Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - John Donabie: Toronto Mike'd #358

Episode Date: July 19, 2018

Mike chats with John Donabie about his illustrious career in radio working at CKFH, CHUM-FM, Q107, CJCL, CFGM, CFRB, CKFM, CKEY, CISS-FM, Jazz-FM and CIUT, his interviews with John Lennon, attending The Last Waltz and so much more.

Welcome to episode 358 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery located here in Etobicoke. Did you know that 99.99% of all Great Lakes beer remains here in Ontario? GLB, brewed for you, Ontario. And propertyinthesix.com, Toronto real estate done right. And Paytm, an app designed to manage all of your bills in one spot. Download the app today from paytm.ca. And our newest sponsor sponsor Census Design and Build

providing architectural design interior design and turnkey construction services across the GTA I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me this week is radio legend

John Donabee legend I don't toss around that term lightly is radio legend John Donabee. Legend. I don't toss around that term lightly. You've earned it, my friend. But I'm number 358. I was hoping you wouldn't notice that. Well, no, I picked up on what you said,

and I followed you a long time, and I will admit to you that at a couple of points, I went, you know, he may not be familiar admit to you that at a couple of points I went, you know, he may not be familiar with me. Maybe I'm out of his demographic. I guess I'll never get invited. And then all of a sudden, a few weeks ago, I get this wonderful email, and then you and I met at Roy Thompson Hall for the annual radio and Records get-together.

And then I got to meet you. And I did ask you before the show how old you were, and I'm not going to say how old you are. Well, you can. It's not a secret. You're in your 40s. Yes. I seriously thought... Well, I turned to the table after you left the table. I said, nice kid, eh?

I mean, I really thought you were like between 28 and 30 because you do look very, very young. Maybe the lighting was such you couldn't see my white hair. Maybe that was. Yeah, I saw a little bit of it. But maybe like Phil Donahue, you were prematurely gray. Yeah, I always think Phil Donahue, Steve

Martin, these guys were always white hair. Oh, yeah. They were young and they had no problems. John, firstly, that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me. I haven't been confused with a 28 to 30-year-old in a very long time. Now, I also am worried about your vision. Should I let you drive home? Maybe you need to see an optometrist and get a new prescription

before I let you get behind the wheel. I'm a little concerned. Oh, no, I really did. And when I saw you when you opened the door today, when I came in and down to the studio, I still felt the same way. That's why I asked you how old you were, and you were nice enough to tell me.

And you were at an age at you still don't mind telling people. I'm at an age where I sometimes will tell people, other times I won't. And I know a few guys around my tenure that don't like to tell it because there is such ageism in this business. See, I get you there. Maybe somebody, and I'll make up numbers, I don't know your age, but maybe there's program directors or decision makers that don't want to hire a 65-year-old person. So you'll play younger, I suppose, to be eligible for such gigs.

Now, let me just say a couple of things. One is, true, you're actually a bit out of my demo in that I missed the Chum FM years. We're going to do a deep dive here. And then I never ever did listen to CFRB. So I kind of missed you. But the reason I hadn't asked you yet was because the same reason I haven't asked Barack Obama yet. There's certain people, I'm not even trying

for these legendary heavyweights. I'm not going to aim that high because what am I going to do? I'm going to get John Donabee to come over and... I was very complicated. Complimented when you did ask me. I looked at my email and I went, you're kidding. Is this really happening? Now, I'm going to say

this to, not to you, but to maybe people who worked with you or other legends that may be tuning in, that if I haven't reached out to you yet, it's not anything personal. I kind of wish you would send me an email to let me know that you would do this show. If somebody like yourself had reached out and said,

hey Mike, I love your show. If you're ever looking for a guest, I'd be interested. I would have jumped on that, and we would have done this much sooner than episode 358. May I just say, I want to do this show so much. On this day that we're doing the show, the 401 Westbound is jammed from Scarborough, where I live, all the way past Keele.

Gardner was like that. Lakeshore was like that. And we almost canceled today. But I said, no, I'm going to give it a try, and I only arrived, this is a radio guy, 17 minutes, 30 seconds late. Which is, by the way, I'm just happy you're here at all. Well, I'm very pleased to be here. And you mentioned we met at the Roy Thompson Hall.

So let me just say thank you so much that you put me on the list. So I was so lucky that I was invited to this private party. Yeah. You know, and was I may ask him, was I the only guy there who never worked in radio? Is that possible? There might have been a couple of others. But for the most part, when I was pitching you because I was on the committee, I said, there's a guy I want to invite. He's a young guy. And and I said he's not in radio per se but this is my personal feeling Mike and I'm not trying to blow smoke here that listening to many many of your uh you call them podcasts or blogs podcasts okay I said this guy has a passion for radio and anyone who has a passion for radio that much has to be here. And he's going to

meet a lot of people maybe he's wanted to meet and some people I'm sure you already knew. That's it. So I mean, some of the people, so I had a good chat with Roger Ashby who's been on the show. Yeah. And David Marsden, who's been on the show, and we'll talk about him later because you worked with him. They've already been on the show.

That does sound terrible. But you know why? Because Marsden, I had him from the CFNY, and Ashby's still on Chum FM. Until the end of the year. So has he announced that yet? Because I've heard this too, but I can't find any public recognition. Well, I don't know if he's announced it publicly.

I did ask him, and Roger's a very private guy, and if he didn't want to tell me, he wouldn't. And he said, yep, yep, the end of the year. It's going to be 50 years for Roger being with Chum Limited, which is no longer existing. It's now Bell. But yeah, 50 years for Raj. I'm not going to jump ahead, but when I was at Chum FM the first time,

because I was there twice, Roger was the AM jock over on AM radio and was for years. Tell me if I'm wrong. You know the answer. So I believe you were the second last person on Toronto's airwaves who was also on Toronto's airwaves in the 1960s. It's very true. So the number one would be Roger because he started in 69, I think.

Well, I started in 65. And full full-time 66 in Oshawa. Roger, when you say 69. Maybe earlier? I don't know. Oh, yeah. Because 69 would be chump. But before that, he was at CKOC. And before that, I think he was down in Leamington.

I may be wrong, but I know for sure he left CKOC with Nevin Grant and all of them. And he was hired by Chum and did a great job in his oldie show, etc. Well, the nice thing is, if I need to remind myself of Roger Ashby's career, I can go back and listen to the episode I did with Roger Ashby, which is why I'm glad you're here. Because essentially, we're archiving this key piece of a digital archive. And we'll have John Donabee's massive imprint on Toronto Radio, which hopefully we can collect all that today. Thank you for saying the word archive.

Because, yes, as years go by, this may be the place, the one-stop shopping, where people will be able to look back. And maybe all of your archives will end up in some kind of, like Los Angeles and New York have the broadcasting museum. And I wish we had one here. And these could all end up there. Who knows? That'd be great if they can afford them. I was going to say that, and then I said, no, no, no. No, no.

That's inferred. So I will say that some people I met at your... So at that private party, which was amazing, because I walk in, there's... I see Evelyn Macko to my left, who is...

By the way, if Evelyn's listening, because she's been on the show recently. Yes, I know. I want her to say... I want to say thank you to Evelyn, because here's the thing about me. I don't know what a lot of radio people look like. Like, Ashby is one of the great exceptions because they did so many television ads for Roger, Rick, and Marilyn, right?

And some I had met, right? So some had been to my house, so I knew what they looked like. But, you know, there's a lot of people. There were a lot of people in that room that I know the name and I know the legend, but I didn't know. I couldn't put the name to the face. But Evelyn did a great job of kind of saying, oh, there's Liz Janik and here's all these people. And she introduced me to Liz, who's going to come on. She lives far

away, so we have to schedule this because she's she came from a further distance than you did. I'll tell you right now. I think it's Collingwood or something like that. She's way up there. But Michael Williams was there for Much Music and he's agreed to come on. I saw Alan Cross there, who's been on a few times. Good to see him again. Like I

said, David Marsden, and I'm just skating my head. The guy who said he'd come on, and we had just talked to him on this program, because we had just ranked the top 10 sports jams, and we put OK Blue Jays at number one. And Keith Hampshire was there. There he was. And I was like, holy smokes.

Mark Hebzier and I just did that. Yeah. And Keith said, oh, I'd love to. Go to my website and fill in, send the email to that address, and I would love to come on. And I've sent two emails and no replies yet from Keith Hampshire. So next time you see him, give him an email. I have his business card here.

I'll give you his home number. That's even better. Do it up. So thanks for that invitation. I met a bunch of people who agreed to come on I can't wait to have them on and it was great to finally meet you

and you gave me you bought me a beer at the Roy Thompson Hall yes sir the least I can do is send you home with six six beers

oh look at this so there's a six pack in front of you of Great Lakes beer thank you so much please enjoy I will

and you're looking at it now and I bet you think, Mike, there's only five, but the sixth can is a short one, so it's hiding in there. You drank the tall one and gave me the short one. I understand.

That's right. Hey, you know, I got to get through the day. Sure. Now, the keeners, like the keen subscribers of Toronto Mic'd, will probably jump

on this episode right away and maybe we'll have heard on this episode right away. And maybe we'll have heard this episode before tonight at 6 p.m. The vast majority of people who are listening to my voice right now are going to hear it after 6 p.m. on July 19th. That's the day we're recording. So this message is for those keeners

who jumped on the episode. Tonight's the night. We're all getting together at Great Lakes Brewery for the Toronto Mic listener experience. The very first one. There's a live band. There's a food truck.

Everyone gets a free glass of beer to start your night. And then there are $5 pints on the patio. The weather looks great. I can't wait. So that's tonight, six to nine.

So come out. All right. Sounds like a good time. And thanks for the invite. I appreciate it. I was going to have you be the guy on the microphone who is announcing all the songs, but I needed a legendary voice. But yeah,

I got to say, when I told my mom that John Donabee was coming over, she started breaking into this thing. I thought she was having a stroke at first. I'm like, Mom, are you okay? She started doing this Donabee for Conabees thing. Okay? Wow. Okay, so then I went to Google first. I'm like, Mom, are you okay? She started doing this Donabee for Conabees thing. Wow. Then I went to Google and I'm like,

what's my mom talking about? I honestly Googled the mess out of Donabee for Conabees. I couldn't find anything. Please tell me what my mom is talking about. I was approached by one of our salesmen a number of years ago and they said, John, we'd like you to be the voice

of a stereo shop in Whitby. And I said, sure, okay. And you're going to love the sound of this. Donabee for Conabee. And they were Conabee stereo. And I did it for a period of time and it was fun. And I wrote the spots and it was like a personalization, and I got paid for doing it. And I'd go out there periodically from time to time, kind of like Marsden would go out to Whitby Audio. And when he got to Whitby Audio, I mean, the crowds were incredible.

Yeah, but Donabee for Conabee. When you just mentioned it, now you kind of freak me out because I didn't think anyone would remember that. It's the first thing my mom said when I said John. She's not like, oh, you know, you talked to John Dillon. I'm sorry, John Lennon or this or that. No.

No. And the reason I slipped and said Dillon, everybody will find out at the end of this episode why I slipped and said Bob Dillon. But when you talk to John Lennon, no, she went straight to Donabee for Conabee. The Google was lacking. I was trying to find some audio clip or something.

I couldn't find anything like this. She's got a really good memory, Mike. She was now, I know you were on 104 Chum, and we're going to get into that, but she was a big 1050 Chum bug. When I had Ashby on, that was freaking her out. Like, Roger Ashby? And Jim Van Horn was here and some other guys.

But she was very happy to tell me about Donabee for Conabees. like Roger Ashby, you know, and Jim Van Horn was here and some other guys. But she was very happy to tell me about Donabee for Conabees. I got an email from, actually it was a tweet from Ralph Ben-Murgy when he heard you were coming on. Ah, Ralph. He wrote, send John my best, good man, better broadcaster. So that's a message for you from Ralph. Oh, yeah. Ralph and I worked together at Jazz FM.

I took his place, actually, after he got out of broadcasting for a period of time, and we became friends. And if I may go show you a difference, when I was at Chum FM the first time, from 71 to 75, one of our jobs was, Bob Lane was the program director, a former Chum AM jock, did a great job. And he said, look, guys, I'm going to be sending you out to different high schools. And how can I say that? During that period, if a Chum FM jock went to a high school, it was like a rock giant coming in. It was incredible. And I went to Forest Hill Collegiate.

And I do the class. Years go by. Forget about it. I meet Ralph. And Ralph says, do you know who is sitting in the second row? Not you, Ralph. Yes.

So Ralph was in grade 13. And here I was addressing radio and Chum FM and everything else. And there was Ralph. Wow. Yeah. Yeah, Ralph was on recently. He's really into deep, like, I want to say, like,

what would be a good philosophical thought on, like, sort of living and dying and coming to grips with your mortality. And it's quite a very interesting... He's a bright guy. He's a bright guy. And having a conversation with him is mind-bending right now and makes you think about everything. And I'm going to tease you with this.

I'm going to talk to you about maybe the brightest guy I ever met in radio. And this is kind of a mystery thing once we get to the Q107 years. Oh, for sure, for sure. I know. I love teasers. You can keep doing that. That's great. I'm glad you said in radio because I was going to be like,

well, yeah, we did meet at Roy Thompson Hall. Yes, I am the smartest guy you've met, but I'm not in radio. Rock Golf. Now, Rock Golf is the handle of a guy who, and I know him because he went to my high school, but he was there before me, but he went to high school with Bill Brio, who was a recent guest, and that's where I learned about Rock Golf.

But Rock Golf writes, back in the 70s, Donabee was on Q107 praising the release of a live Beatles album and how we could finally hear for ourselves the historic Shea Stadium concert. I called in and asked, so the Beatles

live at the Hollywood Bowl was recorded in Shea Stadium? Donabee's reply, shit! So I guess... I screwed up, did I? You screwed up, and he wants you to know... Well, thanks for bringing that up. Yeah. Your many decades of excellent service,

Rock Golf took note of your one slip up there. Well, thank you, Rock. And now everybody else knows. There we are. So I've given you six cans of Great Lakes beer. Yes. You're going to need a pint glass to pour the beer into when you get home to Scarborough.

There is a pint glass there. Oh, look at that. That is courtesy of Brian Gerstein, who is a real estate sales representative of PSR Brokerage. And just before we start, you know, going into your career in radio, he's got a question for you

that leads to some very interesting stuff I want to hear about. So let's hear, let's let Brian ask. We'll let Brian steal the thunder from me, even though I was going to ask these questions but here's brian hi john brian gerstein here sales representative with psr brokerage and proud sponsor of toronto mic'd and very excited tonight for toronto mic's listener experience where there is a rack of ribs and GLB ready with my name on it to enjoy while meeting everybody. 416-873-0292 is the number to call or

text me for any of your real estate needs. John, while I'm impressed that you interviewed John Lennon twice, including the iconic bed in, I am more impressed that you were at the last waltz, Let's not bury the lead here. John, you were at The Last Waltz? Yes, I was at The Last Waltz, and I wasn't only at the last waltz. I was there for the entire week leading up to it. And Levon Helm called me at my home. I was living in Vancouver then, working for CKLGFM. And this was Levon.

One of the finest songs of all time. Yeah. Yeah, Levon and I became really tight. I was very close with the band from the earliest days. He and Robbie, actually. And members of the band got to invite personal friends

to The Last Waltz. So he called me in Vancouver and he said this is a great story. He says, listen, I want to invite you. Everything will be picked up when you get down here. The food will be great. This will be great. However, I want to invite you. Everything will be picked up when you get down here. The food will be great. This will be great.

However, I can't pay your way here. Oh, okay. All right, I'll figure that out. So I have a wife and two really young children. And I'm going, what do I do? I get a call from my boss, Roy Hennessy at CKLGFM, who says, Frank Gigliotti from CBS is here, now Sony. He says,

we want to meet with you. Okay, so I go down. He said, listen, Frank wants you, and so do I, to go to San Francisco to interview Boss Skaggs on his newest album Blowdown. And I went, cool, when is it?

Oh, about a day or two before American Thanksgiving. Really? So that got me my free flight and back. That's amazing. Yeah. And I went to all the rehearsals. I was allowed to go to all the rehearsals with the exception of Dylan. Dylan recorded in the basement of the Miyako Hotel. I would go down to Winterland and watch the rehearsals every day. And there's a lot of stories about the rehearsals. But I'll just say one thing about Van Morrison. What a great performance in The Last Waltz. But his rehearsals were way better.

And they performed songs that they didn't put into the film. And just meeting Bill Graham and going through everything. And, oh, some great stories of what happened to be there, where Levon had to protect me at one point from one of the big bodyguards. But I watched all the rehearsals, watched everybody go through it. And it was just the most extraordinary week of my life. What an amazing film that was. And I got to ask, I love the Staples singers.

So Mavis Staples. Well, they weren't there. The Staples singers and Emmylou Harris were filmed after the event on a soundstage. So I never got to meet Mavis then. I have since met her a few times, but I didn't meet her there. All right. Wow. didn't meet her there. All right. Wow. And unbelievable that you were there. It is the greatest concert. I'd say the greatest concert film of all time, I'd say. Oh, listen, I sit with my son and we have a few of the

we'll have some of these great beers right here that you've given me. And together we just what was he? He was like five, I guess, four or five years old. And then later, of course, he would travel with me to Woodstock when I'd go down and see Levon and hang out and do different things. And Levon was so good to him. Tell me about Levon. Sadly, no longer with us, but I mean, just listening to him now.

So what was it like being buddies with friends with Levon? just listening to him now, like, so what was it like being buddies with friends with Levon? Levon was a member of the band that whether you were

a powerful disc jockey that could help him or you were a ditch digger or a tobacco picker from Simcoe, Ontario, he loved you and he was loyal to you. And I remember

when I got out of radio and i'm just going to go up here for a minute sure when i when i got out of radio for a while in 2011 him and i had dinner here in toronto at the house of chan and he said what's this i hear you're out of radio no no no no no you've got to get back on john that's who you are that's what you are i had that the other day when i was at roy thompson but um we would hang. He'd invite us down to the house. We'd make the drive to Woodstock. We stay at the same B&B that we still stay at. And we hung out there for years. On one trip, we had a motorhome. And he said, look, I got to do a gig down in Connecticut. And there's going to be some pretty interesting musicians there so maybe you

might want to drive down I said Lee I've got a motorhome well let's get the whole band and put them in the motorhome so there's Ricky Danko and Garth and Richard Bell and and uh and all of these different guys and we drive down and uh we have a great evening and then we're driving back, and he goes, son, why don't you let Jimmy drive? My son, he's like 14, 15. Why don't you let Jimmy drive, and you and I will go into the back. Excuse me. Anyway, I said, no, Lee, I can't do that.

He's too young. Okay. So he says, oh, by the way, I won't see you tomorrow. I said said how come well i got this offer ricky and i to go to california and join ringo star in his first all-star band i said you're kidding now he i threw this at him once and he's not here to defend himself but he did say that day well i tell you, he better be real nice to me or I'm going to throw an Arkansas fit.

Well, he was kidding. And he went on that first tour and it's available on DVD and record and so on. And he had a really good time, him and Ricky, because Levon actually sang the weight on that particular tour. So he got to know ringo really well and of course ringo was invited to the last waltz too so did you get an opportunity to say goodbye to

levon uh when he was very sick there i was on the phone with him maybe a month before he passed away they weren't telling the truth for various reasons they didn't want people to know how bad it was he said john i'm canceling the next few weeks of tour. I've come down with this and that. I'm really not feeling well, but son, you got to come down and see me soon. And I figured, okay, well, then I got the call that he had passed and, uh, his wife and his daughter, uh, invited my wife and I to the funeral. So we drove down, and it was a very amazing event. I saw people that I'd met back in Arkansas, a lot of great musicians there. John Sebastian played, Larry from the Ramble Band,

and so on and so forth. Garth did a great solo. It was a very touching and moving funeral. And what is it? Is it Jimmy Vito? You know, from Conan, the guitar player? Oh, Mac, no. No, Jimmy.

I can't remember his name. Anyway. Now I'm only thinking Max Weinberg, but I can't remember his name. This is really terrible because he's great. He got up on stage and he said, hi, I'm so-and-so. And I was Levon Helms' best friend. And I went, oh, that's cool.

Then he took his hat off and said, but you know, everybody in this room can say the same thing. Because when you were with him, he made you feel like you were his best friend. And I emceed two shows with Levon before he passed at Massey Hall. And he just put me in his arms after the show. And he had to be very delicate because he was so thin, paper thin.

And he thanked me profusely because he had a love affair with Toronto because, as you know, he was here in the late 50s as part of Ronnie Hawkins' Hawks. Of course. Now, you mentioned Ringo Starr and his All-Star Band, but that's a pretty good segue, I think, to—and Brian brought this up. So let's talk about this now and then before we dive into your radio career. Okay.

John Lennon tell us and I think this ties in nicely with Ron Hawkins as well but how did you end up chatting up John Lennon well the first one was live the second one was on the phone when Walls and Bridges came out he came to do

live piece in Toronto with Eric Clapton and Alan White and Klaus Vorman at Varsity. And he was in a little tent off to the side with Yoko. And I was at CKFH then, before my Chum FM days. But they knew who I was, that is his people. So I got invited into the tent and we had a really nice conversation. And he was very gracious, very good. And then in 1973, he was doing about, let's see, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and he wanted to do Toronto for radio interviews. So he called Ronnie Hawkins and he said, Ronnie, I don't know anybody in Toronto, really. He says, well, son, you got to talk to John John.

And I ended up, and I still have it in my archives, chatting with him for about 20 minutes about, you know, he'd left Yoko. He was hanging out with Harry Nilsson in the drunk that went on forever. Yoko didn't want him, you know, screwing around with all kinds of women. So she sent May Pang to go to California with him, who was with her. And so I guess May and John had a pretty good time.

But all the time, he knew he was going to get back with her. And he and Yoko, you know, ended up back together again. But my mind skips around when I talk about him because later I would interview Julian Lennon and I said well tell me about a little bit about your father and he just looked at me and said he was probably one of the greatest rock and roll musicians of all time, John. He just wasn't a very good father. And it was sad. And then I passed on something to him. I said, your father told me when you played the tambourine on Yaya on Walls and Bridges,

he just beamed. And Julian smiled. And that was my one encounter with Julian. You mentioned the archive. Now, can you tell me a little bit about the John Donabee archive? Because I'm thinking when you talk about having that audio clip, I'm like, I wish I had it. I'd play a bit of it right now.

So what do you have in this archive? Well, this is embarrassing. I've had two people make me offers and I think I'll take them up on it. In my house I have maybe a hundred or two hundred real-to-real interviews I kept everything everything however as you know with tape it's extremely brittle Doug Thompson great guy to interview because I mean he's interviewed just about everybody as a producer.

He said, look, I'll tell you what. I have an oven, special oven, for baking tape. Because you have to bake the tape in order to get the brittleness out of it and make it sort of greasy or flexible again. And he said, yeah, I'll do it. I'll pay him. I'd pay him for it. Leo Laporte, who used to do a computer show. I used to watch his show.

Yeah, Leo and I became friends, really good friends. I went to visit him in California, and he offered to put money up because he wanted to see some of those interviews end up in the Smithsonian. And I went, you've got to be kidding. He said, John. And I showed him the list of people I talked to.

And he says, no. And so far, those tapes are all sitting in my home and fairly. And they're reels. They're all reels. They're all 10-inch reels. Right. Yeah. So you need to digitize them and then set them free.

Yes. And I know the guy that could do it, but they all have to go into the oven for I don't know how many minutes. And then they become flexible again. In other words, they won't break. And I would like to do that because there are interviews in there. Just one. The Chambers brothers and Bonnie and Delaney and friends were hanging out at Maple Leaf Gardens.

They did their concert. When the show was over, I met Bonnie, and she was a little upset. They didn't get a time check that afternoon. So right across the street from Maple Leaf Gardens is CKFH, standing for Foster Hewitt on the corner of Granville and Yonge. And I said, well, there's a show called The Open Lid that's on there right now with Terry David Mulligan. How would you like to come across the street?

Well, they came across the street. The late Carl the street? Well, they came across the street, the late Carl Riedel on bass, he came across the street. Terry went nuts. We all sat in a studio and we had Neumann microphones. We put them in the round and they spent about an hour.

And I've got that tape and Bonnie just wails. Wow. And it's incredible. I'd like to get that one back. But that was just an idea of just an impromptu interview. That's the

stuff I want to hear. We've got to digitize this and free this. We've got to do this. It is great, Mike. I mean, I must admit, I look back and I go, really? Okay. Wow. That's incredible here. The Fixer by Pearl Jam. The Fixer.

If you want to fix your home. So if you're going to spy and or sell, you're calling Brian Gerstein. He's the guy who gave you the pint glass. That's a no brainer. By the way, he's at Great Lakes Beer tonight. Yes. And if you're at Great Lakes Beer tonight and you want to chat him up about any of that, he's sitting there with his ribs and his beer.

So he's happy to chat with you. But if you're looking to fix your house, redesign, architectural design, the house you own, you want to add a floor, do some major renovations, Census Design and Build are your people. They provide architectural design,

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And thank you, Census Design and Build, for jumping on as a sponsor of Toronto Mic'd. I love Toronto Mic'd sponsors. These people step up, and they sponsor these podcasts, and make it all possible. Good for you, man. Thank you so much. And and here let's talk about i'm hoping i've invited a couple of people from paytm canada to great lakes brewery tonight i'm hoping they show up and then if they're there and you

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purchase. So that's $10 just sitting there, and it's all yours. And as we fade out Pink Floyd, here's the question I have for you, John Donabee. When did you first fall in love with radio? I was four. Wow. Maybe five. Had a Westinghouse, probably from the 40s, I guess. It was my father father's radio and i just fell in love with it and i and he finally gave it to me and i took it up to my bedroom and i have it had it on a shelf over my head and i would be listening to uh 10 50 chum i'd be listening to ckey and i listened uh to um why do i have a mind blank all of a sudden? WKBW. Oh yeah, of course, Tom Shannon. So I listened to all those three stations and in the mid-60s, R&B became really, really strong. So at 1060 on the dial, too close to 1050, but I could get it. I listened to Woofo, W-U-F-O. And so I got my dose of rhythm and blues

and I couldn't stop. I fell in love with music at a very, very young age. And recently, I'm sorry, I'm just going to blow my own horn. Two people, one at the party you and I were at, but then J. Robert Wood at the Chum Party, who was the big guy behind Chum AM, he said, the one thing I've always admired about you, John, is you've just never lost your love of music. I hung out with musicians a lot more than I ever did with radio people, and I just loved music to death, and it stayed with me all my life. So when I got into radio in Oshawa, of course, I couldn't play what I wanted. In fact, it was so far away from what I would listen to.

But it didn't matter because, well, there was a microphone to talk into. And this is mid-60s, right, when you're at CKLB? LB, standing for Lakeland Broadcasting. Yeah, Gord Garrison was the boss. A lot of famous people

from today and yesterday went through there, like Dick Smythe, Larry Solway. Wow. A ton of people went through that station, and I got hired full-time in February of 1966, but I had been hanging out. See, these were the days I hung out and got to know the all-night guy, and he let me go with him.

I'd get off school Friday afternoon, get a little nap, go to the radio station, spend the all night show with him. That went on for a while. And then he said about three in the morning, uh, John, I got something to do down the hall. Oh yeah, he did. Uh, would you mind going on the air? And I go on the air maybe from three to four 30. And I did that for a while. And then in February of 66, when he got a job out in Regina, Terry Mann, the PD, said, well, who are we going to get?

He says, get John. John's never been on the air. Oh, yes, he has. After Terry cooled down, 75 bucks a week. Johnny, you got it. I'm living with my parents. And I'm going, that's cool. So I started the all-night show. And I guess it was February 14th, Valentine's Day of 1966.

Wow. Yeah. Stayed there until September of 67. Short time before I got the dream of my life, I got a call to come to Toronto Radio. In this case, CKFH, standing for Foster Hewitt, right at the corner of Grenville and Yonge. And for periods of time, it would give Chum AM a run for their money.

You know, I got to ask about the voice. So you have an excellent voice. Like I'm listening to you in the headphones and I'm like, I could listen to you read the phone book. And that's no joke. Great, great pipes. Oh, thank you. But did you always have them in Oshawa? Like, did you sound like this? No, I didn didn't so there's still hope for me is what you're

telling me absolutely it's all it you know if you don't use it you lose it um i've got tapes i should have brought me at ckfh doing top 40 you know it's like hi everybody how you doing hey this is 1430 radio ckfh and. And before that, I was like, hi. I mean, it's like a piece I saw with Howard when he did his whole piece on how he sounded in the early days. And if you saw the movie Private Parts. Of course I have, many times. Yeah, and you see what he sounded like.

Eventually, you find yourself. And my voice started to deepen. And I went, oh, this is not bad. To a point now where, Mike, if I listened to tapes from 10 years ago, it may be a little more laid back. Because when I was at Jump FM the first time, it was like, hey, everybody. Got some Pink Floyd coming up here. And it's really groovy man you're really

and i talked like that and then you go wait a minute that's not real and that's the spirit of 104 right that was the i just saw a picture i was tweeted it today i tweeted a picture of it was called the spirit of 104 and it had like it had pete and geats in there and had david morriston and yourself we'll get to this later but i I just tweeted it today, and it was just great to see that photo. And you're in there. I love Pete and Geetz. Geetz. I saw him at the party.

You did? I saw him there, right? I didn't. I saw Geetz there briefly, and then I was going to go invite him on. Sadly, Pete's passed away, but Geetz is still active as anything. That would be the most amazing interview. He is my longest and oldest friend in Toronto radio. I arrived at CKFH and they said, oh, by the way, oh, see, I have to explain this.

I'll do it quick. When I got hired at CKFH, I didn't get hired by CKFH. I got hired by Tom Williams. Tom Williams brokered the all night show. It's an interesting way of doing things in those days. And what he'd do is he'd sell his own spots, hire his own announcer. I was doing a show in Oshawa called 80 of soul rhythm and blue show. I thought R and B would be the next biggest thing. And it turned out it was. So get to toronto and while i'm in the studio in comes geats romo otherwise known as david haydu he says look man i'm sorry to tell you this but you're not allowed

to touch the board because you don't work for fh i gotta op for you we just kind of look at each other i said i i i don't want i want to op he goes i don't want to op so he would go into another studio it's like a union thing or something? No, no. It was just a rules of the station. So Geetz went up into another room and ended up talking to lovely ladies in the night. And one night a lovely lady came to visit him. And I'm saying, oh, that's nice.

Oh, this is Barb. Well, Barb is still his wife since that time. But Geetz and I, we go way back in the late Tom Fulton. Oh, God. You can broker the deal to help me get Geetz on here. Oh, absolutely. I do a lot of,

speaking of Spirit of 104, I do a lot of Spirit of Radio CFNY stuff. I know Fred Patterson was on that show, for example, and Freddie P is a friend of the show. I've got to get Geetz on here. And just remember that Pete and Geetz were on Shum FM first. Of course, go listen to the Marsden episode. I'm all over that, for sure.

Hey, where's your brown bag? By the way, when I chatted him up at your party at Roy Thompson Hall, he expressed great interest in a return visit, so potentially we'll have Marsden back. You know that David is a few years, more than a few years older than I am, so when I was sitting there at a card table,

which was my desk in my bedroom in Curtis, I would be listening to him as Dave Mickey. Yep, Dave Mickey. And I came to Toronto, I wasn. Yep, Dave Mickey. And I came to Toronto. I wasn't driving. On a bus, I went to the C&E, and I stood there in front of the CKEY mobile.

Suddenly, this guy comes out in a gold LeMay jacket, and he's talking a mile a minute. Right. And I went, oh, my God. And then later, when I started at CKLB, he was friends with Rockin' Roscoe Campbell, who was the rock jock. And Roscoe said, hey, tonight, David Marsden is coming down here. I said, hey, Mickey.

So I opt for him for one show. And he was so gracious. Him and Big G Walters and Duff Roman and those people, legends to me. They just treated me so well. You know, some guys I understand aren't very nice. These people were great.

Yeah. Yeah, I searched, again, I searched for audio of Dave Mickey because, of course, I talked to Morrison about it. I have some.

Yeah, but it's in those, you gotta bake it, is that right? Or do you have additional? No, I have some. Send it over. And I'll send you the CKFH jingle. Do you want me to sing it? Yeah, but you've got to bake it. Is that right? Or do you have a digital? No, I have some. Send it over. And I'll send you the CKFH jingle. Do you want me to sing it?

Yeah, please. This is the second greatest radio station in the world. We must be, because all the other radio stations are number one. We are CKFH number two. Boop, boop, boop, boop. Oh, that's great. And that was the jingle, because we wereH number two. Woo, woo, boo, boo. Oh, that's great. And that was the jingle because we were called number two radio.

So those who don't, aren't like the younger folks who aren't familiar with CKFH. So this is a top 40 rock station, right? Yep. And I mean, in Toronto, there's lots of nostalgia. Like you hear a lot about 1050 Chum, for example.

But you don't hear, I'll be honest, you don't hear a lot about CKFH. No, you don't. These days. So what was it like? I mean, Foster Hewitt, if you know't hear, I'll be honest, you don't hear a lot about CKFH these days. So what was it like? I mean, Foster Hewitt, if you know nothing else, you know Foster Hewitt from the Paul Henderson goal in 72. So even young folk will say, oh, yeah, I've heard that call a hundred times. Like, wow, Stafford and Fell, that's a great call.

But what can you tell us about working for Foster Hewitt at CKFH? Well, you know, yes, I guess I was really working for foster hewitt at ckfh well you know yes i guess i was really working for foster but uh he didn't see him much he was in an office in the back and uh i just hung out with um the people in like jack low the engineer who just passed away i hung out with all the jocks uh tom fulton became very a, very dear friend, and Mysterious Mike Williams, both of them have now since passed away. There's a picture on the internet of myself, Tom Fulton, Mal Farris, Duff Roman. There's another one. Anyway, they're all past except Duff and I. And Duff is a number of years older than I am because I listened to him as a kid.

And they were just great. And the attitude was really, we had a program director named Barry Ness, but God bless him, but Barry just let us do whatever we wanted. And Barry was in a corner somewhere. So we just have fun and everything went well until a guy by the name of the late

gary pallant came in in 1969 to take over as program director because the station wanted to take a good run at chum and one of the first things he did was fire keith hampshire and myself oh and the first cut is the deepest keith that's what what I would say. Yeah, it's really true. It was my first cut. And six months later, I got a call from Barry Nesbitt. Well, we fired Gary Palin. Would you like to come back? I've called Keith. He wants to go into freelance commercials, John.

I don't know what's going to happen with that. Well, you know, I think Keith made an inordinate amount of money. And I said, yeah, I'd like to come back. And I came back for two years and then got a call on a Saturday afternoon from a guy named Bob Lane. And that's an interesting story of how I got my job there. Yeah. So tell us, because that's where you go. So after CKFH, you move over to Progressive Rock at Chum FM, and you had the night shift there. So tell me how you ended up there,

and tell me as much as you can about Chum FM and its progressive days. The meeting was the greatest. Here's how it went. Reiner Schwartz, who was the guru of late night, he quit on a Friday night over something that happened on the air. And there's too many variations of what happened, so we won't go into it, but he quit on a Friday night over something that happened on the air. And there's too many variations of what happened, so we won't go into it, but he quit.

Saturday afternoon, I'm doing my show at CKFH, and a guy in the other room says, there's a phone call for you. I said, no, no, I'm too busy. It's Bob Lane from Chum FM. So I get on the phone. Hi, Bob. Do you think you could come over and see me after you get off the air at two at 1331? And I said, yeah. So I went and met with him and he told me about Reiner

and he said, I've heard you sit in to do the open lid. You're doing stuff that we do. I'd rather have you with us than against us. And I was making $14 14 500 a year at fh which was really great money i was driving one of the first six 240z datsuns in the country i mean i was a bachelor i had it made so i said to bob uh what about money bob well what do you what do you think you'd like? I said, let's see, 14. I like 18, Bob. Bob goes, this is chum FM, John, not chum AM. Okay. And I settled for nine, $9,500 a year. Took a massive cut, but the best move I ever made, and I'm going to use this word. I don't normally do this behind a microphone, but I it at his at his funeral bob's sitting there you can do this this this free form this free form that i mean mike it was like dead and

gone to heaven and i i'll just keep it flowing when this because this is exactly the way it went down i said uh mr lane i'll call me bob yeah bob is there anything I can't do here? Yeah. Don't say fuck on the air. And I went, and of course little Johnny's going, oh, okay. So, um, that was the only thing you couldn't do, but everything else was a go. If you wanted to sit down at 10 at night till two in the morning and play the side of an album, I had Ry Cooter come in with me one night. He played blues for two hours. Um, I would have the biggest name, Sonny Terry, Brian McGee. I'd have all these people come in and sit with me. And then when I moved to afternoons, to two to six, then it really picked up. Wow, wow, wow.

Now you mentioned Reiner. Reiner ends up there, right? So that's Reiner Schwartz ends up at CHUM. Well, Reiner was there way before me. Way before you. Oh, yeah. And he owned Tenant Night till Two in the Morning. Right.

And then they had that disagreement and at that point he went off to Shome for a while in Montreal then came back to Toronto and Pritchard by this time, David Pritchard David Pritchard, right. Genius, genius who was doing 2 to 6 in the morning the two of them went off to

actually David went first, I think, to CFNY and that was the very early, early days. Marsden, I don't think, had arrived yet. He came shortly after. And so you got the, and then you got Geertz and you got Pete. And they all kind of left Chum FM and over they went and really made it what it was during that period of time.

Now, let me ask you though, and I know Pritchard was famously anti-drug, but in this scene, this radio scene that we're describing now, drugs played a key role, right? As I understand, I wasn't there, but I've heard enough stories. What about yourself? What can you share?

Because you're a musicologist, can I call you that? You're about the music. That's what Canada AM calls me. I'm not legally a musicologist, can I call you that? You're about the music. That's what Canada AM calls me. I'm not legally a musicologist, but there are still people today who say to me, I don't know anybody else who's still on air that

knows as much about music, because it just never left me. But no, are you asking me if I did drugs? Well, I guess I'm asking was it, you're a music geek, so there's the music side of being the DJ in the 60s, in the 70s geek, so there's the music side of being the DJ in the 60s, in the 70s, and then there's the drug part.

So did you partake in that drug side? I was so straight, Mike, I was squeaky clean. I'm a kid from Oshawa. No, I didn't, and David Pritchard, it was all just incredible talent.

No drugs whatsoever. And I'll tie this in to an interview with Frank Zappa, where Zappa was asked by a listener, so to get that, what you're doing on an album, Frank? You must really do a lot of drugs. And Frank leaned into the mic and said, do you think I could do what I do if I were stoned? Absolutely not, because Frank Zappa did not do drugs.

Right. So, no, David didn't do them. I didn't do them. I've known people in the business that did them. I know a lot of people that had heavy drinking problems, too. And it really tore them up, you know. No, absolutely. Absolutely.

Now, why do you end up leaving Shem FM? This first round, anyway. The first round, the station was changing format. It was getting tighter. What we call the hippy-dippy freeform format had disappeared. I chased that dream.

And I got an offer from... Here's my little bit of bilingualism here. C'est GFM FM I chased that dream and I got an offer from, uh, here's my little bit of bilingualism here. C.J. FM, FM, C.J. FM,

which was the FM side of C.J. A.D., which was the equivalent of C.F.R.B. They were owned by Standard Broadcasting and they made me an offer. And, um, I'm just, uh, oh gosh, I can't think of his name. There was a jock who, Chuck, oh, there I go.

Anyway, there was, I'll think of it later. There was a jock there who wanted to leave, and when they found out he wanted to leave, they offered me the job to go to Montreal on Mountain Street. And I did middays doing all of this great stuff. And he came to Chum FM. And then eventually he would end up at Chum and sadly he's passed away. But I got to Montreal.

René Lévesque came into power a year and a half later. Although I am totally French-Canadian on my mother's side of the family i'm one of two of 100 cousins who didn't learn it um i wasn't enjoying the experience of montreal they weren't enjoying an anglophone either so uh don shaffer who was still at chum fm we worked together we're very close don calls me up, and I said, Don, what are you up to? I said, I just quit my job. I have no job to go to.

He says, get down to Toronto quick. We'll talk. So I came down to Toronto, and he was living not far from Young & Lawrence. He said, I just got a job offer from CKLG FM in Vancouver by Roy Hennessy. He needs another jock. Let's work out a tape together.

So we went down to Chum FM that night. We worked on a tape and including put my John Lennon interview in. Well, Hennessy calls me. He says, fly out here right now. All taken care of. I wasn't there a couple hours. And he hired me on the spot. So Don and I, with our kids, our kids dogs and everything else did a convoy

to vancouver both of us expecting to spend many years in vancouver which don did for quite some time however there was a guy by the name of gary slate who was a salesman for cklg and he said you know uh you should call Dave Charles, who is going to be the program director. My father just got a new license and I think it's something you'd like. We're going to take on Chum FM and, uh, okay. So I became the first person hired at Q107 to do afternoon drive three three to eight, and talk about a trip of a brand new station. I mean, the entire staff, and here's where I'm

going to, I don't, maybe I don't, I shouldn't put you on the spot because I've heard a lot of people talk about Q here on your show. Yep. Who do you think the first morning man was of Q107? I don't know. My guess would be Scruff Connors would be a guess.

That's what I hear all the time. Okay. Scruff was the third morning man. Oh, yeah. The second morning man was Ted Wallachian. Okay, yeah. Ted was doing the comedy bowl because when John Rohde, I don't know if you know that name.

It's not ringing a bell. Okay. John Rohde, the don't know if you know that name. It's not ringing a bell. Okay. John Rohde, the most intelligent person I ever met because he's a member of Mensa in California. He did the morning show. He got bored. We worked together again twice at Chum FM and also at Key 590. He now lives in Picton, and he makes wine.

But he was the first morning man. The whole staff was Rhodey in the morning. Dave Charles took two hours till noon. Murray Smith. Murray did noon to three or something. I did three to eight. Marianne Carpentier went till, I think, midnight. And Scott Marwood.

I can't remember yesterday sometimes, Mike, but I remember the staff. That's great. We were in the Toronto Sun. I should have brought you the ad. We all had big paper bags over our head because they wanted to show everybody that there was a new staff, but they wouldn't name us. But Dave Charles and John Paracall, they would both later leave Q and become joint communications.

And they were the guys who were the PDs. And when they left, Gary Slate took over. And yeah, those early days, unbelievable, unbelievable. Well, that's exciting getting to launch a new station. I'd never done it before. And we're walking into the control room at 2 Bloor East and we're looking straight down Yonge Street, right to the water and

Elvis Costello came in one day. He was a little tough to take. Meatloaf. There's a lot of bands that came in there that were just breaking. They'd come in and What year is the launch? Is it 77? May of 1977. I got back in April. I remember

Charles would love this joke. Okay, Dave, I'm here. Good. We're going on next month. Dave, I don't have any money. Ah, you know, we're coming on next month. So I drove to Oshawa and lived with me and my two kids, my wife, and we lived with my mom and dad for a month. Then we got an apartment at Young and Blythewood. Do you want to hear a little bit of yourself on Q107? Here's a little bit of, yeah, let's hear a little John Donovey here.

And born to run, both from Bruce Springsteen's and powerful rock and roll at 528 on Q107 Toronto, Toronto's best rock. I'm John Donovey, and we've got about 13 degrees out there right now with mainly clear skies. Winds will die down this evening with lows around 7. For tomorrow, highs of 20, and same for Wednesday, sunny and warmer,

and mainly sunny for tomorrow. A good, beautiful few days coming your way. Gamble Rogers is at the groaning board. I'll be there. One hour from now at 6.30, I'll have for you the brand new Cooper Brothers album, as well as music of the Eagles this evening on words and music. And Dean Hill, who I just talked to a few minutes ago, has been

tuning up all day, getting ready for a visit tonight at 9 from the Cars. Two of the members of the Cars will be here for a solid hour between 9 and 10 tonight, playing their favorite tuneys, and they'll be the guest jocks tonight along with Dean. So we'll be listening tonight. The Cars and the Q107 Studios playing some of their favorite music. That's between 9 and 10 p.m. On July 2nd, this band will be in our city. This is an old Roy Orbison song from years ago. Jim Capaldi recorded it as well.

This is Nazareth with Love Hurts from Q107. There you go. Nazareth. That's Barefoot. A little bit longer. Formerly Atkinson, Danko, and Ford. Dwayne Ford now married to Patsy Gallo. 14 minutes before 6 o'clock. I'm John Donnelly.

There you go. There you go. A little taste of you and Q. Thank you for that flashback. Just as an aside, because you're a radio guy, I mentioned Dean Hill. Dean left Q eventually and became probably the biggest jock in Vancouver.

Just an amazing guy. He's still on the air out there. And because you mentioned, or I guess I mentioned, Scruff Connors, thinking he might have been the first morning guy at Q, I just want to tell everybody listening that in a couple of weeks, Scruff's son, TJ Connors, is coming on the show to tell a whack of Scruff stories. And there are some pretty epic Scruff stories.

That will be amazing, including, well, obviously Q and what happened down in St. Catharines. Right. You know. Well, that's it. So he's right now, I see Afternoon Drive. I think he's Afternoon Drive because it's Biggs and Barnum. So he's at Hits FM right now.

Right. And speaking of Hits FM, another quick plug. I've got to plug another episode. A week later, Paul Morris, longtime Hits FM jock and father of previous guest Siobhan Morris, who's been on a couple of times. So Paul Morris is coming on the Toronto Mic as well. I work with Paul at Standard Broadcasting because I was at CFRB and he was across the hall at, was he at Virgin or Mix 99.9 or whatever they were calling it. And yeah, Paul, one of the nicest people you ever want to meet.

And St. Catherine's, I mean, he turned that place around. Yeah, they say that's the house that Paul Morris built. There you go. And I know we have to find out what happened there. I know if he was king for a day, he'd still be on the air there. So we got to find out what happened at Hitsack. Well, like all of us, you know, I mean, I was let go two or three times in my career. I was doing well, but

it comes to a point sometimes, Mike, the sad reality is age plays a factor. The amount of money you're making plays a big factor. And when you put them all together, it's time to say bye-bye. And I

I've been watching this for last uh eight or nine years with interest and so when someone gets let go that you really love you know al joins and i work together too and it's steve couch my boss at cfrb said it best it's not if it it's when. And sure enough, your time comes up. Because when I left CFRB, I was in absolute shock. I've been there 15 years, and I really thought I could be there forever. But it wasn't meant to be. Yeah, kind of sad. I mean, I just had Alan here to hear that story.

And I mean, he got it with John Scholes and Andy Frost, like all three in one way, speaking of the mighty Q, the one's mighty Q. one way, speaking of the mighty Q, the one's mighty Q. And when you started, when you helped launch Q107, essentially you gave it instant credibility by having John Donabee as part of your launch team, I think. Here's Dave Charles' line. I'm walking into the control room, because

the first day we all did an hour, and then the next day we, you know, and Dave went, here comes Mr. FM. Because Dave worked at Chum, too. And I'd had a reputation of being at Chum FM. And I think I was the only one there that had been at Chum FM. And so, yeah, it was instant credibility and marvelous guests, great guests.

And it was a great time. I was there for two years before I left to go into television. And it was just great. And Gary Slate was a great time. I was there for two years before I left to go into television. And it was just great. And Gary Slate was a great guy to work for. All right, when I had Ingrid Schumacher on, I asked her this question. Because I had read that the Q107 Chum FM rivalry was such that they called Chum FM Scum FM. And the Chum FM people were calling it Screw 107. Any truth to this?

I can't find a human who actually can tell me this was true. Well, here's a human that's hearing it for the first time. Oh, yeah. You can't believe everything you read. I never heard that. I mean, I was still friends with guys from Chum FM and vice versa. And of course, after my two-month summer television show,

I returned to Chum FM. So it was, you know, if you were good at what you did and you kept your nose clean, and I learned that when you leave a job, you never badmouth the people you left, I would get hired back. Don't burn any bridges.

That's your advice to broadcasters. No, don't burn any bridges. I worked for the Slates three times. Gary twice. Greg Slate, one of the sweetest guys in the world, who's disappeared up to Stony Lake somewhere after they sold Standard Broadcasting. He never has to worry about working again.

Cashed out, yeah. Yeah, yeah, right. That's your next clip. So we heard you on cue, and we're going to hear you shortly at CKFM. There's a little teaser there. I got another clip of you. So tell me about this television, though. I mean, we called you a musicologist. The guy I think is using that term today,

I met him at your party at Roy Thompson Hall, but Alan Cross is now kind of a new music musicologist. He's taken up that mantra, and good for him. He's an extremely talented guy, you know. But you were on Afternoon Delight, right? That was the CBC show. It was network. It was coast to coast. So here goes the deal.

I'm at Q107. I was... See, my mind just goes all over the place. Earlier you talked about meeting guys on radio and they don't look like they... Right. You have no idea what they look like. And so when I meet people and they go, you they don't look like they look. Right, you have no idea what they look like. And so when I meet people, and they go, you don't look anything like you should.

And I go, well, that's because when I'm on the radio, I'm taller, I'm thinner, and I have a lot more hair. On the radio, you look like Don Draper, essentially. But what was I talking about? Oh, you're on CBC. Yeah. So anyway, I'm at Q, and I'm heavy. I'm really heavy.

So I go and go to a weight loss place, and I lose a ton of weight, and I'm really thin and looking good. And one day, I get a call from Cynthia Grech, and she was working on the Bob McLean show. Bob McLean was kind of one of those guys. He was at CBC forever. And, uh, he says, look, um, could you come on Bob McLean show? I want you to talk, I want you to talk about the phenomena of disco. We're talking 79 here, you know, shame, shame, shame, all that stuff i said sure being a kind of a music

college just i could talk about pretty much any format so i went on did the show i got a call two days later from cynthia grec and she says look bob takes the summer off i'm in charge of putting together a summer show and i'd really like you to host it. I said, you've got to be kidding. I don't do television. Well, you just did. So, pardon me. I said, well, okay. So what is now a Staples store on Yonge Street, just down the hill from Chum FM,

CBC Studio 4 used to be there. So every day from 1 to two we would do afternoon delight it was a show about men for women so women could better understand men and um i had some incredible people on the program with me. Great musicians would come in for every show. It was an hour live, five days a week, right across the country. And I got paid more money for that summer than I ever made in radio. Wow.

And, you know, it was just great to have these people working with me. Summer ends. And, oh yeah, as the summer's ending, I've got Gordon Sinclair on the show. And Gordon said, so what do you plan to do after this show, John? Well, you know, Gordon, I'd really like to stay in radio. Can I give you some advice?

Sure. CBC, there's Tommy Hunter, there's Hockey Night in Canada. Everything after that is a bonus. So I go to meet with Jack McAndrew, the head of CBC, and he says, can I tell you how great you were? You really were good. I can't believe it. Oh, good. But, you know, John, Bob's 40, and he's one of our boys.

So, sorry. So at the end of summer, I was unemployed. And I got a call from Warren Cosford from Chum FM via J. Robert Wood. They wanted me to come back and do Afternoon Drive. And there was a certain salary I was looking for. They matched it. And I went back there for probably two or three years. It was a very different place then.

But, yeah, I enjoyed myself. I had a good time. You reclaimed your old slot there. Yeah, I reclaimed my old spot. And then this is when you start to wonder about your career. See, here's something I don't even have to admit, but I was there doing afternoon drive and suddenly J. Robert Wood calls me and says, John, we're moving into middays. Now middays, wood calls me and says john we're moving into middays now middays uh socially it's great but you know the morning show and afternoon drive were these two shifts so i said to bob he won't remember this i said so bob like is my future okay here with uh chum fm and then one of the

great lines i've heard many times john we can't promise the future. And I went, okay. So I got a call from Les Soul, who was the big guy from CFTR. And he says, we're putting a brand new station on the air, John. You might remember the building. I said, where? You know where CKFH was? Yeah. It's going to be called CJCL.

We're hiring Andy Berry from RB, Jim Brady from TR, and we'd like to get you. Well, financially, it was incredible. It didn't last all that long. And I'll just summarize by saying again that before you knew it, when things weren't working out, Mike, they decided to go to the music of your life.

Of course, I remember it well. As a diehard Blue Jay fan, how could I forget? And one day I'm sitting there preparing for the show, depressed as hell, and someone said, there's a call for you. Kind of like the Chum FM calls. Ah, I'm too busy. It's someone named Greg Slate. So Greg says, would you like to come up to CFGM, be my music director, but you have to go to evenings? Sure. And as people have often said when I do interviews, how do you go to a country station in a format you've never done before?

Right. I bluffed it, and then I started buying a bunch of books, and I studied it. So by the time I got up there, I pretty much knew what I was doing. And I stayed with Greg for a couple of years before I actually went. I was at CFRB twice. So I went to CFRB. Ralph Lucas hired me. And away I went. And yeah, that's kind of that corner of the world.

Well, let me bring you back. So there's a lot there. Anywhere you want me. There's Chum FM and then there's CJCL, of course. And it's funny you mentioned music of your life, because I would listen to Tom and Jerry, Tom Cheek and Jerry Howarth, call Blue Jays games. And then I would listen to Scott Ferguson, I think.

One of my old buddies. He was my sports guy when I did weekends on R&B. Well, he's a guy I've been trying to find him to get him to come here, because I used to listen to him do the post-game show on CJCL. Oh, yeah. I mean, I fell asleep to that to him do the post-game show on CJ Seattle. I fell asleep to that man's voice more than any other voice, I think.

But when I'd wake up, because I had my little transistor radio, and I'd wake up in the middle of the night and I'd hear the music of your life and I'd be like, Tony Bennett or something. I can't remember. It was not my company. I was a CFTR guy back then. So I always remember the music of your life. But I want to bring you back to Chum FM

because you're there when John Lennon is shot and killed. You're at Chum FM. Oh, what a night. What a night. I'm in bed. I'm just going to sleep. And I get a call. Excuse me.

I'm just getting a water here to get some drink. And I apologize for not offering you a water. What a terrible host I am here. Only beer. I'm spoiled. I bring Evian with me. So anyway, I'm falling asleep, and I get a call from the newsman at Q107, who still was a great friend of mine.

John, are you asleep? Yeah, I'm just going. John, turn on TV quick. John Lennon's been shot. So I turn it on, and there's all the shots from the Dakota, and I'm going, oh, my God, my god oh my god and i'm watching it and all of a sudden these were the days the operator came on i have an emergency call for john donabee oh well i said paul i gotta go it was ross davies from chum event john uh john lennon has just died. We need you in here now.

This was about 11, 1130. So I drove down and I did an interview live with Larry Wilson. We talked about Lennon, how I talked to him, this, that, and everything. We're all pretty depressed about it. And then as I got off the air, Ross says, come here. We found out Ronnie Hawkins is in Arkansas. We're going to call him and wake him up. We'd like you to interview him.

Well, I did, and he just heard about it, so he gave us a nice lengthy chat. I stayed there all night long working on tape and doing different things. Meanwhile, no cell phone then. I got a call from my wife at the station john ctv just called they want you to do canada am so myself and larry leblanc a journalist we went down to uh uh norm perry was the host then we went down and did an interview on john lennon and uh great okay now I've been up all night and morning I go home city tv calls and from am 640 Lauren um can you help me out like Lauren Honigman no yeah close enough

he wants to interview me at noon at my apartment or my yeah my apartment. So he comes up, does a nice long interview with me. Now I've been up for like ever. And he leaves. And I'm just about to lay down. And I get a call from City again. And Martin O. wanted me to come on for the evening show with Peter Goddard. So I come on with Peter Goddard. And we do yet another interview. So now

I'm up like 24 hours pretty much. I go home, I sit in a chair and someone's playing the song Beautiful Boy, Beautiful Boy. And I sit in the chair and I start to cry because I hadn't had time to really take it in because, I mean, I really loved Elvis and stuff, but I was just a tiny, just a tiny bit late for Elvis. And Patsy Cline and Buddy Holly and all those people, I admired them, but they were before my time. John Lennon was my generation. So I just wept.

I was so upset. And then later, as you know, Chum FM had the famous candlelight ceremony at Nathan Phillips Square. And I still have pictures of me holding my daughter. Long John Baldry was there. Ronnie Hawkins was there. It was a great evening and we paid tribute to John Lennon. But that night, I will never forget as long as I live. It was extremely dramatic. Wow. Yeah, I can imagine. Now, to change

channels a little bit here, no pun intended, but with Chum FM, this is before. So at this time, when you're at Chum FM the second time there, Ashby's still on AM. He doesn't move over until mid-80s, I want to say. Like 86 or something like that. Something like that.

So I'm curious, though, because we talked about him earlier and you dropped a little nugget there that uh i've been thinking throughout our chat that uh you know ashby confided roger ashby confided in you that uh he was stepping down at the end of the year right and it does i mean and although i have been searching for some evidence of this in the public sphere, it really has been, uh, in my opinion, as a observer, it was clear this was imminent like that. And it makes sense that at the end of the year,

after 50 years on the air that, uh, Roger would step down and they just introduced. So there's Roger and Marilyn who have been there since the mid eighties together. And then of course, Rick Hodge was there a long time, but then Rick Hodge got an offer.

He couldn't refuse. I think Gary Slate as well. And he moved over to standard broadcasting, and that did not work out for Rick. He's been on the show. He's talked about that, you know, live and learn, whatever. So it's funny. I was at Easy Broadcasting. Who hasn't been on your shows?

Yeah, yeah. Oh, God. Okay. John, again, you were there with Barack Obama in the unattainable list. There you go. I didn't even pursue there. You're great. I love your politics.

Go ahead. Just this past week, this week, what are we now, Thursday? Okay, just this week, they added a third person to the Chum FM morning show. He's a gentleman from,

I think he's a New Yorker, but he came from Chicago. He's an American. Jamar. Jamar, yeah. So what is clear to me is that Jamar is here for us to get used to the three-person booth of Jamar, Roger, and Marilyn.

Because Roger's stepping down, and then I'm sure some shortly thereafter, maybe Marilyn, because she does a million things. Well, you know, you bring up a good point. Everybody asks me, what do you think about Marilyn? I say, I have no idea, because Marilyn's doing the TV show, which is part of Bell. And I see her staying on for a period of time. And I think she'll leave maybe when she wants to, but in radio, who knows, maybe when they want you to. But this gentleman, I understand he's really, really good. I think he's on the air now, isn't he?

He started Monday. Monday, yeah. I haven't heard him yet. good. I think he's on the air now, isn't he? He started Monday. Monday. Yeah. I haven't heard him yet, but, uh, there's a lot of things about him being hired, uh, that I really like. Um, I think probably, and this is something that we all talk about in this town. Uh, he's a man of color and the fact that he's on a major radio station like Chum FM, I think it's wonderful. I think it's really, really wonderful. And obviously they listened to him for a while

and decided he's the guy. Everybody thought Adam Wilde was going to be the guy. I think he might end up on Virgin. I think possibly. And this is all just my guessing. I don't know. Well, on the yellow pages, you know, he's going to make a major announcement. No, that I hear

that he's filling in. On the fan. On the fan for Jeff Blair. So that to make a major announcement. No, that I heard. He's filling in on the fan, right? On the fan for Jeff Blair. Yeah, so that's not a major announcement. No, no, no. I think there's still more to come.

I think he's got a, what is it, the non-compete period or whatever. So I think he left Rogers, quit Rogers, and there's a period of time where he's not allowed

to show up on a Toronto radio station, a competing station. Yeah, I've been there. And I know a lot of this commonplace, and it might end around September. And at that point,

I actually had bought into this fan fiction of like, oh, he'll be on the air with his mom, and then the torch has passed because his mom's Marilyn Dennis. And when she steps down, then Adam Weil, whatever. And then I thought, no, I think it's more likely he ends up on Virgin.

Like, that's just my guess here. That could very well happen. That's a good guess. So, Jamar, though, person of color, fantastic. This is a very diverse city. Like, half the city is not white. Absolutely, and long overdue. But do you have any thoughts that maybe there was a Canadian who could have taken this?

But does it matter to you that he's American? No, because back in the day, when I was at FH and Gary Palin was PD, he hired the great Steve O'Brien, who went on to just one of the most famous jocks in New York. He was an American. Sure. A guy named Scott was American. Rhodey was an American. My first favorite DJ was American because it was Tom Rivers. There you go.

There's Tommy. At Chum AM, Terry Steele, Tom Rivers. Oh, my God. The guy who's in Washington now, he's retired. Pat is his real name. Scott, this is terrible when you're thinking memories. And when I get in the car when I leave here, I'll go, oh, God. That's how it always is.

Can I edit this in, Mike? But, no, there was a time at chum am uh you know mike holland all these guys they're all americans and nobody back then seemed to be overly concerned because jay robert wanted the best and he found that these guys were the best uh yes i've seen it the write-ups the last couple of days couldn't they have found um a black jock in canada was equally as good i doesn't even enter me on my mind they they the bosses there heard him they thought he was right they thought he was the right fit bring him in and and as uh some cretin that's on that board, Soundy Pages, came, you know,

well, who bitches when Dan Aykroyd goes to the United States or John Candy goes to the United States? Nobody down there gripes that Canadians are coming in. So learn to love it. I can't wait to hear him. I just haven't had a chance yet. So, yeah.

So one of the thoughts, though, is that there's a little bit of a generation gap, I think, between Jamar and Roger. Oh, yeah. And I haven't listened a lot, but I get a lot of feedback. And possibly there's

a little awkwardness there with the references and stuff. Well, you know, on CHFI, that was the Don Daynard, Aaron Davis problem. Right. You know, and Don has done interviews publicly that they finally had to have a meeting and saying,

Don, you can't go back this far because Aaron was young and she would have no way of knowing. So, you know, it was tough for Don because Don was the morning man at CKFH when I got there in 67. So, yeah, he had a little bit of a problem there. But then Aaron had this wonderful career. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And then she, I think that was the last show where she told me, because she's been on the show.

I know she was ahead of you here, but again, you were unattainable, I thought, but I was wrong, thankfully. But Aaron made sure that in the future shows that she would be named first. So that was like, it was Dawn and Aaron, I guess is how they refer to that. And then henceforth, like with Mike Cooper, for example,

which Aaron was teamed with for a long time, it was Aaron and Mike. So Aaron made sure she was... That was a great story because I was at RB and Aaron had been fired from CHFI

and Aaron was working up at, which is now called Easy, well, it was Easy Rock then, which is now called Easy Rock then. And Coop was there. Right. And now Boom. Yeah, now Boom. Then she gets that great job offer to go back.

And her and Mike worked so well together, she said, yeah, I'll be interested if I can bring Mike Cooper with me. Right. And Coop and I have been friends forever. And financially, the greatest thing in his life because he was able to retire. You know, same as Roger Ashby

when it happens to Derringer. Erin, I think she's still on the air out in Victoria. I'm not sure. I'm not too sure she's doing a lot of on-air stuff, but her and her husband are having a good time. They got a nice place on the island out there. Yeah. They seem to be doing well.

She still journals regularly on airgames.com, so you can follow her there. But she's another radio legend. So where will we pick you up? Let's get you to, okay, see, yes, okay. I have a clip of you here. So you return, okay, so Gary Slate calls you again, and CKFM is where you end up after your uh two-year

stint at ck you know okay i guess i can make that very clear go ahead yeah when i got to rb in 85 rb okay cfrb in 85 yeah so slate has bought the place but they haven't arrived so in 87 alan and gary entered the building and the first thing Gary says to me, comes into the studio, I want you across the hall. You know, I want you at my music station. So I crossed the hall in 87. And then he brought in a program director by the name of Don Stevens. Don Stevens fired a few people there.

I was one he wanted to fire. And he warned me about it. He said, I don't like your act. First PD that ever said that to me. Gary calls me in one day. What's this? You've quit. You're going down to Key 590.

I said, well, Steve Harris is the head of the whole thing. I told him that my PD doesn't want me. What? Anyway, so I ended up leaving and going down to Key 590. But, yeah, I was there with Gary for a couple of years. And that's when Daynard got very, very sick, took the summer off. And I filled in on the morning show with Stafford for the whole summer. Mike Stafford, friend of the show.

Absolutely. He's been on a couple of times. Funny, funny man. Smart, too. He's very intelligent. Jeopardy. He was on Jeopardy, which is his. He loves to tell that story, but it's not easy to get on Jeopardy. He was on Jeopardy, which is his, he loves to tell that story, but it's not easy to get on Jeopardy. So I have a clip of you. So this is you. And I think this

is from 1988. In fact, I know this is May 19th, 1988. Let's hear how you sounded on CKFM. 653 in the morning with John Donabee. Here comes Mr. Eric Clapton, old slow hand they call him. This is Lay Down Sally. 99.9 CKFM. Good morning. Ah-ha! The name of the group here at 99.9 CKFM along with Eric Clapton. Coming up, some Bruce Hornsby in the range. The Beatles, John Lennon, too, back-to-back.

And I'll return with Foreigner. But right now, it's 7 o'clock. It's time for news. Good morning, Dave Agar. Good morning. Thanks, John. It's an overcast, cool morning in Toronto. The temperature in Midtown is 14. It should reach 16 today. It'll be cloudy with showers today and tonight.

A low overnight of 10. Coming up on sports with Glenn Gingrich, Edmonton wins game one. Here's what's going on this morning on East and West. Good morning, I'm Maureen Holloway with CKF Absalde Traffic. The OPP tell me we have fog stretching from Oakville into the Niagara Peninsula along the edge of the lake. It's great to hear Maureen Holloway speaking of. She actually took the Aaron Davis spot on CHFI. Yeah, eventually after some years of Q.

But do you notice that? Maureen is doing traffic. Aaron Davis was doing traffic when she got to town. And they both spiraled. But right now, I'm just going to say this right now, I want a copy of that. Oh, for sure. I don't have anything of me from CKFM, Mike. I would really appreciate a copy of that clip. For sure.

Here you are. Here's Stevie Wonder. Listen to that voice. It's great. I'd hire him. It's one of a kind. At 99.9, CKFM, John Donnelly for Ted Wallach. For Ted Wallach.

From one of my favorite videos and certainly one of the most powerful singers in rock Here comes Lou Graham in Foreigner Oh, this is a great anthem I want to know what love is Ted Wallace and show on a Thursday morning This is John Donnelly for Ted With the sound of Our Toronto 99.9 CKFM.

Gotta take a little time. What a powerful video. That is Foreigner here at 99.9 CKFM Toronto. I hope the video portion came through for you this morning, too. We're having a little trouble just to adjust the vertical. It is 7.20 in the morning, 15 or 60 degrees Fahrenheit. And showers are on the way. We're not

going to fib to you this morning. Last couple of days predicted these beautiful, sunshiny days, and we got rained on. But it's going to be rainy today, tonight, and tomorrow, as a matter of fact. Maureen Holloway's up next. She'll have a check on traffic. Stand behind you. 7.22 with John Donnelly.

Time for traffic brought to you by City Buick Pontiac Cadillac. Here's Mo. If you're northbound on Jane, expect a delay approaching Steeles. Two cars have collided in the intersection. It's just great to hear this. This is kind of when, as I understand it, there was an attempt to compete with Chum FM. I guess CKFM was trying to get more youthful. Let's listen to the last minute.

I actually can't get enough of these old clips. I just love hearing this stuff. Thank you, Maureen. All right, here's Bruce Hornsby in the range with new music, followed by classic Beatles. Take you to news time at 7.30 with Mike Stafford. This is the Valley Road, 99.9 CKFM. Beatles, eight days a week from 1965 here at 99.9 CKFM,

along with New Hornsby and The Range. We'll be back with the likes of Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine and John Lennon. But right now at 7.30, it's time for news. Good morning, Mike Stafford. Good morning, John. Somebody forgot to turn on the sun. Cloudy with showers today, tonight, and tomorrow.

A high today and Friday, 16. Tonight's low down to 10. Midtown, it's 15 degrees. Coming up, Glennon Marine with sports and traffic. The CKFM forecast. Cloudy with showers, 16. Showers tonight, 10. Cloudy with showers Friday, tomorrow.

A high of 16. It looks cloudy for the long weekend as well Midtown it's 15 I'm Mike Stafford CKFM news and sports next to date with Dave Agar 737 here's John Lennon with the number 9 dream at 99.9 CKFM what a clip

there's lots of you fantastic I mean we get some Maureen Holloway doing traffic we get Mike Staffureen Holloway doing traffic. We get Mike Stafford doing news. Dave Agar, who I recently retired, I believe, from 10 years. I just have to say this, and that is, I don't like hearing myself, generally. I like that guy.

And I'd like to take full credit, but I have a funny feeling it was the engineers just working with the... God, I sound so ballsy in there. It's just... Honestly, if you hadn't told me and my name wasn't there, I'd go, who is that guy? Yeah, so smooth.

Yeah, right. I always wondered, because I always thought I should be the last guy to host anything, because I grew up listening to voices like that on the radio and thinking that you've got to sound like that to broadcast. So who am I with this voice to compete with what I just heard right there? You're a personality.

What you'd really do well with, too, is commercials and stuff. I got an agent that didn't want me because he said I sounded like I was on radio. They're looking for the real guy in the street. Authentic voices. Authentic voices. Hook me up with that agent. You're authentic. I'm the real deal. Toronto Mike. I'm not using any of

the engineered tricks to make me sound like John Donabee. So that was 99.9 and then you mentioned CKEY. That was your next stop? Yeah, Key 590 they called it. Right, because that's right. So guys like me who love sports radio,

we remember, of course, CJCL was 1430. And then shortly after, I guess, so you're there in 89. You come to CKEY, which was 590. And then not too long after that, like, I don't know, a year or two later, 1430 moves to 590. Well, no, there's a little thing in the middle. Key 590 was not doing well.

We became Country 59. Right. And only two people were retained. I was one of them. That lasted for five months. And then they said, you know, John, it's not working out. So I was out of work. What am I going to do?

I got a family. Guess what? I end up, thank God, my old friend, Don Schaefer, he's running Q107. John, come on up here. And I did psychedelic Sunday, uh, for a few months. I filled in. You're the guy. Cause it's Andy.

And then there's somebody else. And then there's Andy. Brother Jake. I filled in for Brother Jake, and I did that for a while. And then I get this call from Kiss FM, which was new country. Right. And that's my Doug Pringle impression. Mugs and Kisses, right? That was the Mugs and Kisses time.

I stood out one day in the middle of Ajax, about 40 below zero with these damn mugs and these Hershey kisses. Oh, God, it was fun at first. And by the way, I've got to give full credit. Never did it before, never did it since. We were in the studio for over a month, Mike, doing mock shows down there on Ontario Street. And we'd come in every day, do a mock show. So by the time day one came to go on air, we sounded like we'd been there for Ontario Street. And we'd come in every day, do a mock show.

So by the time day one came to go on air, we sounded like we'd been there for a while. And in the first rating book, I think it was either number three or four, blew the city away how high our ratings were. So full credits to the Rawlinsons for that. And full credit to Garth Brooks. Because as I recall, my mom was a big Kiss FM fan and it was a lot of Garth going on.

Uh, that was the big, the big, the big peak of Garth mania, I'd say. But, uh, yeah, very cool.

I, I, I remember my mom getting a Kiss FM mugs, uh, one of the mugs. Uh, and I think, you know,

speak morning show host. Uh, he's currently at the, uh, Kiss 92.5, but Mocha, Frap is what he goes by at the KISS 92.5, but Mocha, FRAP is what he goes by with Roz and Mocha. I'm certain he came on the show and told the story that early in his career, he was responsible somehow

for dispersing the KISS FM mugs. He might have been one of the kids. We hired a lot of young kids to come out and do this with us. We'd have a couple of announcers and then all these volunteers would come in. And he might have been one of the volunteers. Did you have any leeway? When you played your country songs on Kiss FM,

were you able to slip in a rock song here and there? No. Not even the Eagles? No. Everything was on paper and Kathy and I, Kathy was my op up at Q for my return there, and I brought her with me. And no, it was all mapped out.

The philosophy of New Country was, it wasn't Merle Haggard who was the guy who made the format. It was the Everly Brothers and people like that. And you either loved New Country or you didn't, and you stuck with classic country. Thought you might have been able to slip an Eagles song or two in the mix. Well, if it was slipped in, it was slipped in by the people who was doing the format.

All right. Now talk to me about your... Why do you leave Kiss FM and how do you end up back on CFRB? That's next, right? Or have I missed anything? No. There's a lot of steps here.

This is a very, very interesting career. Yeah, I know. As Ted Walsh used to like to say, hey, John's worked at every radio station at a subway stop near you. And the truth is, I have the chance to say it now i just didn't quit and things like that i would get offers i got offers my entire career and uh

i knew what the uh equation was of how much money i would have to make it to make it to to make it in order to leave no uh kiss Kiss FM. I got let go at Kiss FM. Yeah, that was a trip. So anyway, I'm out of work, and I went to see Bob Lane. Bob said, you know, I think you're done for Toronto, John. I think you are. You know, you've been here a long time. I said, yeah, I guess so.

And then one day I got a call from this friend of mine, Peter Donato, and Peter says, hey, John, I just had a meeting with Gary Slate and John Marie Heimrath, and Gary would like to see you, so Gary, I told this when I was inducted into the Broadcast Hall of Fame in 2013, I told this story at the dinner, got a lot of laughs, I phoned Gary, we have a nice chat, and he says, I got nothing for you, John. I just want to know how you were, how you were doing. And why don't you look at the Easy Rock?

Because he hadn't bought that yet. And I said, nah, did that, done that, Gary. But thanks very, very much. Well, I got nothing for you. Yeah, I know, Gary. Okay, I understand that. Well, thank you very much. He did that like three or four times.

And then he goes, well, why don't you come down and see see me so i went down and i'd sit in the office with him well i don't have anything for you but i just wanted to see you and that went for a while so i said well gary i better get going i don't want to bother you anymore now follow me and he takes me down the office and he opens this door and it was like the prize closet where we kept all the prizes for the two stations in there enough room for two people in the room in a desk with steve couch pd of cfrb he just walked out couch yes find him something and he leaves wow and so i sit down with couch he says look glenn crowder's doing weekends. Why don't you fill in for Glenn? Oh, okay. So we talk for a while, and I leave the room.

And I go back to Gary's office, and I told this story when I was inducted, and it was just very funny because I go to gary jesus thank you thank you so much but there's only one problem gary what's that i've never done talk radio and he looked at me and said john what do you do between records i said i talk then talk effing longer and uh we both laughed and uh he was very gracious saved my life really because my daughter was heading to university in the fall i didn't know what i was going to do and i stayed for 15 years until gary sold the place and um then i managed to stay a year through astral and that that's when you might remember jane brown myself, God, there were about 40 of us, I guess,

over two years. Most of it was, you know, due to age and money and things like that, but I got a really nice package, and they were very, very nice to me when I left, and so I couldn't gripe about it, and Mike Van Dixon was a great guy to work for, I couldn't gripe about it. And Mike Van Dixon was a great guy to work for. And so that was that. And then three weeks later, I get a call from Jazz FM. And they asked me if I'd like to come down there.

And I stayed a year at Jazz FM. And then I just kind of hung up my spurs for about four years, five years until CIUT came a-knocking and wanted to know if I'd like to come down there and do a two hour show a week of free form radio like I did at Chum FM in the early days, which brings us to the present. Now back to CFRB just for a moment. So yeah, it's a talk station, but you were playing full songs, right? Like you could play. Yeah, mine was the only show that could do that. It was very unique. And to be honest, you know, I couldn't really buy into it at the time, but I can now. My show is different than anyone on the radio station.

I was playing music. I was doing these type of interviews and so on and so forth. In other words, it stood out from all the other shows. And I think Mikey wanted to do something that was more in line. So I understood why things had to happen the way it did. But here it is, 2018, and I still get people who come up to me and say,

oh, I just miss you from CFRB or News Talk 1010, which is really a nice compliment. But I had 15 great years there. I can't complain. They took care of me well in the end. And, you know, it was just a trip because I'd never stayed anywhere that long, Mike. Right. Well, I was going to say, I think we can make the claim that you were the last person with

a show on CFRB where you could play full songs. Yeah, probably. You're probably the last person you could make that claim. So you can add that to your list of accomplishments. And I was just wondering, so when you're there at CFRB doing weekend mornings and... Then I would fill in for Ted Wallach during the week. Right, AM Drive.

Okay, very good. And you were also entertainment editor? Is that on your list of, on your business card too? No, I did an entertainment show on the weekend, but I wasn't the entertainment editor. There were a few of us that shared those responsibilities. And by the way, because I think she's going to be on your show, when I was at CKFM for that two-year period,

that's where I met Danny Elwell. Well, when you were talking about Reiner Schwartz, I was going to bring her up because I know that when Reiner Schwartz was at CFNY, he left a big impression on Danny Elwell. I love Danny. I love her. Well, Danny and I have been doing a dance. Speaking... Okay, so yeah, this is...

She's in Italy right now. She's in Italy right now, I understand. Yeah, Europe. You know, she was in Italy, and then I think... She's somewhere in Europe. You're absolutely right. She's got a right now. She's in Italy right now, I understand. Yeah, Europe for sure. No, she was in Italy. She's somewhere in Europe. You're absolutely right. She's got a great story. And she was coming on and it got delayed because something went down. I don't have the specifics, but it sounds like a cluster F. I think that may be the technical term.

But something went down at Jazz FM. So there was a purge, I would say, of on-air talent at Jazz FM. And I'm sure you're familiar with most of this, but Dani was like the first one because she was on the air there. In fact, I think she was in charge of... She had a big title there. She had a great title. I didn't even know she had that title. And then she was off the air and it was very mysterious.

Very mysterious, her disappearance. And then since then, Garvia Bailey was the morning show and she mysteriously disappeared. And I tried to get her to come on, but everyone's really hush-hush. And other people, too. I mean, James B. or James B.? I always say that wrong. James B. with a B-E-E.

Right, that's it. Others, too. Lots of the on-air people at Jazz FM were mysteriously purged over the last six months. So something went down there. Do you have any insight to what's going on at Jazz FM? No. No. But Dani Elwell, that's why she postponed her visit here,

because if she's coming on, she's going to be honest, and she wasn't able to say something or wasn't ready to say anything. Well, the saddest part for me of the purge, if you will, that you're talking about, is I had a producer for six years at CFRB named Mark Wigmore. He became the entertainment editor, and he had just gotten the morning show about three weeks before he got let go.

And now I understand there's no morning host. They just run music now. But no, I have no idea what's going on down there, and it's just a part of my past, and I really don't know. But Dani is great. I mean, I hear her voice over on lots of stuff actually, so she's very active. She's a sweetie. Dani is coming in and she I have this clip I'm going to play when she's on because

she did something not many people do, which is quit their job on the air. At Safe and Why? Yeah. So I've got that clip locked and loaded and I can't wait for her to come on. But can you think of anyone else who sort of resigned on air? Not resigned on air, but I do know people that did a topic kind of knowing that when the show was over, there wouldn't be a job there. So I knew a couple of people like that over the years.

But they would always just get back on their horse and they would continue to work. But most of us, no, just either resigned or got fired. It took me, well, you figure I started in 65 and I didn't get let go until 89. Which is amazing. I actually thought, I truly thought I was invincible. I really did. And when it happened the first time, I could have gone into therapy. I didn't even know who I was invincible. I really did. And when it happened the first time,

I could have gone into therapy. I didn't even know who I was. I've read a lot of topics about this. I was John Donabee on the radio. And suddenly, I have no microphone. And psychologically, it was really rough. It took me a while. But then I got canned two more times in life.

And each time, it gets a lot easier. And as the real old experts used to say to me, you got fired, John. Well, hey, you're not in radio unless you get fired. Come on. Come on. So true. And it's true. It's true.

And everyone not named Roger Ashby has been fired at least once, right? I think he might have escaped. I think Roger's escaped it. Yeah. Yeah. fired at least once, right? I think he might have escaped. I think Rogers escaped it, yeah. Yeah, I think he's been blessed being with Chum for so long. Very blessed. So tell me about your return to the airwaves on CIUT.

That's funny. Mixed bag, right? Yeah. Talk to me about that. I'm hosting a tribute to John Finlay of John Lee and the the checkmates a band from the 60s and it's being held at that bar at mount pleasant and eglinton and uh i find out later there's a co-host his name is ken stauer and ken is the program director general manager of ciut

so anyway you know we get i'm standing over in the corner i just say to him by the way i really like your radio station it's so diverse blah blah blah he said well i really like you i said well thank you that's very kind of you i have never met anyone anyone that knows my entire career he knew i worked at cklB I said what he's a radio nut and he followed my entire career but the Chum FM first time first period uh was his favorite part of my life a free form interview who I want this that and everything he said I'd like you would you be interested in doing that two hours a week Saturday afternoons two two to four. And I went, no. And why?

Well, I know what's going to happen. You'll have a computer in there, and you'll tell me what to play. No, no, you don't understand. I want you to play what you want, interview who you want, and I promise you I'll never interfere. And for two and a half years, he never interfered. But my wife is retiring in November. I worked 15 years of weekends at RB, two and a half years of weekends at CIUT. And we thought we'd take the summer together.

And here we are in the summer and we're getting ready to go away. And, you know, it's really, really nice. Now, if someone came a knocking and said, would you be interested in this? And I looked at it and I went, ooh. But to go back and sit behind a computer and have it all programmed for me, been there, done that.

Got the T-shirt. Now, okay, so being able to play what you want i think you're the last guy you can make that claim too like very very important to me yeah i probably the last bastion is ciut and i wasn't the only show that could play what they wanted and that's where ken was able to get people like us i don't know if anyone out there knows that this but i never got paid for the last two and a half years nobody does it's it's act you know it's you're called a volunteer and if i can stress this to anyone who wants to fall in love with radio you know you're in love with radio when you do it for free and i did it

for two and a half years and i could have continued to to do it if my wife and I were both a little younger, I guess. But we have a lot of other things we want to get accomplished. But oh, by the way, a little exclusive here. Ken and I have a little deal. I will be coming back from time to time and doing specials. And that'll be nice. Cool. Yeah.

Speaking of David Marsden, he's come up a few times here. But when he had the show on The Rock in Oshawa. David came more than once, and I'm just getting here. He's come up a few times in discussion. But he's only been here once, actually. But when David Marsden was at The Rock in Oshawa. Oh, yeah. I know he swears, and I believe him.

He was allowed to play whatever he wanted. Yes, he could. Until the program director, much like how your show on CFRB didn't fit the rest of the station. And I find this a lot. Like Scott Turner's been over. He had a show on 102.1 The Edge

called Spirit of Radio Sundays, which didn't fit the rest of the station. It was very popular. It was excellent. But when there's that outlier, a lot of times you eliminate the outlier to be consistent like across the station or whatever. And so that happened to Marsden on the rock.

It did. I have friends that work there at Durham Radio. Great company, great owner. But the programming people felt that here's this radio station. It goes like this. All of a sudden. Right. Hard rock, hard rock kind of thing and then yeah and it actually doesn't matter if you do really well right because you can't be an island right i'm just going to take you back for one second when i was at chum fm john gilbert did a talk show on chum AM, 10 to noon, I think. He had tremendous numbers,

tremendous numbers, and they let him go. And I went to J. Robert Wood and I said, Bob, Bob, help me understand. He said, okay. When people listen to 1050 Chum, John, they push a button, they expect to hear music. We tried this experiment for a couple of three years, whatever it was. John had great numbers. But the moment he left the show, at the end of the show, the numbers would change. And he said, I just decided I wanted absolute consistency 24-7. And, you know, that was part of my problem at RB, too. And David's problem, too.

No matter how popular his show was, it didn't really gel with the rest of the radio station. So eventually the bosses decide, okay, we're going to make it consistent. And so, because David loved it out there. They let him do anything. He'd drive out there. He'd have suitcases of vinyl. I went out and watched him do the show.

I was on his show one night. And that was great man he's he's so creative he and david pritchard probably the two most creative people pritchard number one he was he was frightening to watch to sit things you could see his eyes and the stuff he would do and things would just come out of his mouth out of nowhere. And you'd go, where did that come from? And he's no longer with us, sadly. Sorry.

Yeah, I know. They made a documentary in which David Marsden is featured. I don't know if you've watched that. Yes, yeah. Roger King was the guy behind it, along with American Jocks. Very well done. Yeah, they can play what you want or something. I think some title like that.

Now, you know what David did when he lost his gig at The Rock? He started a digital station, if you will, The Spirit and Why, I think it's called. Yeah, he's still doing that. Right. Have you considered doing something like that? You're a musicologist

who has such a wealth of information about music and loves music. You need to be somewhere. Well, when I saw him at the party, I said, so David, are you ready for me yet? John, call me. I suppose, I'm not going to put words in his mouth, but I get the feeling that if I wanted to do a show there,

I might be able to, but I don't know if I'd be as far out or as bizarre maybe as the rest of the station. I might be a little straighter. I don't know. Yeah, because that's one of the few stations you never worked at, CFNY. Never worked at CFNY. Never worked for Rogers in this town. So I didn't work everywhere.

It's not too late. I'll see if Julie Adam has room for you on the roster. Julie was my op, by the way. Was she? When I went back to Q107 in 1994 or whatever, she was my op for a short period of time. And she was also the assistant music director when I was at Kiss FM New Country.

And then Rogers bought the station. Almost everyone was gone, but they kept her. And boy, was that a smart move. The rest is history. Smart move. She was and is close friends with Liza Fromer, who was doing some stuff with Q there back then. But yeah, it's funny how I've crossed paths with Julie a few times,

but she's come up on this show with the Aaron Davis story. I guess she made that decision, I guess, to let Aaron go and then made the decision to bring her back. I think she's heavily involved in that story, but let me ask you about, so yes, I see you.

And if it's not a podcast, it's something like what Marsden has going on, but cause you need to, after your trip, and I hope you enjoy it with your wife and enjoy the summer, but you're going to get the itch. You're going to need to share this somewhere. So a podcast, for example.

I know too bad you live in Scarborough. I advise you and your wife, you move to southwest Toronto, and there's a spot here for you. I didn't even know this place existed. No one does. It's our little secret. No, but I mean, the trees are all, you know, oh, it's beautiful. The lake is really close, too.

It's beautiful down there. uh is there a format now so in your illustrious career is there a format you haven't worked because you've mentioned country and there's rock and there's i've done rock i've done country uh for a little tiny bit when i started in radio i did a little bit of classical uh i've done jazz you've done jazz yeah uh what i'll talk I've done jazz. You've done jazz, yeah. What else? Talk. I've done many formats, and that's one of the things. I was called once by someone,

very important, a consummate pro, which means I can jump from radio station to radio station and fit in very, very well. That's been said by other people. That's not me saying it, but it's a nice compliment. May I name a list of some people

that you've conversed with during your career? Just going to run down a list and then I have a question at the end of this. So Gregory Peck. In fact, you were, Gregory Peck,

there's a story about you speaking of Roy Thompson Hall. I hosted Gregory Peck at Roy Thompson Hall and we chatted for a while, and I was just in awe. Wow. Robert Duvall? Yeah.

George Carlin? Yes, who said to me when he walked into the Chum FM control room, Hi, nice to meet you. Let's get something straight. I don't do funny in interviews, so don't ask me to be funny. Never forgot that line. Very interesting. And he's a legend, George Carlin.

Yes. Wait, who else? Let's name some people. So Bob Dylan? Bob Dylan is someone that I met on two occasions, here at Maple Leaf Gardens on Tour 74 with the band, and then later at The Last Waltz. But I didn't interview him okay we

just talked you just talked okay uh duke ellington yes the great duke ellington yeah wow ella fitzgerald oh yeah there's a story tell me ella fitzgerald is sitting in her hotel room at the windsor arms she's watching the young and the restless i'm brought brought into the room. Gino Empry, the late Gino Empry. Right. What a very flamboyant publicist. He walks in the room and he's talking and she's like, you know, he walks right over to the television set and turns it off. Well, that didn't set it up for me very well at all.

So this is your first interview as John Donahue. I had done massive, massive homework on Ella Fitzgerald. So I start talking about her career. And she finally says, look, look, I appreciate all the homework you've done. You're dead on. I don't want to talk about this stuff. Miss Fitzgerald, what would you like to talk about this stuff miss fitzgerald

what would you like to talk about let's talk about some of my recipes let's talk about my grandkids is that okay what's the favorite thing you like to make and i let her down that path for about 10 minutes and then i managed to make a turn and bring her back to music. That's how you do it. Tony Bennett. Tony was one of the greatest interviews. And then I threw him a curb when I said, by the way, Tony, is it true that you do egg tempera paintings? How would you know about that? I said, my father was an artist.

He did watercolors. He did oils. And then the big, big, tough tough one so we got into a whole conversation about egg tempera and that let me lead him down another path bb king wow uh sitting backstage at at at uh the sony center and i've got my son with me who's like nine or ten and uh he's trying to remember a song mike he's trying to remember a song, Mike. He's trying to remember some song or no, some artist. He said, I can't remember who did that. And I said, oh, B.B., that would be Sister Rosetta Tharp. My son is sitting in front of him. He looks down at my son. He says, do you know now

why I like your father so much? Yeah. Thank you, John. Anyway, that was just a thought that came to mind. No, that's great. Just a couple more here before we're going to kick out a jam, but Joe Cocker? Joe Cocker, I did an interview. Larry Green did, and it was the funniest thing you ever saw. I could do it here, and then I'll have to explain what I'm doing. They say, so Joe, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And Joe went, what I'm just they say so joe uh blah blah blah blah blah blah and joe went what i'm just doing there is nodding my head doesn't work on radio no it doesn't and he kept nodding his head if i said joe uh we're on radio oh yeah man okay and uh no that was larry green wow and uh hopefully i got this one right too but uh ZZ Top. Yeah, Billy Gibbons. I interviewed Billy at Chum FM. That's how I found out that he actually owned Hendrix's guitar, one of Hendrix's guitar. He was really, really nice.

Really a great guy. Seals and Crofts and I became very close back in the early 70s. I almost left radio to go and be their road manager in California. Wow. But then I chickened out. Well, we're glad you did, actually. Now, just before we kick out a jam, those are some big names, and I'm sure there's many, many others, but is there somebody that you didn't get a chance to interview,

but you wish you had? Oh, I should have studied for that. It's the only trick question here. Yeah, yeah. Oh, gosh. Let me think. And I don't trick question here. Yeah, yeah. Oh, gosh. Let me think. And I don't mean to put you on the spot. No, it's okay.

Maybe there was somebody who alluded you. Yeah. You know, I'm sure there is someone. Unfortunately, I just can't think of who it might be at this very second. I'll call it in for you, and you can insert it. I'll add it. I'll add it in post, as we say. Here, let's kick out a jam together, shall we, John?

Let's do it. Dressed so fine, threw the bumps of time in your prime. Then you. People call, say beware doll, you're bound to fall. You thought they were all kidding you. You used to laugh about everybody that was hanging out now you don't talk so loud now you don't seem so proud about having to be scrounging your next meal How does it feel How does it feel To be without home Like a complete unknown

Like a rolling stone Bob Dylan, Like a Rolling Stone. I love that song. I really love that song an awful lot. Maybe because of the beginnings of when I first saw him perform it. It came out in the summer of 65. That's when Marsden came down to Oshawa to sit in on Rockin' Roscoe's show. And he wanted to hear it.

So I opt while he played it. But anyway, November 1965. Last Waltz was great. But I'm in Oshawa working part-time, and I write a letter to Massey Hall, and I tell him, yeah, I work for CKLB in Oshawa, and I would really like to get two tickets for Bob Dylan and the Hawks at Massey Hall. Well, no, three tickets. They sent me three tickets front row center wow and i'm sitting there and i

watched dylan do his acoustic set and then the hawks come out and they're doing their tunes and suddenly at one point he just looks bob looks back at levon this is one of levon's last shows before he quit the hawks and he just hits that rim shot. And I just sat there and Garth on the organ, Richard Manuel on piano on this recording, of course, it's Al Cooper on organ, Paul Griffin on piano.

And, uh, it was like almost six minutes long when the 45 first came out, they had to put half the first half on the first one side, the other half on the other side. It was too long. It was too long. Yeah. They know that. It was too long. Yeah, they didn't have enough grooves.

But I hear that period of Dylan bringing it all back home, Highway 61 revisited, and Blonde on Blonde. And it's just that whole organ. I just love that period of Bob's. A lot. I love that song. It's funny. Earlier we played

The Wait, which I consider The Wait to be one of the greatest songs in the English language history of the last two years. That song is right up

there on the Mount Rushmore. Take a load off Fanny. Yes, and this one too. Oh yeah, absolutely. It's up there

at the pinnacle of rock music. There are a lot of, you sent me a little note asking me one of my favorites and this was one, It's up there at the pinnacle of rock music. You sent me a little note asking me one of my favorites, and this was one, but I have about half a dozen others too. You know, I can take it so far away from this, and if you said, John, if you're on a desert island, and you could have one song to play over and over and over and over and over again,

it would be Herman's Hermits doing I'm Into Something Good. I think it's two minutes and whatever seconds of the best hooks of a pop song I've ever heard. You want to know where I discovered that song? Where? The Naked Gun. Oh, okay. There's a great sequence with Leslie Nielsen and Priscilla Presley set to that song.

And it's like, what is this? Yeah, that's when I was back in, like, I was 89. Well, I got to interview Peter Noon back in the day. And you talk about a nice guy. Just incredible. Huey Lewis, probably the nicest guy I've ever talked to. They sent me to California to interview him there. And there's a reason I liked him so much that day

it was a an incredible day going up into marin county with him you know so yesterday for the first time ever so this studio we're in right now the toronto mike studio uh it's it's always been here and at least in this house and then people come to me but yesterday i had a corporate gig okay i was producing a podcast for a company and they asked me if i could bring the studio to them because they couldn't afford to have these expensive bodies out in southwest so i said you know i'm starting up my own business tmds i said of course uh i packed it all up i took it downtown like bay in front uh and i loaded it all up and then i so i set it all up there in this board looking over i can see the dome i can see the lake ontario like seeing tower

of course and i set it all up and then i needed to put on the headphones i'm wearing right now and i needed to test everything make sure everything was good i had this song loaded up because you were coming today and i had it all set or whatever and i was sitting there i'm looking out the window and i'm gonna test the setup i'm like oh i'm launching the new uh business TMBS and it's like I have all these thoughts you know I'm getting all sentimental and this and that and this song is playing in my headphones and I had this like a out-of-body experience like this song like just was like the perfect song to play at that moment everything sounded great I felt some pride uh it got me all up for it.

So just thought I'd share that, that this song suddenly means something different to me than it ever meant before. And I can't believe that was 1965, and here we are in 2018, and I still get the same emotional bump from hearing that tune. What a great jam.

And John Donabee, this discussion, which I feel like this should be part one in a series because I feel like we're only scratching the surface here, but absolute pleasure. I loved every second of that, and I'm so glad you made that trek from Scarborough to chat with me today. I had my passport.

I had to get it stamped twice. But in all seriousness, I've known about you for a long time. I wondered, what's wrong with me? I can't get on that show. But anyway, here I am, and it's really an honor to be with you. Thank you for your passion for radio. That's what I have to say. You do a great show, and you're well-researched.

I love your system here, but it's, as I was explaining to the committee for the party, this guy's got to be there because he's younger than we are, but he's got a passion for that little Westinghouse box that I fell in love with when I was a kid. You know what Alan Cross said to me when I said hi to him at the Roy Thompson Hall party? He said, how did you get in here?

him at the Roy Thompson Hall Party. He said, how did you get in here? And that brings us to the end of our 358th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. And John, are you on Twitter? No, I'm not.

Is there a website or anywhere you'd want to direct people? I can't right now, but I actually took myself off Facebook, too, about two months ago. It's a long story. I was trying to get rid of an old site. You can never get rid of an old site if you don't have the password.

So I lost everything. But I'm coming back, but I've got to put an initial in there. Well, once you come back, I'll share with the world via Twitter where they can find you. Yeah, well, I'm going to open up my Twitter account again. Okay, good. And then tweet at me, and I'll share it. And I can going to open up my Twitter account again. Okay, good. And then tweet at me and I'll share it. And I can talk to Jake Tapper again at CNN. He got right back

to me. I can't believe it. That's what I love about Twitter. I'm now chatting with people back in the day. You had to write a letter and they maybe would write you back or get a form letter or whatever. This is such an interesting time for having direct connection with the talent that we all Well, thanks again, Mike, for having me for having me absolute pleasure and i should point out our friends at great lakes

brewery or at great lakes beer if you're listening to this right now you've got a little time it's at 6 p.m tonight july 19th i've already gone through four cans property in the six.com is at rafters devotee he's excited about the trade. Big Raptors trade. That's the biggest trade in Raptors history, so hopefully that works out. And PayTM is at PayTM Canada. See you all next week. Yeah, I wonder who Yeah, I wonder who Maybe the one

who doesn't realize there's a thousand shades of grey Cause I know that's true Yes, I do I know it's true Yeah, I know it's true How about you?

They're picking up trash And they're putting down ropes They're brokering stocks The class struggle explodes And I'll play this guitar