Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Major Announcement: The Many Comebacks of Mike Richards: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1691

Episode Date: May 12, 2025

In this 1691st episode of Toronto Mike'd, a Mikeumenary, Mike revisits the many comebacks of Mike Richards. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball, Yes We Are Open, Nick Ainis and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

It's too I know mine. It's too I know mine. It's too I know mine. It's too I know mine. It's too I know mine. It's too I know mine. It's too I know mine. Hey, Mike Richards here. I know it's been a long time. Trust me, it sucked for me too. But I've been busy.

I've been working on something that I've kind of thought about for the last probably two or three years. To make sure that this time I do the right thing. I've been working on something that I've kind of thought about for the last probably two or three years to make sure that this time I do the right thing and I think I have. No more corporate bullshit, no more assholes, no more people getting in the way and quite frankly working for people who just don't know what they're doing. So I've created rawmikerichards.com. I'm telling you, it's raw, it's in depth,

it's the big names that you want to see. And this time, it's completely accessible. It couldn't be easier. I'm going to be on your phone, I'm going to be on your computer, and I'm going to be in your car. Stuff that I'm doing this time around, I've never done before.

And when you see the kind of website that rawmikerichards.com is going to be, you're going to flip. Over the next couple of months, there'll be a series of teasers that are going to go out just to give you an idea of what you can expect from rawmikerichards.com. Once again, straight ahead, in depth, no more bullshit. At this point, it's basically tradition. You see the name Mike Richards in the Toronto Mic'd feed and you know

what's coming. Mike is back again and he's got an announcement. From health scares to podcasting pivots to AM radio resurrections, Mike Richards has turned appearing on this show into a kind of spiritual rite, and we love him for it. This micumentary isn't just a look at one of the most recognizable voices in Canadian sports radio. It's a guided tour through the many forms that voice has taken. But mostly, it's a tribute to the many lives of the raw one himself, each one marked by a bold new venture.

It hasn't always worked out for Mike, but he keeps going because he believes in his voice and the power of the medium. It's also a look into the harsh reality of the Canadian media landscape, a reality that's driven many well-known names out of the industry. When Mike made that announcement that you heard off the top, in episode 219 of Toronto Miked, from February 2017, it was shortly after being let go after a five-year run at TSN Radio 1050, where he hosted the morning show until being moved to 1pm for the final six months of the gig.

The initial incarnation of the Raw Mike Richards Show was a grand concept. A video podcast, a custom app, guests from all walks of life, with a focus on sports. Here's more of Mike from episode 219 explaining how he envisioned the show unfolding. I'm gonna have the choice of three studios. They're all state-of-the-art. I can tell you that one of them is a rooftop one. So in the summertime when you're sitting back and you got Joe Montana, and because it's the internet and I'm broadcasting after 11 o'clock, you don't think? I'm not, by the way, Joe, just hold on.

Did you ever sleep with Fairfosset? When it gets into that kind of stuff, right on the Toronto skyline in the background. I also have the capability when I want of shooting in 360 virtual reality. Wow. Yeah, how about that? I don't even know what to say about that. It sounds cool, man. Yeah, one of them, another studio,

is actually glassed in in a working bar. I can have bar shows. You'd be like a fish in an aquarium. People come and feed you. So there is, as I said, the element of it is the camera work. So it's a three shot, I can tell you that right now, which means for those listening, so I can be talking. There's the other guy, the co-host I'm talking to. Then, you know, Doug Gilmore comes in, then goes back to the three shot. So it has to compete at the highest of levels. Because remember, what I'm going after isn't just here in the GTA.

It's globally. It's the web. So it's got to look good here, and it's got to look good in San Diego, or Boston, or Chicago, or London. How deep is the sports going to go? It sounds like it's going to be a sort of a, I don't know, how much called it? You know, remember Mojo Radio? of it's men's you're targeting men

yeah so the backbone of it is sports like the shows always are right but when there's someone cool in town then I'm gonna have them on for instance you know times where I had like we just Philbin on when I had Martin Short when I had Andrea Martin you know I think of any of those guys that are just a little bit outside. If Anthony Bourdain is in town, I'm going to expect him to be on my show and he'll be a fantastic guest. So in that way, in terms of its guesting, it will be, you know, well Stern will have the popular person on of the day. So it could be Gwen Stefani or it could be Darrell Strawberry. So it's going to be a little more like that. I'm not going hardcore sports because I never have. the popular person on of the day. So it could be Gwen Stefani or it could be Darryl Strawberry. So it's going to be a little more like that.

I'm not going hardcore sports because I never have. A big idea, but big ideas don't always lead to big execution. And after 18 months of trying to make it work, Mike realized he'd need to try something else. The terrestrial airwaves were Mike's first love, and that's where he wanted to be. He returned to Toronto Mike in November 2018, episode 395 to make his second big announcement.

Do you think now is the time like do you think we've made the Richards Army wait long enough? Okay, so I don't have a drum roll because that's kind of cheesy, but I am now gonna learn for the first time what's next for Mike Richards. Well, as many might know for the last 18 months have done Raw Mike Richards on 234 King Street out of the Pacific Junction Hotel. It was a one hour webcast. It was a, it was a more or less, uh, I mean, obviously consumed as a podcast, but I was told people watch the show and the most we ever got up to

probably was about, we averaged towards the end, about 10,000 views a week. So 40,000. Yeah. And now that's just views. That's just YouTube. That's not the podcast numbers. That's a big number.

That's I thought it was decent, but boy, when you told me, you know, I had all these ideas, yo, you whole mic, you won't believe what I'm a big number. I thought it was decent, but boy, when you told me, you know, I had all these ideas, yo, Mike, you won't believe what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna have this big studio and I'm gonna have all these sponsors and helicopters will be dropping like Taylor Swift in and you'll be rolling. None of that happened. Drake was gonna drop by. Drake was gonna get Drake. Did Drake drop by? No, but I've been by the Drake. I've seen the location.

You had brunch there. Yeah, I mean it is hard. Talking to Howard Glassman about it. And Humble and I are talking, he goes, holy shit, now you see what the universe is. He goes, it's hard to answer. Has Drake done their show yet? Yeah, yeah, well, Drake, okay, we'll get to another.

I should tell people though, Drake is on Toronto Mic next week, so stay tuned. Oh, is he? Okay, no, no. No, the guy who works at the Drake, I'm sorry. One of the waiters. What do you work for Bell? Lobby, lobbying, so that was real hard. And so in the meantime, in talking with guys like Scott Moore,

I just thought, well, I want to insinuate myself back into a company that I have at least a resume with and they understand what the reputation and they know what I want to do. So I thought for sure it was me Roger Sportsnet. I was convinced. And so therefore I was sending out portions like about a half hour, 15 depending on it.

So Calgary, the fan nine 60 has been playing raw Mike Richards on the air. So if the Calgarians are listening, I certainly give it a shot. So that was like six months of this, but unfortunately it just isn't moving. When Scott stepped down, I have no idea who's coming in, you know, Rick Brace is still gonna be there, but the reality is after being out of mainstream radio for almost two years, and the morning show, the morning slot for three, which is just shocking, I had to make a decision and a choice.

I'm excited. Can I just tell you this is the I don't this is amazing, like I'm on pins and needles here for what's coming. Well, here's the weird part. As I'm dealing with Rogers and Calgary, Mike Bullard, who I don't know, starts to give me these private messages, the direct messages on Twitter said, Hey I don't know, starts to give me these private messages, the direct messages on Twitter and said, hey buddy, you know, you got a, you know, there's something coming that you might be interested in. Now, I don't know what he's talking about and here's the other thing too. Mike Bullard and I would know each other to walk by in the street and say hi,

but I don't know him at all and I hadn't known him at all. So eventually I get this call from this, he's turned out that he's a blind man, he's blind. I don't know if that's a thing. And he starts to say, I have a radio license and this family has owned it for eight years and now Elliot Kerr, the owner of the OHL, Mississauga Steelhead says, you know what, I'd do anything to get you here. So upon going back and forth, officially I can say that Raw Mike Richards, in keeping that name, and with David Bastle, are the new morning show in probably around the 21st of November on News Talk Saga 960. Saga 960. There we go. Radio radio return. So this is a 960, is that the frequency? Yes. And you'll be live, what is it like 7 to 9? 6 to 9. 6 to 9. So all

those commuting in. The signal itself is weak because it's relatively small but on the west side of the city, for instance where you are here, it just booms in. When the weather is right you can get it all the way up in Acton or up in Uxbridge, you can get it in Bowmanville, but this is for the commuters. This is for me to be back in your car. So I agreed to it and after talking, because I turned them down about two or three times beforehand because it just sounded too too WKRPS. It just sounded nuts. I've talked a lot about Saga 960 on this show, both with Mike and

other guests such as Barry Davis and Michelle Sturino. It's a small station with a weak signal. The majority of the hosts were working for no salary and getting paid via sponsor dollars. It was not a lucrative deal for Mike, but he did his best to make it work because he believed it was a way back for him. When he returned in May 2019, he had six months of stories to tell about the realities of working at a small station. And of course, with some announcements to make about Saga 960 potentially getting on

the Numeris rating system and the addition of a video streaming platform to the raw Mike Richards show. But I like where we're at, I like where it's going, and so, big announcement, you want me to do it now? Yeah. Okay, so a week before we're about to start this venture, this is during the sadness and booze period of time. So drunk and crying, Phone call from Don Collins. Former program director at the fan.

Not his real name. In Toronto. San Francisco. He's like, what are you doing? Are you still doing your thing? What do you mean? They're all my quitters thing? Well, what I am, but we're going to radio. Oh, even better. He goes, I'm working sort of on behalf of Twitch right now.

Do you know what that is? Gamers use it to watch each other play video games. Oh, even better. He goes, I'm working sort of on behalf of Twitch right now. Do you know what that is? Gamers use it to watch each other play video games. Weirdly, not weirdly, enormously successful. That's putting it mildly. Twitch as an app is so successful, then after it's like a month goes by when they first go on, Amazon goes, okay, enough of that. We'll buy it for a billion dollars. when they first go on. Amazon goes, okay, enough of that.

We'll buy it for a billion dollars, and they do. Wow. Twitch is owned by Amazon. Big boys. So this goes on in e-sports, which is dominant in the world right now. Depending on what age you are, you may not know what I'm talking about.

I think most people probably listening here now do. I would assume they would, they're pretty savvy. So, Twitch has guys like Ninja, I think most people probably listening here now do I would assume they would they're pretty savvy so Twitch has guys like ninja who's like the most watched guy And so you if you want to know how to win at fortnight or whatever the game is right you're watching this guy He makes Two million dollars a month give or take He's a little line of trailers. Well, he is it's like a weird movie

We saw 30 years ago where the rock stars are guys who play out of their basement You know what parents would say? Get outside and now the kid goes dad I make more than you Playing that you can bet on different You can go to bet365, go to eSports, and bet on Snoop Maestro55 playing Sleazy Six. Right.

And they have commentators. Well, you know, here's the thing about Sleepy Six. Last week when he played, he got in the fifth level of Halo. He got in the problem. I'm like, what the... This is that world. So they decide after a while, we need some programming. Like we need someone, we need content.

Yeah. Because right now it's of it. Twitch was extremely popular with the gamers and the younger set. Correct. They're trying now Amazon's put a bunch of money into it. They're trying to attract, I guess guys like you and I, they go to Bubba the love sponge. Now Bubba, people that kind of snicker, but Bubba's a huge name in the States. When Stern has Infinity Broadcasting,

and they're putting on Opie and Anthony and so on, Bubba was one of the guys on there. Bubba's out of Tampa, been like a star for like 40 years. Notorious because Hulk Hogan slept with his wife. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, it's all, and he was real fat, that's why he called himself Bubba the Love Sponge, lost all his weight now.

But he's not a young guy, not a young guy. He'd be older than me. So they go to him and they say, hey, do you wanna do Twitch? And he's like, what is that? They explain to him, he goes, no, not interested. They take Cameron, that dissimilar, worse, like a webcam. Right.

This far from his head. And he goes on and he's not very nice to it. It's like, it's an intruder on his show. Right. He doesn't do that now. He still has maybe not that much better at production, but Twitch gives him in between 20 and $30,000 a month. Wow. Nothing to sneeze at. No, it's not. So they approached Don Collins and say, is there someone in Canada that would,

that would fit kind of the demo and the weirdness and would be not just a radio guy. And he goes, you're the bubble, the love sponge of Canada. So he goes, yeah, I got a guy, I got a guy that I think will work real well. It's taken us a long time to just because of this. So I've been in three studios in three months. So now we're finally in the third one. And with Andrew coming in, I have a normal headset. The microphones are pretty good.

You can hear yourself and you can hear the stuff from the board in your headphones, which is key, as you know, because I'm about to play a song for you in a minute. Phone calls go through. And so the cameras are going in, as probably as we speak, they'll be adjusted tomorrow. And then Monday morning at 6 a.m. Eastern,

I will have the Raw Mike Richards Twitch channel will be up. Buy me a Great Lakes beer one day and I'll tell you about this Twitch... What's that, Lauren? Just call it a thing? Okay. Buy me a Great Lakes beer and I'll tell you about this Twitch thing. That announcement was not the bombshell that we'd become accustomed to hearing from Mike, but it was another step in Mike's journey. Always open to possibilities, always open to utilizing different channels to expand his reach and hopefully get the call back up to the big leagues.

An important thing to remember about Mike Richards is that the whole time he's been visiting Toronto Miked, he's been dealing with the impact of cancer in his life. In his first visit, in January 2016, he revealed to me that he had been diagnosed with rectal cancer. Multiple procedures later, he's cancer-free and managing his health carefully. All he's done is demonstrate over and over again that he's a fighter. When Mike returned in January 2020 for episode 575, he was on the verge of one of his surgeries and he gave the listenership an update on how Twitch was going.

I need to be again more real talk because as you know, maybe you don't know, but I now produce the Humble and Fred show. So I'm now on the inside over there. I was almost there anyways, but now I'm really in there. So when they were last on, which was a couple of months ago, it was kind of a controversial episode. A lot of stuff went, a lot of months ago. It was kind of a controversial episode a lot of stuff went a lot of shit went down in that episode, but we had a very open conversation about twitch so I need to ask you how is that going for you the twitch tv live streaming the

way that I use it now because the audience basically on all levels is so small because it's small it's it's small because I mean I can I think I can tell you because I think they've been stated in public but typical day at humble and Fred is like 188 average of 18 viewers on twitch. Yeah, it depends on how like live I I don't know maybe it's something like that by the end of the day It might be slightly bigger than that, but the way that I use it is to promote segments So it's like promos. So I'll put out promos during the day They can be 60 seconds or they can actually go, well, uh, take that four minutes and 37 seconds, but in comparison, because of the numbers.

So that Neil Peart thing that I did on Twitch, I think like a hundred and some odd people watched the four minutes. And I looked today on YouTube. We still have our YouTube channel. Okay. That's okay. That's key. You're in multiple places.

Yes. So I don't do it very often. It's not like when we did the podcast when we were doing stuff every day. And I don't know, it's a couple of thousand and just going up like every day. If by far the numbers- So then my question is, okay,

and I'm only asking because we're having the same conversations at Humble and Fred, because I think you and Humble and Fred have the same Twitch deal. Yeah. Yes. So, uh, if you got like 18 people on Twitch and you got thousands on YouTube, I guess I wonder like, why not just be YouTube? Is it just because there's no additional effort to be on Twitch.

But yeah, Twitch is don't get me. I love Twitch. Like I think it has changed the way that I even broadcast to be honest. It has changed me. So Twitch wasn't the game changer that Mike hoped it would be, but it was an experiment worth conducting as he looked for ways to grow his audience outside the tiny saga 960. Mike didn't return to Toronto Mike for three and a half years until

August, 2023 in episode 1304. There was a rather large disruption, COVID-19 global pandemic, but let's not talk about that right now. Mike Richards return coincided with his last day of broadcasting on Saga 960, and he had yet another big announcement to share and I get a call from Mike Day and Mark Silver they're with a company called Home Stand Sports that was started by a company they called the Parlay now the Parlay because of all the online gaming started the series of really short videos with

really young kids, basically unknowns, and I saw what they did. I didn't really quite understand it at the time. I'm like, what is this? As I talked to them, first of all, Mark Silver is a very high-end professional. So when you talk about the consortium or consortium that they did for the Olympics, when it's CBC and Rogers and TSN and CTV, so you would have had Pelly and then you would have had Mark Silver. So he's a bit of a shooter. See that's why gold silver that's where he belongs second. Okay easy. I was going somewhere now we're right now now we've turned out a Ron McLean pun and now we're going in another way. So this is the

the pyramid and he's at the top of it. Mike Day was on the digital side at TSN. When they, Belz first started gutting TSN, they went after that level of professional. So all those that were like the top of that field got gutted. So Mark Silver was one of them, Mike Day another. They get together and form this digital company. They go to me and say, would you be the new face of what we're doing now with Homestand Sports? And I said, okay. And they start talking about all the deep details

that they're going to go into when it comes to where you can find it, the digital parts, the social media. Their infrastructure is unbelievable. They team up with Anthem Sports and Entertainment. So I can tell you starting after Labor Day, at some point, Mike Richards, raw Mike Richards will be Canada's sports morning show, 9 a.m. coast to coast on the game plus network.

OK, there's the big announcement. So, OK, I have questions. Okay, so it sounds like I'll say, so I'm just trying to understand the relation between Homestand Sports and Anthem Sports and Entertainment. Are they just business partners? Yes. But they're two separate, two separate entities. Okay, so Homestand Sports is that that's going to handle the recording, the studio. Yes. Okay, so and then it's anthem sports and entertainment owns game plus network And that's where you'll be seen live every weekday morning at 9 a.m Coast to coast so those in Calgary that have been waiting a long time means

Every morning at 7 a.m Your time before you go to work take your remote click it on Game Plus and you can get an hour of the show. It is one hour. It's nine to 10. Okay. One hour, nine, eight. So when we say nine o'clock across, we really mean nine Eastern because this is the center of the universe.

So Dale Cadeau, for example, in Vancouver can watch you live at 6 a.m. his time. That's what it would be. But of course, as we know in this world, and this is why it's different from me, Homestand is concerned almost entirely with what they're building as a digital format. So it's the podcasting, it's where you can watch it, you can watch it on demand, it is the of the, it's what I never had. I never had a team of people before and that's you know with the people at Anthem but mostly with and I'll be honest the the ability and the conversations I've had in the last week with Mark Silver and Mike Day I've not had this kind of relationship and enthusiasm since

I was in Calgary this is the happiest I've been in 15 years. Is it fair to say although you had a home to be on terrestrial radio every single morning, but maybe you didn't get the support you needed at Saga 960? I was self-sufficient. I had to make it work for myself at one point and for Dave Bastel. And that's very difficult. You know, you're a one-man sort of... Yeah, I know what that's like. I mean, it's very difficult, but in that world, I had a... That was very hard for me. I mean, these were four and a half very tough, tough years in that the things that I kept

trying to make work didn't. They didn't. And they also had a lot of dead ends and a lot of stop signs. So for the first time, and I can say that this channel Although it you know game plus network game plus is also seen in the states so when I go on Rod Peterson show who goes on from noon till 2 I Get comments from people in New York City in Dallas in Chicago in Atlanta when I go on there because they've not heard me before and wondered What the hell is this guy and this is sort of where that thought and that's

where Darren Dupont said you get on this thing and this is what home. Okay but I have questions for you Mr. Richards like if this is going to be a national sports radio show it's not television this is television. Okay wait but I part of my ignorance I'm a digital animal as you know I never worked in TV or radio so is this a streamable? Like, is there a website where you can stream this channel? Yes. So cable cutters, could they bring this in or do they have to pay to subscribe or something? No, no, this is the the the the digital existence is through home stand sports

and I believe it would be their app. As I'm looking at all the things they will connect through, as they say, various content consumption channels. So it's accessible. So, you know, it won't be radio where people are gonna be looking for, but it's going to be a huge reach through Canada, US and homestands sports and their network. Yeah.

Okay. So there's firstly, I'm excited for you because it sounds like you're going to get the technical and creative support that you said you had back in Calgary. And it sounds like you can be your best self. Like this is now the next chapter of Mike Richards broadcasting career on the Game Plus Network. This seemed like the big break Mike was waiting for a national platform for raw Mike Seemed like the pieces were falling into place, right? Unfortunately, it was not the break he was looking for. In December 2024, Mike returned to

Toronto Miked on episode 1595 to talk about what happened with Homestand Sports. I think about a year ago you made a major announcement about, and I don't know, Izzy Asper was involved, I don't know what was going on, but like what happened to that? Okay, so that that's a company called, they call themselves Anthem Sports and Entertainment. And so I was dealing with someone there that was on one of their channels that they have called the Game Plus Network. And so I was dealing with someone there that was on one of their channels that they have called the game plus network And so I was working with another company as well called home stand sports. Those were XTSN guys Mark Silver and Mike day and so it all looked like it was coming together

Like really nicely even though no one has ever and still has never heard they're like really nicely, even though no one has ever and still has never heard of the game plus network, right? No one gets it. Right. Like, I mean, you know, it's, it's, if the difficulty in this time because of the decimation of sports media in this country, especially sports radio, but sports media as a whole, which means when you're independent, like I've, I've had to be out of necessity for the last five to almost seven years, I would say, right. That you have to find dance partners. And in this world,

that's not a good place to be. I, I've not enjoyed this ride. It's like being the pretty girl at a, I don't know, a dance for Marines when they haven't like seen a girl in seven years, and you're not wearing as many clothes as you Probably should and you've been drinking cough medicine all day It just wasn't a very safe place for me because not everybody is ethical in fact This last five to seven years most of the people and a good portion of them basically Pirates there so are we talking like snake oil salesmen or are

we just talking about like they're out for a quick just to sell you I don't know Swampland in Florida well I think what happens is they have a little bit of power because those that did have the power have left yes the there's a vacuum area yes there is and so those that control a little bit of where you could possibly put on a show are not overly, at least for the experience I've just had, they're just not really good at what they do. As he's proven time and time again, a setback like that wasn't going to slow him down. Later that episode, for the fifth time, Mike made a major announcement on Toronto Miked. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Mike Richards, I'm ready for the big announcement. I'm going to lean back, stare into your beautiful eyes, give me the details. So after a very long and arduous journey, I will now be, and Rolmike Richards will be on Rogers, on City TV, and it's going to be in Calgary, because if I'm going to trust people, then I'm trusting my Calgarians. And so I will start in the new year. It will be Saturdays. It will be from nine to 10 in the morning, simply because with a sports show like this and the commentary that I'll have, it's mountain time.

So before pucks drop, before there's kickoffs, remember, there's a two hour difference. So I had to start at that time. I'm thrilled. And I would like to thank those at Rogers who I've always had a great relationship with it's when I dominated out at the fan nine 60, we had the biggest numbers in Canada. So if I'm going to start somewhere where there's going to be a level of trust, we talked about accountability and professionalism.

There's a gentleman by the name of Kerry Elliott, who's the boss out at Rogers in Calgary for their group, and he has been a unicorn. I don't recall those moments in the last 10 years where I've met someone who's not only smart, but he has great enthusiasm. And so- Besides me, you mean? Yes, aside from you, aside from you. And so besides me, you mean, as aside from you, aside from you. And so I am thrilled to announce in 2025 that Romick Richards, television Rogers, city TV and Calgary. No one does it like, no one does like the Calgarians. So if I'm going to restart, if I'm going to reboot what I want to do,

then it will be once again, a one hour show sports based. But the biggest difference probably in this is that not all guests, like main guests, and they will be of substance, are going to, they're not going to have to be a sports personality, a character, a coach, a general manager, they can be from music, they can be from film, they can be from politics. Like Rick Emmett might come on the program.

Rick Emmett might come on the program. Rick Emmett could come on. I can't give away everyone who's coming on, but I can say some major bands like world famous bands. Just three months later though, Mike was back with announcement number six. But first, of course, I had to get an update on what happened with the Calgary City TV opportunity.

The best comparison I can make is that Lucy's holding the football for you. You're Charlie Brown. You're going to you're excited to finally you're going to kick that football. And then Lucy pulls it away Lucy being, you know don't know, mainstream media, cable companies, whatever. So I'm going to ask you very specific questions. You were last here. It wasn't an annual event. It's not an annual event anymore. I was just here. December. I mean, I think it was last week. I know, I know how it feels. Trust me, folks. I feel the pain.

I got to beat you up a little and then I got a drum roll and everything. I'm very excited about this, but December 2024 it was episode 1595 and I wrote the description Mike Richards drops by to make a big announcement Okay, so before we get to this new announcement. Yeah Can you please share with us? What went wrong? like I mean you told us about how you were gonna have a What went wrong? Like, I mean, you told us about how you were going to have a third party in Toronto record

a video presentation and it was going to air in Calgary on a city station. We had great details and we had a start date. Why did this never happen, Mike? So the one thing that is the hardest thing to get your head around, although anyone who's in media will understand, but it's worse now, which is this country in all media runs out of Toronto. So what Toronto wants, Toronto will get. They are God and King.

So if you're in one of those other cities, which of course I spent six and a half years in Calgary, sort of learning a little bit the hard way on just how those cities are perceived and their wants. I got it, again, in a way that I don't think anyone even in Calgary, they've been just absolutely the best people I've probably ever worked with when you talk about the Rogers people in Calgary and so they were told that the time slots that were available were not available so I was one week away I was seven days away from debuting and so there I was I had started cutting you know people know me for the the

comedic bits and the impressions and so on i have to at least in my mind always a ball to not just use radio bits and slap them on t v i have to have a way of still getting what i think is funny a sense of humor that is t v friendly that is made only for television quite frankly so i started shooting some of those

right and and um... and had a great time doing it as the phone call came in and said, we don't have any time slots. What are you talking about? But did they sell you, they sold you this time, no? The time for the company itself. So we're talking about Rogers and they are the ones. They have other issues at the head office. And in case it was them being their hands were filled full of old OLN. Outdoor Life Network. Right that's now defunct. Right. But they had to find I guess places to play them. Well mine was one of the time slots. But

of course Mike had another announcement to share. And this time it's happening. Are you ready to make the announcement? Sure I am. Gosh, I honestly I'm so excited. Okay, so here we go. Mike Richards, big announcement. Here it is, starting April the 13th. So that's Masters Sunday. I am starting back on the fan 960 on Sunday. I am taking an hour it is sponsored and here you ask the question Well, why the difference between you know doing a show a podcast from where you don't the sponsor is CIBC woodgundy They're just the first through the door There's there's a lot of other but the show is brought to you by CIBC Wood Gundy.

It is an hour of what I do best and I figured if I need the support the people in Calgary and those at Rogers, I realize every broadcaster, you have a lot of them that are in here, everyone's got a certain story and a feeling about the companies they have worked for and the current companies. I will say this about Rogers. There is still a semblance they have worked for and the current companies. I will say this about Rogers. There is still a semblance of, well, do you think this could work? Can we go back?

Can in some ways, can we go back to go forward? The answer is yes, and I will prove it. I will prove it each and every week with an hour, with probably a lot of sponsors that a lot of other guys would not get. This is not bragging by the way, folks. Either you can. Just brag is not bragging by the way folks. Either you can or you can't Mike. I come from a background of sport which says I'm fast, I'm fast too. Race, how fast do you run? What do you run the hundred in? Is it sub-9-7? No. Well

then you're not fast. You have to be able to put up those numbers or you're a piece of shit. You're a liar. The thing that I've always been able to rely on is going back to even the numerous numbers of the time and saying, well, just go to the scoreboard. Go to the numbers. If we'd just gone by numbers, most of us, including myself, the Bob McCowns of the world, we'd never, we wouldn't have lost our jobs. But we're, we were deemed to be expensive. And by the new guard that has come in and taken over sports media, they don't know it. What would they know?

At Rogers, I'm not getting that anymore. I'm getting the, okay, you got screwed on this one, you got screwed on that one. What about this? And so when Rogers came to me and said, what about with all the other stuff that potentially that could go on and that other stuff is still sitting there because the two Dan's catching Trout in the Ganaraska at some point is gonna run out where it gets no ratings and no money.

Right. I'll be there. And so I will get the chance to prove myself starting April the 13th, fan 960. As of the release of this Mikeumentary, there have been a handful of episodes of the new Raw Mike Richards Show, broadcast live on Sportsnet 960 in Calgary and released as podcast episodes with more to come every Sunday. What I hope you can hear through all of this is the love and respect that I have for Mike.

He believes in himself, and he believes in the power of broadcasting. I root for the guy, and I wish him every success with the launch of his new show. The through line of Mike Richards' appearances on Toronto Miked is one of honesty, perseverance and hope. Yes, he's got big ideas, and no, they don't always land, but he never shies away from the real talk, no matter what the result. That's why the basement door will always be open for him. This micumentary would not have been possible without the amazing assistance of FOTM Hall

of Famer Tyler Campbell, the VP of Sales. Go to torontomike.com for all your Toronto Mike needs. Much love to all who made this possible. That's Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Monaris, Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball, RecycleMyElectronics.ca, Building Toronto Skyline and Building Success with Nick Ienis, and Ridley Funeral Home. A new episode records Thursday with Clela Arrington. See you then. It's Toronto mine