Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Kid Craig: Toronto Mike'd #163

Episode Date: March 11, 2016

Mike chats with 102.1 the Edge broadcaster Kid Craig about the origin of his name, his work at The Wolf, CHFI and Virgin 999 and how things are going at the Edge.

Welcome to episode 163 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a local independent brewery producing fresh craft beer. I'm Mike from TorontoMic.com and joining me this week is broadcaster Kid Craig. Thank you. I forgot how long that intro was. I go, he's going to say at some point, he's going to say my name is Kid. Oh, anyway, your name is Kid. Yes. My name is kid oh anyway your name is kid yes my name is craig not kid kid craig on the air is it right yeah how did you so what's the origin of kid craig i was uh doing what you're doing kind of internet stuff at home so i was doing internet radio and it was like uh i was younger and i'm like i can't just use my real name.

You have to be anonymous on the internet. Like Toronto Mike. Yeah. Kind of. Yeah, I guess. So no, you can't say you were inspired by Kid Rock. No, I can't. No?

But I did have that song. Wasn't it on Big Shiny Tunes? Oh, I'm sure it was. Yeah. Or even that Cowboy one. Remember Cowboy? Yeah, that was good. I got to say this.

It's still going here, actually. It still gets my heart going. I actually really like this song. Am I allowed to say that? Yeah, you can still like this song. It's a guilty pleasure? Yeah. I actually am going to say this.

I had two tickets to see Kid Rock at the Molson Amphitheater, and I took my mom. Okay. I don't know. I think that's weird because it's kind of heavy. He's got that rock-rap-country hybrid. Yeah yeah but it's mom safe i think i don't know did she enjoy it i believe she did it i think i think she enjoyed it because it was so like different from what she's used to which is like blue rodeo and then uh i gotta say it was a big like uh biker crowd like it was a lot of

bikers go to kid rock concerts yeah i guess I guess. He's good. I like it. He's good. He lost points for supporting George W. Bush, I think. The music still holds up. I'm still a fan of American Badass and all that Kid Rock stuff. Who would you vote for if you could vote in the

American election? Whoever is the Democrat nominee. To me, it's clear. There is no Republican nominee, like that to me, it's to me, it's clear. You, you, there is no Republican candidate that I could ever vote for. So really Bernie or Hillary would get my vote

if I were an American. I like Bernie. There's just something about Bernie. You feel the burn? I feel the burn. So this is my, it's great to meet you. Oh, nice to meet you too.

I listen to your podcast. You're actually sponsored by a beer company now. Yeah, yeah. That's yours, man. Listen. And I nice to meet you too. I listen to your podcast. You're actually sponsored by a beer company now. Yeah, yeah. That's yours, man. Listen. And I was thinking, like, you Ubered here, so you could drink all that,

and then when people listen to you tonight on Edge 102... It's your fault. It's my fault. I'll take the hit. Yeah, that's Great Lakes Beer. Beer. Canuck Pale Ale, for example. Somebody mentioned I mentioned i should these are cool names of this beer and i wasn't naming them like that's pompous ass pompous ass yeah uh that's special

for you you have to support the local craft brewers they're uh very close to here and just great people and yeah exactly like you know there's the big names conglomerates and then you got these guys and these guys make a great product and everybody seems to enjoy it so this is all yours man oh thanks i love beer but yeah i ubered here you're toronto mike but you're not really in toronto but this is toronto it's kind of i mean john tory is my mayor it's old toronto right what's new toronto it's new toronto it's new toronto i'm sitting in traffic. I'm staring at the map. I'm like, this really... Okay, if you go...

You could be closer to Toronto, Mike. If you go by the boroughs, you're in Etobicoke right now. Yes. Southern Etobicoke. Yeah, you're right. But yeah, I don't know how that happened. I wanted to be close to the lake and I didn't have like $3 million. So I ended up here.

It's nice here though. Like the lake's really good. I love it. What's that? Okay lake's really good and i love it what's that okay i was wondering you said it wasn't kid rock i'm gonna bet it's kid from kid and play okay yeah is that the inspiration yeah it is how did you know love this song then the movies they they had movies right i i don't know what you're you know what you're a lot younger than me yeah i know i just like, what are you talking about? Come on.

Kid and Play is too... Do you remember this at all? No, it doesn't ring a bell at all. You know what? I'm going to say it's 1990, maybe? Late 80s? I like it. Okay, so this is Kid and Play.

This is probably their biggest hit. Yeah, this is their biggest hit. I was a sheltered child. You know, I stayed... No rap? I stayed inside. I played on the computer, played games. I wasn't listening to what all the cool kids were listening to.

I got to tell you a quick story because I just remembered you told me right off the top, you actually have to... You have a job to go to. Like you're going to be on the air soon. So I cannot go over time with you. So my quick story is Ford Canada invites me to these things they call blue parties. It's called a blue party.

And my wife and I were at this blue party. I don't even think she was my wife yet. And we're at, and then she says to me, there's a DJ who's spinning tunes at this party and it's really loud. And it was really cool. And you and I had had an email correspondence just before this event.

And then she said to me something about the DJ and she said, that DJ is Kid Craig, is what she said to me. And I went up to this DJ. So I go up to this DJ who's playing the tracks at the party. It's really loud, but he takes, nice guy takes off his headphones. And I'm like, Kid Craig, it's Toronto Mike. Nice to meet you. Like, and he's looking at me kind of weird. And

I'm like, Toronto Mike, we just emailed. And I'm trying, and then I take out my phone. I'm like, look, we're writing each other. And then he says, that's not me. He's not Kid. I don't know why my wife thought he said his name was Kid Craig. So I introduced myself to this strange DJ who was not you. But you kind of have. Maybe he can be a guest. I don't know. I don't even know why I'm here. Like, am I just, you know, when David Letterman brings up that third guest in between the last commercial break and the credits just to fill time.

You sound like... There's no point for me to be here. On CBC television, there's the host of the 11 o'clock Toronto newscast is a guy named Mike Wise. And he had the same kind of reaction. So he's on next week. And he's like...

Yeah, I saw that. I followed him on Twitter out of solidarity. Is that right? It's like the minions unite. He's on next week. There's no rhyme or reason. Sometimes I just feel like meeting somebody, and I'm like, come on, this is how I get to meet you.

I'm not even recording this. I just thought I should crack open a beer with Kid Craig. Nice. So, by the way, enjoy the beer, and everyone out there should help crowdfund this podcast. I noticed you haven't crowdfunded it yet. No, I didn't even know. Out of solidarity.

I didn't even know you had a beer sponsor yet. So I'm going to have to. You're behind on your shows because, yeah, this is like all of 2016. I've been doing this so far. So you said you listen. Before I talk about, by the way, it's patreon.com slash Toronto Mike for everybody who would like to help sponsor and pledge this podcast. I would really appreciate it.

What's the last episode of Toronto Mike you listened to? The last one I am behind was my co-worker Adam Ricard. Adam's a, you know, you're a tall guy and I had to warn you about the ceiling. Oh my God, Adam is way taller than me. Adam's taller than you. Yeah. Adam, I actually was DMing on Twitter with Adam yesterday and I had to warn you about the ceiling. Oh my god, Adam is way taller than me. Adam, I actually was DMing on Twitter with Adam yesterday and I'm like, do you have any questions for Craig?

And he's like, Craig's a great guy. He just was like, Craig's a great guy. And Adam seemed like a really great guy. And if a great guy thinks somebody else is a great guy, I know this is going to be a great guy. Adam's a great guy. We're going to dive. Maybe we should just dive great guy. Well, we're going to dive. Maybe we should just dive in. That's all we're allowed to say about each other in our contracts. So if we go further than great guy, then there's a problem. That's right.

No, you're here because you have like a regular slot on CFNY 102.1. And just like Adam, I wanted to talk to, josie die that's another one i think i'm trying to think of the active cf and y guys i've had on that might be it actually your number three but uh we'll get there i need to ask you about the amber alert real quick uh were you watching tv yeah so i was fast forwarding my pvr and uh i didn't know it could come on while you're fast forwarding either i thought it was embedded in the program some were some were embedded is that right what's your provider i'm on rogers okay i'm rogers mine my uh amber alert had nothing to do with the channel i was

on or anything like that because the volume of my amber alert was like 10 times louder than the volume my tv was set at do you think they should be able to do that like do you think it came out of the receiver though like i this sound that emanated from my tv scared the shit out of me like and it took me a long time before i could relax i didn't know what was going on i thought there was like a bigger like i knew like it took me a few seconds to realize oh this is a like an alert through my tv because i'm fast forwarding and i'm like this doesn't sound like my building's fire alarm did they change it and then it's like oh no this is coming from the tv how's it doing it while i'm fast forwarding i don't know but but let's just go with it and then it's like well what kind of alert is this are we

dying right yeah yeah is it like go to your basement and like kiss your ass goodbye it was like what's happening here but no no, it was an Amber Alert. Did you have what I had, which was the slowest scroll? It was so slow. It covered the lower third of the TV and it scrolled. And my wife was like, well, let's just hit exit. It says hit exit and continue watching our show. But I'm like, no, I want to find out what this is.

At this point, you need to know what the alert is. We're only on the third line of text of like 20 and it's scrolling like a millimeter a second it's so we just went on twitter that's what i did i went to twitter to find out what the alert was yeah because it's so which i guess it worked in that it you know it made me aware of something but i just so i'm not i'm not i have to be clear i'm not against the amber alert i think a child's safety is very important. And all these blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But maybe the tone doesn't need to be that loud and scary.

Like maybe it can be like the emergency broadcast. Maybe a few beep, beep, beep. And then, you know. That's it. Yeah. But didn't they say that they used the one that was supposed to be for like nuclear disaster that's when i i some some people gave me flack for this but i tweeted my initial tweet right as it happened was if i hear if that sounds gonna come from my tv there better be like we

better be under nuclear attack like this better be it like kiss your children goodbye it's over yeah because that's the kind of scary alarm it was it's but but then there was some people that were like uh agreeing they're like a missing child yeah no no i got flack like as if it's like and i had to and i did get flack because if you criticized this amber alert in any way some people felt it was akin to you saying i hate screw that kid i hope he never gets found which is so ridiculous apparently they work though Amber Alerts work like there's been a bunch of kids

especially when the kid's not really abducted in that case it really works because this kid was his dad who was picking him up and now he's probably grounded now the dad's like you won't believe the fuss you caused last note before we dive into your illustrious career in radio.

I got rejected by Marilyn Dennis. So I invited Marilyn, but not her. Her publicist wrote me an email that Marilyn is too busy and she's sorry. Oh. Should I be, like, I've been rejected before, but usually I don't know if this is a good excuse. She's too busy. Like, I would be pretty flexible.

She probably looked at Google Maps and was like, this is way out of the way. But if, okay, where are you coming from? Like, North York? Midtown. So, Yonge and St. Clair. Yeah. See, a lot of people will live, like, south. And if you were downtown south and you weren't coming like

friday at 6 p.m which is that was the problem yeah the rush hour this is actually good like it's very quick on the gardener to come from downtown south to where i am right here no i was checking it the other day not during rush hour and it was like 20 minutes no traffic perfect order my uber at uh what time was it 4 40 i'm like i'll get there no problem i'm an hour late that a it's worth the wait for kid kid craig i almost called you kid rock but you're not kid rock uh he's next month's guest he's gonna come in nice no no marilyn dennis is a great person uh her son's really nice adam wilde you should try to get him on. Somebody suggested I try to get her on via him.

So you and your mom come on. That's why I got the extra microphone. Well, I just started that. I just sent a quick tweet to Adam Wilde earlier today. So you know Adam? Yeah, we worked together at Astral at Virgin Radio.

So you can send him a text and say he should do Toronto Mic'd with his mommy? I'll let him know there's free beer in it, too. Yeah, and Marilyn and him, they don't have to share the beer. They can have each their own case. Nice. I'll pass it along. So before you went to Virgin Radio, you were at the Wolf in Peterborough. Or did I make that up?

That was my first radio gig. It was a chorus station. I got there through high school, just two semesters of high school co-op, and they just kept me. I just looked at the dates, because I have a couple of acquaintances, a friend named Fred Patterson of The Humble and Fred show who went to be the program director over there.

Yeah. After your time there. Yes, that was after me. And he brought in Danny Stover, who did work at the Edge prior to sort of Freddie hiring her. And I think I saw her in the AM640 newsroom last week. I think she's doing some work there. So she's back. Well, she said she quit the job with no job

because she wanted to come back to Toronto. So how was Peterborough, though? Well, I grew up there. So, I mean, it's that. I kind of miss it, though. Like, sitting in the rush hour traffic today it's like you don't

that doesn't happen in Peterborough so it's like that makes me whenever I'm in rush hour traffic I always miss home you know I can imagine but

the media scene in Toronto is more vibrant than Peterborough all you got are the Peterborough Pete's over there right the Pete's

the Pete's were good. Yeah, the Peets had their moments. And was Doug Gilmore a Pete way before your time? I think so, yeah. I know Ty Domi was. Wow. I actually saw Domi play. If you need a bathroom break,

there's a picture of Ty Domi in my bathroom. I'm good. I'll see you later. Why is it in your bathroom, though? I don't know. I needed to put it somewhere. is it in your bathroom though? I don't know. I needed to put it somewhere. See, this is my 14-year-old's lair. So he's around the corners where he sleeps.

And then so I take this part. He takes the part around the corner. And then we share this bathroom. It's like the guy's bathroom. So it hasn't been cleaned in like eight months or something like that. That's the way it should be. It's probably disgusting in there. My wife won't even go in there.

yeah, the Wolf in Peterborough. So that's where, I always liked that station. Like it's like, um, the tragically hip and then the guess who you could got this kind of like cottage kind of sound.

I was in Peterborough two weekends ago and I heard Nickelback. Oh, how you remind me, right? No, it's photographed. Oh yeah, that's the one.

So they're still playing Nickelback. It's probably still in me, right? No, it's Photograph. Oh, yeah, that's the one. So they're still playing Nickelback. It's probably still in the charts over there. Maybe, yeah. It's cottage country music. I did the lights for a nightclub in Peterborough, and all the DJs would complain that Toronto always got music before. But it's like, I was downloading music at home. Can't they do the same thing?

That's hilarious. That's like when I talk to an American and they'll say's like, I was downloading music at home. Can't they do the same thing? That's hilarious. That's like when I talk to an American and they'll say something like, oh, I saw The Avengers this weekend. Has that come out in Canada yet? Like this whole notion. Like we don't get anything. Yeah, we got The Avengers 2.

Can you believe it? We film half those movies here. But yeah, it's Petereterborough uh if you walk into like a an a and a records in peterborough uh you probably still have back in black on the top 10 it could be there yeah because it's uh everyone wanted to hear that one when i did the all request all request saturday night always back in black shook me all night long spirit of the west home for the rest oh that's a rest yeah that's great and then uh you cut your teeth in peterborough and then you end up uh imaging

producer at 98.1 chfi yeah they hired me to do uh commercials first and then uh i got uh the opportunity to become their imaging producer and produced a bunch of stuff. Because what I was mainly in Peterborough was a producer. And then I hosted one show on the weekends. So I went from there to Rogers here and worked for a number of years. It was great. Aaron Davis is the only CHFI person I think I could name. But that's a pretty big name.

Bob McGee was there when I was there. He's awesome. You should have him on, actually. You know, you're supposed to bring Bob with you. I thought that was a deal. That's why I have the three microphones. No, everyone was great there. I loved it.

And then, okay, this is a station I got to plead some ignorance on. This is 101.3 the bounce in halifax yeah in halifax so um rogers was launching they flipped uh 92.5 jack fm they were flipping it into kiss again so um i was the ninja producer i was working overnights to re-image in secret Kiss 925. And it was like, you know what? I really want to be on the air. So I just told Julie Adam I really want to be on the air. And she's like, well, I know a guy.

So she hooked me up with Rob Ziele out of Halifax from 101.3 The Bounce. And, yeah, I went there for a year and a bit, I think, to do the evening show. What was their imaging like? Was it like 101.3 The Bounce? No, it was more like The Bounce. Oh yeah, because you gotta bounce. Yeah, it's gotta bounce.

And they had jingles. I miss jingles. I love jingles. I love jingles too. Nothing brings you back like an old jingle. Yeah. For sure. Hey, Julie Adam is a name that I hear a lot.

Like I've had a lot of people on, whether it be Mocha, for example, or Roz, or basically any, you know, Aaron Davis, for example. Like all these people come on the show and at some point it's necessary they praise Julie Adam. Like that's part of the deal. So you just did it too.

She's highly praiseable. She's a good person to be able to work for. Well, I mean, if you went to her and you're like, if you're like a producer guy and you're like, I want to be on the air. And respect, this is with all due respect. Sometimes I have guys sitting in that chair and I'm listening to them and I'm thinking,

fuck, I wish I had pipes like that. Like, I'm like, that guy. You don't need pipes. No, yeah. Okay. You, maybe that's the reason I needed to have Kid Craig on this show. I think you sound like I sound. Like, I think this is, we're in similar, like.

Might even be a bit higher than you, Mike. No, that's impossible. I'll do some post-production to make sure it's not true anyway. No, that's impossible. I'll do some post-production to make sure it's not true anyway. But I think you're proof. You don't have to have those big, I can't even imitate it. I can't even do it. But the deep, baritone voice, the Andy Frost.

Yeah, yeah, no. Just outside having a cigarette with Andy Frost is intimidating. I wrote him an email and I haven't heard back. So I wasn't rejected by Andy Frost. I've just been like frosted out, if you will. Like I have no response. Maybe it's in his spam folder or something like that. Maybe he'll come on.

You never know. So you're friends with him because you've had smokes with the guy? I would say friends, but we work together. He's a very nice man. And yeah, I love Andy Frost. Who doesn't like Andy Frost? I used to mosh at this. We weren't allowed to mosh.

They banned it, but we did it anyway. But it's called Strange Paradise. It was Monday nights at the Phoenix back in grunge time, so early 90s, I guess. And Andy Frost was the voice guy guy the guy who was like you know the guy you call is what do they call that the guy host host of the p.a the p.a announcer yeah he was the uh yeah the host of strange paradise monday nights at the phoenix so i i hear yeah i used to hear him every monday night nice it was like and they started every at 10 o'clock or

whatever 10 30 when it started they always started with uh the beatles or whatever, 10.30 when it started. They always started with the Beatles' Day in the Life. Yeah, it was a very cool time. Nice. You're way too young for this. And that was on the air? No, I don't think it was on the air. It was just a party time. Yeah, we just moshed.

And one of the guys who would always be moshing there was PJ Fresh Phil. Okay. Right? And I was thinking the other day, somebody tweeted at me, I should have PJ on. And I'm like, I just want to have him on to talk about the Monday nights at the Phoenix in the early 90s. See, I talked to him about YTV.

Yeah, because I was way too old to be watching YTV. I just watched a guy named Ron Oliver. And there's no way I can tell by your eyes. There's no way you remember Ron Oliver. No, I have no idea. Sorry, drawn a blank. Well, this all comes together because there's a guy I can tell by your eyes. There's no way you remember Ron Oliver. No, I have no idea. Sorry, drawn a blank. Well, this all comes together because there's a guy named Retro Ontario.

His name's Ed, but he goes by the handle Retro Ontario and he's going to make a second appearance in April and we're going to talk about Ron Oliver. So that's an episode you got to download and listen to. All right. Did you hear the Josie Dye episode, by the way? Yeah, I did.

So do you do all the chorus ones? Is that a deal? I just go through people that I think would be interesting. Did you do Mike Stafford? Not yet. No. Have you ever had a smoke of Mike Stafford? I don't believe so.

Does Mike Stafford smoke? I don't know. Come on. Am I even supposed to be saying that people have cigarettes? It's kind of taboo now, isn't it? It is. I want the list of Chorus on air. I don't care about the back.

I want the on-air guys at Chorus. There aren't that many. Out of all the stations, out of all the companies I've worked for, Chorus seems to have the least amount of tobacco-smoking individuals. Is that right? Yeah. Because your location is very... You're right on the

waterfront trail maybe because your new location is so healthy it's nice to go outside though and the scenery is great and you can you can go to sugar beach can you smoke at sugar beach sure i think so i guess it's a giant ashtray that's right it is yeah that's cool um okay so the bounce in halifax and then you end up at, as you mentioned, Virgin 99. Which was the best? Halifax, for anybody that wants to go move out of Ontario to do some radio, Nova Scotia is amazing. Just a serious question. If I were to approach Julie Adam, okay, let's say I'm talking to Julie Adam, and I'm like,

Julie, it's my dream to be in radio i don't care about money i mean that's a prerequisite that you don't care about money i don't care about money i just want to be on in radio do you think there's a market there's a core oh no roger's market somewhere in canada where i could get an on-air gig just based on doing this podcast i think yeah you have a you have a good chance so they might say okay i'm gonna make up a place but like they might say thunder bay or something or whatever somewhere even more remote than that but there's somewhere there's a place for me on the air in this country for a rogers station if i just talk to julie adam yes she she might be able to help you out but uh like we have a lot of interns at chorus

and uh just mine my my most recent one he's very good at social media and stuff uh his demos weren't the greatest when he first played them for me but they started to get better he just got offered a job in swift river this is what I'm talking about. Swift River. For God's sakes. Where's that? Manitoba? Yeah. But he's off. He's pumped.

He's driving his car. He's taking his car into the shop this week. So he's going to be on the air in Swift River. Probably on the air. He's probably the morning guy. He's probably the morning guy. He's probably the afternoon guy too. He probably does the music.

He's probably going to handle the web stuff. He's probably going to do a whole bunch of jobs i'm gonna social media too i'm gonna talk to julie because i mean i know i got like a fourth kid might arrive tonight you might witness the birth of my fourth child that's how pregnant my wife is uh but you know screw it i'll drop it all and go to swift river if i can get it i think it'd be great you know i can't tell if you're joking or not but he's pumped no but he's like uh like early 20s right yeah and i yeah so he's pumped i'm joking but i am curious because uh i i'm now convinced that uh if you sound like you do which is great by the way i love it but it's not like andy frost i feel like uh julie could help me in a lesser market so you go to halifax and you basically

get your reps in in halifax that's where you improve your on-air game in halifax yeah and then because you were so good somehow uh you get a gig back in the big smoke somehow is right yeah somehow so how did you end up back at how did you end up back in toronto at 99.9? I think they were just trying to, they wanted to switch up their schedule a bit and their sound, I guess. The program director that I was working for in Halifax moved back here as well and became the assistant program director for Virgin.

So that helped. That always helps. Yeah. Sometimes it's not what you know, it's who you know, right? Yeah. So you, I mean, just to be specific, you applied for the gig and you got it? Or did they call you and say, hey, would you be interested in coming closer to home?

I actually forget how that happened. It was maybe a combination of the two. It was like, you should send me some stuff. I was like, okay. And then, yeah. So I came to work weekends at Virgin and then Adam fell ill with mono and he was off for a while.

So I filled in for him and he got another gig at, I think, didn't he go out to Calgary then? Yeah. I'm going to go with you on that one because I'm not too sure. So anyway, he got sick and just kind of never came back. So I was lucky enough that they kept me in evenings there.

But yeah, I basically knew a guy who knew a guy. And this is so virgin. So I don't know how long it had been virgin at that point, but this is Mix 99.9. I don't know when it switched, but before you got there, and it's virgin when you get there. And you're getting some on-air time in Toronto, which is amazing. And who are some of the people you worked with?

I do remember in... I'm looking at what years you were at. What years were you there? Because did you overlap at all? No, you didn't. I guess Humble and Fred... I met Humble. He was on...

Was it Boom? Yeah. I think it was Boom then. With Colleen? Yeah. So I met Humble. He was on, was it Boom? Yeah. I think it was Boom then. With Colleen? Yeah. So I was there then. And was he smoking with you or no? No.

No. I never even saw him smoke either. This episode exists to out all the smokers. That place had a lot of smokers. Is that right? Yeah, yeah. And who else you had? Is that the years of, is's mad dog and billy doing the

morning show um yes yep yep both people good good people yeah perfect um so good so perfect neither has a radio gig right now they're just waiting for the right thing the last i i talked to jay they're just waiting for the right thing Like you don't want to just jump right into something. Jay would have been great as Aaron Davis's new co-host on CHFI, but Darren B. Lamb. Yeah. Beat him to the punch. That's going to be, have you seen their new TV commercial?

I love it. I clicked something Aaron tweeted and I clicked and yeah, they were sitting in the, like on a couch or something and people were having their morning. That song though, Clean Bandit, Rather Be. Great song. It's good stuff. No, she's a great lady. Yeah, I think Jay's just waiting for the right thing to come around. I think

Billie's doing some consulting or something. I mean, I should know because she's been on this show, but yeah, I know she's definitely doing something. I don't I know she's definitely doing something. I don't know what she's doing, but I saw on Twitter right now she's off on some vacation to Cuba.

So the way I look at it, if you're not working and you're vacationing, like, you know, it's a whole Kramer thing. Like, what are you vacationing from? But if she can do that, it means things aren't so bad because she's off to some sandy beach or something. Filled with Zika virus. I hope not. I hope not. I hope not.

So you're at 99.9. And at this point, you go to 102.1 from 99.9? Is that how it worked? Yes. So Bell Bought Astral made a bunch of cuts. I was included. Took a summer off. Made a bunch of cuts.

I was included. Took a summer off. Met Mel at a party who said, oh, you should send your stuff to Dave Farrow. I'm like, oh, okay, cool. So basically Mel got me a job. And Mel is the one-time receptionist who ended up on air co-hosting with the Fearless one. Fearless Red, yeah. I think that's how it works.

Yeah, she was the receptionist and got a gig no cool so when how long you've been at 102.1 um i think just over a year now okay at some point you asked me if you could play uh you were listening to the ash podcast from uss ubiquitous energy seeker oh yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think you had Ash on and I wanted to play a clip of it. So did you ever do that? No. So how come, how can you tease me like that?

You told me I'd have to say this is from TorontoMike.com. Is that right? I didn't want to do it. Really? So let's talk about this for a minute. So you want to like get an excerpt from my discussion with Ash.

Yeah. I wasn't going gonna use you though you were just gonna ashes you can say hey here's ash talking about whatever and then you're gonna play ash and you didn't want to give credit to the guy who had ash in his basement asking the question i was probably gonna play the clip as if i was talking to ash is that true yeah you can't do that man why not that's a dick that's a dick move If it's on the internet, you can rip it off. That's the way I see the world. So normally, because normally, you know, if you had played it,

if you had played it without, you know, just deleting me as if you're talking to Ash, somebody's going to be listening who's going to let me know, right? And then I'm going to be mad at you. And that's why I asked you if I could use it. But if you had no fear that you would anger Toronto Mike, okay? Because you work with somebody who, but I'll get to that in a minute. But if you had no such fear, you probably would have just done it, right? No, like I probably would have still.

You've got to ask. You've got to go through some channels, I guess. But I liked it. I liked it. I wanted to use some of it, I, you gotta ask, you gotta go through some channels, I guess, but I, I liked it. I liked it. I wanted to use some of it. I'm flabbergasted. You were going to literally delete my terrible radio voice.

And were you going to ask the question? Like, I would have just played it as if like I had somehow, do you know what I mean? I'm half busting your chops, but I'm also half, um, I'm blown away by the fact that, chops, but I'm also half blown away

by the fact that you didn't play. I had no idea whether you played the clips or not. I just, I even think I tweeted, I think they're going to play my clips on 102. And then I never got like, I never got like conclusion. I never, I never got closure on this because I never knew if you played my clip.

And that is the reason I asked you on. No, I liked, I liked the interview. It was good. And I love USS. Yeah, me too. The Edge is a huge supporter of both those guys. So I just thought, hey, if I can use some of this, I'll use it. So I thought I'd ask you first.

You said no. So that was the end of it. Well, actually, I said yes. So long as you credit me. All I asked for was, hey, here was Ash on Toronto Mike's podcast or Toronto Mike's and that would have been sufficient and you couldn't even do that.

No, maybe next time. You're funny. That's great. I'm glad we cleared that up. I was glad. So you're at 102.1 and there's been some changes like you've shuffled your lineup

very recently here. So you're going to be like the official chorus pr person for a minute and help me understand this okay don't worry don't worry just speak from the heart and drink another beer okay carly myers have you met carly yet i met her once she popped in to say hi seems nice so. So this is her first week? Or last week was her first week? This week. Oh, yeah, this week.

So she's only had five shows on your station. So just to give some context here, Carly Myers was working in Calgary. And she was like, you know when you get like, you call the Bisons and you're like, you go, Kawasaki, we need you to come up to the big club and play some shortstop because somebody's hurt.

She got the call to come to the big club in Toronto. Yeah. She's here now. Excellent. Is she good? I don't know. You never listen? No.

What's her time slot? What do you do for work, Mike? I'm a digital marketing manager. When you come home, do you do that? So you don't listen to... I don't listen, no. Oh, that's interesting because you might want to hear the new person

to hear how she sounds. I'll go into the logger tonight and I'll take a listen. I'm sure she's good if we hired her. What's her time slot? She is, I believe, is it nine until... It's ten. You're a terrible chorus publicist. lot. She is, I believe, is it nine until ten? You're a terrible chorus publicist. Because we shuffled

everything and I'm just in the evenings now. I never see anybody. It was ten until two, but we've changed everything around. The morning show starts earlier now, Fred and Mel, 5.30 until nine. Carly's nine until two. I think

Carly's nine until one and Like 1? Okay. I think Carly's 9 until 1 and then Alan Cross is 1 until 2. What does Alan Cross, the legendary voice of authority when it comes to music, I know when, who just died? Somebody just passed away from music.

Oh, George Martin. So the fifth Beatle dies and I bike every day listening. One of the things i listen to when i bike is the the world at six which airs the night before at six o'clock on cbc radio so i listen to that half an hour show and i'm on my bike i'm listening george martin they do the obituary and they don't credit him by the way so he took that idea from you i think but i hear alan cross talking about george martin and then i realized every time like a music music

there's lots dying right now but every time a musician dies like emerson just died from emerson lake and palmer like i'm sure um alan cross gets a call from cbc like can you give us some sound bites on this i'm sure he's the guy everybody calls when a musician dies quite Quite possibly. He's an encyclopedia. So what's he doing at 1 o'clock? It's basically his take on music in the world for one hour. And then Adam's on

afternoons. He's the drive home guy. Yep. And then we have Greg Biharel back. So he's doing it from California. Yeah, he's still in, I believe, what is it, San Francisco? Yeah, lucky bastard there. So he's doing what, Bill Carroll kind of did something like this forever,

not forever, for a while, from he was in L.A. and he was doing a show on 640. Who are we talking about? Bill Carroll. Oh, okay. Just that that's what what Beharel's doing. Bill Carroll, Beharel.

Beharel? He pronounces it like B. Harrell. Like it's like his middle name is like Bob or something. So Greg B. Harrell is in San Francisco. But is he live in Toronto or is it like pre-recorded?

I don't know. Should we talk about the secrets of how it's done? I want to know. The whole purpose I started Toronto Mike is I enjoy sausages. Like I like to put mustard on my sausage, but I want to know how they make this sausage. Oh, okay. I want to know how you make the sausage.

Is it pre-packaged? Because the only way to find out is I need an Amber Alert to happen during his show. That's what I need. And then nothing happens. If he references it. It is prepackaged, I believe. He does his show in San Francisco, picks his favorite stuff and puts an hour of it together.

And I don't know if he's got an FTP, if it's email, but it gets to our station somehow and it goes on the air. He uploads it somewhere. Okay, cool. It's basically syndicated. You could do that with this show. You could. But you'd have to give me credit.

Which is against your philosophy. You'd have to get in touch with Julie Adam. No, I think that's the other guy. Julie Adam is the Rogers guy, but I'm doing this for Chorus. Does Julie Adam control Rogers, Bell, and Chorus? Is she like the Oracle that they all go to? The Oracle of the Delphi? She's very high up in Rogers.

For sure. Hey, speaking of high up people, did you know Carly Myers, the person you only met the one time and haven't listened to yet? Her dad is Stu Myersyers do you know that name um i heard that yeah i heard that so stew was a long time in fact if you ever go back and listen to for example the strombo episode of toronto mic if you ever have two hours because it's a long one he credits he gives a lot of credit to stew meyers to help kind of make him the broadcaster he is today. But he was a longtime program director on your station not too long ago. In fact, if you listen to the episode with Pete Fowler, who was on before your time on Edge 102, Pete talks about being on the air with

Martin Streak when Martin Streak drops an F-bomb live on the air. And then Stu Myers sends out this big memo about how you never, ever drop an F-bomb, you know, intentionally on this station. And I got to read that memo. But Stu Myers is the father of Carly Myers, who has the 9 to 2 or whatever, 9 to 1. Yeah, I heard that. I haven't met him, though, but I'm sure he's a good guy. I'm sure. What was't met him, though, but I'm sure he's a good guy. I'm sure...

What was it? Who was the guest? Pete Fowler? No, Strombo. You said Strombo praises... He praises Stu Myers. Stu Myers, yeah. For helping shape his career.

I think we've all got those people along our paths. And who's yours? I've got a couple. Rob Ziele, Chris Pottage, Julie Adam. You'll always find them. I'm sure you have some in the world of digital marketing.

There's a number of idols. You'll see their pictures of them on your way out. They'll be on the wall. Hey, so Alan Cross is going to be doing stuff again. That's kind of exciting because I don't think he's, other than ongoing history of new music,

he hasn't had a show in a long time, I don't think. Not since I've been there. That's not a coincidence either. He's intimidated by you. He just doesn't want to be around me. Speaking of guys who don't want to be around you, you work with Adam Ricard, you mentioned, and you mentioned he's a great guy um so

is there any rivalry at all you're just both sweethearts you like it to like because because didn't he kind of take the drive home slot from you like didn't he didn't weren't you doing drive homes or was i daydreaming that no i was i was filling in for josie you were filling in for joe on her mat leave and then she's coming back so but josie's always been the midday person or wasn't she no she was on drive she was on drive yeah it's shuffled so often now yeah okay so josie's coming back yeah so this is all just in preparation for josie to come back there's something special in the works josie was here when she was very pregnant so yeah it, it's when she comes back.

So tell me though, who's getting moved where when Josie comes back? I think that's a big secret. There's just a bunch of special things happening behind the scenes. I need permission now to treat you as a hostile witness. May I just rough you up a little bit? Okay. All right. Who's being moved for Josie?

I can't say anything. I don't even really know yet. Is that true? No, it's not true. Alright, I'm not going to rough you up. There's just really cool changes ahead for the station. Okay, cool.

That's good. Fred and Mel, you mentioned earlier, they are going to be on my birthday, by the way. They're going to be joined by a third voice in the morning booth. Have you heard this name? Rick the Temp. Rick the Temp.

Rick the Temp. I think he's trying to be Rick Campanella now. Campanelli. Campanelli. Yeah, with an I. It's like when I first started at The Edge, I'd walk down the hall into YTV and see The Zone.

And I was like, oh my God! This is like childhood, right? And then Rick Campanelli's coming. That's another bit of, you know, childhood. That's why I invited Ed DeSoc on this show.

Because, yeah, and Steve Anthony. But Rick the Temp. First question is, I got to ask Rick if he... Rick's going to be a busy guy because he does entertainment tonight. Yeah.

But you know, Roz Weston. Also does. Does entertainment tonight and the Kiss 92.5 morning show and he came on this show. So I'm going to try to get Rick to come on this show.

Yeah, like what's one more engagement in a day? Tell that to Marilyn Dennis. Okay. I'm sure you'll get her on. You just. I don't know. That publicist gave me a hard no. It's going to be tough to Marilyn Dennis. Okay. I'm sure you'll get her on. I don't know. That publicist

gave me a hard no. It's going to be tough to even get to her. She clearly doesn't read her own email and stuff. You don't have a publicist. No. I should, maybe. I don't know what questions are coming here. Is any on-air person at Edge 102 got a publicist? Any of them? I don't think so.

Not even Alan Cross? I can't think of anybody in the city besides... I don't even know. Not even Alan Cross? I can't think of anybody in the city besides, I don't even know if what you're saying is true. It's true. But I don't know anybody that has a publicist. Actually, I would know

better than anybody now that I think about it because I know when I deal directly with somebody, I dealt directly with you to get you on the show and I dealt directly

with Roger Ashby. I didn't go through a publicist. But I can tell you for Ash from USS, I had to go through a publicist to get Ash. And once in a while, I I didn't go through a publicist. But I can tell you for Ash from USS, I had to go through a publicist to get Ash. And once in a while, I've had to go through a publicist. I'm doing it right.

Actually, was it Matt Galloway? I went through a publicist to get Matt Galloway from CBC. So once in a while. You got to do what you got to do, I guess. Yeah. And it's safe to say that Alan Cross does not have a publicist because I dealt directly with guess. Yeah. And it's safe to say you don't have, Alan Cross does not have a publicist because I dealt directly with the man himself.

And if you have to go through a publicist to get somebody on your show, do they still get to walk away with this lovely case of beer? No, they have to bring me beer. That's the way it works because it's a pain in the ass

to work with the publicist. Do Fred and Mel need a Rick? Like, people seem to like the show and the chemistry they have. Do they need a Rick the Temp? Doesn't everybody need a Rick the Temp? That is the PR answer. I saw you reading from the script there. I like morning shows with a bunch of people.

Remember the big morning zoos on Z100 in New York and stuff? Ten people. That's true six people i like that so adding another face to the to the show i i think it'd be excellent and with his uh he's he's already well known in everyone's house kind of you know so i think he's definitely a a name i don't most people know rick the temp or r Rick Campanelli. They know one or the other. Which is the same person, by the way. Yeah, I think so. Last time I checked.

Fearless Fred. I've spent some time feeling warm fuzzies for Fearless Fred. I would love to have Fearless Fred on this show. Primarily so we can... I don't even know if this is a culturally

sensitive term. It's probably not. But bury the hatchet. I don't think you should say that anymore. It's probably insensitive to the Aboriginal people. I can give you his publicist's number if you need it. He might have one because Fred Kennedy does the... Where is he doing the voiceover stuff? What station does he do?

Is that the Cartoon Network? There's some network. He was on Teletoon at night. Oh, Teletoon at night. Does he still do that? He had his own Fred at night. He'd play movies and he'd talk in between them.

That's what I'm thinking. That's gone now, I think. It actually ended two weeks ago. Is that right? Yeah. Well, he's got more time now to come on Toronto Mic. So what do you think? Just what do you think

the odds are that I could get Fearless Fred to come sit in the seat you're sitting in? I don't know. Well, I don't even know. Why do you hate him?

I don't. I like him. I got warm fuzzies for the guy. Okay, Google. Why does Fred Kennedy not want to come on Toronto Mike? Oh, that come on Toronto, Mike?

Oh, that's not good, Mike. Well, you know why? Because you called him Fred Kennedy. You needed to ask about fearless Fred. Nobody knows fearless Fred is Fred Kennedy. No, I don't know. Whatever you two have going on between each other, I don't know how it started.

I don't know how to end it. If you could, and I know your shift is so awkward that you probably would never see Fred Kennedy because he's a morning guy and you're like doing an 8 o'clock shift. I miss those guys. Next time you're with him, just tell him to come and do Toronto Mike.

You got a lot of homework. I know I got to let you go soon, but you got a lot of homework. I hope you're writing this down. I will try my best. I will mention it. I will do that. I hope you're writing this down. I will try my best. I will mention it. I will do that. I will. You guys still use the tagline modern music, I noticed. Somebody wrote me this email like, hey, they stopped calling like some kind of breaking news. Like they're

not using modern music anymore. Like what does that mean? Does that mean they're going to become like a throwback station? Like the new flow became the move and it's like a throwback. I love it. I love it. It sounds good. I like it too because I'm an old guy. I just didn't know if the young people, because you don't hear as much like Drake and Rihanna.

Now you hear more like the Fugees. Yeah. Which is good for guys like, yeah, I like it too. No, I really like it. And I Uber a lot. And whenever I'm in an Uber, it doesn't matter how old um the person is they can be young or old but there's a lot of cars that are listening to flow or the move the move yep cool i like it um no i think um modern music is um just um slowly being phased out. It doesn't mean we're changing anything

or we're changing up the music, but I think we're just going to come up with something better or maybe not even have one. Do you really need to have a tagline? Yeah. Why? I just feel like that's how you get your jingle. Come on.

I guess so. We all love jingles. This will be brief. I'm going to briefly ask you whether you, Kid Craig, care about ratings books. Like, Numeris has some PPM results that comes out. How much do you personally care? I used to care, I guess. Like, it was like, yay, yes.

But then it's like, it doesn't really, I mean, it matters, but then it doesn't, right? Like, my wife today, she's like, she's't really i mean it it matters but then it doesn't right like uh my wife today she's like she's an anchor at 680 news and uh she was like oh we did really well in ratings we're number one with men 25 44 i'm like yeah but like what if you know what if the demo you're going for is like 35 54 like you can just skew numbers oh i'm with you buddy going for is 35, 54. You can just skew numbers. Oh, I'm with you, buddy. What is Edge 102's official targeted demo?

You must have an official target. I'm going to guess. Is it something like mail 18 to 34? Because I would guess. If you said, Mike, what do you think 102's targeted demo? I'd say mails 18 to 34. There's been a bunch of them and like every station i go to it's their their demo is different their target is different but then the sales people are all trying to sell the same demo

and i just uh you just i just don't really like you just go in and you try to do the best job you can every single day anyway for what it's, like a book came out this week, maybe yesterday or two days ago or something like that. For what it's worth, you are in second place when it comes to males 18 to 34. The Edge is in second place. That's good. You know who's in first? No.

Your alma mater, Virgin 99.9. Oh, really? Virgin 99.9 has a 10.3 share, which is down from 11, and you are at 9.3. That's the thing. How can my wife tell me that she's number one with males, and then you're telling me we're second with males for Virgin's first? You know why? Because there's a thing called cumulative.

I don't know. I personally... Cue and TSL. Because 680 is a station where people tune in to hear the weather and the traffic. They tune in very... And then they tune out. Yeah. So I don't even want to go anymore into ratings.

Their TSL is very low, but then their QM is high. What's your wife's name, by the way? Sarah Parrott. Okay. So she's like reading news on 680. Yes. That's cool. Yeah.

I think that's cool. Yeah. I remember when 680 played Top 40. That's how old I am. Yeah. Yeah. And you know another guy you should have on your podcast, KJ from Boom. My buddy Jeff also, who does the evenings, you should have him on.

But KJ used to also work at 680. Spinning the hits. I would have KJ on because I've had Stu and May Potts. Those are my Boomers. Get KJ on. Boom, by the way, does very well with older guys. They were number one last time I heard. Yeah, and I think that's, I know your sister's brother's station,

I guess, whatever you call it now, but Q107, that's their targeted demo, and I think they're, yeah, Boom's got them beat right now. Yeah. They've done something right over there. Yeah. And they're not Chorus, and they're not Bell, and they're not Rogers. They're NuCap. Right, which is almost like an indie-type deal.

Speaking of indie. Actually, NuCap has their only deal stations. They only deal in radio, so that's all they care about, which is excellent. And they have many stations in other places. Right. This is their first, like,

venture into Ontario. Right. Boom and Flow, I guess, are the, uh... Yeah. ...are Move. And they're doing very well with both of them,

so that's good. Well, we'll see if the Move moves the needle. See what I did there? Yeah. I should get the gig in Halifax. And it should, because if I'm taking Ubers all the time and everyone's playing it, why isn't it registering?

Do you ever, like, root against, like, Indy 88? Like, is this the new, like, rivalry? 102.1 versus 88.1? No, there isn't any rivalry. Like, maybe when I was a kid working in Peterborough, I'd, like, be like be like poo poo on the stations down the street you know but you don't you don't do that there's no rivalry between uh indy and uh 102.1 i don't think so no like everyone's kind of friends if you look at uh

if you look at mutual friends on facebook or whatever yeah pretty much everyone is in this whole industry is friends with each other on the Facebook. That's because you're all young and zestful of life. Zest for life. I just don't think we care. Really. Only,

who's left that's not young? It's the only guy left, I guess, is former 102.1, current 88 guy, Bookie. He's the only guy, I guess,

because you're what? You're 23, 24 years old. No, I'm not. No, you're older than that. Yeah. Okay, man guy I guess because you're what you're 23 24 years old I'm uh no you're older than that yeah okay man I know that

you gotta actually rush off and get on the air you're a Leafs fan I am yeah are you like me where you you love watching the kids like Shoshnikov

and uh Nylander and everything this season I haven't really been paying attention you didn't miss much. Because they,

I know, because they really just started, you know, performing poorly early on in the season and I just didn't watch it. And also,

this was the season where we entered the season, I want to say to tank, but we entered the season to fail. Tank Nation. Even last year, we started to see that.

We were supposed to do that and then they started playing well near the end. But it wouldn't have mattered anyway. Edmonton had the best picks for how many years now? Yeah. In a row? They've been doing all right.

They're probably going to get it again this year. But I just wanted to ask you, but you're not watching, so it doesn't matter, but I've been enjoying losing by a goal. Like, we didn't do it. We screwed this up a couple of nights ago. But I like the good effort, maybe a goal for Nylander, maybe something for Hyman or something.

And then we lose by a goal. That's what I like. It's always in overtime as well. Or usually we pull a goalie and then we fail to tie it up. But perfect for getting Austin Matthews or whoever, but still entertaining to watch. So they've done a good job of that. I'm definitely looking forward to the rebuild.

I think they've actually done some good stuff now. I'm not huge into sports, but I love watching the Leafs, and I think I know what they're doing now. They got rid of all the high salaries, and they're flooding the team with good, promising young ones. Yeah, it's the Shanna plan. I'm excited. Should be good.

Yeah, good. Go Leafs. You're young enough. You might live's the Shanna plan. I'm excited. Should be good. Yeah, good. Go least. You're young enough, you might live long enough to see a Stanley Cup. To see the fruits of this thing. Geez. Yeah, that'd be great.

And Jay's talk, very quick, is you a Jay's fan? Baseball? I would rather watch basketball than watch baseball on TV, but I was so behind the Blue Jays last season. That was excellent and so exciting,

and I hope we can win a World Series again because I remember watching a World Series when I was a kid on TV, and I saw them win one, but I was young, so it would be nice to have another one. It still happened, though. Yeah, it did. And that's all we can point to. It's for sure.

That's all we can point to. It for sure happened, can point to it for sure happened but i'm looking forward to another one so go jays go leafs do the raptors actually win a playoff round this year i'd be good if they did win it because we've never won a best of seven we won one best of five okay before they change the rules we've never won a best of seven-seven playoff series. Well, let's get it going. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's win two. Basketball games, another fun sporting event to go watch at the Air Canada Centre, but I hate watching it on TV.

You're going to do me a favour. You're going to play the Ash clip, and you're going to just slip in there, courtesy of Toronto Mike. TorontoMike.com. TorontoMike. You don't even have to say TorontoMike.com. You can just say, his appearance on Toronto Mike,

then here's what he said. All right. But put my voice in there, too. And then people will watch your hits climb and climb and climb. Then I can finally quit my day job. Thanks, kid. That's the dream. Thanks, Mike.

And that brings us to the end of our 163rd show. You can follow me on Twitter at Toronto Mike and Kid Craig. Are you at Kid Craig? Yes, on Twitter. How convenient. Follow Kid Craig. Snag that one up. See you all next week. And drink some Guinness from a tin Cause my UI check has just come in

Ah, where you been? Because everything is coming out