Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Jeff Woods: Toronto Mike'd #177

Episode Date: June 3, 2016

Mike chats with former Q107 broadcaster Jeff Woods about his life in radio, The Legends of Classic Rock, why Q107 fired him and his new book Radio, Records and Rockstars.

Welcome to episode 177 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a local independent brewery producing fresh craft beer. I'm Mike from TorontoMic.com and joining me this week is broadcaster and author Jeff Woods. I am thrilled to be here. Thank you for having me. I like your setup. I like your studio. You know, you're obligated to tell me that because I love hearing it.

I'm not obligated, but I actually legitimately think it's great. Yeah, we were just chatting before I started recording. We were trying to remember the name of the Christian Slater movie. It's Hard on Harry, right? That was the name, Hard on Harry. You said a different one before. Yeah, well, the name of the movie is Pump Up the Volume. Oh, but he was Hard on Harry. Yeah, with... It's Hard on Harry, right? That was the name? Hard on Harry? You said a different one before. Yeah, well, the name of the movie is Pump Up the Volumes. Oh, but he was Hard on Harry. Yeah, I think he was Hard on Harry.

That's the vibe I'm going for here. The Hard on part or just the Harry? We'll see how it goes, okay? We'll see how it goes. How many tattoos do you have? Well, you know, it's all kind of morphed into one or two. One big blob of ink.

I'm going tomorrow to finish my back. Oh, yeah? There was an album in the late 1980s by Los Lobos called La Pistola El Corazon, The Gun in the Heart. And I loved the cover. And the cover was from a painting by an East L.A. artist named George Yepay. So I had that poster that I got at the record distributor when I had a record store. And I hung it on my wall in a frame for the last, what, 20 plus, 27 years.

And I was thinking about what do I put on my back? And I walked by this thing for 27 years. Now, there it is. There you go. So I'm about 80% done. So, yeah, I was going to say you got some room, I hope, some white space. I have a neck left. You know what?

I got to say, because I was watching James Johnson on the Raptors. I saw a lot of Raptors lately, of course, and he's got the neck tattoo, and I'm just not sure. I think it's kind of when you can wear a collared shirt and hide the ink, it's probably for the best. You know, it's probably not a bad idea. I've always lived a little bit on the edge. As it correlates to that, it was the late 90s,

and I was at Q107 toronto and i was the assistant program director and music director now of course if you have any ambition you want to become the program director and i did but not at the expense of my liberty so i made myself a little uh deal i'll continue to wear and this is this expression is is shunned by a lot of people but it's not meant to be anything derogatory towards women because it's clearly not it's just a wife beater is a is a what do you call that tank top yeah yeah i would wear a white wife beater flip-flops and ripped jeans because that was sort of my uniform every day and i thought if they still want to make me program director someday given this uniform then i'm in right so I didn't change the way I dressed.

We're a rock station. There are rock stations in Canada, as you probably know, Mike, where there's a dress code and people have to wear khaki pants. Is that right? Yes. I didn't know there was a... Buttoned down shirts. I did not know that.

A lot of corporations and even some family-run radio companies have that mandate. And I would never work for somebody who thought, what's radio for starters? You can't see what I'm wearing. That's a good point. Yeah, I mean, Matt Galloway was in here. He dresses like, well, it actually happens to be, now they simulcast it on TV. But before that, he was dressing so fine,

like nice, you see, I got no style. I'm wearing this T-shirt that Pete Fowler gave me for his show right by the way did you know Pete it's been many years but yes he's an OPP

I don't know if he's a sergeant I think now this I did not know talk about changing gears he left radio and became a cop and yeah this is his

t-shirt for his indie project it's a radio show he's got but I digress but yeah I have no style but Galloway

dress is really nice. I appreciate men who wear fine clothes. It's just I want to be comfortable when I'm sitting here with you. Hey, no, I appreciate it. I got to say, you got to tell me, I have a 14-year-old son, and his voice is deeper than mine, and I'm kind of jealous. And I'm listening to you now through the headphones, and I'm thinking, this guy sounds great. Can you tell me, when did this happen? When did this voice drop?

It didn't happen until in my 20s. Get out of here. Because when I went to college, I was 19, and I had quite a high voice. Not high high, but not like this. I really think, and I don't encourage either of these things in excess. One of them, not at all. I smoked cigarettes since I was eight years old. Really?

And I quit for three years and back on for three years. So it's not as bad as it sounds, maybe. And probably drinking bourbon. Those things certainly contributed to the voice. Well, now I know where I messed up. Only because I mentioned the 14-year-old and I've got a 12-year-old. I can't imagine an 8-year-old smoking. It's ridiculous when I think back, but we were like little rascals.

But you didn't inhale, right? Is that the deal? We all inhale. We were ridiculous kids. My friend and I, my next-door neighbor, we are crazy music fans, brothers in arms. All the other kids were older. So by virtue of that, we'd follow along. And then the 12- and 13-year-olds would be buying cigarettes at the corner store when they didn't ask you for ID.

And we would follow along. We'd follow their lead. And we'd go to the creek. And I guess we didn't even have a blaster back then. We had no music. We swam in the creek, and we made beans and dogs and smoked cigarettes until we turned into cigarettes, and then we'd go home at the end of the day. And nowadays, they won't even paint the tip of the Popeye cigarettes.

They took the red off the tip. They call them sticks now. They're Popeye sticks. It's the exact same candy I used to have. No more red, and it's called sticks. I'm not surprised. I don't condone any of it, but you know, you can't change the past.

So I'm going to, if you don't mind, since it's like Friday evening, I'm going to crack open. This is Great Lakes Brewery's Sunnyside Session IPA, and I'm just going to crack it open. Let's hear how that sounds.

I'm going to do the same because there's a can right in front of me. I was going to say, it's cool, but it's not as cold as mine. Are you going to be okay? Yeah, it's cool.

Cool's cool. Okay. I accidentally keep it very cool down here because the distribution of heat is kind of weird in this house. It's always cold down here. And this interview

is just warming up the place even more evidently. I'm going to have a sip. You enjoy that. So that six pack, that's all for you to take home with you. That's nice of you.

Thank you. Courtesy of Great Lakes Beer, good local craft brewery. If anybody wants to help crowdfund Toronto Mike, that's at patreon.com slash Toronto Mike. And if that's too difficult to remember because you're listening to this on a podcast, go to torontomike.com

and I got big orange buttons that say become a patron. Click that and then even for a dollar a month, whatever you want to give, help crowdfund this experience. I'll give you a dollar a month. Would you? I'm going to hold you to that. Now you're committed.

Before we dive in, I got a lot of stuff I need to talk to you about. Yeah, of course. You've read some of the book I noticed on Twitter today. We're going to get into that. The book, by the way, which we're definitely going to get into, is fantastic. It's the kind of book I like. I think it's the reason I started this podcast is to get interesting stories.

You're part of a scene. I'm curious about the Toronto radio scene and the record store and the record business and the whole talking to the whole, you know, talking to Jimmy Page, this whole thing. I get to reading the book and I have to admit, it only arrived this week

and you came on earlier than expected so I have not had a chance to do a deep dive and I've just been kind of reading and looking at the pictures. Fantastic. You're so sweet to say. It is great.

And I'm not just saying that because you're on my show. Of course you're not. No, I've heard your show before. You're sincere. Straight shooter. I love that not just saying that because you're on my show. Of course you're not. No, I've heard your show before. You're sincere. Street shooter. I love that. Street shooter.

Thank you. I was thrilled to get it done. I went hardcore in the writing process last fall. And it's done and it's out. And we're going to talk more about that later. But right now, by the way, this was my first dance. You know, my second wedding, this is my first dance. Tragically hip.

Long time running. And I just want to ask you like okay so and by the way i went to the index of your page i like your book and i go to the back and i go to the index and it has a list of all the musicians referenced in the book so one of the first things i do is i kind of i see gore downey's name and i flip over to the page and see what you said about gore downey and uh i guess i want know, do you have any understanding of this how many tickets Ticketmaster would put, how much go to the public and how many, do you have any idea?

There was a great piece in the Star on Wednesday June the 1st Wednesday and it correlated to a story out of New York City where the Attorney General in New York was interested in knowing why it was so difficult to get tickets to shows, rock shows in particular. So they did a two-year study, and what they found was that nearly 40% of the tickets weren't

destined for fans like you and me to buy over the phone or online. And they would go to insiders. Right. Check out the star for that piece. Actually, I talk about it in my podcast, if I could plug that. Go ahead. Records and Rock Stars. You'll find it at jeffwoodsradio. Right. Check out the star for that piece. Actually, I talk about it in my podcast, if I could plug that. Go ahead. Records and Rockstars. You'll find it at jeffwoodsradio.com, episode six, which deals with Ticketmaster and The Hip

and has a lot of stuff about Ozzy Osbourne. Yeah. Okay, good. Yeah, cool. But it really comes down to being about scalpers and their ability through bots, you know, like robots, to access tickets. And oftentimes, these third-party sellers

sell them before they are even acquired. They're selling you something that doesn't exist yet. They're selling you on the fact that they're going to get them. Yes, yes. Yeah, that's amazing. Nothing new under the sun.

Sad, really. What bothered me a little bit as a lifelong hip fan is that I saw on Twitter a couple of tweets were kind of flying through my stream blaming the band. These bands, as I understand it, they don't have

a choice, really. If you want to do a proper tour, the venues you would go to have agreements with Ticketmaster. It's a virtual monopoly on venues. The band has nothing to do with it. They have nothing to do with it. It goes back to the Pearl Jam days when they fought Ticketmaster. When they wanted to keep the prices at $19

and then they even realized, like, you can't, there are not safe venues across this nation or their nation that would allow you to bypass the Ticketmaster monopoly. It's a great big machine, and it's hard to stop it once it's got that momentum. I did score a ticket, though, during the first pre-sale to the Friday night show. So I'm going to bike over and enjoy my 12th hip concert solo. I have a hip story that I did not share in the book. Let's hear it.

As it relates to Gord Downie. And I was a fan of the records. I didn't really love the hip until Fully Completely. I thought that was a brilliant record. And I thought Day for Night was even better. Those are my two favorites. The first, the EP was cool. Played that on the radio. Certainly Up to Here

was cool. Road Apples. A lot of great rock songs. I thought they got really interesting with songs like Pigeon Camera. Yeah. But that's not the story. The story is this. Years later on another album cycle, it was in the 2000s.

Music at Work? In Violet Light? It escapes me because I was kind of, I wouldn't say over the hip because that sounds so negative, but it wasn't my favorite band anymore. I love Johnny the drummer. We used to hang out at different events. The story is

I was asked to host a national special and we did it at Club 279 above the Hard Rock Cafe at Yonge Street. And it would be an hour long and broadcast across the country, and the band would play live, and in between songs, I would ask Gord about the songs and about the process of making the record.

And it was cool. But I think it's this. I've never talked to him about it or anyone about it. Before I got the gig in 1997 to become the interviewer for what became Chorus Entertainment Radio, Steve Warden had done the job. Great guy, did the Rock Report with Derringer, superb interviewer. He talked to everybody before I did. And then he and the company parted ways and I got that gig. So Gord Downie had been pals with Steve. They had a mutual admiration and had talked many times on the radio. Maybe Gord thought, who's this guy taking Steve's job?

Because I had nothing to do with taking his job. I was just asked if I wanted it, and I said, sure. So we'd never really had a real meeting of the minds, Gord and I. As much as I'd spoken to the rest of the band, we never had a one-on-one interview. So he's on stage, and I think it was the first or second question in, and I said, so Gord, you're in, name of foreign country,

they were on the road, and you walk into a toy store and you come out with a song. Of course, I was dumbing down what really happened, but that was the crux of what was going on. He wrote a song based on an experience in a toy store. And his answer was this. It's not really how it happened. And I said, tell me more.

That was my only... Elaborate. Elaborate, right? I mean, he wasn't playing ball. We're both there for the same thing, to expose your record and have a good time and entertain the audience. But the good news is, I was put off a little bit.

I thought, if this is the way the whole hour is going to go, I'm in deep shit. Yeah. But then, you know what? And then he loosened up, and he was sweet for the rest of the hour, and he redeemed himself to me. Gotcha. And at the end of the show, this is the kicker,

they're playing out, you know, the band plays, and the credits are about to roll, and Gord does his own credits. He goes, I'd like to thank Q107 and Jeff. Because he didn't know my last name. I found that highly entertaining. It didn't offend me. I was really endeared to him by the fact that he managed to thank me. Yeah, no, I'm glad that he redeemed himself.

And the last time I saw him was then. So when the news came out that he was ill, like any living, breathing, blood-flowing gentleman, I felt awful. Yeah, it's a damn shame. Well, there's no words, really. Just terrible, terrible news. So we're going to change gears here

because now we're going to talk about the origin of Jeff Woods on the radio. Did you have no choice when that voice changed? Did you realize you have to go to radio now? Yeah, you know, it hadn't really changed before I got into school. It was one of those things where I'm in grade 11, 12, and I'm thinking, what am I going to do with my life? And I had bands, and I'd recorded with with a band and we'd gotten a little airplay on Chum FM of all places.

Like, I mean, a one-off feature thing. But hey, that's cool. It was cool. Having your tune on Chum FM. It was amazing, but I didn't have the confidence or belief in my ability that I could make a living being a musician.

Like, I'd make a proper living. I didn't have it in me. I didn't have the fire. And I don't think I had the talent. I had an inclination, but not quite enough. So I thought, well, now what? I thought, what about the music business? And then I assessed it and did some homework,

and I thought, that's a tough one to crack into when you're 18, 19 years old, unless you want to intern. And back in the day, there was no such thing as intern programs. No, no, no. So then I thought, now what? That's later. I'm going to put that in the back burner. I'll do a record company when it's more feasible.

I thought, well, what do I do all day other than dream about girls and skip school? I listen to music. I listen to the radio or play records. That's got to be the gig. Yes. I gave up my dream of journalism because I thought being a journalist was probably ending up in a newspaper and writing about people in trouble. Bad news is, you know, if it bleeds, it leads, they say. That's right.

I didn't want any bleeding. So I thought radio was the way to go. And I was most inspired by guys like John Derringer and even more so then by Bob Makowitz. He ran Q107 then. So I thought I'll do radio. I went to college, and here I am. Okay, before you get... Now, you correct me if I'm wrong.

This is the story of your life. So you were with brother Jake Edwards in Halifax. Is that right? This is pretty cute. Well, this is a different Q, right? This is Q104. It was called The Rock of the Atlantic. And they had a tie to Q107 Toronto

in that Gary Slate ran Q107 Toronto back then. And he knew Jake. And everybody knew everybody. It was much smaller. In those days, there were 550 radio stations in the entire country. Wow. Now there's thousands. So everybody knew everybody.

And I'd applied trying to get into Q107 Toronto. And I met with them. And we played phone tag. And we played meeting tag. And they kind of dragged me along. And then I got a call from bro Jake Edwards at the Rock of the United Q104. And this is the summer of 1985. And I'd seen him on the cover of Broadcaster Magazine.

And here's Jake with his shades, his curly hair. He's a rock star. He's the greatest DJ slash rock star I've ever met he's the biggest personality he's a man of only probably 5'9 is that right?

yeah not a huge man but his personality makes him about 7 and a half feet tall he became the champ as you probably know you know

yeah if you finish your story then I'll go to my champ story I saw him on the cover of Broadcaster he called me he liked my demo he liked me enough

to say would you come down and do like a swing shift or an overnight? And I said, I'll be there next week. He offered me 10 grand a year. I was in heaven. I went. I went. Within two weeks, I was in Halifax on the radio.

Wow. Loved working for him. The kicker there is that about within a month, he flew the coop and he went to Toronto to work for G107. And that's, of course, that's when I hear him. And yeah, in my high school, the champ was a big fucking deal. I think it was on at 6.40. I remember in my head the time was 6.40. Played it on 6.40 for a while.

I mean, the actual time. Oh, the time of day. Time in the morning when they would do the champ. Because I remember we would actually, get ready for this, we would set our alarm earlier than we had to to make sure we didn't miss the champ. And we all would go to school, me and my buddies, and we would imitate our alarm earlier than we had to to make sure we didn't miss the champ and we'd go to we all would go to school

me and my buddies and we would imitate you know yo champ if you didn't hear the champ it would be like yeah pass the tea bag or whatever

and he went for it and the whole thing we'd do it and they used to I can't remember at some point the vice principal or something

would play them like when they were safe for school they'd be played on the announcements. I had no idea. It was a big deal, the Brother Jake Edwards champ. You know, it was such a big deal.

When I ended up in Vancouver in 2003-4 to program Rock 101, which Jake was the morning man for almost 20 years, and I programmed the Fox too, point being, they... I don't even think they were running it anymore. Or maybe it was Q Toronto. They stopped running it,

and yet everywhere I went in a grocery store checkout line, people are still quoting champ episodes. Why aren't we running this thing? So I brought it back. Did you? Yeah, I said, Jake, we have to bring this back. People still love it. No, good work.

You're doing God's work there. That's important. That's good. I talked to Steve Anthony was here. Yeah, I love it. No, good work. You're doing God's work there. That's important. That's good. I talked to Steve Anthony who was here. Yeah, I love Steve. And Brother Jake came up organically

and I told my boring old champ story. I was doing a, hey champ, I heard you blew a wad on your wife's face. That's one of the ones I can never get out of my head.

And Steve got so upset because he says he can't believe the success Brother Jake Edwards had with this and he stole that from somebody

and then licensed it. So Steve Anthony is not pro-champ or pro-Brother Jake Edwards and his champ. Here's the thing about theft. When it's in the same market,

it's stealing. When it's in another market, it's research. Well, apparently, apparently, it's not really theft when you pay for the rights. So Brother Jake paid off the guy. Well, apparently, it's not really theft when you pay for the rights. Brother Jake paid off

the guy. Well, that's a million years ago, because you know what? Even in 1985 that summer, before he produced those Champ episodes, which very sped his voice, because nobody's voice is that deep. But originally, he did them live on the radio. They were never pre-recorded. I did all night,

so I'd get off the air at 6. Jake would be there at 5 to 6. He would do his show, and probably at 6.40 or 7.40, Jake would do them live every morning. And it only became syndicated later. Did it always have that Rocky theme at the beginning? Dun, dun, dun. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Eye of the Tiger.

Was that Eye of the Tiger? Yeah, yeah, that's Survivor. You're right. It's from Rocky III. Right. That's from Rocky III, I think. I only watched Rocky I. Is that right?

I was out after that. I've seen them all, but that one, the self-titled Rocky Balboa, I think that's six. What were the turtles' names in Rocky I? Oh, shit.

This is my favorite little stupid trivia. I can't remember. Cuff and Link. Oh, yeah, I can't remember. That's good. I'm going to steal that from you, man.

So Bob Macklewood, by the way, I've had a bunch of guys on here who are buddies with Mackle Jr. Yeah, good kid, too. That whole crew there is like Strombo

and Jeff Merrick. They're all good guys. They work with them all or close to them all. And Bob and Bob Jr. met with me many years after all that. And we talked about,

I was going to go out to Vancouver potentially and run a station for those guys they had great ideas i wanted to work with guys like that and he so he's you're right he's the uh he he hired you at q and that's like 87 or something uh it was 88 well late 87 you're right and then i started january 88 and and i was was probably the most thrilling phone call i ever got it was one thing to get a call from Gary Slate, wonderful, and another thing to get a call from Bro Jake, amazing. But to get a call from my hero, which was Mako,

I was working at a wood shop with my father, and he came out to the floor, and the machines are going, saws are going, and he goes, Bob Makowitz on line one. Wow. And I thought, holy shit, my ship has come in. I ran to the phone, and three days days later he gave me a job at Q. That's awesome. Hey,

I want listeners to kind of hear what Q kind of sounded like back then. So I got an ad of, this is a Q107 ad from 1988. Q107

and rock and roll. We've grown up together. Q107 and rock and roll. We've grown up together. Q107 with the greatest and the latest. Q107. Be listening tomorrow morning at 710 for your chance to win an exclusive invitation to party with Wayne and Janet Gretzky in Los Angeles

courtesy of Diet Coke and Toronto's best rock, Q107. I think that's Jimmy Conrad. I could be mistaken, but he and Jake are friends out in Vancouver. Yeah, he sounds great too. Yeah, that sounds awesome, man. Like partying with Wayne and Janet in LA. There's a big crowd. So I was listening to a lot of Q back then

because they did a Top 10 of 10 every night. And that's where I would hear like the Guns N' Roses tracks. And I'm trying to think like, it's funny, something like Rat or Cinderella. You know what I mean? Or even like,

I remember like even like the Aerosmith would be a lot of Aerosmith and stuff. But Steve Earle's Copperhead Road. Like I heard that for the first time on Q and I'm like, this is amazing. Or even Blue Rodeo, like Diamond Mind. Oh God, Diamond Mind is probably the best track that's my that's my favorite that's

my favorite uh blue rodeo of all time there's an edit of that if a radio station plays the edit i just want to smack them oh yeah because you need that long that breakdown you've got to do that i think greg keeler and jim cuddy i mean to me they're like the canadian lennon and mccartney and some people go that's a little overblown, isn't it? And I go, actually, no. Nobody sounds sweeter and more beautiful on the microphone than Jim Cuddy. Nobody sounds more introspective and dark and gravelly than Keillor. Together,

it's perfection. I'm with you. I'm with you. Just to bring this kind of nice little bow here is that the guest before you two days ago, Chum FM's Ingrid Schumacher, her first husband was the original drummer for Blue Rodeo, the first five years of the band. That's incredible.

Cleve. Cleve. I've seen Cleve in the last six months play the drums. Has children with Ingrid Schumacher? Two of them, I believe. I never would have guessed. I've never spent time face-to-face with Ingrid, but man, talk about a consistent voice.

And I actually was on Twitter playing a game with people. Can you name somebody active on the air in Toronto right now who has been at the same station for longer than Ingrid? And all we could come up with

was Daryl Dahmer doing traffic on 680. Right, yeah. But that's it. If you take away traffic, people, there is nobody who has been at a station for as long as Ingrid's been there. Active, current active people.

I can imagine you're right about that. And no one that has been more consistently solid over the years. Can you tell me, because I read somewhere that the Q people in the late 80s, of which you were there, were calling it Scum FM. There was a big rivalry, right, between Q and Chum FM? Yeah, not me personally, and probably not Derringer, but, you know, the marketing team was like, how can we attack these guys? You know, Chum Busters, which was what Scruff did

back in the day when Ghostbusters was hot. They're like Chum Busters. So there was always that rivalry. I told Ingrid about the Scum FM. She had never heard it before, but I have pretty good sources that that was a toss around. And what about before, I'm just wondering this at the same time,

before CFNY and Q107 are under the same umbrella, back when they were separate companies, there was some hate between the two stations, right? There was maybe a little bit, but there wasn't a lot. I think it was, again, if CFNY is playing some mamby-pamby Dead or Alive track and Q's, you know, The Rock Station, there's going to be someone on staff that...

I was never into attacking the competition, really. Maybe a little bit at all. Maybe a little bit at Halifax, because we had C-100 playing Whitney Houston, and we were playing Iron Maiden. So we even had fun with it. But it was more of a, who are we going to poke fun at? The reality is, as you know,

if you give them any press, it's good press for them. Oh, I like that song. You tune in to the other station. Hits FM, I remember they made a joke on the air, a listener told me, about, oh, they're playing Eleanor Rigby by the Beatles, or they're playing Norwegian Wood was the track I was playing on a

Saturday morning, and they thought that was really funny, and I thought, if you've got a problem with John Lennon singing Norwegian Wood, then you've got a problem with life. You have bigger issues. You've got problems. That's right. See you. Okay, so I think late 80s,

Humble Howard, I think, told me some story about the hate he'd get from Q people back in late 80s. He only showed up here in 89, I think. I talked to Humble and Fred a matter of weeks ago. I think it was the first interview I did around this book I've put out. And it was funny.

Humble said, you know, back in the day when we came under the same roof, Q and AM640 and the Edge CFNY 102.1, he goes, one of the few assholes in the building, Jeff Woods.

But I don't think there was much... There was no venom or mean spirit about Humble and Fred. I think more than anything, sometimes there's an uncertainty when a company comes together and a corporation is formed. Everyone's worried about their job.

So if there was any acrimony, I think it was overblown. I don't think anybody really hated anybody else. All right, I'm going to ask you some questions about late 80s. The Q guys I would hear back in the late 80 right, I'm going to ask you some questions about late 80s. The Q guys I would hear back in the late 80s. I just want to hear what kind of guys these are. The first guy I need to hear about, and I've invited

him on this show when I've just crickets. Like, I don't get to know Andy Frost. Andy, here's a story. Andy is probably the most sensitive man I've ever met in radio. And that is a compliment, by the way. But sometimes it can be a bit of an Achilles heel.

Because he's so sensitive. And I'll tell you an inside story. I don't think he would be offended. I love Andy. I was program director for a few years. And he was on staff. The irony is, when I left Q back in 88, he was the acting program director. And he was a sweetheart from day one

the day I met him so fast forward a couple of decades and I was doing performance reviews you know companies do performance reviews tell you how you're doing, tell you areas of improvement tell you about your raise or potential raise it's what raises are based around

back when we got raises, remember that? back in the day but Handy left the meeting and I filled out the paperwork and submitted it to Human Resources, and everything was good, right? About 10 days later, Andy, every time I saw him, he kind of gave me a sideways look, and he wouldn't say hello. I thought, that's so odd of Andy. Probably the most gentlemanly gentleman in radio.

A sweetheart of a man. And I thought, something's up, and I've got to figure out what. I went to him, and I said, what's going on? What's wrong? What did I do? And I inadvertently, mistakenly, instead of putting very satisfactory or excellent in a box to do with something he was, you know, a task he'd been assigned with, I put unsatisfactory.

I was being dyslexic in my box checking electronically. And that was his sticking point. And I said, Andy, I made a mistake. That's all it was. I would never do that. I would never tell you one thing and then go do the opposite and then

submit it. And he goes, well, you're so detailed, Mr. Woods, you're so detailed. I just thought you were not you know not pleased with my performance i said no no no come to me next time come to me on day one don't stew about it he's a great guy he's a super are you still in touch with him no because i've been out of the i've been in the mountains writing a book and i've been out of the city i'm moving back to toronto this july well when you get back back to Toronto and you meet up again with Andy,

you tell him to come in here. I'm going to suggest it strongly. He's a sweet guy. Maybe he doesn't know what you're about. He's not saying no. I Facebook messaged him and I tweeted him because those are my two channels with him, and neither got a reply. So it's very possible he hasn't seen this invitation.

But I haven't got the no thank you. He will get my endorsement of you, and I suspect he'll show up if he has time. Let's work on that. I've got to get in. Speaking of not Ingrid Schumacher length of time, but he's been at Q for a mighty long time. Yeah, I suspect. Mid-80s, I think? Middle of the 80s.

He was there when I got there in 88. In fact, he was doing Psychedelic Sunday then, and he was doing 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Or maybe even 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. He was doing the whole bloody day, so Mako doing 9 a.m to 6 p.m or maybe even 9 a.m to 9 p.m he was doing the whole bloody day so macko hired me to do noon to six and andy did nine to noon that's how we got to know each other and uh jesse and gene were there when you were there they were they were the morning show and and and gene uh gene was gene's grain jesse was uh operating the control board though right so i saw more of when I got off the air at six

when I do overnight talk to you at 88, I would stick around to watch a morning man do his thing. So I would often stay till, I would stay through the whole show and sit beside him and watch. And he was such a gentleman. I would ask him silly questions about why he did that, how he did that, teach me.

And he would. He was never bothered or annoyed that this upstart kid is asking too many questions. I love that about him. Conversely, you want one? Yeah. Maybe he's on your list. John Gallagher, great sports guy.

Spike. Spike. Another guy with a photographic memory, like a Derringer. The overnight guy would have to record the sports line, the bat blue sports line. Right, right. And you'd phone in and you'd get, imagine now, phoning in and getting the details of last night's games. Totally remember doing that.

But I recorded it for the first time, and I thought I did it right. You couldn't really check. You just hit record, yadda, yadda, yadda, yadda, last night's scores, that's the score thing. And did that come on like the wire, like a ticker or something? I would get it, I would rip and read wire like a ticker or something I would get it I would rip and read

I would rip and read I would record it and then you hit play and then you walk away I hear I'm with Jesse in the control room Jesse's on the microphone

I'm listening the world's listening and I hear screaming from the newsroom and it's Gallagher screaming bloody murder and I went in because Jesse goes

go check see what the hell's wrong with him I go in the room and and I go, what's wrong? I'd only known him for a couple of months. He goes, somebody didn't record the sports line, baby. I go, well, you don't

have to scream about it. Just show me how to do it properly, since you're the sports director, you son of a bitch. And I just thought, that's not a real nice way to treat a new employee. We've never really had a meeting of the mind since. I think we have 785 mutual friends on Facebook. He's in the Gord Downey Club. Is that right, Theo? Well,

Gord redeemed himself. I think we have literally 800 mutual friends and we're not friends. Oh, that's... I think he's doing some Zoomer stuff or I don't know if he's still doing the Zoomer thing. He was doing a Zoomer radio. I don't know. But you know, Jesse and Gene. Gene came back and he would do some talk shows on 640 and stuff.

But Jesse Dillon seems to disappear from the market. Well, he went to a different world altogether. Where did he go? He's in, not yoga. He's with a beautiful woman and they're very into lifestyle stuff. He was selling bracelets, healing, the healing power. Oh, like new age stuff. They're totally new age people.

They look good. Maybe they're like in Sedona or whatever. Is that where they go? I think they're probably there too. I think they're in the west coast of Canada still. Yeah, that's where they usually end up, the new age kind of people. But he still keeps in touch online,

just not in a radio capacity. All right. What about, these are two names I never hear about anymore. Who's that? Dusty Shannon and Jimmy James. Oh, my God. I've lost track of Jimmy.

Jim Callahan, real name. Jimmy James did Middays when I was at Q. I loved Jimmy because he was what they called him. The Experience, I think, was his nickname. And he was really into music and the stories behind it. I modeled myself a bit after Jimmy James. And what a great name that Hendrix is. It's a great name.

And he spelled it J-M-I, like Jimi Hendrix. But James. And what a great name that Hendrix is. It's a great name. And he spelled it J-M-I, like Jimi Hendrix. But Beastie Boys had a great track that inspired the name of my firstborn, Jimmy James. First track off of Get Your Head. What was the... You're not a Beastie Boys guy, I guess. I like Beastie Boys tracks, but you know what? I have a compilation. I don't know all the albums and all the track listings.

Yeah, the first track off that album. Okay, save the best for last. You said Dusty, though. Dusty Shannon. Oh, yeah, Dusty Shannon. I miss Dusty Shannon for this reason. And her name is Joanne. Joanne Wilson. And I love her. In fact, I'll tell you a little inside story. It was my first or second week on the air

and we'd had a station meeting and the general manager said, by the way, HFM's not competition. It was one of those meetings where we're talking about the competition like they don't exist. But they obviously do or you wouldn't bring it up. But Dusty goes, hey, Jeff,

do you want to go outside for a smoke? And we went down Corner Young and Bloor where the station used to be on the 30th floor. We smoked a massive joint. And I thought, I like her even more now. Dusty had that voice that is kind of missing from radio now that really swarthy, sexy, female

radio voice. Love her. She's still around. Cool, cool. And John Derringer, that's the last one on my list here from the Q guys back then because I know you're, and we're going to talk about the book and you have it at the Horseshoe. You've got an event that John Derringer Yes, Thursday, June the 9th

from 5.30 till 8.30. Here's the thing. I mean, I wanted to do a book event. So we sell books, I'll sign books, and I thought, but what's the entertainment value? You don't want to go and watch some guy signing books. Well, I'm going to bring some music. I'll bring an iPod mix. And Craig Lasky, bless his heart, who

runs and books the shoe all these years, he gave me the club for free for those three hours before the band started. And I thought, but we need entertainment. Why don't I get a short list of people who might come and interview me on the stage? Call it a fireside chat, minus the fire. So first on my list, who else but John Derringer? And I didn't want to pressure him because morning guys get up at 4 o'clock in the morning. The last thing they want to do when they live outside of the city is come back to the city in the evening to do an event.

So I said, John, no pressure at all. But you are first on my list. I didn't want to invite someone else to do this interview and then have you say, why didn't you ask me? So I'm asking you first, John, and zero pressure. I can go down the list if you don't want to do it. He goes, I'd be happy to do it. I'll bring my wife. We'll make an evening of it.

So that's what we're going to do. And I want to do it. He goes, I'd be happy to do it. I'll bring my wife. We'll make an evening of it. So that's what we're going to do. And I want to be interviewed by Judd. He goes, really, you're on the other side of the desk now. It'll be fun. It's like me interviewing you. Come on. No, we're equals, my friend. We're conversing here. There's no

interview here. No. Derringer, though, because I'll be honest with you, I get mixed reviews on him as a person, and I'll be honest with you, I get mixed reviews on him as a person and I've never met the man and I would like, I've listened to him for years. I'd love to meet the guy.

But some people that I know in the business have issues with John Derringer. And I don't know if it's my, because the people that have the issues, I won't name his name,

but he's already been mentioned once on the show. Oh, yeah. Well, that's funny. The first meeting I had with the guy you're not going to mention earlier, who also didn't like the champ. No, that was Steve Anthony.

This is another guy. Oh, I wonder who it is. Steve Anthony was great, but he started the interview he had a coffee with him, and he had, I'm not joking, five whole packets of sweetener in his coffee. That's insane. I can't do, I can do a third of whole packets of sweetener in his coffee. That's insane.

I can't do, I can do a third of a pack of sweetener and it's already too sweet. We have to do a teeth check on him. Well, teeth would be okay because there's no sugar in it. Oh, that's true. It's a sweetener. It's fake. That's got to be. And he had me take a sip because I was kind of grossed out by the concept.

It was super gross, man. It was like sweet syrupy. It was barely coffee. Anyway, five whole packets of sweetener. I can't think for the life of me who you mentioned earlier that had a problem with John Derringer. Tell me what kind of person Derringer is. I'm a big fan of John Derringer. And not just because he's doing your Q&A.

No, no. Listen, I've known John since the 80s. And we've been to hell and back together. But we never had bad words for one another since the 80s we never had a skirmish we never had anything that that would send one of the other of us off we've always had mutual respect even when i was a fledgling and he was working his way up the line even even when he was doing afternoons and i was music director assistant program director all the way through our career we never had a bad word or a bad thought for each other. He's always shown me great respect.

Before I was a manager, before I was his boss. I mean, I signed John's deal as program director at Q back in like, I don't know, 2001. Wow. Is this the 10-year deal? I think we did five then, and then there became another one. I mean, outside of work, and work. I mean, outside of work, and work was all good, outside of work,

even better. We'd ride Harley together. He would come to my country house in Thornbury and hang out. He'd bring the Neal brothers. My ex-wife's grandparents used to live in Thornbury. We would go up every summer, and it was beautiful. It's one of the nicest cities. It's my favorite city in Canada. That, and then a close

second is Nelson, B.C. Thornbury. I'm going to do a book signing in Thornbury on June 11th. There's that white painted on the river or something. There's a restaurant. There was a restaurant. On the river? Yeah.

I think it was on the water. Oh, yeah. It was a beautiful one. It's changed hands since then. Okay, because we used to go there every summer. Gorgeous. And it was amazing. They had like gourmet French fries.

Yeah, it was great. Thornbury. Per capita, I think it was the best restaurants, the best bars. Yeah, because no one lives there, right? Well, the whole town of the Blue Mountains is like 7,000 or 10,000 people or something, from what, Blue Mountain right over to Thornbury. Where's the Swiss Alphorn? The Alphorn's still there.

It's on the highway kind of between Craigleith and Thornbury. Because sometimes we'd make that drive. Love that. Drink Stiegel beer and eat schnitzel. Crap, you're bringing me back. You're bringing me way back. But, you know, to close the loop on John, John's a sweetheart, and even more so since he had three daughters.

The love that exudes from that man for his daughters is mind-blowing. Would you say Derringer is a humble person? He is in my presence. I don't know. You only know what you get from people when you're in their presence. So from my experience, John's a sweetheart. He's been nothing but kind

to me. So I can't speak for other people's impressions. No, no, of course not. So now you've got two jobs, though. Now you've got to get Andy Frost in here and John Derringer. Maybe they'll come in together. What a great episode that'll be. I've got the third no, of course not. Of course not. So now you've got two jobs, though. Now you've got to get Andy Frost in here and John Derringer. Maybe they'll come in together. What a great episode that'll be. I got the third mic just in case.

Well, off the radio, those two are probably the funniest, dirtiest, craziest pair of broadcasters you will ever hear. Oh, that sounds great. Okay, so this first go-around at Q107, and I, reading your book today. I tweeted a picture. I wanted that picture of the record store.

I tweeted a picture of the record store, and underneath it, I'm not going to ruin it because you're going to tell me right now, but this feedback you got from the program director that basically caused you to leave. So tell us why you left Q the first time. I was heartbroken. So I told you, Mako hired me. And just like when Jake hired me at Q104 and then left to go to Toronto, Mako hired me and then left to go to Gary Slade at CFRB. So I lost my ally yet again. I felt adrift without Mako there.

He got me in, and then he left. And then the general manager, who now is respected and known as a great guy, but back then he had a lot of bravado and he had a lot of opinion. And his opinion at the time was that I sounded too fucking American, just to quote him. And I've brought this up before, and people are like, hey, why don't you bury that hatchet and stop grinding that ax? I'm not grinding it, I'm just telling you the story.

No, it's a part of the story. It's part of the story. So he said, you sound too effing American. And he goes, everyone on Q107 has a certain sound, and you don't. And I argued with him, as I mention in the book, I argued with him that Chum FM, Ingrid Schumacher, back in the day Rick Ringer,

I thought they have a really consistent, homogenized or cohesive sound. Q did not. Gallagher didn't sound like Derringer, didn't sound like Macko, didn't sound like Bill Carroll, didn't sound like Andy Frost, didn't sound like Christy Knight, didn't sound like Shirley McQueen, didn't sound

like Jimmy James. Everyone sounded very uniquely different. And I was yet another James. Everyone sounded very uniquely different. And I was yet another different. We were a dog's breakfast of radio DJs. It's a mosaic. Yes. So I disagreed with him, but he's the boss. I don't understand.

And what's wrong with sounding American anyway? Depending. Obviously, there's parts of America with distinct accents. I didn't sound like this. I wasn't in the movie Deliverance. Right. But people do think I sound a little British or Australian or American. The irony there is that he is American, the boss at the time. Self-hating the prophecy or whatever.

It was weird, though, but everything for a reason. I had done six months there, and it gave me the impetus to go and open a record store, which was one of my dreams. Yeah, that's right. So you leave Q basically. And I've been opening an independent record store. And it was called the Discworks. And it did really well.

I don't go a day in Toronto without seeing someone who shopped there. And I left that store in 1991. That's cool. Because it sounds like you always surround yourself with music. Whether it was at first you're playing the music, then you're spinning the music,

and you're talking about the music, and now you're selling the music. Well, you're a well-rounded guy. You know a lot of things about a lot of things. I do. But a lot of DJs go into DJ school and go on the radio, and they don't really have a lot of breadth or a lot of depth. And I wanted to get into the record business, and I wanted to get into record retail,

and I wanted to do all the things that surrounded radio so I would come back to the radio with something to say. That's why I did those things. And what was next for you? Was that Hits FM? How did you end up at Hits? Well, you know, so I did the store. I sold the store.

I traveled around the world. I got back. I didn't have a gig, so I bartended for a while, the store. I traveled around the world. I got back. I didn't have a gig, so I bartended for a while, an in-between job. Woodworking was another in-between job. Cool. And then I thought, I want to get back into radio. So I sent tapes out, and one of them landed on the desk of the program director of Hits FM, Eric Samuels, who launched the station. And he called me and said, would you come and do some shifts at Hits FM?

I said, gladly. I always admired the station and its sound and its success. So he put me on a midday show, an afternoon show, an overnight show, a weekend show. I did about 10 or 12 shows. And I thought, when's he going to hire me? I don't think he wants to get rid of me because he keeps giving me shows. And he'd pay me per shift kind of thing. And then finally, the story broke. He took me for lunch somewhere in St. Catharines and said, I've got a proposition. And I said, go ahead, tell me. He said, Slate, Standard Broadcasting,

had acquired new stations. Remember when it opened up, you could have more than a couple of stations in a market? Well, they bought stations in Calgary and Edmonton, among others. And he said, where do you want to go? Pick one. And I'd never lived in Calgary, Edmonton. I thought to myself, probably Calgary and Edmonton, among others. And he said, where do you want to go? Pick one. And I'd never lived in Calgary, Edmonton.

I thought to myself, probably Calgary. But I said, where are you going? Definitely Calgary. I've been to both cities. Right? And I lived in both. But he was my ally at the time. And I thought, I'll go where you go.

He goes, I'm going to Edmonton. And as it turned out, he went to Edmonton to launch the bear. He took Scruff Connors. He took Batty, the producer, Patrick Zulanoff. And he took me from Ontario. The four of us headed out to Edmonton and launched the bear. The bear's still going there. The bear's still going.

It was, is, hopefully will continue to be a great station. Monica, who you met when you first arrived, is from Edmonton. Born and raised in Edmonton. I married an Edmonton girl, too. We've got something in common. I've got to say, they've got the twomonton girl, too. We got something in common. I gotta say, they have a... They got the two rock stations going there, because you got the Bear going, you got Sonic. I think it's called Sonic. Yeah, Sonic

is a newer rock station. And you have the classic rock station, K-97 or K-Rock, as they called themselves. So, you're basically... You helped launch this original brand, the Bear, in Edmonton. That's crazy. It was fun. You know what we did for a pre-launch? We got stickers of a bear paw.

And we didn't let, the station was a middle of the road station. They were playing Wimpy Records. And while they were playing Wimpy Records, every 15 or 20 minutes we'd say, you know, coming soon, something totally different. And then the way we augmented that quietly was we plastered bear paw stickers

all over the city of Edmonton. You know the Butterdome, that sports building, part of the university? It's a big yellow building where they have probably... I've been there, yeah. My one trip, I don't quite recall that, but I'm sure I saw it. We got drunk as you do in the evening when you're 20-something. And we walked all over the downtown core of Edmonton. And we plastered

these bear paws everywhere and but on the butter dome i plastered them from one end of this giant building to the other you know like a bear had walked along the side of the wall but and they were pissed off the building and they called the station and said what the hell are you doing um but so they ripped them all off but you know the adhesive from a sticker it left adhesive and then dirt attached to it. Okay. For six or more years, there was dirty bear paws in that building. That's perfect.

That's cool, man. By the way, when you were at Hits FM for the 12 shifts or whatever, did you meet Iron Mike? No. This was pre-Iron Mike, I think. So when does Iron Mike, you don't know. Well, mid-90s when I worked at Sony, I get into the label business, right? And I used to bring artists to Hits FM. And Joanne Wilder was there then doing evenings.

And Iron Mike was doing afternoons. And Kristi Knight was there, right? And Kristi was there, yeah. I don't know what shift. Maybe she was doing mid-day. She was there a long time. They let her go like, was it early this year or late last year? Well, the funny thing about Kristi is when I quit Q107,

I resigned because I was too fucking American. I thought I'm going to get out before they kick me out. I was walking towards the boss's office and Christy comes out and she with a big, she came strutting out of the boss's office and said, I just quit. And I had no idea she was going to do that. I go, I'm about

to. We quit on the same day. In the same hour. That's a crazy coincidence. So you go, Sony Music. Sony Music in Calgary. Well, I was working at The Bear, right? And my good friend Patrick Zulanoff, who had worked at The Bear, he had gone to Sony. He made the jump

from radio to records. He got the gig for promo rep in Calgary, southern Alberta, really. And he did it for a few years. And he called me and said, I think I'm getting transferred to Vancouver. Get your resume. And if you want a great job, and I said, how great is it? He goes, it's the most fun you're ever going to have. And again, this is like 94, 95. And so I put my resume in and I did my four interviews and I got the gig. And I went to my boss, Eric, who had launched hits and had launched the bear, who looked at me and said,

you don't want to go to the record business. And I said, why? He goes, do you want to be served or do you want to serve? In other words, you want to be in the chair getting records handed to you and concert tickets and trips? Or do you want to be the guy that facilitates all that crap? I said, I don't know about any of that, but I just really want to make the move.

I've done four years here at the bear it's been wonderful but i'm ready for a change and a challenge and and he still threw up some objections including you can't keep leaving radio and expect someone's gonna hire you back right you gotta stay with you gotta pick one and stay yeah i said i disagree i said if i come back to radio someday if i have the goods somebody will hire me. And then he was out of objections. And he goes, oh, by the way, what are they paying you?

And I told him, and he goes, congratulations. That was where the rubber hit the road. I almost doubled my income overnight by going from radio to records. I totally believe that. You know who made the jump also from radio to that end of the business is Ivor Hamilton. Ivor's another one.

And Roger Bartel back in the day. There's quite a number of them. And I'm watching, right now I'm watching Vinyl, the HBO series. So it's like, I'm on like episode seven now. So it's like I'm living

in like 1973 record company land, which is fucking very cool. Vinyl, six, seven episodes in, I think starts to redeem itself. It was too overblown with his cocaine head throwback. It's over the top, yeah.

But there are moments where you go, yeah. I have the same experience because I keep, it reminds me almost a little bit like a washed out version of Mad Men. Like it's not nearly

as good as Mad Men, but it's kind of a period piece and that guy whose name I can never remember is kind of like your Don Draper and he's, you know, New York, except he's in 1973. Yeah, Richie, Richie. York, except he's in 1973.

Yeah, Richie, Richie. Richie, that's the name. And there are parts like there was a wonderful Olivia Wilde scene in the episode I just watched. Hollywood crushes, she's top five. Yeah, this scene, I won't give any. There's a scene I watched it a couple of times. She's missing some clothes in that scene that you're talking about. Of course, of course. What a beautiful woman. It's too over the in that scene that you're talking about. Of course. What a beautiful woman.

It's too over the top, but I still can't help. I'd rather watch a subpar show about music than a really good show about something else. I'm with you. I'm with you.

Okay, so how do you get back to Toronto? How do I get back to Toronto? Well, you know, I'm in the chair in Calgary as a promo rep, and I had a brand new office with a mountain view, and I was a brand new office with a mountain view,

and I was in heaven. I was working all the artists that would come through Alberta, international artists and Canadian artists, and it was a wonderful experience. Phone rings, Vel Omasic was about to be the head of national promotion for Sony Music Canada, running all the artists at radio that are on Columbia and Epic. So there's some great artists, right? Jeff Buckley was new then. And Val says, I can't really do my national job unless somebody takes my local Toronto promo job. I'm too busy.

I want you to come to Toronto and take over where I left off. And I said, wow, that's a really nice offer, but I've only been here a year, and we just got this new office, and I'm really digging Calgary. You're digging the mountains. Yeah, I wasn't done yet. And I go, can I respectfully decline for now? He goes, absolutely.

Thank you for your consideration. If you change your mind, call me back. And then about three or four months later, he called me again and said, and it felt like more of a must-do than a maybe want-to-do. He said, are you sure you can't? Could you please? We really need somebody strong in toronto i said well i don't know that i'm strong in toronto i'm just sort of getting my you know yeah here i said

but okay if you really need me i'll come i'll be a company man and i'll come to toronto so within a year of working at the label now i'm a toronto label rep and that's when things got really interesting in terms of everybody comes through toronto and vancouver not everybody comes through alberta i was gonna say yeah you get some country acts and yeah yeah and you get some international in terms of everybody comes through Toronto and Vancouver not everybody comes through Alberta I was going to say yeah you get some country acts yeah and you get some international acts

too but you don't get the same volume in Toronto in the first week I was there I think I had seven bands to deal with

which was fun when you're not an old man alright now the late the late Pat Cardinal he's the man

is he the man who brings you back to Q yeah you know what he just passed away sadly just about a month a month or two. And as you said that, as you said his name, I got that chill up my spine.

It's like a ghost goes through you and your hair stands up. That just happened. Pat was kind. I heard through a friend, Rebecca Gibb, who worked promo at the radio station, and she went on to marry Pat Smear from Foo Fighters. Oh, get out of here. I wasn't even sure Pat was heterosexual. at the radio station and she went on to marry Pat Smear from Foo Fighters. Oh, get out of here. She was,

I wasn't even sure Pat was heterosexual. Yeah, because he's rather effeminate. People tell me that about myself sometimes. I thought he was openly gay. What do I know?

Yeah, no. He's, Because he's from the Meat Puppets, right? He's a Meat Puppet guy. Happily, he was in the germs. The germs,

not the Meat Puppets. Yeah, sorry. He was in the germs and then Nirvana. He did the live MTV thing with Kurt. Right. And then a Foo Fighter ever since, more or less. But Rebecca said to me, because she was in the promo team,

she said, Cardinal really likes your thing. Likes you on the radio. Yeah. And you should come back and work at Q107. And I said, well, maybe he should call me. Yeah. But Pat's the kind of guy that he puts the bug out there and then you're supposed

to react. The feelers. Yeah, the feelers. And then, so I did. I called him. I said,

I understand that you maybe want me to come back. So that summer, I worked five days a week at Sony and then I would do weekend shifts at Q107. What year is this approximately?

This would have been 97, summer of 97. So this is like, because I know Pat's the guy who brought Howard Stern. Yeah, but shortly thereafter he brought Howard to Q. And he brought Howie Kogan

and he brought Gonzo from Hits FM. Joanne Wilder from Hits FM. He brought a lot of people into the fold. And he had David Kaye doing the voice work. He surrounded himself with people he thought

were A, talented and B, decent people. So I happened to be lucky enough to be one of them. And he made me assistant program director on day one, which is unheard of. And I guess at some point you become the program director, right? Yeah, well, Pat, when Chorus came together, CFNY and Q107 are under the same roof now with AM640,

and Stu Myers, who ran The Edge, he really made The Edge brand. Probably the smartest program director this country's ever known. You know, his daughter's there now. Yeah, Carly. Carly, yeah. She was a little kid back then when I met her, and she's a talent in her own right. But they brought Stu in from The Edge

because Stu is a meat and potatoes classic rock guy at heart. He can program classical if he put his mind to it, and he was successful programming new rock. But his real comfort zone is classic rock. So they put him on, they moved Pat out. He went to Energy 108. And they moved Stu in to run Q. And so then I became his assistant.

And then when he left, I became the, shortly before he left, I became the program director. Wow. Ah, dude, that's great. And I was still wearing, to full circle, I was still wearing my wife beater and my flip-flops and my ripped jeans. But you made a good point right at the top. We need a new term for the wife

beater. Yeah, well, I guess we got to all get together and come up with an undershirt. It's a tank top. It's an undershirt, right? Because you're right. I know what you mean, man, and it's all good. But yes, even just hearing it, it's like, that doesn't sound the same way it sounded 20 years ago. Yes.

I mean, it was never invoked to beat wives or husbands, by the way. But it's a pretty great term, though. Now, okay, I got a hodgepodge. Like, tell me, you're an interesting guy. You do a lot of shit because you're at Q. Yeah. And you're doing some stuff with q yeah and what you're doing some stuff with tell me you're doing stuff with rock 101 and the fox in vancouver well you know

i was at q and i'd been at stew left and went off to a different company and i was in a full-fledged program director and we got station of the year and it was all very exciting and derringer was doing mornings and i hired jeff brown to do afterons, and we had a really good thing going. But I met a girl. I had a breakup with a girl, and I met another girl. Maybe one precipitated the other, but we won't get into that. It's in the book. By the way, saying that I met a girl,

you almost forget to say that. That's always the impetus for this show. She said, Woods, why don't you apply for the CFOX Vancouver program director gig? And I said, why? She goes, hey, you'll probably get more money out of the deal. And I'll move with you to Vancouver. We'll have a great time. Do you like Vancouver? I love Vancouver. I said, do you like Vancouver? She goes, I don't know, but I'd like a change. So for a lark, I put my resume in. Same company,

but different city. And they posted the CFOX job six months earlier. And I thought, probably somebody's already taken it. They just haven't announced it yet. So I called the general manager, Lou Delgobo. I said, Lou, about that job, have you not given it to someone yet? He goes, funny you should ask. We're interviewing this week. Wow. He goes, would you fly in tomorrow, and I'll interview you?

Wow. I said, for sure. I flew out. I got the job a day later. Wow. So yeah, you got your mountains back. It was a way to get a pay raise. Imagine going to a market smaller than Toronto and making more money.

Because, yeah, I guess they had to pay more to get you, right? Well, yeah, the budgets are what they are, and they had more budget for the job. So I actually went to Vancouver and made more money than my wildest dreams could have ever imagined. All right. Now, I don't know how you get... I want to talk about the Legends of Classic Rock. Oh, please. Because a lot of people listening know you

as the host and creator of the Legends of Classic Rock. The brand was good to me. And I guess, does this start in 07? No, before that. It was about 2001. So just as Chorus is coming together, Stu, who I mentioned, who was the new program director, Q107, this meat and potatoes classic rock guy, he was also around, maybe not at the inception, but probably close to the inception of Alan Cross's ongoing history of new music.

Right. So he said to me in the smoking room, which we still had back then, he said, Jeff, what about a show like Alan's, but for classic rock? Right. He goes, and I can imagine the word legends in the title. And that's all he gave me. And that was enough. And we came up with Legends of Classic Rock.

And a week later, it was on the radio. And it ran 14 seasons. You know who did the technical production for Ongoing History of New Music? Rob Johnson. And he sent me a note today to make sure I say hi to you. Oh, that's sweet. He thinks you're a good lad. Robbie J is a good man.

Actually, he's been on the show because he had a lot of stories for 25 years. Great producer. We spent time in Seattle together with Pearl Jam, among others. He's a good man. Okay, he says, that's one of the tie-ins with you, is he says he thinks you were in the room when he, apparently he tells a story on my podcast about he nearly sat on Eddie Vedder. This is a story.

I don't know exactly what happened. Maybe Eddie had taken the chair and then he wanted to sit down and Eddie was our... Was that what it was? Yeah, something like that. He almost sat on Ed. But he was two feet from me, Robbie J, the producer. He was producing, I think

it was Neil Mann who went down to interview Pearl Jam on behalf of The Edge, and I went down on behalf of Q107 to interview the guys it was eddie and stone gossard yeah that was our first meeting but the funny thing is we got the interview done and then we had flights to catch or at least i did and eddie's standing there and he goes uh jeff what what are you doing now i go you know i got a flight to catch get back to toronto back to work. He goes, well, you could totally hang out. We're just going to jam. Yeah.

And the naive young jerk that I was, I'm like, I can't change my flight. That's amazing. I should have stayed, though. Now you'd be like, yeah, stand. No, now it's like you got to ride that. Beers, ride that wave as long as you can. You know, I had a backstage pass to a Pearl Jam show once,

and the guitar technician for Ed Vedder was a friend through a very interesting story I can't share. And he was supposed to get me and bring me to meet one of my musical heroes, Ed Vedder, after the show. But this was the night that Bono went on stage at the very end of the show. Bono was there because they were in town for a concert. And they did Rockin' in the Free World together.

And then I was told that I couldn't meet, I could not meet Ed Vedder because Ed Vedder and Bono and a bottle of vodka had disappeared. They were doing their own thing. Yeah. So basically, the story I tell, which is true essentially,

is I basically got, you know, I got blown off for Bono. It's a true story. is I basically got blown off or bumped off. It's a true story. And I never, ever did meet Ed Vedder. I got bumped once by the president and former president of the United States of America. That doesn't feel so bad, does it? Obama and Bush, I guess. No, Obama and Clinton.

That's what it was. When I went to see Ronnie Wood in New York City to interview him. We were supposed to see him at 1 o'clock in the afternoon. His publicist called and said, we're bumping you back, but for good reason. You can't be upset, Jeff Woods. It's Obama and Clinton. Yeah, that's a good reason, actually.

What are you going to say to that one? So, okay, so the legends of classic rock. I'm going to just, to give people a taste of this, I'm going to play a little clip of you and some guy named Jimmy Page. Let's hear how this sounded. It was my energy feeding into the microphone. I'm Jeff Woods.

This is The Legends of Classic Rock. This time the spotlight is on founder, producer, and guitarist of Led Zeppelin. Hi, Jimmy Page. Hi, Jeff. How are you doing? I'm well, thank you. That's wonderful. When fans hear the bonus material, as I did yesterday...

It's not bonus. Well, it's extra never-before-heard Led Zeppelin. I saw air guitarists, air drummers, air bassists. There was a pride and a sense of wonder and oh, wow in the room. Certainly there must have been that for you going through what must have been miles of tape from the original sessions. Actually, literally, it would be miles of tape, yeah, with analog tape. I couldn't even estimate how far it would go, probably to the moon,

if you join them all up. Yeah, there was hundreds of hours of tape to listen to. But in order to do this project and to do the project properly which is the only way if you're going to do you know whenever I've approached any project with Led Zeppelin it's always been with this quality high high quality benchmark so I I knew I was a producer and I knew exactly what there was in in in the vault that vault that was different sufficiently enough to the final version.

Did you hear how he changed gears? He didn't like the word bonus. He didn't like the word bonus. He's so sensitive, and you can hear me kind of laughing because he changed gears. What he realized, I wasn't backing down, and if you see the video of that, what he goes,

it's not bonus. I leaned right in within six inches of his face and I said, I wanted to say, you know, come on, come on. We're here for the same reason.

I'm not trying to sabotage you. That's the word I think. Exactly. But he came around. That was in New York City. That was his steps from where CBGB's was. We were in a hotel

and he was a sweetheart from that moment on. He seems like just like a nice, gentle Englishman, you know? He's a typical Capricorn, a pain in the ass, and a really nice guy. And I'm one, too. So I understand. Well, the thing, just a little laundry list of guys, but you mentioned earlier Ozzy Osbourne, but I mean, in Pearl Jam, but you've met David Bowie and the Rolling Stones, the Eagles, Led Zeppelin. These are the legends of classic rock. Very fortunate. And you know, you get through the years and then this list grows and you

realize, oh my God, I've talked to most of them. People say, who have you talked to? I do have a short list of people, legends, I haven't spoken to, so that's my hit list. So who is number one on that list? It would have to be... It's not McCartney. Everybody assumes it would be McCartney.

I'd like to speak to Clapton. I'd like to speak to Townsend and Daltrey. I'd like to speak to Dylan. I'd like to speak to Petty and Springsteen. That's really... Springsteen's been on this show. I'm just kidding. You son of a bitch.

Just kidding. Can you imagine? I can't even carry that line. But I'd want to speak to him roaming around his property with a microphone and just being in the woods somewhere, hanging out. I wouldn't want to be in a studio. Who are the dullards? Because when you meet someone, you want them to be interesting and to tell you a story.

Who's the dullard who just didn't live up to the name? Maybe they're a great musician, but a shitty storyteller, a shitty interviewer. Let me think about that for just a second. a shitty storyteller, a shitty interviewer. Let me think about that for just a second. I don't... You know who was a little bit conservative, which always shocked me, because when you see pictures of him and video of him,

when you think of 70s footage of Pink Floyd, David Gilmour, how cool he is, how great he sounds, how well he sings, he was surprisingly conservative, in my estimation. Oh, like reserved? Yeah, reserved old English statesman gentleman. But he wasn't dull or boring. I just didn't expect him to be so, not right wing, but proper, buttoned down.

But nobody was dull or boring. You didn't ask Jimmy Page about song similarities with, for example, the Stairway to Heaven and Spirit's Torres. That didn't come up, did it? I let that alone, because if he gets sensitive about the word bonus track, imagine what he would be like about Spirit. Just because you're here and we mentioned Jimmy Page.

So, look, tell me what you think. I'm going to play a bit of Taurus's, Spirit's Taurus. Everyone knows Spirit's Taurus, right? And Stairway to Heaven. And let's just listen really quick here. So this is Spirit's Taurus, right? And Stairway to Heaven. And let's just listen really quick here. So this is Spirits Taurus. And you can talk over this

because we've all heard Stairway a million times, but this is not Zeppelin. Obviously very similar, but that progression goes back long before the 60s. Right. Yeah, it's definitely similar. And here, of course, is a song you probably danced too many times in the school gym or whatever. The old ass grab song.

Yeah. Remember when we used to, maybe they still do, you had your hands on her, cupping her voluptuous butt? I know that you'd start with your hands on the hips or whatever. Or on the back even. They creep down to the waist. Suddenly you're cupping the butt. But this song was funny because it was great for that and long. And then it had that, and then no one, boys didn't know what to do.

Then what do you do? You either fast dance or you kind of hold her and move a little more. All I know is that. What's the verdict here? I don't even know if it matters. That progression does not a song make. It makes part of a song. But so many Zeppelin songs were throwbacks to so many blues songs.

We know this. Everyone knows this. You can go on YouTube and see 12 examples where they were inspired by other songs. And they only fessed up when they went to court. They fessed up when they had to and when they were proven to be guilty. And they paid out a lot of money, and rightfully so. But imagine it's 68, 69, 70, and you're doing these songs, and you're really embellishing them

and bringing dynamics to them that never existed before. You're making something out of something, but you're making it at a grander scale, which is what Led Zeppelin did. So on one hand, you go, you rip off artists' sons of bitches. On the other hand, you go go let's wait and see how it shakes out we're not going to run to a label in the u.s that probably rip people off themselves too sure and and say here do you want some money and you hadn't even made the money yet they weren't

really rich until the middle of the 70s so i i i you know i have a sensitivity for the band as much as I have sensitivity towards the blues artists who got ripped off. In the case of Spirit, though, I'm like, yeah, shoot the estate some money. Imagine how much Stairway has made Led Zeppelin. Oh, yeah, I can't imagine. Maybe there'll be a... I think it was thrown out already, wasn't it? I don't know. I think it's been thrown out.

If it hasn't been thrown out, settle it out of court like you did every other one. And throw the estate $300,000 or something. I don't know. All right, so Jeff, you're clicking along with the legends of classic rock and it's all great.

Like you said, it's ongoing history of new music for classic rock. You're the definitive voice of this. Just like when you hear Alan Cross's voice now and you think, oh, he's the guy

who's going to tell me about Nirvana or Green Day or whatever. And I was more the Stone Zeppelin, Hendrix, Beatles guy. I really credit Alan Cross, by the way. My style evolved

by listening to Alan. He's a great storyteller. No, he really was on this podcast. That's not a lie. He's so good. In fact, I invited him. We'll see if it comes to be. I'm doing a couple of public events to put the book out in Toronto. One of them is at a gallery in Yorkville

called LIS. And they represent like Bob Gruen, the great rock and roll photographer that took the John Lennon t-shirt photo. And they represent Mick Fleetwood and Bernie Taupin and Ronnie Wood. So they're going to do all this rock photography and frame it all. And I'm going to go in and do a book release.

But I want to do a similar thing with what we're doing with John Derringer, The Horseshoe. I want to have somebody interview me. Yeah, he did that with Shatner, like on tour. Oh, yeah. Wow, cool. You hear about that?

Yeah, like Alan Cross went on tour with like interviewing Shatner. Well, I've asked Alan to do it. I just sent him an email this afternoon and he hasn't responded yet. Yeah, he'll do it. I hope he will. He's a good egg.

He'll probably say, what's your budget? I'll go 50 cents and a signed book. Yeah, this just reminded me. Marty York, will. He's a good egg. He'll probably say, what's your budget? I'll go 50 cents and a signed book. Yeah. This just reminded me. Marty York is a, he used to write for the Globe. He's a sports guy. And he came on and he was saying,

and I said, you should come on because he writes these controversial tweets like he hates on Toronto sports. And I'm like, you got to come in and we got to talk about this.

And he asked you to pay him. He said, what do you pay your guests? He's in, what is this, episode 177? Is that what this is? He's the first guy

you ask me what I pay my best. But it's a legitimate question. I guess it is. That's my advice to everyone that is coming up through the ranks. I always say

the best question is what's your budget for this? And they can say the budget's zero and you can still do it. Well, it's beer. But that's a legitimate question but I noticed

you didn't ask that question. Oh, hell no. No one asks that question. Well, I followed you and I saw the reaction among your listeners and no. No one asks that question. I followed you and I saw the reaction among your listeners and fans. It was mind-blowing. You talked about me about a year ago when I was

let go from the company. That's exactly where I'm at. Oh my God. When I saw the posts and the comments and they were really positive towards you and towards me and I thought, you've got a really proper thing going. And my partner at the time said, you've got to see Toronto Mike.

No, that's your partner's wise. If you are in the radio industry in Toronto and you're let go by a corporation, you end up coming to, somebody will end up on Toronto Mike to learn what happened and to leave a comment about it. And I'm telling you right now, absolutely. Whether you're Mad Dog or Humble and Fred

when the mix ax them or you're, you know, a bunch of people here. Let's talk about this. July 2015. Yeah. Not even a year ago. Q107 Bloodletting.

So we have basically yourself, Jeff Woods. You got Dominic Diamond, Nails Mahoney, James McPhee, who was doing the 640. I guess he was doing both. I think he was a 640.

News director for years for both stations. Yeah, good guy, too. And he's a big soccer fan because him and Robbie Jay, I see them tweeting back and forth. And a hell of a hockey goalie. Is he? Yeah, yeah. I didn't know that.

Cool. And the list goes on and on. Kim Mitchell. Kim Mitchell, absolutely. Yeah, Kim Mitchell was doing the two to six shift, I guess. Yeah, the afternoon show. They didn't renew his contract or whatever. I don't know about the terminology and stuff.

But his last day was announced at the same time. So is this the first time you're fired from radio? Yeah, it was. It's the first time in 30 years. You made it pretty good. I did, okay. It's a good run, eh? But like I said before, sometimes you get out before they get rid of you.

I've left jobs before seeing the writing on the wall. Or you can smell it coming right? But like I said before, sometimes you get out before they get rid of you. I've left jobs before, seeing the writing on the wall. Or you can smell it coming, and you're like, I'll move on now. And you're just like, this isn't going to end well. I'm going to leave. Why did Q107 fire Jeff Woods? Well, probably for a couple of reasons.

The paramount among them was budget reasons. I was making a pretty good dollar. And I mean, in the grand scheme of the world of business, radio pay is, you know, it's typically less. Oh, yeah. People think, oh, my God. Unless you're John Derringer. Unless you're John Derringer.

Or Aaron Davis or Bob McCowan. Mornings, generally, sometimes afternoons, but real talents that have been doing it for a long time, that are bringing in mega listeners, and therefore bringing in mega dollars. Marilyn and Roger. There it is. Those are the million dollar voices.

I was far from that, but I was more than they thought they needed to pay someone to do the job. Interesting, isn't it? In fact, that job, I wasn't replaced. There's no sort of national host. There's no sort of syndicated national host for classic rock or for heritage rock in the company anymore.

The job was eliminated. It's not like, oh, you found a better guy to do it. Let's get rid of Woods. No one's doing the job anymore. And so that's part of it. Money. And the other part of it is a new manager in the company decided that the value of history around music had decreased and declined. And no one cares about music history anymore, was his thing.

That just upsets me. My blood is boiling to hear that. We both know that people care. But it is a pop world. It's a Kardashian world. It's a Soundbite world. It's an Entertainment Tonight world. No one's going too deep.

Everything's coming up, but nothing really comes up. That's the way it's gone. The big news on one of your typical Toronto breakfast shows, be it, I don't know, breakfast television or whatever, will be like, oh, Taylor Swift has broken up with her boyfriend, whoever. Yeah, right. That's where we're at now. Well, there's the five, I don't know what they call it, the five hot buttons of the day or something.

And if you're in a big corporation, oftentimes they take that tact. What's going on today? Oh, something in sports, something in Hollywood, something with the Kardashians. Probably not even something to do with music. That's where it's gone. Everyone's supposed to put their own spin on these five hot buttons. Unless somebody in music dies. Yes.

Prince or David Bowie. That's the comedy to me because I don't think there was a Prince record on a lot of these radio stations. That's true. The day before he died or the years leading up to when he died. And suddenly everybody was a Prince record on a lot of these radio stations the day before he died or the years leading up to when he died and suddenly everybody's a Prince fan. You're right. It's such bullshit. You're so right about that. Support it when they're alive.

Well, case in point, somebody reached out to me from a radio station in Toronto when Glenn Frey died and wanted me to come on and talk about the Eagles because I'd met them. So I did. And then weeks later, a couple months later, I said, hey, can I come on and do an interview around my book? Because Joe Walsh is in there, an Eagle, and all these other rocks. Oh, we don't do interviews about that stuff.

I go, well, you had me in for Glenn Frey's death. Yeah, that's news, though. So to your point, when they die, it's relevant. What about when they were fucking alive? I have to say, one of my pet peeves, and it's happening now that big celebrities will die, is that a lot of people, it's almost like they jump on the bandwagon.

It's gross. All of a sudden, you were a diehard boy. With the Gore Downey news, I can point to entries I've been writing on my site for 14 years. I can show you the ticket stubs. I can show you the photos I've taken of my camera. I can point to entries I've been writing on my site for 14 years. I can show you the ticket stubs. I can show you the photos I've taken of my camera. I can show you when I bought up to here, because I heard it on Q107.

I heard Blow It High Do It. I went down to Sam's, and I picked it up that day. And all this, it's like, and then you hear all of a sudden, everyone, suddenly it's almost like it's almost cool to be a Prince guy or a bowie guy or now a tragically well at least at least with the hip i think everybody's being sincere but in the case of prince everybody was so quiet about it and now they're so vocal about it when he dies i find that a bit suspect and and bowie i i didn't i didn't find it prince blew up like crazy when he died more than i would have ever imagined when bow died, I think it got sort of commensurately the attention that I thought it would.

I was a huge fan since I was a kid being in the schoolyard and hearing that Bowie had a son with his wife Angie and they named him Zoe. I mean, I remember that moment. So I was always a fan. So when I met David,

it was like heaven. Yeah, and my favorite fun fact about Bowie is that his real name is David Jones. Yes. But there was a Davy Jones and the monkeys. That's so great, right? And Bowie was after a Bowie knife and after a guy named Jim Bowie, an adventurer.

And I love that. I love how Iggy Pop was once on a TV show. I think it was with Letterman. And he called him Bowie. And Iggy very sternly looked at him and said, it's Bowie. He's still going though. That's great.

I love Iggy. He's one of the sweetest guys I've ever met in rock and roll. I met him back in the 80s too. Cool. Yeah, he's a genuine article. I was with, ever so briefly,

just to underscore, people say, oh, you call everybody sweet. I'll go, well, I'll tell you. I'll give you an example of how sweet he is. I was with a record rep named Doug Caldwell

who worked for Virgin and Iggy was on Virgin. And we went backstage at a show at the government around 1987. And he hadn't seen him in months. Iggy hadn't seen my pal Doug in months and vice versa. Iggy goes, hi, Doug, how are you? Nice to see you. How's your daughter, Ajarae? Wow.

And I really enjoyed the letter you sent me. Wow. He remembered everything about the guy. That's amazing. A rock And I really enjoyed the letter you sent me. Wow. He remembered everything about the guy. That's amazing. A rock star. That's amazing. Who meets everybody.

I can't remember my nephew's name. Right. That's amazing. It's Billy, by the way. Is it? Oh, shit. I've been sending the checks

to the wrong guy. That's amazing. That's amazing. It's fun, man. So, back to the... By the way, in the book, I read the...

I read what you wrote about that day at Chorus Key. Oh, yeah. So I read that. And I don't know if you want to tease people. The book's fantastic. I'm still going through it. But when you describe that, you know, come in for a meeting Tuesday at 9 a.m. And that story.

Yeah, it's a pretty short story. Let me tell you, because it was really, I remember it so vividly, and I probably will to the day I die. So it's Friday afternoon, and I get an email. And it's a manager, a national manager with the company. And he said, Jeff, I'm going to be in town next week, because he doesn't live in Toronto. He lives in Vancouver. Can we meet? And he had done this once before,

but I was going on holiday, and he wasn't going to be around by the time I got back. So six months later, he called me out of the blue again or emailed me and said, can we meet? I said, absolutely. I said, when? And he said, how about Tuesday morning at nine? And if you know anything about

HR departments and corporations, you don't fire people on Fridays, because then they could go home and kill themselves, and I'm being serious corporations, you don't fire people on Fridays because then they could go home and kill themselves, and I'm being serious. And you don't fire anybody on a Monday because Monday is tough enough for all of us, let alone losing your job and going home and being depressed. The next chance to fire somebody

within the confines of the laws of the HR department would be Tuesday morning at 9. So I'm like, oh, here it comes. And then I thought to myself, let me give him a chance. So first of all, I said, I'm filling in for Kim Mitchell that afternoon at 2 o'clock. Can we meet at 1 so I don't have to come in twice in the same day? You know, if it's possible, if it's not an inconvenience for you. He goes, absolutely.

I'll see you at 1 o'clock. And then I thought one more step. I thought, I'm going to test his integrity. So I said, what's the agenda so that I can prepare? Right. Which is a fair question. Yeah,

it's completely fair. Because if we're going to talk about the playlist, because he had alluded to that before and he'd alluded to the fact that nobody cares about his history before.

and you were like the only guy ever who got to choose, the only DJ choosing his own playlist for that album. Yeah, there's only 12 songs a week, but I was choosing.

I thought maybe if we're talking about that, I'm going to prepare and get some things together and have a story to tell him. He said this, just really looking forward to meeting you. Now, if he had integrity,

I would not have been fired, right? You wouldn't say that. And he didn't have to say anything if it wasn't truthful. He could have just missed the email. It's Friday already. He had me in the building and I already agreed to take the meeting. Yeah. He should have said nothing if he was in fact going to fire me. So now I've got mixed signals. I'm thinking maybe he is credible. I've never met the guy before. I'm going to go with a positive attitude. So I get there at 10 to one on the Monday for the meeting. I go to

reception is a big building, chorus key. I don't know where the bloody boardroom is because they probably got 22 boardrooms. I asked the reception to show me a map. I said, where's the boardroom? They're like third floor, down the hall. I said, thank you. And I said to the receptionist too,

this sweetheart, I said, I'll either be back with a manila envelope or you'll hear me on the air at 2 o'clock for Kim Mitchell. I said, I don't know where this is going. And she smiled and said, good luck. I get off the elevator on the third floor. I hear a familiar voice. It's the head of HR who I had worked with

before having been a manager in the company. And I hear him say to somebody in the hallway, an errant person, he said, do you know where boardroom blah, blah, blah is? And they're like, well, you just... And I interrupted the person only because I knew where the boardroom was. I saw the bloody map.

I said, Larry, I said, I know where the boardroom is. I'm going there too, presumably to meet with you to get fired. And he looked at me white as a ghost and he couldn't, no words could come out of his mouth. What can he say? He kind of nodded and shook his head at the same time. I felt bad for him because he's just doing his job. We go into the boardroom.

I sit across from him. I said, what's his name? Mr. X. He goes, he's on his way. I said, here's how this is going to play out. When you see his shadow skulking down the hall i need you to leave the room close the door get rid of him come back do what you need to do and i'm fine with that if you need to bring a witness because they usually do it you know with someone

in present yeah do that bring someone else in and we'll do this he goes no no no i'll you know he was he was cool he did what I asked him to do. He got rid of the guy. You do not meet me for the first time to fire me, you son of a bitch. They've got enough people in the company that can do that. Do you need a, is that a notch in your belt? Is that something to stroke your ego? What is the inherent necessity for someone to need to meet someone for the first time to fire them?

You son of a, I was, and I said this, and I'm not a violent man, but push me. I said, because if you do bring him in, you know, you know what comes next. It's not going to be pretty. So he didn't, he didn't, I've never met the guy. I've still not met him to this day. I suspect I'll meet him at an industry function in Toronto.

And who knows what will happen in that moment. And you got your manila envelope. To add insult to injury, this is great, right? The bigger a corporation gets, the more mistakes it makes. He handed me an envelope, and the severance was like four weeks after 18 years with the company. Yeah, bad math. Because part of it I'd gone on contract,

so I wasn't an official employee. When they lured me back into the station and had me move to Calgary, I said, I'll come back into the company as an employee, but you have to give me back at least 11 of those years while I was here. I don't want to start fresh, which wouldn't be fair. And they're like, oh, I don't know that

we can do that. We've never done that before. I said, well, you'll figure out a way if you want me. They figured out a way, so I started as a new employee with 10 or 11 years experience, but they never made a note of it. They never recorded that fact. So when they went to let me go, I was like a brand new employee.

And I said, you guys can't even get that right? Seriously? I said, take that paper and put it in the shredder and come back to me with something reasonable. And they did. So they made good on this. But they snuck... I'm telling you this stuff because it's real. I like truth. They snuck in a clause.

They snuck in a clause. The only time I didn't use a lawyer to look at a contract from a radio company was the only time they snuck something in. They snuck in a clause that limited the severance i could get oh no i should have gotten this much according to my lawyer and in the 11th hour my lawyer calls me i was traveling across the country on my harley i i was taking a cigarette break i get a phone call it's my lawyer and she goes jeff do not ever ever

ever again sign something from a corporation without showing it to me. I said, what do you mean? She goes, they just sent me this clause that you didn't know about it. And I didn't know about it till this moment that limits your severance and you don't have a leg to stand on to get more. So I learned the hard way. Yeah. You know, I read this account in the book and it was great, like riveting to read it. Hearing you tell it is so much better. So I got to ask this book, which I'm a big fan of, and I'm going to dive in and read it, every word of it, Radio Records and Rockstars, right? By the way, beautiful hardcover book, great book. Are you going to do an audio book? I am. You doing the voice, it would be like a super long, amazing podcast. You know what I mean?

Thank you for saying. I'm really excited about the book. And it's going to come out in September. I was trying to get it out sooner. But imagine reading 400 pages into a microphone. It's quite an initiative. But I want to do it because it's out on Kindle and it's out on iBooks and it's out on hardcover and it's out on paperback.

But to really bring it home, I want to do an audiobook. So September 2016 through JeffWoodsRadio.com, you will have access to an iTunes audiobook. That would be amazing. Thank you for saying that. That would be amazing because I do this bike ride every day, and I do listen to podcasts. Yeah. And that would be fantastic. Nice to have the audio, right?

Yeah. I happen to like audio. I can do other things while I listen as opposed to just focusing audio, right? Yeah, I happen to like audio. I don't, I just, I can do other things while I listen as opposed to just focusing on the book. Yeah, I totally agree. I don't have any things going on.

But awesome. And you mentioned, so remind everyone what date the horseshoe thing is of Derringer because I think a lot of people listening will want to go to that. Thursday, June the 9th

at 5.30 p.m. right after, you know, traditional work hours till 8.30. So next Thursday. The Derringer stuff, Derringer will talk to me on the stage with a couple of easy chairs and microphones

around 7 o'clock. We'll talk about our mutual love of radio and records. And before and after, we'll sign some books and meet people. It's a free public event. Just show up. Show up, but make sure that you buy a beer or two so that the horseshoe guys... Oh, yeah.

Their bartenders are going to be busy. Are you kidding? Yeah, for sure. Hey, I got an email from a big... By the way, when I mentioned all those really excellent broadcasters that were let go of that same chorus, Bloodletting, when they had to, whatever, cut their payroll or whatever, and you were one of the victims. Of all the people

who were let go, and there were a lot of people who were fans of different people, Nails, Scottish guy, Dominicottish guy uh you were the one i think that i had the most the most bewildered responses to which is like why would you let jeff woods go i think i think of all of the guys on that list because even kim mitchell who's a fantastic musician i just saw him last year at the right nearby before he's he had a heart attack but before that uh and he's recovered i think yeah yeah i just spoke with him he's a fantastic musician. I just saw him last year nearby before he had a heart attack. But before that, he's recovered. I think he's back performing now. Yeah, I just spoke with him. He's a wonderful man. Yeah, and he's a great musician.

And some people liked him as a broadcaster, some didn't. But everybody universally seemed to like Jeff Woods on the radio. Well, it's super kind of you to say. Todd Shapiro, who is also a podcaster and satellite host, said, he goes, I can't get my head around it.

He goes, of all the people to get fired or let go from a radio station, he's like, if Jeff Woods can't have a radio job, then what the hell's happened to this business? But no, I was making more, you know, if you make decent money in radio, you're one step close to the door. It's almost like you need to like,

you almost have to self-sealing your earning almost. Well, yeah. Is that even a term? Well, the thing about corporations and companies in general, you can't give somebody less pay. If you change their job description a little bit, you can't suddenly back them off.

You work your way up the ladder and they can't put you down three rungs. It's what a constructive dismissal I think they call it. But sometimes your job description does change somewhat. I was no longer a program director. I was just doing this weekly show and some blogging and some appearances

and some interviews and they deemed it not enough stuff to warrant the money that you're paying. And not only that but let's also look at what happened with Chorus. I thought to myself, they're looking to save some money and improve their cash flow. Right? And sure enough, they spent $2.5 billion

on buying Shaw Media in the last 12 months. So they were looking to have more cash flow. They were cleaning up the books or whatever. I think so. Because they were getting rid of a lot of really good people. You mentioned James McPhee. Yeah. And Kim Mitchell. And so many more.

Quick aside. Shapiro, local to where we are right now, there's going to be a grilled cheese festival on the weekend. I love that. Yeah. Really? Yeah. Grilled cheese festival on the weekend. Celebrity judge Todd Shapiro.

I love this guy. I'm not kidding with you. By the way, Shapiro, when he started his podcast, I'm the guy who helped him with the back end of the podcast because I did it with Humble and Fred. I love that. And the full circle on that is he and his guy, Jay, helped me. Yeah. Which is a fake name.

I only found out last week. Which is real name. I don't know if I'm even supposed to say, except Jay Brody, he said he was working at another job and he didn't want them to know he was doing the Shapiro show. Well, his email is Brody, like R-O-T-I. Yes, he just gave the name away, but that's okay. I don't think it matters anymore.

Oh, I see. So Jay Brody. Oh, it's Brody and Brody. To bring us full circle, I get an email from the real Jay Brody, whatever his real name is, like an email, which I didn't even recognize the name because I know him as Jay Brody. And it's like, hey, man, I just talked. I don't know if he just talked to Jeff Woods

or we just had Jeff Woods on. He'd be a fantastic guest for Toronto Mic'd. I'm like, he's already booked. All right, Brody, he's already booked for Toronto Mic'd. You were ahead of the curve on that. So thank you. So small world, Shapiro's going to judge the grilled cheese and me and my 14-year-old are going to go

to the grilled cheese festival. Hey, man, speaking of people who like Jeff Woods, is going to judge the grilled cheese and me and my 14-year-old are going to go to the grilled cheese festival and check it out. Hey, man, speaking of people who like Jeff Woods, there's a guy, he's been reading my blog forever. He's in Sudbury.

His name is Jason. He sends me an email. He's like, he hears you're coming on. He's got a million questions and I promised I'd ask him all, but I just realized

we're at like an hour and 30 minutes. We're insane. We could talk forever. I'm just going to, I'm going to look quickly and see if I can cherry pick something here so that Jason

feels better. I'll just sip my beer while you're giving me some consideration. This is really good beer, by the way. Yeah, they're local to here. Independent and fantastic guys. Great Lakes Brewery. What's the name of your beer you got there? Oh, it's the same one I opened. Sunnyside Citrus. Yeah. It's got a hint of, how do you say, citrus. Absolutely.

Absolutely. Okay, what's your favorite band that you ever had the chance to interview? We'll do this rapid fire. Well, I didn't interview the whole band, but my favorite band on the face of the earth

would have to be the Beatles and I got to interview Ringo Starr. Does he count as a Beatle? I'm just kidding with you. I just saw that joke in some show or something. Some show, was it?

Maybe it was vinyl. It was vinyl. Somebody said, did you ever meet a Beatle? And he goes, does Ringo count? Such a low ass, such a low ass, low hanging fruit joke. I mean, anyone you ever meet a Beatle? And he goes, does Ringo count? Such a low ass, such a low ass,

low hanging fruit joke. I mean, anyone that's got a problem with Ringo is clearly stunted in their ability to understand music. Screw those people.

Yeah. Come on. Oh, he wants to know, when you hosted shows in Calgary and Winnipeg, were they live or pre-recorded?

Because he knows you live in Toronto. My original Calgary show was pre-recorded. It was a lunch show. My Winnipeg show in the live or pre-recorded? Because who knows you live in Toronto? My original Calgary show was pre-recorded. It was a lunch show. My Winnipeg show in the evening was pre-recorded. My original Toronto lunch show was pre-recorded. Decades was pre-recorded. It was just the nature

of I had seven different hats to wear and I couldn't do it all live. What happened to John Moran? Johnny Moran's in Ottawa. He went to a station called, is it Live 88 something? He's still doing radio. He's doing well. Good guy.

Okay, because this guy really liked his weekly metal show. Yeah, on Q107. I spoke to him a couple of weeks ago. He was still in Ottawa. What do you think of Q107's current format? I think it's a little quiet, and I think it's a little poppy. I think only at lunchtime. For example, Duran Duran will now be heard on Q107 occasionally.

I like one Duran Duran song, Girls on Film, and it probably has a lot to do with the video, but I think it's a good track. Here's what I think, though. What about Wild Boys? I heard this today, though.

Speaking of that, they have a new 80s lunch, right? That's where you hear Duran Duran, yeah. The word that's the most overused in the last two to three years, and I hate the where you hear Drain Drain, yeah. And the word that's the most overused in the last sort of two to three years, and I hate the word because it just means nothing anymore, awesome.

So they have the awesome 80s lunch. If it says awesome, it's probably not. And the only awesome 80s song is Nina's 99 Left Behind. And I hate that song. The German version is, as long as you don't play the English version, we're okay.

She sounded sexy. I don't recall singing it. I've been to Germany many times. Every time I meet a German, I say, where's Nina? I thought she sounded sexy, too. Are you kidding me? I want to go to Berlin because they have a sex museum. Cool, yeah.

Did you go? I didn't go inside. I just took a photo of the outside. But Berlin's a cool city. In fact, I got lost in Berlin. And ladies, I didn't realize where the prostitution was, and I found myself just walking the strip, just a bunch of ladies of the night.

Falling your nose. Yeah. No comment there. Not specifically pertaining to Q107, but do you see the classic rock format being able to survive much longer? Well, you know where it sounds good? Tough questions, Jason.

You know where it sounds good to me is Sirius Satellite Radio. I love their classic vinyl station. Do you find that the playlists are too shallow on Sirius? Because I find if I listen for a couple of days road trip or something, I'm already getting reruns. You're a Sirius diehard music fan, and for we serious diehard depth fans, it does get a bit tight, but they're not doing these shows just for us. So they tend to go a little tighter than we would like, but they probably go a little broader than some people would like. So they have to find a

happy medium. I understand that. What do you think of the state of radio today? And then that's his question. My question is, do you, would you go back to radio? Are you done with radio? Would you consider returning to radio if the right opportunity arose? I'd much rather do a show that doesn't have traditional 30 and 60 second commercials. I would rather have integrated stuff, like you just did.

Hey, by the way, we're drinking beer and it's brought to you by this beer company and nine seconds later we're done talking about the beer. I don't want to sit through four and five minute commercial blocks. I think that that's traditional media. No more that I want to do it with a television station. I want to watch HBO or AMC.

I do not want to sit through an ABC show. There's ads on AMC. Is there ads? I don't even notice them. You know what? Because you're stealing it from the Pirate Bay and they've removed the ads.

I think HBO is a great model. Yeah. I don't even notice them. Yes, you know what? Because you're stealing it from the Pirate Bay and they've removed the ads before they go with them. Let's use HBO as the model. HBO is a great model. Yeah. No ads. A TV show is 30 minutes long. No, it's 18 or 20 minutes long. The rest is commercials. I can't sit through that.

You're right. And especially with the Netflix stuff now, it's like we're all ruined for commercials. I can't do it either. But I'm a sports guy. Are you a sports guy? I'm not a huge sports guy. I'd rather play it than watch it.

You can go your life and never see an ad. Where I get hit with the ads is I need to watch sports live, and live sports is full of ads. And what are you going to do? Like I mute it or whatever? I go do something else? Go to the washroom or whatever? And I don't hate products.

I mean, we all buy stuff. I just think it's too long. But when you have to pay the debt that is incurred to buy all these media properties, you've got to play a lot of commercials. You are correct. And Rogers owes a lot of money, I think, from that. You thought the deal for Shaw was big.

Come on. Double that, triple that, whatever. It's true. If you could go home, and you mentioned the Beatles already. Maybe that's the answer here. But if you could go home tonight and listen to any band, any artist on the planet tonight, what do you put on? I've been vacillating between

two artists lately. Ray LaMontagne, who's got half a dozen records. The latest is mind-blowing. If you like Pink Floyd, buy the new Ray LaMontagne because it sounds like Pink Floyd from Sid Barrett right through to the mid-70s. The other would be I'm a huge Roxy music and Brian Ferry fan. Brian Ferry

to me is one of the most creative front men that's ever been. His affinity for Bob Dylan, his covers of Bob Dylan are mind-blowing. The production value of Roxy Music and Brian Ferry. I put on a Brian Ferry record every second day. Cool. Now, I saw a lot of pictures of you on your bike, and your bike is different than my bike.

My bike, I got to pedal this thing. I don't know how you do that. Yeah. You have to move your legs. It's all human all like human powered man it's really weird yeah but your bike and you know and you tell the great story because basically after you get your manila envelope yeah you know you jump on your bike you talk about setting off car alarms i jumped on my harley and i i mean i didn't speed i mean't do that. No, because Pete Fowler's listening. I ripped through the city. My bike's big and loud and mean and beautiful.

I love it. It's a Harley Road Glide 2005 customized. There's nothing more freeing than getting on your Harley and riding. And so that's what I did after I got fired. I wasn't really angry, and I wasn't really upset. I was more numb. But you're using your bike the same way I do. So I clear my head. I

think about things. I solve the world's problems like when I'm on my bike. And you're doing the same thing except you can go faster and further because you're running on gas. It's the best. I'll tell you what I pass you guys. I'm not an asshole but I do have a little grin

like if you were on this bike you'd be having so much more fun. That's what I hear. But I always see bike guys and I think, it looks freaking cool. I don't think I could... Oh, you could pull it off. Yeah. Oh, it's so fun.

But not a Harley. I'd have to get some wimpy Suzuki. I started on a Honda, like a metric bike as they call them, a Japanese bike, and worked my way up to Harley. There's nothing more fulfilling than having the Harley. But you got the ink. You got all that ink, the aforementioned ink, and you're on the Harley, and you just, you're like,

you got the smoking at eight years old voice. You know, it's just like, I don't know. But I think it's all very cool, and I like looking at the pictures of you. You're very kind to say. But your bike's not here, right? It's in Alberta? It's in Alberta.

I'm going to stick it in a trailer and drag it back here in July, because I got a new place to live. But your bike's not here, right? It's in Alberta? It's in Alberta. I'm going to stick it in a trailer and drag it back here in July because I've got a new place to live. I've got a place in Liberty Village. I'm pretty excited to be coming back to Ontario. I just signed a lease this morning. Okay, cool. Indy 88's in Liberty Village.

I love those people. Raina, who's on 102.1. She's one of my favorite DJs. She's great over there. She's so solid. She's so good. She's great. And you know, the general sales manager's so good. She's been here. She's great. And you know,

the general sales manager there, John Paris, used to be at Q107 decades ago. Really? He reached out and said, congrats on your book, and he's going to come to the book signing.

Look at this full circle. It's amazing. It's such a small industry still. It crosses all formats. He's the new rock guy. I'm the classic guy. What does Jeff Woods think of Lowest to the Low?

Any opinion on Lowest to the Low? The band. Everybody from that band is a star in my Jeff Woods think of Lowest of the Low? Any opinion on Lowest of the Low? Everybody from that band is a star in my opinion. I love Lowest of the Low. Two episodes ago, Ron Hawkins was here. Super, super talent. And I've closed every episode. This is episode 177. Every episode is closed with Rosie and Gray

from Shakespeare and My Butt. You have good taste. Your book is great. And thanks for doing this, man. You're good taste. You have good taste. Your book is great. And thanks for doing this, man. You're right. I could have gone three, four hours, but I, you know. You're a sweetheart for having me on.

I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I invite everyone to come to jeffwoodsradio.com to listen to my podcast, too. And that, oh yeah, your podcast, which I'm sorry for, I know you were,

my note says you just launched it, right? Yeah, we're six episodes deep. It's called Records and Rockstars Go Figure. And you're the only host? I have to tune in. So I can go to iTunes and subscribe to this? Yes, you can. Or listen on demand on the website. Yeah, cool. I will check it out.

I love Canadian podcasts. There's not enough good Canadian podcasts. I love doing it and it's just me for 20, 25 minutes. Starting in August, I'm going to start having guests on like you do. You're going to have Andy Frost on? If you can't get him, I'll see if I can. Goal scored by number 13, Matt Sundin. Mr. Woods, it's good to be here.

I can't do a very good Andy in person. And that brings us to the end of our 177th show. You can follow me on Twitter at Toronto Mike and Jeff is at Jeff Woods radio. See you all next week. is well you've been under my skin for more than eight years it's been eight years of laughter and eight years of tears and i don't know what the future can hold or do for me and you but i'm a much better man