Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Kelly Cutrara: Toronto Mike'd #137

Episode Date: October 7, 2015

Mike chats with radio host Kelly Cutrara about her years at 102.1 the Edge, Mix 99.9, CFRB, CBC Radio 2, Fresh FM and what she's up to now.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Am I? Is this actually a theme song of yours? Kelly, I do a whole thing here. Somebody write this for you? We can't just talk. Guy, you asked me over. Did somebody write this for you? Yeah, somebody. Ilva wrote this for me. Shut it. But I have a thing I do a whole thing here. Somebody write this for you. We can't just talk. Guy, you asked me over.

Did somebody write this for you? Yeah, somebody. Ilva wrote this for me. Shut it. But I have a thing I do now, and everybody expects it. Okay, do it. Welcome to episode 137 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything, often with a distinctly Toronto flavor.

Can I read that? Well, no, because I'm plugged in here. Really? Kelly, this is not like those other podcasts you do. This is a professional outfit here. Sorry. I'm Mike from torontomike.com, and joining me this week is radio host and voiceover actress Kelly Cotrera.

I prefer actor. Actor. I prefer actor. Because that's sexist to say actor. Because thespian is too much. You're coming out as a thespian. I said pardon. It's done.

Do you remember The Champ? Of course I do. He had an episode like that. I lose it. I snap. Hey, Champ. I heard your wife is quite the thespian. I said pardon.

What? I said. Well, I lose it. I snap, well, I lose and I snap. That's pretty good. Thank you. That's why you're a voiceover actor. Thank you.

I think I need more headphone on my... Oh, yeah. Or maybe I need to get right up this. These mics are God. Well, the mics have nothing to do

with your headphones. How many lips have been on these mics? Mike Wilner's was just on it. Do you know Mike Wilner? Because you're a huge Blue Jay fan.

You're not at all. That's a joke. I'm going to get to this. Can I just say that often when I have a guest come over... You think of me? Often when I go to the door to meet them, it's the very first time I've met them. Most of my guests I meet for the first time when they come on and do the show. With you, it was a different sensation. It was like a friend's coming to visit. Well, I am a friend, aren't I? We even dressed alike today. We didn't even call each other. That is how close we are. Coincidentally, both of our, we got to get a picture later. Both

of our shirts have bicycles on them. Mine is warped though. Because you have boobs. That's true. It's a true story. I have pecs. I can't see your pecs, but I have to tell you, you are aging. Do you want me to remove my shirt? No, no, no, no. That'd be too much for me. Your wife's not home and here we are in the studio. Well, I wouldn't go further than that. Oh, well, thank you. Thank you.

So I'm not good enough for you to go further than that. That's not what I said. I know that we're both happily married. And when I stop recording, then we can have that discussion. You know, when somebody says they're happily married, I call bullshit. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Why? Because the rest of us are just married. No, no, because there's married and available. There's married and available. No, that's a swinger. No, that's a

guy who's married and is not monogamous, but doesn't let his wife know that. Yeah, he's a cheater then. Right. Yeah. Ashley Madison was full of them. Okay. No legitimate women to sleep with. But my point is, so when you say you're happily married, that is to say I'm married and monogamous. Just so I can't be sued, Ashley Madison was allegedly full of them.

They're not going to sue you. Allegedly no women. Ashley Madison, yeah, I did read that. So I'm happy to have you here and it took a long time.

You were very difficult to, for some reason, for somebody to have a lot of time on their hands. Shut up. You were very difficult to book. That's so rude. You were very difficult to book. reason for somebody to have a lot of time on their hands shut up you were very difficult to book you were very difficult to book and then you're like you wanted to come over and i had i had will speaking to mike wilner and his lips

you said can i come over and i said well actually at that time and day wilner is going to be here and i thought that'd be awkward to have you at the same time uh and probably because i i mean i wrecked your intro so you. You're the first person. Who's been that rude. And I think it's because we are friends. You would not have done that if we weren't friends. No, my God. If we weren't friends, I would have sat here nicely.

No one's done that. I'm the worst of my friends. I'm a bad friend. Just to answer the question you're asking at the wrong time, the Ill Vibe local rapper local rapper producer videographer uh-huh he that's an he composed that theme song for me i love it yeah i love it did you like what i added though the little bit of oh you don't i don't know is that part of your missing something there voiceover training but we're gonna get to that so we're gonna get to that hey i brought you

something can we start off the show? Because in my people, whoever they are, I'm going to go with the Italian side, always bring a guest. Is this coffee? A gift to a person's home. No, open it up. You can open it. This podcast is not a visual medium.

No, I know. I gave him a bag. It's a former wine bag. Are these from your apple orchard? They are from the farm. I love apples. There's no pesticides or anything. I love pesticides.

I honestly will enjoy these so thoroughly. I eat an apple a day. Okay, good. You've got a week's worth. Thank you very much. That's sweet. You're not joking. You sound like you really like them. I really very welcome. That's sweet. And you live, you're not joking. You sound like you really like them.

I really like your apples. Thank you very much. You're sweet. Okay. I'm really, no, I really do. What am I supposed to do? I really like these apples. I don't know, but I have a feeling, I have a feeling deep inside my core, no pun intended,

that you're going to take those out at night and whip them at the local school like we used to after Halloween. I have a crab apple tree in the front. I don't know if you noticed when you pulled in. No, crab apples are not good to eat though. No, I don't eat them, but I throw them at kids. That's what I, my point is I'm going to throw an apple. I have many apples in my front yard.

I can throw at kids because I can't eat them. These ones I'm going to eat because I love apples and that's not bullshit. I, I'm telling you, I love apples. I knew that. I'm knowing about, I'm knowing from my apple loving. Obsession? Yeah. Uh, yeah, absolutely.

So you live in, can I say that? No, no, don't tell people where it is. I live in the GTA, but my in-laws have a farm outside Georgetown, and it's 130 acres of beautifulness. Okay, but you don't live that close. No, but I don't live too far. You call it the GTA. I live in the GTA.

Okay. You seem very private, but no one's going to find you based on this detail. I wasn't going to name a street or anything. Here's the GTA. I live in the GTA. Okay. You seem very private, but no one's going to find you based on this detail. I wasn't going to name a street or anything. Here's the thing. You don't have to disclose this, but can I say you live in the greater Acton area? No, Acton. God, that's the worst place on the planet.

Sorry about that, Ryan Parker. I love you. And who's Ryan Parker? He's a producer. No, Ryan Parker's the co-host on Q's Morning Show and he lives in Acton. He talks about it often. Are you allowed to swear on this? Fucking goddamn. I'm on no real radio.

This is iTunes and subscriptions. And I have an explicit thing in iTunes already, so you should swear. It's like I'm obligated to swear to earn the rating. Okay, so you seem like a Toronto girl?

I am. I was born at St. Joe's Hospital. I was born at St. Joe's Hospital. Salute. Parkdale. Yeah, I was born at St. Joe's Hospital. And I would say I'm a Toronto girl because I grew up outside the city. And I grew up in Kingston, too.

My parents moved around a bit when I was a kid. But I ended up moving back to Toronto for school when I went to Ryerson. Okay, I went to UT. Close. Keep going. This is great. We're the same people. Yeah.

And so then I just, I guess I came into my own Toronto. I was very independent from a young age. But why aren't you near Toronto now? Like, why did you leave Toronto? Oh, you know, you make compromises when you're happily married. Is it your husband? How long have you been married? Now it's 11 years.

11 years. That's a long time. Do you still dig him? Yeah, he's a great guy. Would he listen to this? Will you tell him about this? No, not a chance. I was curious.

He doesn't listen to my stuff. My wife doesn't listen to my stuff either. No, they're not. Unless I have Roz or Mocha on. Yeah, here's the thing. They're just not interested. Are you... Okay, because I just thought you belonged in the junction or something.

By the way... I lived on Roncesville before it was hip. I tend to have lived in all the cool areas of Toronto before they get hip. Before, and then, yeah. That's what I'm hoping happens here, maybe. No, this is a good area. Will it become... I like it.

It's cute. Like, no one talks about New Toronto. Is that what it's called? Mimico people... Is it called New Toronto? Yeah. Oh, they shouldn't have called it that. That's why. what it's called mimico new toronto yeah people talk about it that that's why but it's a really old name for it's ironically enough so do you know

that like mimico seems to get a cool vibe like i hear people talk about mimico a lot like we always say oh he's from mimico or you see it in like toronto life magazine they talk about mimico it's up and coming i could throw a rock and hit mimico because those numbers when they start that you know i can throw a rock and hit mimico but because those numbers, when they start that, you know, I can throw a rock and hit Mimico, but no one ever talks. New Toronto, you wouldn't know existed unless you kind of live there. Who was naming these places?

Like Mimico sounds like. And Mimico and New Toronto have like a long rivalry. Like I think at some point we were going to fold into Mimico and we resisted. Like there was a reason, but my, okay. I was biking the other day in my old riding for most of my life I lived in the riding called Parkdale High Park

and I saw the signs for Peggy Nash who I happen to really like I got my vote I love Peggy Nash but we're not talking about Peggy Nash my point is I miss the riding I'm in this new riding and I'm trying to catch up on what's going on

do you vote? of course I vote but that's boring talk I miss the rioting. I'm in this new rioting and it's like I'm trying to catch up on like what's going on. Do you vote? Of course I vote. Not everybody votes. But that's boring talk. Let's move on. Let's get to something more interesting. Just to establish, you don't care about,

you do not care about the Toronto Blue Jays. Is that correct? No, I didn't say I don't care. I'm happy they're winning. It's great. I remember when they won the last two World Series in the 90s running up and down Yonge Street

with the rest of the people that were as inebriated as I was. Will you do that again? Probably not. But you're indifferent. You're not going to watch tomorrow when David Price plays the Texas Rangers. Probably not. Not going to lie.

And tonight you will not be watching the Leafs. No. Why would you watch the Leafs? I don't know. Opening night, Bob Cole calling Leafs versus Habs. You could be drawn ins? I don't know. Opening night, Bob Cole calling Leafs versus Habs. You could be drawn in if you were a hockey fan, but you're not a sports girl

is my point. No, I am not sporty. You're not even into TFC who might make the playoffs for the first time ever. No. Not really. And you're not into the Argos

like your friend... Listen, I can get excited... You know your friend Blind Derek who you were supposed to bring with you. No. I actually called

and I apologized to him. I told him I was cheating on him on the way over. But you still have to bring him. You just have to be kind of quiet and sit there while I talk. What? No, no, no. It's a tandem thing. Okay. You can still talk. That's why I have the extra microphone. Okay. See how the rules change? I realize

I really don't care if you talk. The three of us can talk, but you still have to bring blind Derek in because I need to talk to Blind Derek about some things. All right. Okay. Do you have notes written? Yeah, I have notes. Wow, okay.

Because I, real quick, speaking of Mimico, the new Toronto, in Long Branch, which is the one closer to Mississauga, there's a KFC. Hold on. There's a KFC. Riff me. A KFC that converted to a Tim Hortons.

So I took a photo because what they did is they took the bucket of chicken and they painted it into a coffee cup. Really? I love that idea. Okay. So I took a photo of this, okay. And I tweeted a photo and I called it, I wrote about it. I called it KFC Hortons. And then on Reddit, somebody took my title and what I wrote, copied and pasted it and took my, and put it all on Reddit, but never linked back or gave me any credit for it. And it pissed me off that somebody did that. Shouldn't get too angry.

I got very mad because I wrote a little piece about the KFC Hortons, and they just copied, pasted it, they took it as their own. Did they put a picture of you? No, I'm not in it. It's just my photo that they took credit for. They just thought it was cute. I don't know.

I'm not. So that wouldn't bother you? Not really. Not really. It shouldn't bother me? No, it shouldn't bother you. I think it's cool that somebody thought what you thought was cool is interesting. And they put it out there.

I don't know. Who needs credit? Do you really need credit for it? I just feel like that's rude. You know what I feel is rude? When you're in traffic and the lane is collapsing and everybody knows the lane collapses and the person goes all the way. They bomb out of the back of the line and they go all the way up to the front where the lane's going to collapse. And then they try and

get in, usually driving a Lexus. That's what I think. And they don't like make eye contact because they know they're bad. They just start coming in and dare you to hit them. No, they're Lexus drivers. So they don't, they think, well, you're not going to hit me. I'm too expensive. And they're right. Me and my sob just curse them. Yeah. I know that's even, that's rude as well, but they're both rude. Can you, uh, how the hell did you end up at 102.1 the edge? You, that's where I first discovered Kelly Cotrera. Were you, did you do anything before that? That I would know? Tell me. Well, I don't know if you'd know it, but I worked at Y95. Was that my first job? No, my first job was out in Victoria at a place called CKDA Classic Hits.

And I was playing, it was in the bottom of, it was like WKRP. I've never since seen, worked or seen a radio station like it. It was the basement of a hotel, like, and not a nice hotel. One of the ones where, you you know you all have all the characters in the bar and like yeah the bar flies yeah it was so it's called the douglas street hotel and it was the dirtiest place ever like you'd never rent a room there even if you were gonna have a torrid affair you're better off to just you know if you weren't happily married you mean yeah exactly anyhow so yeah i i worked there um and then I ended up they were automating it's like the

you know what radio that radio station if I would have been um don't forget to stay on my microphone if I would have been more astute and just observing the world more and taking it seriously and looking at it as a microcosm for the whole industry, I probably wouldn't have been doing radio or have done radio at any other stations because I was doing evenings and they were making me automate the overnights. So I would program the computer. So I was essentially programming people in my industry.

They had computers back then. Yeah, and you put the carts into the computer. Oh, the funny guy. I know. And it would just. That's my attempt at humor. Anyhow, I left and I went to Whistler to be a ski bum first season. Cool.

And what era is this? 90s. Yeah. 90s. It was great. I had a great time. I highly recommend that. If anybody is listening that has kids and your kids say, I want to go work and live at a ski resort, just teach them about chlamydia

and then send them on their way. I'm not saying I had chlamydia. I'm just saying STDs, you should be aware of what you can catch because there's going to be a lot of sex and a lot of drinking. No, I mean, I spent a little time there in 98 after the Ross Rabagliati. Yeah, right. Am I saying that right? Because you're Italian. Rabagliati? No, I thought it was Ross Rabagliati? Yeah, right. Am I saying that right? Because you're Italian. Rabagliati? No, I thought it was Ross Rabigliati. I'm close though. Anyway, in that era.

So yeah, that's very cool. So when did you, what, you're in BC? Yeah, I lived in BC and then I worked, I came back and then I worked in Hamilton at Y95, classic hits or classic rock overnight. And then I left there and I went to Calgary for three months and worked at a station in Calgary. And then I came back to Y95 and then I went out West again to the Fox.

Yeah, of course. It's C Fox in Vancouver. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, then I came,

then I went to Ireland and I traveled around the world. How long were you in Ireland? I was in Ireland for about a year and I was working on a radio station in Ireland. I was writing jokes for a morning show, which is crazy because really, Irish people are much funnier than we are. And who are you to write jokes? Exactly. That's hilarious.

But I did it. And a year you were there. Yeah. Beats my record. I spent one week there. You beat my record. I was in Dublin. It was awesome.

That's where I was too. Where else would you go? You could go anywhere. That's true. It's a good place. Sure. And did you go to the top of the Guinness Brewery? You know, I lived in Dublin and I never went to the brewery because I never tend to do

Because locals wouldn't do that. No. It's like going to the top of the CN Tower. That's right. Come on, that's the last place I'd go. But you might if you had someone coming in from out of town and you felt it was a tour. And I didn't have anybody coming in from out of town because all my friends were as poor as I was at that time.

Right, right, right, right. You know. Very cool. Yeah. And then I came back here and I worked at the Edge, I think. Yeah, I did. So Edge was right after Ireland. Yeah, I think so.

I don't know. It's so far back now. But yeah, I worked at the Edge doing middays. Yeah. It was a good time. Okay. Tell me if this is correct. Actually, I didn't. No, I'm going to start. I worked at the Edge doing middays. Yeah. It was a good time. Okay. Tell me if this is correct. Actually, I did.

No, I'm going to start. I worked at the Edge. Yeah. I did like a month of overnights. Then I moved down to evenings. Then I did the Thursday 30 with Martin Streak. Then I got moved down to the All Request Breakfast. So the weekend mornings on the edge.

And then I got moved into middays. That's how it worked. It was a... I basically did almost every show on the edge. I remember these shows vividly because that was my edge decade. Yeah. It's like pretty much... It was great.

I had a great time. I loved it. And you were... So when you... You took over for Mae Potts, right? I did. Yeah. Mae Potts, who's been on the show

and is a lovely lady. She is the nicest human being, isn't she? She has a fantastic voice. There's no way she wrecked your intro. She wouldn't do it. She sat quietly. And she brought her daughter with her who amazingly she's got like a 25-year-old daughter.

Yeah. And she was so respectful of my opening and brought a tear to my eye. Like when I finished the opening, I was literally crying because she had such respect for this opening. Yeah. And I respect people who respect my opening. Yeah.

So May Potts, who was extremely popular because guys like me were like, we loved her. So of course, how could you, how could you be like the substitute teacher? It was horrible coming in after for May Potts. But you know what? I just thought I'm not May.

And it wasn't like May got the heave-ho. May went over to Mojo. Yeah, yeah. And she did what Humble and Fred did. Yeah, I remember May saying to me one night, it was funny. And she had kind of given me her blessing, even though I didn't really know what was going on. I think we were going to, we used to have these great Christmas parties. This is back in the day. And I feel like I worked in radio right before it became really corporate. So it was on

its way to corporate when it wasn't there yet. So we were on our way, we would have these Christmas parties at the courthouse in the basement and they would get really wild. Like there was no food. If there was, I don't remember eating any, it was just drinking and it was great, right? And it was a really small room and, you know, nobody dressed up like a disco ball. You know how those women get, it's like, you look like an Italian mother-in-law at a wedding. You know, it's over the top what you're wearing. So we were walking to one of those and May Potts said,

yeah, you're my replacement. I know they're going to give you my job one day. And I went, what are you talking about? Because I really loved May on the air. So I thought, what are you, you're my replacement. I know they're going to give you my job one day. And I went, what are you talking about? Because I really loved May on the air. So I thought, what are you, you're high. And that was right after she smoked a joint. So she, that is not true. I added that in for effect.

It's practically legal. She did walk me over though. And we did not smoke a joint together. I have never smoked with May Potts. But yeah, I guess she saw it coming and I didn't. And that was really tough. And I basically told the audience, I'm not May. I feel really honored to be doing her show.

But it's a different show. And then I just did my own thing. I don't know if I did it well, but I did what I did. All right. But remind me, when this Mojo thing starts, Mojo 640. Yeah. And May's going to go do a show there. Right.

And May's going to talk to guys over there. And Humble and Fred are going over there to be the morning show. So was there ever a period where you were... No, Humble and Fred were actually still... I came on after them. So when Humble and Fred... So how does that work? Don't they leave this...

Isn't that a simultaneous move, May and Humble and Fred? Aren't they all going to Mojo at the same time? No. May went first. And I kind of feel like she was co-hosting with someone. Yeah. So there was a Mojo before Humble and Friend. It was Humble and Friend on mornings.

Yes. And then me on middays. And then Alan Cross on afternoons. And the brother in Toronto at noon, I think. Brother, that's right. Who's now Neil Morrison. Yeah. I guess he was always Neil Morrison.

And then Humble and Fred left and Dean came in. Okay, cool. So what was that like? So coming in after Humble and Fred left and Dean came in. Okay, cool. So what was that like? So coming in after Humble and Fred, they were good guys back then? Yeah. Because a lot of these listeners are going to want to hear the truth. Yeah, but you know I was on the Humble and Fred podcast. So yeah, of course they were good guys.

Of course, I'm going to get to that. Would I bother if I didn't like those guys a lot? No, they were great guys. They were fun. Still are. And you mentioned doing Thursday 30 with Martin Streak. So what kind of guy was Martin since... You know what?

To be honest, and I'm probably the only one that's going to speak honestly on these podcasts because I'm not... No, a lot of people... Everyone's honest on these. Really? I've listened to a few and I thought maybe someone was disingenuous here or there. Just a couple. I want to hear.

Just way too... It's like, no. Which ones did you listen to? I'm not telling you. Let's do this now. No, you have to tell me which one you listened to. I'm just saying that not everyone speaks the truth all the time. And my truth with Martin Streak is I worked with him and I never really got to know him, which is really interesting.

And it says a lot about either me or him. But we were like, we were very different, Martin and I. He was really up all the time. And I tend to be a little bit more like, you know, sometimes I'm excited, sometimes I'm not. You can't get up there and stick there. Yeah, he had crazy amounts of energy. And, you know, we met on this, I think we liked similar music. But I don't, you know, he had a lot of girls coming in on a daily basis.

Like we'd do the Thursday 30 and these girls would just come in to talk to him. And I, it was, you know. A humble and Fred tell me they do more than talk to him. Well, I didn't see any of that. Well, I didn't see any of that. No. I didn't see any of that. That was later maybe. But no, I mean, I don't have a bad word to say about Martin.

I just, I don't, I never got to know him, even though we did the show together. How long did you guys do the show together? You know, it had to be three, four months. Okay. Yeah. Maybe more. Usually you know a co-host or whatever. It's not that I didn't, you know, we just didn't, we just did our job.

Maybe. So we focused on the music and we focused on the show. Right. But was he, he was nice to you? And then that was done. Yeah.

Who was disingenuous on my show? That's the kind of stuff I need to know because I have to trust these people are going to be honest with me. I'm just saying that not everyone, it's just a lot of people

are very conscious of their image and I am. Is it Josie Dye? Is that who we're talking about? No, no, no. To my detriment, I am not as conscious about my image. So I tend to be a little bit Dye? Is that who we're talking about? To my detriment, I am not as conscious

about my image. So I tend to be a little bit more real. I will say this because now that we're episode 130... What are we? 137. I can tell you. Some people come in,

corporate answers, safe answers. I mean, come on. There's a few people like when I talk about Dean Blundell, for example,

or this topic. Some people have the public consumption answer, which might be different from the honest answer. Right. What can I do? I'm not giving you any public consumption, but I will reserve my right to. No, I'm not going to rough you up if I feel you're withholding. This isn't court. I can't do like, what is this? Permission to treat the witness as hostile and start roughing you up or whatever. When Shapiro came on it.

You could take me. I'm just going to say, you could take me. I'm just going to throw that out there. I'm not a big guy. You still could take me, I think. Look at me. I bite, though. By the way, I'm not even.

This is a good segue to a topic we're going to get into in a few minutes about somebody else. But, no, I'm not going to take you. But you could take me if I had if i were trying to take you could take me i wouldn't try to take you can i just tell you i want to go back to the martin street thing for a second because i feel like we just brushed over it i didn't know him but i was very sad when i saw the news about what had happened because i had been removed from the edge for years then right and uh and i i saw the news and actually Vishna and I, who I also did the,

the something 30, wasn't it? Yeah, we did the Thursday 30 together, Vishna and I as well, after. Is he, Martin got let go and. No, no, no, no, no, no.

This is well after you. He wasn't, yeah, this is well after me. But Vishna and I did the Thursday 30 and Vishna and I were totally like Martin and I. We were very different people. I mean, like you could not have two more different people on the air, you know, Vishna and I and Martin and

I, and, uh, yet still we got along, but we're not probably hanging out for beers afterwards, but I thought it was really interesting. She was the first person to, uh, talk about it with me. And we were on Facebook and I'm not a big Facebooker. We were back and forth about that on Facebook and really connecting that way and, and connecting in our grief that way, which was interesting that we would kind of meet up to talk about it because that's who I really talked about it with. And it was just, it's a really tragic, horrible thing. And what I find the most tragic about it is, you know, horrible thing. And what I find the most tragic about it is, you know,

people with demons or with depression who put on a brave face on a daily basis, they really leave the people that they leave behind at a loss because I think there are a lot of people that wish they could have done something, but because he was so up and on, I think there were a lot of people that wish they could have done something, but because he was so up and on, they missed the signs or, you know, they weren't privy to them and that's too bad. And you missed the signs. Like, did you, did you detect demons? You know, I knew there was some dabbling in substances, but I didn't know what they were. And that's probably, no, no, I didn't see it. You know why? Because I was pretty square when I worked at the Edge. Like, really. I didn't, you know, I go out for pints and stuff, but that's about where I drew the line.

You know, I had my fun in Whistler. So when I came back from Whistler. You got out of your system. Yeah, when I came back from Whistler, it was all about work. Yeah. So. Yeah. You know, come on.

I have like two Heinekens. I don't want to say two Heinekens a month, but that's probably pushing it. Really? Yeah. Oh, no. See, I'm not drinking for three weeks, but I like to have my wine. How come you're not drinking for three weeks? Because I like to have my wine. And I was like, you know what? You're taking a break? Yeah. Yeah.

Just to prove you can do it. And do up my pants again. Oh, that's a... Well, listen, when you're... But you're wearing a bike shirt. Come on. Here's the thing. When you start acting like you did in high school to put on your jeans and you're like,

well, you know, sucking it in, then you know that you have to lay off the booze for about three weeks and lose some of the pounds. So this is a calorie reduction experiment.

Not for my liver. I couldn't get a rat's ass on my liver, Mike. But you don't drink excessively. Not really. And you're telling, the vino, you need to have some wine.

It's probably good for you. Red wine? Mm-hmm. I hear's probably good for you. Red wine? I hear it's good for you. Red, white, gin. That's funny. All right. So Martin and you are different. You work together.

You respected each other. You worked well together, but you weren't friends. No. And people who are lying on my podcast, but you won't give me a hint. No, I'm not saying they were lying. Just a genuine is like a word for lying. I'm just saying that a lot of people, when they go on a podcast, but you won't give me a hint. No, I'm not saying they were lying. Dissingenuous is like a word for lying. I'm just saying that a lot of people

when they go on a podcast are more careful than I am. But you can't, you, uh... And I think that that's fine, but... Well, there are two types. Like I said,

there's two types. The guy who's out of fucks to give and he lets it out. Like Freddie P, for example, I find he's brutally honest on these things. He's been in a couple of times. Howard, too.

But Fred is brutally honest and he just tells you warts and all. Like the real deal. And I love it because it's so refreshing. Right. been in a couple of times. Howard too, but Fred is brutally honest and he just tells you warts and all, like the real deal and I love it because it's so refreshing. Right. Right,

there's no bullshit. And then you get some in that, you know, they're worried about their next gig or they're worried about like what

someone's going to, I don't know, they're worried about their job, their career and they're very safe and careful. Yeah.

And that's all I'm talking about. Okay, I feel like you're now withholding something. I'm not. You're not being, you're being disingenuous. I'm not being disingenuous. I'm just. Why did you leave the edge?

Oh, you know what? I left the edge because, um, I got a 15 share and that's really great in Toronto. And I think Dean, that, that, that book got an eight share. It's very rare that the midday person would get a higher rating. Yeah, 15 is enormous for those who don't know. Yeah, and that was... And this is in your targeted demo. Yeah. 18 to 34, I think. Okay.

And I walked into my boss and I said, I got a 15 share and I would like some money. And he said, well, if you want to make more money, you have to do more. And I thought, this is ridiculous. Like, you're kidding, right? Because I was living at Poverty Line and doing that job when everybody thought about it.

You were not making Aaron Davis money. No, no, no, no. People, honestly, I couldn't, I could not hold up my head and speak about, I couldn't hold up my head and tell anybody my salary because it was embarrassing. You can tell us now. It's a really hard place to be. be i'll tell you i was making enough to live in a basement apartment and so in toronto and so was brother bill who i think was is super talented not working right now you know this is my knowledge and i thought well he could he actually made a

little more money than me because he was able to buy a honda civic which was falling apart and he had a car you know so i just i basically walked was falling apart. And he had a car, you know. So I just, I basically walked in. I said, and when he said that, I thought, you know, I have no bonus structure. Like I know that some of the guys do. And the crazy thing about radio is nobody knows how much anybody else is making. And there's no, you know, how most people work in businesses and they actually show the scale is here's your starting point. Here's your high end, you know, to 60 to 90 or whatever radio doesn't do that ever they pay you as little as they can is that pretty much the radio model like whatever the least i can pay you what and is what

i will pay you is that makes i'm not like a minimum wage but like if i can get you i'm gonna make up a number if i can get you for 40k a year that is what you get paid you know and if like you know sure because it's like the dire straight song that ain't working right that's the way you do it and uh and basically it's a fun job it's great song so if you're gonna yeah it's great mark knopfler's coming somebody's on twitter said that he's knocking it off his bucket list he's finally gonna see mark knopfler so he's might he might have been in town this week yeah i think i was trying to weasel someone to take me and they didn't. I like that.

I don't know if you watched West Wing, but that scene where I think it's Brothers in Arms is played while the president's in that church and he's yelling at God. I have seen West Wing, but I don't remember that. I think it's like a first season, I think. Anyway, great scene to Brothers in Arms. Great, great album.

So he asked for more money. Yeah. And they laughed at you. Who was this person you were asking? Did they have a big cigar in their mouth? Were they laughing at you? No, no. He was really nice.

He just said, you have to do more. And I left thinking, you know, I am doing what I'm supposed to do. Can you give me an idea for salary? What are we talking here? Are we talking like you were making like 30K a year? I was making a little over that. But not much over that. Because you can get like a receptionist job

and start at that salary back then. Yeah. Now you'd make more probably. Yeah. So I basically, I said, okay. And I went home and I was, I threw a little hissy fit in my kitchen and took the phone book, the yellow pages off because back in the day, right?

I remember. The yellow pages. So I took it off the top of my fridge and I freaking opened it to radio stations and I called a bunch of radio stations in town. Hi, it's Kelly Couture. I do Middays at the Edge. I want to know if you can call me back, right? the edge looking i'm i want to know if you can call me back right and within half hour bob harris from the mix where humble and fred had left to go to well fred didn't go okay where humble had left to go to humble went yeah mid early 90s yeah um no fred did go fred never oh yeah did go at the

beginning you know what of course i was thinking the first time around so howard did it earlier like early 90s yeah yeah yeah so anyhow but yeah right of course it was in the aughts it was in the 2000s but but howard did it early 90s and then again in the like 2005 so did no no it would yeah maybe and it was anyhow the dates are all but the yeah humble and fred go to the mix in like 2005 i'm gonna guess around that so i called and i said um so he called me back and he said you want to meet and i said yes i do and so then an hour later i'm having coffee with him and he said i'll try and make something for you because at that time uh the mix was going to go head to head with the edge so it only made sense to pull me over too uh and then uh about two weeks later he came and he said would you like to do one to four on the mix and i said okay and doubled my salary I didn't really give them I didn't give them a lot of choice I basically went in and said

I'm I'm going to leave if you don't give me a raise here's how much I'm making and they basically said I got to talk to my GM and I kind of felt like I had already I didn't want to play around with um someone who did want to invest in me so I I just said, you know what, don't worry about it. I'm going. I left. Who replaced you at the edge? Josie. Okay, Josie. Okay, gotcha. So I left and then, yeah. And you went to mix 99.9. Yeah. Because if you ask Humble and Fred about their experience, they regret it completely. Yeah, that was a dumb move for me. And they only did it for the same reason is that they got a lot more money. Yeah, I should stay put.

But you know what? Actually, you can say that. You know, you say that, but if you're making a little bit over 30K, like really, honestly, like I know you love radio and everything, but at some point you have to, if you want to live in the city,

you need to make an adult wage. Yeah, I wanted to live above ground at some point. Good for you because, you know. But here's the thing. I didn't hate everything about it. It was just very hard for me to play artists like Sheryl Crow because I really love music and it's not that Sheryl, I mean, Sheryl Crow had an okay couple of hits, but other than that, you know, not so interested. Um, I also left because I felt like some of my references were being lost on the 20 year olds that were in, uh, the, the edge studio, we had a street level studio. And I would like say

something, reference something over the air and look at the kid at the promo desk across the room and he'd be blank. Welcome to my world. I thought this is, you know, my audience is probably not getting most of my references here. So it's time to move on. And, you know, I could say that that was a big mistake moving in the mix. But if I hadn't moved to the mix, I wouldn't have worked with Blair Bartram, who I had one day said, I want to do talk radio too. And he said, well, you know, we have a News Talk 1010 in the building. And then the groundwork was kind of being set for me to move over to talk radio at some point, which I did end up doing.

Okay, so how long did you do 99.9? I don't know. And then you moved to CFRB. I worked at a lot of places. And you did Toronto at noon. I did. I don't know. And then you moved to CFRB. I worked at a lot of places. And you did Toronto at noon. I did. I loved it. It was a Toronto intensive magazine interview show and it was fantastically interesting for me.

And how long did you do that? I know you don't know. You don't know your life. I did it for about a year. I can tell you how long I was at every job I've ever had. It's just something I know. I lived it. Yeah, I lived it too, but I didn't live it through timeline.

But you don't have to say specific. You can say I did, you know, about six months or I did about a year. It was about a year, I think. Okay, there you go. You can do this. Don't be disingenuous with me. I'm not. I'm now aware.

I'm very. Some of my 136 guests have been disingenuous. No, listen, I'm not judging anyone. I'm just saying people play it safe. It was Todd Shapiro. I was judging. Was it Todd Shapiro? I don't, I don't. How? I didn just saying people play it safe. It was Todd Shapiro. I was judging. Was it Todd Shapiro? I didn't even hear Todd.

Was it Billie Holiday? No. I think it was Billie. I'm not giving you names. I thought she might have been a bit disingenuous. I am not giving you names. Okay. And at CFRB, you enjoyed yourself.

And why did you leave 1010 CFRB, Toronto at noon? A job you loved. Yeah, I was shown the door. Oh, in radio, that's a common occurrence. I was shown the door because they were selling the station. And when you sell this, and their news director didn't have a position. He actually, because they got rid of Toronto at noon and made a show for Peter Sherman, who was going to leave for politics shortly after.

going to leave for politics shortly after. So that left Dave Trafford, who was a very capable newsman without any show on the air. So they went, well, you know what? He's getting a big salary. Let's give him that show is what I suspect happened. And how long before you landed your next radio gig? I don't know.

I'll tell you what. I was devastated by that. I'll tell you what. I was devastated by that. I was lost. Is that the first time you were fired in radio? No, I was fired in Calgary because I said that if you have to motivate your staff through money, then you're doing something wrong

to the guy who owned the station. But I didn't know he owned the station. That got you fired? That's a pretty profound and relevant statement. Yeah, I was stupid. I was in my 20s and idealistic and dumb, but not that I've grown any as a human, but whatever. And you're still in your 20s.

That's what you tell me. Yeah. In my mind, I am. 27, I stopped there. Like Kurt Cobain. Yeah, that's right. Like Jim Morrison. Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, yeah.

Yeah, I was devastated when I got the ax from CFRB because I really was working harder than I've ever worked in my life. And you enjoyed it. I didn't see it coming. And it didn't have any reason. That's why I didn't see it coming. You know, usually you have an inkling if you're doing something wrong that you're going to be let go.

And, you know, really, it made sense. A lot of people that have been in this situation where you're leaning up a company to sell it, you want to make your books look really good and affordable, and they were selling it to Astral. But I just, it really hit my confidence. And I thought, no, I don't want to do this anymore. I just kind of stepped away and I started to paint. Like George W. Bush. Isn't that what he does now? Okay, but hold on. First of all, Humble and Fred, who are friends of mine and friend of yours, and we're going to get to this

in a minute, but they were also fired by Standard Realms. So you're in good company there. And as you know, many people get fired in radio. I don't think I've had, maybe Roger Ashby, maybe, but I don had a... Maybe Roger Ashby, maybe. But I don't think other than Roger Ashby, there's been a radio guy or a gal come in the door who hasn't... Josie says she hasn't been fired. Oh, yeah. That's right. But she's being disingenuous about that, right?

No, no. She was in Coburg. She hasn't... Oh, did she get fired in Coburg? No, here's the thing. Did she? No. She denies being in Coburg.

But I had a good source tell me that she worked in Coburg, but she denies it. Why would you deny anything to do with your past? Well, maybe she's right and I'm wrong. I'm going with this assumption that I'm wrong about Coburg. That's weird. I'm going to guess I'm wrong. She probably never worked a day in Coburg.

Now you're being ingenious. I got bad intelligence. I just fucked up. Okay, so you went home and you painted. I just went, I just, yeah. Okay. So you went, you went home and, uh, you, you painted. I just went, I just, yeah, I stopped.

I remember everybody saying to me, go back into radio just, and I'm like, no, you know what? It's done. I don't like, you're done with radio,

but what would you do? Uh, what would you do? What would I do if I wasn't doing radio? Like, well, yeah, probably what I'm doing now.

Okay. Which we're going to get to. Yeah. Cause I hear you on my bike. But I am still doing radio. I just, I fill in. I'm doing. Yeah. You did like, you do. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Which we're going to get to. Yeah. Because I hear you on my bike. But I am still doing radio. I just, I fill in. I'm doing swing and I am 640. Yeah, you do.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So I'm doing talking. But hold on. I got to get you to CBC Radio too here. But when you're at CFRB and they let you go, like, can I ask you? I work for companies.

I've, you know, seen this. I've experienced this. Like, is it like they, someone invites you in a room and there's someone, like maybe an HR person has like a folder and they're sitting there and you know, when you walk in the door before you sit down, you know what's coming. And I had, I used to do interviews right on that show.

So I had this woman named Kathy Smith, who's this workout guru from the States. And she was, she was hawking workout videos. So she was doing a little tour, interview tour. She was in Toronto and she, she was outside in the lobby and I was supposed to interview her and I felt really bad. And I

walked into my boss's office and I'm like, look, I got an interview. I know you've summoned me, but I have an interview waiting. And he goes, it can wait. And he just slid me the paper, the envelope as they do across the desk. And I was like, what's this? And he's like, yeah, we're not going to need you anymore. And I actually looked at him and I said, can I still do my interview? Because I felt sick about the fact that I, and he goes, no, we're just going to tell her to go home. And I still feel bad about that. Cause I thought, you know what? The least you can do is let me do the interview because it's just rude. It's rude to her. She's come down here and now these circumstances have changed. But if you had a podcast, you could go and take her home and do the interview.

You've been riding me for the podcast for years now. This is something you don't know about, Mike. Yeah. Well, there's lots of things. And how boring is going through my resume? No, we're almost done here. Hold on. I'm curious here. So you're at CBC Radio 2. How do you get that gig? Well, that actually wasn't easy because CBC does not hire a lot of commercial radio people. They just don't. But I respect what the CBC does. I know I said that like it was a question. But there are a lot of shows that I liked on the CBC.

So I decided to go for it. And they were launching this Radio 2, which was Canadian music. I love Canadian music. So I went. No Sheryl Crow? No. It was seven times in the building with a guest pass, I remember, to get me hired.

And I got the job and yeah, that was good. And at the CBC, good experience in hindsight? Yeah, everything's a good experience in hindsight because they teach you something about yourself or something about, you know, it changes you somehow, right? And I think that's the nature of being a person, right? Not staying static. But I had a good time at the CBC,

but it was also frustrating because it's a big bureaucracy, right? There's no boss. So you can't really control your career. It's not a meritocracy. So if you do really well, it doesn't really matter because there might have been someone that kind of is mediocre above you that's just been there longer.

Right. So they'll move up the ladder. So I found that quite frustrating because I'm very used to being in control of my own career. And this is the part of your career where you met Gian Gomeschi? I did meet Gian Gomeschi there, yeah. Did you go on a date with Gian Gomeschi? No.

Never? No. Where would you get that from? I was asking. I don't know. No, you know what? I did know Gian. I did see him in the halls.

I knew him, you know, in a passing way, probably as much as I knew Martin Streak, really, to be honest. Hey, how you doing? Good. You know, he, I knew that he was a diva. I had heard that a lot. I had heard that he yelled at people. I never saw any evidence of that. I heard that he was tough to work with. But I tell you, the people on his show were some of the most interesting and intelligent people in the building. And they worked really hard. And it bothered me that it, you know, what really bothered me is how you'd go out and people go, oh, I love the CBC and Gian Gomeschi.

And he's just so smart. And I'm thinking, yeah, but I know the people on his show. And they pre-interview all the guests. And that's something that people don't understand about the CBC. They have people pre-interview all the guests right and that's something that people don't understand about the cbc they have people pre-interviewing the guest so they kind of the guest knows where the questions are going to go and then also you can get some great questions out of answers and uh so then you arm your host with that right but talk radio well you know where to go like with you now i i'm we're doing this on the fly there's been no and this is what happens this is what

happens in commercial radio when you're a talk radio, you don't have a pre-interview. And so, you know, people go, he's brilliant. And I'm thinking, you know,

it's, do I let them know that it's, it's a lot of smoke and mirrors? Not that he wasn't, he didn't handle the Billy Bob Thornton thing really well. Um, but it, which he did,

but, um, you know, I, I just heard he was super difficult and i'll tell you one thing his his cologne was intense it was like you know 16th century france it like it stank you knew gian gomeshi was here an hour ago when you walked down the hall his signature said you knew he was here oh i just missed gian you know people like did you have any run-ins with gian he choked me

every day as i walked down the hallway, you know, with his perfume. But other than that, not really, no. I was in the room. So, because obviously, well, you did, I guess you were out of work. I guess you left CBC. Did they let you go? No, no, I decided I didn't. You decided to walk away.

I decided I didn't want to. Yeah, it was just wasn't, it was stalling. My career was stalling. And then you ended up, Humble and Fred were starting a podcast not far from here. And I was helping out with that. And at some point you started just showing up, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I went down one day and then Fred asked me if I wanted to do the news on the Humble and Fred show.

And I said, okay. So I would go in once or twice a week. And they paid you well. They paid me phenomenal. Like they paid me so well that it's remarkable that I would leave. You're being disingenuous. Uh, I have it on good authority. They didn't pay you at all. Is that correct? No, no, no, no, no. They, they actually were good to me. Uh, they did compensate my gas. Did they? Yes, they did. Honestly, that's above and beyond.

I had no idea. Yes, they did. Cause I was coming in far away and uh no they were no they were really nice to me actually and i'll tell you i have had that is one of the highlights of my career and it wasn't even uh it was you know i didn't essentially work for anybody you know i but i had so much fun when i would come into redfish i just loved it i loved everything about it okay so you were there before were there before they had their own studio. Yeah. Because at the beginning, they were sharing the Redfish studio. Yeah. And then at some point, they realized Redfish, they don't pay the rent.

So they're going to get the doors locked. Okay. And we're going to be locked out of our studio. I don't know all this stuff. So at some point, Humble and Fred get their own studio in the same building. Okay. And then eventually, they actually... No, I haven't been to that studio.

Well, no. That same place that you were in, they would literally just have a separation between that. They put up a wall or something between that and redfish, right? So they're two separate. And then they moved to a new location on the second floor, which you have not been to.

No. You should, well, now you have time in your hands. You can go back. They do it so early. Yeah. Cause they,

they do it on Sirius XM. I like to get up early in the morning. It's very early. It's very early. And's very early. And Humble and Fred, and I was, of course, I was, yeah, I was there many times seeing you record. And I was there the day Gian Gomeschi came in. So I was in

the room. Oh, yeah. I was in the room when Gian came in. And I was there, wasn't I? And you were there. Yeah. And I, because I remember there was something there. I was going to ask you, it's like, this is before any of this broke. Right. Way before. Right. And I remember Fred saying something, what was going to ask you. It's like, this is before any of this broke. Right. Way before.

Right. And I remember Fred saying something, what a pretentious prick. This is privately. Fred did not like Giancomaschi. Yeah. And what did I say? You were very warm and friendly with him.

And I was curious if, I'm warm and friendly with everyone. Is it just that you're just a nice person? Everybody knows I'm warm and friendly. So there's nothing else you want to disclose here. I think you can tell by the tone of my voice I'm Mormon friendly. No, no. Because you didn't witness anything untoward. No, I didn't. God, no. Not at all.

Like you're going to show that at work? Well, I think he, yeah, well, he kind of was close to showing it at work. No, I think he was. Some things happen at work. Yeah, right. Geez, well. He didn't want to hate F you or anything like that. No whispers of that.

No, God, no. You know what? No. And you know, the person that he said that to, I can't believe he did say that to, because she was really one of those women that could hold her own. You know, she just, you just. Bodybuilder?

No, just, she's a statuesque, beautiful woman, but she is not one of those people. She was very smart. She is very smart. I was shocked, shocked, shocked, shocked. And, uh, I just think, you know, the CBC, there was a difference between the producers and the hosts that I've never seen in radio before. And I mean, I've worked with some people that deserve to have big egos in radio and some that don't, but I've never seen stars being treated like that before. It was over the top. It was weird by management. But, you know, once again, those managers are not always people that should have gotten to the place that they are in. So maybe they were out of their league as well

with handling somebody like him. When you were at the Hubble and Fred show and you were there for quite a while. Yeah, I loved it. Until you got a gig, right? Yeah, I just, I had to get a job. No, I mean, you had to get a pain job. No, when you're married, it's sort of like, you know, I had been about two and a half years

without work and it was, you know, I got a call from Jim McCourty one day and he said, hey, we're going to, will you meet meet me for coffee and then he told me they were gonna start a station flip flip vinyl to fresh and would i like to do it and you said yes and this is hamilton right it was a money thing again yeah but you know what you you have to at some point you you have to make like compromises for money. Otherwise, we'd all be doing whatever. My job would be podcast.

I make no money on this, but it's fun and I enjoy it. I can't just do this or I can't pay a mortgage. The reason why I say that, it was a money thing, is because I really liked where I was at with Humble and Fred. I really enjoyed going in every day. But they were honest. I know they were honest with you

that they didn't pull down enough to pay you. They weren't making enough money to give me a salary, right? And so I left to go to Fresh, yeah. And no, I don't think anybody thinks you're selling out to do that. I mean, it's very difficult to do a job that doesn't pay. Unless you're independently wealthy or your husband's like... I act like I'm independently wealthy. That's the problem.

And it suits me. It suits me. Okay, so on the Humble and Fred show one day, and I'm going to play a little clip here. Oh, no. But nothing bad. It's actually for me. And I never played this on the podcast.

And I know some people will think, why is he playing this? But I'm just going to preface it by saying you were on the show with Humble and Fred and they called Fearless Fred. Fearless Fred. Fred Kennedy from 102.1 The Edge. And I came up in this conversation and Humble and Fred.

So in my opinion, Fearless Fred was very unfair to me in this discussion. Like I got blamed for some things I never did. And he sort of attacked me for things that I never did. Okay. And in that room, I see three of my friends there. And he sort of attacked me for things that I, that just, I never did. Okay. And in that room, I see three of my friends there and one of my friends. So Humble's a friend of mine. Fred's a friend of mine. And Kelly Couture is a friend of mine. One of my friends defends me, stands up for me. And it meant a lot to me. So I'm going to play the clip and then we're going to have a brief chat about it. Okay. Alrighty. Thank you. This is Humble and Fred show. Fearless Fred calling in. Kelly Cotrera in with Humble and Fred.

Do I have it? Yes, I do. Here we go. Okay, dude. Now here's the time to get a little honest. So the podcast here at Humble and Fred radio.com is up. And by the way, I failed to mention this in the opening that our buddy Mike Boone,

the legendary Toronto Mike, has put up a how to download this tutorial on our website if you want to go check it out. And I understand, actually, now that I think of it, isn't there a little history, fearless, between you and the legendary Toronto Mike? No, there's no history. He just hates me and wants me to die or something. He doesn't hate you. He doesn't want you to die. Listen.

Well, like, I don't know. I went on the website when I was first hired, and it was basically like, it felt like a rallying cry to, like, bring me down. And it's frustrating because I think people really forget that we're human beings. Yep. because I think people really forget that we're human beings. And it was frustrating because there were people that were like really going out of their way to make this difficult. And I don't think they understand that at that time, there was a lot of family problems going on in my life as well. So it was really, really frustrating because I was dealing with things on a personal family side, dealing with moving, dealing with a new job. And

I can't express how frustrating it was. I would never treat anybody like that. It's frustrating. It really sucks. You know? And you know, if he's the kind of guy, he's been a friend of ours for years, he's the kind of guy that if you guys met, you would like him and he'd like you. I wouldn't want to meet him. I don't want to act like

I wish bad things on the guy, but I have no inclination to ever speak to the guy or anything. He's going to love this. But, Fred, he's one of those guys that thinks he owns the edge. He's a part owner, and nothing's supposed to change. Hang on, Fred. Kelly Atrera wants to say something. It's different for me because when I started, people were using this to track down my wife.

They were sending Photoshop pictures of her to her. And it was all started through that website. It gets me really frustrated. And that attitude is sickening to me. It's really frustrating. And I'm getting flustered about it because that was real life. That's a line that's been crossed. Wow, he's getting into real life right now.

There's a lot of emotion on the Humble and Fred show this morning. Fred, it's Kelly Kutrera. Hello, Kelly Kutrera. I took over for May Potts. Try doing that, my friend. Sweetest woman in the world, and then I took over on the edge for her, and that was tough. But I'll tell you, Mike Boone, Toronto Mike, if you can trust anyone, trust me, he's a good guy. I met him when I first came into the Humble and Fred headquarters.

And I'll tell you, I actually, this maybe is a plea to Mike Boone, if you could just start writing nasty stuff about me, anything on the website, I would kill for a job right now. I mean, nasty, just happy that you're I want to say, and I love Mike. I spoke to him on the way in today. But I'll say this about what Fred's saying. People don't realize, because we both, Freddie P and I, have had some horrible things written about us. That yellow board, that radio board, Fred.

They said some things. There was a whole blog in the early days of blogging, a whole blog dedicated to basically mocking Fred and I every day, and it used to drive us nuts. That stuff's fine, though. To me, you expect that. I mean, you could go online and find websites dedicated to deriding Charles Adler as one of the most successful broadcasters in Canada, and that's fine. I'm totally okay. No, but these guys were saying,

they were saying some personal stuff, and it got really, really ugly for a while there. Yeah, there's a definite line that's been crossed. But we put ourselves out there. Like, we really put ourselves out there. Well, yeah, but I don't put my wife out there.

No, no, no. That's not about, it's not like that. It's the same as when you see, like, paparazzi, like, attacking somebody outside of the school when they're picking up their kids. I mean, maybe somebody who's on a talk show or something signed up for that but

their kids didn't that's not fair that's stupid and and when people try and defend that kind of behavior it just it it promotes it people think that that's okay and generally speaking the people that are doing that are so desperate to belong to it. They're really just trying to attach themselves to it. I know what you're saying because we did a promotion at Mojo. It was a father and son. Which was a great station. Absolutely.

Maybe I'll wrap up. I forgot how long that was. Yeah, that is long. Did I defend you or did I just ask you to write about me? No, I think you defended me because you said I was a good guy. You are a good guy. So I wanted to thank you for that. And just for anyone listening,

I have no ill will against Fearless Fred. In fact, the Fearless Fred wants to come on the show. Does he? No. But if he did, I would love to chat with him. You heard him. He doesn't want to meet me. I think what I thought was unfair

was that I've been blogging for so long. So many entries. Not in a million years would I ever write about Fearless Fred's wife. Not in a million years. I didn't know he was married until I heard this clip. Yeah, what did she do that people looked her up on the internet? No idea but I even went through all my comments to see if it's some commenter

like do something, you know, cross line. And if I had ever seen a commenter, I don't know, identify like a location or something that they shouldn't be doing. I would, I would have deleted. He sounded pretty upset. He was upset. I don't know.

I think it was misdirected anger going on. So that was in its ancient history. And Fearless Fred is still on the air at 102.1. Morning show now. Right. Yeah. With Fred and Mel. Fred and Mel.

Yeah. Yeah. So he's doing well for himself and I'm so happy for him but I just want to say thank you to Kelly Cotrera for coming to my defense. You're welcome. So thank you. You're welcome.

What are friends for? And I'm sorry that clip was so long. I actually thought it was... I actually fell asleep partway through it. Did you? Because I heard some... I'm not going to lie. I heard some seizes.

And in Hamilton, when you're at Fresh Radio, you were working with... What a horrible name for a radio station aimed at women. Like, did they miss out on the Massengill commercials in the 70s? That's funny. Mother, sometimes I don't feel so fresh. It's like, it's a douching ad. That's right.

Really. I honestly, very hard to say that name for me on a daily basis. However, there were some things I liked about the afternoon drive show that I was hosting. Like, I would do the... You know, I would do this ridiculous lottery, for lottery tickets, this contest, and it was called What's in My Box. Wow, I get that.

That's like a double entendre maybe. And I would make people guess what's in my box. So I'd make a male colleague come in and open my box, which was a cardboard box, and release a sound and a clip of the sound. People had to guess what was in my box, and it was it was quite fun you worked with uh highbrow yes i did calling rush home the cbc yeah yeah yeah

and is she nice she's lovely i think she's lovely too but i wanted to see if you thought she was nice first because if you said she's not i'd be like yeah what a witch you know no she's lovely she's very very nice like her a lot and she okay so she's still there but they they why would they i don't understand why Fresh... By the way, is that branding like across the country or something? Yeah. That's a chorus thing, right? That was a guy thing. Chorus owns Fresh, right?

Yes. Okay. So Fresh in... which is 95.3, but Fresh in Hamilton, why would they let you go? They just let me go. They were like, you know what? This is happening across Canada. Here you go.

Gave me the paper. And that was a situation where I walked into the room and I looked to my right and it was a weekly meeting I had with my boss. And I looked to my right and I saw the acting GM there and I went, well, out loud, I said, well, this is never a good sign. And then he got up from the table and said, no, it's not. Close the door. And then, you know, slid the envelope over. And I'm like, I've been here before. No from the table and said, no, it's not close the door. And then, you know,

slid the envelope over and I'm like, I've been here before. No, yeah. Your second time here. It's different. Yeah. That was,

yeah. That was the third time actually. Cause we have, Oh right. Cause the Calgary thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So you're like, Oh, you're like a professional, you know, exactly. Give me the papers. I know what to do. Thank you very much.

I'll get my box now or whatever. The, uh, that's too bad. And they replaced you with like a Lana, but it wasn't even like Lana Gay. It was some other Lana. Yeah, Lana.

She's sweet. I actually trained her to fill in. Isn't that the worst when you train your replacement? No, you know what? I think that's terrible. No, you know what? I don't really... Hey, let's go back to me programming automation

at my first job, right? At my first radio gig. So if you don't see it coming, you're a crazy person. So maybe I was a crazy person. but, um, it was, radio is a lot of fun, but, um, it's difficult for someone like me who likes to talk and is pretty expressive to work in that format, which is very, it's not the same as the morning show. Cause they get a lot more time to talk, but I was about, you know, if you can get it out in one minute and 30 seconds and make it really um snappy then that would be great and I'm not I'm a conversational radio host I'm not um a DJ I'm not a DJ this just it I should play my breaking news

because you do a lot no you're not a DJ because you do a lot of DJ gigs have you noticed that like you do a lot of DJing for somebody who's not a DJ. Yeah. But I mean, I think I'm more of, um, I don't like the term radio personality, but I would say that's more of what I do. And I'm a content creator, I guess. Well, you know, why, why do you resist the pod? Cause the podcast world, which has exploded with like Serial and some things that have happened. Cereal was insanely good. If you have not heard the NPR... Oh, that's ridiculous. I think I read that somewhere.

Regardless, and they have another season of cereal on a different topic, obviously, but coming soon. I love cereal too. The Moth podcast. There are a lot of good podcasts out there. You know why?

Because I don't want to come up with a concept of just Kelly talking. Like it has to be something really different and really good. So come up and do it. When you're painting, start brainstorming. What would you be interested in? Do you know why I paint? When I paint, I, yeah, don't think. That's like, like Zen or whatever.

That's like your Zen. Yeah. Oh, I just got an audition. For what? I don't know. Can't tell you. Okay. Yes.

The, that day that you got let go by Fresh, the one nice thing, not nice thing, but it must have made you feel better was that like a lot of big names in chorus got kind of canned that week. Yeah, you know what? I mean, Q107, for example. Yeah, Q107 was just decimated.

Yeah. Nails Mahoney, Dominic Diamond. Yeah. Kim Mitchell, they didn't renew his contract. Jeff Woods, that was a shocker, Jeff. Jeff Woods, yeah. I've known Jeff since my 20s. I knew Jeff before I got into radio.

I worked at the youth hostel on Church Street after I graduated from radio and TV at Ryerson. And he owned and lived in the building beside us, which was a, I don't know if he owned the building, but he had a secondhand record store there. So whenever you hear Jeff Woods talk about music, he really knows he's the real deal. And so, yeah, that was... James McPhee, who was doing like 640. lovely man. That's shocking.

He's a soccer fan because I follow him on Twitter and then he does these like premiership. You should have him on the podcast. Have him on the podcast. I would.

He's a good guy. And the other guy who wants to come on, he's just trying to get some legal work done, but a longtime Edge employee, not in front of the mic, but behind the scenes.

Oh yeah? Who? Oh my, I have a, I'm, yeah? Who? Oh, my God. I'm going to have to censor out this pause. Why? Because I can't remember. Well, then censor out half the things I said because I'll tell you this.

And maybe half the Fearless Fred clip, maybe. Rob Johnston. I love Robby. Robby J. Yeah. Who Strombo once called the true spirit of radio. I think, yeah, that's accurate. Robbie knows his music.

And he was there, I don't know, 25 years maybe? Yeah. And then he was let go in that wave too. He was the imaging director. He's one of the best producers in Canada. And he was doing ongoing history in music. He was doing production for that, I think, and some stuff we know and love.

So you were amongst good company, I guess. Yeah, I really was. And you know what else made me feel really good is people on Twitter. People on Twitter came on to say that they missed me. And that was in the coming weeks when they realized I wasn't just on vacation. And one of the things, and this is something I don't know if anybody talks about, but one of the things that happens when you get fired in radio. And, you know, when I say fired, things that happens when you get fired in radio and you know when i say fired the reality is we're not fired we're let go right um and this is something my husband always says well you stop saying you got the ax and that you're fired because you weren't fired for fired is for cause

so we were let go because they're changing something they're restructuring they're you know okay right semantics because um you could be fired without cause can you you need to sever the person that's the only difference like you need to fairly sever somebody who you fire without cause but you don't need a reason to fire somebody you just have to fairly sever them right so semantic wise i mean you were fired right you weren't let go let go is a soft gentle way and I know what your husband's doing he's trying to make you feel better that it's not that you sucked

except there were budgetary issues can we just talk for a second here yeah off air off air yeah can this be off the record well not because I I'm actually joking about editing stuff

I'm not gonna edit anything you have to if you have a reel no you actually have to edit something for real yeah you do but you didn't say anything controversial yeah I did okay after the episode tell me what yeah and we're gonna have No, you actually have to edit something. For real? Yeah, you do. But you didn't say anything controversial.

Yeah, I did. Okay. After the episode, tell me what you... Yeah, and we're going to have to... Honestly, we're going to have to go in and edit it out. Because I don't edit ever, but I will... Obviously, if you said something that'll get you in big trouble, I'll edit it out. Okay.

So let's move on and then after we'll chat here. Okay. Yeah. So, okay. So you're... But edit this out, obviously. We're editing together today. I will edit out the thing you said

that could haunt you in some serious way because you're a friend and I'm going to edit that out. I would do that. I once disclosed where somebody worked off the cuff and I went in and took that out because they didn't want their workplace identified. Okay. So that I will do things because I'm a decent human being.

All right. Okay, so then now what are you doing?? You just, you did some fill in work for 640. Yeah, I do. I love it. Actually. It's so funny because Hamilton took my card away and, uh, you know, the whole idea is don't be a douche. No, here, actually I want to go back to my original thought. One of the things that people won't tell you about radio is when they let you go, that you're not allowed on the air again. And so you don't get to say goodbye. And you know, in other businesses, you know who your clients are and you get to have a relationship with them. And I have a pretty intimate relationship with some people when I'm on the radio. And that is because I'm like their

buddy in the car. And then all of a sudden your buddy's not showing up. And I have no way to say goodbye to you or thanks, or it's been really nice, or thanks for your time. Thanks for your patronage. And I have no, I can do that on Twitter, but not everybody's on Twitter.

And the reality is you feel like a douche because you don't get to say thank you. And I think that's one of the things you should remember as a listener is some of these things are beyond our control. Yeah. And often you guys go on vacation and you just don't come back. And it takes a long time for most people to realize you're not coming back. I've noticed I get the hit. Sometimes I write about it. I get the traffic and I can see they think you're still on vacation or something. And then it's like maybe three or four weeks go by and then they start wondering what happened to whatever,

you know, what happened to mad dog. And then now they come in and they say, Oh, I didn't know he was fired. Like, yeah, you don't get,

you don't get to say goodbye. So one of the things, um, you asked me about what I'm doing now. So I, like two weeks after I knew it wasn't really, it was a restructuring thing at chorus and that's why I was let go. Um,

one of the things that, um, I took solace in is that, you know, I give back my Hamilton key card and two weeks later they're cutting me one for AM 640 in Toronto. And I never really felt comfortable in Hamilton because I am a Toronto girl. And so now I'm back, um, doing fill So now I'm back doing fill-in, and I'm going to fill-in for Bill Carroll, I guess, in November, I think. That's cool. Yeah. And Thursday and Friday I did a little stint with Bill in for Sandy Salerno, which I really love.

Cool. And it's great. I can't complain. That is good. Don't burn any bridges. Don't be a douche. You have to just hold your head up high and go, okay, well, that's your decision.

You're restructuring, and I don't fit the plan. Yeah. And you can't burn bridges because there's only like three companies owning everything. So you gotta, you know. When I was biking the other day, I was like listening to Baseball Central. That's how into the Jays I am. And I'm biking listening to this. I'm sorry I can't relate.

I know. It's fine. It's fine. I want to jump into it with you, but that's fine. I hear your voice. I hear Kelly Cotrera. My friend Kelly is talking about RBC or there's an RBC ad and you're in it. Yeah. Avion ad. There you go. So that's a big, that's a big gig to score. Yeah. I have one of the best agents in the city. I'm

really happy with her and she gets me a lot of great opportunities to voice things. And this was an audition. It's funny because i went to the audition i don't know what i was doing downtown but you know when you when you become a voice actor or you're going to focus on that you go to a lot of auditions you spend a lot of time downtown so i was downtown went to this audition i knew it was a casting one of the bigger casting directors in the city and i just went in and uh read for the part I felt really good about it. And I left. And then, boom, I bumped into Rob Johnson. Okay.

Who had just been let go from Chorus. And it was one of those days. And then I got the gig. Which is, this is a good, this helps pay the bills. Oh, it's great. Hey, let me tell you, working in, when you get a good national commercial. So that's national. That's not just in my Toronto. No, that's national. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, you can make as much as you would make in a week in radio.

You know, Humble Howard had a national McDonald's gig. That's good. He had a national McDonald's gig. Yeah. And then he did a show. He was on Ed the Sock. And he made a joke about Big Macs on the Ed the Sock show. And McDonald's found out about it and fired him.

And he lost like six figures a year. Oh, that's a drag. Yeah. This was way back obviously. But, uh, yeah. So don't, don't say anything bad about it. I'm trying not to say anything bad about anything, but I'm sure that I've screwed up a bunch of times. No, we all love RBC, the best mortgages around. Yeah. So you do a lot of additions and then some of these, you get some of them, you don't. And, uh, you know, this is a good career. Yeah, I'm actually taking an animation workshop at the end of the month

and I'm really hoping to break into cartoons. Maybe because I have like a, what is he now? He's 18 months now almost and I watched Arthur with him this morning.

Right. He would be a great member of the community. Elwood, I think it's called. You could be like a rabbit or a aardvark or whatever. I could be like a rabbit.

Yeah. There's rabbits there. They have different animals. They're animals. Arthur's a aardvark or whatever. I could be like a rabbit. Yeah. There's rabbits there. They have different animals. They're animals. Arthur's an aardvark. Okay. Did you know what Arthur is? Yeah.

He has glasses? Yeah. Yeah. I saw him take off his glasses and he's got beady little eyes. He looks scary when he takes off the glasses. We shouldn't make him do that. And you know, they've introduced a new character who's from Louisiana. Louisiana?

Yeah, yeah. And she's got that accent and everything. What does she look like? I think she's a rabbit. She's a rabbit? She talks like this? And her brother Bud is there. Jeez. And she talks about like... She ain't so edumacated. Yeah, and she's pretty much like Cleetus on this. She's loose because she's a rabbit.

Lots going on. And the dog started talking. I know this is not of interest, but... Oh, this is when the dog starts talking. But he's got like a... That's one of the signs... The Queen's English or something. That is one of the signs of the apocalypse. Talking dogs, I believe. The dog never talked for years. All in the, like my first two kids,

there was no talking dog. And all of a sudden, the dog's talking. Even on Sesame Street, they didn't do that sort of, or not Sesame Street, on Mr. Dress Up, that sort of blasphemer. Oh, I thought you were going to tell me that.

The dog whispering. I thought you were going to tell me that a Snuffleupagus didn't talk. I didn't like the Snuffleupagus. I'll tell you why I didn't like the Snuffleupagus on Sesame Street. Because I liked him. I didn't like it. Because he was imaginary. Because he left, no, he left every time the adults came, and I

knew he wasn't imaginary. That's Pokeroo, too. No, no, no. I didn't like that show either. It's so lame. But he left, and I thought, how can you get your best friend in trouble every freaking day? You are a douche. And I'm going away. He's a douche. He wouldn freaking day? You are a douche. If I, and I'm going away. No, he's a douche. He wouldn't have stuck up for you with Fred.

He wouldn't have. No, you're right. That's true. He would have freaking abandoned you. That's true. In that woolly mammoth sort of weird way. Well, I'm telling you, Big Bird. Well, I thought it was all because I thought that Snuffleupagus was Big Bird's imaginary friend.

Yeah, that's what he was supposed to be. And then they changed it. Oh, I know they changed it. That's silly. So yeah, but I knew he was real. He was never imaginary. Do you remember when Buffy St. Marie came on? Yeah, that bothered me too.

Why? I don't know. She just won the Polaris Prize. Did she? Wow. Is that amazing that Buffy St. Marie? It is amazing. It's something.

It's something. Nothing against Buffy, but I don't know. She was just too friendly for me as a kid. I liked Mr. Hooper. Sesame Street. He had some edge to him. She's supposed to be a dink? Yeah, and he died.

That was a sad episode when they explained to Big Bird that his friend, Mr. Hooper, wasn't coming back. Because he's like, oh, well, I guess I'll see him later. They're like, Big Bird. See, they even freaking explain that. You get canned as a radio host and there's no explanation. But Mr. Hooper,

an imaginary character on Sesame Street, well, let's just explain it to the whole audience. If it's radio and you've been driving home with them and wasting your time on a daily basis, don't let them know. Oh, this name, Cotrera. So you are related to the chef, Mark Cotrera. He's like a cousin?

Yeah, I call him, I refer to him as my brother. We're first cousins. He's awesome. Yeah, that's the only other Cotrera I know. We used to call each other. There's two a cousin. Yeah. He's I call him. I refer to him as my brother. We're first cousins. He's awesome. Yeah. That's the only other Katrina I know. We used to call each other. Yeah.

We used to call each other cram and yellow, which is marking Kelly backwards. Oh, that's clever. We had older brothers and sisters and our dads are brothers. And we spent a lot of time on weekends hanging out with the family. And we just ended up hanging out by default because...

Are we done? Oh, I'm playing you out, but we don't have to be done. Are you freaking kidding? How long did you think we should go? It's been well over an hour. How long do you think that was? I'm just curious. Well, I think a lot of it was boring. We should edit out a lot of things.

Boring to you because you know your life very well, but not boring for us. You'm just curious. Well, I think a lot of it was boring. We should edit out a lot of things. Boring to you because you know your life very well, but not boring for us. You can ignore it. I listen to everybody else. We're not live. Can we start again? Can we do the whole thing again? No, but it sounds like I'll be doing some work after this. Let's do the whole thing again. No. Let's start from go. Oh, you have something else to do. I have shit to do.

I would love to have another episode with you, but is there anything you want to share? No, because I'm being played out. Yeah, but, you know, you can ignore it. I played out, do you know Jeff Merrick? We didn't get into any. You know Jeff Merrick? Yeah.

I played him out. He ignored it. We ended up doing another hour. He just ignored it. Well, that's ridiculous. Do you like lowest of the low? Yeah, but why are you playing me out? Because I have shit to do.

What do you have to do? I have work to do. What? I'm like you've been rude he's been he's been begging me to come in for months people and i'm not even kidding you're coming back the guilt was so palpable and now he's playing me out and we haven't even got into what are you doing now no we did um you're an actress okay here no just listen you know. You know you're coming back. Like, I need to have more. No, I don't know. When you come back with Blind Eric.

I don't know. Because you are coming back with Blind Eric. I need to have something new to talk to you about. You're doing acting. You're doing auditions. It's amazing. You're probably applying for radio gigs that come up, are you? You're done with radio.

No, I didn't say I was done. I just said I'm not planning right now. You're waiting to be, like, recruited. Somebody will pursue you done. I just said I'm not planning right now. You're waiting to be recruited. Somebody will pursue you. Is there anything else? Not now. Nobody's pursuing me now. You sound down about that.

You do know you're... No, I'm sounding down because you're playing me out. I know, but I play everyone out at about an hour. If there's anything I'm missing, tell me. No. Should I wrap it up? Sure. Wrap, wrap.

You are coming back you're gonna have to get me snacks the audience needs to hear that you're coming back or there'll be an awkward closure here get me snacks

and I'll come back what kind of snacks I don't know something good apples I have apples for you give me my apples back I'll make you

I'll bring you apples I'm leaving I'll let you all know later on the blog if Kelly took her took her apples home and that brings us to the end

of our 137th show oh you didn't tell anyone how I'm aging in reverse that's what I thought you were going to is that true or you just said that to be nice

well you're playing me out we don't have time for this everyone she told me when she met me I was aging in reverse you are lying to me go backwards

one get out of here you can follow me on Twitter at Toronto Mike. And Kelly is at Kelly Catrera. Hey, turn the music down when you do my Twitter feed. Get it down. Kelly Catrera. At Kelly, C-U-T-R-A-R-A.

We'll see Mike. Get me more Twitter followers. Everyone follow her. See you all next week. Harsh. Harsh.