Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Liz West: Toronto Mike'd #160

Episode Date: February 22, 2016

Mike chats with broadcaster Liz West about her work at ENOW, Canada AM, City TV, CP24, CHCH and her new podcast venture with Mark Hebscher.

Welcome to episode 160 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 Liz West. Hello Mike. Welcome to Toronto Mic'd. Thank you. Pleasure to be here. The artist formerly known as Hebsey, Mark Hebsey said he was going to drive you here himself. That's what he told me. Yeah, no. He just said that. He said you can handle this. I'm a big girl.

I've got my own car. I came on my own. My own energy. No chaperone required. No, you know, we had an argument today on our show Square Off about whose name should come first. You don't have that problem because you're Toronto Mike, so you don't have to argue maybe with yourself. Are we Liz West and Mark Hemsher or Mark Hemsher and Liz West?

I will put it to you because there is arguments supporting both. What would you recommend? I have to hear them. Okay, so Mark Hemsher and Liz West. Liz West and Mark Hemsher. I have to hear them. Okay. So Mark Hebbshire and Liz West, Liz West and Mark Hebbshire. I think yours goes first. Yeah. Just sounds right. Yeah. Cause I actually stumbled a little, I cannot speak. That's why I'm an amateur broadcaster. Uh, but I stumbled a little bit with Mark Hebbshire and Liz West and Mark Hebbshire rolls off the tongue. It does roll off the tongue. Okay. So I'm going to let him know

I have my first, the first vote for, uh, first not that it matters it doesn't matter there's no competition you know we're debating alphabet versus age before beauty the yeah does he think in his demented little mind does he think he's the bigger star though does he think because he's like i'm mark damn mark f in hebbshire does he say that something i think there's a little bit of that although he doesn't admit it i think that's what's going on in his mind i actually was uh when i was on his you weren't there i was like no you filled in for me thank you by the way and by the way yeah i filled in for you did you have a high voice that day i always have a high voice you don't i. Although I think mine might be lower.

I'm going to talk to you about your voice. Later on, I've got notes here. Oh, good. I've got questions about your voice. Do you have an old school teacher that you're going to trot out? Yeah, I do. Come on down. That was Mr. Skinner.

He was my favorite. Mr. Skinner. Principal Skinner. I like that. Super Nintendo Chalmers is coming down the stairs. Yeah, I've got questions about... I'm going to talk to you about this podcast with Hebsey because I feel like... I didn't.

I can say pioneer. You can say pioneer. Say it. I feel like the podfather. I'm the podfather in this city. You like that? Yeah, that's good. This is the first time I've played the village people on this podcast.

I finally found a reason. This is Go West for Liz West. Could be the theme song i didn't two for square you know this might not have been their biggest hit it's good it was a big hit good i feel like marching yeah it was a big hit and uh not that i remember but the um if you were old enough you would remember what's the band what have i done to deserve this uh have I What's the British band Neil Tennant Not Eurasia No

Pet Shop Boys Oh Pet Shop Boys Didn't they cover this Or sampled it Okay you're getting Too obscure for me I like music That you're

Heading down a road I don't know Well you're Co-host on Square Off Square Off I want to say Square Off

What do you want to call it? Squared Off. I'm pissed off. He gave me like name that tune. I actually it pissed me off a bit.

He did a name that tune with me where he'd play like a song and I had to guess it. These were the most obscure old songs. Obscure old songs. And I know my music

and I look dumb because he set me up for failure you know oh mike how do you know it's on his personal ipod playlist i know it's your personal favorites cut from this uh obscure album of course you know this i know i go through that on a regular basis i do enjoy playing name that tune though oh me too when you have a chance like i'm good at it if you give me a chance yeah start with some sometime when you were born it helps if you were born during the period of time that the song came out, preferably over the age of, I don't know, seven,

where you might actually remember the words hearing it on your own radio in your bedroom. You could have, you know, something like that. If you didn't live it, it had to have been a hit so that it was played on radio stations. But you might not know the name of the song or the title or the year it came out. You know, I mean, I don't need albums. I can't remember. Breakfast in America by Supertramp, just because it was...

Because it's got that great title. It's got a great title. With the waitress. Exactly. And it was at a time that was important for me when it came out. But other than that, I don't know the name of the album.

I'm with you. Like me, Built for Speed by the Stray Cats. That was important, okay? Yeah. I play that cassette a lot. You're not related to Kanye West by any chance. A little bit, but we don't talk about it. All right, I just want to say something quick,

because my son, his buddy sent him this link to this illegal stream of the new Kanye album, and all his buddies and him, they're all analyzing the songs, because Kanye's got a new album. Yeah. And it's title title title title i don't know how to say it okay like a title wave i guess yeah yeah and because of that like everyone's stealing it is this riri this is yeah that's rihanna whose uh video of drake dropped today i just watched it from the one that the real jerk they show real jerks down the street from my house is that right i love the real jerk i thought i saw you in the club actually like

there's a shot i said that's liz west okay but uh it probably was it happens all the time all right so i'm all over the place but the uh so the real jerk is playing the real jerk like in the opening of the video they show the sign like this is not yeah you can't fake well that's why they picked it probably it's the it's like one of the best known jamaican restaurants yeah in the city and it's really uh the outside of the restaurant is exactly what you would want a jamaican restaurant to look like and when you're inside the old one in particular the old one because i went to jamaica a lot uh over my life i've been there a lot. Really? Yeah. And you probably would have guessed that. I would have guessed that. Yeah. So inside the old Real Jerk, when it was on Queen Street, it truly felt like being in Jamaica. They had, they captured the vibe. They just captured something about a restaurant in Jamaica. Because the thing in Jamaica is like, you go to a restaurant and you don't know when you're going to get your food. And, you know, for the ambience because you know soon come is sort of the favorite past you know words soon come like when's my dinner coming the new one is cool but they took over from a loungy kind of place that was there beforehand called the it was called like the playground or something it was a really cool

place didn't survive so it's got a diff it's not as authentic uh jamaican the food i love the food i could eat fried chicken jamaican fried chicken every day and you could because you're you're so close to it and because i have a stretchy skirt so the real jerk was actually named after mark hebbshire did you know that so uh kanye west quick note on Kanye. So, he's gained a lot of flack lately, okay? Because he's like gone crazy maybe on the social media. Yeah, I think.

All right. I was thinking of donating. He's probably got a Kickstarter going to help him get out of his financial troubles. The best tweet I saw was after Kendrick Lamar's performance at the Grammys, which was awesome. Somebody said that would have been Kanye if he hadn't hooked up with Kim Kardashian. Was that your tweet? No. Are they making it a Yoko Ono kind of moment? Something like that. No, but that's probably what Kanye wishes he was.

That's what I've heard. That's cool. But just to defend Kanye real quick is that I hear a lot of people say, oh, Kanye's junk. He's an egomaniac and he sucks. His music sucks. I hear a lot of stuff like that. Just listen to my beautiful, dark, twisted fantasy, which is the album that gave us this.

It's an amazing, it's a wonderful, amazing, genius album. My dark, my beautiful, dark, twisted fantasy. You love this album, don't you? Why are you dancing? Liz West is dancing in my studio. All right, that's Nicki Minaj. How did we end up talking about Kanye West? Why are you dancing? Liz West is dancing in my studio. All right. That's Nicki Minaj.

Okay. How did we end up talking about Kanye West? Oh, because... Your last name is West. Oh, long lost cousins. Got it. It's all your fault. Everyone, stop what you're doing right now and help fund this podcast.

If you go to patreon.com slash Toronto Mike and give what you can, we're going to crowdfund this sucker and I need your help. So do that. Liz West wants you to do that right now. Yeah, if you give what you can uh we're gonna crowdfund this sucker and i need your help so do that liz west wants you to do that right yeah if you like what you're if you enjoy listening it's it's i mean think about it a dollar what can you get for a dollar a month nothing and it's actually u.s dollars so it's probably like a buck is it u.s i think it's a buck no it's not no i don't think so i think if i think it's it U.S. dollar. No, it's not. I don't think so. I think it'll be Canadian.

Sorry. I know. I think it's U.S. We disagree. We're now fighting. Well, we are on Patreon, too, our podcast. 50 cents U.S. 50 cents U.S., a dollar Canadian. Okay, sorry. Do you want more? $1.50. I need a dollar U.S.

I only deal in U.S. currency now. Toronto Mike only deals in U.S. currency. Like when the Leafs sign a player, let's say the Leafs sign Stamko, they're going to pay him in US dollars. It doesn't matter that it's a Canadian sign to a Canadian team. No, I know. We should all make US money. The greenbacks. Hey, Liz West, I see you started at, at least in the public eye, Canada AM and E! Now. Does that ring a bell? Yeah, I worked at CTV in the early days. I started as an intern. The oldest intern ever, I'm sure. I was well over 20.

And I started as an intern on the first entertainment show precursor to E! Now. E! Talk called E! Now. Yeah, but who was, is this the Dan Duran one? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I know Dan Duran. Dan Duran, Carla Collins. Yeah. They. I know Dan Duran, Carla Collins.

Yeah. They were the hosts, myself, Christine Diakos. Uh, we were, you know, the reporters and the producers, we worked our butts off, created great, great, uh, stories, uh, long, relatively long segments, not as much flash, more substance, but really, I really enjoyed it. I have to say. And then from there i got an opportunity to work on canada am as well because it was like a sister show so that okay so you start why uh did like did uh ben mulrooney steal did he basically steal dan durand's thunder come on that was dan durand was like the ben mulrooney before ben mulrooney am i right come on not really Am I right? Come on. Not really. I mean, Dan is a, he's like a great voice guy. He is the guy who plays every reporter in a movie or television show if they're a man.

That's true. I just did Orphan Black. I was the female reporter. Dan didn't get that part. That's the only role in the news reporter. I snatched it from his hands. I know. I got to play.

But he tried out for it which is kind of funny no he actually he didn't he was uh shooting he couldn't he was shooting a reporter role for a different show of course so uh so no i you know dan and carla our show finished i left the show before it was over enow if i recall correctly i left i went to city tv and uh enow stopped and ben was actually working and started on a show called The Chat Room. And I don't think TV is, he's just a guy that is a, has a famous last name who is okay on television. You're not a Ben fan. No, you know, I don't think I just, I don't think I, there's people who are really good at something in particular. I don't know if that's his. So if he's Ben Smith, he's not, he's not getting these gigs. I don't know if

he's getting the gigs. I don't know. No. It's not that I don't like him. He's fine. Dan's an outstanding voice person. Like when it comes to voiceover, he taught me. I remember we were in a voice booth together. I said, Dan, because my voiceover sucked. And Ben Mulroney, my voiceovers aren't fantastic now either.

So I'm not saying I'm the best thing. But Dan said, okay, Liz, well, when you read, you have to know where to inflect and where do you, you know, and I just was looking at it with my jaw and I'm like, yeah, but how do I do that? Right. You're making it sound so easy. He can read a script and he just knows exactly how to read it and sell it and make it sound great. Yeah. He's got, but he's born of those pipes. Like you have to be born of the pipes.

Yes. Partially. I could never do, I could never be Dan Duran no matter what, because I'm never going to have that voice. Right. You just crushed me. You know what?

I was hoping you'd say there's still a chance and I was going to work on it. Thanks Liz West. No, no, no. But you know, I, some people have extraordinary ability.

So Dan's voice is fantastic. I love if his voice comes on the radio, I love it. There's some people have extraordinary abilities so dan's voice is fantastic i love if his voice comes on the radio i love it there's some people whose voices i just wow i love it and and that's the way it goes it's you can't be you can't change the way your voice but ben ben maroney sucks is that what you're saying no i just don't think of him when you said did he steal dan's what did you say his like his yeah like his because you know he this e now becomes e again what's it becomes e now becomes something disappeared and then it became e talk right and ben's e talk but the thing is e talk is a totally different cast okay totally different because one it's like a phoenix like the ashes of you now and then e talk comes out of it actually

the content is they're they're two completely different shows we would have much longer stories i did a short a story with you too which someone sent me on uh the facebook the other day hey liz i stumbled across this youtube story interview and i re-watched it because i don't even know how it got on youtube i mean youtube barely existed if not at all but people have uh recorded things to VHS and then they rip it to YouTube. This was from the original. This wasn't off of VHS because you could tell the, you know, I think it might have been original beta

or whatever we were using. And the story was about seven minutes long. It had about 7,000 edits because we never had anything longer than a 10 or 15 second clip. We tell the backstory of the band. You know, there's lots of questions and answers, tons of videos.

So every YouTube song you love is in this story. Now the entertainment shows are quick. The stories are quick. It's more the tease probably than the substance. You have a quick clip and then you're done. And I just was on Facebook. Sometimes I pop in Facebook to see like what's going on. And on the right hand side,

it says trending topics. You've got this like this box. Right. And there was three. It said, it just happened and I tweeted about it. So it's in my head, but Rob Kardashian lost 40 pounds.

Right. Kim Kardashian shares picture of new child with your family member. And then Adolf Hitler or something like it was my name yeah so um i think today it's like um it's changed like now it's like these so it was like two kardashians and adolf hitler were the three trending topics today right and i think that that no you know like uh introspect when i covered entertainment there were no reality stars when i covered except for paris hive when i covered entertainment there were no reality stars when i covered except for paris hilton when i covered entertainment i was interviewing legends

in music and movies uh where i could when i had like talented people if i had to study for their for to do the interview i mean i was going back and going when was their first album second album third album looking at their music videos reading about the history of that person before I did the interview. Now, if you're standing on a red carpet covering an event, you've probably got half the people are reality stars from who knows. Real housewives of King City. Yeah, real housewives or the winner of this, you know, the America's Biggest Loser or the Amazing Race or the girl or just or they're just the Kardashians who before they had their show were just famous for being famous. Paris Hilton, that kind of person. Yeah.

Yeah. So I don't desire those kinds of interviews. But you ended up you got so you got a job offer from City TV. Is that what? Yeah, I went to work for City TV. Because to be honest, I might have said most people know you from that. I actually remember you from CityTV. That's totally fine. Yeah.

Is that okay? But I remember you very well from CityTV. Totally. You don't have to actually have watched me. I'd still be here. It'd be fine. I actually won't let people listen unless they know your resume. They got to know your resume. Okay, great. Well, then, okay.

No fakers here. Real talk. Two firsts. One was my very first show was one of the first home renovation shows on the air. You will never know. It's called Kitchens and Bathrooms. I love that show. No, you didn't know it. Don't even pretend for a second.

I was a host for a minute of Kitchens and Bathrooms, and it was before there were any renovation shows on the air. And what I learned from that, Mike, was that 50% of people's homes are painted pink on the inside. Pink is the most popular color. Including the studio. No. It could use a little pink down here. My 14-year-old boy lives down here.

Oh. And it looks like he lives down here. I haven't looked around. Okay. You haven't looked around because he might be sleeping in there. I'm not sure. It's possible, right? No, he's at school. So school uh so yeah so people love pink bathrooms

another thing i did was one of the first if not the first infomercials oh yeah ever it was for dance mix usa it was with john something from mtv okay john he was one of the he was like the big one of the was he like a mtv vj yes host vj he was like the first major mtv vj so john i forget his last name he and i they were filming it here we had i think gloria gainer oh yeah i will survive was uh one of the acts they had they recreated a dance party and then they would cut to us it was like a half hour infomercial. Be like, this is great. And you know what? It would be even better if you,

you know, blah, blah, blah, Dance Mix USA. So those are mine. That's awesome. Do you have that on YouTube? I want to see that. I don't have it on YouTube, but those are my early,

if you want to go back to that, you know, very first, what did you do first? You know? No, but it's great. Like that's like your introduction. Yeah, I think I might have seen that one. I used to love those infomercials with the music.

I love them too. Like I would stop and watch and listen. Yeah, because it was like a trick. It's like, wait a Yeah, I think I might have seen that one. I used to love those infomercials with the music. I love them too. I would stop and watch and listen. Yeah, because it was like a trick. It's like, wait a sec. Is this a show or are they selling me something? But you got to hear little snips. I like to hear just a taste of all these great songs. And this was all great dance music.

That's the whole theme. It was all great danceable music. So we were in a club having a really good time. John, remind me what his name is. John. I don't know. I'd have to Google it. John, remind me what his name is. John. I don't know. I'd have to Google it. Yeah, John.

I don't know. Yeah. Lodeman? I just made up a name. Imagine I nailed it. Can you imagine, though? Like, that was it? We could change your show, because you'd be like a psychic, and you'd have to change your show.

Was there any village people on that compilation? No, no. They have dancey music. I think it was beyond. Because Gloria Gaynor's there. Come on. That's true. So it covered a spectrum.

And she only has one song, right? You could put a gun to my head, and I could not name a second Gloria Gaynor song. And I wouldn't put a gun to your head, though, just so you know. I would never do that. But you could. And I still wouldn't be able to pull it out of my head.

So CP24. Oh, not CP24. I'm sorry. I'm skipping ahead. Are you could. And I still wouldn't be able to pull it out of my head. So CP24, oh, not CP24, I'm sorry, I'm skipping ahead. Are you looking at my resume? Yeah, I got some notes.

City TV. I lied so much on that. I hope, don't ask me what I lied about. true or false, you were at City TV from 2000 to 2008. Yeah. So that's true.

Yeah. You shouldn't lie on these resumes because I'm going to find out. Okay. Keep going then. Okay. We will, but let's I'm going to find out. Okay. Keep going then. Okay. We will, but let's talk about City TV. Yeah.

Okay. How did you get the gig? They offered me the job. Yeah. So it was, I guess from that point of view, it was quite easy. This is pre-Rogers? Yes. Pre-Rogers.

So the good City TV. Yeah. It was great. It was a great experience. I really enjoyed working there. Did you have to interview with, uh, like Moses to get the gig?

I, no, I didn't. I, it was right, uh, after I was, I want to say he wasn't there,

but I think he left just after. Uh, and cause I get that question a lot. Well, cause, cause what do you think? What's your relationship with Moses? Well,

I remember the city TV. Of course, I remember the city TV of Moses and how cool it was and how interesting. Like, I love the environment. I love the people. It was different. Like, it had some, like, I'd call character. It had a personality.

He's a visionary. You know, he was able to see something, create something that was unique, that actually was sold, franchised, you know, around the world. I think that people miss that. You know, the whole speaker's corner idea, where you feel like you're a part of your television station. That's one of the most common, I guess the emotions I get from people was they always felt like they knew the people at City TV.

There wasn't like an invisible wall between us. They could, they were like, we're friends because I watch you on City TV all the time and I like you. We're friends. Right. And that was really cool. You just, you seemed accessible like you weren't accessible. And then I, in my opinion, this is my opinion of course, but Rogers comes in and seems to sanitize it. Like it loses all of its like character and personality. And it becomes like, it just looks kind of corporate and to me kind of glitzy, but bland.

It kind of looks like typical kind of Rogers stuff. Well, I think that you can't, you can't, I mean, that started happening before Rogers came in and they hired consultants. Because there's a period where there's no, like there's a period between Moses leaving

and Rogers coming in. Sure, a long time. How long is that period? How come I can't remember? Yeah, it would have been close to 10, maybe just under 10 years. Oh, wow, that is a long time. Yeah, because I left just,

I was actually on maternity leave, I think, when Rogers more or less took over, close to that. I had a couple of babies towards the end of my time there. So there are gaps in my mind. No, that's fair enough. Is it? Baby brain. Baby brain, yeah.

We all went to the Raptors game yesterday, like all five of us, okay? And my wife is very pregnant, like 36 weeks maybe, something like that. And we're on our way to go to the ACC and then she's like, oh, I forgot all the baby stuff. Like I took care of the baby.

Well, he's 22 months. He's 22 months. So he's almost two. But he's not going to go the whole game without some food and drink and stuff. You're very daring, by the way, for taking your pregnant wife and your little 22-month-old. You know, the 22-year-old is free. That's why. They sit on your lap just like a flight. yeah flight right exactly so where are you flying yeah pretty well and then

security is like a flight because we had to take our keys and i don't know if you've been to the acc lately but i had to take my keys and i felt like i was going on a flight like i thought you can ask me to remove my shoes yeah it's awful like my belt's got to come off yeah yeah i know it does take the a little bit of the the fun excitement and like, oh, look, we're here, we're here, have a good time. Well, sorry, sir, we're going to make sure you don't have a weapon on you. Oh, yeah, yeah, it's really tough, the security.

But yeah, you're right, because with a 22-month-old, you don't know what you're going to get. Like, he could decide to have one of his, like, he doesn't do it too often, but he could have his little meltdown or something. There's like no good reason or whatever. And you don't have a lot of space and you're at a game, but he was like, he was perfect.

And his bedtime is 7.30. This game didn't end until close to nine. Oh, wow. But he was actually amazing. You're a horrible parent for making that poor little guy. But you know, Kanye West would do that too. Kanye West is a horrible father as well. That's correct.

Where did I see? I saw. Oh, no. Yeah. No. Yeah. Where did I see, I saw, oh no, yeah, no, yeah, with Kim Kardashian had her son,

they were out somewhere anyway. All I know is what I see on the side of Facebook. I actually, I had this discussion, my mom likes TMZ.com and my brother Steve, my brother Steve,

they both do, but they both really like TMZ and I actually like avoided like the plague. They're always like, oh, someone broke up with someone and I'm like,

I don't care. Somebody's dating someone and I don up with someone. I'm like, I don't care. Somebody's dating someone. And I don't care about any of this. I just don't care. I don't, I don't know. I don't care. I just feel like TMZ is the ambulance chaser of celebrities.

They, you know, they'll make a story out of, they'll make a story actually by just, if you irritate someone at the right time, they'll fight back. And then there's your story. That's what bothers me about it.

But you know what I wanted to say about bad fathers? I just saw a picture of David Beckham and his three kids at, I guess, at his wife's fashion show. And I thought, you know, Victoria Beckham designs her own clothing line. So they were all in the front row of her. And they're her daughter, who's's i want to say three or four okay and i thought well how weird to bring your kids to drag your kids to a fast high fashion week event in new york and would you do that probably i'd take them anywhere yeah i think i don't think i think i would like i just like to bring them to everything you know regardless of age and

everything or appropriately my daughter used to scream at the top of her lungs. Like she, oh, so loud. Yeah, but if you do that, then you just got to kind of pick them up and leave,

right? Because you can't ruin the show for everybody. But if they're going to, they're going to be decent, like why not? Yeah, you never know though.

I'm with Beckham on this one. Beckham has a high voice. Does he? Well, have you ever heard him talk? I haven't. Because he's a guy, you know,

he looks like, yeah, he doesn't sound like he looks. Really? He sounds a like a mike tyson-y really a little bit like mike tyson's got a high voice funny i'm just naming all the guys of high voices yeah huh that's interesting and yeah um beckham yeah so um where am i yeah so well the raptor game and i guess i was gonna ask you do you at all follow basketball at all any raptor interest no no i did watch the nba all-star opening

the uh anthem is this the nelly furtado well even just before the anthem when they were announcing the players one by one and they had all the dancers split on either side. Did Drake do it? I feel like he might have, but maybe not. No, Drake was out there. You know what? I can't remember because all I could focus on was the girls on either side of the stage.

First of all, really bad music, some weird, I don't know, generic never-ending music. And then there was girls dancing. I guess they had dancers from all the different basketball teams. Oh, okay. The dancing, what do you call the dancers at a basketball game? I don't know, they're called like dancers. Okay, so you had all the teams dancers.

So they're mixed in. So you'd see one girl with one outfit from one team and blah, blah, blah. And I thought it was tacky. And it didn't look, it wasn't well choreographed, but it was just so like girls dancing in skimpy outfits to bad music while successful athletes walk out. I don't know. I felt like what era are we in?

Like really? That's the best you could do. It was blech. So you don't see that at NHL all-star games. No, no dancers. Oh wait, there are dancers.

There's dancers at the Marley's. Oh yeah. They have dancers. Yeah. They dancers. Oh, wait, there are dancers. There's dancers at the Marlies. They have dancers. They do. Do you know, I saw the Marlies win 9-0 this season, and I might live the rest of my life and never see the home team win 9-0 again. I know. 9-0 is an unreasonable score almost. Because you don't care about basketball.

Did the other team have a goalie in that game? I'm pretty sure. But they had no forwards apparently. Bernier, by the way, I think it was Bernier got the shout out in that one for what it's worth anyway you don't care about this you also don't care about you don't know what i care about you don't care about basketball well i'm not i don't follow basketball i was gonna say that um i have forgiven vince carter i just want the world to know okay okay like i feel he quit on the team so back and this is like 10 years more than 10 years ago actually like oh four maybe was it this oh four oh five so he quits on the

team half asses it forcing a trade and then we this guy rob babcock who sucked anyways as a gm but he trades him to new jersey for nothing like nothing and then all of a sudden he rediscovers how to like jump and play and all this stuff so he quits on us gets the trade we get nothing back and then he goes off into whatever so i was really like um angry angry at him yeah i very until yesterday when i'm well he was playing for the memphis grizzlies yesterday so he's he came in off the bench to play against the raptors and i was in the building right and they announced his name and i was overwhelmed with like i was happy to see him,

and I started cheering, even though like I thought, like in my head, like, yeah, so I started cheering, and then everyone was cheering. Like,

we were all like forgiving him. Like, enough time had passed that we can now be okay with Vince again. Wow. It helps that he never won. I think I,

I'm just glad he never did win a championship, because he kind of quit on us, left us, and he never won a ring. Right. And he's not going to win a ring this year. Okay. And he might retire, and if he plays another year, and he doesn't quit on us, left us, and he never won a ring. He's not going to win a ring this year. And he might retire, and if he plays another year

and he doesn't win a ring, then I just feel like he's an old guy, the oldest guy in the league, by the way, and he's gotten 39. Why do they call him the Grizzlies? Because of Vancouver. But I don't think of basketball in Grizzlies.

But you think of Vancouver in Grizzlies. But you think of Vancouver and Grizzlies. Like you think of BC and Grizzlies. I don't know. Yeah, you do. Because they're over there. I think of sushi. I mean, the Memphis, so the silly thing is, Grizzlies makes sense for the Vancouver Grizzlies,

which is the original team. And then they move from Vancouver to Memphis. But Memphis Grizzlies doesn't make sense. No, and that's why it doesn't make sense to name your team after your local animal. But you can change a name. Also, though, you have to think of what animal

sort of fits with basketball. I don't think of grizzlies. I could think of grizzlies and hockey. Kangaroos. Because they jump. No? No, but you know what I mean? It's like grizzlies would be hockey. They're tough. They're, you know, basketball, no. Okay.

The only name that makes less sense is the Utah Jazz. I think that's that one. Right. So then where does that come from? I believe it was the St. Louis. Was it the New Orleans Jazz? Yes. It was another place. Was it New Orleans or St. Louis? Good Lord. It was a jazz place. New Orleans Jazz, St. Louis Jazz. I can't was a jazz place. New Orleans jazz, St. Louis jazz.

I can't actually remember. Why has anybody not caught on to this? And then, yeah, then they named their team after music? Like, why don't we call ours the Toronto Maple Syrup? What about the Orlando Magic? Yeah, I don't understand. What is that? Oh, is that Magic Kingdom? Just the male name.

Magic Kingdom. That's what it is. I think some of my... Okay, here's a fun story. Memphis is... I think it's owned by the guys behind FedEx, I think. Okay. I think.

And they wanted to rename their team to Memphis Express, I believe. Okay. I wouldn't mind that. That's cool. It was rejected. I believe it was rejected by the NBA commissioner's office or something for being too much of a commercial. Too much of a corporate thing.

I think Express sort of sounds like something basketball-like. Sure, but it's too FedEx-y because it's Federal Express. Well, I'll tell you, if I heard the word Express, I wouldn't for a second think about FedEx. Would you? Yes, because I... No, if you didn't know the story. I might not have.

No, of course not. All right. No, of course not. So we agree that it's time to forgive Vince Carter. Sure. Okay, good. What were you doing specifically at City TV? I was an entertainment anchor.

So I covered everything entertainment for City. I worked on other entertainment shows. I hosted the New Year's Eve at City Hall. Yes. I was a guest on BT in the mornings. Was Rockin' Ronnie Hawkins still doing it? Performing? When did he stop? Do you know? Yes. Was a guest on BT in the mornings. Is this, was rock and Ronnie Hawkins still doing it? Uh, uh,

performing. I don't. When did he stop? Do you know? I don't remember him for a long time ago. I think. Is that right? Cause that's my childhood.

That's my childhood. No, that's your childhood. That's my memories of New Year's Eve as a kid is rock and Ronnie Hawkins in a fur jacket looking like a grizzly right on stage at Nathanathan phillips square that's and then the guys like gordon martineau and people like that would kind of or maybe even monica deal or something really okay yeah yeah do you ever meet her nope she was i think she was gone she went to vancouver yeah uh to be near the grizzlies and then they left for memphis and she was alone it's not fair

no she's she's brokenhearted still. She was great. My buddy Warren Peace used to dance at the electric circus and then sadly Warren Peace was murdered at Carleton University. Oh. No, I just took this into a dark place. When?

Like mid-90s. Really? Yeah. Murdered? Yeah. And he was the nicest guy. He was breaking up a fight and he got stabbed

and he was breaking up a fight and he died. And he was like one of my, I think he a fight and he got stabbed. He was breaking up a fight and he died. And he was like one of my, I think he might be to this day, like the only friend I ever had who got murdered. Yeah, I don't have any friends that have been murdered. That's awful. That's horrible. I always, would you break up a fight?

Oh, it's a great question because it's one of those things. I don't like have a pre-plan. I think, I don't know if I see a knife in that fight. For sure, I don't like have a pre-plan i think i don't know if uh if i see a knife in that fight for sure i don't break it up if it's two and i think it's just a physical fight i could see myself if i know any of them in any way yeah going in there and trying to like keep the peace like tell them to chill out chill the f out and like try to do that i could see myself doing that you know i'm a piece it's a fight or flight, which some people

run the opposite direction. And some people jump in. It all depends. There's so many variables at play. You need to do this. Recreate it. I'll tell you my bike route tomorrow and have it happen. Just make it happen and see what I do.

It's like when a girlfriend or whatever gets somebody to flirt with you, you know, this, this trick they'll do. What's the trick? Like, like let's say you're, you have a, you have a husband, right? Let's say your husband pays like a handsome young guy to flirt with you. To see what will happen. To see what happens. Like what do you, how do you react? I don't know. I've never done it, but it happens. Really? Yeah. I'm sure it happens. Very strange. So on that note, you could have a, like a fight breakout near me

and see if I run away or if I try to break it up. Yeah. Yeah. Cause I'm curious too what I do. So I need you to do this. Okay. But not right away.

Cause if it happens tomorrow, I'm going to know it's you. Like you have to let some time go by. So I'm not connecting these dots. Got it. Until I forgot about this discussion. Me too. I'm going to forget about this discussion too. So I'm not, I dots got it until I forgot about this discussion me too I'm

gonna forget about this discussion too so I'm not uh I surprise myself when I make it happen you're gonna you're gonna forget about this discussion when you're in the car going home is that correct when you're off to the real jerk like what was I supposed to do was a fake a fight with a knife And why? Yeah, okay. Just record it. It might make a good video. In 2008, City TV axed its entertainment department. Is that correct? Yeah. That sucks. What did they do?

Yeah, they did. They did. Well, there was this thing called the recession. Remember the recession? Obama came to mop that up, I remember. A tsunami, a financial tsunami hit the recession. Remember the recession? Obama came to mop that up, I remember. It was a tsunami, a financial tsunami hit the world. And television broadcasters are always trying to figure out what works, what do we change, what should we be doing? Should our news be at 5, 5.30, 6, noon, 1?

All the time, none of the time. You know, that's always going on. 10 o'clock for the 10 p.m. for the news? No, 11 o'clock p.m. for the news. It seems like your morning show, 6 a.m., 5 a.m. CHCH, I think, put one on at 5 a.m. or 4 a.m. or something. You're thinking, who's watching? But they're always trying to figure out what is the best type of programming?

What are people watching? Why are they watching? is the best type of programming. What are people watching? Why are they watching? So, uh, I guess for whatever reason, they felt like they would do less entertainment and they needed to cut costs because it was a recession. And for me, I was, uh, I had just had a baby, so I was on mat leave. So I actually just never went back. And, uh, you know, I covered entertainment for well over 10 years at various places. So for me, I had my fill of entertainment. I feel like I did it at the best possible time. It was really fun.

I covered everything I wanted to cover. So it was an opportunity for me to focus on news and current affairs, do something different. So when this axing happens and you end up not coming back from that leave because there's nothing to come back to, right? So where do you end up? At your lawyer's office, of course. Of course. No, I mean, after you've seen your lawyer, you know what? Okay, so 2008 was a weird time. It was the recession. Everything was upside down. If you thought it was white, it was really black. So that was tricky. But you know,

you got to do some soul searching. The difficult thing for people like me in television is that you're so branded by what you did and where you worked. It's very hard for people to see you as doing anything else or being anything else. I have to admit, like when you came in, came in my front door, I said, I'm going to have to talk about the Kardashians today. Like, I just felt like I'm going to have to bring them up somehow. I've never brought them up in an episode before, but I found a way. Oh, you've been dying to though. This is, this is. I don't, Rob Kardashian lost 40 pounds. Like I see this in Facebook. I'm excited for the guy. You know who watches the Kardash guy. Mark Kepcher.

Does he? It's funny. When we were on the TV show together, we were in the office and a bunch of it. We were talking with Bubba O'Neill from sports line and Mark goes, yeah, I watched the Kardashians. I'm like,

what? I've never watched the Kardashians and I have no interest. He and Bubba, I think Bubba watched the Kardashians. Bubba watches the bachelor too. It's hilarious. So it's kind of funny. You never, you know, the people who do like those shows.

Yeah. I'm impressed though that they have the gonads to admit it. Sure. It's like a secret, you know, guilty pleasure. Guilty pleasure. That was, for years I watched American Idol. Oh, I love American Idol. But I only watched when Simon was on.

I actually. Love Simon, yeah. But here's what I discovered. So it wasn't that I liked American Idol so much. It's actually that I liked Simon. I think that's what it ended up being because I couldn't watch without him. The way he was so real and didn't get around the bush. Yeah, it was entertaining to see what he would say about everybody.

Yeah. I mean, he was mean sometimes, don't you think? Like overly mean. Not overly mean. It was refreshing to hear some people getting honest feedback. He was the Donald Trump of American Idol. With charm, though, because Trump has no charm. Oh, yeah.

Well, yeah. And Simon Cowell, he has some charm. He has enough charm that I didn't think he was a jerk. I just thought he was entertaining. Yeah. Whereas Donald Trump, he lacks that charm, that charisma that would make you kind of cut him some slack for being an idiot. Yeah, he does.

So then he's just an idiot. And why would you want an idiot to have the nuclear codes? So what? He has cash. Like, I'm sorry. But, you know, if he's some schlub working down at the mill or whatever, he's not married to whoever, whatever, Melania or whatever her name is. Melania, yeah.

You know your stuff. I do. I do know a little bit. I like The Apprentice. I used to watch that. Celebrity Apprentice. Yeah, but there's so many. I find, because my wife liked The Apprentice and she'd have it on and then I'd peek at

it and it's so many ads embedded in there. It's like, it's just everything. Genius. Genius. Okay. Yes. I mean, he was genius the way he cross marketed everything. But American Idol was the same because what we didn't know at the time was suddenly there

would be a tour and that these people would be signed to a record label and that the first song was written by the panel, you know, and all these money-making ventures that were all going to come from one little TV show. That's true. What happened to the guy who finished second in the first year? Is he still alive? He's still with us, right? Justin? Do you remember this? Oh, poor Justin.

Justin Garini? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Come on. I don't know. One of them still making great music and one is probably working at Wendy's. You know what? Well, he had,

he, he did like a, uh, he did some sort of a teen show or movie. This is like 15 years ago. Yeah. There was actually a, uh,

cast revival. They got together again. I just saw a photo of him. Was Kelly on there? No, no. Not American Idol. That TV musical thing that Justin did.

For Justin, that's one of the things coming in second. This new Bieber album has three number one hits on it. The first three singles all went to number one on the Billboard Top 100. Is he the new Justin or does Justin still mean Timberlake like now if i say justin is it bieber or is it trudeau or is it no you know let's just say justin's gonna be a very popular name again for babies what are you

gonna name your baby morgan oh i've never told anyone that that's lovely is it a girl yeah it's a girl that's great morgan yeah so it'll be james michelle jarvis and morgan oh i i do think i detect oh yeah a little little pattern i think i might be able to help you with your you have but i'm done are you done so don't get any ideas liz with okay okay that would be another J. Hmm. Just the boys got Js. I mean, I'm an M. I know. I'm a boy. But James and Jarvis, yeah.

And then the girls. Jarvis is a cool name. Yeah. I like, my daughter Michelle picked out Jarvis because we were going to see Selena Gomez at the ACC. Right. And we were near one Yonge Street, I think. I was perking it.

And there was a sign there. There was a big green sign that said Jarvis. So we were looking at things like Captain Morgan. There was an ad for Captain Morgan. Oh God. I know. First she said, first I pointed at Morgan. I said, oh yeah, Morgan. And then she pointed at Jarvis and she said, Jarvis. And then I said, that's it. That's the name. And then I just had to do a little cell job on my wife because it's got to be unanimous, obviously, because she has veto power as I do. And I started calling the fetus jarvis like and then it grew on her and all of a sudden it became it was branded jarvis like it

couldn't be another that's a very unique name too i don't think you're gonna end up with a lot of jarvis's no it's like jarvis cocker from pulp common people jarvis church which is a fake name though which is a fake name uh gerald gerald canadian artist i forget his name changed his name to jarvis church that's why i forget his first name the only real jarvis i can think of is jarvis caulker uh from uh pulp common people right one of the greatest 90s songs there's probably other jarvis's you won't know until you've you know google it into them or google it yeah you're right though because the pediatrician we have who's like a salty vet at sick kids like seen a million babies said this is his first jarvis oh yeah yeah there you go yeah that's cool so you end up at cp24 in 2009 oh i just did a

little stint there um i made the resume though yeah well i was on the red card it was made my resume because it was really really fun i got to cover the film festival for CP24. And what made it fun was their lives. So every time I was able to be somewhere during the festival, I didn't have to shoot it, edit it and wait for it to air. It meant that we were actually live. And that was so much fun. And I loved covering that. Cool. No, that sounds cool and then are am i gonna am i gonna get a job at the end of this uh somehow resume barb de julio did did she she ended up at 10 10 after she appeared she was here between gigs someone else did someone this this topic came up because greg brady and jeff sammet were guests on this podcast greg brady is in from the brady bunch oh, you know what? That was my first question for him.

Like, what were your parents thinking? Because I did the math on his age. Like they would know the Brady Bunch. And he says they didn't know the Brady Bunch. Well, it was a Captain Morgan Jarvis moment, right? Except this is much worse. Is that Greg? Wait, Greg Brady.

That's the name. It'd be like if I named my son Daniel. That's the kind of thing. But yeah, the Greg Brady. So Greg Brady and Jeff Samet, they were here. And then they're part of the Rogers Media cuts that occurred over the last few weeks okay they cut 200 people including greg brady and jeff sammet so i got a couple of people at least who are writing me like comments like that that chair you're sitting in right now is like the pink slip chair okay so

then i get i started wondering so i go down my list and i start you know it's probably helped more people than it's hurt okay and because your industry across the board is shrinking, it only makes sense. Like if I have 150 media people, yeah, some of them are going to be cut because every, I mean, Rogers did it. Bell did it. Did you know CHCH did it? They did it. They did it. Exactly. So nobody's safe is what you're saying. So let's talk about this CHCH situation. People are very curious. Firstly, you end up there in 2011. Yeah. And you liked it there?

Yeah. Yeah. I really liked the show Square Up. It's one of the only shows I'm aware of in Canada that allows us, or at least that I've seen, that allows us to have like a debate, good healthy debate over front page issues. And we're not being censored. You know, Mark and I had our opinions. And also when we have guests on, the whole idea is we want to challenge both sides of the story. So not just having the one person on to pitch how great something is. I'm sure there's someone out there who disagrees. And let's, you know, poke around a bit. Cause it's good to have debate. And in 2011, like, I don't know, November, is that, was it around November? Okay. So surprise, surprise, surprise. And I think

this gets very technical because there's like a, uh, channel zero company, like some Channel Zero company that declares... Channel Zero owns Channel 11. Right. Channel Zero is a mother company. Mother company. Yeah, so they own... Did they declare bankruptcy? No.

No. No. So they... I don't know how it's structured on paper, but that's... It's a bit of a shell game, by the way. That's where it makes a difference, right? structured on paper, but that's... It's a bit of a shell game, by the way. That's where it makes a difference, right? So they had certain assets and liabilities in Channel 11 that are separate from Channel Zero, which also owns and does some other things. So Channel 11 is what declared bankruptcy.

And who paid you? Like when you get payroll, when you got paid by CHC? Channel 11. Channel 11. Yeah. So Channel 11 declares bankruptcy yeah and as a result there's some rule somewhere that allows them to basically let everyone go without seven yeah yeah because when you declare bankruptcy you literally uh no no money leaves or moves after that it's like you're frozen and then the the uh whatever the they're called the people come in and they sort of take over creditors and well no there there's a name for the agent that comes in and they start to take over and apparently i wasn't there but the day the news was presented oh you weren't there that day i wasn't there i laughed so you could not have been in the wrong room ah yeah no that

was a great story mark told me about that when I called him later. I was like, what's going on? What's going on? He told me a story. I laughed. I felt bad, but I laughed. I'm like, Mark, that's the funniest story I've ever heard where you were in the wrong room. You were supposed to be in the room where you were fired

and not getting another job. So if anyone wants to hear it, he tells it on episode 150, 150. It's very funny. Which is actually the David Schultz episode, but Mark Hebbshire drops in like an hour, 40 minutes into it and tells the story about being in the wrong room but this is what i don't like okay so you're a company and you declare bankruptcy which means you can lay fire everyone no severance

okay and then you can have create a new numbered company that can offer those same a bunch of them not all of them but some of the people you just fired you could say hey come back no union yeah maybe even lower salary whatever but here's been a union busting it was a union busting move it sounds it smells it smells to me yeah and the their the union was in negotiations with management and i don't think they had anything resolved and the station lots its credit the lpif which is what all the Canadian broadcasters lost, which was a million dollars or so that is provided for your local programming. So CH also lost it. And I think that it was a huge hit. And there was no way for them to create a profitable organization, especially when you're dealing with a union, which, you know, unions

don't say, how can we help make this work? They just say, we're going to take what we've got in more. Thanks. Cause that's what we do. So, but what would, my question is what would stop other companies from busting unions this way? Like it seems like, cause, cause if you're, if you've got no severance, right. And you say, here's a job, it's not even the same money, not the same, but you can take it or leave it. Why? Of course you'll take it, because even if you're going to look for a better gig, you're better to look for the gig with the gig

than to have nothing. I know someone who just got laid off with Sunquest, and she got severance. And so now she's got the time, you know, quotation marks, to figure out what she's going to do. I mean, that's all anybody needs. There are people who were devastated, uh, by this. Now I'll tell you there, it's not a huge surprise to me that this happened. The television industry has been turned on its end. It's been years. It's not

overnight. Uh, it's harder and harder literally every day, I think, for TV broadcasters to make money. And anybody who's in the industry, like any industry, you have to be aware of what's going on in your business. Don't ever assume that you're going to have a job for life. If you're in a union, don't ever assume you're going to have a job for life like that. You can't rest on your laurels. going to have a job for life like that. You can't rest on your laurels. You have to pay attention and when, and, and have not a plan B, but if you realize your industry shrinking, as Monica Schneer said in an interview on our show today, you want to leave the party when the party's doing, when you're having a good time, you want to leave people wanting more. Don't wait till your position gets eliminated till your industry, your company goes bankrupt.

till your position gets eliminated, till your industry, your company goes bankrupt. Why are you waiting for that? Be proactive. Figure out how you can move your skills to something that is growing. But yeah, fair. No, that's great. That's how I look at it, Mike.

So you must have been disappointed. There must have been maybe disappointment. Of course, there must have been a moment, like even though you can say you're not shocked by this because of the landscape and stuff, one day all of a sudden they're like, you don't work here anymore. Nobody wants to be rejected. I didn't want to feel like, what?

You can live without me? What? And I honestly didn't take it personally. Well, you can't take this personally. No, a lot of people took it personally. A lot of people took it really personally. And this isn't my first rodeo. You know, I've been laid off three times in my life.

Two successful layoffs, I might say. With severance? Yeah. Layoffs can be terrific. They can be fantastic, especially if you were looking to make a move. They're fantastic. I'm also not a young person living on my own, paycheck to paycheck. I'm older. I'm married. Um, you know, I have more resources and you're married to Kanye West. I'm married Kanye, but he's bankrupt now. So because I've been laid off for really deep trouble. He mentioned that in his tweets, the CHCH bankruptcy. I'm sorry. So I, yeah, I, I'm not angry the way other people are angry about this. I think it sucks.

Obviously, they figured out a way legally to do what they did. I'm still investigating, Liz. I don't think this is as legal as you think it is. No. To me, it sounds like... It doesn't pass the smell test. To me, and I don't know, I'm not a lawyer, but you can't say,

okay, guys, we're bankrupt, so we don't have to pay severance. You don't have a job anymore. Here's another piece of paper. It's your same function. I'm going to say, let's say, I'm going to say, less money, no union. Hey, take it or leave it. Because you have no severance, there's no incentive to say no to the new offer. I would say yes.

Because you can always look for another gig while you're making less and having no union. And it might be an example. It might be a message that unions are not always necessary, you know, or counterproductive. I don't know what the negotiations were like, and I'm not going to union bash. But what I don't know is why they couldn't get an agreement in place. And you, I just think we're in a strange time. You know, there has to be a more openness for success overall, or people lose their jobs and that sucks for everybody. That does suck. But out of the, I'm going to use my Phoenix analogy again because I used it already and I liked it. uh so this is the ashes square off which is not squared off it's so square off is murdered but somehow it's resurrected like uh in a modern podcast form i'm really fortunate to work with mark hebscher uh and i say that

i i say that now i didn't always say that wait no tell me because he's been on here three times so i feel like like Mark's friend. I don't know if he feels the same way. And I also guessed Liz West did. He loves you. Yeah, you were my pumps on the show. So Mark is a smart guy and he said to me

really short, just right after Christmas, Liz, you know what? Let's take our show and let's make a podcast instead. And I said, what? No, I knew what a podcast was. Of course you did. But I was like, you know what? Let's take our show and let's make a podcast instead. And I said, pod what? No, I knew what a podcast was. But I was like, you know, it makes sense. We have a show. We know the format. We're both have been doing this long enough that we understand how to make it. And we had some connections, you know, Humble and Fred have a successful, they're the pod fathers. This is what I need to educate you on, which is that...

Were you on before them? No, no, no, no. I'd feel bad if I didn't know that. This show was not on before them. But ask them. They don't have a show without me, is what I'm saying. I'm not saying... They're the content.

This is not... They're the kings. They're Humble and Fred. Right. They're the kings of content. They have a great show. But when they had these ideas to do podcasts... Yes.

They phoned me up. I go out for lunch with them. Yes. And have a great show. But when they had these ideas to do podcasts, they phoned me up. I go out for lunch with them and I blueprint this all. And we ended up using my blueprint that basically made their audio, their content. So they create the content. I'm the backend digital guy that puts Humble and Fred podcast together. Are you? I didn't know that. I know. I'm educating you now because I'm hearing you say that, that they're the real podcast. They're doing an amazing thing. They're the talent that people will remember

because they listen to them. They're the name brands. They're the content. I can be the greatest podcast, XML, get on iTunes guy with great audio. There is. Without good content, there's nothing. Content is everything.

But if a tree falls in the forest and no one's there to hear it it didn't make a sound so there has to be kind of a marriage there absolutely so their blueprint uh it's my handiwork and to this day if uh in fact fred called me last week because some my sql table was damaged and and had to be fixed or something and it's like okay they give me a call and i fix it up like i I make sure people can hear Humble and Fred to this day. That studio,

yeah, I was there the first two weeks they were on the air, so to speak, because the air was the podcast at the beginning. I was in there every day for the live shows.

Really? True story. And before they had a podcast, they used to do these periodic podcasts. Yes, I remember. Dan Duran's house was a Christmas special in like 2006.

I remember that too. I was in the room for that. And I'm the guy who did the back end work for that too. Really? So you're a back ender. I'm the back ender. Thank you. Yes, I'm the ass man.

I'm the ass man. No, Humble Fred and Howard made a very controversial speech at my wedding. So there you go. And alienated the entire side of the room that belonged to my wife. Why would you even consider letting him speak? No, he wasn't on the list. Oh, okay. His girlfriend at the time urged him to grab the mic and say something,

and he had some vino in there. He made his speech. Was not on the list, which this is all fine, except that's how tight I am with these goons. Well, the goons are friends of Mark's. I know them as well through Dan. And Mark, they were kind enough to let us use their facilities. The Humble and Fred studio, which is close to here. Yeah, it's right around the corner, which is nice. So we've been using their studio.

The wonderful Phil Hong is their engineer. And he joins us on our show. He jumps in. He's held our hand through the early stages. And so Mark was smart. He said, let's just put our show on a podcast or in a podcast. What's the right term? In or on a podcast. Basically, the podcast part of the audio is being able to subscribe to it. Like there is a subscription component to your show, Square Off. Right. People can subscribe. And then depending how they subscribe or if they're using iTunes or if they're using Podcatcher or whatever, when you release a new episode, it comes to them. It's like syndication. It's amazing.

They subscribe to you. I subscribed to my own show. So it comes to me. I love it. It comes to you. You should subscribe to this show. Come on. I'm disappointed. I will. Believe me, I am knee deep in doing things like that right now. In subscriptions. Yeah. So that's what we've been doing. How many new episodes a week? We do five. Okay. So do they come out one every day? One every day, five days a week. And we took the square off format where we cover interesting topics and we, I'd say we just embellished it. We've made it a little bit more fun.

It's looser. You'll find out more about Mark and Liz. We talk more about ourselves personally and we can, it's conversational. We have usually a guest on, we do different segments. ourselves personally and we can it's it's conversational we have usually a guest on we do different segments we talk to people like monica schneier who we had on today and we find out what's life life like after you've done something kind of incredible like been crowned supermodel of the world at 14 like what happens you know if i may it sounds like you've taken square off and it's morphing into toronto mic'd a little bit here you got come on you're having

monica schneier on to talk to her about her career. You know, she's my guest next week. Is she really? No. Oh. I'm just kidding. You could have her on. She's wonderful.

She's really great. I remember when she was like, whatever she was, a 14-year-old supermodel. Yeah, she was like, wow, the biggest name out of Canada in modeling at the time. And so, but we do fun segments. We do Name That T tune, as you know. And we talk about sort of things that people find interesting and we find interesting. And we have fun with it. So if somebody is listening now and wants to unsubscribe from Toronto Mic'd and subscribe

to Square Off, where do they go? Well, first of all, they must never do that. Never leave Toronto Mic'd. First, the dollar you ask via my Patreon. At least, maybe five. Yeah, I like that idea. It's Square Off. Square Off.

Square Off is the name of the show. You'll find it on iTunes. Square Off Unplugged, but you don't have to put in Unplugged. We said Unplugged because when we unplugged from the television, we plugged into the podcast. I was going to say, it's impossible to do a podcast without electricity. I know, but we unplugged from television. So, Square Off on iTunes.

You can also go to our website, www.square-off.ca and you can download an episode, take it for a test drive. You'll notice our little Patreon button as well. There's photos. There's information about the host. So, we're trying to make

it more interactive too you can leave comments tell us you loved it or it sucked some people like to tell us when it sucks is that true who would yeah have you got some there was a comment on itunes which said that i talked about myself all the time can i ignore the comments on itunes stop reading right now even i have even this harmless little mic in his basement thing has, somebody will say, somebody called it inane chatter. Like, why don't you just not listen instead of going on iTunes and saying it's inane chatter? What's inane about this chatter? Well, if it wasn't inane, they'd, you know, pick the opposite. It's like, if I talk too much about myself, the next, she never talks about herself, you know? So you're right. You're right. It's like reading

YouTube comments. Just stop reading the comments on iTunes. Trust me. The podfather is telling you. The podfather. I clearly have to thank you more for your back ending. No, listen. In fact, I taught Phil what he knows. Did you? Oh.

He knows a lot. So thank you for that. Yeah, no, it's a really interesting world, the podcast. You know, a lot of people have been very supportive and sort of the first thing they say is well this is kind of the wave of the future as as fewer people uh keep their cable fewer people actually ever get cable uh i love television but it's a shrinking industry and i want to be a part of something that's growing there's some kind of an android box this is unrelated but i was reading about this android box that uh allows you to basically stream tv without cable really and it's apparently this is like a mainstream

media write-up about the box like it was very legitimate it might have been the trump star even i'm trying to remember where i read i want to get me one of those yeah it's some it's like an apple it's like apple tv but it's the android os because it's you know people can actually manipulate it and you know it's not owned by apple so anyway there's something i can't remember the name but there's something out there now where people can watch tv like on demand without commercials without cable really yeah and it's not even like they're talking about like well this can't be legal apparently it's really gray in the sense that it's it might not even be capturing capturing information it's, it's something.

I wish I had next time. The thing is, you've got to be careful because people that make the TV shows need to get paid. So when stuff like that happens and they're not getting paid for the great television shows you love, then those shows will stop being made. That's true.

So people still need to subscribe to HBO. You have to pay. If you like something, it's worth paying for. Because then you know more will be made. How to square off. Okay, other than the Patreon. Let's say Patreon isn't sufficient. Like, is this, what is the monetization?

The $4 a month that we're getting? You don't think that's enough? I happen to know a little bit about Patreon. It's $16 a month. But I will tell you, your greatest advantage is that you're Mark Hebbshire and Liz West and not some nobody in his basement. This is your big...

And we're new and noteworthy on iTunes under News and Politics. But everyone gets that. Everyone gets new and noteworthy. Don't crush me. No, I need to give you... Do you mind? Please don't crush me. Everyone gets that.

But how long? We get it for a while. How long? It's almost impossible not to get the new and noteworthy. I had it for a while. I don't know. Well, how long? I the new noteworthy uh i had it for i don't know well how long i don't know i can't remember how long but you get it for all the podcasts not everybody can be on that yeah because you're looking at the canadian you're looking at the canadian uh algorithm right so out of all of canada there's eight yeah so it's easy to get be that one of those eight

i don't think it's i shouldn't have said easy, except that I figure if I got it, it can't be that hard. Yeah. Don't underestimate yourself. I'm not Mark Hebster. Undervalue yourself. But I want to say that monetization. So, okay. So I guess I'm,

cause I'm, I'm naturally curious. Yeah. Is this, um, advertisers will come to you? Like for example, like Pizza Nova,

I'm just making up names, but Pizza Nova will advertise on Square Off. Yeah. We're looking at, uh, a Pizza Nova will advertise on Square Off. Yeah. We're looking at a funeral parlor right now being our advertiser. Is that right? We're debating. That's cool. We actually asked our listeners how they'd feel about that, you know.

They'll be fine with it because they want somebody to support the content. If they just want the content, they'll be okay. I guess, yeah. But Mark's very particular. He said, you know, he said, Ashley Madison, we're never going to, never going to have Ashley Madison as our sponsor. I said,

I don't know. Well, it depends. Can we talk about that first? If the check clears, we can make accommodations. Can we talk about that? I guess the biggest challenge,

and you would know more about this than me, is, you know, making a living. Well, that's it. I've never even considered it. Making a living. Yeah.

Because I figure, you just strictly, I'm so far from being able to make a living's it. I've never even considered it. Making a living, yeah. Because I figure... You just strictly for pleasure. I'm so far from being able to make a living off this. I'm so far. And even at this point, I got Hazel May coming in next and I got Ron McLean coming in

and I have Maestro Fresh West coming in. Nice. So I figure I'm already kind of where I wanted it to be. Right. And I'm so far... Turns into your own personal satisfaction. Forget... I have four kids. I'm already kind of where I wanted it to be. Right. And I'm so far like forget, you know,

I have four kids. Like I'm not even close to quitting my day job, but it's not even in my head as an option. So I can't, I can't imagine. And I know Humble and Fred are making a go of it. And they're really relying on the fact that they are Humble and Fred. Like this is a name brand show for 25 years.

And they're on Sirius too. That's right. They're on Sirius too. So, yeah. So yeah. So the different ways of making it are, you know, sponsors, obvious ones,

maybe not obvious ones, the Patreon, and just building it like a business. But we are learning. We are still learning and we're still looking. And you'll go for a while on your enthusiasm, right? Like,

because I saw that Alan Cross and Michael Hainsworth, they had a popular podcast. Yeah. And at some point they realized two things. One, it's a lot of work. And two, it's not very lucrative. And one plus two equaled end of podcast. And I was-

They don't do it anymore? They don't do it anymore. They killed it. So I just want to make sure, what I want to make sure is when you realize A, it's a lot of work, because it's usually five episodes, and B, it's not very lucrative in that you can't, you know. Don't crush my spirit, though. But I'm here.

My point is, I hope that you continue, like, do it for love of the content, like, for love of the game. Yes. Otherwise, I fear. And consider that funeral parlor. Don't even hesitate. Don't even hesitate. Sign them up. Yeah, sign them up. Well, we'll have you consider that funeral parlor. Don't even hesitate. Don't even hesitate. Sign them up. Yeah, sign them up.

Well, we'll have you in when we do that. This beer here, speaking of funeral parlors, because I don't have a funeral parlor, but this place, Great Lakes Brewery, is fantastic. And this beer is fantastic. And all of this right here is going home with you. Really? Yeah. Wow, thank you.

This is one of the biggest bottles of beer I may have ever seen. This is a wine bottle of beer. It is a winter ale. It's their winter ale, and people seem to like it. So the beer is in there, and that's the winter ale. Thank you. Seriously? Thank you very much.

Can you imagine this was a lie, and then we stopped recording, and I tell you that's not really your beer. Thank you to Troy Birch, the community manager for Great Lakes Beer. Thank you. Oh, no. I love it. Yeah. not really your beer. Thank you to Troy Birch, the community manager for Great Lakes Beer. Thank you. Oh, no. Now he's... Is it bad that I mentioned his name? No, it's not bad. We've never mentioned his name because it's just Great Lakes Brewery. But it's great beer

and they're at like... Where are they? Queensway and Royal York area. And they're just... People love them. Yeah. Well, I do enjoy beer. So I'm going to enjoy this. Thank you so much for having me and for giving me a parting gift. Do we have time for two more quick unrelated to Square Office stuff? Two more quick questions? Sure.

Good. Go ahead. Okay. I'm just so relieved that I've answered all the questions. Was it tough? Correctly. It wasn't that tough, right? Brian Linehan, in 1976, there's a photo of you and you were he was an

inspiration of mine honestly he's the best yeah it's exactly what i'm doing so you were doing uh with st michael's hospital you were i saw a video of you talking about voice disorders oh yeah all right so so you had a issue right where your voice left you i had a vocal note just like uh adele and a bunch of performers have had this recently. It was funny. It all happened around the same time I did. So I felt like I was a very good company. But I got a vocal node, which happens to people when they talk a lot, and they push their voice. So I went on, I was the subject of a show called, it was like a reality show called Big Voice. Elaine Overholt is a big name vocal coach. And the premise of the show was women. It was for

women and it was women that wanted to sing or, or did sing and wanted to do, and never done what they wanted to do. And the whole thing is you take it through, they'd be coached by Elaine. And then at the end, you get this great performance that was the show you know sort of like a uh see how they see how the person starts and then they end with ta-da they've had all this happen to them they've been transformed they're a great singer or they're not a great singer so i get to i got to go on that show i was excited because i all i've always been interested in singing i did not pursue it and uh so they liked that story and i also had a, I was a mom and I was an entertainment reporter. They just liked all that. So during the show, I really started to get a very

raspy voice. I've always had a raspy voice, got really bad. So she took me to an ear, nose and throat specialist at St. Mike's Hospital, one of the best, Dr. Anderson. And they do this horrible thing where they stick a camera down your throat to look at your vocal note, your vocal cords. And there was a node, which really sucked. And long story short is it did not go away. It got worse. And I had to have it removed. And when you have it removed, after you cannot speak for five weeks at all. Not even, but you can whisper. No, nothing. You can't say anything.

Five weeks. For five weeks. Wow. I don't. It's really tough to do five hours. It is crazy. It is crazy. I remember waking up in the middle of the night thinking I had spoken.

I had, I'm like, oh my God, I've spoken in my head. I think I've said, but what I, I'm like, Oh my God, I've spoken in my head. But what I, I was like psyching myself out. I was maybe talking in my dream and I was just panicked that I was going to speak without knowing, you know, without, you got to be aware of it all the time. Really aware. And I had a little sign around my neck with a little card because every time I'd run into someone, they'd think, why is she not talking to me? Why is she just smiling? So my little card said, I just had vocal surgery. I can't talk.

Sorry. And I would just flash that at people because it's very strange walking through your world, only smiling and waving and shrugging your shoulders when you have to say, I don't know. Yeah. And you're texting your husband. That's weird. It's weird. A lot of texting.

So yeah. And he's right beside you. I had to take time off work. And yeah, so it was crummy. And through rehab, you have to learn how to use your voice differently. Be careful. So this voice here is your... Fixed voice. Fixed voice.

It's fixed. Not that I'm unsure anymore. I was going to say, if you're asking... No, it's fixed. It's great. And is that why, like, what's's her name who's the uh this is terrible who's the actress from the new spider-man uh emma stone yeah okay she might yeah i hear people like that sometimes and i have to i'll make a joke like oh it sounds like a heavy smoker like whiskey and

smoke jokes but some people just naturally have that raspy is it possible they have note issues yeah yeah it is possible because i mean there... But the only negative thing about the node issues is that you lose your voice, right? You can't... Yeah, it's really hard to talk. Like, there's no health danger beyond that. No, no, no. Although they do test the nodes just to make sure.

The word node scares me because they always relate it to, like, cancer and things. Yeah, yeah. No, exactly. Exactly. Which... So, for two reasons. You want to remove it to check them and also because...

Would it make my voice deeper if I had nodes? What if I have nodes put in? This makes your voice deeper. Actually, there's a filter on the audacity here to do that, but I feel it's cheating. But if Kanye could do auto-tune... You don't like your voice. Your voice reminds me of someone else. I actually very much hated my voice forever.

As a kid? Forever. As a kid, yeah, as an adult. And then when I started this podcast, I would listen to each episode after just to hear like, why did I say um a thousand times? Or why don't I enunciate? All that stuff. Yes.

And I got better, I think, by listening. But then after like the 200th hour of hearing my voice, I was like used to it. Totally. Because, you know, 200 hours. That's all it is. That's all it is. I to it because you know 200 hours that's all it is that's all i used i couldn't handle two minutes before now all it is it's it's being familiar with the sound either when you're on camera when people freak out when they see themselves on video like oh my god it's just you watch enough of yourself and it's fine yeah that's it yeah that's right if you same with listening to your voice because uh in fact well who was it the last

episode yeah so the last episode i Yeah. So the last episode, I had a guy here who's an audio guy, Rob Johnston. He worked at Chorus for 26 years or something. Well, he worked at a state. Anyways, Chorus bought it somewhere in that stretch.

Anyway, it gets very confusing. Who buys what? But he was telling me all about like, you know, how we sound, we all sound different, you know,

in our own head. We're skull and we hear ourselves. Cause I sound okay in my head. It's then hear it anyway and i know it's fine it always sounds higher it always sounds higher outside of your head right right it's true but you mentioned i remind you of somebody you do and i can't barry white no not barry white kanye west no i'll take it no i can't you just just do. Drizzy? No. You remind me of the guy from MTV who I did that first infomercial with.

I've decided that's Loader, Mr. Loader. All right. So that's fascinating that you had nodes taken out. And if you have them in a jar somewhere, you can stick them in. I want that raspy voice. I sound best when I have a little cold. Do you? Yeah.

Really? It's a little deeper when you have a cold, right? It's like a little raspier. It's a little cooler, you know? It's just better. No, but your voice is perfect the way it is. Don't you think? Yeah, because I'm going to edit that out and play it on a continuous loop.

Your voice is perfect. Your voice is perfect. Last question. Last question. Because this is Toronto Mic'd, so of course we cover city politics. Oh, okay, great. So this is a quick question. Yeah.

We do in-depth political analysis. So there's a riding, what the riding? It's the Paula Fletcher riding, that's what I call it, okay? Yes. And in 2010, and, was it 2015? When was the next one? 2014, I think.

2014, okay. So you ran against Paula Fletcher. So what's interesting is that in 2010 you only lost by 259 votes i know john norris by the way john norris from mtv not look at him look at him you look like him too i do is he good looking him yeah i tricked you i tricked you he's handsome you just called me handsome google it google it i will but i then i'll accidentally uh delete this recording if i go on that machine don't't do it now. I won't do it now. All right, so yeah, I read against Paul Fletcher in Ward 30. So that's 2010.

You were almost a city councilor. Forget square off with Hebbshire. You'd be at Nathan Phillips Square or whatever. That's true. Wow, that's close. It was really close. And it's hard to beat incumbents. Very difficult in city politics.

It is very hard, and I can attest to that. Always worth it to throw your hat in the ring, though, if anybody's thinking of doing that. I had some people from the community reach out to me and ask me if I'd be willing to run. It was not on my radar. It was not something I had. I did not aspire to be a politician.

They just knew my characteristics of being caring and tenacious. Easy on the eyes. Oh, wow. See, I threw it back at you. I gave you a call and you gave one to me. So, you know, thank you for that. Yeah, well, I think the things that you'd want in a good counselor, and I'm not tooting my own horn. It's just at this age in my life, I know what I'm good at and what I'm not.

I have the qualities. You know, you want someone who's fair and reasonable, who's going to do the research. And I'm not, I don't belong to a party. So I'm not on anybody's bandwagon. I don't, I'm not going to let a particular ideology allow, make my decision for me. I think you have to be open minded. I think it's on a city level too, it should not be about parties because we're dealing with things like potholes and warming shelters and crosswalks and speed limits. I don't think that those

are ideological issues. I don't even know if there was a question there. No, I'm glad you did. I just find that some people in your neighborhood or whatever, they'll know that in your ward. Riding is federal and provincial. So they'll know that in your, what's it called again? Ward. Riding is federal and provincial. Ward.

So they'll know it in your ward, of course. In fact, many of them have voted for you. But a lot of people will not realize Liz West was this close to being a city councillor. I still have people who will stop me on the street and say, I voted for you and I wish you'd won and you were so close. Did you keep any of the signs? Like you got any of the signs? I think I made in the back of my garage. Would you ever consider running again? It's not on my... What if I kick Paula Fletcher in the shins? Yeah, no, you know, it's a lot of work, Mike. It's a lot of work. I gave up a lot to run and it's not, it's kind of thankless in many ways.

I've met everybody. I'll never say never, but, you know, right now I'm going to focus on my little podcast. And Never Say Never is a Justin Bieber track. Is it?

Yeah. Seriously? I got a daughter who's... I think you're a believer. No. You're a believer. My daughter is, she's 12 now.

What is she? 11 or 12? She's almost 12. And that's how I know my Justin Bieber. That's my excuse. That's what I tell people. I took my son to see the Justin Bieber movie when he was about six years old. I cried during that movie. James Duthie cried during that movie. Big revelation. Yeah. I'll tell you. You're in good company. It's a great movie. Yep. It's a great movie. A lot of people cry. My brother Steve cried during that Justin Bieber movie. I want the world to know.

It's amazing. It's amazing. Go see the movie, Mike. Go see the movie, which is actually... Take your daughter. Yeah. Take your daughter. I'm going to take her to the sequel, the new Justin Bieber one with more tattoos, more ink. By the way, Hepsy, quick note on Hepsy is that he actually told me he's going to rename your podcast,

This Hour Has Hepsy. I'm going to cut Liz West out of the me he's going to rename your podcast. This hour has Hepsy. I'm going to cut Liz West out of the title completely. I just want you to know. All right. Watch him. Thank you for letting me know. For warned is for armed. And that brings us to the end of our 160th show.

You can follow me on Twitter at Toronto Mike and Liz is at Ms. Liz. Ms. Liz West. Nice job. Ms. by the way is MZ. No, it's not. It's MS. MS. That's right.

Don't follow that MZ, Liz West, because she is not nice. That's Moses Snymer. That's right. Who, when I ran in High Park for a year, I would always see him walking in High Park. Yeah. See? Full circle. That's my Moses story.

See you all next week.