Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Josh Holliday: Toronto Mike'd #214

Episode Date: January 27, 2017

Mike chats with Josh Holliday about his three tours of duty at 102.1 the Edge and his new podcast.

Welcome to episode 214 of Toronto Mike, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a local independent brewery producing fresh craft beer. And Chef's Plate, delivering delicious and locally sourced farm fresh ingredients and refrigerated kits directly to your door. farm fresh ingredients and refrigerated kits directly to your door. I'm Mike from TorontoMike.com and joining me this week is sometime radio host and current podcast host, Josh Holliday. Welcome Josh. Well, thank you, Mike. It's good to be here.

It's nice to have you here because, and we'll get into this later in the episode, but you're also a podcaster. I am. I do a podcast called Josh and a Lady with Eileen Ross, available on all your favorite podcast platforms. And if that name sounds familiar to some of you, a good chunk of my audience also is familiar with the Humble and Fred podcast. Yes. And we're in some sort of like in the same gang. You remember how rappers you had like the East Coast family or whatever? So we're all in the same gang. West End for Humble and Fred and you.

Right. Yeah. Very close, actually. And Eileen, who now is an Oshawa girl. She went way east. She was Park Lawn and the waterfront there, Humber Bay area. Because I used,

that's the waterfront trail and I'm on it every day and once in a while I'd see her walking with her kids out there. But no more. She's way in the Oshawa area. And what area are you from?

I am a downtowner. I'm at Spadina and DuPont. Annex E ish area. I worked five years at Dufferin and DuPont at the Galleria Mall. Oh, you worked at the Galleria? When it was a food city. So I was a grocery clerk at the food city and then while

I was there, we converted it to a price chopper. Wow, that's one of the all-time kind of malls of Toronto. It's one of those malls. You can call it a ghetto mall. Is that what you were going for there? Wait, Galleria is now there's like a fitness place there, isn't there? Okay, yeah, because they had a

Zeller's that went away, obviously, and I think that's where the fitness center is. And I don't get there as often as I used to, but I think the Price Chopper is a Fresh Co. now. Okay. And when I started there, there was a Boots. Do you remember Boots? Boots, yeah, the drugstore?

Yeah. That's funny. That's funny. And then the Boots became like a Pharma Plus. Is that called Pharma Plus? Yeah. Anyway, Rexall then bought that. So it's like, yeah, now there's a,

I think that's the main stuff there. That's funny. What's the other mall that sort of becomes, there's a Walmart further south. What's, God, now I'm forgetting the name.

Oh, no, I can do this. Okay, Dufferin Mall. Dufferin Mall is the other. It's like those two malls are sort of the signature ghetto malls. I have a lot to say about this, okay?

Okay. At some point, Dufferin Mall like pulled up their pants and decided they were going to be like a serious mall. Okay. The Dufferin Mall pulled up their pants and decided they were going to be a serious mall. The Dufferin Mall has really improved its rep. It's no longer the mall I remember it back in the early 90s and stuff.

They've cleaned up. Yeah. Now, which is the... One of the malls decided they were going to do some big art thing recently. Got to be Galleria Mall. Galleria? They're always talking about, I'm always interested in Galleria Mall talk

because I spent five years there. But they were going to redevelop it and I guess they were going to put up, I don't know, eventually I'm sure it'll be condos. But yeah, there's been some art stuff going on there. I remember this mall, which is like, I remember there's like a off, what's it called when you bet on horses

but there's no racing there OTR off track betting or whatever OTB yeah there was a

a bar in there called something to do with gambling or horses or something and like just guys

all day long these guys would just hang out there betting on horses yeah the salty characters champions champions

something like that I think there was I think that might be a franchise because I think there was a Champions at the Brunswick house and all the fun of horse betting without actually having to be around the horses. Which is the saddest thing ever, right?

You're in a smoky little room betting on horses. Oh, boy. That was great. And they had this, and I've alluded to this in a previous episode. At 214 episodes, there's no new stories, okay?

But I used to get like a peanut butter on a bagel. Like during my break, I'd go to, in the middle, there's a kiosk where they sold like coffee and food and stuff. And I would get like peanut butter on a bagel like during a break at the Galleria Mall. That was your thing? That was my thing. I will tell you, peanut butter related story.

It's good. As a kid that was my go-to peanut butter and honey was my go-to sandwich I'll still do that no I do now as a treat if I'm playing hockey or something I'll go to Cobb's get some fresh bread and make some peanut butter and honey sandwiches

but it used to be a routine I would go to school it was walking distance to school go there, come home for lunch watch the Flintstones and eat some peanut butter and honey sandwiches, and then go back to school. Dude, I feel comfortable with you. I can tell you this story.

I buy these like, they're pita, Lebanese pita. Okay. And don't get me started because it used to be six in a pack for 99 cents, and now it's four in a pack. They just took two. They shrunk it right down yeah not even gradually it's like a whole third disappears yeah like first of all we're not gonna notice like now it's four instead of six but it's the same price like come on so i get these pitas because i i make

i use them as like a base for pizzas like sometimes okay but once in a while like i don't know like last night i got i was skating at high park and i home. I'll take the pita and I'll put a big glob of peanut butter in the middle. I'll squirt a little honey on it and then I'll roll it up like, yeah, like a fajita or whatever. That sounds delicious. Yeah. And I get a glass of milk. Yeah.

A glass of 1% milk. Honestly, it's the best. I wish that shit was good for you because I could live on it. The same. The same. I have to limit it now because I know that it just is, you know, the combination of carbs and sugar. Although peanut butter is good for you because I could live on it. The same. I have to limit it now because I know that it's a combination of carbs and sugar. Although peanut butter is good for you.

If honey was as good as peanut butter, everything would be great. My big adult thing is now I buy peanut butter where the only ingredient on the side of the peanut butter is peanuts. It's not like the craft where you have a few other things. As an adult, you have a few other things. Well, as an adult,

you can make those healthy choices. Well, honey now, I get unpasteurized honey and I try and get it from the market. I do like for sandwiches the creamed honey a little bit more. I get the squirt. I just squirt it. Okay.

So the liquid honey, I guess. Okay. I get kind of the spreadable kind of stuff. That's how I was as a kid. That's what we had. But then as an adult, I can't be bothered. Like, you got a whole nice thing. You're that lazy.

I can't do that. I can't cut bread. I just put stuff on and roll it up in dough and I eat it. That's funny. Hold on. We're having too much fun, so I have to play something and bring us down a bit. Okay. I have a little chat here.

Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go.

Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Now I'm looking at you're about my age, I think. I watched it. I have very vague memories, but I do have memories of... I used to, as a kid, would get crushes on people like Mary Tyler Moore. Or the girl from Bewitched. Yeah. Here's my embarrassing one, though. And there's a reboot now, too, One Day at a Time.

Now, it wasn't Valerie Bertinelli, which would be the obvious choice. Oh, the cracker. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The sister? No, the mother. Bonnie Franklin, like the short red hair. I don't know what it was there. That shows the best because you had, what's the dude's name?

Stan? What was the guy's name? Stuart? The construction guy? Yeah. The guy with the belt. Yeah, the mustache guy with the belt. Come on, we have to do this.

Go. He reminds, he actually reminds me of the character, Schneider. Schneider. Yeah, that's it. He reminds me of the character from Star 80. The... Brick Jar Movies produces replay boy. You know what?

Back in the 80s when City TV would have their late great movies, I knew all the ones that would have a little nudity in it. Like I had a list. Like I just knew like, oh, like not just the obvious ones, like Porky's or Fast Times at Ridgemont High or whatever, but any movie that showed a bit of boob, I knew, oh, there's going to be a little boob on City TV tonight. And this is pre, now internet-wise, there's Mr. Skin. It gives you every single second of every single movie.

Which ruins it. Yeah. I used to, you probably were of a generation too where they scrambled super channel and the thing. And then every once in a while it would come clear. So you would watch all the scrambled signals until for a second or two, whoop, there it is. Totally my generation.

And sometimes you'd think it's that and it probably was like an elbow. That's right. I'll take it. I'll take it. Oh, totally. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you always had a buddy who could hook you up with a de-scrambler. You have these guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you always had a buddy who could hook you up with a de-scrambler. You have these guys.

Yeah. We had for a while, although this is later on, we had the DirecTV and we got some, you know, card or whatever from some shady guy. Only lasted for six months and then you're shit out of luck. That's funny. That's funny. Okay. So I played the Mary Tyler Moore theme song because Mary Tyler Moore passed away.

She died. And very sad. And I always, like I remember vague memories of watching it in syndication. And I was watching, I remember because

I knew that guy, Ted Baxter, as the guy from Too Close for Comfort. Yeah. Okay. Because I watched Too Close for Comfort.

Oh, that's the guy. And then the other guy is from the Love Boat. You know him from other places. Which guy is that? McLeod. Gavin McLeod. Oh, I hardly even remember him And then the other guy's from the Love Boat. You know him from other places. Which guy is that? McLeod. Gavin McLeod. Oh, I hardly even remember him from that.

Yeah. Big time. Oh, that's it. Yeah, okay. Now I remember. But here's the thing. So Mary Tyler Moore passes away at the age of 80. And I'm thinking, oh, that's terrible.

But then I'm going to just run down a list of co-stars and how we're going to be revisiting the Mary Tyler Moore show quite often in the near future. So Ed Asner, heck, even my kids know him as the old guy in Up. But Ed Asner is 87 years old. 87 years old. Yeah, go ahead. I was going to say, he seems to be getting a lot of work in Canadian TV and film.

I think he's in that reboot of Michael Tuesdays and Thursdays that Michael Every Day on CBC. I think he had a small part in that. I see him pop up in some Canadian indies. I think he's one of those guys where, let's get this guy. He has a name recognition and people will watch our movie or whatever.

Just don't tell Frank D'Angelo about that. Oh, Jesus. Don't even start with Frank D'Angelo. Do you have any Frank... Well, I will tell you that. Oh, Jesus. Don't even start with Frank D'Angelo. Do you have any Frank? Oh, Jesus. Well, I will tell you that I dislike him immensely. He's a triple threat. He's not good at any of three things. He did, I will say this, my dad used to be in business.

He owned his own tea and coffee company. He was a tea and coffee broker. So basically what would happen is companies would buy stuff through him whether it was tea coffee and then later on nutraceuticals frank d'angelo's company bought a bunch of stuff through my dad and it was about 100 grand didn't didn't pay and then my dad could have sued but frank d'angelo didn't pay directly He got one of his friends to pay. So my dad was like, well, I don't want to bankrupt some guy who really has nothing to do with it.

He's just a disgusting human being. Is it safe to say he is as bad as the president of the United States of America? Is that safe to say? On a smaller scale. I mean, he's certainly got the ego and the narcissism. Well, he doesn't pay his guys either. He bankrupts small businesses.

Remember Steelback? Yeah, of course. They were doing the Hockey Night in Canada. Yeah, but it was basically an ego project for him. He bankrupted that company by paying for NHLers and people to pretend they were his friends. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Did you just suggest Frank D'Angelo

had an ego project? What? Isn't that his life? That's everything since the apple juice. We stocked that D'Angelo apple juice at the Galleria Mall. Did he ever come by to check on the stock? No, maybe. Actually, maybe. It's fine. I was the only non-Italian

grocery clerk at the beginning of my reign there and it was a very Portuguese neighborhood but all the very Portuguese but all the grocery clerks and even the meat guys

they were all Italians and then I was they called me the manja cake manja cake that's a classic and I proved it by getting a peanut butter bagel

that's right that's like the least Italian thing alright wait so Ed Asner is 87 yes no more D'Angelo by the way one more quick Dner is 87 no more D'Angelo do you remember

he has that infomercial that he calls a talk show yeah there was one where he made a big fuss about oh we're going to Hollywood we're going to cover the Oscars red carpet we're going down there and then the episode he's basically way way like you know

hundreds of meters back behind the same fence like with a whole bunch of fans around him trying to shout to these like tiny little stick figures in the distance question it's just like the so frank oh i thought he was gonna like cover it by like you watch him watching it on television no he actually went to hollywood but he was basically behind chain link fence with with the rest of the noobs. That's funny. Frank D'Angelo. Okay, Ed Asner. Ed Asner is 87. Gavin McLeod is 85.

And he's still alive. Yeah, these are all, I should point out, all these guys are living right now. So Ed is living at 87. Gavin's 85. Cloris Leachman, who I knew from Facts of Life.

Yes. She came in for Edna Garrett. Yes. I love that show too, by the way. Cloris Leachman is 90 years old. Ooh. Betty White. How old is Betty White? 95.

Oh. So that's four co-stars. Mary Tyler Moore. Of course, the aforementioned Ted Baxter is long gone. He died a long time ago. But all these guys. And there's one more here I'm going to add. So Valerie Harper,

who's only in her 70s, I believe, but she was given three months to live back in 2013. So would anyone be shocked if Valerie Harper died tomorrow? No. No, not based on that. I will wager, and I'm sure I'll jinx it by saying this, but Betty White will outlive everybody on that list.

Even though she's the oldest, she'll last the longest. She's unstoppable. You could be right, because I'm going to... Here's my bold... For 2017, I'm going to say we say goodbye to a couple more of these Mary Tyler Moore.

Isn't that the saddest? It's the saddest. Safe prediction. Safe prediction. I hope not, though. I hope they all live forever. They all seem like nice people. Yes.

But just warning people that the Mary Tyler Moore deaths are a coming. They're coming. If anybody... On just warning people that the Mary Tyler Moore deaths are coming. On that happy note, if anybody wants to help crowdfund Toronto Mike, please go to patreon.com slash torontomike or visit

torontomike.com and click one of the big orange buttons. Orange, the color of Price Chopper. We all had orange sweaters and golf shirts. Wow. Do you still have one? No, maybe. You could probably find a hipster who would pay probably hundreds of dollars for one

of those Price Chopper shirts. Well, before, when it was Food City, we had smocks, okay? White smock. We looked like laboratory scientists. Those were the good old days, the smocks. And they're good for painting in, so I can get a smock. Good for you. Patreon.com slash Toronto Mike.

Josh, there's some beer in front of you. I see this. I was looking as we were getting started. It's not just a single type of beer. It's Great Lakes Brewery. There's Canuck Pale Ale, Blonde Lager, Pompous Ass, great title. Turn It Around. Keep going. I think I only

doubled one up because I put that kit together. Yeah. Red Leaf Lager, very Canadian. And Hairy Porter with a wizard on it. See, that's one of those IPA guys that show up and then disappear. It's a temporary, kind of a limited run thing. And they do great artwork and funny names. Yes.

Well, that's a great thing about smaller breweries. They don't have to have a national kind of single brand. They can kind of play around and it's artsy. It's kind of fun. So, yeah, you probably think, Mike, that's just an attractive table piece. That's just decoration here.

Because you're drinking the water out of the Great Lakes Brewery Cup. Yes, I am. But you're going to take that home with you. That's right. I'm Monty Hall here today. I appreciate that. I will say I am a very, very, very occasional beer drinker. I'm kind of like a red wine once or twice a month with dinner type guy.

Wow. Not an elite. Sometimes my tummy gets a little upset. Let me ask you. How many, on average, in a typical month, how many units of beer would you consume? Probably one every two months or so. So this is a year's supply.

We could have coined that a whole different way. You've got a year's supply of Great Lakes. When Eileen comes over, she'll down that six-pack during your episode. She will leave with an empty case. It won't even make it up the stairs. But I will say this. I play hockey like three, sometimes four times a week. And I play with people who do enjoy lots of beer.

So I will bring this this weekend. This beer will be used for very healthy purposes. Make sure you hide the beer when you drink it in the dressing room because all the leagues have big rules now. It's funny. We play in a couple of different rinks. There are certain rinks that are super, super strict where it's like zero tolerance

if they even see a beer can. Some are, you know, wink, wink, just take the cans with you. And then there's some where, you know, we're cool, you're cool, everyone just be responsible. Let me guess. The ones that are super strict, they typically have a bar on part of the facility.

Am I correct? We don't play in any rinks that do have a bar, but I see that. The can-limbs are like that. Yeah, I can see that where you're cutting into their business. Yeah, you got the four pads, and then you got the, what do they call it, the thirsty penguin or whatever.

Yeah, whatever it is that it's kind of above the rank where everybody kind of hangs out and eats deep fried stuff. I remember if we had a penalty, and I haven't played in a couple of years, but if you had a penalty, if the team got no penalties

in the game, you got free nachos or something. I noticed driving here, and I know from listening to the podcast that you're a huge release fan,

as am I. I get kind of giddy watching the team this year. And not just watching the actual games themselves, but the road to the cup, the Leaf, the little documentaries. I just love the... It feels like the chemistry is so, so great

there. Matt Marne is... What you're feeling is called hope. We haven't had it in a long time. I knew it was something new. I didn't know what it was. In fact, I was reading something by a recent guest, James Myrtle, about just basically Austin Matthews is better than you even think he is. So we're all trying to...

I'm trying to keep myself in check on the Matthews thing. I'm not going to give him the great one moniker. I'm not ripping it off Wayne's chest. I'm not doing it wrong. I'm keeping going to give him the great one moniker. I'm not ripping it off Wayne's chest. Yeah, that's right. I'll keep my check. But the numbers and the analytics and everything is he's far better than he appears to be. And he appears to be on a pace for like 41 goals or something prior to last night's game. So yeah, the Marner, the Nylander, all these guys.

What is there? Hyman, all these rookies. But it's all working together. But you see off-ice, there's a real kind of camaraderie. And even Matt Martin is kind of like the older brother taking care of the kids. And I think Mitch Marner, sure, he's a skilled guy and he's a great player and he sees the ice really, really well. his personality is such a kind of a young, kind of fun,

lovable kind of guy that I think he really helps the team in terms of just keeping it light and jokey. And it's, it's really, really fun to watch these guys. And he's a rarity of, as far as Maple Leafs are concerned, and that he's young and skilled. Young and skilled.

Like we've had some young guys before. We've had some old skilled guys like McGilney. What about Jeff Ware? Remember the defenseman Jeff Ware? Of course, of course. And suddenly we have a young edge. Exciting times for the Leafs, no doubt. Before we dive into your radio career,

I've got some questions for you. Sure. But I got to tell you that not only I'm taking home the beer with you, but I'm going to make arrangements with my friends at Chef's Plate. And we're going to get you two meals delivered to your, wherever you want me to have them delivered for free. Wow.

These are meal kits. So it's like you get the pre-portioned, locally sourced, farm fresh ingredients, which I'm really looking back at this intro I read every show. ingredients, which I'm really looking back at this intro I read every show. I think I say something like pre-portioned, locally sourced, farm fresh ingredients and refrigerated kits. I actually am unable to say it all in one breath. Like I need to change my script. It's a lot of detail. I can't do it all.

But it's awesome and there's easy to follow recipes and everybody who tries it says it's tasty and it is good for you. And you're getting that, and I'll send you the menu, and you can tell me which tube it is. But everyone else listening, they need to go to chefsplate.com and use the promo code TorontoMike.

One word, TorontoMike, and then you get your first two plates for free as well. Nice. Well, I will say I don't eat, but I have hockey friends who, no, I will certainly take advantage of it. Soylent green. That's right.

That's all right. No, I eat. I enjoy food. Do they have, as part of that kit, any peanut butter and honey dishes?

Peanut butter and honey chicken or something? No, I got kids, so I did an order with these guys and I had to find something

everyone would like and I was looking for something. You know, they had a pizza thing. So they bring you the dough and then you make these pizzas. And there's a lot of veggies on and stuff, so there's some healthy. But you're right. They should add. I'm going to talk to them. Add my...

It could be a signature dish. Forget the peanut butter bagel. The Lebanese pita with a blob of peanut butter and then a little Honey rolled up tight Like a Cuban cigar And then you get your Great Lakes Brewery to make kind of a Milky-ish beer Honey beer or whatever Oh, like honey beer

Oh yeah, we have some ideas here Maple syrup beer too Sweet beers I like Alright, so a previous guest on this show was Rob Johnston Rob Johnston. Rob Johnston. And it's Johnston, even though lots of people tell me about they heard the episode of Ron Johnston. And then I go, who's that?

Yeah. That guy doesn't exist. But Johnston, everyone knows Rob Johnston as the technical producer. Robbie J. Robbie J. Well, that's how the insiders know him, like Strombo, who remarked on this show that he epitomized the spirit of radio.

I heard that episode. I had to pull that quote for Robbie because that's a great quote. But Robbie Johnston is the digital producer of the ongoing history of new music with Alan Cross. I hope I have that right. But tell me, though,

how you know Robbie J. I knew Robbie J a long, long time ago. When I was a kid, I lived in Clarkson. We lived on Pyramid Crescent. And his house was pretty much across the street from mine. And quite often, I would go to his house, and his mother or his sister would babysit, and I'd hang out there with him.

And so I knew him as a child. And then I moved away from there. And then when I started working at CFNY, it was a reunion of sorts. Like, oh, wait a second. You're that guy. And so that's how I first met Robbie J is as a small child. And, I mean, you were being babysat by his mom. By his mother, and his sister was a little bit older.

She would sometimes babysit as well. That's crazy. I want to say, your podcast, I hadn't really been exposed to it in a great detail. I'd listen to an episode here or there, maybe if it was Humble and Fred or something, or someone I was more familiar with. I'm hurt, but please continue. No, no, but the story gets better. Okay, good.

And then, so then I think it was probably about a year ago, I started digging in and I was like, well, let me listen to other radio people. Because I think for me, I've been a very competitive radio guy where, and sometimes To my detriment Where Oh I don't like that person Because they're on another station Or I don't like that You know

Whatever Like it's a It's a bad Bad starting point For sure Because we're all In the same industry It's not

It's like the NHL Where maybe there used to be Rivalries It's like the East Coast family And we already talked about this That's right So I would listen to the episodes And the people who

I had previously Without having Knowing these people like oh i don't like that guy just because you know he's on that station and you know doing that style of radio and then i listen and like oh they're human beings with actual lives and personalities and flaws and all these things so i've i've really appreciated actually listening and getting to know people and i feel like oh okay these are everyone's everyone's really appreciated actually listening and getting to know people and I feel like, oh, okay, everyone's pretty much good people

and I got to stop being such a... Well, not all of them, Josh. Well, no. Because the assholes won't come to my basement and talk to me. Yeah, those jerks. I got to say thank you.

I really am just looking to have like authentic conversations with people I admire and yourself. I like how you added that. Yeah, people I admire and yourself. So I like how you added that. Yeah. People I admire and, you know, you too. You're having Andy Frost.

Andy Frost is lined up? Andy was supposed to be this week. You're actually, you took Andy's spot in the roster this week. But it's not like I didn't bum him. He bumped himself. So he was coming in Monday and he's still coming on, but I don't have the...

I find until you have a commitment of a date and time, I've got so many wonderful guests who would love to come on the show. And then when you come to like, hey, maybe we could book a date and time, it gets a little mighty. So many great...

Obama said he wanted to come on. He bailed out. He has more time now. You think so? I'll even let him come via Skype. I will tell you, Andy Frost, I worked with him at Q107, in the whole chorus, you know, Talk 640, Q107, Edge. After I left there, I would sometimes go on Humble and Fred's morning show at, I think it was

Mix at the time. Mix 99.9. And I would do a character called ACC Guy, which was my terrible Andy Frost impression. How are you, sir? Good to see you. Nice to see you, sir. It used to be better. I haven't done it in ages. Yeah. But I would play it in a way where he would, exaggerations where he would blame everything on, the Leafs could do no wrong. It's like Team Canada, oh, Felix Potvin stole the game, even though it was like an eight. He was like a homer to the extreme,

like almost a delusional homer. And I would exaggerate the voice as well. And what happened was, I think it was JJ from Chorus called Gary Slate, so boss calling like big boss to request that we stop doing that. And I was in a position where I was between radio gigs and I had in a position where I was between radio gigs and I had nothing else so I was like well you know this is my thing but also I saw it as

you know you don't get angry when at an impression that's almost like a Saturday Night Live it's like being roasted right yeah well if you if you're popular enough and known enough that someone's gonna do a bad impression of you you or a satire of you, that's kind of a compliment. You don't see people getting angry, well, maybe Donald Trump, but at Saturday Night Live where they do kind of kooky character versions of people in the media. Sometimes it just is what it is. Enjoy the popularity. I'm with you. I'm with you.

I actually, and this probably may be related, but I've heard the story from Humble and Fred where, yeah, they did some kind of a satire of Andy Frost where they did a lot of ums and ahs. Yeah. And Andy was not very happy and confronted them about it. And he was pissed. Yeah, yeah. Didn't like it at all.

I have no hard feelings. He's a nice enough guy. Well, I got to be careful because I'm hoping he's coming over very soon. I don't want him to hear this. I want to have this. Remember, Andy, you're mad at Humble and Fred and maybe even Josh.

Not me, not me. But you're not mad at Toronto Mike. I was doing it as a tribute. I think he's a nice, he was always very nice to me at the radio station. He's a gentlemanly man. I mean, I spent many

a Thursday night, believe it or not, a Thursday night at the Phoenix Concert Theater there, 410 Sherbourne, and it was called Strange Paradise in the big room, and it was sponsored by Q107. It was basically a lot of like Rage Against the Machine and Nirvana and Pearl Jam and Beastie Boys

and all the stuff I really liked. And we would get mosh pits and get kicked out, and it was a lot of fun. And I went every Thursday night, and it was... Wait, how did you get kicked out of the Phoenix? Yeah, you'd be surprised. They'd kick you out for moshing for a period there. Maybe someone got really hurt or something.

And PJ Fresh Phil would be there moshing. Oh, really? PJ Fresh Phil. But Andy Frost was the host of Strange Paradise, and so his voice, like, you know, smoky. He had the dry ice stuff going on. It just reminds me of, like, good times.

It's a good time voice. It's a good time voice. And I won't do the, I've promised people I'm going to stop my antifrost. My antifrost is far worse than yours and I'm retiring it. Yeah.

So I'm not doing it anymore because it's terrible. I'm looking forward to having him on. So let's just set the table here. So you worked at CFNY slash The Edge three times. Three times. Yeah, three separate times.

All right. So let's go through one by one. Okay. The first time, tell me you're 19 years old, right? Tell me the first time. During first year Ryerson, the focus was on radio that first year for that program. So I made a radio documentary, 12 minutes long, as part of a project. And when I did the radio documentary, I went to Montreal. I had a friend there who was producing the Just for Laughs radio show. And with his help, multitracking, we made it kind of a piece with popular music, leaning a little bit to the alternative side, because that was my thing at

the time. And it won the documentary award, those types of things. And it was on shock comedy, which at the time was Andrew Dice Clay. There was a big fuss about him. And so I had an attorney general, a feminist representative, and John Oakley, who was hosting the Just for Laughs radio hour at the time. So that spring, Andrew Dice Clay was supposed to appear on Saturday Night Live. And I believe it was Nora Dunn who decided she's not going to do this show because of this. And at the time, CFNY was running a magazine-style show, a half-hour news magazine-style show that Mary Ellen Benninger was hosting, 102 Magazine, I think it was called.

Mary Ellen, not like Kim Hughes, right? No, that's after that, yeah. Okay, okay. So Mary Ellen Benninger was... Who's married to Alan Cross. Alan Cross' wife, yeah. And I believe she's still at 680, I want to say. I'm not totally sure.

I'm going to say no. Okay. But I don't know. I don't know. I have no idea. I'm going to say no. Lovely lady. So I got in touch because I've been pestering,

I think it was Earl Veal over at CFNY for a long time because it was my station for a long, long time as well. And I said, you know what? This is happening. I have this documentary that's about sort of Andrew Dice Clay and the shock comedy. Would you like to have a listen to it? And so I went out to Brampton with the reel-to-reel and gave it to them. They had a listen and I came in and met with them. And it was quite flattering because it was Rick Charles, who was also a news guy there at the time, and Mary Ellen Banninger. And they were, well, we haven't really ever heard news done this way

because we did incorporate the music and stuff. I guess up to that point, it was very chop, chop, chop, as opposed to having a real flow to it. And they decided to run it. I think they edited a small part out, and obviously they ran a censored version of it because there's a lot of filthy, filthy language. Of course.

So that was in the spring between first and second year. And I stayed in touch with Earl. And then the following year, in the spring of second year, Howard, Humble Howard, was at CFNY, and he got lured over to the mix. And he took with him Andy Bianchi, very talented writer, producer guy, who I think ended up doing sports stuff. And at the time, Andy was working in the creative department at CFNY out in Brampton, and they needed a new creative writer. So Earl said, well, why don't you send your stuff in? They gave me some other stuff to write as kind of a test. And Maureen Bully brought me in and said, well, of the stuff we got, yours is the best stuff. Here's the deal. You can come in and

work here for the summer. And at the end of of the summer you can either stay on full time or or you can go back to school but you know come on in so that was my first radio gig and it was it was so much fun it was just a great first exposure it was it was in Brampton but it was kind of freewheeling. There was no real corporate side to it. You know, lots of radio baseball games and concerts and all of those things. Did you play for that? Freddie P talks about that team all the time, the Wankies. I never played.

I only remember going and doing some at Molson Park. There was a media kind of sporting event day where I think some baseball, some other stuff. But I was never on a regular baseball team. Gotcha, gotcha. But I will say, I know you're a big Marty fan. And when I first started working there, he was running the road show, the video road show.

And I was just this young, naive kid. And he really took me under his wing. And I think part of that was me just being kind of starstruck as well. But I would hang out with him quite often, him and his girlfriend, Claire. They would take me out bowling. You know, his brother, Robbie. And I spent a lot, a lot of time with him. And he was really, really good about including me in things. And Marty, just in case people haven't clued in, this is Martin Streak.

And I get feedback every time I say his name that I say Martin. I don't say Martin. I say Martin with a D. It's hard to switch from the R to the T. It just seems phony. Martin Streak. Right.

And if I enunciate the T heavily and go Martin Streak, it just feels like I'm being a reporter or something. You know what I mean? Martin Streak. Marty. Just say Marty. Marty Streak. Okay. So you got to know him and his girlfriend Streak. It just feels like I'm being a reporter or something. Martin Streak. Marty. Just say Marty. Marty Streak. So, okay, so you got to know him and his girlfriend Claire. Yeah. And naturally, I'm curious about the kind of man he was.

I mean, I never had a chance, sadly, to, you know, I would have invited him over, had him on. People know the story, but he took his own life in 2009, I believe, in July, two months after he was let go from his 25, I don't know how many years, long time he was at CFNY. So tell me, though, a little bit more, if you don't mind, about

Martin Streak. Well, okay, so I knew him, my first go-round, he took me under his wing, and I even have, I still have, and you've probably seen it, because Andrew Stokely probably has it. Are you friends with Andrew? No, when I worked at Brampton, our paths crossed. And I think we were at Ryerson at the same time, but never really sort of, you know, we were in the same circles.

But I don't think we ever spent a lot of time. He's a cool guy. He's a good guy. Nice guy. But Martin gave me this college-style CFMY jacket, the big ladders on the back. And that was like, because I had arrived just after they gave those jackets out. Right.

And for me, wearing that jacket, it was like the coolest thing. Because that was the station I listened to. And I think for radio people, it's almost rare to get your first gig actually working for the station that you listen to and love. So I wore that everywhere all the time.

And I realized he gave it to me because I think that's the kind of cool he was. He wasn't the guy in the band who was going to wear the band T-shirt. But I was the guy at the station who was going to wear the band t-shirt. But I was the guy at the station who was going to wear it everywhere. Ironic, though, because the man got the Spirit of Radio logo tattooed

onto his buttocks. Right, but that's a private thing. I know, I know. Yeah, but you're right. It's not cool to wear your own band's t-shirt. Yeah. I could see that. He's not going to wear his own radio station's jacket. I would go a lot

during those days because there were so many different club gigs that the station would do live to airs. We would always go and he'd be a really, really great host. Here's a beer ticket. Here's a beer ticket. Meet my friend. It was just a really genuinely nice, caring guy who

was kind of a perfect host in terms of having people around and being the go-to guy for that type of thing. For guys our age, those live-to-airs were really key radio happenings. The live days were a big deal.

Even often imitated, never duplicated. I had so many cassettes of Chris Shepard over the years that I would like, and then I got a mixer at one point in my bedroom and I was like trying to duplicate the same things he was doing. I'm trying, I have a,

well, I can say his name, Scott Turner. Yeah. Is trying to help me. Apparently, not that he's missing, but he's out of town, as they say, trying to get him on this show, Chris Shepard. Oh, you're trying to get Chris Shepard. Yeah, Chris Shepard.

I'm sorry. So with Scott's help, I'm going to track him down and get him in here. I got a million questions for him. It's weird because I'm on Facebook and there's one Chris Shepard that I've friended. But then there's another one that's in the circle of friends with Humble Friend. I'm trying to figure out which, I can't figure out which one is which. See, that's why I needed to bring in a third party

because you can't just, you don't just connect with Chris Shepard unless he knows you. Yeah. But he was kind of, at the time, a legend. He was with the band kind of thing. He would go and he'd hang out with New Order and he would do remixes. And I think he was the first guy who really made sure his name was

on everything in terms of club every time i think of him i think of skinny puppy that's yeah but yeah no no doubt like and i don't know how i can't remember anymore but have you heard the episode of david marsden have you heard that uh i may have but it's been quite a while your excuse that was a while ago uh but i mean, if you're a CFNY fan like yourself, before you worked there, the Marsden episode is must listen. But I think it went like Marsden. I think it's Chris Shepard replaced Marsden or something.

And then Martin Streak replaces Chris Shepard. Like I think that's how the lineage goes. Yeah, I certainly know Marty came after Chris. Yeah, for sure. Well, somebody told me that the often imitated, never duplicated was a shot at Marty. This is what I've been told, but I don't know how to... I have to get him on the show to verify that. But where would he have said that, though?

Because that would be after... Timeline-wise, that would make less sense. There's a Martin Streak documentary that's being put together because I've been interviewed for it. And I've got to find out the status of it, actually. but I was interviewed for this because I had talked to so many people about Martin Streak people like Strombo and Alan Cross and stuff but so let me I got to find out more details on that allegation but I don't have any insight myself well I think there may have been some not animosity but I imagine it was probably misdirected because it wasn't really Marty's fault

that the new management came in and cleared the decks of all of those classic CFMY people. Yeah. So I don't think that would have been something that really, really lasted. I do, I remember being excited because on one of those early Chris Shepard CDs,

he thanked Josh, and I think it was the only Josh. Okay, yeah. That was, I was very excited. It was the Pirate Radio or something. One of those early ones, yeah. Because at some point his productions go to, have a very poppy slant to them. Well, it started shifting.

Love Inc. or something, I can't remember. But wasn't it the age of techno that he kind of embraced that? Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Him and Don Burns both sort of embraced that he kind of embraced that? Yeah, absolutely. Him and Don Burns both sort of embraced that era. That's right. That's right. Okay, so you're at CFNY this first run. And then what happens?

You go back to school? Well, that summer was really, really amazing and a lot of fun. But then in August, my parents are away on a European trip for a couple of weeks. And John Oakley had been doing radio in Montreal. And he had been hosting this Just for Laughs special. And I'd sort of known him because I would go to the Just for Laughs every year. And my friend was producing the radio show. So I would help Oakley round up guests and he became friends with him.

So he was coming to Toronto to do a late night talk show on CFRB, which in my teens, that was always my dream is to do a late night radio talk show on CFRB as a host. But second best, actually being a part of it. So he tagged me to be his producer for his show. And I was super excited because he pitched it as being sort of a sidekick and being able to, you know, sometimes host if he's not around.

So I was super excited about it. This is just after second year Ryerson. I took the job. And then I had to go and tell the people at CFNY, yeah, I got this job at CFRB. And I was all teary because I made all these great friends. It was the best summer ever. And it was basically, as a teenager, those were the two stations.

I would call into the CFRB talk shows. I was a big fan of talk radio, sort of Letterman and all that stuff. But music-wise, I listened to CFNY. So the two only stations I listened to, my two favorite stations, I had gigs from. So I took the job at CFRB, and the pay was pretty shitty. But the opportunity there would have been great.

The pay hasn't gone up since then. I don't imagine it has, no. So I had the meeting with Gary Slade and John and got all the manuals for running the equipment at CFRB and the backdoor key and all of those things. And my parents got back from the trip and they had underwritten my first two years of Ryerson. And they're not industry folks, so they don't really understand opportunity versus university that I'm actually going to university

to get this type of gig so they were like no you can't you've got to finish your school and so then it become became kind of really ridiculous because I uh I had to turn the CFRB gig down. And then I went back to CFNY, tail between my legs saying, hey, guys, you think I can maybe still work here? And so then I did go back to CFNY into the fall and took no end of teasing. Are you sure your parents are going to let you do that? You deserve that teasing, Josh. Oh, for sure I did.

Come on. Yeah. So I was in the creative department all summer and then into the fall. And that was that. And then out of third year, like in the middle of third year, I went out to Brampton to get some photos. This was pre like sending stuff over the internet to get some photocopies of stuff I'd written to kind of put together a portfolio of advertising that I'd written. So while I'm out there, I run into Kim Hughes, who had just recently started hosting live in Toronto,

an hour-long kind of, I don't know at the time, at first it was an hour and then went to two hours. There was like a CRTC rule, right, for FM stations? A lot of FM, yeah. I think it was called... I think it was Scott who taught me about this. Background or foreground, where they had to have a certain... And I think that's why 102 Magazine

was on the air and some of those early longer talk segments. So Kim had been hired to do this and I chatted with her and I said, oh yeah, I gotta step back a little bit here, but while I was doing the writing, I... May Potts, I think,

was hosting Live in Toronto. And I did an interview, I think with Gilbert Gottfried. I did some comedy stuff for that show, just as a sideline while I was doing the writing. That's all right. Gilbert's great. He's fantastic.

Yeah. Well, the comedy had always been sort of a big thing. Did you do a Gilbert Gottfried impersonation? Not for you. No, not here. Okay,

do this. Andy Frost meets Gilbert Gottfried. Go. Yeah, that's all right. No, not here. Okay, do this. Andy Frost meets Gilbert Godfrey. Go. Yeah, that's right. Hey. How are you, sir? So I mentioned that to Kim. You know, I did some comedy reports.

She said, oh, maybe is that something you want to do for our show? And that's how I sort of weaseled my way back into round two. And I was doing live in Toronto. I was doing comedy. And then I kind of expanded into film, some television and theater, stuff that wasn't music-wise I kind of covered off. So I covered the Toronto Film Festival. I went to Just for Laughs every summer.

And it was a great gig. And then after my... I did I think a four year at Ryerson and then I went to Los Angeles for... I got a visa for about six or seven months and at the time, again, this is pre-internet, I became the

Hollywood, the showbuzz guy, which in retrospect is ridiculous, but I was down there. I would just buy the trades, like the Variety and Hollywood Reporter and report back showbiz stories. You could have been, you were this close to being the Ross West

in ET Canada. You kept going on that. Oh, yeah. That was never my real, like I wasn't into the, when I went to Ryerson, my goal was to write, act, or direct for TV or film.

And I loved radio and it was a big part of what I listened to, but I never anticipated that I would actually end up doing it. So I was more fascinated with the industry mechanics of the entertainment business, not so much the, oh, you know who's making out with who, that type of thing. Right. So, yeah, Kim brought me on for Live in Toronto and did that for quite a while.

It was kind of a part-time gig. And the irony of that is it didn't pay particularly well, but I managed to get some DJ gigs where I would go out to, one was in London, Ontario, where there's a population of students who are really familiar with CFNY. Of course. And that would basically pay my salaries, these club gigs. Oh yeah. Yeah.

It's party school, you know. Oh yeah, they love it. Is Josh Holiday a stage name? It is not, no. It sounds a bit like a... It's Andrew Joshua Holiday. Please don't steal my identity. What's your sin number? My dad was a Holiday. Two L's, we should say.

If I was making it up, maybe I would have just done the single L. Because, you know, Billie Holiday, she just took that from the singer, which is probably the fake name for the singer, probably, if I look that up. I would imagine, yeah. That's my guess.

But Roy Holiday really is Roy Holiday. But it's not a holiday at all. It's a holiday. It's a holiday. So, okay. So, your second tour of duty at CFNY ends. Did you leave it or did they kick you out the door? Did they put up a, don't let Josh back in here.

No, okay. So, what happened there is when I worked at CFNY the second time, it was under a newer management structure. And I came in kind of via Kim Hughes. And I think the PD at the time didn't really like me. Who was this PD? I don't want to mention it. Give me the initials.

Well, if people want to look it up, they can. So he wasn't really a big fan of mine. I think he didn't really know what I was all about. And I was kind of an artsy kid, and he was a more rock and roll guy. So he wasn't especially nice to me in the hallways. He was always kind of just a grunt as he passed by, and I would try and be friendly. But I felt somewhat intimidated.

Do I know this guy? Yeah, you would know him. You would know him. Is it possible if I ever met this guy, or you don't have a clue if I know this guy? Yeah, you would know him. You would know him. Is it possible if I ever met this guy or you don't have a clue if I met him? I don't think you would have met him. But okay, so at that time, so I was doing live in Toronto,

but then I would also help out with Humble and Fred now and again. And then I was also, at one point they needed another writer in creative, so I took up that mantle. And I did the creative for a while, and then one morning I was brought down to the office,

and they said, well, you know, you're creative. You're just not up to snuff. And, you know, that was that. And you were making too much money. I wasn't even making that much money. I think it was just, there was just something about me he didn't like. And the tough thing was, our creative director at the time had said a week before, there was two of us, two others in the department,

you know, I think you guys are doing some of the best creative that's been done at the station for a long, long time. Like, effusive praise. And so... That should have been your first sign you were going to be kicked out the door. That is a warning sign. No, but... The high praise

is often followed by you're fired. But he was... He felt terrible because he was... He knew it wasn't really for creative reasons. So that was that time.

And then there was a... That was another kind of fun era doing the Humble Friend. I actually... I was... When I was first working at cfm wyatt brampton i loved mr goo head i was a huge i was wondering if you could help me i love that

so i sometimes like i would stay late in the production room and i made cassettes of every single goo head and i would play it for my family up up north of the cottage uh but i got to do i got to i came up with the idea for one goo head and I was I was so excited I was like I helped create a goo head it was when the Leafs changed to the Northeast Division hockey wise right they were in the left the Norris yeah so they're going to the north northeast and so my idea was that Mr. Goo had thought the team was actually moving. So he called the Maple Leaf Gardens. He's like, why are the Leafs? Is it my fault? They're moving to the

North. And the lady was like really short with him and trying to explain that, no, they're not moving, sir. They're not moving. It aired, I think, once or twice. But then the lady called and said, can you not air that anymore? Okay, because often you record those and you say,

hi, that was whatever, can we have your permission? Maybe you skipped that part, I guess. That part didn't happen, yeah. That's fine.

That's why it's not, because I have a collection of goo heads. Yeah. That's not in the collection. I guess maybe that was. No, no, I don't,

I think it only aired the, the once or twice that time. Yeah, that's funny. That's great. That's cool. Cause you're a big fan. And then you end up at twice that time. Yeah, that's funny. That's great. That's cool because you're a big fan. And then you end up at Q107. Yeah, that was fortuitous timing.

I left CFNY. And at the time, Q and CFNY were two separate, or the Edge were two separate entities, two separate companies. I did some work in the early internet for CNET, remember CNET? they're still around early on I got a gig writing for them basically doing

doing what Google does now but handwritten there are so few websites that you could hand write little descriptions of each website so we would get categories like mattresses, those types of things and we would write little blurbs on every website. And it would go in their directory,

and it paid US dollars, and I could do it from home. And then I submitted some writing material to, I think it was probably Darren Wass, like up at Q at the time. And I think Pat Carden was the PD. And so I came in to do some fill-in work, writing commercials and promo stuff I'd done previously at The Edge. Not long after I worked there, filling in for vacations and stuff, Rob Mortimer, who is the creative director at Q, got a gig doing a cluster in Ottawa. So he left

and I had been doing fill-in for him mostly. So writing a lot of the promos and the imaging and those types of things, not so much the retail commercial stuff. So when he left, I kind of stepped into his role. Not in title because latest the the most recent guy there and there was you know people who were a little bit more uh had been there for years and stuff but in terms of the the role i i basically took on the role of of creative director writing all the imaging and uh promos and writing promos with darren was pretty easy because he had a real vision when he wanted stuff stuff to get done we We did Guy's Garage and those types of things. But that was a really, really

fun gig because at the same time Talk 640 was in the building. So there was a lot of people there and a lot of fun. It was up on Yonge Street in the two-floor thing in the sky with the piano. It was just wild.

There's all kinds of stuff going on. Okay, let me ask you. So you mentioned the late Pat Cardinal. Yes. Who is, I think he might be most famous around here for bringing Howard Stern to the drug market. Yeah, yeah. And you were there at that time?

I came in shortly after they had brought Howard Stern aboard. And I had been a Howard Stern fan from living in, I lived in Los Angeles back in 93, and I had become a Howard Stern fan from living in, I lived in Los Angeles back in 93, and I had become a Stern fan there. So I was excited to be working for the station that Stern was on. And at the time, when they first brought him, Howard Stern, aboard, it was called Pure Rock.

Pure Rock. He won a seven. Right. And so we were there for that. And then at one point, it changed over to the more ballsy classic rock. Isn't it first Toronto's best rock? That was the old Q.

And then Pure Rock, I think, was kind of trying to get a little bit of those edge folks and a little bit of the active rock sound to it. It was a little thinner. But they weren't going to play U2. They didn't go down. No, no, no. That's too much. Although they're playing now. But they weren't going to play U2. They didn't go down. That's too much.

Too much, yeah. So Pat Cardinal, recently I had Jesse and Gene on the show. Yeah. And they shared this story, this amazing little story about how before Howard Stern, Q107 was going to bring on the I think it was the Y95 show.

It's funny. You mentioned that because I was listening to that episode in the car here. And just as I pulled off the 401 ramp onto Kipling, they were saying, oh, and then they were at a party and Jeff Lumby was there. Yes, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, there's a party because the Y95 crew, which I believe is Jeff Lumby and I think Mike Richards is a part of this in some respect. Which, by the way, there's a whole other tangent here. Let me go to the tangent and come right back.

So I listened to a podcast from CBC called Someone Knows Something. And they're on season two. And this is the disappearance of Cheryl Shepard in Hamilton. She disappears. And there was only one suspect, this guy Michael Lavoie. She disappears something like January 3 3rd so a couple of days after new year's she disappears this is in like 90 i want to say 98 uh but that new year's eve so two days prior live uh on chch i guess which might have been on tv at the time or something

she is proposed to by michael lavoy And the host of this production is Michael Richards, Mike Richards from the Y95 Jeff Lumby team or whatever. So this episode, they go and they talk to Mike Richards. Like, what did you think of this? They talk to him. And this episode just aired this week, if you subscribe, it's the most recent one, like episode nine. And Mike Richards is interviewed and they talk about this and that.

So I was thinking of this Y95. Lumby's been here too. Great guy. Yeah, I know Jeff. But Lumby, if you ask Lumby, and I know he's passed, so we'll give Pat Cardinal some respect here, and he's passed away, sadly, very young, but Lumby did not like Pat Cardinal because they're at this

party celebrating how they're the new morning show on cue, and then they get a call from West. I guess there's a boss out West. This is WIC, I guess. There's Western something. Yeah, Western International Communication I think. So they override the Toronto team or whatever with a whole like, we're bringing back Jesse and Gene. And

they do. So yeah, Lumbee who was supposed to be the morning show host before Stern gets shafted at the celebration party. Yeah, that's the worst. It's the best story ever. And so Jesse and Gene tell it, and if you talk to Jeff Lumby about it, you won't hear good things about Pat Cardinal,

but interesting times in Toronto. I think Pat could sometimes be polarizing. He was a no-bullshit kind of guy who would tell it like it is. When Howard Stern was at the station, at the time Howard Stern had a show on CBS, kind of a late night show on weekends on CBS. It didn't last very long, but I got sent out to the Scarborough Town Center to try and ambush Richard Simmons. Okay, yeah. Sort of do the list of questions. Like the Stuttering John Streeter thing. Yeah. Which Shapiro would eventually copy. Okay, yeah. With sort of do the, you know, with the questions, the list of questions.

Like the Stuttering John Streeter thing. Yeah. Which Shapiro would eventually copy. Eventually, yeah. So they sent me out there and they got a video guy that they sent out. But they kind of fucked it up because the video guy got out there and he had, you know,

his full equipment. He shows up at the bookstore where they're doing the signing and right away they're like, what the fuck's going on? Yeah, you've got to be more discreet. Yeah, you've got to have a camera and do it guerrilla style. So we kind of worked with what we had, and we put a little thing together, but it didn't work out so well.

But yeah, Pat was a tough guy, and I remember driving down to some event. I don't know if it was a station cruise, but I remember asking him, I don't think I could ever fire someone. How do you do that? And yeah, it was quite interesting having a chat with him. And he said, I love it. It's the best part of my job. He rubbed his hands together and he was like, but I guess it's just in that role,

that's what you have to do sometimes. And at Q at that time, Jeff Woods is there, right? role that's what you have to do sometimes and at q at that time uh jeff woods is there right jeff woods was there and he i would write a lot of the the well i would write the imaging for the a to z weekends so we would work a lot together in pulling clips and and those types of things for those shows and there was a there's a super rivalry uh between the two stations because i remember we were doing uh a to z weekend and i think it was i don't know it was canadian or it was tragically hip uh but i dug out from the archives at q a clip an early early clip where uh it was a live concert i must have been sponsored by Q107 because Gord Downie says,

I want to thank our favorite station, Q107. And I pulled that clip for the A to Z weekend. And I was, you know, tragically hip, A to Z weekend. I want to thank you. So it was a great actuality. And apparently the PD at the Edge at the time called Woods and said, don't use it. You can't use that.

Like, just mad at the fact that we were taking ownership of the Tragically Hip. So the two radio stations were battling for their ownership. I'll tell you what, yeah, and I heard the Tragically Hip for the first time on Q107. And I believe it was Blow It High Doe, and they were playing it, like, I think it was

a top ten at ten or something, but yeah. And I, like, literally, so I heard Blow It High Doe and I think the very next day I went downtown to Sam's and bought Up To Here on disc. And yeah, I distinctly remember it was on Q107 I heard my first hit. I think I probably heard it

when I was working at the Edge, but I remember my favorite was the Killer Whale Tank version of New Orleans. Oh, it hits in St. Catharines. They played the mess out of that. It hits FM there. Yeah, it hits in St. Catharines. They played that mess out of that. It hits FM there. Yeah, I really like that.

Yeah, amazing. I got to see Tragically Hip not in Canada recently, but I saw them, it would have been probably a year and a half ago, sort of the fall leading up to before we found out about Gord Downie's illness. Where was this? Well, it was weird. It was kind of a surreal experience.

I was interviewing. We did it on the phone a lot, interviews, and then they finally flew me down there. But there's a radio station in Minneapolis, St. Paul, called The Current. Yeah, I've heard about this. It's highly regarded. It's probably the best AAA station a station in in north america and anna maria tremonti is not a dj there no oh that's right yeah the name is totally different and they originated the term great music lives here and then it was co-opted by some other station

so it's a public radio station and i got flown down there to interview in September, like two Septembers ago. And when I went down there, there were two things that were happening on one of the nights I was staying there. There was a Minnesota Wild preseason game against Buffalo. And then later on, I found out the Tragically Hip are doing a club show there.

Wow. So when I went down, my thinking was, well, I can see the Tragically Hip anytime, and I've seen them lots of times before. So I really want to see a hockey game in this different arena, see the wild. I'm a huge hockey fan. So what ended up happening is we did go to the hockey game, and then it ended, and we jetted across town to this club. And they're very friendly with the with the radio station so we just kind of walked right in and my favorite hip song is playing as we walk in the door uh 50 mission cap love that song wow and so we get in there and it's it's

kind of a phoenix size venue but a little bit wider and got to see got to see the rest of the show and it was it And it was great. That was the last show I saw of theirs live. Because you mentioned 50 Mission Cap, I need to share with people that there's a future episode, I think it's in a couple of weeks, where a guy named Kevin Shea is going to come on this show. And we're going to do a deep dive into Bill Barilko.

Did you see that feature recently? Yeah, the TSN. So this guy, Kevin Shea, he's actually featured in the, what you're talking about, the recent TSN about the guys who went to recover near Kirkland Lake or whatever,

up north, the real north, Ontario. Yeah. Like I've been, since I heard 50 Mission Cap back, whatever that was, I don't know, 93 or whatever it was. I can't remember, 94, whatever,

mid-90s. I've been fascinated with this Bill Borilko story. Yeah, it's fascinating. Yeah, just totally. Side note here. Yeah. Back when I was doing Live in Toronto, we were at the studios on Bloor Street.

That song came out, 50 Mission Cap, and it wasn't being played at all during Leafs games. Like, it was never over the PA when you'd watch TV or you're at the arena. And I was stump. And I was, I was stumped. I was, why aren't they playing?

It's like a fast-paced rock song. It's about the Leafs. Perfect, yeah. So I used my, my limited powers there and I set up an interview with Jimmy Holmstrom, who's the organist

slash music guy there and brought him on just under the auspices of just having an interview with him but then i asked him you know this this song 50 mission cap how come you don't know i'm playing it blah blah and the interview went quite well and then i sent him and this is even god pre cds i sent him a dat tape with a bunch of more cfmy type songs on it. Like Papa's Got a Brand New Pig Bag, Tones on Tail Go, the cult stuff.

And soon after that, at Maple Leaf Gardens at the time, I would hear all of these songs that I gave to him. So I feel like I was an early programmer of music at these games. Okay, this story, it makes so much sense

that you did that. You had that influence and today it's Alan Cross. I know, it's weird. When I saw that, I was like, I didn't get paid anything. I just made a dad out of my own, you know, wanting to hear these songs during Leafs games. And I thought they were good.

You Spin Me Round, another one, The Dead Are Alive, gives you an idea of the- And the other one, Flagpole Siddha. That was played a lot at the Leafs games too. That's a great one-hit wonder. I have memories of that coming out twice. I have memories of that being a radio hit on CFNY.

I don't know if this is because your memory is a copy of a copy of a copy. I have memories. The same thing with The Proclaimers, Walk 500 Miles. I have a similar memory where that came out and it was played a lot on CFNY. It came out again a couple years later and it was a mass mainstream success.

The only thing I can think that may have caused that, maybe it was used in a movie soundtrack. Maybe, yeah, maybe. That's what seems to happen. Yeah, Bohemian Rhapsody keeps becoming, Elaine's World made it a hit again and it's like, oh my gosh, they're playing Bohemian Rhapsody. It's like, oh, this is from the 70s.

Like, wow. Yeah, and this is way back, man, and way tangent tangent here but I remember Save a Prayer by Duran Duran coming out twice because I was a big Duran Duran yeah and it was like this has already been out already like you can't do that it felt cheating like it felt like you were cheating or whatever but okay I digress lots of songs when you're having fun I used to try and and do that. Do they know it's Christmas? The Duran Duran. Having fun. Oh, now I just remember George Michael died. I can't sing.

Oh, Jesus. Mary Tyler Moore, George Michael. They're all dying. Yeah. You know, everyone dies. Everyone dies. Okay, so I'm just going to... What an illustrious career.

Do you ever appear on the air in radio? Like, does this ever happen for Josh Holiday? Yes. Okay, tell me. Let's get to that. Okay. All right. That was the best.

By the way, this is the longest radio career intro before you actually appear on the air. Since the great Robbie Jay, actually. Well, I did. It all makes sense. I was doing Live in Toronto, but that was not like a full time on air. By the way, when I introduced the Mary Tyler Moore show at the beginning, it wasn't meant to be like, oh, they're all going to die. It was actually meant, I was going to talk about the lady.

There's a scene when Mary Tyler Moore throws up her hat. Yes. There's a lady there whose name is, and you can see I'm not cheating here. It's Hazel something. Hazel. Macaulay. Yes. It's a young lady.

She looked old and then shot. It makes sense. This Hazel woman here i'm gonna cheat because i have a note i have to cheat i'm not hazel fredericks okay so she's this like kind of looks confused and a little bit almost like ticked off like what's this lady doing here throwing her hat or whatever so i just recently uh learned that she was like just shopping in like minneapolis uh she's just shopping like a regular person and they filmed this scene

and she was just caught by accident. She just appears in the credits of every opening of Mary Tethermore's show. So you can't miss her now that I pointed it out to you. Hazel Fredericks. She's dead now, just like everyone else at Mary Tethermore will be dead soon.

But that was actually, I was going to say that and I completely forgot. So I've come back and now I've said it. The crazy lady. All right. Hazel Frederick. So you came back to CFNY after this Q107.

By the way, one quick note on Jeff Woods, real quick. I had no idea until you mentioned this to me in an email and I hope I'm not speaking out of school, but Colleen Rusholm and Jeff Woods were a couple. When I was at Q, yeah, they were.

I didn't know that. Yeah. I don't think it was any secret. I Jeff Woods were a couple. When I was at Q, yeah, they were. I didn't know that. Yeah. I don't think it was any secret. I don't think it was a secret. I mean, they weren't like cheating on wives or husbands or anything. No, no. And it was not in the office. And both really great people. Colleen's a super sweetheart. But now she's really getting married now.

I saw that. And Jeff has been married a hundred times apparently. Yeah, I just heard him on All My Friends. I had him on. Great chat Afraid. He gave them... I had him on. Great chat. Wonderful. He doesn't mention anything about the fact that he is interested in watching his girl

with another man. I didn't get this Jeff Woods exclusive. But he kept referring himself as bisexual. I heard that too. I don't believe... Being interested in watching your spouse with another man, cuckolding. Cuckolding?

Is that how you say it? Yeah, I think that's it, yeah. I read the Canterbury Tales, okay? I do not believe that makes you bisexual. No, but he didn't really elaborate. I don't think they followed up on that. I need to get him on and get him to elaborate. Yeah, get him to talk about that.

So you're back at CFNY. No, no, okay. So this is how I ended up, because while I was at Q107, the companies became Chorus and they merged. And this is where it gets bad because the boss who didn't like me at CFNY all of a sudden became program director at Q107. And I knew this was happening and I was fretting and, and, you know,

even Jeff would said, no, don't worry. He's, he's different. And the initials are JJ. No, no,

not JJ. You might say the name. He's not what you think you're going to get sued. Stu Myers. Oh, his daughter's at CFM. I know. I know.

Okay. Okay. So Stu Stromba loves the guy, by the way. I never met Stu Meyer. Yeah, they were really, really close. Okay, so Stu's coming over to Q, and I'm fretting. And it's not a secret. Like, everyone's kind of like reassuring me,

oh, don't worry, because they know that for whatever reason, he doesn't like me. He doesn't like Josh. So I think, okay, well, so i i i think okay well it's gonna be okay everything's gonna be fine i'll do my do my work here and i was doing decent work and doing good promos uh and then it kind of started where at the time i was uh and i still do audition for voices and and on camera stuff so occasionally I would leave the station during the day, come back, I would stay late.

There's other people who would do the same thing, voice people and creative people. So I wasn't alone in that. But he kind of, he mentioned that a couple of times. And then at the time time and there still is there's a a radio board that that is um popular for for gossip and radio gossip yeah so i would look on that but everyone in the industry would but he he he didn't like that either so he had me in for a talk in the office said look these are the things you know you gotta to keep on top of that.

And so I did, I changed. I, you know, even though other people were doing it, I, you know, got straight with that. And then a couple months later, he sends a paper version of what we had talked about to me, creating the paper trail. He'd issued these memos because Pete Fowler brought me a Stu Meyer memo about Martin Streak swearing on the air.

Yeah. So I think it's just part of, you know, part of their job is to, you know, if they're gearing up to try and get rid of you, they want to have a paper trail so they can say they did stuff. Right. But I wrote back saying, well, you know, I've changed those things. And I'm guessing if you're sending the email specifically about the yellow board, you're also sending it to Derringer and Gonzo and all those other people who use that board.

And I said, this has all changed in the last few months. So this memo is past the fact. So I saw the writing on the wall. And then there was a position opening at the edge. And on-air stuff was opening and i said i sort of negotiated with him i said well you know you don't want me here obviously you know can you maybe set something up where i go over there and so that's what happened i i ended up doing overnights and weekend mornings at the edge um and uh you know we're still in the

same building i run into him once in a, but it was kind of a breath of relief because that's what it was angling towards all along. I would much rather be doing on-air at the Edge than writing, imaging a poem was at Q. Right. So I ended up at the Edge, which was kind of a dream come true for someone who, as a teenager,

had grown up on that station and loved that station. And that's how I ended up at CFNY. Was it the second or the third time? Second time. Third time. No, that's third. Yeah, you're right. Third time's the charm.

So I got a tweet from, I think it was from Robbie J, and you were on this string, and it was talking about how, on Toronto Mic, I've had all the All Request Breakfast guests. Do you remember this tweet? Yeah, I do.

So tell me, elaborate on that for me. on Toronto Mic, I've had all the All Request Breakfast guests. Do you remember this tweet? Yeah, I do. So tell me, elaborate on that for me. I did it for a year and a half, two years when I was there, because that shift was usually the three overnights a week and then the two All Request Breakfasts on the weekends. And that was, I really, really enjoyed doing that

because it was the one chance I had to actually have some say in the music programming. A lot of time, you know, for the most part, the programming during the week was pre-programmed by the music director. And it was pretty decent music. And you could change stuff here and there, but it was kind of frowned upon. So the all-request breakfast, you would get your music sheets. And some of the stuff had been programmed like the the hits that were in rotation they had to get their certain number of spins a day so they would be in there

uh and you would always get people on the phone complaining you play that all the time why are you playing on the request show which is a good point yeah no i i agree um and then then they would put in a lot of can con because we still had to put CanCon. Usually what I would do is I would hope there would be CanCon requests because then we could fill those up with actual requests. And at the time, the music director, his favorite band was Tea Party. So there was

a lot of Tea Party lined up there. Oh, yeah. Temptation. But I would... Tea Party was kind of ridiculous. Temptation. But I would... There's... Well, the Tea Party was kind of... I was just like, oh my God, this is kind of ridiculous. But that's where I started doing the thing.

What's Jeff? What's his last name? Yeah, Jeff Martin. Jeff Martin. So I would always make up something off the top of the song. I would say, hey, who's the best DJ on the radio station? You. And I know Barry Taylor did that afterwards.

He got it from you. Yeah. Well, we did, we also, I overlapped with Barry a little bit. We did a couple of episodes of Nickelback Theater where we did these, it was like basically theater, but using only lyrics from Nickelback.

That's Barry interesting. That's blindekyllback. That's very interesting. That's blind Eric saying that. That's funny. Because he wrote me an email after the Barry Taylor episode of Toronto Mic'd. And yeah, that's very interesting. He said that's his voice. Wow.

Who knew? Who knew? Those are the fun facts I live for. So who else did the, give me the other names of people who did the All Request Breakfast before you. I think this came up because coming soon to this show is Craig Venn.

Yeah, I like Craig. AKA Lobster Boy. Yeah. And he did it, at some point he was producing the All Request Breakfast. Okay. Maybe.

And Robbie J maybe. I can't, I don't know because I know I was only, I was, there was no producer when I was doing it. It was just me doing everything. I got you. Maybe Alan Cross and Strombo maybe. They may have. Maybe. Yeah.

Maybe Carlos might have done it for a time. He's in the kitchener still. Yeah. He came back and then said, screw this. I'm going back. You know what I mean? Yeah. I can see that. Well, he's probably quite comfortable where he was and then to come in the chaos that was happening at the time at the edge. Yeah, like, you know, not for me.

And you worked with Brother Bill. Yeah. Who I have upstairs, his VHS copy of the Speaker's Corner outtake. I saw some of the stills from that. Yeah, well, my censored stills. Yeah. Yeah, the good old days

before the internet. That building was pretty crazy, the City TV building. So you lived your dream. You got to be on air at CFNY. Yeah, I did. And then it came to an end.

How did this dream, third time's a charm, come to a crashing halt? Well, I was doing, a lot of times overnights and then sometimes uh evenings depending on on what was going on at the station at the time i would in the late nights i would play sometimes comedy between between songs uh louis ck and this was way back before he was anybody but but I had gotten his CD online and would play clips from it.

And sometimes it said, fuck. Touchstone Terrorist, another kind of a phone prank thing where they would play with telemarketers, or not telemarketers, but customer service stuff. And they would also say, fuck. I think I remember them from Stern Show. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so I would sometimes interweave that

between songs in the late nights. And that, okay, well, there's other things too. Like I would sometimes make fun of Nickelback and Theory of a Dead Man, not sometimes like a lot. Make up your mind. Yeah, and I would refer to Theory of a Dead Man as Theory of a Bad Band. And I remember they were coming in for an interview.

604 Records, man. Yeah, they were coming in for an interview and they were asking, where's that John Holliday they had heard, I guess. Is that right? That's pretty exciting to have a tick off. Yeah, a feud. But at the time, you know,

and I was naive a little bit in that, you know, this is a station I grew up with. I felt a bit of an ownership and I was frustrated. We have to play this like Creed as well. You wanted a time machine and go back to work for David Marsden. Yeah, well, just some of the stuff like we were playing, Creed especially, Nickelback.

And so the feeling from management at the time was, well, you know, these are artists we're playing. We don't want to shit on the things we're playing. In my head, I was like, well, I think it's like the audience. I'm not going to like every song the same way they're not going to like every song, and that's fine.

But not the way they saw it. So that was one... You must really hate the Edge now, right? How narrow is that playlist now? I haven't listened a ton, to be quite honest. But I know a lot of commercial radio stations have really, really tightened things up.

So that was one thing. The other thing that I think kind of led up to that was it was a really spontaneous thing. I was doing the, it was an evening show. And I had a friend visiting from out of town who was uh bilingual and just seat in my pants i i she was hanging out in the in the it was on um young street at dundas and i said why don't you do this break in french and we won't say anything about it.

And just for shits and giggles. And so she did. And then I came back next break and said, okay, you know, we got this notice here. The CRTC has come down today. And as part of our license, we now have to do, I think, 25% of our programming in French. So I thought it was just going to be one break, but then we got calls and angry people. And it wasn't April 1st.

No, it was just in the middle of a random day. She happened to be there, and I thought, but it took off because the phones lit up, and people were calling. There was a French immersion. I think this is great. She was excited about it, and then there were people who were angry, and we kept it going for for

basically the rest of the show and i maybe made the mistake of saying well you know it's not me if you want to get in touch with our program director email him and gave his email address and who was the program director at the time day farrell so her stories he uh so so that was that. He came in the next day, and his email box was full, and he was furious. Like, well, if you're going to do something like this, you have to let me know ahead of time. And it's like, well, that's not how it worked. It was spur of the moment.

In my head, I'm like, why are you angry about this? This is something that most program directors will be excited about. You've got this crazy sensation. But he was really, really mad that he had a full mailbox. And I had to write he forwarded all the email and I had to write each one separately saying, oh no, this is just a

joke, blah, blah, blah. And then at the time they had the input 102 phone line, which people could call and leave their comments. And I think there were, Robbie J, he told me there were close to 300 calls just on that one thing. Yeah, so any other radio,

if you can do that, that's like a viral thing back before viral videos. And if you can get that kind of reaction, you celebrate it, not despise it. And then, when we were doing the all requests, we had a couple of weeks,

maybe a month later, a girl from, I think Humber radio come in and she said, oh yeah, someone in our class asked about this new French thing and the whole class discussed it.

I was like, not real, didn't happen. That's on the curriculum now. Okay. So those were two kind of incidents, like the not liking the neck of a back, a theory of bad men.

They couldn't control Josh Holiday. He was a rebel without a cause. Yeah. Very rebellious. Terrible, terrible. They wanted someone they could control. So then,

um, the, I guess the, the last straw was I, some, okay. I, I,

I play, I've been playing like some Louis CK, Louis CK, some touchstone Terror, stuff that said fuck. My reasoning was that we were playing at nine o'clock at night, I want to fuck you like an animal. Yes, you were, yeah. Without censoring it. So I thought if someone's saying fuck in a joke or Louis C.K. saying it after midnight, then really what's the issue? the issue. So Dave calls me into the office one morning and says, someone called the, what is

it, the Bureau of Broadcasting, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters and complained about this thing. And then he played me the clip from my show where it said, fuck. And he said, oh, this is very serious. And then a couple days later, he went, okay, I'll take you back a step, though. I thought that was super suspicious that one person

had called the Canadian Association. Standards, whatever. Standards, yeah. Standards board or whatever. Canadians, whatever it was, yeah. I thought it was super suspicious because why would they not have called the station or the program director?

It felt to me like that wasn't a thing or maybe it was like someone from radio who was like, yeah, let's get rid of him. Conspiracy theories have been found. But so then that was like, I think, on a Tuesday or a Wednesday. And he was trying to set up a time for me to come into the office on a Thursday afternoon.

But I was filming cause I had parallel life. I was filming a, uh, an independent movie called twist with, uh, Nick stall. And we were supposed to film, we were supposed to film on that Thursday night.

And so I said, I can't come in then. I guess I, you know'll come in on Friday morning. So we were up shooting the film until like 3 or 4 in the morning all night. And then I sleep for a few hours and come into the station. And there's a human resources person there. Oh, yeah. And they had a folder?

Yeah. It's the writings on the wall. Oh, yeah. You know right away. And that's – I should – no. And, you know, they would have written me like a reference letter and everything. But that's where things went awry. I mean, that was like a, if I look back at my career where things really got derailed and I really fucked up,

I, because I felt so, you know, part of the CFMY, my teenage station, I felt I know this station. This is a part of who I am. You had a full sense of ownership. Yeah, I was incredibly frustrated. And here's how naive I was, too. When I went into the meeting with Dave in the morning, at first I thought, oh, maybe I'm getting a promotion

for doing all good work. And it was no. Even in the morning at first I thought, oh, maybe I'm getting a promotion for doing all good work. And it was no. No. So I went home. And because I had been hosting the all-request breakfast for two years, and I still had, I think I had been using one of my regular accounts, a POP3 or whatever, to access it. Email, yeah.

All of the people who had emailed me requests over the last two years i had their email addresses so i made a mass email where i i said you may have noticed that i'm no longer the station i i got fired here are the reasons why uh and i talked about the nickelback and the theory of a bad band. And I made my reasoning there too. I said, you know, just like you, you're not going to like everything we play. I think it's only respectful to you, the listener, that I'm honest with you. And then I think I may have mentioned a little bit

about the, well, I mentioned the fuck thing and the reasoning that we play fuck you like an animal, da, da, da. And I may have let on that, you know, that all across breakfast wasn't always a request. Maybe a little bit. But whatever the case was, I fired that out, you know, in haste.

I was still angry. And then the shit hit the wall. Dave Farrow calls me and is like, you can't do this. You have to like write back and say this, like all this stuff. And I was like, I'm you can't do this. You have to write back and say all this stuff. And I was like, I'm not going to do that. This is truth.

Yeah. So then someone picked up that email and made an online petition out of it. And it was very poorly grammatically written. And then Dave's assumption is that I made an online petition. But I was like, so it wasn't my petition. I was okay with it. I was like, all right, well, whatever. But then as, you know, a year or two went on, I was like, this is fucking hurting me.

So I had to get in touch with the petition site. I said, look, I didn't make this petition, but it's affecting my career. Yeah, it's going to Google you. So that was kind of, I think from that point on, I felt a bit of a blackball effect in the radio industry because it was a number of years before I got into radio. Well, this Pharaoh guy, I don't have an opinion on the man. I have not met him. But I do know that he made Humble and Fred pay $5,000 for the right to use their own name.

Yes. Because Kors had the trademark. Yeah. And that's my Pharaoh because I was there at the time at Humble and Fred Incorporated. And I was there when the email came in. I copied and pasted it and stuck it in a blog entry on tronomic.com. But that's my Pharaoh experience, so I don't know what that says.

Yeah, he's good. I think he's probably better as a... I don't know. I don't know what to say about Dave. What would Jeff Lumby say about him? Well, I mean, he's... I don't think he's like a... He understands sort of

the evolution of creative rate and personality radio but how do guys like that get jobs like that then like is it like how like how does radio do that well i think at some point he you know he a long time ago had a radio show and and maybe just sort of by being management friendly like i think there's some pds who are on the side of the talent and and will fight for the to the end, and there's some PDs who are more on the side of the upper management and will fight for upper management and it trickles down to the talent. And it depends on what they wear.

I think Jeff Woods became program director at Q, and he said he refused to change his wardrobe or whatever. And then his story about getting fired is a little like yours, except in the room he refused, he made the HR person kick the boss out of the room or something before he take the... Anyways, he had a similar

chorus HR folder experience. I can understand how he gets... I understand why he's non-monogamous because he's like this really handsome, rugged guy, tattoos. And that voice, right? The voice understand why he's non-monogamous because he's like this really handsome rugged guy

tattoos and that voice right the voice and he's just like he reeks of cool now is it authentic though is Jeff Woods

is that authentic Jeff is an authentically laid back guy I remember he was working for a record company when I was at CFM Wine I was

I think booking an interview I think it was Tim Robbins or something and his brother they were done a soundtrack and I remember dealing with Jeff on the phone at the time I was like man that guy is that guy is cool yeah that's exactly what it was like

talking to him was like just read the phone book for a while yeah exactly alright so you think you might have been blackballed yes we can't go into too much detail. No, I hear you. The time constraints here, but you're fired from your third round with CFNY.

Yes. And you're on air this time. Like people can hear your voice on the radio and you're fired. Yeah. It happens to many radio people, they get fired. But you think you might have been blackballed. Well, yeah.

You couldn't find another Toronto radio game. Well, and because I burnt the bridges on the way out and yeah, after that bridges on the way out. And yeah, after that, it was very tough. But is that still the goal? Like, is your goal now still to get a steady radio game? Yeah, I mean, that's... So after Stephen Wyde, I, here and there, did stuff, you know, did some stuff on Humble and Fred

and, you know, ended up doing more, like, you know, freelance stuff and focused more on the acting and that type of thing. Then a couple of years later, there is a new radio station starting in Calgary from the ground up and it's alternative station. So, so right down, right,

right in my wheelhouse. I sent my stuff out there to Christian Hall and ended up having a phone. And it was funny because the day that we set up to call to do a phone interview on the morning of, I had a landline and a cell phone at the time. It was just in that burpee here. I haven't had any beer, but I guess something's coming up. So I had a landline new cell phone I was really earlier on that so

he was supposed to call on the Friday morning and I guess I was behind on my phone bill and that morning my phone line was dead so I had to get my sister because the internet went down too because it was all tied together with Bell let's talk and so I got my sister to

I don't know if she used my email, but she emailed him and told him to call me on the cell. And so he called and we had a really, he was around for Q in the early days. He was part of that experience. Not with me. So you were blackballed only in Ontario. No, no.

Calgary hadn't heard yet. But this was like six years. Six years later. Later. And he took a flyer on me. We had a really, really great conversation. And then I called because I knew he was going to call Dave Farrow. So after we talked on the phone, he said, call Dave.

So I called Dave and left a message on his machine saying, hey, it's Josh. I know we had tough times. if you know if this guy calls can you maybe focus on the positive and then uh dave farrow called me and i went to the machine and he said i i'm you know i already spoke to him and i told him the truth uh blah blah blah you know as i'm required to do and And I was like, oh, great. But I ended up getting the gig. Somehow you still got the gig. Yeah.

So how many years were you in, was that X92? Two years at X92.9 in Calgary. Okay. And I found out, like, after, when I talked to Christian, that Dave wasn't especially helpful for my cause. A little bit negative. But that was a fantastic gig. I was doing Afternoon Drive, which is a great shift because mornings are super tough to get up for.

And I had a ton of fun. The city kind of ground me a little bit because I was so used to living in Toronto and it was such a change in terms of people, things to do, attitude, all of those things. But the gig itself was fantastic. Okay, so money-wise, what's the money like? Because that's one of the revenue-generating spots on a radio station, like the afternoon drive.

It was pretty decent. When I took the gig, I wasn't in a huge position to... Did you bring me a copy of your T4? Yeah, that's right. I wasn't in a great position to negotiate at that point sort of coming out there because I was pretty desperate for a gig but it was paid fair

and it was more than I had... And it got your foot back in the door. It got my foot back in the door. Calgary has very low or Alberta has really low taxes. And, you know, it was, when I'm doing like the hosting thing, it's something that you always say, you know, find a way to do a job that you would do for free and find a way of getting paid to do it. And this was similar.

Sure, there's a lot of things that, you know, that aren't fun about the gig. But in general it's it's something i i love to do so oh yeah if you do something you love you'll never work a day in your life i think that's the actual phrase yeah okay so i want to get to the podcast okay i have a podcast too so i'm just very interested in this you do i do what's it called it's called toronto mic i'm glad you asked so meta so So, by the way, if Ed is listening, Ed the Sock, real quick note, Ed,

I'm going to use a Listerine, Listerine, what are those cloths? Strips? Oh, I know what you mean. Baby wipe things. Yeah, on the microphone that Josh is burping into, because Ed's going to be talking into that. I wasn't burping, I was burping off the mic. I just want people to

know I do Listerine wipes these microphones. They're great microphones. Thanks again to Andrew Stokely who has already come up organically in this episode. So you have a podcast and where do you record this from? We record it in...

My mother has a house in Midtown Toronto and it's just her in this big house and the basement is finished. Is it as nice as this basement? Yeah, it's just her in this big house and the basement is finished. Is it as nice as this basement? Yeah, it's all right. It's okay. It's okay.

You can say it's much better. But again, acoustically it's nice because it's in the basement. There's a carpeting. That carpet's a good idea. She lives about five minutes up the road

from where I am so in terms of convenience and acoustics and everything it works out quite well. Yeah, Eileen comes, she commutes in from the Shua and we meet and everything works out quite well. Yeah, Eileen comes. She commutes in from the Shwa. We meet and we have some fun times.

And she likes it in the Shwa for people listening. She's enjoying it, yeah. And she's dealing with two young kids, so that takes up a lot of her time these days. Oh, yeah, she's got the Irish twins. Is that an appropriate expression? Yeah, I think so. I don't know.

Irish are still okay to pick on. We love the Irish. All right, so you record at your mom's, in your mom's basement. Yes. And how many episodes do you have under your belt? We are not nearly as many as Toronto Mike. Well, it took almost five years to get there. I'm on, this is my fifth year.

This is true. You've been at it a while. It took a long time. We just finished, I think, the 26th, which would be like half a year's worth, six months. Sounds like one a week. That's all I'm looking for. Yeah, we're doing one a week,

and that seems to work well for Eileen's schedule. And we haven't had a lot of guests. We had Humble Howard come in just because it seemed appropriate. All right, so that's a good question. So this thing you're on now evolved. So at the beginning, it was similar. Me and my female friend shooting the shit. This is how it started i was gonna say

i was gonna say a similar thing probably happened where you you're starting the podcast you can commit to it every week and but in my case i was i was i was thinking of people i was thinking i don't think anyone any female i know is going to be as into this or willing to commit to do it every week as I am. So I started out as Josh and a lady. Right. And then we're just rotating friends. And then I had been trying to get Eileen on for a little while, but she was in the midst of moving. She had finished The Humble Fred.

And then she came on and we seemed to have decent chemistry. I didn't really know her too much before, just from visits to Humble and Fred and chatting, but having similar backgrounds in terms of radio and knowing the ins and outs of that. I had her on and then did it the next week and then to me it became clear. I said, well, is this something you'd want to do on a regular basis?

And you locked her up with a long-term contract. Yeah, we've tied her in non-compete clause all of those things uh and yeah it's it's it's been her and i since then okay but you mentioned guests so yes so mine that's mine started like exactly like that and then my female friend uh took a gig far away from here yes in this this crazy york region area yeah and it was like in fact there's something about like she wasn't even allowed to do like the podcast or something like there's a whole thing there yeah but uh okay so now i move on and i realized what i actually and i had a buddy elvis who came in and did some

shoot the shit episodes too and he still does once in a while but i realized what i in fact funnily enough i think the first time i tried this type of episode uh i had a few people in that like bingo bob and people like that but i sat down with freddie p one day yeah and i think i just went we talked about his career and i asked all the questions as a fan i always wanted to ask and put him on the record and that was fun and then i did it with humble howard and then it's then next thing you know what jonathan torrence is here alan cross and then then it's like a light goes on and you realize, this is actually what I want Toronto Mike to be. I want to have

interesting people over to have conversations about, and then I want to ask all the questions I always wanted to know as a fan, like all the stuff you don't hear in these corporate short sound, I want to do long form real conversation, and then that's what it is now, 214 episodes. Yeah, and you found your niche, and as I said,

I started listening to a lot of the episodes in the spring and there's nothing similar to it. And I think for me too, because I think we're in a similar kind of generation, we're in Toronto and have similar interests. So industry-wise, it's something I like to listen to

because I hear tales. But is that so Josh and the lady? Is this where you're going? Are you on my turf is what I'm asking? Yes, right. I'm trying to compete right head to head with Toronto Mike. No. So I started out as having her

and wanted to just chat about things in general and do kind of a hot talk style radio, which I'm a big fan of talk radio, but there's a station in Tampa called The Bone. That's what you would call hot talk where it's not about politics or whatever. It's just about day-to-day things. So it kind of started as that, where we talk about what's happening in life and make fun of stuff and a little bit of newsy items thrown in. Lately, we've strayed a little bit from the

newsy items and been more just talking about things in general, which has been good. But the notion, I think, all along is to have that chat and then have guests occasionally as well. And we're ramping up to that now. We had Hummel Howard on because that seemed like a perfect kind of fit because we're bothing up to that now. We had Hummel Howard on because that seemed like a perfect kind of fit

because we're both connected by him. This coming week, do you know Matt Watts? He's, he basically, he created that show or co-created the show, Michael Every Day on CBC.

And he's, he's. I like the title though. I didn't know it existed, but Michael Every Day would be the kind of title I would take note of. Yeah. So he's... I like the title, though. I didn't know it existed. But Michael Every Day would be the kind of title I would take note of. Yeah. So it's basically, it's a psychologist and his friends.

It's a comedy. But Matt's one of those guys who has been involved with a lot of things, but he's not... He's kind of... Like he was on the newsroom. Remember Ken Finkelman's show? Absolutely. He was one of the main guys on that.

And he's best friends with Don McKellar, the director. So he plays in those circles. But he's coming on next week. He just wrote a big article on TIFFNet about his struggles with depression. And I've known him for ages, since since doing standup a long time ago. He's coming on. Uh, and I think I'm,

I'm friends with, uh, Kevin Hearn, uh, who has, I know him mostly from his own band. He makes some great music, Kevin Hearn and Thin Buckle and Kevin Hearn,

uh, also with Baron Eccles. He's going to come on soon. He's a really, really nice guy, but, but just, you know,

just, okay, but just, uh, let, let me have Jennifer Hedger. Okay. Cause she's coming on soon. So that one's... Okay, but just let me have Jennifer Hedger, okay? Because she's coming on soon.

So that one's mine. If I see that you have Jennifer Hedger on, I will be very upset. Yeah, a lot of it's just people I know and like. Not that I don't like Jennifer. I don't know Jennifer Hedger, and I have no feeling negative or positive. I remember on The Lofters, she was...

Right, that's going to be one of my questions, of course. Of course. And I know she's a mother now because we're trying to schedule around her mothering. Yes. And I know she is married to a sportsnet guy who's a handsome blonde guy whose name is eluding me right now. But he cut the ribbon when I did the Hazel 5K. Oh.

And it'll come to me. It'll never come to me. Okay. So I want to ask you about the podcast and what its purpose. Is it just because you enjoy it or is there like a goal here where is it to like an audition tape for you being a radio host? Well, I mean, I think it would be naive not to think that. Part of it is keeping in practice, you know, since the Calgary was hosting afternoon show daily, I've done other gigs where it was at CBC for four years behind the scenes, mostly did a little bit on air, but in a situation where you're talking a lot during the day and kibitzing and all that stuff. But since CBC, I've been doing a lot of freelance.

So I spent a lot of time alone. Like I don't have, you know, wife or been doing a lot of freelance. So I spend a lot of time alone. Like I don't have a wife or kids or anything. I live alone. So some days, the only words I'm speaking are, may I please have a large latte? And so I was finding that. You forgot how to talk. A little bit, yeah.

I was using a lot of crutches in terms of when I'm talking. And then my voice had become a little thin and a little bit sort of in the throat. So I actually, don't call me ridiculous, but I went to, and partially too, I think, because I do voiceover and other stuff on the side, but I went to a vocal coach for about six weeks, like an hour session a week, to kind of rejuvenate and kind of fine-tune the, you know, just being able to speak. There are more ridiculous things than that. Like, I don't think I'd throw ridiculous stuff at you. What do I know about voices?

Well, it was really, really, yeah, it was really, yours is great. Don't change a thing, is that right? Don't change a thing. I think that that's a misnomer with people. Like, that's an old radio thing where, you know, the, hey, everybody. Jim Van Horn on 1050 Chum. Yeah.

And it used to be that was the thing. And then most major markets, you could have whatever voice you wanted. But still in the smaller markets, they felt like, oh, we need to have like a radio. Right. Hey, go back up and belly fruit salad. But you listen to, you know, public oh, we need to have a radio. Hey, coming up with belly frittato. But you listen to public radio, iriglass and stuff. You're okay. You're all right.

That's true, actually. Coming up on this American life. So I felt that that kind of helped. And now doing this weekly thing, it certainly helps in sort of keeping in practice. You've got a muscle. You're exercising a muscle. And it's almost therapeutic

because I get someone to talk to for an hour and a half. It's cheaper than a therapist. Yeah. Oh, much cheaper. That's good. So tell me about otherwise, is there a plan to because this is my great I don't know if you call it a challenge or like my I'm not sure about monetizing.

So like I have this thing, it exists. I know there are listeners and there's positive feedback. And at some point a beer company approached me. That's great. And I took the meeting and then we struck a deal and they renewed twice now. So they're at least going to be on here for 18 months. And they're great.

Lakes beer. And you got your, how do you pronounce that? Patron, Patron, Patron. How do you pronounce that? Patron? Patron? Patron? Oh, Patreon. So I'm going to ask Ed DeSauk and I

are going to have a good chat about Patreon campaign because that has been underwhelming to be quite honest. And I'm not sure how you get that

going, the Patreon. But then another company did approach me, Chef's Plate. But notice here, I'm not approaching anybody. Like I'm not out

hustling or trying to sell anything. I don't have the drive or the time, but I would enjoy more sponsors on the show. So what is your monetization plan? At present, there is no monetization plan. I know some people who are hustlers. Howard is always selling. Howard is a... Hustler, yeah. Howard is always selling. He's the hustler side of that operation. But they have 25... And you have a little of this, but I mean, I'm going to...

Don't be offended by this, but most people listening, Josh Holiday isn't quite like, oh, okay, like Andy Frost. Oh, yeah, the Q107 guy. Yeah, no, no. So there's a little bit of like, I'm not sure about that name.

As it was with Rob Johnston, actually. Similar, they don't know the name. But Howard and Fred, Humble and Fred, have been on big time morning radio for, what, 20 years or whatever.

Yeah. And they can leverage that brand. And then the other thing is they're not just a podcast. They can point to subscriber numbers at SiriusXM and say,

oh, look at how many trillion people are subscribed or whatever. So it's completely different compared to Arena. I think that's the benefit that a lot of people who have come straight from being on a radio station

to doing the podcast thing have is you can bring your audience with you. Yeah, name brand. But yeah, I think monetization wise, we're not really super hustlers. We're open to it you know we mentioned it but you know i there's some people who are you know and here's some of the shows

where people are better at hustling sponsors and advertisers than actually doing a show like there's people i i know who i know what you're saying like There are people I know for a fact have far less listeners than I might have and might have big name sponsors paying more money. And there's not necessarily, in this podcast world, it's a bleeding edge thing. So it's like you're sort of on this new frontier, but there's not always a correlation

between actual listeners and monetization. It's almost like the weight of the brand means more than the actual number of people who will hear the sponsor mentions and hear the brand and stuff. It feels that way, yeah. So I mean, I think both Eileen and I are of that industry

and the end goal would probably be to get back into some sort of you know whether it's satellite or or regular broadcasting well you have your friends of howard right he uh they must i i don't i don't think it pays well i think it's mainly to have the like spot on the station so you can go to like a pizza pizza and say hey sponsor my serious xm show and then we can talk or whatever uh but i don't know they seem to be giving shows out to lots of people. I know. Well, that's the funny thing. And I do mention some people are better hustling than others,

I guess. I try to hustle and I try to push, but... There are some losers with shows on SiriusXM Radio. No, I'm not saying that. No, I'm saying that. That's on me. That's one thing about... I find a little bit frustrating

about the satellite radio is there's not a lot of metrics to measure shows by. No. So basically, there's the one guy in charge, and if he likes you, you're on. And there's nothing to say, well, your ratings are great. We're going to keep you. Or your ratings are great.

Let's bring you on. Right. And similarly, on Cbc radio too i found that they're they're not bound by the metric so they can fail a lot and and there's no changes made and and so it can be it can become frustrating especially in in places where there's no metrics attached to shows because uh i know there's stuff that i hear where it's like well no no one's listening to that it's true it's true well well, no, no one's listening to that. It's true. It's true.

Well, at least CBC has made a few changes lately. Yeah, and positive changes. I think it was great that they brought Raina in to do CBC Radio 2 mornings. The only thing I, you know, I haven't heard too much, but I worry that they're going to like kind of box her in and not let her be herself. Well, I think they're going to try. Yeah, I think they're going to like kind of box her box her in and i think they're gonna try yeah i think they're gonna try well hopefully she's got some leverage having been lured over there that she can kind of uh do her own thing without too much too much interference but but that was

certainly a perfect fit for her she's you know uh indie queen she's really good at what she does great voice uh and talented so i thought that that was a step in the right direction for sure. Lois Lowe, love it. He was on the show. Somebody criticizes me every time I mention previous guests, but it's a bad habit. But I don't know, like if somebody says Lois Lowe, I want to say Ron Hawkins was on the show

and I know it's self-certified. But it's like, who's my boss? How much do I make off this thing? And it's cross-reified but it's like who's my boss? How much do I make off this thing? And it's cross-referenced. People are like, oh, I better go back and check it out.

I need to go into the archives and listen to the Ron Hawkins. I used to always play Bleed a Little Wild tonight because it made the case for Bathurst Street. He talks about kissing on Bathurst Street

at nine. But my thing was it led me into saying Bathurst is really the coolest street in Toronto because everywhere it intersects is the cool area like Bathurst and Bloor is cool, College and Bloor. Wherever Bathurst crosses, that's a cool intersection on that street.

Did you know the name Sneaky D's was in response to Honest Ed's? Oh, I did not know that. Yeah, so I didn't know that either because it was across the street. Ah, that makes sense. And I know that when you guys were at Bloor and Bathurst, you were really close to the... Across the street. Yeah.

There you go. Hey, and since we're listening to something from Shakespeare My Butt, and I told this to Ron Hawkins, Edge 102 played the mess. That's what I don't want to say, like, the fuck, and I'm trying to clean it up, but I'll say The Mess. They played The Mess out of Shakespeare in My Butt, and I

loved it. Nice. Nice. Just great album. Go ahead. I was going to say, well, one thing I find frustrating is this album, Shakespeare in My Butt, was huge in Toronto, like a massive hit. Not very many other places in the country, And I understand why

some of the radio stations that play your booms or the edges don't use this as CanCon because it has a real resonance with people. So they don't? I guess I should... They play a lot of the spoons, I noticed, on boom. And I don't know why they wouldn't just kick it up here

and play this stuff. Great stuff. Hey, Josh, it was a pleasure meeting you. I want you to have great success with your podcast, but not more success than I have. Is that okay to say that? You keep me posted and I'll try and stay just a little bit behind you. And you can't poach the beer sponsor. No, no.

They're yours. I've got to find a different... You can talk to Molson Coors or something like that. I'm going to plug joshandalady.com or joshholiday.com. And thank you so much for having me. It's been fun. No, it's been great talking radio with you. And that brings us to the end of our 214th show.

You can follow me on Twitter at Toronto Mike. And Josh is at joshholiday. He mentioned the two L's. They're very important. And our friends at Great Lakes brewery are at Great Lakes beer and chef's plate is at chef's plate. See, see you all next week. Yeah, I know it's true How about you?

They're picking up trash and they're putting down roads And they're brokering stocks, the class struggle explodes And I'll play this guitar just the best that I can