Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Jody Vance: Toronto Mike'd #624

Episode Date: April 20, 2020

Mike chats with broadcaster Jody Vance about her years at Sportsnet, moving to Leafs TV and then back home to Vancouver. Some smash the glass ceiling... Jody smashed the glass desk.

Welcome to episode 624 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times, and brewing amazing beer. amazing beer. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Garbage Day. Weekly reminders for garbage, recycling, and yard waste pickup. Visit GarbageDay.com slash Toronto Mike to sign up now.

StickerU.com. Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals for your home and your business. And the Keitner Group. They love helping buyers find their dream home. Text Toronto Mike to 59559. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me is broadcaster Jody Vance. Welcome Jody. Hi, it's good to be here. And where is here? This is, you're in Van City? Yes, I'm in Vancouver. I'm in my hometown of Vancouver

on a beautiful spring day during a pandemic. And before we start, if I may, Mike? Of course. I want a serious shout out to our frontline workers. It's not cliche. It's the real deal. And I'd like to point out one very famous, soon-to-be physician in Hayley Wickenheiser who is championing

conquercovid.ca. I just bought the t-shirt. Not sure if you've got your t-shirt, but man, what Hayley Wickenheiser is doing on behalf of frontline workers just needs to be put out there and with a big love icon above it. No, for sure. I'm glad you did that. At some point, I was going to point out, you've been a great advocate on Twitter. I follow Jody Vance on Twitter, and you've been giving lots of love to frontline heroes. So awesome. Thank you. Well, I'm a daughter of a lab technician. My mom is a scientist. So I kind of grew up around that. And I remember the time when my mom, because we'd go to the lab, my mom was a single mom for many years. And as the kids, we'd go to the lab and meet her after work, and then we'd go home. And I remember the day where we were no longer allowed

past the desk. And that's when my mom was dealing with HIV and AIDS, not knowing what that virus was. So I, she was a frontline worker then. And I have just such an appreciation for those who put themselves at risk so that we can all be that much safer. And I saw it was a fellow Van City guy, Ryan Reynolds, right? Who was working with Haley Wickenheiser on scoring some PPE. What is it? Is it PPE? Yes. Personal protective equipment, masks and gowns and gloves and shields.

And yeah, Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool Ryan Reynolds. I'm not going to lie to you. When he just suddenly started following me on Twitter, I did go screaming up to my 12-year-old and said, Deadpool follows me. I'm cool. And he said, Yeah, you're cool, mom. You were cool before, but you're cooler now. So thank you, Ryan Reynolds. Right. And Ryan's a big listener of the program. I'm just kidding. I have no idea. But he should be. But awesome to finally connect with you. I was kind of prior to

COVID-19. I was like, eventually, Jodi going to have to come to Toronto and have some time on her hands. Like that was my thought. And I was willing to wait. Like I'm a super patient guy. You know, a year became two years, three years, four years. And then I figure now that I've given up my no remote episode rule by necessity, I figured now's the time to finally, finally get Jody Vance on the program. So thank you for doing this. No problem. You and I had a plan in place. I was actually supposed to be coming to Toronto

for the first time in far too long to visit my Toronto peeps. I was supposed to come out for spring break. And instead, I pulled my son out of school two days early, and we've been on lockdown ever since. How old is your son? He's 12 and a half and taller than me. It's funny how that, how that works. Yeah. But you know what I'm thinking now we do the deep dive here, uh, via zoom. And then eventually when some sense of normalcy returns, you know, maybe, maybe it'll be post vaccine I'm thinking, but whenever it is, uh, you can come over and kick out the jams and then I can give you what, you know, you rightfully deserve, which is your, uh, your Great Lakes beer and your, uh,

Palma pasta lasagna. I'm down. You just, you had me at the Great Lakes beer, but then you threw down lasagna, which might be my favorite all time food. So Palma's kitchen, I'm coming for you. Amazing. Amazing. Oh, and your Toronto Mike sticker, because I have, uh,

no one can see it, but you, but I have, uh, a sticker, you.com sticker, uh, for Toronto Mike.

That's going to be all yours. This is going to happen. So I need to have like a, like a carrot, like, uh, some hope, you know?

So I need to know that one day, you know, Jody's coming over. I'm Bugs Bunny on that. I am. Now let's talk about how things are going in Vancouver because, you know, this is a pretty Toronto centric show, as you might imagine. And we're very interested. It seems from, you know, we watched the same CBC news.

It seems like you guys have done a great job in British Columbia of flattening that curve. But maybe can you give us a sense of like how things are going on the pandemic front in Vancouver? I would love to actually. And you know what? I listen to your podcast, so I know. And that keeps me connected with sort of that Toronto-centric vibe. connected with sort of that Toronto-centric vibe. I do a podcast out here called Unspun Podcast,

which is a BC sort of unspin the politics of what happens weekly out here. And there's always lots to talk about. But for the ORCA, the orca.ca is the website that you can find. I do a column weekly, and I wrote an open letter to our provincial health officer a number of weeks ago, an open letter to Dr. Bonnie Henry. And you've likely seen, as you said, on CBC News Network or on Global National, you would see Dr. Bonnie Henry. And this is a woman who helped eradicate polio in Pakistan. She led, remember when SARS hit Toronto? I lived there. A lot of listeners right now are

going, oh yeah, I remember when I didn't want to leave my house even for free beer. Dr. Bonnie led the way on that navigating SARS. She's been involved in the Ebola epidemic in Africa. This woman throws herself into what we would all consider the scariest of situations. She knows a pandemic plan. And I think her way of being kind, being calm and asking us all to stay home and stay safe to protect our frontline healthcare workers. Like she just kept driving home the fact that this is for now, this is not forever. And this will save lives. This will save lives if we all buy in. And what Dr. Bonnie has done here in British Columbia, and I do think there's some other things at play, but I'll give you the sort of the feel from BC and then let everybody know

across the country. It's not a slight against anybody else because spring break happened earlier everywhere else across the country. BC was the last to go schools out for spring break. And by then we'd already all heard what was happening elsewhere. And we didn't travel. We locked down instead of far flung beach vacations and what have you on flights with possible positive cases. But Dr. Bonnie has really managed to do something special here in British Columbia,

managed to do something special here in British Columbia, bring everybody together and get everybody to buy in on staying home. We're allowed to go for, you know, a bike ride. We're allowed to go for a run or walk with just the family in our house, not our family. We're not meeting our friends at the beach. Even with social distancing, she's asking that we just stay in our little bubbles. And we've managed to flatten that curve to the degree that we're getting these little snippets of good news. And if we can just, if we can just hold this foe at bay for long enough, as you mentioned, to maybe get a vaccine or an antiviral or an antibody treatment that might help, boy, that would be very positive. You know, I've got my mom and my stepdad are in their early 80s and both have underlying health issues.

And my dad has late stage Alzheimer's and is in a home here. So I have all kinds of reasons to stay home. And Dr. Bonnie kind of makes me feel good about that instead of feeling home and alone and scared. I feel like I'm actually able to do something. So I think British Columbians are very united on the buy-in of creating that,

that firewall and it's working. It must tick you off on some level that, you know, we get this news of like protests, like anti-stay-at-home protests here. Now, you know what it's like, right? The, the, the, you know, small little minority outrage sort of gets amplified, right? And then, you know, uh, you know, small little minority outrage sort of gets amplified. Right. And then, you know, so, you know, we might be sitting here in Toronto thinking that there's these large movements in Vancouver to, uh,

return to a state of normalcy before the health experts think we should, like, what would you say to that? Maybe give us some perspective on the, uh, what we've heard about the protest there. Are we allowed to swear? Yeah, of course. Well, I course well i'll try not to but um that guy that went viral i don't even want to use his name because i think it's just atrocious it's just it's attention whoring it is the worst of humanity to just get attention and perhaps put out there something that a vulnerable individual who is feeling the conspiracy theory like that somehow justifies it and puts them in danger and then they put their neighbors in danger and their

neighbors parents in danger you know like it's just the the term covidiots doesn't go far enough in my opinion uh the good news i don't know it's good news the thing about this is these people are protesting against a virus. The virus doesn't care. The virus, if you all get together and say, we're not going to social distance, well, then the odds of you all getting sick just went up exponentially. The trouble is, is when they land in ICU and need a respirator,

they're going to go up against somebody who was socially isolated, who was doing everything. against somebody who was socially isolated, who was, you know, doing everything. So, you know, I wish these people who, you know, are the new anti-vax sort of mentality people that don't believe science, I wish they could sign some kind of waiver that they say, you know, I don't believe this is actually happening and I want to be able to do whatever I want to do. Great. Your waiver says you're at the back of the line when you go into the hospital, not being able to breathe. No, I love that. I'm sure that compromises some Hippocratic oath somewhere, but that sounds amazing, right? Like if you're going to partake in these protests, then you basically give up if someone else needs the rest, ventilate,

rest, no, the ventilator, right? You're the daughter of the scientist. I got to keep my lingo right. Yeah, I love your idea there. Absolutely. So just for perspective, though, it's not a mass movement. It's not like every other Vancouver person. No, it's just a couple of loonies trying to make some noise and get like their name in the news, I guess. and they don't even necessarily get their name in the news other than for the fact that they went viral. Like people take a picture and then somebody goes, what an idiot. And the other people go, what a stupid idiot. Oh my God, I can't believe that idiot. What a good, what a good, what a good idiot.

But the next thing you know, it's got a 10 million reach. It's like, oh, I wish we could just ignore them because the virus doesn't care what they say on Twitter and doesn't care what their selfie you know, selfie video TikTok was. Okay. Before I just don't get it. Now, before I get you, you know, to the sports media front and get you to Sportsnet, you're doing something very cool, like at 7 p.m. every day, because I see every day, like just

before 7 p.m., I see the Jodi Vance tweet. So tell us what you're doing. Again, I wrote a column about this, but it's not, I didn't come up with the idea. It's something that has been happening around the world in terms of people wanting to celebrate frontline healthcare workers in particular, because usually nurses and healthcare workers, frontline workers, emergency room doctors work 12 hour shifts, seven to seven. So at 7pm, there's a shift change. So that those coming in to work 7pm to 7am are arriving

and those who have just done the day shift are leaving. So at 7 o'clock on the dot every day, we grab our pots and pans and wooden spoons that are now breaking at a high rate because we're solid, I don't know, 50 days into it. And we bang for a solid minute. We hoot, we holler, we bang the drum. When we first started on our quiet little Kitsilano Street, kind of like a Leaside Street. So, you know, a bunch of houses and big trees and sort of sleepy. And my son thought we were crazy.

And I'm like, I don't care. I'm going to keep doing this, guys. And oh my gosh, I'm so excited to say that every evening at 7 p.m. on the dot, I would say 90 percent of our neighborhood is out. And we wave to each other like, hey, grocery store workers and food delivery people and truck drivers and all of the essential workers now are on our list of people that we're grateful for. It started as the, you know, the hospital shift change. But now it's when people are driving by in their cars while we're doing the banging of the pots and pans, people are honking their horns and riding their bikes and clapping their hands. Like it really, it's a really moving every day, seven day a week thing until this is conquered. Until we conquered COVID.

I totally dig it. Like I think that's fantastic. I get excited about it. It's my one thing that's in my calendar. I used to have a very full calendar and now I've just got 655. Be ready. Yeah. Now today you had two things in there.

He's like, I got to talk to Toronto Mike today. This is a very exciting day for you. Now, obviously, the first time I see you and, you know, enjoy your work is at Sportsnet. So I know that you don't, you know, just start at Sportsnet. So maybe can you give us the uh the deep dive bio here and how you end up at uh sports net i would love to because i had a lot of people helping me i really honestly did not ever imagine that i would uh have landed in toronto doing doing the supper hour broadcast sitting alongside the likes of jim Horn. Like, oh my gosh, that is the pinnacle.

Okay. You said you do listen to the odd Toronto Mic'd episode. Did you hear my episode very recently with Jim Van Horn? I saw it go by on my Twitter, but I haven't listened to it yet. Okay. Because he does shout you out and send some love your way. I love him so much. We're still in touch. He is just such an amazing human. He is tops of my list. I call him pops. He calls me sniff. We had so much fun working together.

I wish we could have worked together much, much longer, but how I started in, in the business, I started in radio. I can go back deep into that. I was, you know,

bartending at Bruce Allen's Christmas party when I got a card in my tip jar and was offered a job being the community cruiser driver and sitting shopping malls and handing out stickers on behalf of a classic rock AM radio station, CHRX. And then I went to CFMI, which became rock 101. And I met Ron Bremner who moved over to BCTV, which is the global station now a big behemoth of a station in British Columbia, number one by leaps and bounds, with some iconic sports broadcasters in John McKeeche and Bernie Pascal. And everywhere I went, I told people I wanted to be a sportscaster

everywhere, because that's what I wanted to do since I was a kid. I want to be a sportscaster on TV and people go, yeah, sure, you do. And I just kept saying it out loud. You know, my dad was the head of the PE department at the largest high school in BC. I went to sporting events every other weekend. I was coach's daughter. I sat outside of the boys' locker room

while my brother went in because that's what my dad's office was. And I was like, one day I'm going in there. And I did. But Ron Premner heard me say I want to be a sportscaster on TV and he one day invited me for lunch at BCTV and took me on a tour there and I was nervous I'm walking around and I don't know what from what and I'm just like a tomboy you know and uh and I walked through and I met everybody hi hi this is Jodi she wants to do

sports this is Jodi she's looking to do sports that This is Jody. She's looking to do sports. Set it up. Fine. Have lunch. Off I go. I'm like, wow, that was exciting. And TV. Oh, what a medium. And then the next day he called me and he said, so did anybody phone you? And I said, no. And he said, okay, uh, you're coming back for lunch next week. And I said, what, what? And he goes, yeah, let's come back for lunch next week. And he walked me around again and said, I'm not sure if you heard me, but Jodi's here and she'd like to do sports. Like I'm paraphrasing a little, but I kind of got the vibe thatth, a lunar eclipse. I'll never forget it. Where they had actually, as often happens in this business, quote unquote, retired both John McKeachie and Bernie Pascal, who had been the gods of sports broadcast in this province for 25 years. And they put me on. I had never done television. I had never done sports television. I was terrified. And that was before there was an internet.

You had to actually go through the team booklet to figure out the stats and do the math. And just a whole different time. And I was doing my best to pull it all together. I had no idea what I was doing. And Squire Barnes, who's still at BCTV, which is now Global News BC, Squire Barnes came in at about, my broadcast was the late 11.

And he came in at about 8.30 PM. And I'll never forget it. I looked up and he was taking off his blazer and he said, something tells me that you could possibly use my help. And he put the blazer behind my chair. And I just looked at him like, he just rode in on a white stallion.

Like the people who helped me were unreal. So there I was, I did that first ever sports broadcast. It went without a hitch. I couldn't believe it. I was driving home in my little Honda Accord hatchback that night. I thought I was going to throw up. And I thought to myself, I can die now. I've done it. I never need to do it again. I've been saying I've wanted to do this for my whole life. And they phoned me the

next day and said, will you come back and do it again? And I thought, wow, amazing. Yeah. So that's where it all started. And then it goes into Vancouver Television launch. John Festinger, who I worked with at Rock 101 CFMI, where Ron Bremner worked, he got the job as the general manager for Vancouver Television, which was this news station that was launching associated with CTV at the time. That's the story I told you about Scott Moore. Just the alignment of the stars, my friend. Wow. Well, okay. So can you tell the Scott Moore story again for anyone who missed it? Because you were kind enough to record yourself for the first, yeah, the first visit Scott Moore made to the

studios here on Toronto Mic. But share that story again, because of Scott Moore's interesting role in your ending up at Sportsnet, right? Yes. I call Scott Moore the dream maker, because he literally made my wildest dreams come true and very much empowered me to make sure that my voice was solely my own and wanted me to be myself, which I just, I can't even express my gratitude for that because it's helped me in my entire life, not just sports. But I was working at Vancouver Television. We launched there. I was hired to do two minutes of sports on the weekend news. And just before we launched, Yvonne Fitzon was watching the dress rehearsal for the 6 p.m. weekday, the main show. Paul Meunier and Monica Diehl were the lead anchors there.

And Yvonne Fitzon said, where's the sports? And Bob McLaughlin said, oh, we're not doing sports. We're doing a full half hour of entertainment, half hour news, half hour entertainment. And Yvonne turned around and said, no, we're not. So like blew it all up the day before launch. And so it fell to me to gather the sports news together for Amr Halim, who is another fantastic human being. And you wonder who else was working at VTV doing entertainment at that time?

Okay. Oh, I was going to say, I don't get to, I don't get to guess. Oh, I'm sorry. I would have given you that. There's a number of... Is that before James Duffy's in Ottawa? He was in Ottawa first, then came to Vancouver, and then went to Toronto. Okay. And did you ever cross paths in Vancouver with Dan O'Toole?

Like, doesn't he do something with City TV there? Yes and no. I didn't cross paths with him here. I crossed paths with him in Toronto, but it's a very small world. We all know each other. You mentioned Monica Duell, so I have to do a shout out to Monica Duell

because her name comes up an awful lot on this program because we're, you know, mildly infatuated with like electric circus so as you should be and monica deal might be the nicest human being i've ever met in my life that's good to hear because uh she was booked on toronto mike because she was coming she was doing some makeup line with sephora maybe she still does it but she was coming in town to promote it and she was booked and my notes were ready and then at the last minute she had to do something else and she never actually made her way over here. But one day we'll, uh, maybe, yeah, one day we'll rectify that.

But you're in, you're, you're at the, is that a Moses thing? Is that like a chum city thing? Nope. Nope. That was a CTV Yvonne Fitzon. Oh, that's right. Of course you said that that's a CTV thing. Okay. Yes. So there I was. Uh, and so Yvonne wanted, um, sports in the six and at the 11. So Amr Halim did the six o'clock sports. And then I did the 11 o'clock sports Monday to Friday. And then I did six minutes of sports. So eight minutes at 11 and six minutes of sports on Saturdays and Sundays. So I worked seven days a week for 72 days. Well, it was a lot, but I learned, I learned a lot. I cut all my own stuff. I wrote all my own stuff. There was no producer. I was the sports department. I'm telling you the best schooling I've ever had in my life was the opportunity to,

uh, to work in this incredible room full of wonderful people. We had such a good time at Vancouver Television. So then my boss asked me to give somebody a tour on a Sunday when I was working one day. There was, quote unquote, a guy coming in from Toronto. We were the first high-def digital, all-digital television station. The technology was next level. And he was going to come and have a tour of our facility. And I said, sure, I'll do that.

No problem. So in comes this guy. And I give him the tour. And I'm such a novice. I'm walking him through our central equipment room. This is where all the feeds come in. And this is where the switcher sits that puts all the shows on the network. And then I took him into the control room and said, you know, this is where the director sits.

And this is where the person who counts down is. And they call for the different screens up here. Took him on set. And this is where I stand. And da-da-da-da-da. Oh, my God. When I think back, it's just so painful. So you had no idea who he was?

Oh, no. No idea. No idea. No idea. At this point, nobody no idea who he was? Oh no, no idea. No idea. No idea. At this point, nobody really knew who he was. Um, cause Sportsnet wasn't, um, built yet. It was in the process of being built. It was still under the code name S3. Right. And so at the end of my brutal tour for somebody who is like, knows so much about television. I was showing my passion and my novice simultaneously. Anyways, he looked at me and he said, Where do you see yourself going?

Where do you see yourself in five years? What do you want to what do you want to do? And I had had the I want to be a sportscaster on TV thing for so much of my life. And then here I was doing it, I thought, Well, what do I want next um so I always have a goal that I throw up high in the clouds and see what happens and so I told him what my goal was I said I'd like to be the first woman on the desk at S3 this new sports this new sports network that's launching I'm told and he looked at me with this like if you know Scott you know the look and he told me after like long after that it probably about six months later, it was in that moment that he knew I would be. Wow.

And I still, my heart flutters every time I tell that story because I just viscerally remember standing in front of him and being equal parts excited and terrified simultaneously. Okay, so we don't bury the lead here. equal parts excited and terrified simultaneously. Okay, so we don't bury the lead here. You end up becoming the first woman in the history of Canadian television to what? To host your own sports show in prime time? Is that the claim? That's awesome.

It's a very long title. My son points out how long that title is because he hears it quite a bit. And I said, try and shorten it for me, bud. Because the record or whatever, the historical marker is that I was the first woman to have, quote unquote, her own sports show national in primetime. So it's the national sports piece and when i was going up to do it for the first time i had no idea about that and then uh dave rashford put out a press release that rolled by my desk like right after doing my first because it's four live regional uh half hour shows each night and that rolled by my desk and I was like, I'm so glad I didn't know that before my first show.

You know, I would have been so much even further down the road. And we're talking like, what are we like in 2000 or so when this happens? 2000? Labor Day, just after Labor Day 2000, 20 years ago,

20 years ago this year. It's kind of amazing that it took until 2000 for that to happen, actually. But if someone had to be the first, I'm glad it was you. Oh, well, that's nice of amazing that it took until 2000 for that to happen, actually. But if someone had to be the first, I'm glad it was you. Oh, well, that's nice of you. Thank you. There were many, many, many fantastic women who were trailblazers.

When somebody says I'm a trailblazer, I'm like, oh, my gosh, can we sit down and go through the list of people that have come before me and been, you know, iconic in their own right? And even just a whisper before I showed up on the scene, you know, Lisa Bowes, Teresa Cruz, Martine Guyard, who's still with Sportsnet. It was at the score. Oh, my God. I love watching Martine on the score when it launched. And, you know, so I'm glad I'm really I'm excited to be a part of a really cool sort of group. So I'm glad. I'm excited to be a part of a really cool sort of group. Right. I'm thinking of my pal Anne Romer, who was doing sports, but never got to host a primetime show, so didn't get such a claim. But I watched her on CP24 nonstop. She is amazing.

Well, you know, she never left the screen, so you couldn't miss her, right? No. You think you worked long hours. I think she put in 24-'t miss her, right? No. You think you worked long hours. I think she put in 24-hour shifts is how I think. I think you're right. I think that worked. Okay, so you get the gig at Sportsnet. I'm guessing Scott Moore, he goes back to the office

and whispers something in someone's ear or something? Like, is that how that comes to be? Oh, when after he said. Like, how do you get the uh how do you get in the door at sports net so that you could make the claim get become the first woman in history of canadian television to host her own sports show in prime time well first i went and i was the host of sports central am which was the earliest alarm clock of my life uh Uh, so I moved to Toronto. Oh, sorry. Let me back up. I did the, the first dress rehearsal before sports and sports net launched.

I did, uh, a report that ran on the dress rehearsal from sports net Pacific. So Brad Fay and I working out of, uh, Vancouver would contribute. And then Brad was moved to Toronto. So it was Jamie Campbell and Mike Toth and Darren Millard and Kevin Quinn. And Darren Drager was the six o'clock anchor.

And Richard Provence was doing Sports Central AM at the time of launch. And then it was funny because I actually got a call from tsn i don't think many people know this story here's a here's here's one from the archives okay here's the first of many let's go for it here you go um i actually got a call from tsn out of the blue um that and i won't say the person's name but he was very nice um but he said, you know, we're hearing that you're being hired by Sportsnet and you're being moved to Toronto to do mornings. And I said, yeah, nothing like I, like, that's news to me. And they kind of were saying, well, you know, it's not that we exactly have anything right now to offer you. But you know you know we just before you accept anything like and I said well you know I I don't know what you're talking about so thanks for calling I'll

keep your number and it was like okay bye and I talked to my roommate Allison I'm like that was the weirdest thing ever and about 15 minutes later the phone rings and it was Scott Moore wow and Scott said we're thinking about bringing you out to do mornings. Because I'd done some fill in the summer before. And he's like, we're thinking about bringing you out to do mornings. This was in November. And I said, wow, okay. And then I came up with some number that I would, I won't move without it being this much money.

And it was like chicken feed money. And he peeled $2,000 off of it a year. So I wouldn't think I was full of myself and said, okay, well, we'll do that. But if you tell anybody outside of your family or your agent, if I get wind of this from anybody deals off the table. And I said, okay, so now's a good time for me to tell you that TSN called me 15 minutes ago that I was going to be offered this job and he goes shit i've got a leak oh b's got a leak all right yes oh my god it was so funny but it was like i was terrified i'm like i have to tell you that this just happened or i'm not going to

get this job because you're going to think that i told them and i didn't anyways i feel like story long i feel like uh who am i to uh backseat drive or whatever with hindsight being 2020, but that's an opportunity to leverage the two, right? This is when you say, okay, but I'm entertaining an offer from TSN right now. And then you let, cause I suspect, uh, he wanted you and, uh, was ready to, you know, add to your figure. I didn't have those veteran moves yet,

nor did I have a fantastic agent yet, but I did move to Toronto and he moved me out on, uh, on like March 13th of, of 2000. Um, was when I moved, it was November when he gave me or offered me the job. Yeah. 99. Right. And in 99 and then moved me out in March. when I got there he goes I wanted you here in November but being a Vancouver girl I figured that you would have been gone home by March if I'd moved you here in a winter so he moved me in the spring and my first show was April 2nd and my first interview was Bobby Orr wow start at the top wow okay so much fun how was it living here like I need to know as a vancouver

gal like uh how did you adapt to the big smoke here oh my gosh that's a really great question um i was super excited i was very very scared it's a way bigger city um there were very few places even just being uh somebody who's you's worked in restaurants and worked at the big nightclub. I worked at the radio station. I worked at the TV station. There were very few places in Vancouver in 1999 or 2000 that I could go where I didn't know somebody. And I went to Toronto and I knew nobody. And the rental vacancy was like 0.1%.

Like there was zero places to rent. So I was in corporate housing for a bit, but bless the ever loving hearts of Kevin Quinn, and Darren Millard, and Brad Fay, those guys, they looked out for me, they took me under their wing, they showed me where to go for a good pint and a burger. I just, I fell in love with the metropolitan vibe of Toronto, the food scene, the arts scene, the like, there was so much to see and do. I just felt, I felt overwhelmed with opportunity. And I missed my family, obviously, because I did. My entire family lives back here on the West Coast. I miss my friends. But I looked at it as an adventure.

I was really only going for one year. I didn't realize that I was going to be there for nine and come home with a kid. Right, right, right. What neighborhood in Toronto did you settle down in? First, I was very close to the Maddie, because let's be real. In 2000, if you weren't close to the Maddie because let's be real in 2000 if you weren't close to Madison Avenue pub where were you so I was I was at Admiral Road um so Admiral and Lowther so just up from York University like right off right off of Yorkville there and what a great spot to be for

when you don't really know where you are because you can get everywhere from there and I had this little um uh rental attic apartment um that was it was just fabulous I just loved it I felt like I was living in a tree house but then I had three stalkers in Toronto and one of them got into my house I was very naive in how I dealt with but they they liked me they weren't trying to hurt me they just really felt like they knew me. I know, but that's, I can, I totally feel the fear. Like, of course, cause you, you know, stalkers are no fun now. And I don't mean to make light of that at all, but, but. But I had to move, I'll put it that way.

So then I moved to a little safety deposit box in the sky down on the waterfront just right near, right near what Sky Dome, Rogers Center. Also like near like York or... Yeah, like right down. Queens Quay. Queens Quay, exactly. Right. I was on Queens Quay.

And I lived there for a number of years where I had like security where even my boyfriend wasn't allowed to get upstairs without calling me first. Right. And then my boyfriend and I got engaged and then were to be married. And that's when we moved up to like Yonge and Lawrence. And that was my jam. Glen Forest Road, a little semi-detached on Glen Forest. I loved it.

Loved it. And did you miss the, because I mean, I've only had two trips to your lovely city there, but one of them was very recently. It was August 2019. And the two, obviously the two things, this is going to sound really stupid, but you've got two things we don't have. You've got an ocean and you've got these mountains. Like, did you get used to the, like, did you miss the mountains and the ocean?

I mean, is Lake Ontario at all a substitute for this Pacific Ocean? Not a substitute. And I think that's why I started with all the things that I love about Toronto. I try and be a cup half full positive person. I can't even tell you how much I missed. Vancouver doesn't have any time of year that the grass isn't green. Like there's always grass. And in Ontario, there are months where you don't see the grass because it's covered in a very thick veneer of ice.

Right. So I wasn't prepared for that at all. I found it very difficult. The weather was a struggle for me. It took me a long time to get used to the fact that flowers don't come out in april march and april here you're looking at flowers by late february or you know by by early march you're inundated with cherry blossoms and like it's just all later there and then it all happens in one week right in toronto and then it's so hot and then everybody leaves to the cottage i'm like where'd everybody go i don't have a cottage. We don't only have spring. I feel like we have winter and then summer.

Like it's not really much of a spring here. And you're right. And again, I'm born in Toronto. So it's like being born blind, I guess. But we do have long runs where, you know, it doesn't get much warmer than minus 10. Like that's gotta be tough for somebody who's, yeah. Minus 10 happens for like two days, once every five years here. Like that's a crazy, crazy cold snap here. So, I mean, nine, you say you did nine years and you had a great gig. And now before we, yeah, before we get you out of sports line though, I do have a couple of notes here. I want to say, Before we get you out of Sportsline, though, I do have a couple of notes here. I want to say, firstly, I want to just let you know that people like Leifer1984 and Chris Cooksey have been telling me since I mentioned you were coming on.

They've been telling me just how much they loved you on Sportsnet. Like people not people just loved the work you did at Sportsnet. And they you must be reminded of that often. I'm guessing that is very kind of You know what? I'm so lucky. Yeah, I'm grateful for the opportunity. I enjoyed every single second. And as I've said so many times here, like the amount of support that I was shown by a handful of really honestly good people to help me hone my craft. I should say that when I did get that, if people enjoyed what I did at Sportsnet, there are an army of people behind the scenes who made it happen. And at one point when I was doing the supper hour broadcast, we actually called it chicks at six, because we had a crew who was our crew. It was Lucia Polifroni, Kathy Barnes, who's Mike Toth's

wife, Michelle Jones and She Shelley Robinson and Alison Cooper. Like everybody from the camera operators to the director, to the switcher, to the chyron. Everybody was a woman. And on the row cutting highlights, too, like my producer was Kathy Barnes. She was one of the best of the best. Like so, you know, when people when people look at what we do. Yes, I was responsible for writing my stuff, but I would do a lot of highlights and games I hadn't even seen before. I had to trust that the people who wrote those highlights down on the row had them quasi synced up so that I could do them on the fly and, and have fun with them. And, and it was a well-oiled machine under Scott Moore, I've got to say. It really was. You mentioned Mike Toth. I know I said this when he was on and I was very clear, but he made me laugh. He just had a tremendous sense of humor, Mike Toth.

I love that man. I love that man. He was fearless in so many ways. He is fearless in so many ways and just so authentic. Yeah. Yeah, a good man. Shout out to Mike there. No, shout out to those guys that are saying nice things about me.

I really appreciate it. Thank you. And another one is Bubba O'Neill, who's on the air here in Hamilton. But he tweeted, one of the most wonderful to work with ever. And at first I thought he was talking about me, but he's actually talking about you. So he goes, ask Jody about her famous glass desk right the glass desk what do you want to know tell us about like is this like a merry heart entertainment tonight type thing what are we talking about what is this glass desk that's

exactly it okay yeah scott moore created a merry heart inspired glass desk see here's the thing i don't have particularly great legs. Like there was a, there was a whole website dedicated to my legs. I don't have great legs. I remember it differently, but, uh, okay. But, but, but others would, others thought you had nice legs. Is that fair to say? Apparently what it ended up, here's the thing about me, Mike, I'm kind of a tomboy. When I got into television, I wasn't thinking about hair and makeup and shoes and clothes and stuff. I was thinking about sports. I get the best seat in the house. I get

to talk to all the people. I get to ask all the questions. I'm very excited. You know, I get to ask the expert. That's how I, you know, sports is the star. I'm not the star. And then here's this glass desk and all these beautiful clothes. And I've got to, you know, figure out what pair of shoes I'm going to wear tomorrow because people are going to be wondering what shoes Jody's wearing I do love shoes now but the glass desk was very funny because um people were offended on my behalf and I was never offended by that desk never I thought it was a bit high maintenance to keep clean sure but I okay so it was kind of a joke and then mike toth used it for a broadcast one night it was it was the anniversary of elvis's death or it was elvis's birthday one or the other can't remember

but he put a big studio light underneath the desk and he put like the elvis head on top of the desk so that they could use it for stings with the jib camera to make it look cool when they were coming in and out of break. I'll never forget it. And it heated up the desk like the glass got extra hot. And I guess it wasn't properly tempered. And we were all sitting in the studio and all of a sudden it shattered into a million pieces. Oh, my goodness. And all I was thinking was, how many times have I had a photo shoot where I had to sit on that desk? I could have broken the desk. Oh, yeah. It's that heat change. Yeah. You got to have a special glass for that. That's right.

It was a time. It felt like Snow White's glass slipper to me. It felt like a lucky place for me to be. I never looked at it as, you know, why don't the guys sit at that desk? I don't care if the guys sit at this desk. Okay okay now it's funny because i did look at some clips of you on breakfast television because we had our breakfast television and apparently you had one too and you were on it right and then even those like even this even the first episode of trevor linden okay so uh right i mean your legs are on uh full display display yeah so i mean you can be uh and you know say i you know you know, it doesn't matter. But the fact is, and I always wonder, like, if you were, and again, there's no offense, you're talented and smart and witty, and it's why people love you. But if you were less attractive, are you still the first woman to get the primetime gig?

Well, here's the thing. I don't think I'm a pretty person. I think I'm that librarian, girl next door, geeky glasses, kind of nerdy. I did my own makeup. I don't wear false eyelashes. Not that there's anything wrong with them. I'm just not girly-ish. And sometimes I wish I were more girly.

Well, you're Betty. You're not Veronica. You're Betty. I'm a little bit more Betty. But Betty's... I'm Marianne. Most guys pick, right. But a lot of guys, most guys, I think, are picking Marianne and are picking Betty. That's all I'm going to say on that. Well, there you go. You know.

So I like to think that I would have gotten that job regardless because of the moxie. Because I don't really have... when somebody calls me a pistol, I like that. And what Scott Moore said to me after my first fill in, in 1999, he flew me out to do some fill in over the summer. And I went up and they had me do the Pacific region show with Jamie Campbell, my first ever national show, because they felt like, okay, well, you do the Pacific broadcast. Anyway, you're familiar with all this content. So that'll make you comfortable. We'll ease you into it. And I did my best impersonation of a guy doing sports ever.

And I stepped down offset and it was one in the morning and Scott pops out of the control room. I had no idea he was there. Thank God. And he's like, you know what? Great job. Great job. But you're, you're trying to be one of the guys. And I didn't hire you to be one of the guys. I hired you to be Jody Vance. And I want you to be you. I want you to be a hundred percent yourself. I, in fact, I want you to push the envelope so far that I need to pull you back. And if you step in it and you will, I will protect you. back. And if you step in it and you will, I will protect you. And on that day, I became the broadcaster, the first steps towards the broadcaster that I feel is at 52, really confident

in, you know what? I can say to my audience, I don't know where I'm going next, but I'm going to sort it out. I'll be right back right after this you know and they'll stick with me so okay so full disclosure here I uh I co-host a sports podcast with Mark Hebbshire so yes now Hebbsy just uh tweeted at us like moments ago he said uh he wants he goes oh I want to hear all the behind the scenes stuff Jody don't hold back. And I know Hebsey's listening and I'll be, I'll be hosting Hebsey on sports with Mark Hebsey on, uh, on Friday morning. So that'll be awesome too. But, uh, I have a great Hebsey story. Can I dish? I want, yeah. Give me the Hebsey story, please. Okay. So when I got the job, the first woman in the history of Canadian television to host her own sports show in primetime, guess who I replaced? in the history of Canadian television to host her own sports show in primetime.

Guess who I replaced? Mark Hebbs here. Yeah. And you know what he did when I got that job? That really, that job, getting that job pissed off a lot of people. This chick comes in from Vancouver. She gets the morning.

She does it for like six months and now she gets the supper hour. What the hell? There were definitely people doing that. I didn't hear it, but there were obviously noses get out of joint. What am I going to do? Turn it down? No, I'm taking the job. If Scott's giving me the job, I'm doing the job. I'm going to do it as best I can for as long as they'll let me do it. And

I'm moving forward. I did feel like, oh my God, but Hebsey, like first huge shoes to fill, excuse me, he's Hebsey. And he wasted not one millisecond in reaching out to me. And he said, this is awesome. You're going to be unbelievable. I believe in you. I think you're going to rock this shit. Like, I'm so proud of you. Don't for a second feel like this has anything, my situation has anything to do.

He took all of the guilt that might be associated with being the person after him. And he just, he lifted me up. And he has consistently lifted me up ever since we have been in touch for 20 years now. And I don't care what anybody says. I like that guy. Yes, guy. Oh, now I got to cut another check to jim tatty apparently he he's got the uh he trademarked yes guy i don't know apparently like so i gotta keep track of this for my content yeah

exactly but i do want to read something and i think fan you might get a kick out of this but fans particularly this is the uh the william hou Houston article in the globe and mail about this, this shakeup. Okay. So I'll just read it. Okay. Bye bye to anchor. Okay.

I guess that was the headline. A shakeup at CTV sports net bounces Mark Hebbshire off the lead sports cast and elevates morning anchor Jody Vance to Hebbshire spot. Hebbshire who joined sports net last, is leaving to pursue live sports coverage. Sportsnet balked at Hebbshire's ideas to change the dinner hour sportscast to a magazine-style show with a panel format. That frustrated Hebbshire

and caused a falling out with the show's executive producer, Michael Gillings. Sources say a him-or-me ultimatum delivered by Hebbshire to Sportsnet head of programming Scott Moore made for an easy choice. Gillings, who has improved the show's ratings since taking over more than a year ago, stayed. Where is it? Stayed. Moore would say that there's only that there had been a disagreement with

Hebbshire regarding assignments. He added that Hebbshire may be given freelance assignments. And then in close it says reporter Damien Goddard replaces Vance on the morning sportscast and these changes are scheduled to take place as you said, September

4th. Yeah. William Houston, I sold a lot of newspapers for that guy night i'm gonna say this in all honesty i've been quoted in his column and never ever been talked to by him it's bizarro land to me what has been written in there like it's kind of page 60 oh yeah and michael jillings michael jillings man jillings i'm calling him jillings okay that's okay he's he was an interesting cat he was an interesting cat because when they when michael jillings and scott moore pulled me into the board room i'd been whatever uh april may june july august so i was five months four and a half months

of doing the morning show um and scott made me promise that I'd do it for a year. And I was like, exhausted. Absolutely. I've never been so tired in my entire life. And then they said, we need to see you in the boardroom. And I'm like, okay, go in the boardroom. And I sit down at Scott and Michael and sitting there and both of them are looking like serious. I'm like, okay, what?

And Scott goes, we're taking you off mornings. And I went, great. And he goes, don't you want to know what you're going to do? I said, I don't care. I'm so tired. And he's like, we're putting you at 6 p.m. And I was like, what? Like, what?

And I'm not sure. I didn't really feel that Michael Gillings was a huge fan of mine and yet what what was happening then I mean I looked at him I'm like are you are you good with this and he's like yes and I thought okay because Scott definitely had a plan Scott was the dream maker I mean he just is that guy I want to do something with Scott more again can I go on record of saying that yeah uh I think he's working with Drake Moore again. Can I go on record as saying that? Yeah, I think he's working with Drake and LeBron, right? Yes, but they don't need me because the whole idea

is that those guys host their own stuff. I mean, I don't know. What can I do? I would have lost a bet because I thought he was going to end up with the Seattle hockey team. Right, with Todd Laiweke. I got a Todd Laiweke story too. Well, you want to drop it now? Because we'll forget to come back to it. Okay, well, Todd Laiweke. I would have lost a bet. I got a Todd Laiweke story too. Well, you want to drop it now? Because we'll forget to come back to it.

Okay. Well, Todd Laiweke, when I was, after I started at BCTV doing the fill-in sports and before going to Vancouver Television, Norma Wick was doing the Raptors games coverage when I was doing the fill-in at BCTV. And then the Raptors season ended and they were like, well, what do we do with Norma now? And they said, well, we're going to use her on the BCTV sports. So they came to me and said, we're going to use Norma. Don't worry, we're coming for you, but we need to use her right now because she's already on salary and you're a freelancer.

I'm like, oh, okay. I have no idea where that sort of leaves me. I'm kind of in limbo. Before I was called to audition at VTV and Todd Laiwiki reached out to me and we had lunch together. And he said, would you be interested in ticket sales? And I'm like, you mean like in the booth, in the kiosk?

And he's like, no, corporate season tickets with a team of people and somebody who books meetings for you and you take packages to them or whatever. I'm like, I guess I could try that. And he goes, and I've also got this other thing we're working on, but it's a volunteer position. So not sure if you'd be interested in it, but we're putting together a PGA stop here in Vancouver called the Greater Vancouver Open. And I'm wondering if you would be our presenting sponsor liaison for that. And I did that. And it was every Friday morning at 6am. We had a meeting at what is now Rogers Arena, but at GM Place. And some of the people around that table, man, I tell you

if aspiring broadcasters or people wanting to get into the industry are listening to this, that was the single greatest career move of my life is to be a part of something for $0, where I got in the room with decision makers that could see me work for nothing and see that I was game to do whatever just to be involved. I ended up doing three full presenting sponsor liaison tours with what became the Air Canada Championship. I was there when Mike Weir was there. Oh, my God. It was just so great. So great.

So great. So Todd Laiweke was like the head of the table. And he was the guy that just got things done and was so fun to work for and inspired everybody and empowered everybody. He would look at you and he'd be like, okay, so here's what we need to do. We need this, this, and this, and this. Can you do it? And I'd go, yes.

And he'd go, okay, Nike, which means just do it. And then he'd say, if you need me to back you up on anything, to make things happen, if you're having trouble making it happen, call me, I'll push it. But otherwise you got it. I'd be like, yes. And I'd leave going, I want to do everything I can to make sure that Todd doesn't have to do it. It's Tim, right? Todd Lewicki. Okay. So I got you. Okay. I kept thinking, Oh, Tim or Todd. Yeah. Okay. I got you. I got you now. They are one in the same like-minded individual. So then I ended up doing the ticket sales as well. I only did that for like three and a half months. So I did all of these meetings with all these corporates. And then the Canucks

signed Marc Messier and everybody called me back and I sold a ton of tickets. And then I went to Vancouver Television. Well, that's good networking, right? This is good. This is excellent. Awesome. Awesome. Now we talked about the glass desk and Jody Vance's legs, which you don't think are spectacular and people disagree, but then I, on that front, and I think this is borderline sexist, you'll tell me, but we got a Twitter question about a feud between you and Hazel May. Is that just somebody inventing a feud because you're both high profile, uh, woman, uh, sports journalists? Yeah. So I think his terminology

was confusing to me at first. Like he said, was there any heat between you and Hazel May? And I thought of something else and I'm like, well, that's not appropriate question. And then I realized. Hazel did mornings. I did evenings. I think she's great. I'm like, well, that's not appropriate question. And then I realized. Hazel did mornings. I did evenings. I think she's great. I think she's awesome on the baseball coverage. She certainly knows her, her MLB inside and out. She's passionate about it. I know she's a huge Chiefs fan. I don't know what else to say. There's no, there's no feud.

Not that I'm aware of. If there's a feud, if there's a feud, my end's very quiet. I'm giving her the cold shoulder. That's right. All the way in Vancouver. Now, why do you end up leaving Sportsnet? Because I got, actually, it was not that long ago that it would have been the anniversary of. We got up to leading up to the Masters and i went oh yeah it's time for the masters and i was like okay that's not how i should be feeling about this and i should know

there had been a significant regime change at sportsnet right like scott wasn't there anymore i was scott's gal i was working with jim van Van Horn. We were doing our best to keep doing what we're doing, but we knew when Scott left. It's kind of like when the general manager leaves, you're the coach, you're probably not long for this position. They want their guy in there and any success that's associated with you. The politics are real. It is what it is.

For me, I was so lucky. Oh, my God, because I missed the rink. I love running around people think your job's super easy because you sit there and talk about hockey i'm running around with an ifb in my ear listening to the game while i'm running down the hallway grabbing the stats and going to the thing and making sure and da da da and who is the guest and who do we got and what and then i stop at the set and i act like i've just been hanging out here the whole time you know but i got to work with like at Leafs TV, which is where I went next.

Okay. Yeah. So for people who don't know, your stop after Sportsnet is Leafs TV. Yes. And the person who took me to Leafs TV used to be at Sportsnet, Dean Bender, Scott Moore's best man at his wedding and vice versa. These are besties. And I loved working with Dean and he just said, want to come here? Want to play? We're going to launch this set at the, you know, a gate one of the Air Canada Center. And we'd love you to host the pre and post game show and a weekend show and from home games and the away games you'll be off because Paul Henrick travels with the team.

And we're going to introduce this young new face and Andrea Pet patrillo and we're wondering if you can help her along and i remember going out for lunch with with andrea patrillo and she's like nobody calls me andrea do you think i could just be called andy i'm like you can be whoever you want and she's just awesome again another brilliant oh she's very good she's very good good. And she's very kind. Oh God. The guys that we worked with big daddy, Bob McGill. Oh my God. I got to meet so many people behind the scenes. I got to hang out with Wade Belak doing wait a minute. I was going to ask you cause I was watching wait a minute on your YouTube

channel like yesterday. And yeah, I was checking them out, you know, I have to do my homework here. Right. Yeah. And I was thinking, what a loss that was. And I'm sorry, yeah. I have such fond memories of Wade. And I'm still in touch with Jennifer, who's doing really well as are Alex and Andy, his beautiful kids. And she honors him so much.

She is remarried and very happy. Her husband, Bart Bart is amazing. And they've got a beautiful, not baby girl anymore, but young girl. So that experience at Leafs TV and that experience at the rink and working with Wade and being able to be involved in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment charity initiatives as well was what I was missing when I was sitting in agent court at the Sportsnet studios doing the live half hour shows all night which was a great experience for years and years and years but this filled my bucket to be to challenge myself and and sort of go next level and I also during that time

at Sportsnet and the transition to Leafs TV was I was recently married and I was struggling to conceive and carry to term. I suffered a couple of miscarriages and the stress of it all was significant. And I talk about it, I know it's a personal topic, but I talk about it because somebody listening has been through something like this and you're not alone. I felt that I needed to reinvest in myself and have a little bit more control over my day-to-day stress level, which Leafs TV offered me the opportunity to do. I ended up having my son. He is an IVF baby and he is my miracle. And I was pregnant with him on Leafs TV and famously Leafs Habs game where the Habs got absolutely clobbered by the Toronto Maple Leaf. I think it was 6-1, I think was the final score. And doing the postgame show, some Yahoo and a Habs jersey stormed the set and I'm out to hear pregnant.

People are diving at him. And the boss came to me and said, okay, you're done now. You're going on maternity leave starting now. And I was like, oh, okay, but I'm not due for another three and a half weeks. I gave birth two days later. Wow. Yeah.

That's wild. But there you go. All my Mike stories are coming out now. Well, that's what I do. I calm you into submission. That's my – That's it. Usually, though, I need to be like do i i calm you into submission that's my that's it usually though i use i need to be like two meters away from you to do that but i'm somehow able to do it through zoom it's a it's a good thing to test my skills here so at this point you have a like

like you're you're at leafs tv i think for a few years right like yeah and then what, go ahead. Until the financial crash. So it was 2008. My husband was with the Blue Jays until then. And I was at Leafs TV and Bart was let go from the Jays after a dozen years with that organization. And my contract at Leafs TV was not renewed. And I was offered a job here in Vancouver at a radio station that was starting called Shore 104. And they offered me this great job and offered to pay for our moving expenses.

And then Bart put out a couple of feelers here and he got a job with Sport BC, which is the governing body for amateur sport and it was 2009 and if you ever want to be with the governing body of amateur sport it's the year before the olympics come to town so right we just like rolled into van city and uh yeah it went it went really really well that's a perfect fit on so many fronts because you get to go home. Yeah. Yeah. And it's good to come home. It's been, it's been a very, it's been a very good experience. It's been a lovely experience to have, to have really appreciated,

as you were saying about the mountains and the ocean and my family and a white spot burger, the things that you missed about home. Once I got back here i did i did reach down and and pluck a little grass uh and and say oh my god it's green all year round you know where i thought you might be going there i was gonna ask you about this because today we're recording on 420 okay i was gonna ask you're plucking the grass, of course, even though I guess technically, this has become legal in this country only a couple years ago. But, you know, forever, I can tell you, we were told the grass was better in BC. This is what we've been told forever.

Now on 420, with it being completely legal, is this something that you partake in i'm just curious if uh if you enjoy uh cannabis um i can't handle it it's too strong for me so does it make you paranoid like what does it do if there was 1985 pot it'd be about it but no i'm not my um my people right i'll partake, it's just, I'm more of like a strong bow cider gal. I'm yeah. I'm not an edibles person. I never have been, I've never been, you know, I'm not one to like take mushrooms or drop acid or I just, I, I don't, maybe I'm a control freak. I don't like the feeling of that. And as a mom, I feel like I always need to kind of be able to. No, I get that a hundred percent, but it's funny this morning I was, I feel like I always need to kind of be able to. Right. No, I get that a hundred percent, but it's funny this morning I was, I was putting together a podcast for Peter Gross.

It's on Ontario horse racing. It's called down the stretch. It's very good. Now we were talking is he grows his own plants because he can like, because he got in trouble for doing this back in the seventies or eighties or something. So now he grows a plant because he can, like, it's a big thing for him, but he can't. Yeah. And he says he has, he can, like it's a big thing for him, but he can't, yeah. And he says he has, he can't smoke it. He said, because he can't handle it anymore. Like he says he would smoke it like crazy. Like you said, back in the eighties, but he tells me now he gets all like, it makes him really paranoid. I'd be like, time to have a shower. Bye everybody. Can't talk to anybody. Drink an orange juice. Make this go away.

No, no. And all I do is get hungry. I eat way too many chips. Well, I think that's happening. I feel like that's happening in this like stay home order where people, I think carbs especially, like I know myself, like I'm crazy. I mean, this is not new, except I used to bike it off. So like I always craved pizza and then I would go for a ride and burn a thousand calories and it was all fine.

Now I'm burning like nothing, but I'm still craving the pizza. So we'll see if I... I want the Palma's lasagna, excuse me. Oh, I have more to cover with you. But now that you mentioned Palma's lasagna, so we mentioned Great Lakes, great sponsor. We mentioned Palma Pasta, fantastic sponsor

and Sticker U, fantastic sponsor. And Jody, not that you're interested in coming back, but if you ever did want to come back to Toronto, I know you don't. But if you did, the Keitner Group are the people to talk to. And you text Toronto Mike one word to 59559 and talk to Austin Keitner. They're doing virtual open houses every Saturday. So you can get a Zoom link from Austin if you text Toronto Mike to 59559. But I just want to make a nice exciting announcement

before we get back to you. Okay. That there's a new sponsor of Toronto Mike. And this is the first mention of it on an episode of Toronto Mike. So it's called Garbage Day. They actually service the entire country. But in fact, so you could do this.

But Garbage Day, if you go to entire country, but in fact, so you could do this. But Garbage Day, if you go to garbageday.com slash Toronto Mike and you sign up for Garbage Day, they give you these very convenient alerts to tell you, is this Garbage Day? Is this the Recycling Day? Is this the Yard Pickup Day? Because that got delayed here. Are there changes in the schedule?

Does the Christmas tree get picked up? So it's really convenient. And so I'll have more to say about the Garbage Day app and notification service in future episodes. But just to let people know, they can go right now to garbageday.com slash Toronto Mike and sign up for Garbage Day. And I'm very happy to have the good people at Garbage Day on the team.

So welcome, Garbage Day. Never miss Garbage Day again. You just said it. And I'm going to take that out and I'm going to use it. And I'm not going to pay you for it. I'm fine with that. Okay. Thank you.

Excellent. Let's go to the barter system. Okay. So thank you for that. Or bossy system, depending on whose side you're on. Right, right. And now I feel guilty,

so I'm going to pay you for it. No, no, you can totally do it. Totally do it. Because I hate missing garbage day. Absolutely. It's a thing. And they did mess up our schedule a bit due to COVID-19,

where like yard, I know there was a day that our calendars, our paper calendars we all have, said, hey, yard pickup is this day for the yard waste. And then that actually got pushed because of COVID-19. So the app would have notified you about such things. So it's really a good idea to sign up and it does help the program. And we're all about helping, uh, Toronto Mike tier. So now Jody, uh, I'm talking to mainly Toronto people, but not only, so you mentioned shore one Oh four. And I know that's a station in Vancouver where there's a program Now, Jody, I'm talking to mainly Toronto people, but not only. So you mentioned Shore 104. And I know that's a station in Vancouver where there's a program called the Jody Vance Show.

This is, I mean, back in 2009. I also did a little homework and I learned you were doing some stuff with maybe CBC Vancouver. You did some sports stuff. And you even got to host Canucks playoff. Like, did you do a post-playoff game called Seeking Stanley yes I had Ron McLean throwing to me at the end of the Stanley Cup final playoff games to do the post-game show for the Vancouver Canucks throughout the 2011 run it was just uh an unbelievable again I told you my like I always just throw the pie in the sky

goals way up high, you know, might as well, might as well throw that up there. Might as well throw, I'd love to do, you know, the Canucks postgame show and the Stanley Cup run on CBC, Hockey Canada, why not? And it happened. And it was when I was working at Shore 104, I used my vacation time to do fill in work at CBC to keep my toes in the sports because I really love, I still love doing sports. Of course. That's me chatting to you about sports. But I did, I literally gave up all my vacation time at Shore doing the music radio, which I also really enjoyed that departure. And then I was just doing fill-in and my, my producer, my boss there, Michael Henninger, who's now at global BC. He came up to me one day and said,

so we're going to do this post game show for the Canucks playoff run. Don't know how long it's going to go on for. It was when they were playing against, I think it was the predators. And it was like, okay, so you're going to go down to the rank and Shane Foxman's going to record or a host from studio and home games, you'll be at the rank. And then Shane goes on the road with the team and then you'll be in studio for those. And I'm like, okay.

And we literally had a Jersey hanging on a wire hanger behind us from the CDC studios. And I'm telling you the first, first show we had, I don't know, 70,000 viewers by the end of it, it was like 11.2 million wow because the stanley cup final and the canucks are in it well you went to game you went to uh game seven right of the finals i did i got trapped at rogers arena i got trapped i didn't get home until 5.30 the next morning. And again, to all my continued friends from Sportsnet that I saw there, I got texts from everybody. They were staying at the media hotel, the Sutton Place Hotel.

And they're like, just come here, come here, come here. So I ended up getting on the media shuttle and being taken around with like smoke and cannons going off and just people running around looking like ants. It was so weird. It was just so not my city. Scary. And I remember being met at the door by a bunch of Sportsnet guys and them just being like, we have pizza in Guinness. Get in here. Let's hunker down. I'm like, okay, pizza in Guinness. And we watched it all. And then I finally got home at 5.30 in the morning and then I, I got my my kid fed. And then I went to work at Shore 104 and did a radio broadcast when all of Vancouver, real Vancouverites descended on downtown with buckets and gloves and scrub brushes and cleaned the city up for all those people who rolled into town and mess with us. Would there have been a riot in Vancouver that day

if the Canucks had won? Yes. Okay. I was always curious. Like, is this like, was this, did they tap into, I know what you're saying. These people are looking for trouble. Tap in.

Did they tap into some existing unrest because you were beaten in that game seven? Okay. No, they were jerks. They were total assholes. They came in with t-shirts. They put on their balaclavas and they ripped off their top t-shirt and underneath it said, here for the riot. And then they started throwing Molotov cocktails.

Like that's premeditation. That's people who came to this city to cause havoc. And they did. And it was awful. It was awful and scary. You got to keep that stuff in Montreal where it belongs, right? But only after... I was going to say the UK, those hooligans, but okay. You know why? Because I remember Axl Rose was really late for a Guns N' Roses concert or something, and maybe they canceled the concert. And then I remember there was a little riot in Montreal and I thought,

oh, if they'll riot if they'll riot for a guns and roses concert weird cars get wrecked weird i know don't jump on cop cars guys just don't do it right that's right okay so uh briefly uh it's okay i know you've got a it sounds like a microwave going off you got a meal coming in there it's my phone my phone's dinging i don't know why but you want to check is there something breaking that you know okay so real quick though we're almost done don't worry almost done it's okay you uh you were basically who would i compare you to you're the ann roemer of uh breakfast television in vancouver is that a fair comparison i don't know you help me out i guess so i mean I mean, I guess I'm kind of Kevin Frankish.

Another FOTM. Kevin's also an FOTM. Okay. Cause Anne was there first. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I did the news and I did the interviews. I really, I had a great time doing breakfast television. Again, it was Scott Moore and Dean Bender who brought me in there because they had made a return to Rogers. And Scott says, it's my mission in life to make you a morning host. You're my Katie Couric. And I'm like, I hate you so much, but okay. So what time are you waking up for that gig? 4.15.

Okay, but that's a lot better than the... 2.45. Yeah. When you were doing the 2.45 wake up, what time are you going to bed? Oh, God. Eight. yeah what time when you were doing the 245 wake up like what time are you going to bed oh god eight like which is really hard in the summertime in toronto when it's hot and if you did like sports which you did like you're kind of screwed on that front like super screwed yeah yeah i would catch up i would wake up at 245 and my television would go on and i'd watch last night's highlights because let's face it on a morning show you'd watch last night's highlights. Cause let's face it on a morning show, you are doing the last night's highlights, but I never got to watch them. But, um, I was really grateful for the job though. I was so tired. I'm not a morning person. And you know what the fuzzy slippers and the whole, you gotta love mornings thing. Yeah. That was a fluke. It was a one take

promo. Oh, that's right. That's right. But you know, it's unhealthy too. Like, I mean, I'm sure you know, but I mean, that's not a healthy thing to do to your body. I'm never doing it again. And I have said it, I've turned down since being laid off by breakfast television. I got laid off the same day as George Strombolopoulos and Jennifer Valentine. I'm in very good company. Right. Those are some amazing people. But basically somebody in Toronto went, these expensive people need to go. All right. See ya. Peace out. I'm sleeping in. I was like, give me the pen, because I was so tired. And I said, I'm never doing that again. And my partner, Brian, is like, I won't let you. Because I was, I was my body was breaking down. I'm just not built for it. I've been offered many opportunities since to do mornings.

I just cannot do it. I can do them like one off. Sure. I can get up to do an early event for sure. But I'm never committing to being somewhere camera ready and up to speed to ad lib the day's news basically ever again. I was chatting. Yes. Coincidentally, I was chatting with Jean volaitis yesterday jeaner how's my pal gene he's good he's good he uh little teaser he's

gonna be on toronto mic uh in a couple of weeks so if people want to hear uh gene volaitis on toronto mic uh he's a good supporter of the show he showed up at a tmlx event at palmas kitchen last december he's a good guy now he was the He showed up at a TMLX event at Palma's Kitchen last December. He's a good guy. Now, he was the morning, speaking of mornings, he was the morning show host at Roundhouse Radio. Yes. And he would be the show, he led into your show, right?

Yes. You were like the midday host. So share with me a bit and tell us, dumb Toronto guys, what the heck Roundhouse Radio was, like the spirit of that thing and what you were doing there. And then why you're not there. Well, why no one's there anymore? No one's there anymore.

Well, I've been working at CKNW and I still work at CKNW. So that is sort of encapsulating this story. Because after I left BT, my friend Drex, who does the shift with Drex, you can hear him. Oh, I know. Yeah, he's doing an overnight chorus thing. Right. He's unreal. You should have him on Toronto mic for sure.

Is he Vancouver based? He is. Okay. Yeah. And, and, uh, he called me up actually, he DM to me on Twitter. We'd never met before. And he's like, would you do radio? I'm like, yes, of course I would. And he goes, okay, call Larry Gifford. Who's the PD at CKNW, and actually across the national AM network for chorus. And so I started immediately filling in at CKNW. And then I had Don Schaefer, who's the general manager of this very micro community, ethical, green initiative of a license, a very small footprint license called Roundhouse Radio in Vancouver. He called me up and said, could you fill in here? So I went to Larry and I said, well, I don't want to jeopardize my NW work, but how do you feel about Roundhouse? He goes, I don't care. I don't care about Roundhouse. Go ahead. As long as you don't

work full-time anywhere else, I'm fine with it you just could you come is it is it like was it at all a public broadcaster or was it like like did it have anything like a jazz fm for example which is uh the footprint is smaller though it's not like a co-op it was a public it was a it was a crtc licensed broadcast okay okay broadcast license sorry crt license. Sorry. CRTC roundhouse. So did it air ads like any other station? Yeah. Okay. Okay.

Yeah. Okay. But the footprint was so small, it was very difficult to sell ads because it was literally just Vancouver. Like imagine just between Eglinton, the Don Valley, the Gardner, and like Spadina. Okay, you know what? If that was your footprint. I think Proud FM is a bit like that.

Like I find a station like that. Yeah. Yes. So Roundhouse was trying to make that work. And the people who loved it, loved it so much. And so I was doing some fill-in there. And oh my gosh, some great people. Janice Angaro, Corey Ashworth, I mean, Jean fill in there and oh my gosh some great people Janice and Gero Corey Ashworth I mean Jean Volitis and I they offered me a full-time

job because they launched roundhouse radio with the idea of not hiring broadcasters to be hosts but to actually hire thoughtful thinking learned more what's the word more book smart sure like um cerebral what are we not cerebral that's what i'm thinking because because that's not to say that broadcasters aren't cerebral but well most aren't right but our forte is the communication piece not necessarily the we've got a phd and whatever right um so see i didn't even come up with something to fill that. Um, but they had a lot of those when, when roundhouse first launched and it took a while to realize that that formula wasn't working. So then they went, okay, we need to shift and actually bring in broadcasters like

Jean Volaitis. Um, and then offered me a full-time gig and then had Corey and Janice and just, just, and Jim Burns, the great jazz musician, Terry David Mulligan, if you're familiar with TDM. Are you kidding me? Exactly. Much West, sure. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we were all on there and people were just starting to get it.

And then the investor said, we've lost enough money. We got to, we got to bail. So we had a very sad meeting that was, you know, as of, you know, this date, we're pulling the plug, which was a couple of weeks out. And along with Jean Belitis, I, I, instead of just taking the two week money, I kept doing it because there were people that were listening and, you know, we've kind of wanted to explain where we were going and why it was going dark. And so it did. And, and the experience of it was fantastic.

And then as soon as that, it went dark. Then the reason I told you the NW story is literally the day that the news came out, that roundhouse was going dark. Larry Gifford texted me and said, we should go for coffee. And I said,

I like working and coffee. And now I'm the number one fill-in person at the number one AM radio station in Vancouver at CKNW. Is that CKNW? Is it branded Global News Radio? Or is that just out here where we get that kind of branding? It's not Global News Radio, but they have the news at the top of the bottom of the hour is your global news update. Okay. Because I think our brother's station or whatever here, sister station, whatever we call it, would be like 640, AM 640. Yeah. Yeah.

My girl, Jamie Pulfer over there, I believe. And you're doing like when Charles Adler gets a day off, you get the Charles Adler shift, right? Wow. Cool. My first broadcast that I did from Brady's room, my son's room, because I'm broadcasting from home now, was the national Charles Adler show a couple of Fridays ago. And now I'm doing a COVID-19 special from two to four each Sunday afternoon. I'm just getting, you know, the big updates so that people who might be like, I can't listen every day. I can't listen all day because it's too much for me. For that two hours,

I just update you on everything that's happened sort of that week since we last spoke. Here's what's happened. Do you want to feel good about yourself? Probably, right? Yes, you do. Yes, I do. I'll read you a quote in this conversation with Gene Valaitis, he said something, and I have it here. He said, I've checked her out when she's in for Charles, and she fills his chair with power and authority. She is a major force in Canadian broadcasting. Wow. That's the Gene Valaitis quote for you. That's a big deal coming from Gene. Wow. That's the Gene Valaitis quote for you. That's a big deal coming from Gene.

Seriously. And I know that was a serious program Gene had in your experience of Gene. Did you ever struggle with knowing whether he was kidding or not? Because he likes to kid. I don't know if you know this about Gene Valaitis. Or is he always serious with you? No, he called our crossovers. What did he call it? It was like adult time, adult supervision. When I arrived, it was adult supervision. Because I would be driving into work and he'd say something that was edgy or out there or a hot take. And I'd come in and be like, what are you talking about?

What are you talking about? And he'd be like, right, right. We would have great fun. I love that guy. Jodi, I love this chat. Like, I'm very pleased you carved out all this time for me. And again, like

if you're ever wandering around the streets of Toronto and I find out you didn't pop in, I'm going to be hurt. My feelings will be hurt. Dude, I need my Great Lakes brew. I need my palmas kitchen i think i need a sticker you.com of my own and you know i'm getting a garbage day app because why would i not yeah apps everyone should do that but jody thanks so much uh again uh stay safe and i'm glad the family there is hunkered down and you're all healthy and uh

safe and do you have any do you want to give the nation some inspiring words? I feel like we're at a point now where whatever, over a month into this thing where people kind of need a little shot in the arm, like, okay, we're going to get through this. You know what I mean? Like, you know, keep, keep doing what you're doing. It's all going to pay off. And at some point you're going to be allowed to like see your friends and family again. We are going to get through this.

We're going to get through this together. And I'll, I'll reiterate conquer COVID.ca get, get the t-shirt. I don't know if you've seen Ryan Reynolds PSA for conquer COVID.ca t-shirt. He's like, this t-shirt is fucking boring. It makes him invisible.

Like it's a really good video. So listen to that by the t-shirt is fucking boring like it makes him invisible like it's a really good video so listen to that buy the t-shirt wear the t-shirt and i'm gonna go out on dr bonnie henry's words that is be kind be calm be safe and stay home whenever you can and we will get through this together. Awesome, Jodi. Amazing, great convo. And those are inspiring words. And thanks again for this. This was awesome. Super fun. Great homework.

And thanks for making me feel so good about myself. That was really nice of you. And that brings us to the end of our 624th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Jodi is at Jodi Vance. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Jody is at Jody Vance. You should follow her just to know when it's seven o'clock in Vancouver and she's banging the pots and pans.

Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. The Keitner Group are at The Keitner Group. And Garbage Day is at GarbageDay.com slash Toronto Mike. See you all next week. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Rome Phone. Rome Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls. Visit RomePhone.ca to get started.