until the end of the day. They were having scotch at 10.30 in the morning. That's true. Guys, I have more waiting until the end of the day. They were having scotch at 1030 in the morning. That's true. Guys, I have more good news. Okay, so you got your beer. Yes, thank you very much. I hear Dan Duran spends the odd weekend at your new home, which we're going to talk about.

Dan's been there several times. He'll want a cold beer in the fridge. This is great for your guests. Thank you very much. And your daughters are legal drinking age. At least one is, maybe two. Both of them are.

They might want one as well. But one doesn't drink. Okay. So Fred, enjoy the beer while you watch our beloved Maple Leafs. One more good piece of news

for you guys is that there's a company called Chef's Plate. And if you want to eat healthy without worrying about meal planning, you can have this leading meal kit

delivery service send you, like they deliver to your door, pre-portioned, locally sourced, farm fresh ingredients and easy to follow recipes. And you basically can make this healthy, tasty food yourself. Well, that's amazing. You must be doing it all the time then.

I've done it twice. Is that what we're having for lunch? Well, each of you get two free meals. After this, I'll send you a link. You tell me the two meals you want the most. Then basically a shipping address. This company, Chef's Plate, will send you two free meals, each of you.

I love that. How about this? I'll give you the beer, and you give me your Chef's Plate. Deal. There you go. If regular people who aren't humble and afraid your chef's plates. Deal. Yeah, there you go. All right, there you go. Now, if regular people who aren't humble and afraid want two free plates from Chef's Plate, there is a way you can do that.

Just go to chefsplate.com and use the promo code TORONOMIKE, and you can get your first two plates free. So use promo code TORONOMIKE at chefsplate.com and try it for yourself. And that's it. Let's dive in here. Okay, first I want to know. First, can anyone hear Jarvis upstairs? No, because these mics, you got to be right on these mics.

They can't hear that. By the way, he's gorgeous. He's beautiful that time. That's the Filipino-Irish. Wait a second. Your wife's Filipino? I had no idea. Are you suggesting Filipinos are good looking?

I personally find them very attractive. That sounds racist. Sounds stereotypical. Wasn't Howard pursuing a woman of Filipino descent recently? Just briefly. He just pursues everything. Just briefly. I've got quite a list. I've got quite a... It's because it's winter girlfriend

slash Tinder season starting soon. He's pursuing something with a snarch. Let's talk the business of Humble and Fred. Yes, go ahead. And then we're going to talk about your lives and where you're at. Let's talk about the business. Okay.

So for those who don't know, five years ago this month, you guys made a decision to broadcast daily. None of this one-offs at Dan's House or Proud FM or whatever. You're going to broadcast daily from your own studio. And you started this five years ago. I remember it fondly.

And then it's become an actual money-making enterprise where you two can make real dollars by owning your own business because your podcast is not just a podcast like this. Your podcast is live to air on SiriusXM satellite radio every single weekday morning. Yes. Yes. Yes. Correct.

That is correct. Your research so far is on point. Thank you, Brian Linehan. I wanted to give everybody the facts. So tell me how the business of Humble & Fred is going five years after you began. The business, it's very healthy. One thing we've learned along the way is you gain a better appreciation

for how the sales departments work at radio stations because remember periodically over the years, Howard, people would say, geez, you know, we've got to watch the budget sales. They're down, and then you think, yeah, bullshit, you just don't want to pay us. Well, it is the way the business works. You have high points and low points, and then you hope generally it's healthy.

And that's where we're at. We have periods when we have lots of sponsors, and then we have periods where that dips a bit. But generally speaking, at the end of the year, when you look at it, it's like, yeah, it's pretty healthy, considering what we do and how we do it. Very proud of it. Howard? When you say the business, I mean, I'm assuming you're talking about, you know, some of what Fred was talking about, you know, financially.

And then, you know, where we're at five years in. You know, one of my best buds is an entrepreneur, and we were talking about it a month ago. And I said, yeah, we're coming up to our five-year anniversary. He said, you know, it's very rare and reminded me how few Canadian small businesses forget lasting five years last a year. So from that standpoint, you know, as guys that used to be, you know, working for big corporations and had everything done for us to guys that basically work for themselves and do everything for themselves. That part of the business of Humble & Fred is very healthy. And let's be very honest and truthful here when it comes to business and health and comparing it to other businesses. We're lucky.

You know, as you found out, an initial investment, the overhead isn't that much. We are the overhead. Howard and I and a couple of people, we pay. That's it. You know what I mean? It's not like that we have to take a business loan or put money out for stock and hoping that one day it gets sold. You know, I mean, all those things that a lot of businesses have to deal with, we don't, thank goodness. And that's the one good thing about our business. The overhead is just like almost nothing. You mentioned, so just to clarify,

so right now there are four people on the Humble and Fred radio payroll? No, more. There are four of us plus, there's six of us. So we have two sales people. So they're commission based, right? Like they take a percentage of sales. No, but when you say payroll,

though, like every month, six people get a check cut from the Humble and Fred show. Cool. Yeah. And okay, and so you two are now five years in. You mentioned the sponsors are healthy,

is the term you used. So you, and I know some big names are on board and renewing, right? Like Pizza Pizza, which is a monster name. Sleep Country. You named them, actually. Five Hour Energy. Mitsubishi Motors of Canada just came on board, which is huge.

Five, did we say Five Hour Energy? Yeah. Five Hour Energy. That's five years now. Wow. Slate Music, FYI, Music News, five years. Sleep Country's in to its, well, 2014, so third year cycle. Pizza Pizza, three years.

We have a couple smaller sponsors, you know, not big brand names, but, you know, the Retirement Sherpa is a financial advisor who uses our show. He's on every month. Fresh Books just is another sponsor. They're sort of more of a podcast sponsor. Squatty Potty has come back. We had an initial run with them and they took a break over the summer

and they're back big time in the fall. And again, you know, I mean Howard handles a lot of the sales and it's such a great selling point to have those notable sponsors renew. Well, you can go to other guys and say,

hey, Pizza Pizza, he's dropping the names. And how he does. Well, here's the thing. I was listening to this Matt Cundall podcast with my boyfriend. And part of it, I just wanted to hear that. Really, my first interest in going to get the podcast was I wanted to hear the quality of it.

And then I happened to be in the studio which is now in my house and i had the computer on so i listened to a good portion of what fred was talking about when freddie made this point that because matt asked him about downloads and numbers and serious xm what is it serious xm um but fred said the the yeah we can we have numbers and we can supply download numbers to people, et cetera, et cetera, but your point, which I thought was a good one, is the best number that we can offer clients is just what Freddie was saying. These people have renewed over and over again, and they're not stupid.

I mean, some of these people are giving us significant amounts of money, like in a way that we never would have imagined five years ago. And they don't, they wouldn't do it. They can't just be doing that based on brand. Yeah, I'd say a good portion of it is. I don't even know what.

60%, 70% is. I like Humble and Fred. They do a great job for us. But they've got to be getting some people that are buying shit from them. Well, you know, Bill Hertz, our sales manager, the original one, you know, he just renewed Sleep Country. And the note we got back was, of course, we're going to renew. We're really happy with our relationship with Humble and Fred.

Well, that sounds nice and everything. But listen, for them to come to that determination, they just didn't pull it off the top of their head, as Howard's saying. Every cent that they spend, these companies, as you know, as companies get bigger and more complex, the more they scrutinize dollars. So obviously, Sleep Country Canada is getting a return on Humble and Fred. Sales manager Howard Glassman, is there a maximum number of sponsors for the podcast? Do you have a number where if you hit that number, you would not add another one? I'll answer that, 44.

I'm curious because I know obviously if a big name came in, you wouldn't say, hey, we don't want your money. No, we have a deal in place with SiriusXM for a maximum allowable minutes that we can sell during the show. Based on a legal CRTC. Right. Quota. But, and we haven't reached it.

We've been close a couple of times. But as far as, you know, we sort of have a number. I'm probably eight is, I mean, we're close to it now. I think we're at seven. Just so it doesn't sound. Sure. Nonstop commercials. But the reason we think of 8 is we can do

2 at a time every half hour and we do a 2 hour show but as you say and we have a bit of a thing in place with Sirius if we ever went over our allotted amount of minutes we could either buy back some of the time if we needed to or they just give it to us

gotcha gotcha so the 6 people on the payroll, you mentioned two salespeople, and you two, obviously, are the primary stakeholders here. But just so we know, the other two people, is it Phil Hong, your producer? Yep, and Amanda Barker, also a producer, plus Amanda. So, you know, there's, I mean,

in terms of really getting paid every month, it's the four of us, but Amanda also gets some commission because Amanda brought us pizza pizza, squatty potty. I mean, when I say brought us, like she did some of the prospecting. I mean, I was involved in the sale. Do your prospect.

Do your prospect. Do your prospect. I'm trying to have a serious conversation. You're just going, whoa. Do your prospect. Now you're just doing fucking sound effects. We'll get to the voices, don't worry. This doesn't feel like the old prospector.

Okay, but you said the word. Usually that's a trigger. Go ahead. So anyway, Bill Hertz really hasn't been involved much with the company over the last couple years, other than his relationships with Sleep Country and FYI account for a lot of money in our world. And then we just hired a new guy about three or four months ago, and he just made his first sale,

which was Mitsubishi Motors of Canada, which is ridiculous. Just sounds cool. Oh, they make cars. They are a car company, Michael. There's some overhead in that business. Like Freddie said, you got to actually have some inventory. Well, and like I said,

what we're charging these people is certainly nothing like terrestrial radio, but getting closer, and it's a significant amount of money. Okay, let me play another clip. Yeah, do that. Humble and friend, we ain't got no college. Imagine we were 29 and 33 when we recorded those many years ago. Many moons ago. And you know what?

I remember it was yesterday standing in those studios in Brampton. And when you're young and excited and it was a new project, it was fabulous. Good times. So you mentioned... Oh, yeah. It's not a the bar, Victor. No, it's... Is that your version? I'm the old prospector.

Yeah. So that is... We have recorded those like maybe 90. No, I'm telling... That was like the first summer I was there. Oh, okay. So the first year I was there. 25, 26 years ago.

Yeah. Where did it go? Anyway. Amanda Barker, you mentioned... Why don't you crack a beer? Why don't you crack a GLB? Anytime you want. I. Where did it go? Anyway. Amanda Barker. Why don't you crack a beer? Why don't you crack a GLB? Anytime you want. I'm not in the mood right now.

You'd love the Great Lakes beer. You would love it. Well, I'm looking at this one. This is interesting, this Karma Citra. Because this summer, I get into a couple of the citrusy beers that are good. That one, they do this IPA thing where they bring them in. That one just showed up again. Cool.

Cool. We mentioned Amanda Barker who, I guess, not only adds content but helps schedule people and you said does some sales work. So she's doing a lot of things. But I want to ask you

about a big, tough decision you recently made with personnel. So you recently had to let somebody go. So my question to you as small business owners, how tough is that? And I'm talking about Eileen, of course, listeners of Humble. Yes.

So how tough is that as, you know, small business owners that have to make a decision like that? And any regrets, any thoughts now that it's kind of in the rearview mirror? Well, we have this discussion many times leading up to that. It's like, you know, creating and running your own business is, there's a lot of, there's a lot of fun and there's a lot of benefits, but at the same time, like any other business, there are things along the road that you have to deal with and aren't, sometimes they're distasteful. Remember having that discussion and it's like, well, it's something we're going to do and we feel needs to be done. And if we're going to be grown up businessmen, got to do it. And

that's basically was the attitude. So was it easy? No. But we had let a couple of, not to group Eileen with an intern, but over the years we had let a couple of interns go and it was almost like the minor leagues of letting people go. And then when I was in Peterborough, I we had let a couple of interns go and it was almost like the minor leagues of letting people go. And then when I was in Peterborough, I had to let a couple of people go, so I was somewhat conditioned, but it's never fun. It's never nice. No, it was really shitty, but it was

something we felt necessary to do because the content and vibe of the show, originally we wanted to do it because we think that the Humble and Fred part and taking nothing away from Eileen. I mean, Eileen's brilliant and funny and kind and was a big part of our show, but what was happening is it was becoming the Humble Fred and Eileen show. And, you know, I'm not sure how much longer we're going to be doing the Humble and Fred show. Maybe we can talk about that at some point.

But I and Fred, it just got away from our sort of original mandate of it's just me and Fred. I mean, you used to say, I mean, what your favorite part of the show is when just Fred and I talking about Humble and Fred. When Howard says we should start the show now, that essentially, whenever I hear that, I know the best part's over. Like that part before you think you started the show now. That essentially, whenever I hear that, I know the best part's over. Like that part before you think you started the show. Sometimes like 35 minutes will go by and we've talked about nothing in the news except for what we were thinking about on the way in or something on the weekend.

And I'll go, okay, well, we'll get started at any moment. What was happening was, back to Eileen, is it was becoming too much of a three-person show. Taking nothing away from her contribution, it just wasn't the direction that we... We had gotten away from our original sort of prime directive Star Trek fan. And I'll be brutally honest here.

The way our show is structured, Howard's sort of the initiator generally, right? And I'm the reactor. Howard usually starts bits as the main host, the way it's always been. This involves a certain amount of timing and anticipation and

reaction that when it's just the two of us, it feels good and it clicks. When our show is traditionally structured like that and then I lean into the mic to say something and then the moment's lost, the show is not so much fun for me anymore. It just isn't. structured like that, and then I leaned into the mic to say something, and then the moment's lost. The show's not so much fun for me anymore.

You know what I mean? It just isn't. Well, you have 25 years. I don't know. How many years are we going on now? Almost 30 years. You two having your rhythm and your timing. Which is huge. And so it was affecting Fred more than it was affecting me, but Fred being affected

affected me. And it was affecting me in that I would throw something out, kind of knowing where he'll take it or where he might go, or knowing that wherever he takes it, I've got to be ready to react now. And then another person, whoever that is, and it could be Amanda, it could be Eileen or you, it just interrupts that flow. And, you know, there are people listening to this that might think, well, geez,

I think she had more to say, or she was better at that than, say, I was, or whatever the deal is, no matter what your opinion of what unfolded and what the show was, what it is, and what it's returned to. The problem is I'm half owner. It's your show.

It's that simple. Yeah, and listen, when we brought Eileen in, it was great when you get a little bit of anybody else. And Eileen was brilliant in a lot of ways and very funny, but it had become something it was never intended to be. Yes. It's funny how life works because I used to bump into her on the waterfront trail.

So she didn't live very far from here on Lake Ontario. And sort of shortly thereafter being let go by you guys, she's bought a house in Oshawa now. Like she's way out in Oshawa. She never would have bought that house in Oshawa

if she had to come to South Etobicoke for work every day. Good point. So it's just interesting that you sort of, this move, the greater good has been served. Sure. And you know what?

There have been a lot of, you know, early on, and again, because we're sort of transparent and we try and be as authentic as we can, I mean, we don't want to tell. We can't tell everybody everything. You know, there was other mitigating circumstances that have nothing to do with the on-air part, but had to do with us being the kind of guys

that we are, which is, you know, we try and err on the side of kindness when we can, but as far as what's been happening, I don't even know how long it's been, four or five months? We took a lot of shit initially. Like, you know, and that's fine, because a lot of our fans really, really liked her.

And no one likes change. Nobody likes change, and it was change. At first, they didn't like the way we handled it, and that's fine. But in the months that have ensued, I believe the show has gotten back to the kind of rhythm it always had. And sometimes it'll just be Fred and I for the first half hour. No interns, no Phil, just us shooting the shit. And we like that freedom again.

And I'll be telling you, at this point in my life, this has got to be fun and enjoyable or I don't really want to do it. I mean, I've had a good run. It can't feel like a job. And that's what it was. And I could see him getting frustrated. And the last thing I need

is the last five years of his career with me being all ah, fuck. All curmudgeonly. But it wouldn't have gone. It wouldn't have gone five years because it would have been, you know, if the show, say it had unfolded,

evolved to the point where I go, well, there's really not a spot for me. I'd be cool with that. Seriously. It would be like, hey, it's been a good run. And, you know, I'm at an age now. Well, okay, let's do this now. I actually was going to do this later, but let's do it now.

No, no, no, I'm just saying. People want to know, like, how long will you run? Like, listeners of Humble and Fred show, how long, Fred, are you willing to, you and Howard get together? And we're going to talk about the new studio in just one minute,

because that's a big development that's happened right now. But maybe we do that real quick, and that leads into this. We will get back to how long will you run. You can percolate on that one. Actually, let's play this. Let's percolate. Hey, he's doing a bit. Let him do a bit.

I'm not 100% sure Fred's mic is loud enough. I do watch the levels here. You are louder than Fred. You are louder than Fred. No, I'm saying, well, okay, because I'm... Do you process it after? No, but what I'm doing is I'm... My advantage is I'm speaking directly into it

and he has to turn his head to look at you. Okay, how about this? Don't worry about... I won't be disrespected if you don't look at my eyes. By the way, Maestro Fresh West was here a few weeks ago, and he was sitting where Howard is, and his eyes were closed for two-thirds of the interview. I thought he fell asleep on me.

Well, you know, it's funny... And he's like a hero of mine. What a compliment. It's funny you say that, because for a few minutes here at the beginning, my eyes were closed too, but it's two hours of doing our show with these cheap reader glasses, your eyes get sore. What if you spent some money

on quality glasses? You could afford it. Maybe I should. We have benefits. You're fucking right. I should probably get proper reading glasses because these are shite. That's a good point. And don't cheap out on your eyes. We have all the things.

We could get that under our benefits? I think it's $200 every two years. Yeah. That's a good point. And don't cheap out on your eyes. If all the things that you've done... Do we have... We could get... That's under our benefits? I think it's $200 every two years. Okay. $200 doesn't go far, but... What do you want to know? Let's talk about the move.

Let's talk about the studio move. Sure. Okay. So this is a big, like, major development in the Humble and Fred business. So... Well, maybe you tell it. I can tell it, but then I'm going to sound like Brian Linehan again. So what big change have you made with where you record?

Freddie P. We had rented a... There's an industrial building in South Etobicoke on 30th Street. We rented a space there for the past three years. Prior to that, we were in another space in conjunction with another company, but that doesn't matter at this point. Let's not talk about that. That's right. The company that I was working with, and

will not be named in this room. So for the past three years, we've had our own space. My bum still hurts. And it was a pretty cool setup. Yeah, it was great. No, it was a pretty cool setup. I mean, there were some issues with heat and cool and all that, but it was a pretty good setup, but we were actually paying, you know, rent, I guess.

We had a three-year lease. We paid rent. And it was fair, I guess, the rent, whatever. But as the lease was approaching its end and we were having issues with the environment as far as dust in the air, to be honest, which became an issue. A lot of coughing. Although I'm still doing cough. I still, for some reason, I don't know what's going on.

I'm still coughing. Fluorosy. Or the TB. Or the vapors. Nah, maybe. A little vapor. So anyway, we just one day were knocking it around and thought, boy, what if, and Howard at the time wanted to move back into the city from Oakville

because his girls were grown, his ex-wife had all moved back into the city, so we thought it would be good for him. So we thought, hey, why don't we get a space that we can broadcast from, not your basement. Nothing wrong with your basement, although you might want to paint that front door. How about a, no, but seriously, the way we're structured, we don't want to do that.

We want it to be like a job, like an environment, you know? So we thought, why don't we look at some storefronts? And my first idea was maybe like an old restaurant or something with an apartment above it, which ultimately would have been shitty for Howard. Anyway, he quickly found where we're at. It's one of those new live-work places. It's only 10 years old, and it's a very stylish townhouse

above a new studio, so to speak. Well, retail space. Retail space slash studio. You know what I mean? Not traditional retail space. And with a basement. It's like we we built it in an old

forever 21 or something right but you know what I mean it's like in this business right no our space could actually be a living room yeah you know what I mean so anyway and then it has a basement which is halfway above grade it's not like a dungeon anyway and you know the price was right the situation was right so now instead of paying rent to somebody, virtually for the same amount of money, we're paying a mortgage. So the company owns this property?

No. So Howard owns this property? Howard Glassman owns the house and Howard and Fred of Humble and Fred Radio own the mortgage. Okay. So it's like a business.

Well, and it's, you know, listen, you know, Fred's done a, it's basically a huge service to me because theoretically two thirds of the house is owned by Howard. One third's owned by Howard and Fred. And whatever money we pay for mortgage

and part of the utilities and all that stuff goes to our landlord, which is me. But Fred, theoretically, when I say theoretically, legally will participate in the growth of that third of the property if there ever is any growth realized. But mainly, I thought about this. It's like he's doing me a favor, but we're doing each other the favor because we have a better space. It looks great. I love it.

We control whatever rent we're paying. It's kind of coming back to ourselves. Yeah, it makes sense. And I look at it this way with just a tiny portion of the ownership. The thing is, if at the end of the day, when I cash out, I die and Delise gets to realize this. However it unfolds. Even if I just get back the half of the mortgage that we paid, it's more than I'm getting at the old place, right?

All that money is gone. So even if that is returned on some level one day, it's like, hey, I'm fucking good. And meanwhile, this guy who wanted to move back into the city and needed to rebuild some equity after his... Honestly, right? Sure, after...

Well, and not just that, but I... And all of that made sense. Yeah. The financial and the physical part. But as I... You know, Mike, you've been there. I love the place. I've seen you performing in your bedroom.

You've got a stage. That's right. I have a mini stage in my bedroom, which is perfect for me. And you know how big that is to me? Even though, you've got a stage. That's right. I have a mini stage in my bedroom, which is perfect for me. And you know how big that is to me? Even though, again, my portion is small, the fact that he moved there and actually was happy was huge to me because I was sort of holding my breath thinking,

fuck, if he goes there and he hates and this is all wrong, I'm not going to feel very good about it because part of the key to this is being comfortable. Yeah. Because that ends up on the show as well, right? And this is Queensway. I don't think we've mentioned it yet,

but this is like, it's on Queensway. It's just east of Islington. That's right. It's the Humble and Fred storefront squatty potty performance zone. Nice.

In the Five Hour Energy green room. Nice. And I should also point out, I actually took a lot of photos. So you've only recorded two shows. So as we speak, you've had two shows. Friday, yeah.

Two shows. We did our grand opening Friday the 21st, and today was the first regular, the 24th, the first regular show we've done in there. And I took some photos, which will go up on TorontoMic.com. I took before photos when you guys were still getting things ready. And I have now kind of some after photos so I can show everybody what it all looks like. But in my opinion, it's ideal. The residence is great for Howard to live in.

And this studio is ideal to record in. It's a great idea. And if it doesn't work out, I'm going to turn the basement where Phil is into a rub-and-tug. Yeah, well, you can still work well. Because the Queensway apparently is the rub and tug epicenter of Toronto. Well, that's the cool thing about this, too. As that area of the city, on a daily basis, you can see it rolling out, you know, from the city.

Yeah. And becoming cooler and cooler. I mean, even after Humble and Fred, whenever that may be, I mean, there are options to use it for other stuff, rent it to other people. I mean. My wife has like a sewing studio thing she started called Mint and Chip, and she makes custom children's clothes.

She could have her retail. Absolutely. There you go. So, I mean. I'll talk with Monica after. The possibilities are endless. And I'll tell you, I walked in there this morning, and I said to Howard, you know what?

It feels a bit weird here, and I don't know. It was like the sound, yet when we arrived at the other studio, we didn't have music playing, or it was just us talking and sitting in that room. Just the whole vibe was different, but it was great because it was new, and it's clean, and it's our stuff. And you own it. It's like you own A to Z now of your business. Yeah, it was great because it was new and it's clean and it's our stuff. And you own it. It's like you own A to Z now of your business.

Yeah, it was cool. And the new table, we don't use my dining room table anymore. We had a professional table built. We have a new board. But I'll say for me, I woke up this morning around the same time I have been since I've been in your neighbor. So I used to get up at 5 and I'd leave my house in Oakville at 525. And it would take me the better part of a half an hour to get up at five and I'd leave my house in Oakville at 525. And it would take me the better part of a half an hour after I figured, you know, to get to work. And then for

the last seven weeks before we did the move, it was taking me five minutes to get to work. Well, today, like I kind of woke up at around 520, 25 with the realization that our producer, Phil, was in the basement. Like he was already already there he gets there at five and uh that basically all i had to do was put on some clothes take stan the dog out for his business and then i was at work and it was it was weird it was different but i know i'll get used to it the sound in the studio is different for us and but you know by the time the show was over i could kind of feel like okay we're getting this will be our new normal, and it won't take very long. Absolutely.

And I think we did a great job, honestly. It looks so much different in our last place. Yeah. And I'll tell you, you know what we've maintained through this, the previous studio and I'm sure here, the spirit of radio. And we really have. And I was saying this to my wife on the weekend you know we've had the opportunity to be in some corporate studios over the past couple of years and i

don't like it anymore i just don't like the vibe i don't like the feel everybody you can just feel it people are under pressure i think they're all afraid of losing their jobs there's no fun in the halls that what we've done with our studio in this new one, and I'm sure, again, it'll be the same way. We've maintained the environment's fun. Whether it's just me and Howard or Phil and Amanda's there or the interns, we make it feel like radio was

when we had a good time. You know what it is? It's the field of dreams of radio. We're Shoeless Joe Jackson. We've come out of the cornfield to play every morning. Seriously, are you going to cry? Because that's a fucking analogy for it.

It's the catch with his dad that makes me cry. Exactly, me too. It's true. That's why I love it so much. When I get up in the morning to go, I feel like I did in the old days of CFNY.

How much of the spirit of radio is influenced by the David Marsden era that you were a part of? No, he means... No, no, it was both. Listen, hey, listen, before Howard at CFNY in the 80s was fun. We had a panic at that radio station,

but Marsden encouraged that. And the thing is, when Howard came, the regime sort of changed, but the attitude was the same. And it took a long... In fact, I don't think we ever lost it at the edge, right? To 2001. No, we had a good time.

But I know there's, you know, mixing the metaphors. But the spirit of radio, the way we liked it, you know, the sort of end of the... Like, the mojo thing was fine. It was fun. The mix thing was a disaster in terms of the kind of fun we have. But in the five years, and it's interesting you say that, in the five years we've been able to recreate the radio of our

youth in a way where everyone's having a good time. We're doing bits because we like it. We're not making crazy amounts of money. We're making okay money and we're doing it because we want to do it, not because it's like okay, what's this consultant have to say to us now? No, it really is,

and that's so important about wanting to come back every day because that's it. I think Mike wants to move on from this. No, I want to get personal, and then I want to... What more personal? We just gave you a WPP. Kinsella moment there, and you just threw it aside. It's one of the few movies where if you put it on right now,

even though I've seen it a hundred times, I would actually tear up and cry. Me too. My kids know it too. And I always put my shirt over my eyes because Daddy's bawling, and they know Daddy's bawling. Oh, me too. And they know that two-minute clip makes me bawl.

Even thinking about it, I will cry. My other favorite clip, though, is when the red-headed guy from 30-something says, You can't lose this field, Ray. Yeah, I will cry. My other favorite clip, though, is when the guy, the red-headed guy from 30-something says, you can't lose this field, Ray. Yeah, or the doc. When Doc Ram goes, I better get home before my wife thinks I have a girlfriend. That's right, exactly. I love that. What's his name?

Bert Lancaster. Wow. And he, I don't know why, it gives me chills. I don't talk about this. I love sports movies. I love the natural. I love those kind of movies. Listen, I watched Moneyball for about the third time recently. Baseball makes the best sports movies.

Greatest movies ever. Although, there is a golf movie with it's a better book, The Legend of Bagger Vance. I've heard of it. Will Smith. Yeah, but no. And Matt Damon. What about Tin Cup? You know what? Tin Cup's not a bad movie, but you'd like Legend of Bagger Rants.

It's a great book. I've seen it. I've seen the movie. Wouldn't you call it Legend of Baggy Pants? No. We're stupid. Yeah, it's funny. The Field of Dreams thing,

I love the movie, but it never brought me to tears. What a hard ass. But you didn't have father issues like I did. Yeah, maybe. Listen, man, when he says, you know, you want to have a catch, I can't watch without a catch. No, I don't even want to talk about it anymore

because I'm going to be up two of my dad's. Can't sell this field. No, that's what he says. You can't sell this field, Ray. Yeah, because it's funny. When my son Danny would come to me and say, Dad, do you want to play catch? I'd say, go to bed.

Oh, like remember the early 80s, the drunken guy who was putting the, and the kids trying to get... His General Lee was broken, and there's a guy, he's had too many pops, and he can't put it back together, and he goes, go to bed, now! It's a PSA that aired in the GTA,

and he's not from the GTA back then, but mid-80s, early 80s, it still haunts me, that GTA. So my bit there actually made sense to some people. The cats in the cradle and the silver moon. A lot of the references I drop, you have to be from the Toronto area in the 80s to get a. A lot of the references I drop, you have to be from like the Toronto area

in the 80s to get a lot of it. That's great. I'm talking to somebody. That's why you're a very funny man to a very specific group. But not in the category

comedy. I want to point that out. Yeah, exactly. Let's hear Dan here real quick. This is Humble and Fred. That's your buddy Dan Duran. Dan Duran opened the show.

If you haven't heard the Friday, October 21st file, Dan does a two and a half minute intro. But it was great. It was really well done. Yeah, I loved listening back when he produced your show in the mid-90s,

I guess. Early 90s, yeah. He was our second producer. Our first producer hated us and he lasted about three months. But he was great. And here's really quickly some Creed here.

Well, I just heard the news today. Humble and Fred are here to stay. Or just kill me now. That was Jamie Watson, I think. Yes, yes. Personal lives, real quick update on this. So, Freddie P., still married. How many years have you been married?

It was 36 in June. And you're both still happy, as far as you know? Yeah, I mean, based on, I mean, what is happiness? I'm very happy. She's very happy. Then you're both happy. When she chews her food, it doesn't make me sick. I mean, the reason I say that is because I heard not long ago somebody say,

I knew I had to break up. Just the sound of her chewing her food fucking made me hate her. That's a bad sign. So I don't have any of that. Yeah, I don't have any of that. That same person said I'd wake up in the morning and I could hear her breathing and it just fucking drove me crazy. You've got to get out when it happens.

Is it somebody I know? No. I'm thinking, yeah, it's time to get out. Like, I don't have any. I love the sound of her breath. And you have, what's exciting is you have these two young grandchildren now. So your daughter has given birth to a boy. How old is John?

John will be four in December and May will be two in November. Wow. And it's changed our lives immensely. It's wonderful. Grandparenting is a lot different than parenting. You can concentrate a lot more. I think you can stop down and smell the roses, so to speak, a lot more.

You have a different perspective on it, and it's just been fantastic. Well, Boone, you can relate, because don't you have a grandkid somewhere? You've got so many children now. I have the 14 and a half year old and the 12 year old. In fact, my 14 year old has his first hockey game tonight. So that's where I'll be tonight. And then I do that thing. And then I, of course, you met the two year old

upstairs and there's a seven month old. And I figured by the time the seven month old is kind of getting older and I'm no longer having to be like on, maybe my son's given me a grandchild. Like I could just do it like in 10 years. It could be seamless. Yeah, because I was thinking, I think about this with regards to trick-or-treating. This is the first year my 12-year-old wants to go with her friends

and not with daddy. So I've been fired from the older couplet of children. Daddy's not required, but the two-and-a-half-year-old is going to make his debut the same.

So I essentially have a seamless transition. Well, it's different ends of the spectrum. Yeah, and then I figure I've got a good 12 years now because Morgan was just born in March and I can do 12 years with her

and then maybe go around with the grandkids. I could just be continuously going out for trick-or-treating. I've noticed with grandkids, I mean, the perspective thing, it really makes you, when you have the time to sort of take a breath and really concentrate on them,

how important family is. Because when you're in your 20s and 30s and you have the time to sort of take a breath and really concentrate on them, how important family is. Because when you're in your 20s and 30s and you have these kids, you're just busy and you're trying to pay a mortgage and you're trying to make more money and you're this and that. You don't really appreciate. And you have no history to draw on to fully

appreciate what you're going through. You just don't. And now as a grandparent, it's just... it's beautiful. It makes your heart ache, actually. And Howard, you have no grandchildren yet? No, my eldest daughter is turning 22 today. This is her birthday. Wow, happy birthday.

Charlie, wow. Charlie is 22, and she is well on her way. There's not much daddy required there, although she seems to appreciate me more than the other one. The other one has just finished high school. She's taking a gap year. She's doing some work and doing well. But what happened was Spencer was living with me for the last

couple years since Lady Friend and I split up. And I had a lot of Spencer time. And then when I... As Fred mentioned, my ex-wife moved back to the city, St. Clair and Jane area. And she's a lovely woman, still my best friend. One day I told her we should get our money back together.

I'd want to have one of those reunification ceremonies that couples do or whatever that is. She lives surprisingly close to my ex-wife. Maybe that's where all the exes are living. But sometimes couples, when they get older, they have like a re... What do they call that?

A reunification? Yeah, sure. I said we should have one of those ceremonies where we introduce the money back to each other. But anyway, Spencer, when I started staging the house back in April, Spencer basically moved back

with her mom and has stayed there. So I see her every day because I pick her up from work and stuff, but I only have her in the house. She was over on the weekend. So that's kind of my sitch,

as the kids like to say. Not seeing anybody, but on some dates. Do you remember, yeah, in episode 100, were you still with Ladyfriend? I can't remember. I think so. in episode 100, were you still with Ladyfriend? I can't remember. I think so.

So since then, you broke up with Ladyfriend. Yes. Okay, and since then, you've been on Tinder. Is that right? Lots of Tinder activity. And how's that going? Juice. Lots.

I mean, it's fine. I usually take the summer off because I like golfing. You know, I've been back on Tinder a few weeks now. I've got a couple of... Right now, it's training camp. Right now, we're seeing who shows up, what kind of shape they're in, seeing if they're game ready.

Not everyone will be. That is. Right now, we're looking for two-a-days, and we're on the ice every day. Would you, on Tinder, if you met somebody, and they were hot hot and you got along but you found out they were deeply religious,

would that be at all a deal breaker? Somebody who had... Yeah, because I would have nothing in common with somebody who was deeply religious. Same here.

I actually went on a date last year with a young woman. I thought she was pretty cute and she was in her late 30s and then the very first thing, and this one I was still drinking, I said, would you like a glass of wine?

She said something like, I don't drink wine. I'm a Christian. And blah, blah. She said something else. Maybe she, I don't like Jews or something. And I said, I remember thinking to myself, well, there'll be no parking lot handjob tonight.

Because sometimes that's... Is there, like, what if they were mildly... I love those stories. It's true. A man in his 50s getting a handjob in a car in a parking lot. I just think that's hilarious. Fuck handjobs. I've had the full on... He does the fuck, eh? What's that?

You do the fuck. At some point, don't you get too old for like screwing in a car? I don't know, man. I thought so too. No, that's a good point. But I would say in this calendar year, 2016, I've had sexual relations in a car.

In a car. I think it's great because you know what? Age is just between your goddamn ears, man. It's a matter of mind. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. Get my money, get my money. I'm so thrilled. If he comes back with these stories and he's happy, it's great. Yeah, you can live precariously through him,

right? Absolutely. You get the best of both worlds. Your long-term marriage, which is great, and then Tinder. Tinder, man. But like I said, I don't really have a... You know, I've had several, and since Ladyfriend and I split, I've had a couple of two-month, three-month

kind of liaisons, and I've had a bunch of dates. I kind of got dated out. Like, it's a lot of work. But having said that, I've just been on a couple dates in the last three days with a nice lady. And, you know, I don't know. But are you looking for love or is this looking for fun? No. I'll tell you what I am looking for.

I am no longer looking for anything that is too much work. You know what it's like, too? I make this analogy. Howard's relationships are like my association with Shaw Direct. Okay? Oh, really? How's that? I can shut it off for a few months every year at the trailer. Wow.

I use it, and I love it, and then when October comes, it's a phone call and I shut it down until the next spring. And I'm the opposite. Like, I basically, from November to March, I'm interested in pursuing women for various reasons. But come the golf season, I'm perfectly fine, to be honest with you.

Other than being a little bit lonely from time to time, I'm perfectly fine not having a girlfriend. In fact, I remember the last year's winter girlfriend saying to me somewhere in February, early March, so how much golf do you play? I went, well, that'll be enough, I think. He wants to be in the position. Since Ladyfriend, has anyone been introduced to your children?

Howard. Yeah, but only by, just not on purpose so much. We just happened to be someplace and we ran into one of them. Only I ask that because my ex, I mentioned I have an ex-wife, and no one she's dated has been introduced to our children yet. Meanwhile, I have two other kids of someone else, so I've obviously... So have your kids met Monica? My son was the best man at my wedding. I don't know if you remember my wedding.

I barely remember. Lil Ducey tells me you were in the Vivo. Howard turned it upside down. That was the old Howard. That was old drunken Howard. And okay, so if you found love, obviously, what would happen if you're having fun with a woman

and you fell in love? Like, would that be a bad thing now? Oh, shit, I'm in love. What do I do? Or golf season's coming up? That's a great question. Let me think about it. I mean, yeah, I don't know.

I love going to golf every day, and I love not having to be beholden to somebody else. I mean, other than Spencer, who needs me for rides still, because she doesn't drive, although she takes a lot of transit. But other than her and Stan, I don't really have to be anywhere during the summer days, and I like to be at a golf course. If I found someone, Mike, I'm sure I'd make some confidence. You'd have to fall in love with a golfer

maybe. Absolutely. It would definitely be a plus. Unless he was shit. I have a very personal question here. One very personal question, and I'm curious because we were in similar places, like married long-term and then we got divorced and then we met a younger woman that we fell in love with. So my

question is, do you think you'd still be with Lady Friend if you wanted to have children with her? I'd say yes, only because if things had been different and I had felt more, I don't know, whatever, maybe I would have gone through with it. There was a time I was thinking about it. I remember telling him, I'm thinking about somewhere in my early 50s,

I thought, you know, I could probably have another kid. I have the kind of energy. I'm the kind of person that could probably pull it off. And what was my answer to you? Because I remember, I forget what I told you, but in my mind, I'm thinking, don't. What are you doing? That'll really mess up the golf.

No, no. Oh, yeah. No, for sure. It was just such a huge commitment at that age. And not, again, age doesn't matter, but when he was thinking of kids, when those kids were

the age of his kids now, he'd be in his 70s, and it's like... But to answer your question without getting into too much detail, if things had been somewhat different, obviously we'd still be together, and if they were different enough for us to still be together, then having a child again,

whatever age I was, I could have pulled it off. But I think the part B of that is I'm happy that I don't have. Like looking at Jarvis coming down the stairs, like it's a lot of energy. And although, you know, it's funny, I was watching a comedian,

can't remember who it was, but a guy my age who's had kids again, and they love it. And I'm sure I would have loved it. Yeah, but you don't have the lifestyle for it. It's one of those things

where you have to do it to know... Well, no, but I do. I would have the lifestyle for it. I'd have the perfect lifestyle for it. All that time at the golf course? No, that's what I'm saying. If I was in a place where we had a baby,

I would embrace it again, and I think it would be neat. And you would make those compromises. I would make those compromises. But now that that's a moot point, and it took me a long time to get over it. I mean, I was talking about this with this young woman I was seeing this weekend,

and she's just come out of a relationship, and I said, you know, it's tough, man. I said, you know, I made the mistake of still seeing lady friend off and on for about a year. And so it's only been a year that I haven't really been seeing her. And it takes a long time. And there's parts of it that still are hurtful. But overall, I'm in a better place not being in that relationship. Was it a mutual breakup? Or did one want it more than the other? It was pretty mutual, I would say. In the end, it was pretty mutual.

At the time, it really broke my heart, and I think it broke her heart too. It broke my heart. It broke Freddie's heart, and poor Stan. To be honest, we were all devastated, I think. The funny thing is... I think we've all grown, though. It's like when you're... And I've been through this with my son.

Relationships he's been through. The thing is the peripheral or the effect it has on people not right in the relationship, but surrounding the relationship. Because when my son has broken up with a couple of young women

that we absolutely loved, it's hard. And even Howard, like I got to know Amanda. Delisa and I got to know her. She was a bud. She was a friend now. And then all of a sudden,

that person's out of your life. I had her on the show twice. I have not laid eyes on Amanda since the breakup. Somebody in my life is no longer in my life. Well, I'm sorry for you too, man. Hope you guys are okay.

It's easy to get over, but at the same time, it's like, boy, I really got to know. And because of the actions of one person, be it Howard or my son, all of a sudden these people are out of your life. And that sort of leaves a hollow feeling. I won't name who it is, but one of your son's girlfriends that you're talking about is very soon will be on this show. That's fine. Sophie. I didn't name who it is, but one of your son's girlfriends that you're talking about is very

soon will be on this show. That's fine. Sophie. I didn't know if you wanted to do that. I've talked about it on the show.

She's going to come into this basement, and you're going to let her see that front door? I'll send her through the side door. Have you seen her

new bits, Midweek Hockey? It's pretty good. They're good. She does profiles on players. I talked to Merrick because Merrick was

like a mentor to her earlier in her career. In fact, and this is going to talk about thatrick because Merrick was like a mentor to her earlier in her career. In fact, and this is, we're going to talk about that, but Merrick was taught at Humberside where my son's going

to high school by Sophia's father. Yeah, a math teacher. The reason we actually postponed Sophia's appearance, she was coming in next week, is her father had a heart attack. Oh, did he?

Yeah. I wonder if Danny knows. Let Danny know to reach out there. But okay, let me play another clip. No, let me play another clip and then... Humble and Fred are vampires.

That was Billy Corgan doing this. Was that Jamie Watson too? Yes. Okay. Now, Fred, I want to talk to you really quickly here. You used to do a Chinese accent on the show. It was popular and Humble and Fred listeners knew this Chinese accent.

But at some point you decided... Another fantastic bit, Ruth, that will just go on forever. At some point you decided not to do the Chinese accent. Because he's a racist.

Why did you stop doing it? Why did you stop doing the Chinese accent? Because like a lot of things I do it, so I think it just got a bit out of hand and it wasn't,

I don't know, it wasn't funny anymore. I thought it was funny. Is it because you're not Chinese? Wait a second. Wait, wait, wait. You're not Chinese? Sorry. You know, it's funny. During that period of time, too,

I don't know. Howard just thinks it's a bit rude. It wasn't. I just thought I'm doing it a lot. And fuck standing back and listening. It's like, oh, okay. Because we know you could not do that on terrestrial radio. And I'm going Chinese.

No. And did we just hear it again, Howard? Theoretically, you shouldn't even be able to. Shouldn't be able to. It's not even cool for satellite radio. You know what I mean? People, they're like, who was it?

We've had one complaint. No, but Opie and Anthony. Oh, yeah. You know, I mean, he did something that it said racial overtones and it got him tossed from Sirius XM. And then not, listen, there wasn't any malice or whatever.

I just thought, it's out of run, it's rude, and I'm going fucking crazy with this Chinese thing. I thought, I'll pull it back, and then yeah, a bit rude, where, you know, that'll be the next phase of it, not doing it anymore. And you gotta think of stuff all the time. And you know, times change, man.

You gotta update all the time. We're constantly, here's what we do, every year, like Louis C.K., we throw out our act, we write a new one, and then we start touring that again. Because, Fred, I've known you a long time now, and you seem to be slant on the conservative side of things politically. You said slant. You're a racist. I am married to an Asian woman.

Fiscal conservative, Mike. But a little more than that. I know you don't like breastfeeding in public, right? I never said that. No. Okay, I'm the Canadian thinker. you don't like breastfeeding in public, right? I never said that. I, okay. I'm the Canadian. I don't like breastfeeding in public.

see that's okay. Tell me, I just know, I'm not even trying to jump on you here. I was like, I can't even remember what that was about other than, you know, I guess,

yeah, there's some cert situations where you have to sort of fucking figure it out and go, yeah, maybe it's not the best to do it right here, right now. But as far as a woman on a park branch, or a woman like last week, and she's in the foyer of a place, and she's done, that's ridiculous.

But if I may be eating my dinner, and the person right next to me is breastfeeding, it might be a bit uncomfortable, so you might want to think about that. But, you know, at the end of the day, I really don't give a shit. Okay, what about Chief Wahoo? Real quick on this, only because it's really timely. You seem to be okay with Chief Wahoo, the racial caricature. Don't care. Don't care. But you're a white guy. No, I'm a white guy, and I'm sorry

for that, but I'm a white guy, yeah. I guess I wonder, you don't care, but this is, I mean, I don't want to get into the whole Indians thing, the name, but the logo, the Chief Wahoo, it's a racial caricature. We wouldn't accept this in many other races. Howard and I had this conversation last week, and he sort of agreed, or he brought the point up actually,

about not caring that much. This has been a 25-year campaign now that has gained no steam. And the reason it has gained no steam is because the people it's supposed to protect generally don't give a shit. Last May, the Washington Post, somewhat of a left-leaning newspaper, did a nationwide survey on the Redskins, and it came back 9 out of 10 Native people said

they don't really care. So it's like the vocal minority. The problem with that survey was you had to self-proclaim that you were an Aboriginal person. But, but, but, but, but, but, but. We can poke holes in it. My question is, if, let's say 10% of First Nations people are offended by it, isn't that enough?

Like, this is not your race being... I don't know. I don't know. It's not enough for me to care about. Can you grandfather in intolerance? Like, all because it's been that way for a long time, does that make it okay in 2016? That's all I'm saying. I don't want to spend a lot of time on the Indians thing,

but I know you defend it. No, either do I, and I'll say this about the caricature. I guess, you know, if it offends people, super. But the naming, when we name a child, we name a dog, we name anything we love, right? We do it thinking of pride and nothing but good things. And originally, that's how a lot of these teams were named. Would you name a team today the Indians?

Absolutely not because of political correctness. But when it happened, it all came from... True, but it was white people who gave it the name Indians. I know you like to bring up the fighting Irish in Notre Dame, but at least that was Irish people who came up with that name. So you're qualifying it. Yeah, that's kind of a key. Did you invite us down here

to just fucking rake Fred over the coals? But honestly, to tell you the truth... Can you call me Phil? I don't know what I'd call him. No, I think I'd hit... Did you call him Phil? I just called him Phil, by the way. No, you called me Phil the other day.

Mike, I don't... And you called me Mike Muslim, remember? Yeah. I'm losing my mind. One thing I will say, like, look how quickly Black Lives Matter gained steam, because there was actually

a movement, a push behind it. No matter how much they've tried, this Indian thing just won't, it just can't get there. That's all I'll say. And I don't really care. One thing Boone said that I think is an interesting point. Even if only one out of every nine, you know,

10 Aboriginal American Indians don't like it, like that would be enough. And the, the logo of chief Wahoo. Yeah. I've heard it. And I think it's aptly compared to a Tom or Jim Crow black guy. You know,

you wouldn't like, I know that's, and I agree with Fred in this, sometimes we're politically correct and feel we need to protect people that aren't asking for our protection, but there are parts of this that are just reprehensible. The logo is racist, and if a few people of that descent don't like it,

at some point we got to move on from it. I always use the analogy of, you know, you wouldn't call the, if there was a team out of New York, they wouldn't be the New York Kikes. No matter how cute that was. But that's... Kikes isn't a...

No, how about the San Francisco Chinamen. No, I know, but you're right. Derogatory to Indians, Braves, Chiefs are not derogatory terms. Redskins is a derogatory term. I agree. It's funny. They can survey all they want, but you can't imagine.

It's so bizarre that they're still called the Redskins. Without a doubt. And, you know, ironically, another Washington team changed their name. They were the Washington Bullets. And they thought, hey, this isn't cool because all the murders in this city. Yeah. So they went to the Wizards. Right.

When some people don't like wizards, by the way. I'm serious. And on and on and on. Oh, they could cut Christians or whatever. The Christians don't like the wizards, man.

Ridiculous. God damn it. That's great. By the way, Jew lives, by the way, Jew lives matter. Yes, they do. Absolutely.

You know, this whole thing, just one other point. Yes, they do. Absolutely. You know this whole thing, just one other point. Now apparently it's racist to say all lives matter. 100%, yeah. This is the same sentiment that says we should have a white pride parade or this type of thing. Well, I've said it for a long time. This is not an oppressed group. There should be a heterosexual pride float in the pride parade because we're the only people making new gay people. a heterosexual pride float in the pride parade

because we're the only people making new gay people. By the way, saying all lives matter is what made my buddy Elvis unfriend Mike Muzzin on Facebook because all lives matter.

Why can't we say all lives? When you say all lives matter, what you're doing is you're discrediting, minimizing, disposing of the Black Lives Matter movement by destroying it,

stomping on it with all lives matter because it is about black lives matter. Do you guys want to go get something to eat? Howard, just so you know, all lives don't matter. That's not the point. It's really not the point. Do you not think all lives matter?

I want to take my head and bash it against that fucking wall. Okay, we'll move on. Don't bash your head against the front door because it's all scrappy. That's part of my problem. You know what? I'm too stupid to keep up with all this shit now. But anyway, go ahead. I just said Chief Wahoo's a racist. Chief Wahoo.

I don't like the logo. Have you ever seen any movies, though, from the 60s? My favorite thing is sometimes you'll see an old movie from the 60s or early 70s and it'll be white guys dressed in red makeup playing Indians. It's hysterical playing Indians. Oh, yeah.

It's hysterical to me. Well, didn't Burt Lancaster or something like that? Maybe. Yeah. Anyway, what do you want to do now? Charlie Chan was... How long does this thing go on for? Real quick.

No, please, let's continue. Are we on episode 300 yet? State of the radio today. Real quickly, I heard you say this, Fred, that music doesn't belong on FM. It should be talk. So where do you think radio needs to go in order to save itself?

Terrestrial radio, I'm referring to. Well, it's just got to go spoken word. I mean, the fact that music is... Listen, music belongs... This is only me now. Music belongs on the radio if there's spoken word around it to support it. Like, say you have a feature where

people are talking about the music. Like Alan Cross's O history of new music. Yeah, maybe. I totally get that. But as far as just playing 11 songs an hour with no announcer, to me, it's just funny. And they're going to hold on to that as long as they can because it doesn't cost a lot of money.

But wait a second. We've been saying, we both have been saying this for five years. The fact that we've got all these talented people like May Potts and Stu Jeffries and KJ and all these guys that are pretty good broadcasters that aren't allowed to speak. I've said this before.

Why do we have them at all? Why are there any announcers on FM radio? Because if you don't know the song, you can kazam it or shazam it. And if you do know the song, you don't need an announcer to tell you they're once again a sound guard. And all three of those people have been in this business.

And you know, it's a perfect storm for disaster, because what they're doing is they're playing nothing but music, which you can get in your iPod or through streaming services that you can actually design exactly to your taste. And they've taken the personality out, which is strike two. Strike three is these commercial walls of seven to eight minutes. So in order to listen to the music, they're forcing on you. Without any personality, you have to sit through these commercial walls.

There's no future in that. And you know what, Mike? They know it. You and Howard got some radio station, Boom, let's say, wants to hire you guys to be their show. Let's say they're moving Stu Jeffries. They want you to be the morning show on Boom. Would you say no because you're... No, we'd say let's

sit down and talk about this. What's it going to look like? Yeah, I mean, I know what you're asking. For enough money, we'd do anything. Of course. But would it be our preference to go back and play seven or eight or nine songs an hour and talk for 90 seconds in between songs and have to do station

contesting and teasing through the stop sets. And sit down with a program director after you... And even that part isn't bad. It's the right guy. Listen, the state of the radio is this. All that will remain long after

we're done. I mean, we probably, who knows if we'll even be alive to hear it, but 30 or, certainly 20 or 30 years from now, what will FM radio be? It'll be specialty channels the same way that television is. If you're into golf, there'll be a golf network. There'll be

a cooking channel. There'll be, because it just can't survive the way it is. I'll be giving you an example. I don't think I've turned on radio in a residence that I've lived in for 15 years. I mean, last night,

I put on some music. I turned on, my computer was playing my music. You know what, Mike? When we first went to Mojo, I remember hearing this all the time. I don't even know if there's an AM band on my radio.

I never turn AM on. It may as well not even be there. I'm telling you, more and more, it's flipping. It's like people are like that with FM. The kids I know in their 30s, they don't listen to FM radio anymore. If they listen to the radio, they're listening to the fan on AM

or 680 News for traffic and weather. And I had a guy a couple of weeks ago, a trailer friend guy. He was freaking out on me because he's going, when am I going to be able to hear sports talk on FM? Why do I have to listen through this pop and crackle

and fucking interference? It's funny you say that because when I first got on to FM, I had come from AM where that's where all the top 40 was played and AM was the thing and then FM was this kind of weird little sort of side thing and lots of, you know, sort of the hippie

thing. Well, it's completely different now. I haven't turned on an FM. Like, I listen to all Sirius XM. Once in a while, I'll throw on 1010 or 680, but almost never. I can't remember the last time I put an FM radio station on. It's aggravating.

Like the number one station arguably right now is Boom. Right? In the older men demo for sure. No, no, no. Overall in Toronto, Boom 97.3. Which is good on them. But it's funny, their posters promoting the radio station, it just shows all these bands.

And I look at it and I think, well, that's cool. But they're all on my iPod and I can listen to them. But then how come people aren't tuning in to Boom? Like, why? No, they are based on who... The people listening to the radio still, most of them are listening to Boom. You know what I mean?

Yeah. So that's why their ratings are doing well. I would love to see the CUME numbers. They've got to be down. Well, remember, what you were getting at, though, Mike, Boom just recently went to number one over CHFI, over Chum FM, over the traditional. Yeah, it's huge.

But I would say this, so that we signed on as Boom in, say, December of 2009. So really, 2010 was the first big year in terms of ratings. And they got into the top two or three almost immediately. It was a great idea and a good time. Good timing, I should say.

And a demographic thing, because you've got... You know, it's hurting is the edge, because that demographic, I'm sorry. Oh, because it's younger people. Yeah. They don't need it. They don't have the tolerance for it.

And the Indy showed up, too, which is, I'm not saying that they're a big threat, but they must take a slice of that pie. It's a decreasing size of pie. And I even wonder about Indy. Are you hungry for pie now? Listen, they had to promise that format to get the license. But in retrospect, I'm thinking, boy, they probably regret that

because it's the one demographic that's fleeing from radio in droves. Well, and then your kids, you mentioned they were 14 and 12. You know, like my daughter is 18 and Charlie's 22 today. I don't think they've... I know for sure they're not listening to The Edge

or Roz and Mocha or The Beats. They're not. They're just not. You know what would bring them back to morning radio on FM? What? Stop playing music. Get good personalities in there.

But they're going the other direction. I know. They've never spoken less. Oh, yeah. No. But the thing is, you may dip before you climb, and none of them are willing to do that. One other thing I would say, when Howard and I sit here and say this, I know it crosses people's minds.

They're just bitter because they're not in regular radio anymore. You know what? That's just not true. Like, from my perspective, I won't speak for Howard. Please speak for me. No, listen, I'm a 60-year-old man. He's not going to listen to this, don't worry. I'm a 60-year-old man. Nobody's going to fucking hire me. I get it. I'm old news, but

I still am entitled to an opinion on the state of radio. And it fucking blows. And it's an educated opinion. And you speak for me. Here's the thing. I've been doing this. I have been a, you know, in next year, in 2017, in July some point, will be 40 years I've been doing this. And I haven't just been doing it weekends in fucking swift current.

I was a morning man in Vancouver when I was 21 years old. I've been at this a long time. There isn't anyone in radio or listening to this podcast that doesn't know who we are. So when we talk about this, and by the way, it's funny you mentioned that, because that was one of the things you were talking about on Matt Cundall's podcast. We sometimes say, oh, I know we sound like bitter old guys that no one wants to hire, but we're also two guys that we've been around long enough, and we've been around being very, pretty good for a long

time, so when we talk about these things, it's from a place of experience. Plus, we have a job. What? We have jobs. We have jobs. It's not, it's from a place of experience versus bitterness, and people, and you seem to, honestly, you worry more about sounding bitter than I do, because I don't

think we do. I also think that if anyone's earned the right to speak about the state of Canadian radio, it's got to be me. It's got to be him. I mean, if we don't have that right, who the fuck does? Did you know he was a program director in Peterborough? I'm sorry? He did what?

He was a... Yeah, I heard. Okay. But my point is, we're not just guys that did mornings. You know, I've been doing mornings a long, long time. And again, I look at it from this perspective. You look at the station we worked at, CFNY slash The Edge over the years. Just think, there was Pete and Geetz and then Humble and Fred and yes, even Dean Blundell.

And there was Alan Cross and there was Marty Streak and there was Chris Shepard, all these, Earl Jive, all these, say what you want about them, bigger than life personalities that people listened to the radio station because they were getting their music, but they were getting an adventure around it. Talented, creative, great people.

Gone. It's all fucking gone. Poof. Sanitized. Listen to the Edge at night. Do they even have an announcement? And the weird thing is, every other form of media and entertainment has evolved. Television has evolved.

Netflix has become our go-to viewing. You know, on most television stations now that are cable-oriented, the language is different. The only thing that still remains hokey and old-fashioned and shitty is terrestrial radio.

And I don't care what you think of that, but it's true. There's nothing innovative. They're doing the same. The odd time I've heard some people I know that work there, same old stuff. Is it cost-cutting, though? Because a lot of changes recently seem to be all about cost-cutting, like syndicating programming from other stations,

iHeartMedia or whatever. Or getting back to what Howard just said, there's some stupidity involved, too. The station we were at, 640, AM640. Yeah. I don't think the ratings have moved one tiny fucking bit since we left in 2003 that's right it hasn't same numbers and it was like they were on a good thing with the mojo thing they were or

even a variation of that was the that was the key well they turned into this news station that nobody gives a shit about for the past 15 fucking years finally they realized this is going nowhere made some big changes last week. What did they do? They went even deeper the wrong way. They hired a newspaper guy and some woman to do their morning show to talk about the issues.

What issues? Like, seriously, are you fucking kidding me? There was, not us either, because again, who wants to hire us? There was the opportunity us either, because again, who wants to hire us? Who wants to hire us? We suck. There was the opportunity to step out and do a new style of talk radio that might actually attract some people, talk about the things that people

are actually talking about, not what you think they want to hear, and they blew it. There's some rumors that this might be 640's last kind of kick at the can before they blow up the formatting. I'm here to make that prediction right now. What they've done, they're in trouble.

And the funny thing is... Outside of Stafford, who does the type of radio that station needs. But, you know, I mean, it's funny. They'll go on there and they'll talk about all the standard stuff. But, you know, one of my favorite moments in this podcast is us talking about Field of Dreams. They won't ever, it's not the only thing, but I'm saying, that conversation, that

conversation will never happen on that radio station, because conversation isn't real. Matt Gurney's a good guy, and I'm sure he knows his stuff, and the girl will be, and she's fine. I don't even know who she is, but it's not going to be a natural conversation.

Same with 1010. You know, what an opportunity. We were doing the kind of radio when they ran our show at midnight that they should have been doing the whole time.

But it's not. It's news talk. But they canceled you to, they had an opportunity to syndicate. Coast to coast. Right. And that didn't last very long.

No, it's gone now too. I think it's Mike Bendixson. Mike Bendixson doesn't like us anymore. No, because he doesn't like us. He thinks we're shit. Did he tell you that? No, we can just tell. He just thinks we're fucking shitty and he knows everything. And I'll tell you the truth. You know what? It's a bland, boring radio station.

It's cheaper for them to syndicate Montreal shows. Other than Jim Richards, who is only using one one-hundredth of his ability, and he's still amazing. Like that guy. And same with, they're all very talented people, but it's a boring radio station. I don't care what you say. I'll tell you another indication of what's wrong with talk radio

in this city, and I don't give a shit what anybody thinks, the fact that Andrew Crystal can't get a job. But he's a bit weird. Doesn't matter. You're fucking right he's weird. He's a bit too weird. No.

And I have a lot of people down here, but I pushed him away based on a phone call I had with him. I didn't want him in my life. No, I got to tell you, he is very strange. He's a bit strange. Okay. But I would recommend, he is one of the brightest. He would be a sensation, given the right station.

Like it better be in his basement. He owned the East Coast when he did talk radio. It's not about his quality. I actually think he's an entertaining broadcaster. You have to hire certain personalities that you can work with others. You can't just go free range on a terrestrial radio station like you guys might be able to do. Because you own your show. I'm not even here to bash him. I had a phone

call with him. I had a couple, but I had one with him and all the bells went off. Hey, don't invite this guy on your show. But the right guidance he'd be fine. Okay, I know that Howard's falling asleep, so I want to hit some points before I dismiss you from episode 200 here real quick. Now, you guys over the years

there's been some... Actually, here, let's do this first. Humble and fresh. They'll make great bets. They'll make great bets. Porno for Pyros. Beautiful. Great.

We should play some of that this week. Some Porno for Pyros. Yeah. My question is about some of your legendary feuds really briefly because I have a question about Mike Bullard really briefly. Is there

a Humble and Fred Mike Bullard thing? No. Not at all. Are you friendly with Mike Bullard? Yeah. There's never been an issue with Mike Bullard. I used to work, I worked with Mike not a lot, but a fair amount when I was in Canada doing stand-up and he was around.

I've known Mike and his brother a long time. And other than the fact that, other than the, he's a weird close talker. I find that off-putting. But I've told him that to his face. Why are you talking to someone? No, there's no. Okay.

No, and I actually have a soft spot for him because doing that, again, the late night talk show thing in Canada, it's almost, we have the attitude, how dare again, the late night talk show thing in Canada, it's almost, we have the attitude, how dare you do a late night talk show when there's all those wonderful American ones. That bugs me. Right. You could just go license, or syndicate.

We had Ralph Ben-Murray on last week. Same thing he went through. It's sad. You know, they try. They're given the opportunity. You give it a shot with the limited budget. Sure. And I always felt bad for the guy from that standpoint,

but I don't even know him well enough to even see. You mentioned 1010, so he's one of the recent changes, and I can't say it on the podcast. I can tell you after the podcast, but I got some wind of some things with Mike Bullard that might explain his absence from 1010.

Nothing I want to put on there. Let's talk two Q107 stalwarts, if you will, been there a long time, John Derringer and Andy Frost. Are those feuds still active or have they been resolved? I think we've been on the record

of what we think of both of those guys. I don't want to spend any, and you can, but I have no energy left to spend on either of them. But I heard Fred on Derringer's show post-mix. Yeah, but we've gone over all that material. He reached out to me to be on his show,

and I was on a couple of times. So it's Howard who's got the John. No, no, no, no, no, no. And since we've started doing this, you know, it was weird right after we started doing it, and John was named Canada's Greatest Broadcaster. No, it was the Broadcast Hall of Fame. Right.

Mornings for 10 years. We reached out to have him on our show. And I could just tell some things were weird. Okay, because Joanne Wilder tells me that Derringer just doesn't want to talk about himself. That's what Joanne Wilder did. So I don't know if that, maybe we misunderstood something. Maybe he loves you guys, just doesn't do podcasts. You know what, maybe he does. guys, just doesn't do podcasts. Maybe he does.

I echo what Howard just said. Andy Frost had an issue with us. You put clips of him saying... That's material that anyone who knows us has already heard. I don't know. There's nothing to be gained from retelling. One more name.

Go ahead. I'm glad he's not doing the ACC anymore, though. I found that aggravating. I just did. Have you heard the new guy? Yeah, he's fine. He's fine. Mike Ross, I think his name is.

Real quick here, last guy. So in 2001, you guys, when you guys leave 102 for Mojo, and I might have covered this in a previous, I can't remember, but when you leave 102 for Mojo, this was your decision, right? They didn't say you have to move. It was totally supposed to be a life-changing, career- changing move. We were supposed to still be there, Mike.

Oakley's still there. We would have come over there. We would have come here after having done the show at AM640 for our 15th anniversary, making the kind of money that we could have afforded to Uber here. They said, we would like you to move,

but you guys had to agree to it. It wasn't like they made you move. The story is, December of 2000, we were at the CFNY Edge Christmas party with Q and all those people. We just all started, you know, the company had bought WIC. And the president of course walked up to us at the Christmas party and said,

Guys, I've got a great idea for you. And we should have said, Not fuck that shit. Let's just dance. Well, May Potts has the same regrets. She said the worst thing she did was the switch to Mojo. Well, the thing is, you know, keep things in perspective. We had done it for many years, and the new project, so to speak, was sort of intriguing. Paychecks didn't change.

Same company. Right. I mean, hindsight's 20-20. We can look back and say, hey, it didn't work out, but at the time... The concept was okay, and the thing is,

when I think back, what they... 95.3 out of Hamilton, I think it's fresh now, yet another fucking tag they've put on that, has a huge, huge signal. If they'd have ever taken the mojo concept and put it on that signal.

Interesting. It would have been huge. But you guys end up on 640, which causes 102 to, they need to replace you. And they hire Blundell. Yeah, out of Windsor, they bring in Blundell. Who was a third guy on a morning show. He'd never hosted the show himself, I don't think. And the thing is, we'll look back for the rest of our lives

and go, you know, I wonder what would have happened if we'd have just said, no, we're fine. We're fine here, thanks. Because the concept at the time, I was 40, Fred was 43, and the idea was, well, how long can you guys be relevant to a younger audience? And now you look at him and fucking Stern just turned 60, and he still is killing it with demos of all ages.

And so- Aren't K-Rock and L.A., aren't Kevin and Bean still there? They're still there. And this guy that just died, did you know this Catfish Morgan guy? I didn't know him. I didn't know him. But you know what? How old was he?

In his 50s? 60. And he was working at Live 85 in Ottawa, a New Rock station. Right. Beloved. Ashby plays like Taylor Swift or whatever. Fucking Ashby's got to be 90. Fuck.

You know, that was a misguided thing because I think at the time that was, hey, we're the edge, and you know, at 18 to 34-year-old, we maybe should start thinking of moving these older guys out. Again, they didn't force us out.

It was our decision. But I'm sure that was part of the thought process. But where does the hate on come from, Dean? But wait a second. It was sold to us, just to, not to get into this because it's depressing as shit sometimes, but it was sold to us, we're going to start this rock and roll talk station.

Basically described everything we believe in now and have proved that we can do. Like one thing about the Humble and Fred show now, I will look back on it and say, we said all along in the late 90s and early 2000s before we went to AM, let us talk more. We can handle it. And we've proven that we can. We can be engaging and articulate and funny and entertaining and thoughtful and all the things without playing seven songs an hour. So the way it was sold to us was, guys, this will be the vision. The vision.

The vision. And it wasn't so much you're getting too old for the edge, but in retrospect, if we had just said, no, we're fine here, they couldn't have forced us out, Mojo would have come and gone, but we were also thinking, shit, you know, what if that thing turns out to be the coolest thing ever? Of course we want to be part of it. I know I felt like that. No, no, I know I did too.

My wife thought we were crazy. So where does the Blundell hate for you guys come from? If you guys were never competitors because you moved on your own. Well, and it's fucking weird. It's sort of weird. It's more me than Fred, but I think it's a little bit of the humble and Fred stink. It comes from two places.

One, he had to follow us, which was hard on him. So for 18 months, a year, whatever it was after us, all he got was calls saying, you suck, bring back humble and Fred. So of course he's got a bit of an edge on about us. Not intended. But you know what I mean? That is for sure

where it came from. And the other thing that bothers me a little bit is I fucking, you know, I was so, you know, I was pretty kind to the guy. You know,

I was told by our boss, hey, take Gene out for lunch and, you know, fucking not mentor him, but I certainly reached out and tried to be kind. And it's, you know, never,

it never came back. The thing with, with me, and again, it was the same thing when I was working in Peterborough working for Chorus a couple of times he invited me on the show Geetz and I I forget what it was there was some Chorus thing and it was

several generations of morning people I remember this I went on the show and it was fine it was Sybil and he was always nice to me. But when Howard and I started doing the podcast, he all of a sudden started taking shots at us. And I don't know if they're more directed at Howard. I don't know. But

I thought, that fucking blows, buddy. Like, why are you doing that? Howard was always good to him. I was always very good to him. Maybe because his co-host Todd Shapiro preferred you guys? Is anything there? Who knows? But I'm just thinking out of nowhere now he's taking shots at us.

Here we are trying to sort of claw our way back and start this new project and get into this new platform that's up and coming. And you're taking all these shots at us and yeah, from that day on, my attitude changed towards him too. And I'll tell you, in the morning

I cannot listen to him on the fan because he has a very rough time putting a fucking paragraph together. Have you noticed that? I don't listen to any. Jesus Christ. But anyway. I have nothing to say any further on the subject. How long though? He must bring in the ratings

then or do you think he could? Well, you're on a sports station. The last two years, you've had a team in the ALCS. It's pretty good. Yeah, no doubt it's a perfect storm for Rodgers. Absolutely. That's for sure. This has been wonderful.

Almost. One more clip here. Humble and fair, make me laugh real loud. Make me giggle really silly till my face... I noticed McCowan never mentions Blundell ever. Ever.

Ever. Well, McCowan's wife is a monster Humble and Fred fan. Well, yeah, because we worked with her. She was a saleswoman person with us for years. Why can't you guys ask her or ask Bob to come on my show? I would love to have Bob McCowan on my show. We've had him on our show, but on the phone. Oh, you know what?

He's just Bob's. He's got his day planned, and I don't think... I don't think I've ever said, hey, could you get X? This might be the first time ever I've said, hey, can you put in a word for a guy? I would. Bob McCowan.

The great Bob McCowan. I'm sure that... I'm only doing this, and I've said this many times, but I'm only doing this now in my basement here on these expensive microphones because I had such a great view of you guys starting up five years ago, and I loved what you guys were doing,

and I wanted to sort of copy it, emulate it, if you will, and I was inspired by it. You guys often said to me, even when I bought these mics, you said, hey, you can record at my studio. Sure, I was just going to say, you're always welcome to come

if you need it. You know, Bob McCown doesn't want to come down to this dingy basement. No, I want him here. Here, I got an idea. Bring these microphones over to our studio. That's right. We're using the microphones. But here's the thing. You've offered that up to

other broadcasters. Many broadcasters. I'm just curious. Who took you up on the offer and had success with it? Ward and Al. So Ward and Al, and I remember them recording in your studio, they now have a SiriusXM show. Every day on talks, on the Canada talks, they've done very, very well, and we're very happy for them. And Mark Hemsher and Liz Wester, I think they're over there now at our studio.

They've given it a good try. I mean, they started in January, because a lot of the people we've offered it to come in once or twice, realize it's more work than they thought, and then just stop. I think the record is one show. I won't say who it is, but it was a comedian.

We gave the studio to them, gave them Phil, gave them the whole thing. They did it once, and I never heard from them again. The Hebsey-Liz thing, I've actually been a guest on that show, and I know they do it.

I think they record. They're trying to copy. They're trying to do what you guys did. That is what they're trying to do. You're sort of like the role models there. Dave Buckman got fired. We offered it to him. He never came in.

In fact, the conversation I had with him, I think he got the impression, why the hell would I want to do that? But anyway, and then there was, what's his head? Joe Cahill out in St. Catharines when he was let go. I said, you can come and use the studio whenever you want.

I'm trying. There's been a bunch of radio people that we've offered it to. So we only have, I mean, mainly because no one's taking you up on it. Because I guess it's hard work, I guess. But so far we have really one example of a show that exists today because of your studio. I think Howard's made this point many times too. It's like we are so conditioned as radio people to just coming down. Most of the people we know, the markets that you work in, the larger markets, coming in,

sitting down, doing your show, getting up and leaving. Somebody else does the payroll. Somebody else does the book guest thing. On and on and on and on. And when these people realize that there's more to this now than just sitting down and talking, you have to... There's a lot of work. You have to create the whole support system

and service it. It's tough for people to get their head around that. I think the other thing they realized fairly quickly, although there's a few people. There's Mark and Liz that use our studio. There's the psychologist guy that uses it. What's his name?

Dr. Brainiac. Orin Wahu. Orin Atcher. What's his name? Dr. Orrin. Dr. Brainiac. Orrin Wahoo. Orrin Atcher. What's his name? Okay. But I'm thinking more of like broadcasters who got booted from their terrestrial

or their mainstream. Well, Mark and Liz. Right, that's right. Mark and Liz used it. Warden Al did it, then they moved on. Warden Al did it, but they weren't broadcasters

to begin with. They wanted to be broadcasters and became sort of broadcasters by default through doing the podcast. But he was a stand-up comic, right? Yes. Even her, too. And her brother is John Doerr.

John Doerr. And she's very funny, by the way. Jeff Woods moved back to the city. We said to him, hey, if you want to use this... Yeah. Yeah, Woodsy. Didn't he have a girl in Alberta? Oh, yeah.

He's Adam Everweather. Jesus Christ. But, you know, it was in his best interest to create his own little studio. And I was reading this morning that he's just signed some kind of a syndication deal for his rock talk, which is, you know, it's a great. I was going to say the other thing that's a big wake up call for people is they try and figure out, OK, well, how can I make money on this? And we always say the same thing. You can't. You know, that's even, you we always say the same thing. You can't. That's even...

That's another thing. It's like, how is it that... I don't know. I was going to get all bitter again. Well, let's hear it. You know, the... When you think about... I was talking to Fred yesterday about... I was thinking about, what have we grossed in five years?

We've managed to employ people. We've managed to get sponsorship. We've put out a people. We've managed to get sponsorship. We've put out a product. We've managed to build a studio three times now. We've got a model of mortgage and business and all this other stuff, and yet most people in terrestrial radio have no clue that we're doing this.

That can't be true. People in the business must know. I don't know. I don't think they understand the extent of it. What made me think of that, though, is when people ask us, well, you know, like even Mark and Liz, you know, those are pretty big-name people.

Mark Ebcher is a big TV guy. Liz West, you know, lots of exposure. And they haven't made a dime doing it in nine months. But the key, too, is you've got to have a product that's not heard on regular radio. If you want to podcast a show that could be easily transferred, you know what I mean? There's no reason for people to go and get it because there's already tons of that stuff out there. And that's the one thing I like to think about our show.

You can't get anything like we do on regular radio. So people go and get it. Well, and don't sell us short in that equation. No, no, no, you're right. But I was going to say, you know, not everything we do is so off the grid that it couldn't be on a regular radio station. But what you can't get on terrestrial radio

is humble and fret. And that may sound braggadocious and egotistical, but we're not just offering a product that's different. There are still people that would have loved to, and radio stations could have figured that out, that would have still loved to hear us every day. And we are now, the only place you can hear us is in our own produced show.

I don't know if I were you, I'd say that was a pretty good place to stop. I have to ask about how the famous question from earlier is, how long will you run? I need to get back to that. Fred, you're the one I actually think about. He lives in his house. The studio is in the basement.

You've got a few years on Howard. I feel like Howard's got an ex-wife. He has to give away half his money. I know what that's like. By the way, I don't mind my drive to the studio in the morning that half hour. You know what I mean?

It's sort of... Well, that wasn't what this was about for me either. It just was like, oh, we're going to do this. I'm going to live above the store. My feeling is that's not you guys.

Like the new show, Kim's Convenience. Here's somebody, and you know what? Excuse me. The other day, I mistook you for Mike Muzzin. Stuff like that happens now and it's like, what?

Well, there's a lot of Mikes around. Anyway, because somebody gave me a great analogy last week and I can't remember who it was. I was talking about how much longer will I do this? And then I was talking about the idea, the thought of retirement scares me. I don't want to get up in the morning and have nowhere to go. And again, it's that whole thing about, oh, you can golf and travel. The thought of retirement scares me. I don't want to get up in the morning and have nowhere to go. And again, it's that whole thing about, oh, you can golf and travel. Okay, but then what am I going to do with the other 46 weeks a year?

Seriously. Or whatever it is. And somebody made the analogy that, you know, a lot of guys that retire and are lost in their retirement, they get up in the morning and they go to Tim Hortons and shoot the shit with a bunch of guys in a similar situation. They do that, right? My dad did that every day. Well, I'm doing that every morning and I'm getting paid for it. So, I mean, you really got to keep perspective.

It's like, why, under any circumstances, why would I want to stop doing this? You're not a roofer going up there in 40 degrees. I like the fact that you said, under any circumcised. No, but I get up in the morning. I mean, really, to get corny. I get up in the morning and go to Hortons and shoot the shit. Is there a contingency plan should Fred have this moment where he realizes he wants to

be at the trailer? I don't know. What if you have this epiphany? Is there a contingency plan if Fred wants to retire? I interject. I said to Howard, it's not just Fred. it's Fred and Delise. And at some point, I have to consider my wife. Yeah, but knowing your wife and knowing what she would want for you, why at 62 or three or whatever number,

she might say, you know, Fred, I would rather you didn't leave the house every morning for three hours and stay with me. I get it. Now, you might want to... Here's the thing. You were talking about a contingency. Humble and Mike. I was wondering, Jeff Lumby or somebody

like that, I was thinking just a lot. Only because you were with Lumby before you actually went with Fred. Here's the thing. I look at this. For the next two or three years, let's say it's going to be tabula rasa. Status quo.

Fred might get to a point because of Delise where you guys might want to go away for January into February. But he's got two grandkids that he's going to want to see as much as he can, and so is Delise. So there might be a time where Fred is not there every day of the winter. The thing is, because of our age difference, more than any other time in our lives, he's going to be done or ready to be done long before me. In three years from now, I'll be 59.

He'll be 63. It's different times in your life. And he might want to go for part of December and January, February to someplace warm where I might keep the show going or Skype him in or do something where, you know, he'd still have a presence. You know, who knows at 65 if he's still going to want to come in. But again, in five years, I'll just be the age he is now. Another aspect of this that I have to keep in mind is the therapy, the exercising of the brain on a daily basis.

Yeah. You know, when I was on my hiatus from The Mix, and I did the blog, canadianthinker.com. Yep. That was fucking invaluable, because I get up every morning with a purpose, right? And I said, I'm not going to get up from this desk until I've written three things. And I didn't even do it so much for people to read it. I did it for my own wellbeing. I just needed that. Sharpen the tool. And it kept me going. And the thing is, you know, you might say, okay, would you do that

after the Humble and Fred show? Get back to that. And the answer is probably no, because everybody on this fucking Facebook thing has a blog. And I think back when I did Canadian thing, there were a lot of people weren't social media or political experts on Facebook. So they would go to my website and read it. I think that ship has fucking sailed. But even Fred at 65, you think about,

you know, David Letterman just retired this year. He was 66 years old. I could still watch David Letterman. He still had things to say and was still funny. You know, because of what we've done for a living, the kind of guys we've been our whole lives, you know, we have a different energy. This woman I was out with Friday and Sunday said to me something about dating younger women. I said, you know, I think the days of dating 31-year-olds is done for me because it's just, I don't know.

But, you know, I said the reason is our energy's always been a little bit different. You know, this woman was 45, but, you know, I'm around women. When I'm around women my own age, they just seem so much older than me. It's not even about physically. It's about the energy that they give off. Well, he at 65 is still going to have the same Freddie P energy. I mean, the only thing that could derail this is just the, am I being played out? You don't have to. I own the show.

The only thing that'll derail this is with, and I'm being serious, if one of us gets really sick or somebody in our family, in his case, his wife, got really, if he got too ill where he didn't want to be, he was too busy servicing that himself or somebody else. If I was to predict what will come between me and Howard is my prostate. That's a great idea.

And by that he means, no. Not on your chin. Not on your chin. At the end of my dick. You guys watch Downton Abbey, right? Yes. But season six is not on Netflix. I've seen it on CouchTuner, though.

It'll show up. But you've both finished the whole series? I have, yeah. I don't know spoilers. I'm actually just looking for season six. I just wanted to read it. Go to CouchTuner. Okay, cool.

No, actually, the better one is Putlocker. No! Putlocker or CouchTuner, both have it. All the episodes. Or have Offspring that comes up with this stuff whenever you want it. Well, I know where the Pirate Bay is. If that's a drag, I know how to download Torn. Yeah, and he could, too, if he wanted to bother.

I am... Do you serve any post-show sandwiches or anything? I'll see what Monica's up to. No, no, we gotta go. We got shit to do. Alright, did you guys have a good time? Amazing work! Should I have recorded it? Because I just wanted to have this chat before we start recording.

Hey, now. Suck it on it. Suck it on it. Suck it on that. And that brings us to the end of our 200th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. And Humble is at HumHow.

Fred is at FreddyP55, which you clearly made when you were 55 years old. That's why it's a bad idea to put your age in the username because you will age and the username will not. Just pointing that out. Yeah, what a horrible thing.

Horrible thing you've done there. And our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer and Chef's Plate is at Chef's Plate CA. See you all next week. Rosie and Greg Yeah the wind is cold But the smell of snow Wants me today

And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is Rosie and Greg