Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Jeff Sammut: Toronto Mike'd #149

Episode Date: December 11, 2015

Mike chats with Fan 590 host Jeff Sammut about his years at the station, Vito from Woodbridge, those he's worked closely with and what he thinks about The Fan's ratings.

Welcome to episode 149 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything, often with a distinctly Toronto flavour. I'm Mike from TorontoMic.com and joining me this week is the Fan 590 host, Jeff Samet. Welcome, Jeff. Thanks for having me, man. I appreciate it. You're like, I think I have a long string of Junction people who have been on this show. I'm just thinking off the top of my head. I'm a Junction boy. Yeah, I used to.

From the hoods where I grew up. I'm there all the time. Edward Keenan is a Junction guy. He was on like a couple of weeks ago. Who else? Oh, Adam Groh from Cash Cab. He's a Junction guy. I know him.

He's a Junction guy. I don't think we've ever talked about that. And my buddy Murray. So Murray coaches my son's hockey. Murray's a guy from the junction area. And you know all the guys in the junction. So I could just say Murray, and you know who I'm talking about. Well, I know my generation.

And anybody beyond that that I've grown up with, I'll run into and go, you're from the junction? Then we can relate. It's funny. I got a real're from the Junction? Then we, you know. I hear you. We can relate. It's funny. I got a real quick, funny Murray story real quick here. So Murray coaches my son at George Bell Arena. That's kind of Junction-y, close enough, right? Well, it's, yeah.

It's right there at Runnymede and Dundas, just on the other side of the bridge. Yeah, that's right. That's right. St. Clair, closer to St. Clair. Near the stockyards. Yeah, and I'll tell you, growing up, like, you know, growing up in the late 70s and early 80s, I was convinced that George

Bell Arena was all because of the Blue Jays' George Bell. I'm like, why would a Blue Jays star have a hockey rink named after him? Are we that Canadian? You and me both. I was playing at Rennie Park. But yeah, I thought the same. My favorite player growing up was George Bell. Oh, was it?

My favorite Blue Jay. Yeah. Wasn't George Bell for me. No. I kind of liked Cliff Johnson. Yeah, yeah. He was a little bit angry, a little bit grumpy, right? He was a different guy. He was a little bit different. In the box, he was a little bit different. Yeah, yeah. I had a mixed bag of people.

Do you remember the two? Because he came back, so he left and he came back. Do you remember the two numbers Cliff Johnson wore? He wore double zero. Yeah, he did. And I can't remember the other one. I think it was 44. Yeah, you asked me 10 years ago and I wouldn't be able to name that off, but having a family and just paying taxes

and being an adult has kind of kicked some of that meaningful information out of my head. You said it, man. I took you off the Murray story, by the way. The Murray story is going to underwhelm everybody, but I'm telling it anyway. So Murray's like the nicest guy.

He's a junction guy. He's in his early 40s. And actually, I used to play ball hockey with him in the 80s. Like, he's just always been there in like Little Malta, which we'll get to. Yeah. And so me and the family went to the Marlies game, which was at the Air Canada Center last weekend.

Yeah. After the Marlies game, we decided, let's go to Harvey's. Okay. So we go to the Stockyards Harvey's. And as a joke, we're sitting there at the Air Canada Center last weekend. Yeah. After the Marlies game, we decided let's go to the, let's go to Harvey's, okay? So we go to the Stockyards Harvey's. And as a joke, we're sitting there at the Harvey's and I go, you know,

I'm sure Murray will walk in any minute because, you know, we're in the Stockyards Harvey's. This is like his hood. Murray's going to walk in any minute. I couldn't believe my eyes when Murray walked in with his big smile

and his Maple Leaf jacket. Yeah. And there he is. First of all, A, he has to be hungry enough that he's going to take his boy out to eat on a Sunday night. He's got to like,

we want burgers, not pizza or pastitsi. It's got to be their place of choice. Yeah, pastitsi. It's hard to go against pastitsi. Yeah. That's a Maltese thing, by the way. Anybody doesn't know what pastitsi is.

If they don't know it. I'm sure the majority of the audience does not. They should, though. I grew up in that area, so I know it well. Oh, yeah. But, yeah, he walks in. I should have brought some. If I had known that, I should have brought some.

Because my buddy growing up was named Joe Cheney, who was at, like, Clendenin and St. John's. You know where St. John's starts near Clendenin, where there used to be a Coffee Time or whatever? Now it's like a Tim Hortons. Never mind Coffee Time. It used to be Jay's. Jay's Burgers. Yeah, way back when. back when it was jay's like that was the

burger place to go to unless you wanted to venture out further west and go to apache burger which still exists i went to high school at michael power and we could i was like two minutes away from apache burger oh so you must have just lived off apache no because across the street was g and b burger do you remember g and b we called the garbage and barf burgers and frequented that place all the time yeah yeah it was a little cheaper because we found apache was kind of pricey i still find it a little pricey yeah back when you're in high school you might find apache burger pricey sure yeah and we had a two-for-one down the street where i could get full like even though they had this weird pepperoni like it wasn't like remember it wasn't sliced pepperoni

it was like diced pepperoni right right yeah i find it to be too much pepperoni i i pepperoni. It wasn't like... Do you remember? It wasn't sliced pepperoni. It was like diced pepperoni. Right, right, yeah. I find it to be too much pepperoni. Pepperoni's got to be thin. I never knew that was possible. If it's too thick, the flavor gets lost. We will go in any direction in this conversation. You just follow me, man. So you are of Maltese

descent. Yes. My parents are from Malta. Every Maltese guy I know comes out of the junction. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of Maltese people I know comes out of the Junction. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of Maltese people coming out of Mississauga, but I think even those that are coming out of Mississauga still have roots to the Junction. Yeah, I mean, I grew up there, proud of Maltese heritage, and

it's funny, being at the fan, and I've been there a long time, this is my second go-around having been there a long time. Since then, I mean, Tim McAuliffe has joined. Right, right. He was with Sportsnet now, and Jeff has a party. He's producing primetime sports now, I think, in part.

So there's been some Maltese people kind of added. But I've got to say, I'm the original. I'm the first one that was there. I don't think there was anybody before me, Maltese, as a fan. No, no, no, no. You were the original. Yeah, I think so. My old neighbor, when I lived in that neighborhood, my neighbor was Maltese.

And I find this is very common. Your Maltese neighbor works for the TTC or is retired from the TTC. Yeah, I actually know a couple of people that are my age or that are from my generation that work for the TTC. Did the Maltese community have a monopoly on the TTC jobs? I don't know. I don't know. Maybe it's just being in in toronto and frequenting the the ttc even my hankering for for wanting to work for them but you know back then i mean you know our parents i maybe i could speak for yours maybe i don't know but i know

my parents especially those that would come to this country yeah and start a life here their goal was get a career or a job that has a good pension go and put 30 35 years into one company yeah and get a great pension absolutely and ttc would be like the the golden goose like that was the the place you wanted to be that was that was the big windfall like you're absolutely in a few decades there and get a pension well you you hit the jackpot that's that's where you want to go. Whereas times now have changed. Very much so. I mean, you don't want to go to work at one company for 30 years, says the guy who's been

at the fan for the last 15 years. But you don't want to go and work for a company for 30 years. You want to go and work there for a while. And while you're working there, you're looking for the next thing. And then when you go to the next thing, you're looking for the next thing. And maybe you've got four or five different jobs at the same time. It's a different world we live in now. You're absolutely right. I'm going to adjust. This is my power. Somebody told me

this is a power move when I do this, but I'm going to tilt your mic up. I think you're having... The radio guy's having mic trouble? Or a radio guy? You're used to much better microphones. I thought I sounded fine. No, you sound good.

It's just now you don't have to go down. It'll be easier for you. It won't hurt your neck as much. All right. That's good. So you mentioned when your parents came from Malta or whatnot, but today we're hearing a lot about refugees coming from Syria. That's the big news item of the day.

And I just want to ask you if I'm alone in this, but do you hear Tom Petty in your head every time you hear the refugees are coming? Well, I certainly do now. No. No, I don't. You don't?

I should. I'm probably disappointing a lot of the Tom Petty fans out there, but I probably should. I just saw him last year in concert. Did you?

It was amazing. He's great, right? He was great. One of the best concerts I've ever been to. It's a Traveling Wilbury. Of course he's great. Oh, Traveling Wilbury.

So underrated. Oh, I know. Handle of Care is like, yeah. That was quite a leap you made with going from Malta to Syria to Tom Petty.

You know, it's just, sometimes I have these, I need to know if it's just me, but I hear this song in my head. I'm just waiting for the chorus here.

Here it comes. Well, that wasn't the case before, but it certainly will be the case from now on. And don't worry, this chat, which I've been looking forward to, does actually go to radio very soon. I don't care. You don't care?

Whatever. Doesn't matter. I can talk about radio anytime I want so whatever we can do all kinds of stuff maybe I'll just play tunes I like

no that's fine I'd like to know what's in your iTunes and your iPod and stuff well this is just

a final note before we dive in that I love this December weather so I bike I like to bike through the winters and it's

I think 10 degrees well you're loving this right now it's amazing bike through the winters and it's 10 degrees. Well, you're loving this right now. It's amazing, right? Of course. It's great. It's nice and mild. I don't know what this means about the world we live in. No, we just don't worry about that. But hey, you know what? Let's let our kids worry about that and we'll enjoy the weather while we can. This is great. Haven't shoveled any snow.

Not even close. And I'm one that doesn't like to do anything ever. So, you know, I mean, you look at this weather and go, hey, great for exercise. And me, I'm like, well, great. I just won't freeze on my way to work. No, you're right. You're right. I hope it holds up.

This is pretty fantastic. It's been nice. It's been good. So, Jeff, tell me how you how did you end up in radio? I just wanted to be in radio. I'll tell you, I, you know, from a very young age, I loved radio. I remember with my brother. My brother is nine years older than me to the day.

And he's nine years older than me. He's a big Sabres fan. So growing up, he wanted to, you know, nowadays, you want to watch a game. What time is it on? Boom, you watch it. Or go online or whatever. Or you've PVR'd it. But before, you'd have to rely on, on local broadcasts and

with, uh, with the Buffalo Sabres, if the game wasn't on, on television and, you know, most of the time it wasn't, you would listen to it or at least where we could get it. And you would listen to it on, on, uh, on the radio, on Buffalo radio. And of course, Rick Jenner would be calling the games. So my brother and I would spend a lot of time listening to radio and listening to Rick Jenner and listening to Buffalo Radio because they'd be talking about the Buffalo Sabres. Right. So I got – and my brother's a huge sports fan. So I got an affection for both radio and sports from my brother.

But my mom kind of put the radio thing over the top because she always listens to the radio. In the kitchen, she'd be doing stuff, and she'd always have the radio on if it's music or talk, whatever. She'd listen to it. So I was just always around radio radio which i know a lot of people are always around radio but maybe because my brother liked radio and my my mom really liked radio i thought hey that could be something i i would do so very early on in my teens i i started in radio and uh and then i went to school i went to humber college for a couple of years for radio and that's that's what got me into it and it's not the greatest of stories but i think that might be how a lot of people get into it no but it tells

me you have uh you had a love for the medium i did so you went to school for it first so is this at the near the uh woodbine yeah yeah so but i'll tell you being at humber because you go into a program like that and at least from my experience i don don't know, let's say 50, 60 people get into the program. I don't know what it is, but whatever it was, 40, I don't know. Half of them are gone. Like, by the end of the first year, half of them are gone because they find it's not what they want to do. Right. And my experience at Humber just made me want to do it that much more.

Okay, cool. Like, I've always been hungry, and I've always wanted to succeed or to find something me want to do it that much more. I've always been hungry and I've always wanted to succeed or to find something I like to do and have an interest in something. And with radio, that was it for me at the time and still is. But when I got to Humber, it was like, oh my God, I'm even like, you know how you're hungry. You think you're kind of hungry. You have a little something and you go, wow, I'm really hungry. That's what happened to me with radio and Humber College. Like it's edification. It basically validated your decisions.

This is where I want to be. When I was in high school, I was a shy kid. I didn't like to do any public speaking. I didn't like to be outspoken. I want to have been there because of attendance, but I don't want you to have any memory of me. I don't want anybody to remember. I'm not going to

stand out. You're want to make wallpaper. I want to, yeah, I want to fly under the wall and, and just, you know, it kind of like buster and, and,

and the rest of development. Yeah. I love wallpaper. And so I want it to be that guy. And then when I, you know, and then funnily enough, that's the,

that, that guy wants to be in radio. So I, I get into radio and the group of people I was with, they were so wonderful. And the first thing they did was they said, uh uh if you have a problem performing in front of people get over it now because this is what you're going to be doing yeah i was gonna say yeah okay and you had to perform for the rest of the class and it's funny because i'd rather be on the radio in front of i don't know how many

people uh then then actually have like 30 or 20 peers around me, you know, judging, you know, because they're doing the same thing. And they might be like, I wouldn't have done it that way. Whereas the, you know, listeners are just looking for entertainment and looking to be engaged. And I feel that they might be easier to win over than my peers. So that was kind of an issue I had to get over. It didn't take me long. And that's a credit to the people I was with at Humber College. But it's something I kind of had to get over at Humber College.

And I did. And I just loved being on the mic. I was going to say, when you're telling me that you didn't want to be outspoken and kind of speak in front of people, you did choose the wrong career for that. There's a lot of jobs where you go behind a computer. Initially, maybe. Yeah, initially. But then over time, you don't worry about that as much. the wrong career for that because there's a lot of jobs you go behind a computer maybe yeah but

then over time you you you you don't worry about that as much and then as part of a bigger conversation and fast forwarding as you get older you just don't care anymore like oh you have a problem with what i said whatever like i'm as long as i'm not you know being racist or sexist or stereotyping i'm not gonna do that but you don't like my take on the Leafs? Well, that's my take on the Leafs. If you don't like it, tough. You know, sorry, we all have one. Yeah.

And you start to care less about what people think about those trivial, stupid things. Who cares? So is your first gig out of Humber, is that at the Fan 590? I actually got my first gig at the fan while I was in my second year at Humber second of two years and I think I was I was in the first year or two of it going from a three-year program to a two-year program so at the end near the end of of the

two-year program about halfway through three quarters of the way through the second year I got a job at the fan as a technical director and And so I was working at the fan and at Humber at the same time for maybe a couple of months. Okay, yeah. And then once I got out of Humber College, it was great because part of the worry as you leave school is, well, what do I do now? Like, I had structure. I knew where I was going. Whereas I had that overlap, so I knew where I was going.

I was going to the fan. And what, do you remember what year this was 96 or 7 something like that uh and and it was great it was it was perfect for me because when when i went to humber you had your classmates you had all your friends and it felt great it was like i'm going to be meeting all my friends and doing these projects with my friends. And oh, I happen to be going to class as well. It was kind of like our hangout. It was great. And maybe radio and performing kind of lends itself to that. And then when I went to the fan, I made friends very quickly there. And there were just, again, just a group of wonderful people there that were happy to have you and engaged you and wanted to know what your

opinion was and threw you into the fire and they shared experiences with you. And it was, it was fun. The people I got to hang with, uh, with at that time. And, and you know, every radio station, maybe talk radio station has like a producer's office, I think. And, and we had our producer's office, but it was kind of like a lounge. So, so and and you didn't have to be working that day to be there like like you never saw somebody walk in and go oh what time are you on or what time's your show or what are you what are you here for it was just like well of course you're here you work here and and we're gonna see you all the time so i'd walk in and i see george stromolopoulos just laying out on the couch and just reading a magazine and i'd see elliot friedman with his feet up just throwing a you know football in the air and talking and just chatting so it's like you walked into the room and

you were just part of the chat and you were just hanging out with everybody I had recently I had Nelson Millman on this show and we love Nelson he hired me twice twice well yeah well twice we're gonna keep this chronological because I want to hear about this because you mentioned the two tours of duty if you will just like Cliff Johnson. So we got it all together. I guess I really liked Cliff Johnson. So when Nelson was on, I played a clip from Strombo in which he started running down names of basically people who were on the fan.

Clip of Strombo from what? From my podcast. From your show. Yeah, he was episode 103. By the way, aren't both those people just wonderful? Yeah, oh yeah. Unbelievable people. You're absolutely right.

Great experience just chatting them up in there. so full of like yeah information and knowledge and you put those two together uh like the strombo episode all the strombo you know strombo does his talk sports radio part and then he moves on to like 102 and much music and hockey and let me tell you something when he went from from the fan uh to music i mean you know i knew him at the fan and you can't find somebody that worked harder and somebody that had more of a passion for for what he did he loved it i mean he loved he slept there i mean we all did well really he loved that couch it sounds like he did he loved the couch but but he was on that couch because he was exhausted he was tired and yeah he was you know working with

spider jones until two o'clock in the morning or something spider jones yeah spider was great you know work until two in the morning whatever crazy hour it was or you know, working with Spider Jones until two o'clock in the morning or something. Spider Jones. Yeah. Spider was great. You know, work until two in the morning, whatever a crazy hour it was, or, you know, five in the morning. And then he, George himself would be on the radio two hours later. And so he, the guy worked very, very hard. And I've always said about George, whatever success he has, and he's had a lot, but whatever success he has, and I don't think he's, he's reached his, his limit. I think the sky's the limit for George.

Whatever he gets, he deserves. The guy works very, very hard. And he was really an inspiration for many people, including myself. You're right, because everybody thinks of George today and they think of like host of Hockey Night in Canada on Rogers. But he's also producing from his home.

He produces this kick-ass radio show that he hands over to CBC Radio 2 to air on Sunday nights. And it's amazing. He loves the music. He knows what he's talking about. It's a great playlist. And he just does that for love of the game, so to speak. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. He's a cool cat. He loves doing what he does, and he works very hard at it. And I'll tell you, if anybody is

looking for a career, like I've got nieces and nephews that are getting older and they're trying to figure out what they want to do. And I just tell them, find what you love to do and then find a way to get paid for it. Because you've got to do it every day. And George gets to do stuff every day that he thoroughly enjoys. But he worked hard at it. And he gave himself the right to make money at doing what he's doing.

Right, right. And I'm just so proud of him. What I like what he does is he'll make the money doing hockey, and then he gets to do what he loves, the music stuff, the Strombo show, I believe it's called. He'll package that up, and that's not for money. That's for passion for music. So he gets paid on the one side.

He can have a good lifestyle or whatever, and then he does it for love. He scratches that itch. Yeah, you're right if anybody if everybody could do that in in this business think everybody would be hey i'm doing that right now scratching that itch right now that itch absolutely uh so uh where's it going so strombo ran down a list of like names that were at the fan in the 90s and basically have become pretty big deals like from from Jeff Merrick to Shulman. Dan Shulman, sure. Elliot.

So this is your opportunity to name drop some of these guys. Look, Dan Dunleavy is one of the voices of the Buffalo Sabres. Right, right. You know, Gord Stelic is doing what he's doing, and he built a career at the fan and is one of the go-to guys in talking about the Toronto Maple Leafs. Absolutely. You know, there's just been a lot of people.

My goodness, I think you mentioned a good chunk of them there, or George did. You mentioned Elliott Friedman. Like today, he might be the most respected guy on the hockey panel right now. And connected and well-liked. Like even George. I mean, like both very well-liked.

And I don't think you can make it in this business. So I think it could only take you so far, you know, just doing what you do and doing it well. But beyond that, I think you have to be nice people. And you're right. And Elliot, you know, a nice guy, friendly guy, and he won't betray someone's confidence. And he can be trusted with a piece of information. I mean, I don't know this for a fact, but I'm sure he might get a piece of information that they might say, can you hold off until December or whatever until you actually mention that?

If you can do that, great. You can have this info, but if you can wait, he'll do that. I believe that he'll do that. And with George, he's just such a likable, respected guy. I mean, there's – and I might be botching this story a little bit because you know how you hear a story and then repeat it years later. Sometimes I have a tendency to do that. But basically there's a story of like Bono took a real liking to him.

Bono of U2, like there's any other Bono. There's no other Bono. Right. So Bono took a real liking to him. And one time, I think he was just flying into Toronto for a quick meeting with some political figure or whatever, and then flying out like a few hours later. Bono told George about that and said, you want to meet me in the airport, ride in the limo with me, do an interview,

and then find your way back home, you're more than welcome. Who does that? Yeah. You know, who's going to do that for a guy in this business? And Bono, a guy like that, will do that for a guy like George. Yeah, and you know these people way better than I do, but these names we're talking about have actually, I've spent at least an hour or two with these people. I can say that.

And I can tell you what I like about these people is that they aren't assholes. They are not jerks. They're not assholes. Merrick is a sweetheart. Strombo is a sweetheart. Friedman was a sweetheart. You just run down the list. At least the people I've met,

they're just genuine, nice people. Down to earth. And they remember where they came from. Yeah. And I'm not surprised you spend an hour or two with them because they will spend an hour or two with you. And they love doing this stuff. They love strolling down memory lane.

And I think they do a great job, as I try to do, of gathering experience and not holding on to it, like sharing it with people. Because I'm sure there's going to be maybe a student or two that might listen to this, might hear a little nugget of something and go, I'm going to remember that. And, and, and that'll help. And, and George, you know,

guys like George, Jeff Merrick, Elliot, they're, they're willing to share like that. Nelson, great at sharing those, those,

those kinds of things. Yeah. Great guy. Yeah. Uh, great guy. Now do you think, well,

since we just mentioned him, uh, there's a lot of negative blowback. At least I get these comments in these emails about people who just, they don't like Strombo hosting Hockey Night in Canada. What are your thoughts on Strombo in that role? He's great. I think he's great too.

He's great and no one's going to work harder at that. But it doesn't surprise me that there might be blowback because people don't like change. Especially with hockey and especially with Hockey Night in Canada. Don't mess with my Saturday nights. I like it in this order and these people. But even with radio. I like it in this order and these people. But even with radio.

I've been in radio long enough that I've been through enough transitions where people will call in and just be... I remember when Landry and Stelic, when that morning show came to an end, I was still around, and people were calling me a week before saying, these guys stink. They're terrible. And enough with the comedy and the voices.

Like, enough already. We get it. All right? Like, just give me a straight sports show. The same people would call in a week after finding out that they're not

on the air anymore going, what happened to them? Where'd they go? Right. What am I going to do? Yeah, they're part of their routine. Who's going to do all the voices and the comedy

and all that stuff? What's going to happen there? So people just don't necessarily like change. I don't like change. No. I hate change. So I get it there so people just don't necessarily like people i don't like change no i hate change so i get it but people just don't necessarily like change yeah i'm with you uh so let's let's talk about you mentioned landry and stellick so i first came to know you as the producer of landry and stellick so is this so when what part of your career the fan was this uh, if you can remember?

If you could do a better job. In terms of how many years ago? Okay, so you start in 96 or something like that. Okay, so the pamphlet version of my work life is I started at the fan as a technical director, and I was on evenings and weekends wherever they would put me. And then I got a job at 1010 being a full-time technical director in the evening and then later on during the day. And then when there was an opportunity to go back to the fan as the technical director of the morning show, that's when I went back. And when I went back, it was Marsden and Landry, and I worked with them for a while.

And then I kind of transitioned from being a technical director to being a comedy guy to there being a role as the producer of the morning show, which I took on for, I don't know, a couple of years or something. So it was at that time where I was the producer and comedy guy. And I was, you know, before that, like I said, I was just the comedy guy. But before that, I was the technical director slash comedy guy. So I did kind of everything on that morning show aside from host it. Gotcha, gotcha. Now you've got me up to speed. So you jumped from 590 to 1010 for

just a different opportunity. Well, I mean, it was full time. And I just thought it was at a time in my career where I thought the easy thing to do would be to stay and wait for another opportunity. And I just thought I was young and it would be an opportunity to grow, expand my horizons. Be at a radio station that my mom listened to a lot. That meant a lot to me. And I mean, it's 1010. They have a CFRB. Yeah. Yeah. And it was, it was, it was a great place to be. And I, and I, I'm glad I made that move. It was, it was a wonderful experience for about a couple of years. And then I came back to the fan in 2000 and I've, I've, I've stayed since, but I just found that it was a time where I was presented with an opportunity. I mean, one to be full time.

I mean, let's let's. No, that's your goal. Full time was something. Yeah. But on top of that, it was to it's kind of broaden my horizons a little bit and not just do sports. I wanted to do something else. And it's nice. So Millman didn't he was happy to bring you back.

There was no burnt bridges or any hard. I mean, he gets it. I mean, he's seen enough people stay and leave or whatever. any hard feelings i mean he gets it i mean he's seen enough people stay and leave or whatever so when i when i left the fan to go to to go to 10 10 for full-time position right i mean you always go back to your employer and say look i'm being offered this position a full-time position can you can you do better and you know they at the time they said well we don't have a full-time position to give you we can promise you full-time hours but you're still going to be a part-timer and i said no as much as i want to stick around it this might be a good opportunity you need dental right come on yeah there you go

especially me so i i didn't burn you know i'm never going to burn a bridge and i didn't burn a bridge and they totally got why i did that and then when i when when a position opened up on the morning show what happened was john derringer left to go to q107 right and he took his technical director with him and i'll tell you the the technical director uh had quit like whatever morning it was and he quit that morning and within and he didn't quit like i'm up and out of here today like he was like i'm leaving in a couple of weeks to go and join john at q so they called me that morning and they said, come in. Let's discuss you taking over this position. They didn't look at anybody else.

They asked me to come back and to do it. And I went back to 1010 and said, look, I got this wonderful opportunity. And they said, well, we could match that. And they offered me a lot to stay, which is a credit to them. I'm not trying to pat myself on the back or anything. But they said, no, no, we want to keep you and this is what we'll do. I'm not trying to pat myself on the back or anything, but they said, no, no, we want to keep you and this is what we'll do. They offered me a management position.

This is the good old days before Bell Media. This is the astral days, right? The astral days, yeah. It was smaller companies. But standard or astral? I don't know when it switches, but standard. Oh, standard. That's the good old days. Gary Slade, right? Gary Slade worked for him. And it was a little different. It was going from telemedia to standard.

Smaller companies, it was a little bit easier to navigate. It was a little bit more personal. And they were great, and they offered me opportunities to stick around. But I said, you know what? I just think I want to go back home, and I want to go back to the fan and work with people I know. And also it was an opportunity to work with Pat Marsden. Yeah, he's great. And I thought either Pat Marsden's going to die or he's going to retire and and I wanted to work with him before he did either one

of those things right and he did retire before he passed away but I got to work with Pat and work closely with him and it was an opportunity to work with a legend and also with Don Landry who was a friend of mine but to work with a legend and I'm really glad I did that because it was life-changing for me. And Pat became one of my best friends. Did you call him Pally? All the time. I still say Pally. I hear it in my head.

I hear Darren just saying it in my head. Yeah, they used to say Pally all the time, and Pat used to say Pally all the time, and Landry and I say Pally all the time. We don't talk to each other a lot, as much as we'd like. I mean, every once in a while we'll go, hey, it's been like three months. Dude, how's everything? And with social media, you can kind of connect

and make sure the other person's all right. So now, but every time Don and I talk to each other, first thing we go, Pally! It's the first thing we do. That's great. So whatever happened to Derringer? He just left your station and disappeared. You never hear from him anymore.

He went back to Q. I know. He went to Q and he went home. It's a bad joke. He's done great for himself. He's such an amazing talent. They rerun his show. At night, sometimes I hear now reruns

of Derringer. He's a morning show guy who they air at night all of a sudden. Which is a whole different story. Less live stuff. He's an incredible talent. He really is. And I mean, the guy won awards for doing what he did at K107. I thought he did a nice transition

going from Q to the fan. And they brought in Pat, and I thought that was a nice partnership. That was a lot of fun. He's an incredible talent. We're lucky to have him in this. Millman says Derringer saved the fan because there was, I guess,

there was a lockout. Yeah, was it the lockout or the post when they lost the World Series in 94 or whatever? It was around that time. Yeah. And Derringer came back and I think he was, you know, had a following and he came around there. You know, if Pat Morrison was still around, he would argue and say, I was the one that

saved this radio station. Right. So, so yeah, I think in tandem they did. But, you know, Nelson, Nelson would obviously think in tandem they did but you know nelson nelson would obviously know he was the guy you know pulling all the all the strings behind the scenes and then at some point marsden moves on and uh stellic takes his place yeah and it was it was interesting um i think they always had gourd pegged for that but they tried a number of people in the summer just to who did they try do you remember is that in your head so oh it was over like a revolving door of people and and i think was

an opportunity to just have a bunch of different voices i think it was a lot to do with that i'm always curious at who almost got the gig i don't know who almost got the gig but i can tell you who was on the air with andre during that time between pat and between gourd but you know vick router came in and he would frequently make the final he would and he's i got to talk to him soon because it's been a long time but uh but vic router was a guy that came in for maybe a week i think you know elliot came in for a few days you know friends of the fan george friends of jody vance there was a lot of people that kind of now famous for joe carter commercials for his arthritis she's doing great out west where she's from uh on btm in vancouver but she's uh you

know she came in for a little while hey trella then you know when when gourd came it was it was fun you know and you know i knew gourd from before from working with him before and you know tripping over him and being at the radio station the same time he was and so it was nice to have those two guys there and and i gotta say like you know n Nelson, Pat, Don and Gord were the four biggest influences I've had, you know, at the radio station and my growth there. Now, you mentioned the comedy. So, Stelic and Landry, which I used to have a commute and I listened to a lot of Fan in the morning. So, I heard a lot of Stelic and Landry. And I'd hear a lot of you as an extension because a part of that show was, which you mentioned some people would complain about and then complain when it disappears, which is the nature of Superman.

It's a polarizing thing, whether you like comedy or not. But there were bits. And I remember, so your voice, the first time I'd hear your voice would be Vito in Woodbridge. Was this a character? Vito from Woodbridge. From Woodbridge, right. Yeah, whatever. So what happened?

No, whatever. This is a key part of my commute was Vito. Okay, well, and it was a key part of my commute was okay well and it was a key part of my career and something that that don and i will look back on quite fondly and and and i mean and i say don and i because we were the guys that wrote the stuff and voiced everything and and gourd was a willing participant in all of it and every once in a while he would throw in an idea uh but but even he would say that was it was don and i that was your forte comedy yeah it's the thing we did you know but gourd was every time we had gordon a bit he was great like he played along he was a lot of fun

and he doesn't take himself seriously which is great so what happened with the comedy was i always knew don had a few voices in his back pocket that he would have fun with yeah and i don't know maybe every once in a while impromptu on the air, he would, he would do it just for fun. And so what happened was I just wanted to write comedy sketches on, on the radio. So I think I, I, I did one, you know, one morning, I don't know what it was. It probably was terrible. And I, and I, and I did it and aired it. And then Nelson came in and he said, what was that thing you aired at whatever time? And I said, Oh, it's this thing I kind of put together. And he goes, hmm. He goes, well, you have another one?

Go ahead and do it. Nice little flavor. Okay. I think I did another one. I don't know when. A couple days later. And he goes, hmm. Pretty good.

He says, let's make sure we get one a week. And then, you know, I did one a week for about two weeks. And then he said, we need one a day. And then from one a day, it went, we need one a day and then from one a day it went we need one an hour right you know and and by that time Landry was a full participant in it and and and we co-owned all of that and it got to a point where I was writing for 60 characters and he was voicing about 35 of them and I was voicing about 25 of them and it really grew into something that we were very proud of you know until one day there was a lot of change at the radio station and part of

the change was yeah we don't want you guys to do that anymore i remember that and it got to a point where where we had done it for so many years every day it was such a grind that when they told us not to do it anymore it was like we were disappointed because you took away some fun but at the same time our jobs got a lot easier oh i can imagine yeah because i mean it was like half my job what's easier to do this than it is to actually prepare comedic bits oh yeah i mean to write bits and put them together i mean and there was a soundscape to these things like doors would open and there'd be like yeah i mean i i wrote them i produced i mean don wrote a few but i i primarily wrote most of them i i wrote them i

produced them we had to get them voiced, and we had to do them. I would often finish putting together a bit at 6.55 and it would air at 7. Right, oh, yeah. And I would listen to it for maybe the second time, and I would listen for mistakes. Did I move that sound effect over half a second enough that it made sense?

And then there were a lot of bits that we did that weren't packaged that were kind of live so i would write a script i would give it to our technical director and he would follow along in the script and and don would read his part live and then i would tape like let's say vick router on the phone or jerry howarth on the phone yeah and and our technical director his name is max he was great he would have to respond by playing the clips that i put together and then i had to label properly and i mean it became an art and and and you know some of the easier bits would be when don and gourd would be doing a bit live with me when i was on the phone doing one of my characters like that big feet from woodbridge was easy, and that was even better because

if I wanted to take it in a different direction and kind of have some fun with them and try to make them laugh, I could, so I could improv it a bit more. So it was great. It's something that I look back on that I'm really proud of. Yeah, I remember these bits. I remember, for example, Landry would do a pretty good Brian Williams, for example.

He did Brian Williams, he did Don Cherry, Vic Rauter, Jerry Howard. Those were some of his great ones. I have to ask a question because it ties into a previous episode of Toronto Mic'd here. Who wrote the Sleepy Wilner stuff? I think Don did. Who was the voice of Sleepy Wilner? He did it, but I like to do it as well.

Uh, but, but he did it and he was great at it. But I, I, I think most of our bits would be us just kind of goofing like, like, like cause Mike,

God bless him. He'd be on the air until like midnight the night before. And he joined us at six 45 the next morning. So he'd be on like three hours sleep and he'd come on the next morning. He'd be like, well guys, uh, uh,

Frank Catalano, great night last night. three hours sleep and he'd come on the next morning he'd be like well guys uh frank catalanato great night last so don and i would kind of joke he's like oh poor guy he was so tired so we would do this so so sometimes i'd get don to record some of the the lines that one of us wrote i think it was him that he would write and then i would add something to it like i would just tell him like after he voiced the lines that I was going to go back and put together, I would tell him, Hey,

could you, could you just go like stand away from the mic and just go, hang on, hang on, hold on. Let's say almost got it. And he go, why?

And I go, well, just, just do it. And he would do it. And then I would add like fumbling phone sound effects. Yeah. And I remember I made this like 90 second bit of him just fumbling the phone

and the guys just cracked up the whole time laughing about it. I still love Sleepy Wilner. I'm laughing now. God bless him. Like honestly, he'd be on the air like three hours on three hours sleep. No, I know. And he'd be on the radio again. Not many people could do that.

The reason I'm asking about Sleepy Wilner is because the first time Wilner, he's been on a couple of times. But the first time I asked him about Sleepy Wilner bits and he hated them. He didn't like them, no. He did not like the Sleepy Wilderness. Which just makes me like them more. Well, I mean, he probably thought we were making fun of them, which I guess in a way we were, but it was kind of, I like to think it was a tip

of the cap of, this poor guy's got to get up so early. But it just, you know, it made us laugh. We weren't trying to make fun of him. No, I know. It was great. We had a lot of fun with those characters. I mean, that's how like Chassin cologne came up of course i don't know if you remember that of course i do of course i do that was just us during a break i don't even remember which one of us did it it was so long ago but one of us just kind of said doesn't this name sound like a clone

yeah yeah so we just made an ad and then god bless the blue jays and rob jack with the blue jays they they came up to us and said that was really funny we should do should do that. I'm like, yeah, we should do that. And then it became this whole thing, and it ended up in Sports Illustrated. It was awesome. Oh, I definitely remember that. I still have a framed picture or the framed article of Don and Gord posing with Gustavo Chassin on Chassin Night, which I was there for. It was, I think, June 27 of 2000-something. I've still got the poster.

And the article and the radio station plaqued it for the guys. and then they got blown out and then nobody was there to take the plaque off the wall so i'm like i'm taking it before somebody puts it in storage and we never see it again so i have it hanging in my office at home good for you good for you uh and the veto from woodbridge um could you do a little bit or you don't do it on demand i don't do it anymore hey don't ask me to do it hey yeah Vito from Woodbridge was me one day being frustrated with callers. Well, I bet it was based on a real caller, sure. Yeah, somebody called in and just said,

we should trade Todd Warner and two first round picks and a third round pick for Aguila. Yeah, it was something crazy, right? And I was like, so I went in the other room and I pretended to be a caller and I just named him Vito and I was like, where would Vito be? Well, pretended to be a caller and i just named him veto and i was like well where would veto be well from woodbridge of course because of the italian contingent that's there and so i just made him this character and then he just developed into

this this guy and i made him an intern so he could be around the radio station a lot so he know the guys yeah yeah and uh and that character i still get asked that about today which is great probably your most well-known character it is yeah, yeah. And to a point where Nelson told me, he said, with all due respect to the hosts we have here, I think I could put him on the air as a host and he'd get better ratings than anybody. And I don't think he was actually going to do it, but it was a compliment to the character.

And that character took on a life of its own. I mean, I did a show last week and somebody called in and said, hey, where's Vito from Woodbridge? And I haven't done him in years. But, you know, if I had him my way, he'd be back in some way shape or form on that note though because if you were you're of Maltese descent but if you were of Italian descent this would be a no-brainer but my question is when it comes to doing accents from cultures outside of your own I find it's a this is just my observations if it's a white culture it's okay and if it's if

it's not it's not okay so in opinion, if some guy does a Scottish accent, like I'm a danger boy on 102.1, who is Jason Barr. He was Scottish accent for his entire danger boy career. Scottish accent. Put it on. That's fine. Vito's okay too. Italian accent's okay.

South Asian or Jamaican, now we're in a tricky area where you've got to be careful and potentially would probably be told not to do it. What do you think of that? Well, I mean, there's just a history of people of certain descents clashing.

So, you know, I think that might be where it's rooted from. Sure. But you can get away with Vito, which is interesting because Vito couldn't be a Jamaican. Well, Vito isn't really

an Italian guy, is he? Sure, come on. He happens to be Italian and he's from Woodbridge. Right, right, right. I wasn't doing an Italian guy who happens to be named Vito from Woodbridge. I just named the guy Vito and I had him from Woodbridge because a lot of Italians... And we know he drives an IROC. It's very Italian.

Yeah, I mean, I made him kind of Italian stereotypical for fun, but I never really made him like an Italian guy. I mean, similar to that, Don Landry did an impression of Wajid Khan, who was in the Zephyr Mazda commercials. Forgot about that, yeah. But it was a bang-on impression of a person that was on the radio station. Let's face it, became a personality

with all the ads he made. Yeah, yeah, yeah. With his consent as well. Like, he loved it. I think it's PC gone wild and over the top, but I have a feeling that would not happen today. I have a feeling that Landry doing that accent today would be different.

Maybe not, but I think we live in a world now where I think people in the world of social media, I think just generally speaking, I think people are overly sensitive and they're looking for something to complain about. I mean, I had a guy complain about something I did on my show last night that was so innocent and foolish and dumb and fun. What was it? I was listening to you last night. At the end of the night, you and I are sipping water during this show.

Sure, it's water. Last night's show, I had Brian Murian mere sports night 590 fan hockey analyst and senate cup champion i had him on he's a good pal of mine and you know a few days ago he was boasting about how he can decipher different brands of water so i did a water test with him and i bought a couple of different brands of water i said on the air i want you to test them yeah i had one guy on twitter complain about it oh really filling time are we oh wow like you know i'm having a bit of fun for five minutes. But that's it.

But people are like, oh, sorry, that five minutes in the end of my show, that was for free, by the way. Which sounds like a good bit. That bothered you? Yeah. Shut up. Get over yourself. Look, there are things that I watch on television that I go, eh.

You're never going to make anyone happy. I'm not going to go out of my way to complain about it. What do I care? I got an angry email from a listener of this podcast who was very angry that when they went to my site, they didn't see an about page. About you? Yeah, about me.

They wanted to learn about me, and there was no about. And I wrote him back and explained, like, oh, it's not about me, it's about the guest, and, you know, I'm blogging since I was two, whatever, which is true. But you should take that as flattering. It is flattering, but then he actually wrote back, and he said, it's ironic that

a show about... Basically, I just ended up saying, I apologize profusely for my lack of about page. I just don't want an about page on my site. Well, that's up to you. I don't think you have to apologize. I think it was generous of you to apologize, but you don't have to. Well, it was actually done ten in cheek.

I get that, but I think people feel that nowadays, let's face it, on Twitter, there are opinions that I didn't ask for. But they're going to offer them. And I think people have a sense of entitlement that I don't think is deserved. Well, it's too easy now. And I'm not saying this as a guy that happens to be on the radio that can give you their opinion. But I'm sorry. I get paid to give you my opinion, and I have an audience.

So I happen to think that some people care. But when a guy that has one follower that feels like he's just got to shout at the world. And they're always anonymous, right? They always have fake names and handles. It's so easy for someone anonymous to bitch on Twitter. And I'll have people bitch and complain to me on Twitter and say that I'm out to lunch on a particular topic.

And I'm like, well, you know, I gave out the phone numbers as well. You can call me and have a conversation about that. And nowadays there's a lot of anger about the Toronto Blue Jays. And I'll open up the phones and talk about the Blue Jays. And the people, some of the people, some, some, just a select few of the people that will call in will just call and shout

at me about the Blue Jays and then hang up. And I'm like, you know I'm here for a conversation, right? Like, you can disagree with what I'm saying. It's fine. I'm going to sleep okay tonight, but I'm here to present an opinion so that we could talk about it. Maybe you'll say something that'll change my opinion.

Maybe I'll say something to you that'll change your opinion. Those are the hit and run. So let's have a discussion about it. So I just think people are very quick to one, get angry and two, just blurt out their opinion in one way, shape or form and not actually have a conversation. You're absolutely right.

Or be willing to discuss or be willing to have their minds changed. And we're going to get to Sportsnet tonight, which is what I heard you on yesterday. But I want to ask you about that day. There's a day in, I think it was 2011. You correct me if I'm wrong. But the day where a number of high-profile fan employees, many of them in front of the mic, like Landry and Stelic,

were let go. It was like a wave. I'm trying to remember if that had barbed a Julio in that wave. No, it was a different wave. No, Barb was later. She's doing great on 1010 now.

Oh yeah, she's got it. She's the only female with a show on 1010 in the weekdays. She is an unbelievable talent. She's unbelievable. So why did the fan let her go if she's so good i frankly not that

you made i don't know if if it were me i'd be doing a show with her right now on the fan and and that's that's partly a tip of the cap to the friendship i've got with her and also to to her talent i think you know and i embarrass her whenever i talk to her because i tell her how great she is now talented she is she's like oh shut up stop stop. But I think there, you know, I don't know. It's hard for me to comment because I wasn't on either side of it. But if it were up to me, she'd still be with me and I'd be working with her.

But she, I think she did what she did for many years there. 20 something. From her perspective, she's happy doing what she's doing. Sure. And she's killing it. And she's grown as a broadcaster. I mean, someone that was such an accomplished broadcaster could actually find room for growth. And she did that by having this opportunity.

Things are going to happen. And I think with the move with Barb and many years ago, with that wave of employees that were let go, I think it was just at a time where the radio station or the company said, you know what? As great as these guys are, as great as these people are, I think there's room for improvement, but I don't think there's room for that improvement with these people. I think the only way we can move upwards is with change. I don't necessarily agree with that,

but I think that was their philosophy. Okay, so Landry and Stellar are part of this wave, if you will. Yeah. And what do you do at that point? Because you survive, thankfully enough, you survive it. Yeah. And what do you do at that point? Because you survive. Thankfully enough, you survive it. I did.

I honest to God felt like I was looking to the left and right of me and seeing all these bodies on the floor. Right. I must have been a terrible, terrible, terrible time. Well, yeah, I saw my friends. Because you like these people. They aren't just colleagues. I love them.

I mean, look, you're getting up at three o'clock in the morning. Yeah. It's not all for the money. It's certainly not because you want to. Part of it is because when you get there, you enjoy the people you see, and you're going to have some fun. So that was a big part of my professional life.

And then when that was gone, I was like, well, what am I getting up for then? Who am I working with now? And that was a really bad time. Did you stay producing the morning show? I stayed. Were you there for Lumbee? Because Lumbee's after that.

I had to co-host with Lumbee. He's been on the show very recently. Love Lumbee. And I've been very complimentary, and it's going to sound like a broken record. But I've honestly been very fortunate to be working with tremendously talented and very, very nice people.

And I think you're going to find that in radio more often than not. Lumbee was just just he was great he was such a nice person and he worked so hard but there's a transition that has to be made when you go from music radio to talk radio and i think and he would say it as well maybe he did but i think he underestimated how tough it would be to be in talk radio having lived in the music world for so long which is not to say that music people can't do it. Derringer did it.

But I think Yender estimated how tough it would be. And when I say I had to co-host with him, I don't mean that as disrespect to him, but because he found it so tough, I was his producer, I actually had to sit next to him in the studio the whole time. And whenever he wanted to talk to me,

I had to be ready, which was kind of tough to do when you're producing the show and you've got to make phone calls and do stuff and actually produce a show and then go into a soundproof booth. Why didn't they give him a co-host though? First of all, when he was hired, he was hired only for the

summer. That's sort of a key detail. He was an interim guy. They had me do it. They didn't tell me, hey, we need you to co-host. They just kind of said, he needs help. It was during the transition time. They didn't want to invest any money into that, I don't think. After Labor Day, they brought in Crystal.

Yeah. Andrew Crystal, who, by the way, has several times, and I don't even know, should I say, I don't know. It's real talk,

so I say everything. But he's asked to come on the show, but I've met him enough times that I actually don't know if I want him on the show because he's fucking weird. Is that a, you don't have to agree with me. He's cut from a different cloth.

A little scary weird. Which is partly why he would be attractive to you one for a conversation, two for a job on your radio station. I think he's an incredible talent but I don't think he wanted to work hard enough. And I'm not

calling him lazy. I just think he might have work hard enough. And I'm not calling him lazy. Right. I just think he might have looked at that job and said, I don't know. I don't know if I want to talk about sports every day. I don't know if I want to do that. I firmly believe that if he wanted to, he'd still be on the air right now. I just don't think he wanted to. I don't know.

I've never had a conversation about that with him afterwards. But I think at the end of the day, he just did not want to put the work in he found when the work he did put in he found it taxing and and which is not to say he wasn't capable more than capable i just think that he can talk about a wide variety of subjects right and i think he might have found that he was limited to to talking sports i felt he was a bad fit for the station. I'm not anti-Crystal. He's an entertaining, irreverent kind of guy. He's a great talker. He can talk.

Yeah, you know. And I know he was on 640 with Mojo. He was on 640, yeah, back then. And I think he went out east. He went east, yeah. With tremendous success. He was recruited back for the Fan Morning Show. But I just think it was a poor fit.

He wasn't a sports guy. And it just didn't seem to fit the state. It just sounded like when I listened to the first few weeks of Crystal, I was like, the countdown clock was started and when they blow this up. Yeah, because if you're not a sports guy,

it's going to show. You produced a show? It's just not in your element. Yeah. Okay. I did. That was a weird time because,

so they let go of Landry and Stellick and I think Doug Faraway kind of, you know, he was in management and he was a host as well. So he kind of bridged the gap between when they decided to have somebody interim and it wasn't him. And they went with Lumbee. I don't know if he wanted to do it or not. He was really busy. So Lumbee did it for a while. And then.

Lumbee did the summer. Lumbee did the summer. And then I think they hired Crystal. Crystal. I remember it being like the day after Labor Day, maybe. I remember Lumbee took us to Labor Day, and then Crystal started his new gig. Yeah. Yeah.

So it's funny because they came to me and they said, it was a different management at the time. They came to me and they said, you're starting to host a little bit now. We want to move you to a daytime show producing. And then that would free you up to host a little bit more. And I was like, yeah, you know what? That sounds good.

Maybe it's time for a change. I'm fine with that. And, you know, saying that, you know, maybe crystal wanted his own guy or whatever. They were going to go a different direction.

And then it was like two days before the move was supposed to happen. And I was like, so what's happening with me? They're like, what are you talking about? So what's happening with me? And he said, well,

you're, you're producing crystal. He starts on Monday or whatever it was. And they said, well, you're, you're producing crystal. He starts on Monday or whatever it was. And I said, well, no, I'm not because you asked me not to do it and to do other things. And I was happy about that.

You asked me. Right. And they said, oh, well, yeah, we changed our mind. And they didn't tell you.

And I said, well, you got to tell me that. I mean, I'm, you know, here I am. I'm telling my family,

my lifestyle is going to change, improve. Let's be honest. Right. Cause not doing morning hours. And then, you know am. I'm telling my family my lifestyle is going to change, improve, let's be honest, because not doing morning hours. And then eventually they found a replacement. But shortly when they found a replacement, they decided to go in a different direction altogether with the morning show, which I didn't look back on and go, oh, I would have stuck around. No, I mean, the hours were enough. Like I did that. Yeah, you're waking up at 3 o'clock in the morning. I did it for years.

Like, I don't know, seven, eight years, whatever it was. It's not, it added years to my life. And I just thought, you know, it's, it's time for a change anyway. So then what happened was I ended up producing Blair for a week.

Oh yeah. Okay. And then by the end of that week, they said, uh, how would you like to do overnights? And you'd be the overnight guy. And I said,

yeah, my own show Monday to Friday doing overnights, I'll do it. So I think I produced Blair for the rest of the month. Okay. And then I ended up doing an overnight show. So, so much for having a normal life and having- Yeah, I'm going to say your shift was midnight to 5.30. But it was 11 to 5.30.

11, okay. Most nights. But it was an opportunity. It was like, hey, I'm gonna get to to be on the air a lot and let's face it at four in the morning you know make mistakes and screw around and test things and do some different things so i got to do that and it was a lot of fun i mean i did i did six and a half hour shows five days a week so what 32 and a half hours a week whereas typically a host will do 15 right and i'll have a host so i did twice as much on my own without calls without guests at like four o'clock in the

morning and that's the way you improve i mean yeah you're one of the guys actually if i may say uh jeff you're one of the guys on the fan where you can if you listen to sports radio in this city you can hear your career progression like we can hear you where you're like the guy in the morning show who chimes in once in a while to the guy you hear on whatever overnights. This is how radio has changed. I can't remember who to give credit

for, but a few guests have said this. A lot of stations don't have the live overnight guy anymore. It's recorded or syndicated. I have a comment about that in a moment. You're right. Somebody tweeted at me about that. But you having that time overnight is how you get better. You put in your reps, you put in your time.

I did. Go listen to episode one of Toronto Mic'd and then this one. And it's a world of difference. Of course it's going to sound different. Because the only way you get better is by doing it. Of course it's going to sound different. I think the first show I did in 2015 is going to sound like the last one I'll do in 2015 on December 19th. I think there's there's

always there always has to be some growth um but i'm glad i had those reps but i think that was before a time where uh you could do a podcast and and it's no disrespect to the podcast but you could have five people listening you know just five people and make some mistakes and screw around i mean it's on the internet so it maybe lives forever until you take it down, which is kind of scary. You can always edit it. It's a podcast. You can edit it if you've got the ownership of it or whatever,

but where you can kind of cut your teeth on the internet with a smaller audience as opposed to being on a Toronto radio station. So you could do that. So it might be a bit embarrassing to have, and it's good to have growth to, to have, to have, it's good to have growth. I'm glad there is growth, but it's, it's maybe a little bit embarrassing. Oh, I remember you three years ago. You were terrible. Now you're not so bad. Okay. Well, great. I'm, I'm, I'm a little bit embarrassed by, by being terrible. If I was three years ago, four years ago, five years ago, whatever it was, but yeah. Um, as long as there's progression,

you can't worry about that stuff. You have to just go do your thing, man. I don't care whatever it is. If it's radio, television, if it's music, if it's painting, just go do your thing and make your mistakes and have a bit of fun. No, you're absolutely right. So you get these hours to improve from midnight to 5.30, and now I hear you at reasonable hours. Now I heard you, like I said last night. Is it with Ben Ennis?

You do the Sportsnet tonight? Well, that's what it says, but i've done eight shows of them yeah so i'm mostly on my own which is fine i don't care i mean i'll work with him i'll work with anybody i'll work on my own what are the hours of sports a sports net tonight well evenings monday to friday but you know play by play gets in the way of that so if there's a leaf game or raptor game like maybe i'll be on after the raptor game if it's a leaf game, then they've got their own postgame show with Stelic and Alushko. So I'll have that night off. But I'm a bit all over the place.

I'm on evenings. I'm on weekends. Whenever they need me, I'm on. I don't care. The mic goes on. I have some fun. You mentioned the CBS overnight. So Daryl on Twitter sent me a tweet

and he said, start a petition to get him, and you are the him in this tweet, start a petition to get him on the overnight show and get rid of CBS Overnight. Hashtag hate it. I think a lot of people want to hear a live local guy on their overnight show, and I know that's not the trend now.

I guess it saves a buck. Is that what it does? I'm sure it does. You're not paying employees to host a show, produce a show, and to technically operate a show. So, I mean, I don't know if that went into the decision or not, but I don't know. I think CBS adds a little something. I know Amy Lawrence, who's on CBS Sports Radio overnight,

and I think she does a great job. It's just not local, but I don't know. And again, it's a few hours overnight. Is it that big a deal? But it's a compliment to you that Daryl misses you once he wants you there. It's nice, but I'm on the air five, six days a week, whatever it is. So, I mean, he gets to listen to me at those times. I appreciate the compliment.

Yeah, come on, Daryl. But, you know, if you want to pay me to be on the air till 530 in the morning and disrupt my home life, then. Yeah, that does. That does. I remember I used to work at a grocery store when I was younger. And I remember the guys who did, we had to unload the truck in the middle of the night. And there was a midnight,

like midnight to like six in the morning or something, maybe 11 to six or something. And I remember like the guys who did that shift, it changed their lives. Well, I mean, you're a vampire. You really are. And there is like a peacefulness, a calmness to being opposite other people,

like what they do. And you can drink in the morning and it's okay. But your diet is completely screwed because you're eating whatever you want at different times. I just have to not be hungry. I don't care what it is. So it's different. Then you've got to adjust back on the weekend to be with your family. And then you've got to go back.

It's a tough life. The world is designed for like nine to fivers have you noticed that it's just i mean it's just a human thing to to want to do more in the daylight than than at nighttime exactly exactly hey quick so roger luchois a quick question about him and he's been on the show and i've asked him but he's been on the fan forever but it sounds like his secret the secret to his success is he's never been a fan employee. So he's never been a... You are, I guess, in HR terms, you're a permanent full-time employee of Rogers. I'm a full-time guy. I'm there.

I work there. Yeah. So he's on the air a lot, but doesn't work for Rogers. He is like an independent contractor. Yeah, freelancer, contractor, whatever he does. So he's a pay-as-you-go resource. Yeah, which is not to say that he just pops up on any radio station. He only goes an independent contractor. Yeah, freelancer, contractor, whatever he does. So he's a pay-as-you-go resource. Yeah, which is not to say that he just pops up on any radio station. He only goes on the fan.

He's given exclusivity, I guess, to the fan. Yeah, yeah. He's not popping up on 1050 or anything like that. I know of. No, no, no, no. So is that the only guy we hear on the fan who's got that kind of unique setup where he's a pay-as-you-go resource? You don't know?

You don't know? You haven't looked into everybody's HR files and checked out their… Frankly, the only person I care about at that radio station is me. You know, while I like everybody there, I'm really only concerned about me. I think he might be the only guy with that kind of a deal. I don't know. No big deal. But he's worked that well.

But he's a hard worker, and he likes to have 10 different things going. At least 10 different jobs. He may have scaled that back now because he's done so much of it throughout his career. My favorite, he's got many interesting jobs, but one is that he's the official scorer at some games at the Dome. At the Blue Jays.

And he did, I think, at least one playoff game. I know he was the official scorer, which is amazing. It is amazing. Can you imagine? He does all kinds of stuff. Can you imagine the stress? Like, if you're the official scorer for a playoff game, I know he was the official scorer, which is amazing. It is amazing. Can you imagine? He does all kinds of stuff. Can you imagine the stress? If you're the official scorer for a playoff game, all eyes on you and everything.

I wouldn't want to do it. I think you have to be a certain kind of person to be able to pull off something like that. Yeah, that's got to be tough. I'm not doing that. Not that they're ever asking me, but I'm not doing that. So do you got to ask this because a book came out, I'm going to get the names right, Numeris puts out a ratings book on radio stations

from people wearing the PPM devices and stuff in the city. I found one, by the way. I won't tell you who it is, but I did find one person wearing that device. I've never in my life seen anybody. That's the first time I heard of, I know somebody who actually has the device, which I find interesting.

So do you get a look at this book or do they share this info with you? Oh yeah. Do you just get told you just, do they tell you about your show? Yeah. And do they give you feedback? Like, do you hear this from, you have a Dave Cadeau? Is that the guy? Dave Cadeau is the program director now.

And yeah, you're aware of all that information. I frankly don't care. I don't. And I mean that sincerely. I don't care and I mean that sincerely I don't care about that stuff I'm going to show up and I'm going to do the show that I think is best and I hope people like it and if there comes a time where they go

that's enough out of you then alright I'll go to the next thing I've lived through that I've been through the ups and downs of that I've been on a morning show for many years how do we do do we do well how was the competition I've been through the ups and downs of that. I've been on a morning show for many years. How do we do? Do we do well? How was the competition? I've been through all that. It's just wasted energy. There are people that get paid more than I do or that get paid to worry about

that stuff. I'm going to let them do that. Jeff, I got one final question for you here before we wrap up. No math. I'm terrible with math. Why are you a fan of the new york yankees are you gonna throw me out now no it's just very disappointing but we're done yeah why would you root for our arch nemesis of all teams i've been a yankees fan for many years derrick jeter kind of broke onto the scene or i heard about this kid derrick jeter in the yankees organization at a time where i didn't really have a favorite team and i thought hey you know, you know, I love the Yankees tradition and I'm going to keep an eye on this kid.

And of course, you know, the rest was history with with Derek Jeter. But, you know, growing up like I've always been like, well, you know, I root for the Toronto teams. I hope they do well, but I wouldn't call myself a diehard fan of any one of them. I mean, I guess now with the Toronto Raptors, but, you know, not with the Leafs, not with the Blue Jays. But, you know, I always want them to do well. Sure. But, you know, and this year it wasn't a problem like with the blue Jays. Like I wanted the blue Jays to win the division and go onto the playoffs. Cause I'm just not a

believer in the Yankees these days. Like they've got, they're in purgatory right now where they've got to, they've got to undo a lot of the contracts that they have and get younger and then build up again. And it's going to take a few years for the, for the Yankees to do that. In the meantime, the blue Jays, I think are the favorites in the American league build up again. It's going to take a few years for the, for the Yankees to do that. In the meantime, the blue Jays, I think are the favorites in the American league East once again. So I think there's their time to strike. And the city was just mad about them. And so was I,

it was great. But I always find it interesting where a guy like yourself born and raised in the city of Toronto does not fall in love with the home team. You, you decided to be. Yeah. I mean, I'm a,

I'm a Yankees fan. I'm an Islanders fan. I like the Raptors, but before the Raptors, I kind of like the Knicks. But that's okay because before the Raptors, there's no home team. There's no competition, yeah. I'm a Giants fan. What I get a lot is, why do you like so many New York teams? It's just coincidence.

I love New York. I love the city of New York, but it just happens to be a coincidence I like all those teams. I don't know. It's a little bit like rooting for IBM when you adopt the Yankee. On that note, I want to thank you very much for this because I had a great conversation. Me too.

It was a lot of fun. I mean, on my show, I got to talk, and I'd love to, but I talk a lot of sports and I want to actually talk about the medium and to look back at my time in radio has been a lot of fun, so thanks for affording me

the opportunity to stroll down memory lane. I'm a married man with a two-year-old, so I can never get a word in edgewise. Nobody cares about me anymore, so it was nice to get to do that. Thanks, man. Dude, I know that feeling. And that brings us to the end of our 149th

show. You can follow me on Twitter, at Toronto Mike, and Jeff is at JeffZammit590. Zammit is spelled with an S. S-A-M-M-U-T. See you all next week. And drink some goodness from a tin Cause my UI check has just come in Ah, where you been?

Because everything is kind of rosy and green