Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - JD Bunkis: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1730

Episode Date: July 14, 2025

In this 1730th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with The Fan 590's JD Bunkis about his career in sports media. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball, the Waterfront BIA, Nick Ainis and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail].

Toronto stay tuned right here with Toronto Mike's and it goes a little something like this hit it Welcome to episode 1730 of Toronto Miked! Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Toronto's Waterfront BIA. Check out what's happening on Toronto's Waterfront this summer. Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball.

Get your butts to Christie Pitts this summer for the best baseball in the city, outside the dome. RecycleMyElectronics.ca, committing to our planet's future, means properly recycling our electronics of the past. Building Toronto Skyline, a podcast and book from Nick Aynes sponsored by Fusion Corp construction management, Inc. and Ridley funeral home pillars of the community since 1921. Today making his Toronto mic debut, it's JD Bunkus.

Welcome JD. It's good to be here. It's good to see you. We met for the first time very recently. It was at the Keegan Matheson book signing. How do you know Keegan? How well do you know Keegan? As far as just media friend. Media friend? Would you go for a beer with Keegan Matheson? I would absolutely go for a beer with Keegan Matheson,

but I've never had a beer with Keegan Matheson. The guy's on the road. All the beat guys, the only way that you ever get beers with them is if you run into them out in the streets. Do you ever hang around Keegan Matheson and see that glorious, beautiful, maritime's beard and think I should grow a beard? Could you grow a beard? Can't do it. Have you tried? Unfortunately, yes. And I am just cursing. You're the same as me, where it's baby face. Oh, thank you. I can grow a Cliff Claven beard. I don't know if that reference is too old for you, but it's patchy. It's not quite, it's not quite full.

I know. I'm actually. Yeah, I get an Apache beard. That's the same with me. Apache beard. Okay, so you can't grow. It's funny. There's an FOTM named Jim Shedden and he curates content at the Art Gallery of Ontario. And forever since I ever met him, he's been over a few times. He comes to Toronto Mike listener experience events. He has this giant beard. And today I saw a photo on Facebook he put, he

has to get some, I don't know, he's got to get a root canal or something. So we had to shave this beard and I saw him and I honestly think, I don't think I would recognize Jim Shedden if he was at my door Because he doesn't look the same with us in a beard is a huge advantage I actually hate that I can't this is a sore subject for me actually because I Have a baby face and I look younger than I am which is nice. You remember Cheers. That's how old you are

Well, yeah, it was a rerun for me though It was like when you would watch like Comedy Central and they would do like, hey, it's a cheers marathon now at 11 o'clock at night on the West Coast. I don't think I've ever seen a full episode of Cheers though. I don't think it holds, it stands the test of time, but either way, the beard thing, I think that I sit down with people and don't get the credit that's supposed to come with age, right?

Right, they think you're just a kid, just fresh out of college. That's it. So I've been in important meetings and I've had business dealings and usually I'll try to now rock the glasses to try to elevate the age just like a touch because I do. I think people talk to me at times as though I am 23 years old when I've actually got you know 12 years in the business. Have you considered dyeing your hair like salt and pepper like maybe adding a little like it's gonna come naturally at some point. Okay but it hasn't come yet unless that's a Grecian formula. No this is no Grecian formula. By the way it's really it's tough to do a

show in your studio because you've got so many little knickknack things Well, you can call it out like this is not like, you know, I know but I'm trying first of all I will say this that great sponsorship with Great Lakes because I do love the Octopus wants to fight IPA I'm a fan of their beverage. So good brewery to have I actually think that What would like probably like what ten years ago when all the breweries started to pop up? Sure. Yeah, everyone was like a beer snob all of a sudden was like, oh, well, this is the kind of like I'm a pills I'm a logger. I'm an IPA all of a sudden. We knew things outside of just my whole life I grew up drinking kokanee beer, right?

That a lot of them suck and nobody says it a lot of them are really bad and I'm not gonna say which ones but you know that you've had some that just are dreadful. And some even locally, because you and I are both West End guys. Well, there's a nearby brewery that's terrible. Yeah, and this is actually a good one. So congrats to you for locking down one of the good ones. You're echoing something I'm so grateful for,

which is of all the craft breweries to reach out and say, Hey, we want to be in business with you. We want to partner with you. And this goes back a decade. Okay. It was Great Lakes because I don't have to bullshit on the mic. You know what it's like when you have to promote a product that you don't really, you have to do it. It's your job.

But you know, so I bet what am I going to say? Hey, here's some beer for you. Let's crack open our beer. But I get to crack open Great Lakes beer and it true like an authentic, just truly wonderful. I'm sending you JD bunkers. I don't have an octopus wants to fight, but there is a sunny side session. IPA, which is like my beer summer.

And there's some Canuck pale ales in there and there's a logger and that's going home with you today. JD bunkers, Great Lakes beer for you, buddy. All right. Did we, so did we fulfill the sponsorship obligations? I thought that was, we just threw that in. You know, that's all organic. But because I'm giving you beer,

I want you to pair it with delicious Italian food from Palma Pasta. I have in my freezer JD Bunkus, a large lasagna from Palma Pasta. They sent it over for you, buddy. Okay. So you're gonna have lasagna from Palma Pasta, beer from Great Lakes. We'll talk about the other sponsors later. But back to the whole no one respects

because I look too young. I 100% get it. Like they want to, adults are in the room JD, like you 20, you're perpetually 23 years old and there's nothing you can do about it. This is your face. What are you gonna do? But I do think you could add a little white to the hair Artificially if you really wanted to you think I should do like a Polly Walnut Sopranos thing where I just do the sides Where it's gray. I fucking love Polly Walnut Who doesn't in fact when I said just a kid I was thinking Polly used to say that like somebody would die I don't know. They'll die at 57 and Polly would say just a kid. Yeah, that's what he was saying. Love Sopranos What are your what's your favorite television show of all time?

Honestly, probably Sopranos. That's always a top five for everybody. It depends though because I, so I'm definitely a TV snob, okay? I judge people when they, when they offer me a television show, I probably already know it. And I'm embarrassed for you. If someone's like, hey, I really like Rookie Blue. I immediately look at them completely differently from here onward. The network drama. Yeah, it's basically, I think the last good

network television show was Modern Family, and that was a supernova supernova just burnt out immediately. It was like three good seasons. That was a good show. Yeah. And then it did decline rapidly, but I have a question. What ended last Modern Family or the office? Cause I actually don't remember.

Oh, Modern Family. I think it's still going on. No, no chance. Yeah. No chance. Yes. Chance. Absolutely chance.

No guy. Google that. Google it. We have zero percent chance that Modern Family has.. Google it. We have a zero percent chance that Modern Family has. I don't think there's a zero percent chance that the office ended before, or sorry, that the office ended after Modern Family. I'll get you going on a topic and I will actually search this. Like if only we had some device that could give me the answer on this, but I actually think Modern Family wound down before the pandemic. I don't know for certain,

because again, I don't remember exactly. because again, I I don't remember exactly But yeah, I would say that if I had to choose for a Network drama it would be yeah, it would be probably the soprano. I'm so basic. It's like I like the sprangles I like wire like deadwood. You're with me at the the HBO premium Under exactly. I'm a big six feet under guy. Actually. I cried like a baby during the finale of that show. That left a like real scar on me. But yeah, then South Park. I was raised in the South Park era. It had a huge impact on me. I love Curb. Again, I'm just, I'm very basic. You have similar taste buddy.

I'm very basic in my, yeah. Did you like The Simpsons? Yeah, I did but same thing. Like the first 12 years or whatever? Yeah, exactly. The Simpsons just, it's that I'm pretty sure is still running or it just ended No, that one. No, that's they renewed in for four more years. They're gonna go at least a season for they didn't yes They did just locked them in for four years. Disney just locked him up Yeah, well the Groenings got a you know, he's he's got to make sure that if that Epstein list ever gets laid out there

He's got he's on that list The list who else is on the list? No, don't know, but I just remember seeing once. I probably have now caught up in a lawsuit, but I think that he was a... So it's Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, and Matt Green. Yeah, it was devastating to see. Oh, wow. Well, you know, geez. Because you mentioned, we mentioned Six Feet Under, I'm going to give you one more gift

off the top and then we're going to get to know you, okay? This is a measuring tape for you, JD Bunkus, courtesy of Ridley Funeral Home. Tell me when I die? Well, Ridley Funeral Home would love to see you when you die, but they're actually just lovely people. I thought it was like a little trick measuring stick where you pull it out and it tells you actually how many years you have left.

I did this, I was producing a remote recording for Humble and Fred yesterday in Burlington at a Kelsey's, okay, and they were joking off the top, who's gonna die first, Humble or Fred? Do you remember Humble and Fred yesterday in Burlington at a Kelsey's, okay? And they were joking off the top, who's going to die first, Humble or Fred? Do you remember Humble and Fred? I know of them. I don't. I like, I remember them, but I was never a listener. No, no. They, uh, they moved off of 102.1 in like the year 2000 or something like that. Yeah. I moved here in 2011. Okay. So yeah, they were podcast only from 2011 on. But I remember that being an early podcast thing. Yeah, well, so we started them doing like one-offs in 06

and then we started daily in 2011. And then this show you're on right now, JD Bunkus, Welcome to Toronto Mike. This show started in 2012. So there's your kind of chronology of events. But they were, like, who's gonna die first, Humble or Fred? Fred has five years on Howard, I think, but Howard, you know, he snorted Coke in the day. Like, so there's a whole like that balances it out or

whatever. And then there happened to be a psychic there. We had this woman named Helen Peacock, who's like a Burlington psychic there. They were doing a psychic thing. And anyway, so I said, I threw on the mic. Classic sports are old radio thing. They used to do that in the 90s. They had a psychic Nick. That's what I mean. Like that's, that's like a Howard Stern staple. That's a throwback. So, but she talks to dead people, this woman, Helen, lovely lady was hanging with her yesterday. But she, like, so you talked to dead people, who's gonna die first? And she declared on the record yesterday, Humble Howard will die before Fred Patterson.

So we'll check in when somebody croaks to see if Helen Peacock will. I look forward to it. All right, can I get a little, oh yeah, so Ridley Funeral Home, one last note on Ridley Funeral Home, Brad Jones, much like Six Feet Under, where the family lived on the residence of the funeral home

and owned and operated independently, Brad Jones and his family live on the premises of Ridley Funeral Home and they are independent and there's not a lot of these places left JD. So support you know Canadian owned operated independent funeral homes like Ridley Funeral Home and listen to Brad's podcast, Life's Undertaking. It's a great podcast he has it comes out an episode every two weeks. JD, can I, I don't know much about you. Like, can I get a little JD bio like before we get you to the fan five 90, like where did you grow up?

I grew up in Whitehorse, Yukon. Say that again. I grew up in Whitehorse, Yukon. Okay. You said that so quickly. I'm like, is that Whitehorse, Yukon? Yeah. So what was it like growing up in Whitehorse? I don't think I've ever had anyone on the show who grew up in Whitehorse, Yukon. Yeah, well, there's only 30,000 of us at a time. So it's not exactly the biggest group of people.

We're not everywhere. What was it like? I think it was a pretty typical Canadian childhood. Again, you don't know how isolated you are until you get older, right? You don't have the perspective of that growing up as a kid. So it's just very much playing outdoors, going with your friends.

I probably did more fishing and camping and outdoors activities than you would do probably living in Southern Ontario. But it was very much just a traditional, both my parents were teachers. They both were, like they both started in physical education and thus my lifelong passion for sports.

They were always very adamant about being active. So we played everything. They were always very supportive with my athletic endeavors. Were you athletic? Yeah, I was pretty good in sports. Again, not to do a huge brag here, but- Do one, why not? Yeah, I played team Yuk to do a huge brag here but uh. Do one why not? Yeah I played team Yukon volleyball, basketball and hockey. Yeah 30,000 people and so in my age group you know

you're talking maybe a couple hundred and yeah I was one of the best two goaltenders out of like eight. So it's such a small sample size. You could be on the 100 meter champion. Yeah exactly. 12.3. Yeah that's totally it. Uh, basketball was definitely my best sport. Both my parents were basketball coaches. My mom played university basketball and so I had the advantage of playing super young. So like we had a hoop and I was, uh, you know, like I was practicing literally every single day as a kid. So up until the point where I was like, I don't know, 12, 13 years old, I was unbelievable. Then I started going to bigger ponds and you're like, oh, I'm not going to the

NBA after all. This is devastating to know that kids in Ontario are better. There's, you know, you're the, you're the sixth best player on a team in Ontario, which is what happened to me when I moved here in grade 11. Okay. So grade 11 is when you leave Uon for a year. Just for a year? Yeah. Lived in Victoria for one year and lived in a place called Arm Prior Ontario for a year, which is in the Ottawa Valley. Okay. When do you end up in Toronto and how do we get you to Toronto?

Toronto was because I was too afraid to go to law school because I thought that I was going to fail out. So I bailed on a law school plan. I thought that I was going to go back to law school. I just didn't want to. I took my undergraduate degree at Carleton in law and it was one of those things where because like my grandfather used to call me electric lips. The talking thing is not new. You had a good rap on you. I've always been a chatty Cathy. I'm the kid at the sleepover that the parent had to yell at and say, time to go to bed. We're gonna hear you upstairs. That was me

always. So for I would say a large swath of my life people would say you're gonna be a lawyer, you're gonna be a lawyer, you're gonna be a lawyer. Then it didn't hurt that all my friends in high school were criminals so I thought that I was gonna be the lawyer for the the Yukon crime syndicate. Well thought that I was gonna be the lawyer for the Yukon crime syndicate. Well, like in the wire, they had the lawyer. Yeah, that's what I thought I was gonna be. I thought I was gonna be a lawyer.

And I did my undergraduate degree in law and discovered that it was a lot more reading than it was me just standing in a courtroom and opining. And so when I finished my undergraduate degree and I was like getting ready to do my LSAT prep courses, getting ready to apply to all my schools, my mom, who was then a guidance counselor, I kind of reached out to her, she's my confidant, and I told her that I wasn't ready

to do this, that if I went right back into school after, you know, doing my four-year undergrad, that I was not going to make it. I was like, I'm not, I don't think I'm going to be ready to do this. So I thought I was going to go to a college to be a paralegal or go into marketing, but it was mostly because I didn't just want to keep working labor during the summers. And I wanted something to do that didn't feel like I was just taking a break. And she found a sports journalism program. I thought,

I thought it was a total bird idea. I'm like, this is not the way, you gotta be a former athlete, you gotta be an agent, you gotta be a general manager. Like who is going to a, it's a comedy school, you know? Someone's like, oh, I went to school for comedy. It's like- Which school is this? I went to Centennial.

Okay. And it was because it was cheap. And I went there- It's an endorsement and a hat. Well, like, I do think largely a lot of these programs are pretty scammy, right? Like you go to a comedy program to be a comedian, that's not a thing. Like you either have it or you don't. You can do that?

Yeah, there's definitely like, I don't know how many there are. Again, now these universities and colleges are chopping a lot of these courses. But I think that if you're talking about sports media as a career. Yeah, that's a pretty stupid thing to do like Go unless you are desperately passionate about sports And I don't think that I think this is why these schools don't like me as a guest is that it doesn't pay well It's it's like you can get there You can get to a place where you can make a real living and you can be successful,

but it's a very small portion of people. You have to work, like, I interned for a year in sports media and that was no money. Then my first pay was $12 an hour. My first salary was $35,000 a year. Like, I was up against it. I thought I was gonna have to like quit, move back home. I thought I was gonna for sure have to go to law school.

That this was a total screw up. And things broke my way, certainly in terms of the era that we live in, but also because I was... I had a very strong work ethic, honestly. Like I just, I've always fashioned myself as someone who's going to put in more time than other people and felt like that was my advantage. But if you look at a lot of the guys that come out of these schools, they've got familial support that make it, right? Like they've got people that can basically fund their lives. I didn't have that. 100% J.D.

So to take kids and put them in a college for sports media without giving them the reality of what the actual finances of it are, I think is a little criminal, frankly. So I took this course. I thought it was gonna be a bird course. I thought it was gonna be basically me on a vacation. Like, you know how when kids, you were a kid, you got to go to like a fantasy camp, and there'd be some former Blue Jay there? Sure.

Yeah, it was a fantasy camp. That's what I thought I was doing. And I met a few people, which was the true value of that program, which was making a couple of connections. Some people saw some things in me and then brought me to Sportsnet. I turned down actually a job in somewhere called Eagleston, I think, in Alberta. And I came here and that was sort of it. So what year is this? That was 2010. Okay, 2010.

Or 2011. So 2011, only a couple of years before the Office finale aired because the office finale aired in May 2013 Yeah, okay, and then seven whole but you know not you said his modern family still going so modern family their finale airs in April 2020 so April March so they like I said was seven years later So you're gonna pinch me up being like you said it was still going going, how dare you? I was right, just admit you were wrong. We're both wrong. But I also thought it was pre-pandemic

and it was like a month after the pandemic kind of kicks in when Rudy, Rudy go bear, what was that? Like 12th of March or something. Or yeah, maybe. I think it was like early March or something. But March 13th was the last day, you know, we picked up our kids for a March break and then they never went back.

So that was March 13th. That was a Friday the 13th. I remember in 2020 and this finale ears on April 8th. I just had to get those numbers out there. So when you interned for a year for no pay, where did you intern? That's a fan. A fan. So, okay.

So, uh, do you think like, shouldn't they pay interns? Yeah, of course. So that sounds like slave labor to me. Like they've changed the rules since then. Okay. You're not allowed. So now again, they've made it so that I think you have to be in a college program to get an internship with a major network.

Pretty sure. Again, I'm not well versed on the legalities of this, but I will say that you're not allowed to just work without pay for a year. And what is supposed to be the case but was not as stringent then is if you were doing anything that was a paid position, like someone was paid to do that work, you weren't supposed to do it. I absolutely did that work for free. Like unquestionably. But they've cleaned this up you're telling me. Yeah, now if what, so when I get interns in now, I try to be frank with them. I try to tell them what's going on,

that you're gonna get out of it, what you sort of put into it, that you're here mostly to make connections, that you should try to canvas as many people as you possibly can. You should try to help them with their work, you know? But ultimately, if I have an intern on my show, I'm getting them to not produce it,

but I want them to basically put themselves in the show, the shoes of me as a host, the shoes of a producer, the technical producer, and really try to get an understanding of what the jobs actually entail, what they would be entering into, and not work and be actively looking for positions. Geez, so during that one year internship at the fan 590, what were you doing?

Debt. I had a line of credit and I pushed it up into just about the max. I was like working some odd jobs and doing some small things, but mostly I was going deeper and deeper into debt and that's why I thought I was on the verge of financial ruin. But your parents are teachers and they're in the, where were they? In the Yukon? Yeah, they're in the Yukon. Sure. Like did you need to make that call home and say hey can you wire transfer me some money? I got to pay rent? No, that's not really the way that, first of all like my parents were divorced and yeah they just they're not, listen I love them. I don't think that I was ever deprived of

anything as a child certainly but yeah they weren't wealthy people and they certainly weren't the types that you could just call and ask for a bailout I think if I needed it if I would have been like hey mom. I need a few hundred dollars She would have provided that for me, but by no means was I able to like ever go to my family for? Substantial financial requests like that's that was not a thing. And whereabouts are you living? Under a bridge? Yeah, I was living in a, well, I was living in one place in a shithole in like these towers near Wellesley.

And I had roommates always. And yeah, then I lived with a couple of guys that were also trying to get their starts that I met at the college sports or the centennial media program. Okay, any of those guys make it? Mmm, ish. One's out of the industry and one I think works in the archives in for TSN. It's a tough, like it's a tough industry. I went to school with a

couple guys who made it though. Like I went to school with Josh Lewinburg. He and I did a podcast actually together right away out of school. I went to school with Aaron Krollnick who hosts the morning show at TSN. So yeah, no, like there was some guys but you're talking in a program full of what would have been 30 ish kids. I'm guessing that there's maybe eight or nine people that are still involved in media in some way whereas the most like the vast majority of them end up on the outside of it because like one of my friends who I was living with, you have a family and you got to work in an industry that can pay you more because a lot of the support structure jobs, they

just frankly don't pay that. If you're on air, you can get paid. If you're not, it's tough. And 15 years later, I can only imagine having kind of monitored the industry that there are fewer paid jobs than there were even 15 years ago. I would imagine. So I would just imagine, if these programs still exist,

and you mentioned a lot of them are kind of closing up shop or whatever, but if they still exist, that eight people out of 30 who actually get a job in the industry, I think you can make that one third. Well, and it's not even just one program, right? Like there's multiple programs.

So I think that some places like, I'm pretty sure that one third. Well, and it's not even just one program, right? Like there's multiple programs. So I think that some places like, I'm pretty sure that one prominent school just closed their radio program, which is good because it's like, even when I was entering it. So I started in 2012. Uh, that's when my program finished. And I remember even then going, okay, I'm, I really love radio. I'm really passionate about this. But really I was more about podcasts and I saw that as the future avenue. And...

Oh, even back in 2012. Oh yeah. I didn't grow up on radio. I grew up on pods. I grew up on Bill Simmons. I grew up on Bill Burr. Like I didn't have really... The only radio show that I had ever listened to was Hockey Central at noon and that's because

it was on television. Right. Which it's tough industry, right? I mean we're gonna get into it. I'm sure but I why I didn't want to do the show. Well, listen And again, I bring my own bias to the table. Like I disclose it like I produce podcasts I never worked in radio. I'm a podcast guy I am mildly surprised when I hear people are going to tune into a radio show at this time and there's going to be, you know, unskippable ads in there.

It is interesting when most of us are sort of subscribing to a podcast where we can skip the ads and we can pause it if we need to, you know, get a delivery at the door or whatever and we come back to it later when we have time. Like it must be tough for sports radio in the era of podcasts. Like I don't want you to get yourself in trouble and I just want, it's got to be very difficult to tell me. Well, there's a few things though. Like my show is called the JD Bunkus podcast and that's because I always believed it was podcast on the radio. And actually like I, the one thing

I actually don't think I get any credit for in this market is no one was doing that style before me on the radio. If you look back to my first days of doing Good Show, I was already doing a podcast before then, and again, I liked long form podcasting. So one of the things that I probably get in trouble for is that I go long in my segments, and the back half of my radio

show is usually fairly short. So I never looked at it like, okay, I'm going to come in and it's the top of the hour and hit the story. It's like, I like the conversation. I like it like a podcast. So if you listen to my work, which I'm guessing you don't, uh, based on that question is, uh, I, I've always been podcast first. The radio is a bonus, but what I will say about the radio is it still is something comforting where you're either streaming it or you're listening to it in your car, where it's the comfort of knowing that something is gonna

come on at a certain time. People are creatures of habit. I think that's why COVID really hurt our industry is that people change their habits and we're forced to adapt so much. But no, I still really value the being live component and knowing that it's going out on signals that are just not a podcast stream.

I view that actually as like a really valuable asset where you're looking at it being like, this is a podcast, this is radio, this is digital streaming, this is all of it encompassing. Do you listen to Toronto Mic'd? No. Okay, so I just wanna make sure I threw that out there cause you know, you calling me out for not listening to your podcast. Yeah, I'm a

guest on your show. Yeah, I'm very excited to talk to you and the name JD Bunkas, I've been hearing it for so long, it was just wild to meet you at that Keegan Matheson event and then and here you are and by the way of course we know you're not just here for the the beer and the lasagna and you're here for the conversation so this is this is good. good. Everybody I've spoken to said spoke highly of you. Give me those names I want those names right now but in here's the thing I've never had one bat what I've never had someone say that guy's a piece shit. Oh you haven't talked to Molly Johnson no just kidding she even I don't

know that is no we had a great hug afterwards and she's fine but I know I everybody gets maximum respect for me on the program I'm not out to get anybody I root for talent So like you hustle and hard there is an inter unpaid intern for a year and then working for 12 bucks an hour And you know you were you had to be there when I talked to these Veterans like the older guys from sports media. They often talk about how often it's like who's there who's available? sports media, they often talk about how often it's like who's there, who's available, who's... so being there is seems like it's more than half the battle. Like it sounds like you were ready to put in the hours.

Well I think that like this is super cliche but I am a big believer in hard work meets opportunity. That's like very much a like core belief that I have which is that you do have to make your own luck, but then things break your way. Like for my career, Vancouver opened up a sports radio station and I got a job offer out there and Andrew Walker ended up leaving the Fan 590 to take a job out there. I didn't wanna leave, I wanted to be in Toronto. I viewed a lot of my passions to be Toronto based.

I didn't wanna go to a market where I wasn't gonna be speaking about basketball, I didn't wanna go to a market where I wasn't gonna be speaking about basketball. I didn't want to go to a market where I had to just be doing like a lot of Vancouver Canucks stuff. So I stayed here and I entered a competition pool with a bunch of media veterans, but I felt like I was working harder, I was more in tune to the medium. And I ended up getting a job.

But that opportunity did rise. Like I didn't create a Vancouver radio station that opened up a spot for me but I was ready when one did. Okay you mentioned the name Andrew Walker sure when he was when he first arrived here because he's from out west as well like he did make the trek to the basement and we had a great chat here so Andrew Walker a fellow FOTM FOTM means friend of Toronto Mike JD even if you don't listen to Toronto Mike you're now an FOTM because you're here buddy. So I appreciate it. So you, so you mentioned Andrew Walker went out west, but you were the producer of the Andrew

Walker show. Yeah. Yeah. So tell me, just tell me about working with Andrew. Because this sounds like the big break for you is even just being like a guest and a content producer on the show. Because you're doing're doing you know you're producing evenings and weekends and then you're putting in a year or two with that but then you finally get the opportunity to produce the Andrew Walker show so what did you learn from Andrew Walker what what did you learn from that chapter well I worked with Greg Brady and Andrew Walker to start it was it was Brady and Walker and they had moved into the one to four slot when

Dean Blundell was hired by the fan. So Dean came into the mornings and Andrew and Greg went to the afternoons and I can't remember exactly how the producer reshuffling worked but again it was the same thing where I was doing my own podcast called Free Association which at the time was the number one Raptors podcast in the country. And I was also putting in my work at nights, making myself what I thought was the best producer out of the part-time guys at the time.

So I got that gig. And what I will say is from both Greg and Andrew differently, I learned a lot. Those two guys prepped meticulously in a way that people I hadn't worked with yet hadn't. So these guys were very all-in on the craft. They were obsessive about putting together show lineups and making sure that all of the bases were covered and at that time I think it was a three hour show and so it was basically a great crash course in how to build out narrative and how to prepare properly for a daily radio show because I do

think that some people are very basic they do oh we're gonna talk J's and then they have like one or two things that they're ready to speak on, but ultimately they want the guests to carry the show. Those two guys prepped a ton. And Walker, I think I got an early look at what it was like to do a show by yourself. The difference with the two of us is he did need those guests, he did need me jumping on the microphone

to help fill some of that space. Whereas now with my show, I'll do like my show today, I didn't have a guest, I just did the hour solo. But yeah, I think that both guys, Walker way more, was way, way, way, way like not even comparably close in terms of supportive of my career from the early outset. But yeah, I just, I would say that I learned a lot of how to prep for interviews, how to

throw yourself into the work, how to make sure that, like they were, he specifically was someone that I related to in the sense of he, he didn't bullshit about watching a game. He watched the games, he made time to watch the games. He took that approach very seriously. And that was something that I really did respect. So just a little bit of history, 590 history. So you got your morning show was Greg Brady and Jim Lang and then Greg came on the show

to talk about how he didn't want to work with Jim Lang anymore. Anyways, it ended up being Greg Brady and Andrew Walker. That's when I started at the fan. Morning show, right. That morning show, only because Greg likes to send me the books at the time, sounded like it was doing pretty damn well, like for a fan 590 morning show, the whatever, the Brady and Walker show.

Sounded like it was doing pretty well. But a program director had these visions of, I guess, the big books that Blundell would deliver on 102.1 in the early to mid 2000s, and brought in Blundell to be the morning show which bumps, you know, Greg Brady and Andrew Walker to 1 p.m. But this era in Toronto sports media

was rather interesting to observe. Did you have any relationship whatsoever with Dean Blundell? I mean, I produced the show a couple of times. That was pretty much it. I understand that decision in hindsight, by the way. Like I think it's- Well, tell me. Well, I think it's pretty defensible.

Like the guy was the biggest name in radio at the time. And if you're talking about trying to get your base of what 18 to 34 is like the coveted, like the only radio I listened to when I moved to Toronto was Dean Blundell. And that's because everyone I knew listened, men and women alike. They were putting it on the car and they were listening to all the bits and I can't remember exactly what the controversy

was I think it was something pretty ugly. Well it was actually their producer who is also an FOTM named blind Derek Wellsman who was a juror. Right. This was the big one. This was the straw break in the Campbell's Pack. Right it was like a kind of a build-up in anyway. There was a homophobic joke Campbell's Pack. Right. It was like a kind of a buildup in any way. There was a homophobic joke he was talking about. Which in this market especially, like not that it's justified anywhere, but here you're not getting away with that at all. So he ends up coming here and or to the fan being that. And I just mean like if you're a program director and you get the opportunity to get someone that actually drives

the 18 to 34 and that's your number one priority, Even if you have a good book like who gives a shit you always want to be able to do better. It's a big swing because he had some monster books at CF1. Yeah I think what didn't work for Dean at the fan was he was coming off of a controversy and part of the you couldn't have him just be him it was no longer a comedy show it had to be a sports first show. And like, I think sports hosts can be funny, but once you start to put the reins on somebody and they have to change kind of fundamentally what their show is,

then you're not gonna get the same results. People are gonna want what was old, right? Like they're gonna want, if you're a listener of that show, you wanna turn in and hear the old show. You don't wanna hear some different version of it. So yeah, I didn't know Dean well. I barely worked with him.

You know, we probably, I will say this about him. He was one of the first people that actually put me on his show as a guest. I would go on and talk basketball on his show, whereas a lot of the old guard was never willing to do that for me, whereas Dean did. So I give him credit for that. Is it because you weren't getting respect because Free Association was a podcast?

Yeah, and I was young. And like before me, the model of being a producer and getting on air did not exist. Like I had one person once tell me like, hey, we're the Yankees, we don't play the farm system. And it was like, okay. So I had to, yeah, like I went to very untraditional routes. So I don't think a lot of people that were older than me that came from more of the traditional side of things felt it was appropriate for someone to say, like jump on a radio show as a guest before they did updates,

which I was never interested in doing because I knew that was dead the second I stepped my foot in the door. Why wasn't Andrew Walker more supportive of you? Oh, he was supportive. Oh, maybe I misheard a sentence you said earlier. Oh, I just said Andrew was way more supportive than Greg. Oh, I thought you said wasn't as supportive as Greg.

My apologies. No, no, no. He was way more supportive than Greg. Why wasn't Greg Brady more supportive of you? I don't think it was that he necessarily wasn't. He's just, if you've met Greg, he's just a different kind of guy. And he's more wrapped into like his world. He was older than me.

Andrew was closer in age. That's true. So we were able to like actually spend time kind of hanging out together and so with that you just get more one-on-one time with a person. It's not to like slag Greg. It wasn't like he you know did wrong by me by any stretch of the imagination. He just wasn't in my corner the same way that Andrew was. Do you have a relationship with Andrew Walker today? Yeah passing., not like very close, but, you know, maybe a message once every couple of months. It's interesting. Cause when you, none with Greg, none with Greg,

still doing mornings at six 40. Uh, and he ran, I guess, you know, he ran for, I think Greg blocked and unfollowed everybody from the fan after he departed. So he did have a, yeah. Cause he came over. I remember I did these backyard sessions during the pandemic and he came over and kind of opened up about his experience. So he had a negative exit and bad feelings about his experience at the fan five 90. But, you know, I had a guest last week, Scott MacArthur, who echoes

Greg Brady sentiments. He also, uh, like the, the R word, he doesn't want to hear the R word and he had a bad exit and a bad experience. And Rogers. Oh, okay. Yeah. I mean, is anybody that's fired, stoked on a place?

Probably not stoked, no. Yeah. I don't know. No, no, I'm not even here to mix it up with Rogers at all Like how your experience we're talking about your experience here Not Greg Brady's and not not Scott MacArthur's here, but everybody in media has an ego too, right? So if you're dismissed that means that they think that they can do better than you So obviously you're gonna look back on it and be like, oh, I didn't like my experience like well you still

Started there you ended up there, you didn't quit, so I don't know. I find a lot of that. But I'm not even sure that's true. Like not, I feel like, like for example, Bob McCowan, okay? Bob McCowan, I'm a lot older than you. I grew up with Bob McCowan, prime time sports.

This was the guy. And Bob McCowan was walked out. And I don't think that was because, oh, we can do better than you. I think there was a lot more at play there than that and today you can be fired and there's not even an intent to necessarily to do better. It's just we're going to do different. Well what you're saying is cheaper. Cheaper, way on, definitely cheaper. Yeah and sometimes cheaper and sometimes a more controllable asset to

use that phrasing is that some sometimes you just simply need to change who's there because they aren't necessarily a team player willing to you know toe the line and follow different processes or different directions or whatever they're more of like it's my way or the highway types mm-hmm you know so there's a lot of variables at play but it's not always oh we can do better but yeah sometimes yeah fired, you're not going to be stoked because it's like, hey, they have chosen to go in a different direction and that direction ain't me. So fuck that.

Okay. So Andrew Walker goes out west. This is opportunity knocking and you answer the door because you take this opportunity. So where I want to, there's a lot of plays. I got some questions that came in and one of them I think is regarding the good show here. So let me, maybe can I pepper you with some listener questions that came in for JD Bunkus?

Yeah. All right. Steve writes in, if I recall, he was one of the interviewers for the Christian Horner interview that went, I'm reading Steve's wordsner interview that went terribly sideways and Horner basically hung up on him. So can anyone confirm it was him?

If so, I'd be curious if there was any fallout from that other than from listeners. What's Steve talking about? Yeah, I was there. That was on our show. There was certainly no fallout from it. I didn't even think that it was an embarrassing interview. There's been work that I've done where it hasn't worked with a guest and I've hated it and I've maybe even self-reflected and gone, oh, I should have done this better. You always do those kind of post-interview breakdowns. With Christian Horner, we got him and he was basically handed a cell phone while he was working.

And we thought that it was going to be more of like a formal interview. You know, we were going to get to ask him questions, but we were casuals to F1. Like this didn't, this wasn't something that was hidden by us. We got into the show, uh, drive to survive and we asked the guy to come on and we wanted to ask him questions about the growing market in North America and about new fans like us and we wanted to kind of shoot the shit and joke around and he was not for that whatsoever and so he was like very serious and he I don't know didn't really play along and he was like okay guys I got to go after a few minutes but what I think was more the reality was not he hung up on the interview because he was upset

right I think he hung up on the interview because that guy doesn't do phoners for 35 minutes with Canadian markets. He's incredibly successful, rich, busy guy who you get for seven minutes in a garage and you ask him some questions and he's going to be blunt about it. I thought that that was actually pretty representative of his personality more so than a failing on the show. And I will admit failings like when I've got them But his it was like yeah You were going on with a Canadian sports radio show where we were joking about your rivalries on the show and about

Creating new fans and he didn't really give a shit about that So what do you think about listeners like Steve who kind of have those kind of ideas about what they heard on their radio? Maybe they're they're on the 401 stuck in traffic. Who knows? They hear this and that's... Well, I don't think anything wrong with it. I think like that's his perception of what ended up happening, which is... Because he says terribly sideways, okay? Terribly sideways to me is a lot more than what you're describing there. Yeah. I didn't view it as terribly sideways, but as a listener, I think those things can

sound probably cringier than they are to you in the moment. I do remember feeling not embarrassed, but disappointed that it wasn't working out. But no, he's probably right. There's probably some truth to what he's saying is that he still remembers it because it probably sounded really shitty to him and he was probably very excited for the guest much like I was where you land huge fish like that you want to do very well. Those are the only times I feel pressure on the job if I'm being dead honest is when you get on names that are of that ilk you don't I

don't get nervous because I'll get embarrassed I get nervous because I don't want people like Steve to feel like I didn't serve the guest properly. And so when you get on a huge name, you want to do your very best for the audience more so than you do. Well, at least for me personally, that's the way that I feel about it. So I hate when that happens, but I didn't like that one in terms of the amount of time I put in the business. I just sort of like two seconds into the interview, I was like, oh, I know what this is. This is a guy who's in a garage getting handed his cell phone. He has no idea. He didn't get prepped on any of this. His

media relations person might be bothering him on a shitty day or at a shitty time. And that's just what that is. Do you have in your mind right now an interview that did go terribly sideways that maybe you wish you could have back? Yeah. Is it this one? No just kidding. I interviewed a basketball writer once named Mark Spears and he was coming off of basically saying Canadians were soft was the reason why Andrew Wiggins and

Anthony Bennett were buss. And I actually had no idea of this segment. Like again, it was like on traditional ESPN, but apparently it had gone viral and he was booked for the show the following day for no reason other than he was like a regular at Sportsnet. And this happened right after my grandfather died. And I remember really reflecting on my grandfather's life as an immigrant to this country.

And what a difficult life he had, coming from post-war Europe and having to establish himself basically in a place called Manitowage. I remember him reading his memoir and a part of it where he's arriving in Canada and he's on a train that's just through the night through endless snowy, dark fields

and then getting dropped off in like a very tiny little mining town, speaking very little English and then having to go from being someone that worked down in the mines to eventually fashioning himself while also getting educated to become an engineer and who became a pillar in his community.

And so to say that Canadians weren't tough really rubbed me the wrong way because I think a lot of people come to this country and they've got to fight an extremely uphill battle and then you have to factor in the elements and the isolation and you know it's not easy. So I took great offense to that and I made it way too personal in the interview and we ended up like exchanging barbs and yeah, I wasn't proud of that But that's compelling. Just hearing you describe it. That's compelling audio Thank you Like mix, you know listen to my show

Only if you listen to mine, that's how it works. You like Ben Ennis's appearance on Toronto Mike. You're like Ben told me about it he was like I gave you. But you didn't have you didn't I'm not giving this fucking 90 minutes this is how JD but you're like I'm not giving this. Well if I was gonna listen to anybody it wouldn't be Ben I talk to him almost every day on the phone. Well you'll be surprised sometimes people reveal more in these environments than they do when you're chatting with him on the phone but the next question involves Ben Ennis who I did see recently I was recording live from the Joe Carter classic last month and there was Ben doing the morning show for the fan I get the the leftovers like the fan 590

is there and then the guys the big stars or whatever go sit down there and then when they finish I go excuse me would you please talk to you to this independent podcaster over here and sometimes they do Dave Stewart was great sometimes they don't okay Fred waterer that's a great name Fred waterer it's hard to say though I like his postgame takes after Leafs games mostly YouTube Fred waterer says a few years back I thought his show with Ben Ennis was very good and thoughtful. And then Fred throws in some commentary. Fan 590 has too much syndicated American programming

compared to the glory days. And he puts in parentheses 1990s. I'm also stuck in the 90s, Fred. Yes, I'm old, get off my lawn, et cetera, but that's another topic. So maybe talk a little bit about your professional and personal relationship with Ben Ennis. Ben Ennis I like how this is quickly becoming like when I meet people and they want to just know about other people.

Cedric Zinczero Like when you meet Cedric Zinczero Ben Ennis What was Bob McCowen like? What was Cedric Zinczero like? Like we'll just go down through the whole laundry list and then I go like... Cedric Zinczero But only if they came up with a question. Ben Ennis So yeah, Ben is yeah, like he's the closest thing I ever had to an older brother. I'm the oldest in my family and he is like a rock of a support system for me. Like I can't even talk about how much Ben means to me without like getting emotional about it because in

this industry I mentioned like when you're breaking in the older guard was not exactly the most welcoming. There were a select few like Michael Grange, who was always super supportive of my work, awesome guy. But he was like, you know, the exception that makes the rules sort of thing. It was very territorial, a lot of famine mentality, not a lot of, hey, like we talked about, you can be replaced, so why help groom a successor? I've never been of that mindset.

I think that if you're good, there will always be a place for you if you put the work in and if it's something that you want to pursue. I don't like looking in other people's backyards in terms of what they have and what I don't. I like to try to be more of a control what you can control guy. But with Ben, like he got his big break on Walker Show.

He was hosting at nights, he had done far more media than I ever did and when he got his break he was always wanting to work with me. He never looked at it like hey this is my time to shine. He viewed me as someone that could help his career as well that it was mutually beneficial and even on that show career as well, that it was mutually beneficial. And even on that show, as the more experienced guy, he would still defer to me. He was genuinely interested in terms of, he could have easily been like, you're the co-host

and you do the co-host traditional job. It wasn't, it was equals from the very beginning. And he never gave a shit about the stuff that so many people care about, which is like the, who's the A chair and who's the B chair and like all this old shit that doesn't really matter the same way. He's just like a genuinely good person. He's the best dad that I know out of any of my friends. Uh, like he genuinely enjoys spending time with his children. His

wife is his best friend. Fatherhood almost comes, it looks like natural to him. It doesn't seem stilted whatsoever, but as a friend, he's uber supportive. They say a good friend is someone that you take good news to and they're excited for you, and he's that person where it's like, he is someone in your corner. He is someone that is happy for others. And yeah, like not, like I think that he comes through

very much in his work as the guy that he is, which is a good guy. Do you wish you were still, you know, on the same radio show? Well, we do once a week together. Like we do good hour on my show every single week, so we're able to still get a taste of one another. Do I wish that maybe we did it

a little more frequently at times? Sure, but I've also really appreciated the opportunity that I have to branch out and do my own thing where I get to host my own show and try something different. I would work with Ben again. Again, we still work together once a week throughout the entirety of the year.

We speak every single day. Yeah, like it's not so much that I don't want to work with Ben. I would absolutely do it in a heartbeat. I just, I like having the versatility and trying to expand on the things that I've done in my career and with Good Show, I think that it didn't reach its peak. I think that if we had kept going that it would have only gotten better and better.

But yeah, we've done it. We accomplished it. We did well with it. I'm proud of it. I'm proud of my recording with Ben Ennis as well. And man, one day you're going to just say, let me check this out. Ben Ennis on Toronto Mike next Saturday. Yeah, that's July 19th. Okay. This is a tip for you. Okay.

JD bunkers, you can, uh, you can already start getting ready for an action packed day featuring indoor and outdoor activities, uh, uh, activations, if you will, including dance competitions, live hip hop shows, a delicious marketplace and opportunities to connect with like minded people. This is an all day experience crafted for amazing vibes and fun for everyone. This is happening on the waterfront, Toronto's waterfront, July 19th. And if I were a better podcaster I'd have the name of

this damn thing do you remember the name I said it to you before I press record you don't remember the name of this thing inclusivity fest you know what that's a good let's call it that here let me go in quickly here and I'll be better prepared for tomorrow's episode this is happening on the waterfront it is called unity fest so unity test fest this is Canada's largest close yeah you were so fucking close man that's why you're the Unity Fest, this is Canada's largest... That's close. Yeah, you're so fucking close, man. That's why you're the pro. It's time for Canada's largest hip hop festivals. So I feel like this is for Ryan Wollstad here. Unity Fest, beat boxers, break dancers, graffiti artists, all the above hip

hop stuff going on at the waterfront, July 19th. And speaking of great summer activities, do you ever get yourself out to Christie Pitts to take in some Toronto Maple Leafs baseball? Sure do. Well, you know then, no ticket required. You just show up and enjoy some great baseball. You can have a beer on the hill. You can get a Leafs lager

and you can grab yourself a hot dog, enjoy the show. Great baseball at Christie Pitts. I urge everybody to come out. Do you know Snow? Of course you know Snow, Snow of Informer fame. He's the official ambassador of Toronto Maple Leaf come out. Do you know Snow? Of course you know Snow, snow of Informer fame. He's the official ambassador of Toronto Maple Leafs baseball.

Did you know that? I didn't. Well, now you know, my friend, there's a book you can take home with you. This is the history of Toronto Maple Leafs baseball. They play at Christie Pitts. You can enjoy that book.

Thank you. All right, back to these other questions. I'm excited to ask you from Brian Gerstein. Brian Gerstein listens to a lot of JD Bunkus. He's a big fan. He says to me, Mike, he goes, JD speaks his mind. I've noticed that I find that refreshing. Sometimes you just get these like rehearsed canned, you know, media friendly things, but I feel like you're just telling me the truth. JD speaks his mind. You know, we're just warming up. I haven't pressed record yet. JD speaks his mind. That's why I didn't want to do this. No. You know, we're just warming up. I haven't even pressed record yet. JD speaks his mind and his rants can be, I'm reading Brian's questions, but you mentioned

this name earlier. His rants can be borderline Sid Sixero like, and I love his passion. Is that truly him or are there some liberties taken for his on air persona like Bob McCowan? I feel like she gave a bit of context to say we talk on-air persona like Bob McCowan. I feel like she gave a bit of context to say we talk on this program often because Bob disclosed in a in a magazine article that like he puts on a mask when he's on the air and of course he's not on the air right now but he would put on a mask and become this curmudgeon Bob McCowan character which was apparently very different from

Bob McCowan who was just hanging out in his mansion or whatever But and the six six arrow comparison you can take that either way But since six arrow of course was no one for these, you know passionate rants, but oh Is this the real JD that Brian Gerstein hears on the fan 590? So I Gotta say the Bob McCallum thing. I think that's total bullshit I gotta say the Bob McAllen thing. I think that's total bullshit. What is? No, the whole idea of like it's this, everybody that's on air, you have to take certain liberties

in terms of trying to push parts of yourself maybe a little bit forwarded, and some of your stuff maybe a little bit back, right? Like, I have a lot of interests outside of sports that I don't bring up on a sports radio show, so you don't get to see like a full encompassing persona. But no, but that to me is different, of course. Yeah, but what I'm saying here is,

did you watch the Vince McMahon documentary? No. It's a horrible person to compare him to because I'm not saying Bob is that. But there's this part in the Vince McMahon doc where he's like, it's all a persona and I'm doing a character. And then all the people in his life are like, I don't know.

That's pretty close to who Vince is. He's pretty much that guy. And I, I'm not Bob McCowen's best friend, but I spent years in front of his show and seems like a pretty crudgy guy who's really hyper intelligent and very opinionated and had a high opinion of himself. So I just don't think that this was like some deep departure from the person that you're calling bullshit. And Bob's claim that he puts on a bullshit for everybody that puts claims they put on a mass.

Do I think that there's some people who try to like game algorithms more where they push forward content or they do segments that they know are going to go viral or whatever, I think that there's that. But overall, I think it's really hard in our business, the podcast radio space, to really hide who you are over long stretches. So I think that the difference that maybe a guy like Brian sees is that as much as we always get accused of things like, for the clicks, for the clicks, I really don't do it for the clicks. I want it to be something that people enjoy because it's authentic.

And I think that they can see through the bullshit that the old idea of like putting on a persona and that's who you are is like, that's not attractive to anybody anymore. No one wants to listen to something fake. No one wants to put someone in your earphone, like your headphones and listen to them opine on things for a couple of hours and then have to wonder, well, is that truly what they believe?

So to answer the question, yeah, it's me. I do what I want to do. There are times where I have to, I would say, hold back a little bit just from the standpoint of I got to be a pro and a lot of this is based in my passion for sports and I would say that I'm a reactionary guy in general. I like having opinions in the moment of something and I don't like this new sports format of, well, you gotta get all the information and you gotta gather it all. I'm not a journalist and I'm not trying to be someone that takes in a sample size of

82 games or 162 games before I think that you should have an opinion on something. It's like, you feel it in the moment, feel it. And if you don't feel that thing tomorrow, I don't think that that should disqualify you from having a different opinion. So yeah, I do not put on a persona, I think pretty much whatsoever. I would just say that like there's different parts of me. Maybe I amplify a bit more given the nature of the show. Have you seen this recent documentary called My Mom Jane about Jane Mansfield by her daughter?

Is it a killer? It's pretty good. I saw it yesterday. Jane Mansfield the murderer? What does she do? No, Jane Mansfield was like, I would call her like Marilyn Monroe light. Okay, I was gonna say every documentary now is about a murderer. I don't think Jane committed any murders that I know of but She was essentially would put on a persona. So like her public persona was a ditzy blonde. So That's what 1930s? No, this is like 50s. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, so

I'm saying I think it did have to be that way like again when you're talking about the way traditional media used to be, which is that you had to fit into the thing that they were trying to sell you. Now the way that media is, is it's these micro audiences and everybody picks their own basic sports avatar or political avatar. Like you have all these options and all these choices. So the idea that you have to be a certain thing to make it work in media is archaic. And I've never met the Bob McCowan who's not on the the radio so I you know I take your word for it you've met that Bob he's a lot like the guy on the radio. For like again passing conversations but

my impression of him was not that off air he was like this big bubbly guy who just liked to shoot it and ask you things about your life and that he wasn't a curmudgeon whatsoever he was actually a joyous human being like no come on and now that you mentioned it gear joys etc have told me what echoed what you basically said to be there here are you friends with Sid Sixero? Yeah he's a great guy. Okay so shout out to Sid Sixero if you're listening Sid I would love to have you on Toronto mic'd maybe you can introduce us JD that can be your your role in the TMU the Toronto mic universe. This is why I'm here again have you on Toronto Mike. Maybe you can introduce us, JD. That can be your role in the TMU, the Toronto Mike universe. This is why I'm here again. You're here because I just want to get to Sid.

I thought you might get me to Sid. By the way, Brian has a bone to pick with you. He's a big fan, but he says, ask him how he literally acts like tennis does not exist. I can count on my one hand since he started how often he has discussed it. He never has a tennis guest on to guide him. So a couple things here.

One is maybe in the future, because I am desperately trying to learn how to play tennis. Oh. I can't get a coach. I'm trying to get an individual tennis coach that lives in my area who will give me lessons. What area is this? I live in

like Blue West High Park area and I do know a guy but yeah shout out to Davis Jamison either way I'm trying to get one-on-one lessons I've been trying to apply to get membership at clubs but they're full and also like yeah I want to see if I love it love it before I was to join a club and pay a membership fee and all this stuff but yeah I've bought a racket I bought shoes I've even bought yeah, I've bought a racket. I bought shoes. I've even bought new. I feel like such a poser because I bought Nike tennis shorts because I thought that they were different because you had to have more room in the pockets for a tennis ball. Turns out I tried these shorts on.

It's like normal shorts pocket size. So way to go, Nike. Way to get me on that. I really want to get into racket sports. I really want to get into tennis specifically. But like this is my part of my of my thing too with my show. I don't know why someone would want to hear me talk about something I don't know shit about.

So like if you're a big tennis fan, go listen to Andy Roddick's podcast and get your tennis fix there. If you want to hear about local sports and you know, I think I'm very interested in the business side of sports. I'm very interested in like media in general. That's why like I like what you do here with this. But I like I don't know enough about tennis to have an educated opinion on it. And if you think about what I do already, not to like pat myself on the back, but who in sports right now does basketball, hockey,

baseball, you know, like NFL football every single Monday. I cover already a shit ton of sports. My whole life is occupied by these things and I feel like there's already little cracks and gaps that end up happening. Watching tennis is not my passion. I didn't care that Jack Sinner was playing, I think it's Carlos Estevez? Alcares? Alcares, see, that's what, but you want this guy talking about tennis? I didn't grow up watching it.

I personally, I don't want you talking about tennis. Yeah, exactly, I have no point of reference to any of these things. But Brian does, I think Brian just wants you to acknowledge that this sport exists in popular. Hey Brian, tennis exists. It's out there. On that note, on the content note, so I would,

and again I've never worked in sports media, but I would imagine being on the Fan 590, there are the Big Four I would imagine. Like I would imagine it's like, okay talk a lot of Leafs, talk a lot of Blue Jays, talk a lot of Raptors, and I would think talk a lot of NFL football. That would be my thoughts. Am I off base here? These would be the big four I would say it's more the big three and then the NFL is we don't have a team Yeah, it's like you can but again it goes to the same thing that I was saying before which is when I do Bills content It goes Well, why would you listen to me over the guys that do it at WGR?

Right there they're living it, they're in it, they're around the team. So I do think that there is something attractive about a person that's not deeply embedded in all these things, giving you the information, giving you the opinion, especially what I do, because, and I'm not accusing anyone of this, because I think that there are people

that are around the teams or who focus on one sport where they are far more knowledgeable than I am and that I could ever hope to be, right? I get the added advantage of being outside and not so close to it. And so I'm not as a, that's the wrong word is to say timid, but I'm not as reserved when it comes to opinions that I will give on the team as you might be if you're around them constantly,

especially given the new media climate. Or if you're someone who particularly just works on one of the sports, you're probably going to have a, again, more educated, a different look at it. I just think that there should be a variety of opinions. Variance is a good thing. And so for me, my advantage has always been that, that I don't have to stand too close to it.

I can look at it from a completely different view so that a Bills fan, you can get a lot of the uniformity with these opinions when you look at people who cover the team, because they're all together with each other. So if you cover the Buffalo Bills, they're all together. They all have the same thought on, hey, is Brandon being too sensitive, right?

Have they addressed the running back enough? When you're someone who looks at the team as not a direct fan or someone who's not part of the coverage group, you might look at it more casually, but the casual take to me is not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes that's actually the thing that's right in front of you

that most people wanna discuss. So I forget what the question was because I'm so long with it. Nah, he just just... Oh, you said the big four. Yeah, maybe we do this. You want to like just do a little, you know, impromptu ranking of like sports you want to talk about on the air, like in order of like... It's a moving target. I mean, it depends on what season you're in, right? So J's will be higher now. It's always a moving target. I like that when the team is compelling and that they give it to me right now Then as we speak right now, I'm actually literally gonna type this

I'm curious like to go in your ranking then I'm gonna try to see where when tennis hits it. Okay, let's go Oh, wait, just tennis like obviously, let's say doing it as sports Yeah, we're gonna do like the topics on the the fan 590 like so, you know Jays talk maybe maybe and I'm making this up Maybe Jays talk is top of the fucking Jay's is number one For me, but baseball I don't care nearly as much about although I will say that I'm interested in baseball right now because there's this upcoming CBA negotiation and That to me is going to be very interesting because I'm very anti salary cap And I hope that baseball doesn't screw with what I think is one of their largest advantages

I think that in this market right now, if I was just going by the teams, it would be Jays one, Leafs two, Raptors three, and then Bills four, if you're counting them as like the local team. And then like for what would be the next sport? A couple of things here. One is that now that Roger I love MMA. MMA. So I love MMA. MMA. Yeah, I'm a huge MMA fan.

Okay, okay, cool. Now that, you know, MLSC is gonna be owned 75% by your employer, the Rogers. Does that change anything with regards to, I don't know, how often you would talk about, for example, the Toronto Argonauts? I talk about the Argos all the time. I love the Argos.

I go to games. Okay, you're a Nemo field. Yeah, I don't know how many people that are sports hosts actually support the CFL the way that I do. It actually drives me crazy because the Argos have never actually offered me guests or have reached... They don't even follow me from their social media account, which drives me crazy. I know that sounds like very narcissistic, but it's one of those things where I go,

you get so little coverage and I try to do my best to actually support this team, and I don't know what it is with the relationship there. But I would say I go to six Argos games a year, six, seven Argos games a year. I was just at the QEW rivalry game. I watched them get their asses handed to them by Hamilton in embarrassing fashion,

had to sit there with all the Ticats fans, suck, no, I love the CFL. I just think that it's a live product more than it is a television product. Because we have the NFL, so you're able to watch the NFL, especially if you're like a Toronto fan and you are a big events person, which I think this city is.

CFL rarely feels like an event, but if you do go down there and you go to BMO Field and you watch a football game, you're gonna have a good time. Speaking of BMO, what about TFC? Dead last, I don't care. It's like, I love the Canadian National Soccer program. They would be high on that list as well. Like Alfonso Davies. Yeah, well not even just that. It's just been like the growth of the program and like the run-up to the World Cup last year was about as much as I've ever enjoyed watching a team.

I'm very much someone who can get wrapped up in the flag with sports, pretty patriotic Canadian. So the idea that they were like finding level with the American program and then surpassing them was unbelievably compelling to me, but also the players were likeable and the coach is spectacular and the atmosphere. I think I went to like how many four games in the lead up to the World Cup to the qualifiers? I went to four games. It's as good of an atmosphere as I've ever been to. I love the singing of songs. I love the community around soccer. TFC just, it's never really moved me outside of the two championship seasons when they

actually had players. It kind of goes to the same thing about tennis with that guy is like, I'm not versed enough in TFC's history, I'm not interested enough to pretend like I like it. I go to the odd game, it's fun to go, but from a narrative standpoint, it's like the CFO. I don't talk about Argo's narratives on my show because I don't think that they reach a big enough portion

of the audience that it's gonna connect with people. And so it's a skip. It's a bit of a chicken and egg thing there. I think with the Argos and with TFC both that all the people that love it are at the games. And that's the entire audience. Right, right. What about golf?

I like it, but golf, I grew up I here's my thing with golf and I always get pushed back from the golf community about this but This sounds so woke lefty stuff, but it's not I swear I don't like the exclusionary part of golf the idea that you have to be a member of a club and That the nicer course you play at is important, that you need to dress up for it, that it costs an incredible amount of money just to start to access the sport. This is my big issue with hockey right now that I don't think we should continue to ignore,

that when I was growing up as a kid, yes, hockey was expensive, but it wasn't debilitating to families. It wasn't crushing to families in terms of the money that you were going to have to put your kids into and the pressures of putting children now into these programs that cost 30,000, $40,000 just to play hockey when they're 13, 14 years old. So if hockey had been that way growing up, I probably would have felt the same way about it. But I grew up on public ice rinks playing hockey with friends.

I grew up with very accessible rinks in the Yukon and, you know, skating on the frozen lake in the Yukon. Like it wasn't viewed as, oh, well, you can't afford to really play this outside of maybe like a small few families, which I'm sad about, but it wasn't like a squeeze on middle-class families. And with golf, yes, it's, you know, there's ways to do it,

but I never liked the idea of it being a club. That's why basketball and soccer and those were so attractive to me. Baseball, because you just didn't need much to play. Basketball, you got your sneakers and you went out to a court and you got to play with people and they would invite you out. If you won games, you stayed on the court. If you lost games, you got off and then you had to go practice by yourself. I like sports more like that than I do with golf. I'm very compelled by golf majors.

I think that they are incredibly interesting to see someone have to face, play themselves in a tournament. I think that golf is probably the hardest sport to master. It's like hitting a baseball and hitting a golf ball. Those would probably be the two skills that I think are the most difficult that the average person doesn't appreciate. But in terms of like talking about, you know, a regular PGA event, I don't find it all that compelling, especially considering they're all so rich now that what is the money, like what are the stakes? That's why the Masters meant so much with Rory, right?

Like the stakes were so obvious with it. And when you're at an open championship Like the stakes were so obvious with it. And when you're at an open championship, the stakes are so obvious with it. Whenever they're at another tournament, I don't feel the stakes. And sports for me are about stakes and financial gain for already multi-millionaires that can just go jump over to Saudi Arabia and join a league. It's just, it's not there for me. It's not there for you. Let me give you a tip here, a pro tip. Who's there for you is RecycleMyElectronics.ca because JD, do you got like a drawer or a closet at home full of like old cables, old electronics,

old devices that you haven't used in a hundred years? No, I'm actually the best. I'm not a hoarder at all. When my dad died, he had all kinds of shit in his basement and I was resentful of him because I'm like wait wait a pass the buck to me to get rid of all of these sentimental things well you can't cuz you know those those electronics and cables you don't want them in the landfill so you don't throw those in the garbage but if you go to recycle my electronics dot CA put in your postal code you could find out a place to drop all of it off to be properly recycled so those chemicals don't end up in our landfill. What's the

call again? My recycle? RecycleMyElectronics.ca. I have never used your service. I have thrown every electronic into a garbage can but from now on I will change my ways and I will put my wires into your service. I will call you. I will get you to drop me off a box or whatever it is you do and I will be more responsible. They literally say this is a place in your neighborhood in Blurwis village or whatever where you can drop it off and then they properly recycle it. Yeah, it's a great tip. Recyclemyelectronics.ca. I know I promised you an hour. I'm just leaking over because I want to find out what's next for you here. Okay. So remind the listenership where they can hear your beautiful voice on

the fan five 90 these days. Well, you can listen, download my podcast. You can subscribe to that. It's Apple, Spotify, Amazon, wherever you use your pods. So I do the JD bunkers podcast and I do leaf stock. You can watch that on YouTube comes on right after leafs games. You can listen on the fan five90. It's there both times. My show runs from 9 to 11 during the peak seasons and then 9 to 10 during the summer so that I can actually catch my breath.

Because I don't like taking huge extended times off like shows like to do now. The most I ever usually take off at a time is a week and a half. Last year I went to Europe for three weeks. That's the longest vacation I ever took. Nice. Well, I don't think I've ever been on a three week vacation. Yeah, it's not for me. I start to get the itch when I'm gone for too weeks. That's the longest vacation I ever took. Nice. Well, so that's, I don't think I've ever been on a three week vacation. Yeah, it's not for me. I start to get the itch when I'm gone for too long.

I've done a two like a couple of times in my life, but rarely. And where did you go in Europe? I went to Budapest, Budapest, sorry, which I adored. It was incredible there. Then I did a Croatia trip. I was less enthused by that. It was beautiful. I had a great time, especially like Tavar. But it was a Croatia trip. I was less enthused by that. It was beautiful. I had a great time. I especially liked Hvar, but it was a little too touristy for me.

We went outside of peak season, but I don't like feeling like you're in a tourist trap. And when I was in Dubrovnik, for example, they'd felt very much like that. They're like marketing the entire place around Game of Thrones. And I'm like, okay, cool. That's great for a shot, but I don't really care. What's the history? So I like doing like the walking tours. And I went to Berlin and Munich and I had a blast there.

I'm a huge like history buff. So I like to go to places and try to really get the lay of the land. And my only gripe with Croatia was that it, it felt like this was a secret in Europe when we were like maybe 15 years ago, but now it's actually become such a popular tourist destination that there's a couple of spots that we went to.

Again, Hvar was amazing, but you got to take a boat for an hour and a half over to get to some islands. And the beaches there were incredible. The water was beautiful. But everywhere else was just a little too condensed touristy. Also I think that, I don't want to misquote this, but I'm pretty sure that Croatia's GDP is 35 35 to 40% purely tourism, might even be higher than that.

And so you really feel that when you're going to like the restaurants or the bars or different places that you're kind of getting gouged. You don't feel like you're getting the proper price. Whereas that's why I really love Budapest and Munich, for example, a lot more because it felt like, oh, okay, these are just, they're not just trying to tourist trap you. How has this experience been for you, JD Bunkus? This pod?

This Toronto mic debut. It was great, minus you trying to like get me in trouble talking about people who got fired and in the job of said people who got fired outside of that, it was pretty good. I don't actually think I did that, but I'll review the tape. I don't think I did that. Like what do you think of that? I gave some context context for the how the Walker and Brady show came to be but

What's next? Maybe this will get you in trouble. But if you had to speculate I'm curious about the future of JD bunkus and the future of sports radio do you want to speculate on Where those will start with yourself and then maybe weave in where sports radio is heading. I'll start with the other I I just I Have a hard time believing that When it comes to sports radio that there isn't going to be a desire for things that are live like Leafs talk for example when we came up with that idea Like Leafs talk for example, when we came up with that idea, it was to serve the audience immediately after a game we are living in a time where immediacy is far more coveted and

So radio will always have the advantage of when things are happening. You can tune into it because the show's already there They don't need 25 minutes to get it up and running. You don't need to wait for the podcast to get posted It's just there. So it up and running. You don't need to wait for the podcast to get posted. It's just there. So my belief is that you should have a strong radio lineup, which I really do think we do for the most part at the fan. Well, you want to shout out the lineup? Well, I just think that there's some really strong people there. I've mentioned, I think Ennis is incredible. I think Blake Murphy is incredible. I think Blair and Barker do

an unbelievable job. I think that having a show that's balanced the way that we have it with Nick Kiprios and Justin Bourne and my friend Sam McKee, they serve their audience well. And what radio has to do now though, which is a little different, and you're seeing that, which is when things are happening, you have to be ready to pivot. You can't have breaking news and have a show, if the Leafs make a huge trade, right?

Right. Then you can't have the Raptor show on radio. You got to be able to pivot and put those guys on. Right. But I think that the depth of personalities that they have that gives you the ability to always sort of be able to react to that. So you don't have to wait for something to post. You don't have to wait for them to get it up. you don't have to worry about the technical aspects of it, it's like radio's there. So I think that there's always going to be value. Has it shifted? Absolutely. Is it what it used to be? No, it isn't.

Is it ever coming back? No, it will not. But I just view all media now as you want to be cross-platform. Like for me, I don't do a very good job on social media. It's not something that I particularly like to do. I make videos, or if I've tried to make videos, they always feel not myself, whereas this medium, I feel like me.

I feel comfortable in it. But ultimately, if you wanna have success moving forward and you wanna be attractive to other outlets, you need to have a big social media following. And so it's like, you're kinda caught in between these things, but I view it as like, with radio, podcast, digital streaming, that that's all just one part of the whole now. Like I don't think sports radio is sports radio anymore. I think it's sports radio,

sports podcasting, and digital streaming. Which social media places do you maintain a presence? Twitter and Instagram only. I refuse to get TikTok. I'm too old. I'm in my late 30s. It's over for me. Like I'm not getting on that platform. It's for young people, I don't need it. I'm not gonna do it. I like Instagram because I like to look at dogs and I really, I like seeing dog videos, I especially like when dogs become friends

with other animals, particularly foxes lately. I think I get a lot of Fox stuff on my Instagram feed. Yeah, I like seeing sports highlights and different memes that I'll send my friends. But yeah, I like Instagram. Twitter is great too, just in terms of being able to solicit opinions. But Twitter's something where I think you have to have

a bit of a thick skin because I've seen it affect too many people in media. I'm not trying to sound better than it. There's days where I'll read a comment and it hurts my feelings, but for the most part, it doesn't really rattle me to see people take shots on Twitter or on social media anymore. It just kind of like rolls off the back a little bit.

I mean, there's always gonna be criticism if you're in the public realm. Yeah, so. Like somebody's gonna say, oh, I have to turn the channel every time I hear that. JD Bunkus. Yeah. But I'm like, first of all, the haters, I feel like are the ones that actually listen all the time. Well, that's what the Howard Stern thing was.

Right. They used to say, like, you know, the haters listened longer than the lovers. You know what, though, to that point is I don't think that that can be the format moving forward. That goes to traditional media thought like Howard Stern, Bob McCowan. You could be more polarizing because where else were you going to go? Now you're competing against not just your market, not just your other radio station, you're competing against the world. So yeah, it's your competing against music.

Like you're trying to get people to listen to you and give a shit what you think. I don't think that being the like hot take jerk is something that is a sustainable model anymore. I'm up against all of those things in the on demand era. Do you ever feel JD Bunkus like you have to pull a punch because maybe this team is owned by your employer? No, it's one of the beauties of what I do. If I, if I really like, here's the thing you pull a punch,

I guess is subjective in the sense of are there times in my career where I would have been more harsh or used more colorful language if I was just doing a podcast? Yeah, sure. But I, I'm pretty unapologetically myself and like it's kind of like anybody's job, right? Anybody's job. You have things where you have to decide if you're gonna die on this hill, if you're gonna go full throttle at someone. Like when people say that to me, I go, okay, so for you at your job, right? If you have a problem with your boss, are you gonna go up to your boss and be like, hey, you fucking moron.

This is what I think, like, no. So of course there's like a diplomatic way of saying things when it comes to teams. You don't wanna like, I'm not trying to like intentionally aggravate a team, but I also think like, yeah, why I think you should listen to my show is that I think I give a pretty unfiltered opinion about whatever it is I'm doing. It can often paint me in a negative light, but I've also viewed

sports as mostly negative anyways, where it's like only one team wins a championship every year. So you're mostly going to bitch about how you're going to get there. But yeah, like, like what was specifically let's pretend Ross Atkins made a bonehead move. In your opinion, was a bonehead move like a stupid decision. I've called for his firing. Yeah. Okay. So, yeah. So you, you won't hesitate to call for the firing of somebody like a Ross Atkins, even, even though the, even before the MLSC deal, the blue J's were always owned 100% by Rogers. That's it is. So I would say that I have on multiple occasions called for Ross Atkins' job. I've called for, I advocated, I thought that this was supposed to be the last year of Masai Ujiri. I felt like it

was a very complicated thing because he's such a good representative of the city, but felt like the direction of the basketball team these last five years was awful. I advocated for Dubas' firing, I advocated for Shanahan's firing, and I will say this too, I'm not actually a big proponent of calling for jobs because I think that this is something that we do too much in modern society, which is fire this person, fire this person and there is no consideration of their life. I view it a little less gauche to be doing when you're speaking about multi-million dollar executives who will go on to make other careers that make more in a year than the average family is making in 10.

But that being said, no, I think that if, the line you kind of want to block, that this is my general rule, is I don't try to make it personal. Like I don't want to call somebody a name, like that's an athlete. And someone might say, oh, that's cowardice, but it's like, no, I don't know this person.

I'm not gonna call them a specific name. I'm not gonna call Ross Atkins a name. I would rather just keep it to the degree where you can make it critical and sound like a fan, which I am, but also not have it be something that crosses that line. So I guess if that's pulling punches for some people, I can live with that.

And what is next for you? Where do you see yourself in five years, JD Bunkus? I mean, I'd hope to be at Spore Set as one of the most coveted assets at the company, but we'll see. Here's what I will say on that is the media landscape is very much changing. More and more is becoming available for people to stake it out on their own or go to different networks and go... Basically, all I want to do is be somewhere where I can be me, where I can make a living and enjoy the passion that I still feel for this job. So, whether that's here or whether that's somewhere else, that doesn't matter to me.

I want to have that core following of people that give a shit what I have to say about something. I deeply appreciate that, given, again, all of the things that you are competing against for people's listenership, but I think that, yeah, it's, it's really hard to predict in media now where someone's going to be in five years because it's changing so fast. What about television? I noticed during this recording, you've got a TV looks a bit of a baby face, but a handsome son of a bitch. TV calling, sports net.

I've been told that I have a bad side profile for TV. Is that right? Oh yeah, that's the worst side profile I've ever seen. Forget the TV. No, in all honesty, I don't know. They've just never expressed an interest for me with TV. Goodness gracious. That's a question for Roger's executive. Maybe we have one of them on. I'm working on it. I'm working on it. Thanks for this, JD Bunkus. I enjoyed this chat, man. Yeah, so did I. It was great.

Maybe there'll be a sequel in the future. Yeah. I don't live that far. And that brings us to the end of our 1,730th show. By the way, for the record, definitive record, JD Bunkus opted not to wear his headphones. I mean, and it's, I didn't have any audio, so you don't need to wear headphones, but it is the first time in a long time a guest has opted not to wear the headphones. I mean, and it's, I didn't have any audio, so you don't need to wear headphones, but it is the first time in a long time a guest has opted not to wear the headphones. So is there any specific reason you just don't want to, why do you need it if you aren't hearing audio? There's two reasons. You want to know? Yeah. One, I got nice hair. I know how that feels.

And two is I was like, who are these before me? Oh, see it's a German folk. I don't know. Maybe you don't wipe them down. You got Ben Ennis in here. Have you ever seen his head? It's disgusting. You think he clears his ears? No, he's dirty ears Ben. Dirty ears Ben. Go to torontomike.com for all your Toronto Mike needs. Much love to all who made this possible. That is Great Lakes Brewery. JD's got his fresh craft beer there. Palma Pasta. Don't leave without your lasagna JD Bunkas. Toronto's Waterfront BIA Unity Fest is next Saturday. Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball. Get your butts to Christie Pits. You'll love it. RecycleMyElectronics.ca, Building Toronto Skyline,

and Ridley Funeral Home. See you all Wednesday when my special guest is Colin Cripps from Blue So So So You