Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Lisa Brandt: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1780

Episode Date: October 15, 2025

In this 1780th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Lisa Brandt about her career in radio, especially 680 News and CHFI, her writing and voiceover career, her friendship with Erin Davis and her blog. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, Nick Ainis, Blue Sky Agency and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail].

You're listening to Toronto Mike, and if you're in broadcasting in the GTA and you haven't listened before, well, shame on you. Welcome. What a pro. I'm in the presence of a professional. She'll be here any minute. Welcome to Episode 180, 1780 of Toronto, of you want to get the city loved. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times, and brewing amazing beer.

Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta, enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Blue Sky Agency, the official distributor of Silence's quiet, comfortable, and customizable office pods. Create sanctuary within your workspace. Nick Aienis, he's the host of Building, Toronto Skyline and building success, two podcasts you ought to listen to.

Kinling, go to shopkinling.ca for free one-hour cannabis delivery. Recycle myelectronics.ca. Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. And Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Today, making her Toronto mic debut. It's Lisa Brandt. Welcome, Lisa. Hello, I'm happy to be here. You cut that promo off the top,

and I knew I was in the presence of a voiceover person. You do a lot of voiceover work. Yeah, I certainly try. Yeah, I do a lot of voiceover work. It's funny, I just got a message as I was driving in from a client who wants me to record 11 takes of the word but, because they added but Are there 11 such takes?

I don't know, we'll find out. But it's always something strange. It's always something different and odd. Every day is a different animal. It keeps it fresh and fun. Did you always have a great voice? Like, when did you realize, oh, I've got a pretty great voice here?

I don't know that, I don't know. I don't know if I do have a great voice. Well, yeah, that's kind of what I'm thinking. but they said something about it when I auditioned at Niagara College. They said something about my voice then, and that was the first time I really thought, hmm, maybe I have something. Well, that's the very beginning.

Yeah, yeah, but it wasn't, you know, before that. I mean, people have always asked me if I sing. And, oh, yes, I do, but I do it terribly. So you don't want to hear it. You can't carry a tune. I cannot. Okay, we were in the same club there. So I'm glad to see you.

I know it was a long drive for you. Oh, that's all right. Yeah, it's, I don't know, three hours, two and a half hours, something like that. That sounds horrific to me, but you did it, and I just want you to know I'm grateful. Well, you know, I listen to podcasts. I treated it as sort of a lone time. Listen to your podcast. Listen to other podcasts.

And, uh, how dare you listen to other podcasts, Lisa? Get out of my basement. Are there other podcasts? I want all of your time to be. spent consuming Toronto-Miked episodes. You did mention an episode you heard recently because just last week, your former colleague Rudy Blair was in the basement.

Yeah. What did you think of Rudy on Toronto Maked? Oh, it was great. I thought it was a terrific, solid interview, and he didn't hold back, but he was his own sweet self. And really, he's unique. There's no one like Rudy in the whole industry.

And the whole idea that he has about talking to people before they're famous, giving them some time, really has paid off for him, and that's not why he did it. He's just a good dude. He's a good dude. Although, we joked about it off the top, but I had a great time of Rudy last week,

and I think we became fast friends, but it wasn't always smooth sailing with Rudy Blair. Like, I know he was, you love the guy, and he was great, but he could be a bit prickly back in the day. Oh, yeah, absolutely. And I would mostly hear about it secondhand. I didn't witness it. Well, let me tell you stories, Lisa, get comfortable.

Rudy Blair being mean to me over the years. Oh, no, mean to you? Yeah. Well, we did, we chatted a little bit off the top. I had an encounter with Rudy, maybe two, to be honest. One in real life and then one virtually. And then, you know, what it's like when you meet somebody finally in the right time? He blames timing.

Like, the timing was right. And Rudy, at this point in his life, I think he's a kinder, gentler Rudy Blair to the masses, the great unwashed, the non-leases out there. And I'm now a Rudy fan. Well, you've got to remember, too, that he was working around a bunch of people who were, I mean, there were guys who wouldn't even answer their emails. They would get fan mail or listener questions. I don't have time for that. I need names, Lisa. No names, no names.

Because he did, as you know, because you listened, he talked about a person who had it out for him. and he blames this unnamed person for his end at 680 news. I was wondering if you knew the person. You don't have to say the name, but do you know the person he's talking about? I honestly don't, because I was already gone by then, and I don't know. It was somebody moved into a different position. I can guess, but it would only be a guess.

Then I'd have to get Lauren Honickman online, too, to tell you everything is allegedly, and we're speculating, and we can't tarnish the good name of somebody who may be innocent. I don't want to lose my house. No, well, nobody wants you to lose your house and, you know, I don't want to lose my house either here. So that's why I keep Lauren on speed dial. You never know in this, you know, podcast when I need Lauren Honnickman to come in and protect me. Good idea.

Good idea. So Rudy Blair was last week, but I got a lovely note from somebody who also enjoyed the Rudy Blair episode because I got a note about that. But when Mike Epple heard that you were coming over, Mike Epple texted me, and I'm going to quote Mike Epple. And I think this will offend many people he's worked with through the years. Okay, ready? Yes. Lisa, one of my favorite coworkers of all time. I would say the same about Mike.

One of my favorite people. Wow. I even elevate it to people. Yeah, I elevate it to people. And now that he has the farm near Tilsenburg, he's even closer. And he and his wife keep threatening to come and visit us in Port Stanley. And they haven't yet. But I think once they get there full time, there'll be more time for it.

So I'm glad you mentioned this farm, okay? Because Rudy Blair announced that Mike Epple was living on this farm now. But then Mike Epple does want to clarify that he hasn't made that move yet. But he did say, Mike Epple, that he will come to TMLX21, which is going to take place. This is important, Lisa, get out your notepad and take a note here, okay? Okay, yeah. November 29, which is the last Saturday, of November, noon to 3 p.m.

At Palma's Kitchen in Mississauga, we're taking over the second floor, and we're going to have a live recording everybody who comes to TMLX21. And that could be you, Lisa. It will be Mike Eppel. It will be another former colleague of yours, the legend that is Peter Gross. Oh, wonderful.

We'll get back to Peter in a minute here. But this everybody who comes out gets fed for free, Palma pasta will feed you. They make delicious Italian food there Palmer's kitchen. And I'm bringing fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery. So shout out to Palma Pasta for hosting us and Great Lakes for sending over the beer. But Mike Epple's going to set the record straight because he says Rudy is a little put the card ahead of the horse or whichever

one you're not supposed to do. I know he's there on weekend sometimes. I'll get an email or sometimes a phone call saying, oh, I'm cutting the grass or whatever. Mike stays in good touch. Cutting the grass or smoking the grass? No, no, cutting as far as I know. He's never said to anything else. Well, that's a teaser, because I'm going to make an announcement in our conversation at some point, Lisa. I'm going to unveil a new partner, a new sponsor of Toronto Mike, and maybe Epple and everybody else can be smoke in the grass. But we'll talk about that in a minute here. So you have nothing but the highest regard for the lovely human that is Mike Epple. Absolutely.

In fact, Mike Epple and I had a sort of a glancing blow as colleagues in Wingham when I left, I was program director, and he was the and the news in the newsroom, and it was brief. But that's where we first met, and then we worked together later at 680. You sure did. Okay, so a lot of our chat off the top here, we're actually going to try to go through this in chronological order, because I am personally very interested in your radio legacy

and all the stops you made along the way. But I think the most high-profile stop is probably that combo of 680 news and C-H-F-I. Oh, totally. So we might spend a little more time there. But do you have any, I need to know whether Peter Gross was a good colleague, like, because he talks about at the end of his time at 680, he's very honest with me on the record, on the recording here on Toronto Mike, he talks about how he lost interest in sports and it was very early for him and he was caught a couple of times asleep at the wheel, so to speak. So they would throw to him and he'd be snoozing. Well, that, you know, that can happen, right? But has it ever happened to you?

No. So it can happen, but it's not supposed to happen. No, it's not supposed to happen. But, you know, it's funny because when I decided to do mornings, which I did for most of my radio time, I never, this is going to sound ridiculous, but it's true. I never considered the impact on my life. I only thought about, okay, this is where you want to be in radio, this is where you want to do. And that's where the money is. And that's where the money is.

And it really does affect your life. And if Peter, as he said, was already losing interest and maybe not sleeping well, all those things can come together. I've got to tell your Peter Gross story. Oh, my God. You can have 90 minutes for Peter Gross stories. Okay. So I always adored Peter, and we always got along great. And he used to hand me sports in the morning when I ran down to CHFI.

When I started at Rogers, I was the CHFI morning news anchor. And so I would write the news and other people would help contribute whatever. and I would grab the sports and run down, and it was supposed to be good to go. And it usually was. It was great. But he told me a story about the news anchor before me, not Stephanie Smyth, but before that,

and I'm sorry I can't think of her name. And it's a legendary story where he wrote, instead of Mike Piazza, he did a typo and wrote M-I-M-M-K-E, Mim-K-A-Piazza, and I guess whoever it was all morning said Mimki Piazza. And finally people called and said, will you please tell her? That reminds me of Les Nessman. Yeah, a little bit.

Chai Chai Rodraguise? Yes, but if you don't know something about the sport, I mean, so whenever Peter and I don't communicate very often, but once in a while we do on his birthday on Facebook or something and I'll write, Mimki says hi. Oh, that's funny. Yeah, it was very funny. Okay, Lisa, I know you're from far away, but you're from that side. I think you're from that side of the world here.

Like, could you make an appearance at TMLX 21 on November 29th? Like, to reunite you with Mike Eppel and Peter Gross? In person? Yeah, it's possible. It's possible. Okay. So I'm putting that down as a maybe. Okay.

I'll take it. Fair enough. You take it. So we're going to kind of walk through this and then I have questions and it's going to be a fun little chat, Lisa. I'm glad you're here. I do want you to know, I did shout out Palma Pasta and Great Lakes beer, but I want you to know.

I also have in my freezer right now a large, lasagna for you, a frozen lasagna from Palma Pasta. You can take that home with you. Fantastic. I will happily take it home. And fresh craft beer from Great Lakes making its way home with you as well. Oh my goodness. So you came and you got some gifts. And one last gift here before we get rolling here because the radio heads out there.

What am I playing? Yeah, that's what I'm looking for. That's a measuring tape from Ridley Funeral Home. And Brad Jones from Ridley Funeral Home has a great podcast called Life's Undertaking. And I think you would thoroughly enjoy it. It's every two weeks. It's about a half an hour and it's Brad and I talking about life and death and everything in between. It's kind of a beautiful thing. It is. I considered becoming a funeral director at one point. Yeah. Like before Niagara College? No. When I left a radio station that I was working at and I thought it's time to rethink my life, rethink my trajectory in my career. And I considered getting into funeral directing. And I ended up taking courses

in private detective work, and then I got the call to go work at CHFI, and I threw all that away. So there you go. Okay, well, it's good to have a backup plan. We're all over the place here. No, listen, no, you heard Rudy Blair. We bounce around on this show. I'll get back on track.

I like to do these tangents. Good, me too. I think Paul Cole, yeah, Paul Cole was on the show recently, and she said tangential. She said it's very tangential, and I thought, oh, we could call the show tangential mic is what we could call this show here okay so we're gonna we're gonna get you back because Niagara College and then we're gonna start start all of that but back to the funeral home so there's not many in fact I believe there's only one funeral home left in Toronto where the

family lives on the premises like six feet under style right yeah they're all sort of conglomerate owned and big time and the independence they don't live on premises if there's for the few independents that are left. But I will shout out that the one I'm referring to is Ridley Funeral Home, which is 14th in Lakeshore. And Brad Jones and his enormous family, because he's got six kids, they live on the premises at 14th in Lakeshore. So it's just like you see in 6'800. That's so cool. Yeah. There's not many left like that. Okay. So there's not many left like you, Lisa. We're going to walk through this. Why did you decide you wanted to go into radio? Like you start off going to Niagara College, right? Like when did you realize radio was calling you?

Hmm. Well, I briefly dated a guy who was in radio in Ottawa. I watched WKRP in Cincinnati. It's always that. Yeah. Rudy Blair had a t-shirt on with WKRP on it. Oh, that's so cool. And I realized also that I couldn't make a living as an actor, which is what I really loved when I was younger. And it all came together in my guidance counselor's office when he was also the football coach. And I believe there was a practice underway he needed to get to. So he put pressure on me and said, what do you want to do? You've got to pick something. And I went, yeah, I'm getting radio. I'm going to do radio. So it was sort of a stew of all those things that came together. How many radio people do you think of your vintage were inspired by WKRP in Cincinnati?

All of them? Maybe. It even inspired me to get into radio. I just forgot to actually do something about it. You know what I mean? I didn't take that step. I didn't have the right guidance counselor, I guess. Well, you need a busy one who's more interested in football.

What high school was this? Smithville High School, South Lincoln High School in Smithville, Ontario. And that's a train, am I right? Is that a train stop? Where is this? Back in the day, it's toward Niagara. If you're driving on the QEW through Grimsby, it's straight up the escarpment. Okay.

So do you got a lot of waterfalls near there? Or is that more of a Hamilton thing? No, we were famous for a while for having buried PCBs that everybody was concerned was going to give them a third eye and a fourth arm and stuff like that. That's called infamy, I think, when you're famous for something like that. Okay, so your guidance counselor put some pressure on you. You decide radio in Niagara College is where you went. So what's your first radio gig?

Part time in college, I worked at CJRN doing sports and overnates. My dad used to make everybody at the Legion be quiet to hear me do a two-minute or two-second weather and then maybe get the baseball score wrong. and I had good support for my parents. And then I went out west to see if I could get a job. Red Deer. Yeah, Red Deer, Alberta. I was offered actually an unpaid position at CKOC in Hamilton,

and I thought, maybe I can get something that pays me. And I actually did. CKGY and Red Deer went to Prince George after that, and then came back to Ontario to London. Okay, so let's talk about this whole idea of going to small towns to cut your teeth. and put in your reps and everything, which I hear from a lot of radio veterans, okay? Yeah.

Does this exist anymore? Like today, if somebody wants to get into radio, does this even exist that you can go to Red Deer and? No, no, not really. You might be able to get the one position that's local. Most stuff is piped in from elsewhere, and I mean, that's just, it's a matter of so many things, including economics, but it's not the same. No, it was always go to the small town, cut your teeth, make your mistakes, and then work

your way up, right? In fact, when I was in London and the program director from Wingham had been driving through and called me and said, I'd like you to come work in Wingham, my first response was, why would I leave London, this metropolitan area, and go to Little Wingham? And as it turned out, it was a really good move because I got to do a lot of different things. But it was to some, I mean, it was much better shifts than everything else. But to some people, market size, it was a, you know, going back down. but it was a better opportunity. What was it like in Red Deer?

Red Deer? I was doing overnights on a country station. It was an all-request show, and we had a pole in the parking lot with an intercom on it, and truckers could come off the highway either between, we were between Calgary and Edmonton, and hit the little intercom and give me a request. And then I, you know, could play the song or whatever.

We got a great big con boy. Exactly. And Red Sovon, come on back to teddy bear. And all those songs. But it wasn't great because, you know, the morning man was a lunatic. He's gone now. But he was just a mean, mean, mean man. And I was only there eight months. I learned some stuff and was happy, happy to move on. Happy to move on. But you stayed out West. And you're still out there putting in reps before you get, I guess you get the call from what, CKFM, where is the big smoke first call from?

Right. And that was when I was in Wingham. I had worked my way up to program director in four years and I got, and I couldn't wait to get out of that because it was just, it was way too much responsibility for a 26 year old who had no clue what she was doing, wasn't afraid to admit it. And Marty, uh, Marty Forbes called me and said, we're making big changes here and I'd like you to be a part of them. And by the time I got to Toronto, he said, I'm leaving. I'm going back out west and fed me to the wolves. And, but it was very exciting because CKFM became the mix. And it was a really, really exciting time.

And I, oh, the guys I worked with, the guys and girls, Maureen Holloway, Dan Williamson, Lee Marshall. I mean, I'm going to forget some. Wayne Webster who just retired. Right. Great, great bunch of people. Bill Hayes. Bill Hayes, and I can tell you because I produced the Humble and Fred podcast today,

that Humble Howard leaves Humble and Fred after, like, 18 months at CFNY to become the morning show host when the flip happens to mix 99.9. I remember it very well, very well, because it was a big deal because he wasn't with Fred and he was over with us. Right. Was Howard, you know, people, we talked about Rudy Blair and people softening over the years, okay? Kind or gentler versions as people age and they get some perspective and stuff. What was Humble Howard like in the early 90s? He would have been, um, a hard cheese, and has, from what I understand, softened. Yeah, he was difficult to please, I found.

I filled in on the morning show a few times, and it wasn't great. But I always worked hard to make sure that he knew I respected him, and, you know, I went to his garage sale when he and Randy were moving and trying to, you know, work my way into the, the, cool group there, which I never ever did. But, yeah, I think there was a lot of pressure on him, too. I mean, and that's bound to trickle down when somebody's got their breath at the back of your neck saying, it's up to you to save this radio station and make it work.

And he didn't stick around very long. It's like a year, I think. About a year, I think. And then went right back to CFNY and Freddie Patterson. Well, good for him for trying it. I mean, you've got to try these things. But with Freddie, I think, is where he belongs. They're such a dynamic duo.

And they're still recording today. And you're right about the hard. This is a hard cheese that has softened through the years. But I've heard many a story of the hard cheese era. And I've seen it myself and even, and I've been working with them since 2006. So that is almost 20 years. And I've seen a softening over the last two decades.

So let's hope that cheese doesn't get too moldy is what I'm concerned about. Okay, let's get that in the fridge over there. What was it like, Lisa, as we, you know, now we got you to Toronto, CKFM, which becomes Mix 99.9. What's it like in your industry? You mentioned being a program director in Wingham there as a woman. I want to hear about the

woman in radio tales from the 1980s. Not many of them are good. Do you sure you want to hear them? This is the home of real talk. Let's go. All right. Yeah, I was unhappy. I would go into meetings in the boardroom and some of the older managers, the guys, I would bring something up and I'd hear audible or whatever.

They dismissed me and then one of them would bring it up later and it was a brilliant idea. It was that kind of thing. It was very tough. The sexism was turned up to 11, as we say. It was tough in that way. I had some really good support though. Matt Miller, who was another program director there and my general manager would give us these massive projects and then they collect dust on his desk

when we could be doing other things. I mean, it was just a weird, weird time. Everybody was reading and learning about leadership and how to manage people and how to get people to do what you want. And it was a lot of mind games going on. But the sexism was definitely a thing. And it was disheartening.

Well, misogyny is not just a great song by Rusty, one of my favorite bands. And it was absolutely, prevalent in many in industry, but especially in radio from conversations I've had. So not only, I'm thinking on air, there weren't a lot of jocks, female jocks in the 80s in Toronto, as I think of. I mean, Ingrid Schumacher was at Chum FM. And then, of course, Marilyn Dennis shows up, and of course we'll talk about Aaron Davis soon and et cetera. But radio was a boys club.

Yep, it was. And even earlier in my career, I was often the only female in the market. let alone at the station, at KSL in London, which no longer exists, the program director told me he gave everybody raises. And when I went to him and said, why didn't I get a raise? He said, because I don't want a woman on the air. But the GM does. So you're here because of him. So if you want to go cry to him about your money, go for it.

Yeah. That's amazing, right? Because we're not talking about the madmen era, okay, 50s into the 60s or whatever, into the 70s at some point with that show. But we're talking about the 80s. Yeah. Yeah, we are. And you can stick it out for only so long.

And then you realize, well, this isn't going to change. There was nobody to cry to. You just pick up and move on. Suck it up, Buttercup. Exactly. Was Danny Elwell at KFM during your time there? No, but of course I know of her, but no. Okay, that might have been a bit earlier.

I'm trying to when she left. She famously quit CFNY on air. Oh, I remember. That made waves everywhere. Everybody heard about that. that. Yeah, that was a big one. Well, when she came over, I played the entire clip and I'm like, we got to talk about this. That's kind of, kind of punk. Like, I find, I think it's, I mean, it depends some people think it's maybe disrespectful or uncool. I think that's punk to, to resign on air like

that. Would you ever resign on air? No, I never had the guts. I never had, you know, I always had a bit more of a corporate attitude about it. It's like it's their airwaves and, you know, I'm glad to be on it, that kind of thing. Right. So I'm not saying that's better by any means. Well, you know, it's probably better for your career. Well, it is.

But I also, you know, with the benefit of hindsight, there are times that I would have been better off giving a middle finger out loud or privately or whatever. just to protect myself, than to suck it up, Buttercup, you know. So I do respect the renegades. Yeah, they like controllable assets, is how I put it. When you're a bit of a wild card, sometimes radio executives are a little nervous by that, and they prefer a more corporate-minded person.

Right. And I'm sure I was on the bubble to get fired. I mean, they say you haven't been a radio unless you've been fired, and I'm sure I came close many times, but I never was. But I wasn't afraid of it either. I really wasn't. Wait, wait, when you say you never were, you mean you never were up to this point. Right.

I could still get fired by myself. So wait, so you've never been fired from radio? No. Well, let's walk through this. Lisa, I feel like you're a unicorn. This is unbelievable. So when you're, I just remind me, Mix 99.9.9.9 is owned by standard at the time. Yes, it was.

Yeah, the slates, yeah. And they also own CFRB at the time. Yes, and I did stuff on CFRB. so let's before we move on you're hosting evenings on CKFM which becomes 99.9 the mix and then you're also doing like

I guess you're doing a bit of a Rudy Blair there you're providing entertainment reports at CFRB I was working with near the end there Brian Lanahan and we became good pals I know I saw them as soon as I came in Rudy saw too and that's a funny because that's a gift from the Watchman which is a Winnipeg band I love

only because I very publicly, when I started this thing, said basically everything I learned was because I watched Brian Linahan and he would do his homework. Right. And I was just because of the John Candy documentary, I was just writing a blog post about the day John Candy died and Brian Linahan, they wanted him to go on the air at CFRB and he put his cap on and his coat

and he handed me a bunch of reel to reels of his interviews with John Candy and said, do me proud kiddo, I'm going home. and I respected the heck out of that, that he didn't exploit his friendship with the candies. He had recently been to their place and stayed with them, and then this happened. He was devastated.

See, I had that queued up to watch. I haven't, I like me, I guess it's the name of this document. It's on my, of course, it's right in my wheelhouse. I will be watching it very, very soon, but I haven't watched it yet. Is it good? Oh, yeah. Yes, it's very good.

And it just reminds you of what an icon he was and how much potential there still was and how young he was, John Candy. Yeah, like, he was in early 40s when he passed away. I mean, it's criminal. Oh, my goodness. Yeah, geez. Okay, well, we lost a good one in John Candy.

My goodness. Okay. So that's a great Brian Line of Hand story, by the way. If you ever haven't inspired of any Brian Line of Hand story, excuse me, I'm old choked up over the Line of Hand story. Just spit it out. Love it. Yeah, he was a great guy.

He made me look like a hero when he came to Hamilton. I was doing a talk show on CHML, which also no longer exists. And he came in and, in an hour with me and everybody was totally starstruck and that was just a gift he did to me because we were pals. I couldn't say enough good stuff about the guy. Okay, let's talk about CHML. So I've learned from you, Lisa, that you've never been fired in radio. What's wrong with you? Well, okay, let's put it this way, though. At CHML, I was constructively dismissed. Okay, well, let's get to CHML now and then we'll talk about it. So do you, you leave the job at

standard with Mix 99.9 and 10-10 CFRB. You leave that job for a job at CHML? No, I went to Kitchener first. I did one year, we flipped an old music of your adult diaper, we called it, station to Cool FM, and I did mornings there for one year to the day and then got the talk show at CHML. CHML underwent a big revolution.

Oh, my goodness, the talk show host, they hated each other. They would erase each other's commentaries and go, I don't know what happened. It was just like a penis wars. It was just not fun for me. I was supposed to be part of the New Guard, and we were going to change it and young it up. And some of them weren't having that. Some of them were, some of them were, but some weren't. And they ended up changing to a format that was a mix of music and interviews that someone heard in Seattle.

and I was given a three or four-hour show that I was supposed to play Al Martino and then interview somebody about a fair and then play, you know, some other... Anyway, I went to them and I said, I'm going to hang myself if this headphone cord is long enough. And so I hired a lawyer and they agreed to call it constructive dismissal

and paid me out. Okay, so you got severed fairly for leaving in, I guess that's 1999 when you leave? Yes, yeah. And that was when I considered the funeral home versus the... Okay, so that's good, because CHML, where do you find that on the dial? You don't. 900 is where you did, but you don't anymore.

But also, is that the same company that has Y-108? Yes. Okay, so you're also hosting a show there? Or are you, because your voice could be heard on Y-108 slash Y-905. Commercials, just commercials, yeah. Just commercials. Okay. I feel like Lumbie was there.

He was. Jeff Lumbie was absolutely there. Yeah, yeah. Okay, he's in France now. Oh, I know. I love watching his posts and seeing what he's up to. He just up and said, I'm done with this country. Luckily, his wife speaks French, or he'd be in big trouble.

But, yeah, Jeff Lumby's there. And Mike Richards was there? Am I right? Was he there at that time? Or maybe that was when he was. I worked with Richards at some point. We're not with him, but I thought he was down the hall, the fan. I don't know.

You know what? He might have been working on some guy named John Derringer's show at the Fan 5-9. Oh, there you go. Did you cross pass with John Derringer? I didn't. But, you know, John Derringer and the whole stories around him were an open secret among women in broadcasting. Nobody was surprised. In fact, a couple of women have said, we are culpable by not warning other women.

That's a tricky spot, right? It is. I've given this a lot of thought, as you can imagine, because I know a lot of the women you speak of, be it Jackie Delaney, I'm thinking, Colleen Rushholm. Absolutely. uh, uh, uh, who else? Uh, well, Maureen Holloway eventually, of course, and then with Jennifer Valentine, which is ongoing, uh, there's a tribunal, which sounds really fancy and, uh, intense and that she, she just spoke at this tribunal last, uh, human rights tribunal. Yeah.

So there's a lot going on of the John Derringer thing. And of course, I mentioned before that I worked closely with Humble and Fred since 2006. So I heard many a story. Yeah. It was an open secret. It was. And I think what I said to my friend who said that we're also culpable, I said if somebody had come to me one on one and said should I take this job, that's when you say no.

But otherwise, I mean, what are we supposed to do? We didn't have a Facebook page. I do have a private Facebook page now for women to be able to talk about stuff. And that was inspired by Jennifer Valentine's situation. And you know, people can come on there and it's a

safe space. But we didn't have anything like that and you know it's super unfortunate I don't know John was always I mean I believe every story I've ever heard about him

don't get me wrong but I only had very the most minimal interaction with him when I was teaching part time at Humber College and I had a super fan who wanted to come and watch his show and ended up working at Q for many years and he was great but that's just

an email you know that was nothing. You weren't in the room with him. I feel like the people in charge, when Jennifer Valentine was added to that show, the people in charge were well aware of what happens historically when a woman joins the Derringer show. Yeah. Oh, absolutely.

They threw in there, the lion's den. It's not fair, but I worked with a guy at CHML in Hamilton, who also was an 800-pound gorilla. And just treated me horribly, just like awful. And they kept him because he was a fan favorite. And, you know, you see that through broadcasting over and over. It's not an unusual story. It happens, so. Well, he generated revenue.

Yeah, exactly. And was therefore protected. It's just, you'd think that you would think, again, Lauren Honnickman wants me to use a lot of big words, like allegedly, and this is just me to speculate. but you would think they would have the wherewithal to not put a woman on the show. You would think, but maybe some consultant told them

they had to have one. So they picked one that they thought was experienced and all these other things. I had a program director tell me once, well, I didn't protect you even when you begged me because I wanted to toughen you up, which is a whole load of BS. But that was his response for not wanting to get involved.

They're scared sometimes, too. They're afraid to get in with talent and tell them what to do. I even find that with, when you get a certain amount of experience, you almost have to beg to be criticized, which is really weird. But it feels like the power dynamic shifts, even if you're saying, please, tell me what I can do differently to help. They don't want to do it.

It's a strange business. It's a strange business. And, yeah, now we'll see what, I think we have to wait until February for, like, the chorus side of this human rights tribunal. Like, I think this is going to go a long time. Yeah. And then I think maybe at some point in February, maybe there's some kind of decision made or whatnot,

but we'll be paying close attention to what happens there, of course. You were going to go into the funeral services, and you were going to intern at Ridley Funeral Home at 14th in Lakeshore, as I recall. No. But you, so this experience where you were constructively dismissed, so not fired, but constructively dismissed, and you were severed fairly, it left a sour taste in your mouth.

I remember Jackie Delaney, speaking of John Derringer. She came on my show one month before Jennifer Valentine put that video on Facebook where it all blew open on that long weekend. And she came on my show and she came on my show to say that John Derringer is the reason she left radio. Like she works for a like a senator in Ottawa. Like she completely left radio and she said it was because of how sour her experience of John Derringer was that she left the entire industry.

It sounds like you almost left the industry because of how. sour things were for you and that gig you had from 95 to 99. It's true. I almost did. And I would have, I think, had it not been the caliber of CHFI calling, you know. But Jackie, for just as an example, is so smart to do that. Because once you're out, you realize it's not everything. It may still run through your veins for a little while, but it's not the world. There's a whole world out there where people treat you with respect and stuff.

And that's not to say all of radio was bad, because obviously that would be ridiculous to stay with it. But, yeah, so I did, I started taking courses at Mohawk College in private detective work. Wow. And I didn't get very far. Oh, I would have loved to have done it. But then I realized, even as I carried on, you need like three years apprenticeship where you can't get paid and stuff like that. And I was already too old for that stuff. So it was great when CHIFI called and said they were moving Stephanie Smyth into the news director position at 680.

Would I be interested in doing morning news? Wow. So now you're going to work for Rogers. Right. Okay. Who made that call? Do you remember? Do you remember who called you?

Paul Fisher. Yeah. Paul Fisher. Yeah. I'd had lunch with him years and years ago about maybe going to work at CHFI as a jock back when I was a jock. So we sort of had kept in loose touch. So, okay, so Paul Fisher, I was going to quickly find out his episode number because he has been over for a chat. And I can tell you, it was episode 1,682 where he came over to talk about his many, many years at Rogers Radio, particularly C-H-F-I.

This is a big deal. What a big station. So you're doing double, am I right? You're doing the morning news anchor role at 680 News. No. No. Not yet. Not yet.

Just CHFI, and I contributed writing to 680, but it was Marley and Oliver and Paul Cook on the morning show at the time. Yeah. Yeah, Paul's been over with Stephanie, actually. They came over together. We had Paul Cook on this program. So I'm going to pause so we can linger a little bit with 680 and CHFI. Is this where you first become friends with Aaron Davis? Yes.

Yes, Aaron and I realized that we had the same hours, basically, and we started going to. going to the gym together in the Rogers campus. They had a gym for us. And so we started doing that and realized we had a lot in common. I mean, you have to remember, of course, when I was in Hamilton, I would see Aaron and Don promos on TV like everybody else and think, wow, that woman's got it made. Everything's perfect. Even having been in the business as long as I had, I was still, I still idealized everything she did.

And, yeah, we got to know each other and support. each other and it went from there. Okay, well, more on that later, but yeah, you became fast friends. Yeah. Yes, we did. We, you know, would gossip on the treadmill or whatever else. Did you record any? I want to play some of those.

Never. Treadmill private chats before we had podcasts. No, and that was part of it, that we had a safe space with each other where, you know, I wasn't going to go say, Hi, Aaron Davis just told me this or anything, you know. So when she was fired, All of that time, you know, she and I went to, remember we were at Casino-Rama when Rob phoned her and said, Julie Adam wants to talk.

And so, you know, I'm a little forest gumpy in a way that I'm there for some of these big moments. That's how you got here, Lisa. Yeah. Well, that's like radio, when I think about Toronto Radio lore and some of the conversations, some of the stories I try to capture. on this show because I still have great passion for talking to people like you about Toronto. Toronto Radio is not what it used to be. I don't know if you've noticed.

I picked up on that. But I love the history. I love doing what we're doing right now. And I think one of the great stories is the whole idea of Julie Adam firing Aaron Davis and then her comeback. That's going to be a key part of the Toronto

Radio movie that I'll documentary movie I'll make one day. Oh, fantastic. Well, I'll buy ticket. I won't share it publicly. Oh, I see. We'll have a viewing party in the backyard or something, and you and Aaron Davis can come over. Oh, fantastic. It'll be fun. Well, I remember when she was doing the holiday pantomime at, um, which theater was that? You'd know. A winter garden. Winter garden, that's right. Of course, this was a tradition. Right. And taking my little sister, Tabitha, I was in the Big Sisters program, and us going for dinner afterwards. And I mean, Tabitha couldn't even

speak. She was, she'd just seen this woman star in this play, and now we're having dinner with her. And it's a mind-blum. Yeah, but it was just, there were so many things. I mean, Aaron is not surprising, a huge part of my history there and my present as well. And occasionally, you would fill in for Aaron if she went on vacation, for example. Yeah, I would. And it was a lot of fun. I mean, there's no question in your mind that you're going to do anything, you know, Aaron Davis level because she's so beloved and everything. All you're trying to do is keep the needles moving and make

sure that you don't piss anybody off. And because I was already on news there, it was sort of a familiar voice. Erin's been sharing you as well. So we'll get I want to talk about your blog at the, kind of at the end of this program, this chat

here. I love that you still blog. Aaron Davis, she calls her as a journal, but let's face it, it's a blog. Come on, what's going on, Aaron. But still shares quite a bit with her fans on her website as you do with your fans. But she was sort of talking about how her monthly pension from Rogers declined because she kept working for the company after she was, you know, tapped at CHFI. So that's kind of the, that's the stuff. That's, to me, that's the real talk. Like, you know, these giant cable companies and how things

really work in the radio world. Well, that's Aaron's story to tell, really. But yeah, that was a that was something that was presented as a good thing and turned out to be a bad thing. So I never felt I could trust the brain trust at Rogers there, wholeheartedly anyway. And except, you know, John Hinn and the people I worked with, but, you know, they have the company first. Let's, let's be honest, they're not your friends. It's the job. And that's exactly why I couldn't be a program director. I couldn't spew that stuff.

I couldn't say what was coming from above as if I meant it. Maybe I wasn't as good an actor as I thought. No, there's some correlation. I'm not suggesting all radio executives are sociopaths. No, no, no. But there is a correlation between sort of a sociopathic behavior and sea level executives. Like, not radio, but in companies in general. In general.

Well, I think you have to be to get there. Just like they say all billionaires will step on your spine to get where they are because otherwise you'd never become a billionaire. there, so. Right. Sometimes for the bottom line and for the shareholders, you've got to let some hardworking people go at, you know, the holiday season, for example. Like, there are things like that that no, most compassionate people do not want any part of, but is a part of, you know, these public companies and shareholders and bottom line and blah, blah, blah. Yeah, you can call me a socialist if you want. I think it's gross. I think it's gross. Yeah. And we're not talking about

Peter Gross either. No. Okay. Not at all. So you're working. with Rogers Radio, this is like 1999 to 2008. And along the way, I know we talked a lot off the top, but this is the highest profile Lisa Brand experience that 680 News

and CHFI, 2 Toronto Radio Juggernauts. Yeah, and CHFI of course was number one with Aaron and 680 News was number one in the country at the time. And I know it still does extremely well, if not better. But

Paul and I, we just had a chemistry, like he's, I think of him like a brother. I mean, I love that man to death. He taught me so much about writing, about not getting married to your work in case breaking news happens and you have to throw it all out. I'm not getting married to your colleague. Yeah, well, he screwed that up. He didn't teach me that. But, no, he, yeah, it was a real juggernaut.

And we felt it. I mean, when a dozen of you come in at the same time to go to work, um it's really a super team feeling and i do i have missed that over the years i'll bet um and more or less because i've met a number of people from i'm thinking of scott metcalf for example oh just the cream of the crop the best guy ever so i have all this stuff i'll show you shout out to a miles long okay but like this is this is all scott mccaff gifts to me the old 680 mike flash or whatever and the the Fan 1430.

1430. That goes back. And there's somewhere in here. Oh, there's a CJCL 1430 over here. So I know Scott enjoyed the Rudy Blair episode as well. Well, Scott was, I mean, our king. And not counting John Hinnon, who was an upper king. But anyway, John's awesome. But we used to play a game, insider story.

Yes, please. You know, as serious the news gets. And you have to have a valve or two. we had such dark humor behind the scenes, and that would surprise no one. But when Scott used to come in, we would play a game called Scooter Spotting. I nicknamed him Scooter for some reason.

I was the only one who called him that. So when Scott would walk in in the morning, we'd flick our mics off, and one of us would yell Scooter. And then one time it happened on the air in the middle of his story, you hear, and so that ended right quickly. But it was fun while it lasted.

And that's still preferable to being asleep when they throw to you for sports. Yes, very much. Oh, my goodness. I don't even know. I guess when you're only on once every half hour or something, it's possible, but there was no way we could have slept, that's for sure. No, then he knew the end

was nigh, and it ended for him, but you were never fired in radio. We had that constructive dismissal, but why does it end for you? Because you're co-anchoring the 680 news with Paul Cook, and that's at least for six years you're doing that. Why does it come to an end, you and Rogers.

I decided that I was going to sort of turn my life around. My second marriage had ended 15 years. That's a good run. Yeah. That was my first marriage, 15 years. There you go. My first one was only two. Anyway.

But who's counting? Exactly. And I decided to move to London for love. and to put my career second and my life first, which I had never really done. And I didn't even realize that I was doing it. So I gave them six months notice and then moved to London. And I remember because Derek and I, my husband,

we had purchased a fry wagon and we thought we might do that for a while. It's a license to print money. And so one of my parting gifts was, was a 10-pound bag of potatoes. Oh, yeah. There were all sorts of things, but I remember so well John Hinnon when they were giving me a little goodbye celebration saying, I really didn't think she was going to do it. I didn't think she was going to go because I kept saying to him, who have you got lined

up? Who's going to be after me? Nobody. I haven't got anybody yet because you're not really going. But I really did. So that's why, and I moved to London. You know, a lot of people have moved to London for love, but it was London, England. I know.

You missed the... I went there about a year later for a visit, but no, London, Ontario, yeah. Okay, well, you know, you're still with this gentleman? I am very much. Okay, well, then it was worth it. Oh, yeah, it was worth it. And, you know, radio, I had to sort of start at the lower middle again, and I took a job for very little money and lots of hours.

They treated me like an intern, but whatever, and it didn't matter. I was putting, I got my motorcycle license, we rode a lot. We had fun and we did things together and I had a life. I wasn't always too tired because I was getting up at three. Well, I was going to ask you what time you have to get up to be on the morning show of Paul Cook. Yeah, it was 3 or 3.30. In fact, my second husband and I moved to Willowdale thinking from Burlington thinking, oh, that's going to save so much time.

I'll be healthier. I'll get more sleep. and it saved like 10 minutes. It really didn't do much at all. Okay, so you move for love. What station did you move to? I got a job at 1039, which was Chorus. It's a country station now.

It didn't know what it was then. It had been a greatest hit station, and it was just sort of identityless at the time. And it played a little bit of rock. Did it have a name? They called it 1039. Okay. And they kept the hawk was the old logo.

So they keep the hawk in little tiny letters that you knew what you were. And then it became greatest hits, 1039. And now it's country. Okay. That'll explain why. Well, you don't get, like we do, this, that's the thing about radio. Like, we can hear Hamilton stations and we can hear this and that. But the whole, what's going on over in London, we don't even pick that up.

Like, we don't know what's going on over there. There's some really good radio, especially morning shows. There's some really good morning shows. Taz, for example, on FM 96, has been there for, I don't know, more than 20 years. He's just saying an anniversary, I should remember. But there is some good radio there. Is that his birth name, Taz? Yes, I believe so.

Check his driver's license here. Yeah, his last name is Mania. Okay, so we kind of blew, we did blow by the CHFI 680 news, but what was your reaction when you heard that Aaron Davis had been fired? Oh, it was. incredulous. I mean, you know, everybody was explained to that it was to cultivate a younger audience and all that kind of stuff. But it's like with those numbers and with the kind of reaction that she would get, and Aaron Davis is the kind of person who, if you send her an email,

you're going to get a response. It might take a little while because she gets so much, but you will hear back from her. There was no better ambassador for CHFI. It was absolute and total shock. You think somebody higher up would step in and protect her? Well, I only think that, I mean, I don't know, allegedly, ostensibly, and all of those other qualifiers, but it had to have come from higher up. I don't, I just never. Like so somebody, I mean, we don't know, I guess, but Julie Adam delivers the news because that's her job, but you're suggesting maybe it comes from higher than her possibly. It's just my belief and I have no inside information. I could be incredibly wrong, but it's my belief that you don't do something like fire and Aaron Davis without checking

with other people. It's got to go to a board or something, right? This is a revenue. We're talking about, you know, John Derringer over at the Mighty Q there and how he was a revenue generator and was protected as such. Aaron Davis is a revenue generator. And she was sacrificed. So I think a green light has to come from somebody, I don't think it was a unilateral decision. And again, I don't know that for sure. But that's just how it's driving. It kind of reminds me of, you know, Lisa LaFlam got fired.

Did you know that? I heard about that. Yeah. But that's a similar, not kind of, who knows, but that was a surprise because she was very popular and very good at her job. And it was a high profile anchor job for Bell Media. And she got it.

So I suppose nobody is safe. Well, I think that's the. bottom line. Nobody is safe. And anybody who thinks they are is probably wrong unless they have so many years with the company that they're too expensive to pay out. Right. That's where you're, but that doesn't happen very often anymore. Right. Hey, can I ask you one more question that I've been wondering about for a very long time? Do you have any idea what happened to Darren B. Lamb? I plead the fifth. Actually, I don't. I try to catch you. I try to soften you up for an hour. No, no.

And then come in with that one. I honestly don't. I honestly don't know where he went or what he did. Well, Mike Cooper was pretty, he's the most, I've had a lot of, I've asked that of a few people who might know, and there's a lot of pleading of the fifth. But Mike Cooper was just sort of the most honest about it, the whole thing. And I mean, more on Maureen Holloway as well when she was chatting with me about it.

But it sounds like he just sort of walked away. And it was not a bad thing for those he walked away from. Right, right. Okay. One of the, so I mentioned, we're going to do the, you know, On the Toronto Radio, one of the, and Darren B. Lamb never had the name recognition of a Roger, a Rick, or a Maryland. Okay, Darren B. Lamb, kind of missed that ship, I suppose. Or in Aaron Davis and some of these big names in Toronto Radio.

But that's a whole interesting story would happen there here. Okay. So, we already moved you to London for Love, and you're at 103.9 FM, which is a chorus-owned station. So what is next for you, Lisa? Blackburn, who I had worked for in Wingham, decides to make another inroad into London and start a classic rock station. And I got the opportunity to do morning news there.

So I left Chorus and helped launch this radio station, which is now just called 981, Classic Rock. It was called Free FM back then. And so I did that. I mean, you don't get that many opportunities to launch a station, a brand new station that's never been before. and I couldn't pass that up. No, it was the show called The Stacks Show?

That was what it was when I left. When I started there, I don't even know what they called it, Free FM Mornings with a guy whose name I'm not going to say because it was so not fun. And then he was fired, and my husband was brought in, actually. And we never talked about being married on the air, though. It was the Botton Blair and Brandt, Blair Hanatson, and Blair now hosts mornings in Halifax on The Surge.

And so it was the three of us for quite a while. Then they fired Derek and brought Stacks in. And it was just so awkward for me. Yeah, that's awkward. Yeah. And I left for CJBK, which is also no longer on the air. There's a trend here. Have you noticed, Lisa?

How much time does CHFI have in this market? They flick it off once I guess. get there. Okay, Pooja and Handa are nervous right now. I'll tell you right now. They're shaking in their boots. No, no, no. Lisa was here, they said, okay. So the morning show with Ken and Lisa, this is C.J.B.K. Yeah. This is, is this, I mean, we'll talk about what you're up to now because John Pohl is an FOTM and I want to talk, see what's going on with that. But is this your last, like, regular radio gig? Totally. And do you know who hired me there? Paul Fisher. Yeah, Paul Fisher was there sort of. Did you listen to Paul Fisher on Toronto Mike?

I don't think I caught that one. I'm going to have to do it on the drive home for sure. He, I don't know if he was just there. I think he was more or less consulting there. And so he put the team together. And I had big fun there with Ken. Ken Eastwood, again, one of the most solid, wonderful guys. Just a really good dude.

And we did have a lot of fun and we worked really hard. I have an note that came in from a gentleman named Hamilton Mike. Hamilton Mike writes in for you Lisa I don't expect her to remember Lisa this puts you off the hook because you won't feel bad because you won't remember how could you remember

but I don't expect her to remember but I remember being part I remember being on a panel with her in Kitchener on CKCO when they had that panel show called the final round Oh I remember that

Oh my goodness I used to do that semi regularly Well he met you Okay so he met you in the green room and you couldn't have been a nicer person. Awesome. I'm glad. I was thinking about this with,

I did an episode yesterday with a band out of Montreal that had a moment in the early 90s called Boot Sauce. Oh, I know Bootsau. So Bootsau, I do a lot of chats with people like Art Bergman and Brother Bill from CF & Y and Ron Hawkins from Lois to the Low. And we literally started a saying on this show, fuck Bootsau. Because of how their reputation was so bad the way they treated supporting acts

and they wouldn't let Art Bergman on the bus when they were in Western Canada doing this tour. And so fuck Boot Sauce became a thing. And I finally found somebody from Bootsauce who would talk to me about everything. And he was talking about how well they were treated by the tragically hip.

And my thought is, and it kind of applies here, is like through the 90s and stuff, the stuff you're doing, you're never thinking like, oh, this is going to become part of like my reputation. It'll be on a podcast in the 2020s or something like that.

like you don't think about that meanwhile today I can tell you the boot sauce reputation is it's shit like it's a bad reputation because he blamed management and we had a great chat and I'm going to try to stop saying

funk boot sauce because I had a great chat with Sunny yesterday people should listen to that episode he was great actually but he talked about why they had a manager who wanted them to be assholes

because that's how big rock stars are supposed to behave or whatever but meanwhile you had this band out of Kingston Ontario who would make sure they brought beer to bands they would meet on the road and were just so polite

and wonderful to all the bands that they kind of crossed when they were coming up in the late 80s and then to the 90s and stuff. And today we look at the tragically hip and no one's got a bad thing to say about the tragically hip, like beloved band. And boot sauce, we say fuck boot sauce.

And I'm thinking, you know, you were nice to this Hamilton Mike guy in a green room at CKCO and you could have been a dick to Hamilton Mike, but you weren't. You couldn't have been a nice, person. I'm reading it right now. And here we are in 2025 and you're on Toronto Mike and that note came in. Like it says something about like how you should treat people.

It matters to me that he says that's how I behave because there's no value in not being nice to people. You know, with the John Candy documentary, I'll mention that again because one of the things I think his son Chris said is he was nice to people when nobody was looking and that to me is your character when nobody's looking when it doesn't so-called matter because you're not in front of a bunch of people that's where your character comes out i agree and i would just add to that what i've noticed is people are very very nice to people they think can help them in some way oh my goodness that is so true and even if you can't help me i would hope i am nice to you because what i try to do lisa and i'm sorry for interrupting

there just to put my thought on and then we'll get back to you here but I feel like I always was like when I was in a corporate world which was for a long I didn't belong in a corporate world but I did tough it out so I could pay a mortgage

and have kids and things like that and I'm no longer in a corporate world but I was always allergic to bullshit but one thing is the gentleman who came into water those plants I treated him exactly the same way I treated the CEO

like exactly like it didn't matter that the guy watering the plant couldn't get me a raise or a promotion or whatever and to this day I kind of am wired that way like, you know, Aaron Davis, the legend, gets treated the same way as that, you know,

21-year-old country singer who is doing her, this happened last week, her first ever interview of any sort, Hayden Ryan, check her out. It was a great episode. They get the same treatment. Yeah. And Aaron's another one. She will make sure she knows your name and looks you in the eye. Because people are people.

I mean, it doesn't matter how many zeros you have on your paycheck. or whatever. None of that matters. And it doesn't matter how much power you have. No, it really doesn't. It really doesn't. It all comes down to it. It's nothing. And now that just the, you know, pump her tires a little more, because we're not doing it enough, Lisa. Okay. Aaron wants more tire pumping, okay? But I mean, I was pretty fresh at this thing here. We're doing now, episode whatever, 1780. But it's a pretty low number. I have to go check what number. But I did reach out to Aaron Davis because even though I never listened to CHFI and I told Paul Fisher that, it's no secret. Aaron Davis was a big radio figure

to me because of these TV ads. Like she was all, Dane, Donard and the whole thing. Like it was Aaron Davis. It was a big deal. And I followed it all. Like it was like sports or something.

I followed it at all. But she didn't have to like visit way back then when I didn't have a whole bunch of I had Humble and Fred and some people like that. But Aaron said, yeah, I'll come visit you and sit in your basement and answer your annoying questions for 90 minutes. You know, she brought her heavy miles long with her because,

you know, just to keep me in line. But that too, miles long. We could talk about him board hopping for Bob McCowan in the early, early, early days of primetime sports. So I got to give some major props to Aaron Davis, who could have made an excuse. A lot of people at her level made bad excuses. I heard from some people like, oh, I'm busy with kids. I'm like, oh, you're busy 24-7 with kids seven days a week.

But Aaron made a point to drive over here and sat here, and I think that really helped me. and I appreciate it. Well, that's Aaron Davis. You know, it would have your interest in radio. She would want to help and fuel that. And, yeah, I can totally see her doing that. So Hamilton Mike has another part. I'm going to look in your eye.

I can't look in your eyes because I'm going to read this, but I want to check the video later to see how you respond to this. So he's already said you couldn't have been a nicer person. But then Hamilton Mike writes, O-oh. It's not an O-O, but we'll see what you say next. she even confirmed some dirt to me about a former morning show co-host in Hamilton with her

and she was bang on exclamation mark public facing seemed like a nice guy but behind the scenes wow exclamation mark got to see more of that once he entered politics I'll leave it to her if she wants to discuss it on the show or not but she was and is and always will be a class act

well that's very nice Yeah, if I say his name, I will start a fight And I have no interest in being in a fight That's enough for anybody to figure out who you're talking about It's true The public face is very different than the private one And I'm not going to say it's No matter how much I squirm here

I'm not going to do it because, I mean, I could tell you stories about him without saying his name. Sure. You know, he would bring, one time he brought a singing group, like an a cappella barbershop quartet or something, into the studio. And as he's ushering them in, I'm sitting there, you know, in the room where we shared. And he goes, ah, don't worry about her. You don't need to meet her. She's just the girl. And so that is sort of indicative of the kind of relationship we had. it wasn't great. You don't need to meet her. She's just a girl.

She's just the girl. That's unbelievable. Well, it's the way it was. And, yeah, in the 40s, maybe. Yeah, unfortunately, we're talking about the 90s. So I'm surprised that I went on about him to this Hamilton Mike. However, I was so stressed by him. I'm also not surprised.

So there you go. Not Hamilton, Mike, the other guy. No, Hamilton, Mike, who I have met, and he has been to a Palma Pasta for a TMLX event. So Hamilton, Mike, book the day off, okay? I know you're a hardworking guy. November 29th, I want to see you there. On that note, I'm going to play, this is this morning.

So just before you got here, Lisa, I had a gentleman over here named Michael Davis. And Michael Davis, he works with a company called Kinling. And Kinling, I'm excited. This is the first day I've done this. The newest sponsor of Toronto, Mike. And I'm literally going to play just 90. seconds of Michael Davis and I, so we'll listen for 90 seconds and I'll thank a couple more partners

and then I'm going to find out what you're up to these days and we'll talk about your podcast and everything else and your blog, of course. I got a couple of questions about the blog. Here's Michael Davis and I. Michael Davis, tell me everything I should know and everything the listenership of Toronto Mike should know about shop kindling.ca. Well, I started kindling to provide free one-hour delivery all day to the GTA, basically. I found that I couldn't really find a reliable delivery service that was legal and didn't take six hours to get to my house. So, yeah, we started with one location in Little Portugal, offering free one-hour delivery from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. And it's trackable and discreet.

We found a lot of success with that. People, it really resonated with people. Again, just wanting to get legal cannabis delivered to their door, not have to go into a disdise. dispensary, not have to deal with out of stocks once you've already left your house and driven to a dispensary. And we want to make it super simple and easy for people to get the product they want or need and get it delivered to their door. So an FOTM goes to shopkinling.ca, and then they can get free one hour trackable delivery of their cannabis product every day all day?

Every day all day. 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Order up. Okay, Canada Kev is going to review shopkinling.ca. And he's going to report back to the listenership. Awesome to have you on board. Thank you, Michael. Thank you to the good people at shopkinling.ca. So there you go, Lisa.

You're a part of history here. That sounds like a great service. Yes, so yeah. It's an hour, you order your cannabis product online. And it doesn't arrive like in a little car with like a green leaf at the top and a green like siren or whatever. It's all super discreet. It looks like you're getting a book or something.

And your nosy neighbors don't need to know you just got your weed delivery. Yeah, all within an hour. So shopkinling.ca for the FOTMs listening and more on Kinling in future episodes. So I'm just going to shout out very quickly here. And then we're going to find out, I've got to talk about voiceover. We got a lot of ground to cover here before I set you free. But I do want to shout out a company called Blue Sky Agency. Blue Sky Agency is a gentleman named Doug Doug Mill.

and you can write Doug right now. He's Doug at blue skyagency.ca. Let him know you're an FOTM and chat with him about dynamic and creative work environments. They do a great job at Blue Sky, but they have these, it's called the silent pods, okay?

It's like a, if you have a busy office place, but you need a place for privacy to have a private, quiet conversation, these pods are amazing. So if you have, again, a need for a dynamic and creative work environment, as we all return back to the office, but not you and I, Lisa. We're free from that game.

But if you're not free from that game, Doug, at blueskyagency.ca.ca. And I also will tell you, Lisa, about Recycle My Electronics.com. Because if you have, and I'm guessing you do because of the work you do, but do you have a drawer or a closet full of, like, old cables. You got a lot of cables. I have a box marked every cable ever made. I think he does. You know, don't throw it in the garbage.

because those chemicals end up in our landfill. Go to recyclemyelectronics.ca, put in your postal code. So maybe right after you order your weed from shopkinling.ca, then you go to recycle my electronics.cai, and you can find out where to drop it off to be properly recycled. You got some marching orders here. It's going to be busy. Okay, Lisa, you got lots of work to do over here.

My goodness gracious. Tell me when you leave the morning show with Ken and Lisa on CJBK. We're now in 2018. 2018 is when TMDS launched. Okay, that's my little digital sister. So we both kind of went independent around the same time. But did you pivot to your voiceover work and freelance work? Tell me about that.

Yeah, I had already been doing some voiceover work for different companies. And I immediately, through a friend, got a job writing for Walmart, Canada, for their website. And I found that really fun. And so I did that. Then that ended up ending, which is fine. It was a contract. And I just kept going with the voiceover. I've done little things here and there.

I mean, it blew up. For the first couple years, I have to tell you, it was bizarre. It was just like an avalanche of work. And I'm happy that it settled down into a, not an avalanche. I don't know. What's the opposite of an avalanche? Yeah, I can't think of what the... a prairie.

Okay. But it's, you know, it's much more livable. Yeah, I don't have to be, you know, shackled to my desk all day.

Right. Not that I'm complaining because it was really great. But I do a bunch of different things. I've written some books. I've been writing for a magazine out of London. Just,

I'm free to do a bunch of different little things. Of course, the podcast with Aaron Davis, which is something she and I had been talking about doing for quite a while, and didn't come together until she went, oh, I've got the name.

And then once she had the name... Okay, well, I'm going to say, share the name. I mean, a lot of people listening are already subscribed and listening, but I did pull like the description, your official one, right, from your website, but gracefully and frankly... Yes, so...

Is the name of this podcast? It's sort of a riff on Grace and Frankie from Netflix. And I was at Aaron's house out West. I think my plane was leaving in an hour and a half or two hours and all of a sudden she went oh I've got it and then she's Rob she says Rob get the car I can see the promo so we shot promos we had I mean we had nothing else done to do with this

but she says while you're here let's do it and then they race me down to the airport and a podcast was born so that's how that got started well I don't know who this Rob is I only know miles long right maybe they're related Miles Long, never ever in my life. Well, you don't talk enough to this Rob fellow. You would learn about Miles Long, okay?

He just stayed at my house with his wife for Thanksgiving. Well, next time you see him, yeah. Call him Miles Long and see what conversation spills out of that. So here's the description for gracefully and frankly, which is the podcast that Lisa does with Aaron Davis, take two radio pals who've lived long enough to know better, but sometimes don't, have gained wisdom, dropped some filters, and just want to talk to you about everything, and you have the gracefully and frankly podcast.

Aaron and Lisa share personal takes on their and your experiences, hot topics, and a lot of love. Hook that to my veins, Lisa. Okay, hook that to my veins. It's, we've got an audience that we call queen-agers, and it's not all women by any means. And we have, you know, younger women and older women, and younger man and other men.

But we're very lucky that we built a following. And, you know, we just love doing it. We said it was going to be 30 minutes once a week. And that's exactly what it is. It's just in-out. Every week you record 30 minutes. And I guess you're rarely in the same room, I would guess. Very rarely.

We've only done it in the same place a few times. It's mostly... Sure. Well, she's at West and you're here. Or close enough that you could draw. here. Let's put it that way. Right. And it's great that you get to kind of work of Aaron here. Oh, it's fantastic. Because even though we were on the same show for so long, we never really

worked together. She would hand off the news to me, and I would do the news, and I would hand back off. It was never really a collaboration. So it's really neat. I'm proud of us because we put the project first, our ego's second. You know, we agree on things or we throw them out. And I don't mean agree on our take on a topic. I mean agree on whether to do a topic. Yeah, I think we're a good little company. I'll bet people should check out gracefully and frankly for sure. It's a good companion podcast to the Toronto Mike podcast.

We're in partnership now. Now, John Pole, do you still do voiceover work for John Paul and his My Broadcasting Corporation? I do morning news and weather on his My FM in St. Thomas, Giant FM in Tilsenburg, and New Country in Tilsenburg. And you're not like an MBC, MBC. You're not an MBC employee. This is still your fiercely independent freelancing, right? That was a Howard Stern takeoff. See, not everybody would get that. I got that, my friend.

Yes, I am not an employee. I'm a freelancer, and I used to do consistent. consulting work, actually, for John. When I first left radio and I hung out my own shingle, I put an ad on Milkman saying that I would do air checking for newscasters, and John called me either that day or the next day, and so I started working with his people, and that lasted for several years until, you know, they moved on to something else, which is fine, and when he called about this idea, I was all over it. I just respect the heck out of him and what he does with his radio stations.

It's, you know, the hyper-local, super-local format and perspective. And I'm down with that. No, I like the cut of his jib as well. So you'll get, you know, statements from Bell Media that, you know, radio is not, there's no future for radio in terms of revenue generation. And then you got smaller outfits like NBC with John Paul, who are like, nah, you're just doing it wrong. Like, this is how you can still generate revenue from a radio station.

Okay, well, you brought up Bell, so I'm going to leap on that. Because when people ask me why I left radio, I say Bell broke me. It broke me because they starved the radio stations outside of Toronto, of any resources. And that's not an exaggeration. That is a fact. And they never wanted radio. They wanted the TV properties, as you probably well know. So not only did they not know what to do with it, they didn't want to do it.

they didn't want to do anything with it. So when a John pole comes along with expansion and takes some of these stations and narrow focuses them and people are reacting really, really well, it's so refreshing. And it shows that radio still can be viable. I'm glad I mentioned Bell then. Do you have anything like that loaded up? Because you know, you had a long drive here. And I'm sure you're listening to Rudy Blair and you're like, oh, I want to do this, this and this.

but what if I don't say the magic word that triggers it? That was really the only thing that I And what if I didn't say, Bell, would that still come out now? I want to know. I had to say the B word to get that one here. Wow, okay, well, radio.

I mean, I won't ask you what you think of radio. Well, maybe I will because there's a TV show I want to ask you about, because I'm very interested. I want to ask you about a TV show and I want to talk a little bit about the blog. But do you listen to radio in 2025? Sometimes I do. I, you know, the people who are still in it and people that I know, people that I don't know,

have the, all the, you know, passion and everything else for it. We sit back and say, oh, it's dying and they're not doing it right and all these other things, but the people who are in it are just as excited about being in radio as we ever were. And I would never want them to feel like they are being criticized or, being made to sound like they're less than because they're working in corporate radio. They're doing it with the best of intentions and that's where their job is. And I know, you know, they're doing what they can with a lot less. Well, that's for sure.

And it's kind of a shame, though. It seems like death by a thousand cuts or whatever that, like, you know, do more for less. And if the product isn't as good as it used to be, that's fine because it doesn't generate. the revenue it used to. Well, it's tough because of what they're given and what they're allowed to do. You know, when you're doing a midday show on eight stations, not only does that mean there are seven people

not working on those radio stations, but it also means it's really hard to connect with people when you're being so generic. So, you know, I mean, there's so many components that go into, why it works, why it doesn't work. But I think the people, the people, are doing their best with what they have. And, you know, radio will always be in my veins. Well, without a doubt, you still heard on the air in places as lovely as St. Thomas.

So, 94.1, My FM. Shout out to them, and we can hear your voice there. And, of course, your podcast, gracefully and frankly, and because you do all this voiceover work, we're probably, I mean, you could probably, just probably some ad I've seen a hundred times. I didn't even realize, oh, that's Lisa. Oh, yeah, I don't know, maybe. I've done some stuff on Spotify recently, too,

and I don't think I have anything on TV right now, but I had Nivia for a while. And, yeah, it's big fun. It's funny, though, you know, most voiceover work has nothing to do with ads. Most of the stuff is like, oh, great, I've got to go do the Wimis, you know, training and HR, you know. Or it's a corporate video to get the sales team

all excited about selling cigarettes. Yes, I did that. stuff like that, all sorts of insider, not public stuff. No, yeah, the corporate videos or whatever they call those things, for sure. Jill has a good question for you when she heard, because she also had a nice thing to say about your blog. So we'll get back to that. She says, she loves reading your blog, and I also subscribe and read your blog as well.

And I will maybe take this opportunity. I do. Voice of Lisabrandt.com, okay? And Brant's got like a D and a T. I don't know whoever decided that was a good idea. Me. Like a maroon. And I tried to change it once. No, no, I mean, like you got, you were born of that name. No, I wasn't. Okay. I see, I don't know. I didn't do that deep a dive. That's what makes it worse. That's what makes it worse.

So you, that's your radio name. That's my radio name. And, you know, I didn't know that. I, because who would choose that? An idiot. And I tried to change. It's a mind blow in the 90th minute here. My goodness gracious, Lisa, tell me this story. And I tried to change it to it to just a tea. And that day, I was presented with new. business cards? It's like... Too late now. They can't reprint those? No, I was being harassed under my real name, my original real name, and I thought, oh, I

got to pick something. And that was phone book days. And I remember this newscaster, Gene and I, going through the phone book and trying, Lisa, Abel, Lisa, Amos, Lisa, all the way we went, Brand. And he goes, hey, make a DT to make it different. I went, that's a great idea. And so then it got stuck. And now I've actually, I've had it for some.

so long that it is a quote-unquote real name. You know, I can get like credit cards in it or whatever. Oh, credit card I was going to say, because you're talking to a guy who literally responds to Toronto Mike. Like, I'm out in about, and I, hey, Toronto Mike, like, all the time. Yeah, yeah. And I'm like, yeah, I'm Toronto Mike. Like, I don't even think twice about it.

Like, that's just my name. But I don't think I have any credit cards that say Toronto Mike. Well, I can go into the bank. This was the thing. When I was especially busy in radio, I could go into the bank and use my, married name or whatever and nobody would put two and two together especially when we had paul and i had her pictures in chatelaine and you know there were posters on the go trains and whatever else it was like okay you know brant was everywhere but um wild that you know i thought i just assumed that was

your real name everybody does in fact andy brant who i believe was an mp called me when i was at 680 and are we related yes he said we're having a big family reunion we'd be so excited if you came and i I broke his heart. I broke his heart. Radio, I don't know if they do this as much now, but of course, everybody had to have a fake name back in the day, right? I mean, even those names we mentioned,

like Jackie Delaney, that's not her name. Colleen Rushholm, that was just the street. Rush home's the street, of course. I bike by it all the time. Thank you for pointing out that I'm not alone because you start to feel like... Well, Mad Dog Michaels has two fake names because Mad Dog was a fake name

on top of Jay Michaels, which is not his name. Right, exactly. That's a two-fer. So Aaron Davis has a real name, right? Yes. I think that's almost unusual for somebody from that era. Especially of her status to use her real name, yeah. My goodness, crazy.

We're learning a lot about you, but it is voice of Lisabrandt.com, and you do a great blog there. So Jill likes the blog. I like the blog. She wants to know how you feel about AI, and is that going to eat into your voiceover work? Already has. It already has.

Isn't that suck? It does suck. In some cases, people have come to me, and I'm sure many other voice people, and said, we used AI. People hate it. Can you please give us a real voice? AI is eating into it, but you know what else is eating into it? Is worries about the economy. That might even be a bigger factor.

But yeah, definitely AI. AI, in my opinion, is wonderful for repetitive, boring tasks. Leave the creative people alone, like artists and all those kinds of things. things, but that's another topic. Well, no, I mean, I'm not a fan of the AI slob that I see all over the place, particularly on Facebook, not a fan at all, don't like it at all. Somebody linked me to a YouTube video, which was like AI singing an M&M song in like a style of like a different style, like an older style or whatever.

And I'm listening to this and I'm like, oh, this, I think I would actually really like this if it was a human being singing it. Like there's no soul to this. Well, that's it. Bits and Bites. And Erin and I were talking about this on Thanksgiving weekend about how the occasional little mistake that only maybe a musician would pick out,

but gives it some heart and let you know it's a human being. That perfection, that perfection above all is not enjoyable. No, but I need to know right now, Lisa, was this enjoyable? This conversation. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I heard it a little bit of music. I thought, he's waiting for me to identify whether this music is enjoyable.

It was incredibly enjoyable. Is this music enjoyable, Lisa? Yes, it is. So this is Rob Pruse. Rob Pruse, probably most famous. He was the keyboardist with spoons. Oh, wow. Oh, my goodness.

He co-wrote romantic traffic. Of course, and I have pictures of me with the spoons, with Sandy and guys. Sandy and Gord. Yeah. Still the main spoon, Gord Spoon is what Rob Proust. But this is a cover of a lowest of the low song called Rosie and Gray, and I would always close of that. And then Spotify particularly, even though you do work there.

And you don't. No, you don't. But your work appears on there. We'll put that way. Sometimes. YouTube, we're picking it up like I, because I was using unlicensed music, even though the gentleman who sings it and wrote it told me he loves that I use it. It didn't seem to matter to the algorithm to the bots who control everything.

So I had Rob Proust make a cover that would elude them. And this one seems to not get caught. So that's where we are here. Lisa. We're going to take a photo by Toronto Tree. Yes. You're going to get your lasagna. You've arrived.

Now when people Google the fake name Lisa Brandt, they're going to see us by the tree, so no pressure. But I got to say, I loved this very much in talking about radio with you, and I hope I didn't miss anything you wanted to say. Not at all. No, this was wonderful. I'm happy to be led wherever you wanted to go. I liked it.

And I'm looking forward to my lasagna. Well, you're going to love the lasagna. We're going to cross our fingers. We see you on November 29th, and I can tell you that cold open off the top. I will probably extract that and use it in future episodes. So send me an invoice for that voiceover work, okay? Yes, zero zero zero, zero. And how is, is Cuddles still with us?

Oh, Cuddles is with us. Cuddles, my cat, my old cat, yeah. How old is Cuddles? Cuddles will be 18. That's old. Yeah, he's a sweetheart. We got him when he was 13, I guess. we'd like to adopt the old ones.

And I actually realize I'm playing this song, but I actually wanted to ask you, I might have to bring down the song, whatever happened to? Oh, the TV show, yeah. So where did that air and how long did it go? And how was that experience? It seemed to go on forever.

It aired in Canada. I mean, I used to get recognized for it, which is silly, because I was one of many contributors to it. And it would shock me. I remember specifically one guy in chapters. Recognized me from it. But anyway, no, it was like a celebrity sort of where are they now type of thing.

And it ran for many, many years, but they eventually took it off the air, I think mostly because most of the people they covered were dead. So I had written a book called Celebrity Tantrums, and that's what got me on the show. So, yeah, it was big fun. Glad you mentioned celebrity tantrums. You also wrote Make the Media Want You. You've got to, I guess, at least five books under your belt.

Yeah, I've released three novels this year, too. First time I've Prolific. I've ever written novels and I thought it was going to be one and some, my sister-in-law said, this has to be a series. So it was a series and now that's it.

They're out and we'll see what's next. Well, let's see if I can get this done before the song runs out. You ready? And that brings us to the end of our 1,780th show. Go to Torontomike.com for all your Toronto mic needs. Much love to all who made this possible. That's patrons like you.

Go to patreon.com. on a mic and become a member today, Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Nick Iienies, Kinling, welcome aboard Kinling, Recycle My Electronics.ca, Blue Sky Agency, and of course, Ridley Funeral Home. See you tomorrow when my special guest is Kelly Katrera, another radio episode with Kelly. See you all then. Thank you.