Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Marc Weisblott from 12:36: Toronto Mike'd #927

Episode Date: October 7, 2021

Mike chats with Marc Weisblott of 12:36 about the current state of media in Canada and what you oughta know.

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And Mike Majeski of Remax Specialists Majeski Group, who's ripping up the GTA real estate scene. Learn more at realestatelove.ca. I'm Mike from torontomike.com, and joining me for his October 2021 recap is Mark Weisblatt from 1236. I can never seem to close my running mind Just can't catch it when it's going Is it late at night or is it early in the morning? Only so many sheep a girl can count

But truly candles burning now I tried to meditate it all away But damn it, it's too quiet now Daylight helps distract my head Monsters hide under my bed They bother me with all kinds of things Like where do i go when i'm dead is it too much to ask for a sweet dream need a step back from my feelings

life is not so bad when i'm sleeping you my friend are a sweet dream man welcome back Welcome back. I am not surprised, Mike, that all week you have had bad luck in getting guests to show up on time, to show up at all. Life is bouncing back to normal here at the beginning of October 2021. But guess what? But guess what? It comes with extra annoyance combined with having to wear a mask everywhere and be paranoid if you're getting too close to the person next to you on the bus. In this case, on my way down here, two of the TTC vehicles that I was relying on just disappeared into the ether. No trace of them to be found. I texted, I phoned, I used the apps, and by the time

I got on the bus, on the proper bus to get here to New Toronto, the corner of Islington and Lakeshore, best known for the Rogue Byway. Everyone knows you live in the neighborhood of the Rogue Byway. By the time I got on the bus, there were three times the number of people on there.

All I'm just saying is I think it's going to take a long time for society to bounce back from what we've been through. Like, everyone is a little bit traumatized. You're going to end up through this winter doing episodes on Zoom. I don't feel it's because people are scared to meet in person. We're here recording in the basement for the first time since we recapped February 2020. Is that right? I didn't realize that. Yeah, we did

backyards. We haven't done any down here since we got vaccinated. And a lot of remote ones from home, but I think you'll end up having more people interested in Zoom because it's just inconvenient these days to make it this way.

So this week so far you had one no-show. Are you going to name names? Are you going to call them out? Two notes. Technically the same guy, though. Bruce Barker was going to be Monday, and he said he woke up with a migraine, which I understand. So, of course, I said let's do it Wednesday, and he said, okay, Wednesday.

And then Wednesday he said, uh, like very suddenly I was already set up in the backyard. And Bruce told me, uh, via email that his boss called him and wants him to work. And, uh,

so that's, that's, you know, strike two there. But, uh, those two days kind of got messed up by the Bruce Burke. And one of the best musical guests ever,

Blair Packham did not disappoint. And one of the best musical guests ever, Blair Packham, did not disappoint, and yet, he showed up an hour late. You were also standing by waiting for him to appear. So he was booked for 10 a.m., and again, my backyard studio was all set up for Blair,

who I knew was going to be amazing because I just heard him in the backyard of Pete Fowler, and Pete Fowler. And Pete Fowler was on the live stream, kind of the pregame show, ready for his buddy Blair. And then Pete actually phoned Blair and told Blair, you know you're supposed to be on Toronto Mic'd at 10 o'clock. And Blair Packham thought he was 11 o'clock. So I think he set a speed record on the Gardiner Expressway heading west. But I will say, I thought Blair was fantastic on Toronto Mike.

And that's Blair Packham of the Jitters. Right. Canadian band from the 1980s who ended up with a Capitol Records deal. And all of the glory that came along with that as far as being on Capitol of big capital records of Canada, Canadian content, airplay,

a couple of big Canadian hits on, on much music. And, uh, definitely, uh, sent me down a whole rabbit hole of, uh,

Blair Packham's career. I think really by accident ended up with this level of major label attention for this power pop, because at the time, I don't know if there was any route here to selling a lot of records. It was an unfashionable sound in the day, and even though there were a lot of college radio stations, the more elitist campus media, they would not have gone for the slickly produced synthesizer sound songs. Did you think I went? Sax solos in the middle of the song. So they were straddling both those worlds. And even though it ended up commercially unsuccessful,

I think it's given Blair Packham a lot of great stories to tell. Do you think I was too hard on him when I decided I'd play some, not only some Doug and the Slugs, but some Huey Lewis and the News? Which is to say what? Just to say that. PTSD making him remember the other acts out there who they were expected to follow in the footsteps of? Well, would you concur that the jitter sound is an awful lot like Doug and the

Slugs, and would you also concur that Doug and the Slugs sound an awful lot like Huey Lewis and the News? Well, that's what they were going for! Why else would somebody have invested in them? He doesn't hear it, Blair Packham, but I thought if I play these songs, and I played a couple of choice songs, he couldn't doesn't hear it, Blair Packham. But I thought if I play these songs,

and I played a couple of choice songs, he couldn't help but hear it. Anyway, so that Blair Packham episode, I thoroughly enjoyed. I thought maybe off the top here, and I'll just let the listenership know that we're going to try to do a tight two hours because I actually have something,

and you were late because your bus disappeared. Yeah, don't take it personal. I think you got my messages along the way. The goal was to get here on time. I made you a coffee, and it sat down here getting cold. I felt like, you know, you see in the trope in a sitcom where, I don't know, the wife would make dinner for the husband who would come home late from the bar and the food would be cold.

I was like, that coffee's getting cold. Where is Mark Weisblatt? But you're here now, so let's not waste any more time. You have built up in my mind this September recap episode. We're doing it here October 7th. That's like the most important episode of Toronto Mike ever. And I don't know what I did to deserve that designation. I think it has something to do, again,

with the fact it's terrific. You are getting busier. And the whole idea that I would sort of show up here on a whim with whatever flexibility, we can't do that with you anymore, right? The days of commanding your schedule and pushing you around are now over. It's back to business here in fall 2021 and hockey

starts soon uh swimming starts for both of the little guys i mean honestly uh my time is precious but i did and i think that's again being reflected in the world people are getting busier uh everywhere you you've got what i can tell uh most of the commotion of regular life, as we remember, where it left off 18, 19, 20 months ago, except now it's with added hassle and extra inconvenience. And I do understand in the wider world why offices will have a hard time bringing people back to work. I mean, I heard from someone working for a major corporation that is having a private concert involving Canadian rock stars at a drive-in specifically to bribe the employees to come back.

Can we name the band? I don't know. How confidential is it? Well, the band needs to pick up a check, right? It's been a while. You've got to compensate for all the missed arena concerts. The band is Metric. Yeah, Emily Haynes from Metric and the gang. And we won't name the top secret source on this,

but it's a good one. I'll just say that. Hey, here's what we're going to do, because I want to get into the whole radio thing, but I want to start. So if we end up doing two hours will it will will will it go faster if you if you just right if you just burned through all the different topics i want to start with a few uh recent episodes of toronto mic'd uh now i want to start with well we did talk briefly there for a moment

about blair packham but what did you think of Leona Boyd's debut on Trombone? I did predict last time it would be an episode that required an interjection with future Mike. Now, this was a Zoom episode, and she was where? Palm Springs? Somewhere? Palm Beach. She's in Florida. Oh, Palm Beach. Somewhere in the world where

wealthy people just kind of hang out and wait for reality to return. I just want to say, before we get to review... I thought there was the ethereal effect of talking to Leona Boyd in soft focus from whatever mansion she was phoning in from. But she hung in there, yes. I mean, she was willing to roll with the intrusive

questions about her life and career and relationships. Especially with Pierre Elliott Trudeau, but then she dropped the bomb about Super Dave Osborne, which I didn't know was coming. And all I could think of when she's telling the Super Dave story is, poor Tyler Stewart. The poor man

has to hear this story about one of his heroes. Yeah. Shattering the impression that he was left with is Tyler, before he was a bare naked ladies drummer, one of those schleppy jobs he had to do working on TV show sets was, was driving Super Dave while it's born around. And still the countdown goes on to you getting, getting Tyler Stewart back for a sequel episode.

I think the Paul Myers episode went a great deal towards making that happen. I know Tyler loved his buddy Paul Myers' debut on Toronto Mic'd, which, by the way, I know this is not in your notes, but I thought Paul Myers was pretty much custom-made for this program. I thought he was fantastic.

Yeah, it's all right. I mean, a name-dropping exercise. I thought he was fantastic. Yeah, it's alright. I mean, a name dropping exercise. I like name dropping. I prefer you go directly to the sources that the person's talking about. I mean, I could sit here and drop

names of famous people that I interfaced with. You're not impressed by me every time I walk out of here. But because he's Mike Meyer's brother. He's the gravel berries.

He's the gravel berries. He mentioned the gravel berries did get airplay in the dying days of 680 CFTR. I thought that was an amusing anecdote at the time when they weren't

seeing many ratings for Top 40 Radio. And I showed them this on the camera. Just like adding independent power pop artists on there. That might have been a big opportunity for the jitters. And then pulling the plug on

CFTR altogether. That for me was a useful bit of trivia knowing quite possibly Paul Myers band the Gravelberries was among the last ever songs added to the playlist of CFTR. Okay, I'll give you that much.

Okay, and remember, back to Leona for a moment, you did predict future Mike would make an appearance in the Leona Boyd episode and remember, back to Leona for a moment, you did predict Future Mike would make an appearance in the Leona Boyd episode, and I just want to tell you, Future Mike did not make an appearance in the Leona Boyd episode. And we do maybe have to clarify for those just joining us,

what is Future Mike? Okay, Future Mike will, after the episode, will kind of edit himself in to give a little context to what's to come, like to frame something if I feel it needs context. And Future Mike almost never appears. He's only appeared twice as far as I know. He appeared for Molly Johnson, and he appeared for,

I'm speaking about him in the third person, and Carol Pope. So just those two. Okay, and this was me placing a bet on the idea that the Leona Boyd episode would go south. Right. Just because I think she belongs to a different era that maybe she wasn't accustomed to the deep dive podcasting style. In fact, she rolled with it. She rolled with it.

I was entirely wrong. I've lost another bet. You lost another bet. Here on the 1236 episodes of Toronto Mic'd. I am well aware that Cam Gordon is listening to our dulcet tones right now. Hello, Cam, who might be on the west coast of this country. Maybe he's in Alberta. I have no idea where Cam is.

But I can tell you, Cam, before he left town, join me for like a Now Magazine 40-year retrospective. What did you think of that? I didn't quite understand what the inspiration was, aside from the fact that Now Magazine, a long-time alternative weekly in Toronto, the first ones that figured out how to turn this into a business back through the 1980s, has fallen into the hands of different ownership.

We've discussed that here over the past couple of years. A company called Media Central Communications. It's a penny stock. They made all sorts of pronouncements about what they're going to do to salvage this style of publication. Far as I can tell, it's not going very well. But I got to respect the people who are still working on this enterprise,

trying to put something out there every week, a newspaper that doesn't seem to be available on the streets. Maybe they dump some of them in subway stations. But then again, who's looking for it? What would be the pickup rate for a flimsy alternative weekly, especially through all these months when nothing much was going on. Now events are bouncing back, and there's things to advertise. Maybe the current publishers of NOW, this is the moment that they were waiting for to see if anybody's interested in this kind of publication.

But when it came to the fact of their 40th anniversary, September 1981, is when Now Magazine started, there was some acknowledgement of the 40 years of history that it had. But it was pretty muted. I mean, you gave it a shout out on Twitter for having stuck around all that long. Is that what inspired Cam to do his fun facts going through little bits of information he could find about history? I think Cam just has fond memories of Now Magazine, and he knew it was a milestone birthday. And I think he missed me, quite frankly. He hadn't talked to me on a recording since TMLX8. He missed you, and I think, like a lot of us, he missed the ritual of this idea of picking up a weekly newspaper that spoke to you in print every Thursday morning

or at different times. You could find it on Wednesday night. And that reading what was between the pages was a ritual. You could feel part of something that today, I think, has mostly shifted to podcasts as the amplification of these ideas. Yes, we've talked here over the years about how there is not a lot of media out there still catering to Generation X. And the aging members of that demographic is something that I still think could be rectified.

Doing some research into that. But in the meantime, when I mention this to you, you say, well, Toronto Mike is here already. Already looking after the the gen x audience uh but i think especially during these pandemic times you know we've come to uh the realization that there are enough people out there in their 40s and 50s uh who uh have gravitated towards uh consuming their content this way listening to us from your basement, speaking into microphones. I don't know. Does it need to go any further?

You're always standing by, waiting for stuff to be stuck into your veins that will speak to you and your generation. I mean, where do you think things are headed right now as far as media for Generation X? We don't have time for that. Knowing these newspapers aren't around anymore. Well, because this week, Thanksgiving weekend, it also marks 30 years since iWeekly started publishing. And that was a Toronto Star deciding that if they couldn't figure out how to buy Now Magazine, then they were going to start their own.

Right. Crush it. Right. Dig the grave and bury it into the ground. Now, I played a role in those early years of iWeekly. I was not part of it on day one. I wouldn't have known how to work my way in. I wouldn't have known how to work my way in.

But a lot of reflections there in terms of what I participated in and what it meant to the idea of creating this Gen X media career. Constantly wondering if these skills are worth anything to anybody anymore. Of course, there's the 1236 newsletter out there. Thanks a lot, Mike, for mentioning to Richard Krauss that what I'm doing is maybe a successor to this spirit. In return, Richard Krauss chastised me

for not coming out on time at 1236. I get it at 1236. Some days you don't get it at 1236 because I haven't hit send at 1236. Why can't you schedule it? Why are you clicking send? I do schedule. I schedule it on days

when I know I'm going to be taking the TTC out to see Toronto Mike. When I show up two hours later, I wonder why I even bother. I scheduled a tweet today about,

do you know what time it is? You'll see a tweet on my timeline. I didn't tag you on it, but do you know what time it is? And it had the 12.36 logo. I scheduled that tweet for 1236. You scheduled it at 1236, and there I am standing at Islington Station waiting for a bus.

Look, I know I could be more efficient. You're trying to get me on a bike. There are better ways of getting here. Mark, I don't take the TTC. I never take the TTC. No matter where in this city I need to go, I bike there because I know exactly how long it'll take. I'll have some fun getting there, and I burn a few few pizza calories on my way but i mean look just like i remember having to take the overnight york mills bus to get to uh ciut radio station 91 st george at six o'clock in the morning. I mean, the subway wasn't running overnight.

I would leave my suburban house, I don't know, at like 1.30 a.m. to do my 6 o'clock campus radio show, pick up some coffee and donuts along the way. It was all part of the experience, right? The real talk. So even though here I am kvetching about what I went through on the subway and the bus, I feel it puts me in fine form to rant about everything else with you. Well, I've been on fire all day.

Any other episodes this month to touch on? I mean, you had Rick the Temp in the backyard. Well, Diego Fuentes and Rick the Temp are the last two I want to ask you about before we get into radio, because I think most of the listeners want us to dive into all these massive Toronto radio changes. But what will you say to me about Rick the Temp

and Diego Fuentes? Well, with Rick the Temp, I think him talking to you provided some clarity on what was going on with him. At 102.1, you mean? And Entertainment Tonight. Right.

All those years, Rick the Temp on Much Music. It seemed like Rick the Temp was just happy to be nominated. Like he stumbled into this career by accident. Fortune smiled at him, made it all possible. Doesn't seem like he minds being out of work outside of doing some Instagram influencing, which itself can be lucrative. I mean, you're making money for not doing much at all. And his Instagram has turned into a festival of paid partnerships.

But I thought it was refreshing. The attitude that he took. What's the deal now? Like, he had another baby, second marriage. Do I got that right? Yeah. It was a situation where he could be like a house husband for a few years. He seems happy to me. He could lean back and chill out,

but eventually getting around to another act. I felt like you provided the psychiatrist's couch for Rick to attempt to work out in his mind what the possibilities are for somebody like him. So a likable enough guy.

I came away of thinking more of him than just a shameless huckster posting about tomato sauce. What was it? I can tell you now. Hunts, tomato, spaghetti.

I want to say Prego. Prego? Yeah. And they went after him because he's Italian? Campanelli, the real deal? Yes. By the way, I found out

he's not related to Tessa Campanelli. No, apparently. And apparently Tessa, that's a fictional character, I was advised. But, yeah. Okay, soessa, that's a fictional character. I was advised. Yeah, okay. So Rick Campanelli, I think,

an example of a Toronto Mike to guess that I liked even more after hearing him on the podcast. But that inspired all sorts of discussions about what other temporary VJ search much music contest winners can you have on the show? And, you know, you got to wonder, like, how much do any of these people have to say? Well, Mark, I'll tell you.

To what degree do you need to have a deep dive with somebody who's famous because they showed up on MuchMusic for 15 minutes 30 years ago? But Diego Fuentes, when Brother Bill wrote me and said, hey, I'm buddies with the guy who won the first,

you know, whatever they call this, the intern or temp contest or whatever. Diego Fuentes, at least that's a guy I remembered. He had a long running show on Much More Music. Like, so I'm not going to have some guy who had a shift and then got fired and I've never heard of. But when he said Diego will come over,

I was actually keen. Now, you probably noticed the running time because I made an executive decision that this would be an hour episode. Which version of Mike is the one that pulls the plug on an episode? That's editor Mike. Half the length

of most of the other ones. No, I will tell you this. Other than your visits, actually, by default, I gun for 90 minutes. And if an episode's an hour, it either means the guest only had an hour, like a Rick Emmett or what's Peter Mansbridge next week or whatever, or a Carol Pope and these people who have a limited time.

Either the guest only has an hour for me or I've decided this is an hour episode because it's not a 90-minute episode. For you, my friend, I'm actually going to make an executive decision at some point in this episode what we do because you know I have something I have to do. We've now talked about me being late than we have any other topic so far today in me being here. We'd better get on with things. guitar solo So we got straight to the heart And I was a coward and worse to my shame

I fell hard upon the weightless wheels That wasted every day Till we emerged in the park Like some patron of Washington Square For the first time in a long time Inside everything stood clear So I had to find me a job. So much radio talk today, Mark.

This is what the people are waiting for. Let's start with the gentleman who did visit my backyard. Was that last week? I think it was last week. That was a big week. Greg Brady is the new morning show host at Global News Radio 640. Have you lost count here of how many people have come over on Toronto Mic'd who were doing one job when they first appeared and then returned when they had a different job?

I was trying to think. Do you have any examples of people who at one point were a morning host at Fan 590? Okay, Mad Dog, Jay Michaels. Sure. You're right. He was on Virgin Radio and then on News Talk 1010. But that was still the same company, right? And here was a case with Greg Brady where he got jerked around by Rodgers at different time slots.

They loved him. They loved him not. What ultimately happened? How did it all end for him at Sportsnet? Blundell. Didn't he come back after Dean Blundell? Oh, yeah, you're right. See, even you have lost track.

Well, you heard the episode. He basically said he was in a toxic work environment, and although he didn't name the individual, we all know which program director he was talking about, where he simply couldn't work in that environment anymore. Okay, and I would say as far as Greg Brady's comments were concerned, he was relatively candid. But in the rest of that discussion you had with him,

I heard a lot of disingenuousness. As far as this guy who was perched on the sidelines of Global News Radio and Chorus. And I don't want to go so far as to say he was standing by waiting for FOTM in exile Mike Stafford to be fired. I mean, the circumstances that made that possible were kind of complicated. I don't think you could have bet on that happening.

But again, I don't think he was intellectually honest about the reality here. What do you mean? That Mike Stafford got turfed from the radio station and Greg Brady, who was looking for a job, wanted to get back to where he left off at the fan, a permanent position on a Toronto radio morning show. You would think he would be ecstatic about the opportunity.

How do you pronounce it? The schadenfreude that had occurred. Schadenfreude. That had made it possible for him to be there. How did he portray it? It was just like, oh, I don't know. This just coincidentally happened. It was no big deal.

I'm just stepping in. I'm ready to serve where others have fallen. No, no. I heard in Greg Brady a calculated move on his part. Let's say for argument's sake that this was a relatively smart thing for him to do. thing for him to do. He saw the bodies were flying out the window of these global news radio stations across the country. Chorus, we've talked about it here, had departures for a whole bunch of reasons with one common denominator, that they set up these talk radio stations to do an inflammatory sort of broadcasting, and it wasn't working out for anyone. They had left-wing hosts, right-wing hosts who ended up fired, harassed by the audience,

you know, voluntarily leaving, reassigned, departures, a situation like John Oakley, where he would have these right-wing pundits on, like Conrad Black and Mark Stein and Sue Ann Levy, told by management that we can't have these people on anymore because we don't want to do this style of radio. We don't want to offend anybody. We don't want complaints to the CRTC. And we don't want to land on the wrong side of where the whole corporate media thing is going on. We don't want to be associated with this angry white man style of radio because we're not going to know how to

make any money off of it anymore. And I think the ace in the hole here and the opportunity for Greg Brady, if you follow me here, is that he manages to sound on the air like he's one of those ranting right-wing conservative guys. right-wing conservative guys. And yet the content of what he's discussing, what comes out of his mouth, is ultimately unsubstantial.

Like, he's not making any kind of point. He's not taking any sort of stance. But he's been assigned to this idea, like, hang on to the audience that we have. The same people, by the way, who harassed Supriya Duvety out of a job. Like, she quit. She couldn't take it anymore.

And Coris sicked their lawyer, Howard Leavitt, on her. You know, he's got a radio show with Belle, but in his day job working with Coris and wrote back to her and said, you know, if you can't take the heat, if you can't take the idea that occasionally you're going to get nasty text messages, racist stuff, people commenting about your baby, you know, like you're scared to talk about anything personal on the air because there's going to be some nasty listener that writes into you and ruins your day. She couldn't take it anymore. And the employment lawyer was saying, well, you knew that this came along as a condition of the job. So this is the audience that Greg Brady has inherited, right? Like, is he willing to acknowledge that, in fact, he stepped into a situation where he's expected to do a neutered version of the same type of talk radio

that didn't work out for these other personalities because they took a certain type of stand. And here we saw on Twitter a situation where another FOTM, Peter Sherman, did an interview with a woman named Farah Khan. She works at Ryerson, maybe still a terrific speaker. What used to be called the Harassment Prevention Office, I think, a little more blunt these days in how they describe these things, like sexual violence, gender-based violence prevention

center. violence, gender-based violence prevention center. Now, obviously, her politics are left-wing, in the social sense at least, married to Toronto City Councillor Kristen Wong-Tam, who at least is socially liberal. I don't know. Her position on development in downtown Toronto.

Might be more to the right. But it was Farah Khan who reported on her Twitter account that Peter Sherman, doing one of his many fill-in shifts on 640, like John Oakley, he used to do the morning show, right?

And at one point, I think he got, I don't know, three or four months vacation a year. He swung this sweet deal, and at the same time, he was making top dollar for the gig. My understanding is he moved to afternoons, you know, partly like a semi-retirement thing. He still wanted to do the show,

he wanted to keep the deal, but he wasn't going to do the same time slot for less money. And the fact that you hear him now in afternoon drive, it was kind of a compromise so that he could kind of transition out of this career with his integrity intact and do something that he obviously loved. So Peter Sherman, former Ontario conservative MPP, before that did a show on CFRB and worked in, I think, you had him here as a guest, talked about, was it the voicemail industry

that he worked in? Made a lot of money. Do you remember any of this? I remember something to that effect. I definitely remember his visit. He was a good guest, actually. He's moonlighting great voice and very old school conservative attitude.

He had the Hebsey background. Remember, that's the episode Hebsey sat in on for the first 20 minutes because they had worked together at some point. And there is, okay, Peter Sherman, what is he, 73, 74 years old. So what happened to Sherman? Yeah, so he was in a confrontation with Farah Khan. Okay. Based on what I remember from her tweets about it,

like they were talking about how they were working, I guess, prevention of gender-based violence into the SmartServe program. Mike, you are SmartServe certified. I should pull out my card. I am SmartServe certified, absolutely. What does that mean, technically? I can serve alcohol.

You are legally, and what did you have to go through? Did you have to watch a video? Oh, it's a pretty tough test. Did you have to take... Dude, I'll just tell you this was a tough test. Was it written? Was it an oral exam? How does it work? When you do the test online, there's somebody watching you and they're also on your computer

to make sure you have no cheat sheets that you're opening or whatever. I will tell you, it was like very tough. Like I really had to do my homework and I could not cheat. And I passed because I'm a smart cookie. But I can serve beer so I can work at Ribfest and slug Great Lakes beer. And it's all legal because I'm SmartServe certified. So there you go.

My understanding now then, as part of this SmartServe test, maybe not when you did it, it gets into things like how you've got to look out for the people you're serving the alcohol to. I didn't do it that long ago. Or that maybe they're getting more specific about the warning signs. So this was a classic

kind of conservative talk radio argument. Peter Sherman saying if you're a young woman and you're out at a bar, you don't if you're a young woman and you're out at a bar, you don't need to have a bartender doing surveillance upon you. The solution, in fact, is to be responsible for yourself and not drink too much and behave appropriately and whatever kind of moralistic messages that old conservative men are associated with delivering to young people.

You catch my drift. But apparently he did it like in a real, real confrontational way to the point where the interview went south. It was on live radio and in exchange for being spoken to this way on the air. In fact, it was Farrakhan who registered a complaint with Chorus Entertainment and came back to report on Twitter that she was successful in the radio station making amends, Global News Radio in Toronto, AM 640, and among the people that she thanked for setting things straight and making things right, Greg Brady, stepping in the white knight

who's there to rectify all the mistakes that have been made by doing this style of talk radio. No, I feel Greg Brady is there to bat clean up and actually to take a position to say, okay, we've done some damage here as far as reputation is concerned. This style of talk radio has not been very kind to certain segments of society. It's ultimately costing money as far as chorus and global.

All sorts of articles were reported online about how they treat employees and the sort of stuff that goes on in this radio station and Howard Levitt, you know, defending the fact that if you're going to be a talk radio host, that you are signing a contract, that you have to deal with a certain level of listener abuse. That's the lawyer Ross Porter hired to send me all those like cease and desist, edit your episodes of Jazz jazz FM, uh,

personnel, et cetera. That was Howard Levin. Hey, he's just doing his job. It's following the law. And I mean, he,

look, he himself has been roasted over the years for being, you know, a certain type of personality. Okay. Whose interpretation of employment law, you know, rubs people,

rubs people the wrong way, but that's, that's what makes him great. That's why he's got a garage full of luxury cars. That's right. He can walk away from a Ferrari in a rainstorm. Can I ask you this,

Mark Wiseblood? Why do you think Greg Brady was disingenuous when he was in my backyard? That's the part I'm trying to understand here. Because ultimately, he's just a big opportunist.

And the opportunity arrived. Isn't that inferred? He's not doing this for charity. Like, he wants to work at radio. He likes that role at that company. So, of course, Greg Brady wants to be the one doing this at this point. Where's the self-deprecation?

Where's the sense of humor? He wants people to listen to him on the radio. He started his first day, this new show, Toronto Today, making all sorts of pronouncements. You know, I know I have competition out there. I know I've got to fight for your attention. Not like these other guys, doesn't he say?

Like he would rather John Moore got sent off to the CBC so that maybe Greg could have the AM talk radio domain to himself. Too bad. John Moore, I think he's now just celebrated 12 years. Greg could have the AM talk radio domain to himself too bad. So why are you... John Moore, I think he's now just celebrated 12 years. I think he's outlasted Ted Walsh at this point in time. Yeah, he did it like a decade. Just 38 years to catch Wally Crowder.

So Greg Brady, I mean, I guess he's got to chip some sort of audience off John Moore if he wants to show that he can do this job, whoever he's competing with. But I just think he's approaching it with a style of radio that's ultimately unappealing. I don't think it matters at all. And here he is kind of pleading his case and making an argument in your backyard on Toronto Mic'd about how wonderful he is and he's going to revolutionize Toronto.

I don't think that's happening. No, I mean, look, I think he's there to do, what am I trying to say? He's there to do a certain type of corporate damage control for chorus and global news radio. It's a damaged brand because they thought

they could be in the game of doing the radio version of what had already failed on TV from Sun News, that this is a significant demographic out there. These are the types of people who at least would consider voting for the People's Party of Canada in a federal election, or at least, you know, right-wing radio listeners.

They largely live in the outskirts, you know, around the 905. They're commuters. They're driving. They like listening to stuff on the radio. Greg Brady is bringing the heat in the sense that when you turn on the radio and you hear him, that you get the sense that you are hearing something that's a little bit like Mike Stafford. But the actual content that's coming out of his mouth couldn't be a tamer and lamer.

That's my take. Okay, but you do understand that what got Mike Stafford eventually fired from his dream job there were self-inflicted shots. Like, this is not Brady. Brady didn't shoot Stafford. Like, Stafford shot Stafford. But I think people knew the days were numbered for that sort of radio anyhow. Just because of the kind of departures that were taking place. Who would you rather hear?

People who were being removed from these global news radio stations. People who were leaving of their own volition. Again, it wasn't like a partisan thing. They were just being overly cautious. And this is the consequence of working for chorus entertainment at this time. Just like we're talking about the mediocrities of all these radio stations. They could not stick up for this certain type of talk radio. But at the same time, I don't think they did such a good job at pulling it off to begin with.

Okay, we got to move on to a good friend of John Moore. but my question for you uh i think fotm would be curious who would you rather hear on toronto mic greg brady or stew stone well i would say uh greg brady gives me a lot more to think about that's uh pretty much the extent of what i have to say here. You know, last episode we were talking about the confrontation between FOTM Liz and Stu Stone at the Pandemic Friday finale. TMLX 8. TMLX 8 at Great Lakes Brewery patio. I was nowhere to be found.

And I thought after we discussed it last time, shouldn't we have pulled a clip? This was an oversight. So I did go back and listen to the episode where Liz was confronting Stu Stone. And while it was a great radio moment, I don't think you could extract just like a few seconds or even a couple minutes of it.

It was almost like the tension surrounded what they didn't say. How, how Stu was like thrown off his game after how many months of new pandemic Friday, uh, 76 weeks wrestling stick, this KFA beach and every week that he had met his match in your friend Liz. And her expression that she was going through a lot of drama in her life,

that she was loyal, a loyal FOTM, loyal listener of Toronto Mike. She loves the show. And she was willing to give Stu Stone a try, And she was willing to give Stu Stone a try. And that the presence of Stu on your turf triggered her to the point where she had to show up and say it to his face. Like, you're a fake. You're a phony. You have turned me off the idea of riding or dying, uh,

along with Toronto Mike, but she still likes you, right? She's okay. And for what you, you told me like after the show, even in the, the party in the park,

there was an after we got kicked out of the brewery at 9 PM. And then like a bunch of high school kids, we ended up in the local park with our beers and the party continued. And there's a moment, in fact was captured i want i got to get permission from the aforementioned cam gordon to share this photo but cam snapped a picture that might win him a pulitzer prize that's the quality of this picture and it is sort of a confrontation that continued between liz and stew it's something else i got to find out if i'm allowed to share this uh share this photo and if i can share it i will but uh yeah i continued into the local park so uh did do you want to move

on to uh the chfi drama because i can tell you i uh on good authority because i had maureen holloway on this show twice and she thoroughly enjoyed both visits she told her dear friend john moore about the experience and john moore was very keen to experience that for himself and was gung-ho to come on toronto mic'd well that never did happen but now uh the news that came out i think it was on friday uh is that maureen holloway was relieved of her duties as morning show host on CHFI. What's going on there? Your guess is as good as mine, because last time I was here,

we talked about the retirement of Ian the General, Ian MacArthur, and the absurdity of framing a situation where a guy, I don't know, he's like 54 years of age and trying to relieve him of his duties in a way to make it look dignified like Ian the General

is retiring from morning radio and as I think I mentioned before you can just picture in your mind him sitting at a dock doing a thousand mile stare, wondering, what am I going to do with the rest of my life? At the same time, I don't know. Isn't it better that they honor him after he's been laid off from his job rather than just disappear the guy and never speak of him again? That which has become the corporate broadcasting tradition.

What would you choose? The lesser of two evils. What would you choose? Well, he seemed to go along with it, I think, based on seeing him on Twitter and stuff, just like part of the way of promoting that he's a free agent now. But he's got to make money, right? Looking for another.

Eventually, at some point, I mean, I guess if you put in over 30 years on CHFI, but he was the thread, the continuation from the days of Don Daynard and Aaron Davis, the earliest days of that CHFI morning show, which was once far and away the most popular radio show in Toronto. the most popular radio show in Toronto, would have been the greatest thing to ever happen to Ted Rogers was stealing Don Daynard away from standard broadcasting,

putting him on CHFI in the morning and inheriting all of his listeners from CKFM. They just, like, moved the dial right over because they used, this was in the early days, they used the Rogers publicity machine to make it known that every television viewer saw a commercial member for Aaron Davis and Don Daynard. In fact, they paired them up together famously. Aaron Davis was 25 and Don Daynard was 54 and they worked both ends of that audience and that was a that was a magic formula that worked at least until Don Daynard retired I was there uh at the end of 1999

and that was a franchise the CHFI morning show then I started fiddling around with it it was Bob McGee moved in there right a longtime veteran of 1050 Chum. And after a little while, that seemed to not be working out. And then famously, they fired Aaron Davis from CHFI, the most famous employee of maybe all of Rogers' broadcasting at that point in time. Let her go. Uh,

and there was a quiet backlash. They are a lot of publicity. Aaron really worked it with her own website where she was ranting about what happened to her. Uh, she then shows up on, uh, C J E Z with Mike Cooper,

easy rock. And, uh, then Rogers turns around and extends an apology to Aaron Davis and says, we would like you back and bring Mike Cooper with you too. And this time Aaron's name goes first. Aaron's name goes first, Aaron Davis and Mike Cooper. And I think even more success.

A lot of money was made. Mike Cooper retired from the radio show. His wife had serious health issues, as I recall, and he wanted to spend time with her. He wanted to spend time with her and I guess, yeah, would have banked enough cash to make it convenient for him. And still on CHFI doing this voice track pre-recorded Saturday night oldie show. They poached Darren B. Lamb from Roger and Marilyn.

Roger, Darren, and Marilyn. Darren B. Lamb was a DJ from the West Coast, Vancouver. He was a top 40 radio guy over there. Ended up on Chum FM. First it was Afternoon Drive, and then when another FOTM, Rick Hodge, had some sort of midlife crisis. How old was he at that point?

He got an offer. He told me. He might have been more than midlife. Standard Broadcasting made him an offer he couldn't refuse, and he took it. And the offer was also what? To dismantle Roger, Rick, and Marilyn. Like it was a way to take that brand and somehow upend it by the fact that Rick wouldn't be there anymore. Speaking of radio franchises that were publicized to the point of massive success. So, again, you had a situation where it was CHFI

was able to grab somebody else from another radio station, a guy named Darren B. Lamp, teamed him up with Aaron Davis. How did that go? I mean, you get the... Well, yours is going to get sticky. You get the verbal answers

here in the basement. I talk to all these people. In other words, we're back in the basement where I feel the truth can come out a little bit more than the backyard. There's less space. It's a little more intimate.

You feel like you can confess certain things in this booth. This is where it gets a little sticky because, of course, now we're in a period where Erin Davis suffers a massive personal loss. Right. So you have to take into account what happens to her emotional health at this time when her only child dies very suddenly on her first Mother's Day. So this is tragic. And what unfolds from that, of course, and by the way, the second appearance of Erin Davis on Toronto Mic'd, where she talks about, you know, getting that news when she was in Jamaica and wanting to go live on the air right afterwards and having to be told, like, you can go live on the air right afterwards and having to be told like you can't go on the air you just found out your daughter has passed away very

suddenly like that story uh Steve Paikin once told me was the greatest episode of any podcast he had ever heard so I urge people to check that out but here we are now with this great personal loss for Erin Davis which of course I don't think she'll ever uh she wrote a book about it so go read her book morning has broken but at some point she announces she's leaving for the West Coast. She's got a variety of reasons here. It turns out now we look back in hindsight, and her grandson has joined her on Vancouver Island, I think. They're on Vancouver Island.

But basically, she's leaving for the West Coast, so they poach Maureen Holloway from Q107. Maureen Holloway had a sweet deal for about 15 years. She figured out how, I guess, originally using the ISDN line before the Internet was at a stage where anyone could do this, That she could broadcast from home. She could do her celebrity gossip roundup, other people's business chit chat with DJs across Canada, talking a little bit about herself.

That she could sit at home in the morning, maybe in her basement, and do these remote little broadcasts at a discount. The realities of the industry, knowing that she could be this sort of freelancer and make a modest salary from multiple radio stations at once by doing these hits on the morning show. And you've talked about that here on Deep Dive Episodes with her, what she had going on. Real revolutionary at the time to come up with an idea like this

and actually pull it off, right? Like to be able to do that banter and that had a lot to do with the fact that when she was on the air, she could light up the room. She could actually be somebody that people would want to tune into here, even if she wasn't broadcasting locally from the different cities she was on. But she was also on in Toronto on Q107 with John Derringer while he was doing the morning show. And they worked her a little more in the Q107. I think she came on multiple times in the morning with Derringer,

more than once. And eventually, I don't know, at some point during that business relationship, she would start coming into the studio. Yeah, maybe once a week, like on Fridays or something, like a situation where she could balance it out and not look like she was disappearing on all these radio stations. So like one day a week,

coming live with Daredevil. What happened there? What? That was also a relationship that went sour is what you're struggling to say. I'm not saying anything at all. I'm telling you that shortly thereafter, Kim Mitchell has his contract is not removed

as afternoon drive host on Q107. And Maureen Holloway leaves the morning show on Q107 and ends up doing the afternoon, the Mo Show, I think they call it, with FOTM John Scholes, maybe? Yeah, a situation, I guess, where, I don't know, she wasn't trusted to be the DJ. Like, you have, you know, Big John Scholes doing the intros and the outros on the records.

That was Freebird. Leonard Skinner. Do they still play it? That's great. Big John Scholes doing the intros and the outros on the records. That was Freebird. Leonard Skinner. Do they still play it? That's great. Throw to Mo. I mean, Q107 now, it's like, I don't know, old-fashioned AM radio oldie station branding itself,

cloaking itself in this classic rock. Do they play jitters there? Do they play jitters? I mean, again, like the milk toast corporate radio prevails. Okay, so Maureen Holloway gets a shot. Finally, your own show, right? Along the way. I was listening to Mo on Toronto Radio

in the mid 80s. That's how far back I go. That's before, is that 99.9? That was CKFM, maybe a little CFRB. But yeah, see, like the old school days of CKFM at Yonge and St. Clair. I remember her in the Hallway back then. She hung out for quite a while and multiple changes at the station and ended up rising to the point of being a morning show co-host.

And on another podcast interview somewhere, maybe a sound off podcast. She talked about how they wouldn't put her name on the show, even though she was an equal sidekick to this guy, Rob Christie. Of course I remember Rob Christie. She pointedly described, because you don't hear, you don't hear this real talk too often, especially outside of Toronto Mike, as a B talent

that she struggled to work with for about five years. I'm excited. So she, okay. What we're trying to say is she paid her dues. She worked her way up. Well, she's very good.

To the point where there was a job opening for Aaron Davis, who for these complex personal reasons, was ready to move on. The fact that it was her choice, again, allowed the station to promote the fact that she was leaving. She wasn't pink-slipped in the middle of the night. Although it was very sudden.

It was very sudden. That proverbial tap-on-the-shoulder situation that you're always talking about here and yet maureen holloway got the tap on the shoulder here on uh october 1st 2021 abruptly announced that she is not doing the chfi morning show anymore. This is after her producer had like a whole summer long send off, Ian the General. And Maureen Holloway gets like 90 seconds to say goodbye. What do you think was going on there?

I'm turning the tables and asking you the question, Mike. Because my guess is as good as any. Like what is up with this idea that they frame Maureen Holloway, the Darren and Moe morning show, and then we have the added plot twist, the subplot that Darren B. Lamb was taking most of 2021 off. No public explanation, no clarity. Suddenly Mike Cooper is back there filling in for Darren.

And over a period of time, based on things I heard myself and other insinuations, the fact that he was filling in for Darren receded into the background. They did not talk about Darren B. Lamb anymore. On that note. Like he never existed. Maureen Holloway made a very eloquent farewell speech because she's not burning any bridges on the way out, which is a smart move.

I suppose she also might have made a few million dollars for doing this gig at CHFI. What do you think she was making? Humble and Fred asked me this morning. Well, and you got, what was it? Humble Howard, I did listen to this segment because it involved a confrontation. Well, we might get to that.

And Humble Howard speculated high. He said six figures. He said high, he said seven figures. Up to seven figures. And I don't have a clue what she was making. It doesn't matter how much you're making. This is no way to end like a 37-year professional Toronto radio career.

You know, like the indignity that was on display. I checked on Instagram, and there was Mo living it up in New York City. Like she left town, got on that Porter flight the moment she signed off to blow off some steam there with her husband in New York City. You know, when the masks are off, you know somebody is hanging out in a more liberated place. And I guess having it decompressed, that just came as a shock that she was no longer needed on the radio anymore. What do you think? We're standing by as of this moment.

Now, you did this episode with Greg Brady, for example, and you talked about all sorts of speculation about what was going to happen with Sportsnet, Fan 590. And while you were recording the episode, there they announced a whole revolutionary overhaul. The episode was immediately obsolete. You should have just like dragged this into the trash. Done a whole do-over because everything you were talking about

with Sportsnet and the fan did not apply. And I think the same type of thing is happening on the music radio end. The thing with Sportsnet Rogers is like we're pivoting to podcasts. We're going to make Sportsnet Radio more compatible with on-demand listening. We're going to give FOTM Jeff Merrick a little bit more glory because he has proven himself as such a terrific character. Yeah, a national hockey show.

A national hockey show. My second favorite sports podcast after Hebsey. Oh, 32 thoughts. And I don't speak sports at all, but Hebsey and Elliott Friedman and other changes they made their people they let go, including Tim... Scott MacArthur?

Scott MacArthur in the morning, but they were dismantling that morning show. Tim and Sid is no more. Tim and Sid, Tim and Friends. Is he gone? Is he out? I thought that was a TV show now. Tim McAuliffe, is he back on? So he still has a job.

I think he's got a TV show. He's still on TV, but he's been removed from the radio and part of this strategy. But that already happened. We're going to do like seasonal sports radio programming. As I said on Humble and Fred, which maybe we'll get into this later. Is it Hebsey, though, that says this is a mistake? Like you don't rotate shows based on these niche interests. I mean, the whole idea here is if you like basketball,

if you're not tuning in live, then we've got our NBA Talk podcast for you to listen to in the time slot. Well, that's what it is now. Even if you want to hear NBA rather than NHL on the radio. But are we ready to leave Wayne Holloway? I feel like we're getting into the Fan 590 changes. We're building up then to the point that Rogers is shifting things around. The head of Rogers Sports and Media, Jordan Banks,

posted an incomprehensible manifesto on LinkedIn. There he is talking about building a bleeding edge NHL on Sportsnet Studio, stuff about exploring content related to sports gambling that they see big revenue streams in there. Here's a good one. Analyzing data from billions of customer events to identify and eliminate pain

points from our customers' journeys at TSC. The shopping channel. Does that make any sense to you? Experimenting with dynamic ad insertions, 5G, live personalization, a segmentation tool that uses machine learning to determine sports fans' preferences and products and mobile-first personalization tools for city news products

that take a data-enabled, user-centric approach to content delivery and not acknowledging it all. Jordan Banks came over to Rogers from Facebook. Look, he's getting well-paid, okay? Like he was the head of Facebook Canada even before Facebook was much of a thing. He rode along there as it became the big powerhouse. So not only did he succeed there, he had the stripes necessary for Rogers to recruit him and say,

OK, we've got a guy here from Facebook. Facebook is now the most powerful media company on Earth. What could go wrong? So he has to come up with all this baffle gab. And imagine a world in which people are, how did he put it, using city news products rather than just liking them on Facebook and following them on Twitter.

I don't know if it's happening. Okay, this is going on city TV. A digression here with Jordan Banks. I mean, okay, but look, I'm sure he's a great guy. All his employees high-fiving him at the end of his note. They certainly think he's a great guy. What about all the ones he's left behind? Rogers is in a position right now where I think they are willing to get rid of anyone

who stands in the way of realizing this incoherent dream. And the employees know it. Like, they all know it. They're all running straight. Okay, but, you know, maybe if you like his post on LinkedIn, they're keeping score in HR. There's, like, a social credit system. You know, you put the right pronouns in the bio,

and before you know it, you are renewed to work at Rogers. Is it worth the risk? Many more years. They say they're hiring. They're hiring hundreds of people. I got to like that. But they're getting rid of message now. I got to go like that LinkedIn post.

You never know. Okay. But you know what? You imagine a guy like, like Ross Weston. Sure. Ross. He's an early FOTM.

He was, he was down here in the basement. He just wanted to be a DJ on the radio. He wanted to be Toronto's answer to Howard Stern, right? He was an intern there in New York. He just wanted to be a DJ on the radio. He wanted to be Toronto's answer to Howard Stern, right? He was an intern there in New York. He just wanted to talk to girls on the request line,

be a little bit of a local celebrity, introduce some Dua Lipa records on the radio. What business do Raw's and Mocha have with all this corporate technological baffling? How does this help them? Would they, like, ask guys like these, when they come back to the basement, would you have gotten into the business if you knew that the business was going to be this?

Like, is that not a fair question to ask people in that position who've risen to that pinnacle? You know, with a few exceptions, guests are usually far better on this program after they leave these jobs, because then suddenly they're going to be very honest with questions like that while you've got the job. I'm standing by with bated breath for Ross Weston's termination.

It's Ross from Kiss 92. Oh, Iination. It's Ross from Kiss 92. Oh, I see. It's Ross. And by the way, look, they do a terrific job. I think they are like the shining lights of Rogers Media. Why do you think they've

pumped so much promotion into them to do this show across Canada? So Ross and Mocha are safe. They're not going anywhere. But they were willing to dispose of Maureen Holloway and Mike Cooper. I mean, maybe still they're doing the voice track. So who's coming?

Yeah, sacrificing them to bring in a new paradigm to the CHFI morning show. And speculation points to a duo who recently departed without any explanation from uh bell media cp24 breakfast okay and remember let's just speak about what we know and then we can be very clear let's just speak about the fact that by the time by the time a lot of people are listening to this episode this thing it might have already been announced it's breaking as we speak gurdip and puja separately but only a week apart or something announced they were leaving cp24 and it you don't, but only a week apart or something, announced they were leaving CP24. And you don't have to be a rocket surgeon to know that they are going to resurface as a duo somewhere in this marketplace. Now, I always think of them as TV people, right? So for a while,

I was thinking, oh, maybe they'll show up at Global on the TV side. And then the Maureen Holloway news drops. And you start to kind of see the fact that maybe this is actually going to Rogers. Maybe Rogers poached Gurdip and Pooja. And maybe there's, and I don't know because a lot of this is my guess, but maybe they will be a new morning show on CHFI. And maybe there's some television opportunities at Breakfast Television. What say Mark Weisbach?

Well, then watch your back, Sid Cicero. You know, he cried on his last day doing the sports show. The tears were flowing. We had a good laugh listening to that one. What? After he gave a shout-out to Mark Hebbshire. But no joke, watch your back. There he was blubbering over the fact that after all these years

talking sports with Tim, I mean, you'd think that he would be excited that he got a corporate promotion on this breakfast television show. I don't know. Maybe that is dispensable. Maybe the CP24 hosts will be brought in to rejuvenate breakfast television, that they bring a different face, that they've been proven more viable, that they were the competition and they beat City TV to a pulp?

Will it be a situation where then there's breakfast television and breakfast radio going on at the same time with the same broadcasters? Now you float this theory and somebody comes back at you and says, well, they're not radio people. But does it even matter anymore? Yeah, right. But that's exactly what I'm trying to understand here. Is this a hybrid model or something similar to a Marilyn Dennis, right?

Because Marilyn Dennis is a big TV star and she's a radio star at Bell Media. Maybe they're going to try to do something similar. A signal right there right off the bat because as soon as they get rid of Maureen Holloway, they announce filling in will be Tracy Moore, city TV host from City Line. So she's not a radio DJ either. Right, right, right.

And so that's a signal of where they're willing to go. Look, I mean, watching the calendar here, several months in the making was 680 News and all these news radio stations half the money that they used to, have half the audience that they had a decade or two or three ago, why don't we double up and make our TV and radio station one and the same? And, you know, that means fewer employees on the payroll that also came up with humble and fred i mean the realization that uh in fact uh the glory days are done and all this big money that maureen holloway was making uh what do you say aaron day aaron davis or quote herself

something to the effect of like uh effect of like the vaults are empty in terms of morning show salaries. Well, not empty for the boss to write a bunch of baffle gab on LinkedIn, but then again, that's not for public consumption. And that's not for the audience they're looking for. We're talking here behind the curtain. Mike, you and me are like the media insider elitists. We're not representing a CHFI audience.

I realize, in fact, when I come here and talk about not just this, but everything in radio and most other media out there, is you're not a consumer of any of this stuff. We're sitting here talking for hours about it. We're talking for like Tucker and Maura. You have no idea what any of this means. And yet I've never met anyone with more of an appetite for gossip about this garbage. Like you eat it all up as long as it's me.

As long as it's amazing. I resent the word gossip. Can I tell you why? If I'm talking about it, you will listen, but you never listen to the actual shows. Isn't it great? talking about it you will listen but you never listen to the actual shows isn't it great see to me gossip is this radio person uh is uh sleeping with this radio person or something to that effect we have done a little bit of that i try to avoid that to be quite honest i try to you don't need another letter from howard i don't think speculating on who will take over the chfi

morning show to me that's not gossip that's. That, to me, is fair game. I don't think that's below the belt. But anyway. You know, you had a list of who was coming up after me next week, and it included Peter Mansbridge. Yes, Tuesday. And Scott Turner. Wednesday.

And 1236. Now, I guess if I put my name a little bit more in the forefront, if I was a different kind of personality, You know, I would be better known. Like, I would be more like people who knew who Peter Mansbridge and Scott Turner was would know my actual name. But after a certain number of decades, I found my comfort level, and 1236 works fine.

Do you think Peter Mansbridge knows who you are? Well, I'm looking at the contrast. Okay, first of all, it's completely surreal. Forget about you, Toronto Mike, doing this podcast in your basement. Like, me and Scott Turner and Peter Mansbridge in the same sentence? How did I get here? And yet at the same time, it gets me reflecting then on who do I

think is the greater media personality? Now what is the intersection out there of people who have heard of both Scott Turner and Peter Mansbridge? I consider and lecture for hours about both their careers. I have a lot to say about this topic.

And so Scott Turner, who's a real modest guy, but he's done these KOTJ episodes with you and he's gone through the history of his career. Decade by decade. He has had a profound effect on the popular culture of Southern Ontario

and the rest of Canada and the entire world. CFNY, Energy Radio, Flow. Amazing stuff. culture of Southern Ontario and the rest of Canada and the entire world. CFNY, Energy Radio, Flow. Amazing stuff. I worship Scott Turner from when I first ever heard him on the radio, which was like a mid-1980s on CFNY. Right. With David Marsden and Chris Shepard and Earl Jive and James Baby Scott.

But Scott Turner was the one that I related to the most because he was the biggest music geek of all. I mean, Scott Turner is amazing. Tell him I said that. Because he's not going to listen this far into any of these episodes, but I'm going to, like every word that he says, everything that he's tweeted,

I love it all. Peter Mansbridge is Peter Mansbridge. But are you willing to take the position that Scott Turner is, in fact, a more important and influential media figure than the guy who showed up doing the National every night. Let me ask it this question. Let me just pose this question a little bit differently. So I have these two people booked next week.

I have Peter Mansbridge on Tuesday and I have Scott Turner booked on a Wednesday. Are you asking me which of those two episodes I'm excited about and looking forward to the most?

There are different genres of Toronto Mike interviews. Like to me, there's no contest. No contest for me. There's one guy plugging a book who's doing these assembly line interviews. He's claiming that his book tells you the real story from behind the scenes of doing the news every single night.

But we know what the real stories are. That is to say he worked at the CBC. All sorts of turmoil going on there. Clashing egos. People thrown out the door. Lots of drama. And this is not goss about Peter Mansbridge's personal life, even though Frank Magazine used to do a lot of that too.

I mean, you can get into that with him as well. But when Peter Mansbridge writes a book, you just know it doesn't cover any of that, right? He's writing about like, I went to the swearing-in ceremony for the Pope, or I was covering the battlefields in Afghanistan. Like, he's not going to tell you the backstage water cooler office gossip

from all those years at the CBC. Surely we can give Peter Mansbridge the benefit of the doubt, considering this episode hasn't even recorded yet. Like following this episode, I'm willing to say to you, oh, that was a pain.

Nick Kiprios, I said this to Brady. Nick Kiprios was episode 700. I was disappointed with the episode because I didn't feel he gave anything. And I don't, but I felt I should have Nick on at least the one time, given the benefit of the doubt, and try to have a good real talk combo with the guy.

Right? Not everybody is Scott Turner, who has probably been on the show five times at this point, and every time delivered because Scott Turner is exceptional. And again, in our wheelhouse, that's our cup of tea, Scott Turner. And I don't care about Scott Turner's personal life. And I don't even care about any clashes

you might have had with radio management. You know why? Because Scott Turner is a genius. And I'm just saying, and reflecting upon those names that you had me in the middle of, what a shame it is that Peter Mansbridge

would have absolutely no recognition of the name Scott Turner. Like, give Scott the Order of Canada. I don't know. At one point, I was advocating, I'd hear he should be doing the morning show on the CBC. But instead, there he is programming these Evanov light radio stations.

They just rebranded the one licensed in Newmarket from the Jewel 88.52 Lite. And that's what Scott Turner is up to now. I look forward to hearing about it. Look, it's okay. I mean, he's bringing a more enlightened attitude to this style of soft rock radio there on the far left of the dial.

It's a living. It's a way for him to do what he does best. I think light 88.5, just looking at the players for one day, more Gino Vanelli than any other Toronto radio station. Well, that's okay in my books. Get off black cars.

And remember, we almost lost Scott Turner too, which we'll get into when he's in my backyard on Wednesday. I'm looking forward to catching up with him because he had a, considering he's a very fit gentleman who bikes, I think he might bike less often than I do, but I think he does much longer rides than I do.

He's a healthy guy physically, but he had a heart condition that required major heart surgery. And we're going to talk about it Wednesday. But just think about it. We almost lost Scott Turner. Scott Turner, Peter Mansbridge, and me. Can you play a song so that I can take a break and drink some GLB?

Okay, that's not a cold can, though. Are you okay drinking a warm? It's cold enough for Nick. Instead of playing a song. I mean, speaking of me showing up late, can though uh are you okay drinking a warm enough okay well instead of i don't think we've i mean speaking of me showing up late i don't i don't think i've ever waited this far into the episode to break out the beer well because i made you a coffee right so you had to drink your coffee before you could get into the beer and that's why we're down here because there's a toilet over there because you're going to need it but i'm going to just let the listenership in on something so my

brain was thinking okay wise blot's late because buses disappeared on him, and I have something I have to do at 4.45 right now as we speak. The thing is, I barely, look, this is all it takes, Mike. How long? We're what, an hour 20 into this episode? I don't even remember being late anymore. You see, like the effect that coming here has on me? Well, I remember? I am having

a wonderful day. Even though I was puttering around the bus bay at Islington Station for 45 minutes. At some point during your Greg Brady rant, I realized I don't want to rush you through all

of this radio, and we have some TV we're going to cover in a minute, just so we can rush through the Ridley funeral home memorial section of, uh, this episode of Toronto Mike, like what is the joy there for me? Is this, is this a task? Like,

is this a task I need to knock off in my calendar? Wise blot, bang that off so I can get rid of him by four 45 and then feel like, uh, disappointed in the episode and have to wait a month for your return because now you know what I like is that we now have a set time uh 2 p.m the first Thursday of every month I like that we finally got smart on that front but so I'm gonna let the listeners know Mike Mike this is a podcast people are listening whenever

they want so I decided about I don know, 45 minutes ago or so, maybe an hour ago at this point, I decided let it breathe, enjoy the journey, and you're just going to have to like go walk the streets of New Toronto or hang out in the backyard for an hour while I do something that, you know, helps pay my mortgage and put my kids through university. And then we'll have to do,

like we'll have to pick up the memorial section on the other side. So basically, you will get an extensive break is what I'm telling you, buddy. So let me just take this opportunity because I want to ask you about Humble and Fred. You said you listened this morning and I want to talk about their 10 years.

And I also want to talk about this TV move that I thought maybe it's because I never watched this show, as you pointed out, but I felt it was way under the radar and I want to talk to you about it. But I want to give you something for making the trek. And this is the first time I've ever given you this. Are you ready? This is the real deal. I've never given this to you before, even though you've been over here every month for what feels like several years now. A $75 digital gift card to use at chefdrop.ca.

Mike, I regret to inform you, this moment has happened before. You record so many episodes, how can you remember? I was here at the beginning of September, which might have been the first episode that you did with Chef Drop. Actually, following up on this offer been the first episode that you did with ChefDrop. Actually, following up on this offer is an entirely different subject. Because you need to actually physically go, this is how it works, let me help you out.

You're not a digital guy, so I'll help you. You've got to go on your web browser to ChefDrop.ca. You need to pick one of the many fantastic meal kits from wonderful chefs and great restaurants. you need to pick one that you would like to eat. Okay, this is how it works. And then when it's time to pay, let's pretend that this is a $45 meal. I'm just making that up. You put in the, well, you'll get an email

with the special promo code to use, and then it's going to give you a $75 credit. So you're going to end up paying absolutely nothing and this food is going to arrive at your home and you're going to make it and you're going to eat it and you're going to tell me it was delicious. You got it? Forget about me. What about everyone else? This is a commercial, isn't it? Buy one, get one 50% off.

Buy one, get one 50% off. The promo code for this month of October is F-O-T-M-B-O-G-O. That stands for buy one, get one. So buy one, get one 50% off. This is a fantastic deal. Everybody should do it. I can't believe, Mark, that I totally forgot I've already given you $75. Do you get two? I don't see why not. Maybe you're going to end up with like every month you come back, there's another 75. You end up with this massive credit

and you're just like eating like lobster and you're just living high on the hog there. But I'm going to take care of you again if I can, of course. I want to give you, of course, you're drinking some fresh beer from Great Lakes Brewery. Much love to Palma Pasta. Later, we'll get into the Ridley Funeral Home Memorial section of Toronto Mic'd and we'll give

more love to Ridley Funeral Home. McKay CEO Forums have a great podcast called the CEO Edge Podcast in fact later today I'm going to post the most recent episode on torontomic.com I urge everybody to subscribe and listen

to this fantastic podcast hosted by nancy mckay mike majeski mike majeski is ripping up the gta real estate scene if you go to real estate love.ca you can reach out to to mike uh he's the number 14 remax sales representative in canada and he's posting these outlandish videos on Instagram. If you go follow him at Majeski Group Homes, you won't regret it. That's a wise, wise move. And last but not least, StickerU. Go to StickerU.com. I think it was Blair Packham said, he told me he's going to go buy a bunch of stickers at stickeru.com because I was telling him all about it. And they're local and they're wonderful.

And you can get decals and temporary tattoos and such. And you should do so. Humble and Fred. No what? No transition? Music? We're just going to like start out of nowhere? Nothing at all?

All right. here we go. What did I come here for? I've thrown you off your game. Check this one Looked under my tree And it was there Uh-huh-huh The Christmas present I wanted all year Yeah, yeah, yeah Uh-huh, the Christmas present.

I want it all year. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I said, look out your whims, cause I'm coming through. I got my engines revving. Lock up your women and your children too. I'm on my way to heaven. It's my snow removal. you had Humble and Fred in the backyard for a live reunion episode.

Yeah, that's the first time they recorded together since March 2020. I listened to it all and I heard from the voice of humble Howard Glassman what might have been an acknowledgment of listening to 1236 episodes of Toronto Mic'd. What do you think? I don't think so. At least, no, you don't think so?

I think he referred to the fact that we go on for multiple hours and they want it out of your backyard in 90 minutes because these guys don't believe that anyone would listen to a podcast for that long. Fred wanted out in 60. You're supposed to spend like 90 minutes every single day with Humble and Fred. But anybody else who dares to ask for that much time, like once a month, is crossing the line. I think there's a little bit of an inside joke

with Humble and Fred that all episodes of Toronto Mic are four hours long, and I think I've told them in the past that the only thing that comes close to that is a once-a-month episode of Mark Weisblatt, and I think that's what Howard is referring to. Okay, at least I got a shout-out. It wasn't a disparaging one,

even though Humble and Fred have spent now 24 years holding a grudge against me for a press conference with Howard Stern for not even mentioning their names. Just like an implication, playing the game here of Radio Morning Show Wars, but I think at a time when they felt like

they were destabilized, demoralized. Decapitated. That Howard Stern showed up in Q107, took all their listeners away. Never, ever letting it go. That's all part of the fun. But then they turned the tables on Toronto Mike. And what did they do?

They went after you for the fact that you got some press. I wouldn't say this is the highest profile outlet in which to get attention, but I do know the editor there, Connie Thiessen. Yeah, I talked to Connie. Broadcast Dialogue. She's great. Wonderful woman. BroadcastDialogue.com.

And I think for the sake of keeping up on the Canadian media scene beyond the 1236 newsletter, which has a wackier sensibility, she in fact delivers the goods on Broadcast Dialogue like she tells you what's going on. Yeah. And she keeps track of everything. She'll tell you Maureen Holloway is no longer at CHFR. It's not just radio.

It's internet. It's, you know, old school journalism. Amazing. So over there, you would have found notice that Humble and Fred are about to celebrate. What is it? 10 years?

10 years of podcasting. Only 10 years? By the way, I'm actually, this is, I'm actually hitting 12 years. It's not 12 years. I'm hitting 10 years. By the way, I'm actually, this is, I'm actually hitting 12 years. It's not 12 years. I'm hitting 10 years in August, but humble and Fred hit 10 years in, uh,

this month doing a, a daily morning radio show and a bit of a journey. You talk about in the backyard, it went from, well, we'll just do this on our own and make a lot of money to, uh, what I think was a few years of like begging to get their old jobs back in whatever way possible.

Even with Rogers at one point, as discussed on there, the idea that their podcast would be like a platform for a national rock radio morning show, which started in Kingston, failed miserably, and again, they still hold a grudge about it. And then Sirius Radio and Airtime on... 820. On Bell Media Stations.

Yeah, 820 and 1010. 610. So... And now sort of finding this comfort enough to make what they brag is a reasonably good living. Yep. Great for them that doing it online as they do right now has found a certain

bunch of advertisers who believe in Humble and Fred, recognize their name. So it sounds like not only did it work out in the end if this idea had a finish line like a 10 year goal, but it sounds like they see this as sustainable for another 10 years to come

so broadcast dialogue is like a i don't know an industry publication as you described and connie and the good people there uh wrote about humble and fred celebrating 10 years so i'm gonna read this verbatim i'm looking at it right now this is like a little paragraph in a roundup of uh current media event yeah it's an email newsletter and this is the paragraph and there is a picture there's the the infamous tree photo that i take of my guests and there's me humble and fred uh they're holding their palma pasta lasagna boxes and this is exactly i'm going to read it verbatim it says humble and fred celebrate 10 years of podcasting on October 14 with a special live stream at 7 p.m. Eastern. Okay. So you with me so far? Humble and Fred

celebrate 10 years of podcasting on October 14 with a special live stream at 7 p.m. That's amazing. Fred is willing to stay up past his bedtime for the first time in 10 years. The duo recently visited Toronto Mic'd to talk about the last decade, the evolution of podcasting, and the uniqueness of their success. Listen here. So that link, of course, goes to the 90-minute, what I call an infomercial for Humble and Fred, where we literally spent 90 minutes talking about 10 years of podcasting

at Humble and Fred. So I see this, uh, this morning I saw it. I knew it was coming because Connie said it would be in there, but I didn't know what it would say. This comes out. And of course I'm listening to their program because every Thursday I do a live hit on Humble and Fred and I pop on at like, I don't know, 8 55 AM and I'm listening on Facebook and I can hear they have a snarky, like, oh, nice press release about Toronto Mic'd. Like one of those, like, oh, that's really, look at that. It's all about Toronto Mic'd. And I heard that and it pissed, pissed me the fuck off. Like it just hit that nerve. And now I'm going live

with these guys and I'm, I'm pissed because of the, you know, all I did was try to get this publication to write about Humble and Fred's 10 years of podcasting. And I could read it again, but it's basically Humble and Fred, 10 years. Here's the live stream at 7 p.m. on October 14th. They went on Toronto Mike to talk about the evolution of podcasting and the uniqueness of their success in their last decade.

Like to me, that's about Humble and Fred with a link to an external source, which is my podcast, discussing their 10 years, like a retrospective. And they were pissed off. Like, why isn't that link going to humbleandfred.com?

Like, why is this link going to Toronto Mic'd? Anyways, piss me the hell off. You listen to this, what say you about this morning? Well, yeah, you told me to check it out. It was a confrontation.

You only listen to a thousand fucking podcasts a month. So there you did. You did. A benevolent broadcast with Humble and Fred in your backyard. Everybody got along, right? You've had some episodes that didn't go so well. Well, the last time they were on,

we had a fight. This was November 2019. In September 2021, this was a love fest, wasn't it? You talked about the history of the Humble and Fred podcast and the legendary guests they had on. Frank Sinatra Jr. Right. Peter Cetera.

Gian Gomeschi. Gian Gomeschi. I was going to say Peter Cetera, who somewhat confusingly was actually a Humble & Fred fan. Yeah, he discovered it on SiriusXM, I think. A retired, semi-retired lead singer of Chicago was listening to Humble & Fred on Sirius satellite radio. Right.

SiriusXM. It was great. There was no animosity. I did ask them what they were making, and there was a moment of like, why should we tell you? But I asked them not thinking it was the answer. Okay, so like the journey from

something like the broadcast dialogue website to dedicating 90 minutes to listening to Toronto Mike hanging out with Humble and Fred. I mean, it's very nice at all to imagine that just because there's a link to it that somebody is going to suddenly detour their entire day

to listen to this segment. I mean, that in itself is a long shot. Right. But also... Look, maybe somebody will. Like one or two people. Right, but it's also ridiculous to suggest that this write-up for the 11 people reading the podcast dialogue,

no one will figure out how to hear or subscribe to humble and fred who have 10 years of podcasting like how can they figure it out when the link is going to a toronto mic isn't the entire humble and fred project just revenge upon all the all the people who fired them didn't want them like isn't it or isn't what they get up for every morning entirely driven by spite don't they that seems to be entirely along the way right okay that's all right and i i would say look i mean i hear it most of all on hebzion sports the point in time that was reached you know it's funny we just went into this whole talk about greg brady and maureen Holloway and Pooja Honda and whoever else is out there making news.

But, you know, I wonder if here, riding out this pandemic, we actually reach the point where it doesn't matter what's going on in these corporations anymore. It doesn't matter what Jordan Banks writes in his manifesto on LinkedIn. Podcasting won. banks writes in his manifesto on linkedin podcasting one like the whole idea that even though financially you're not reaping the rewards and my vision my dream of going into business with you uh maybe even renting an office it doesn't require me to slap out here to new toronto every month um that that uh may have yet to happen but don't you don't you get the sense here in fall 2021 that

it doesn't matter anymore i get the sense that uh as you mentioned during the greg brady episode of toronto mic uh the fan 590 blew up whole schedule. And there's a new schedule with a couple of people missing, including FOTM Scott MacArthur and non-FOTM, but maybe one day Richard Deitch. I did notice that the new schedule is essentially a bunch of podcasts that record live on the radio. Like, really, that's the direction they've gone towards at the Fan 590 is these are podcasts, and we record them live on the radio, and if you can't catch them live, you can subscribe via your favorite podcatcher. And so why can't Humble and Fred calm down and relish the fact that maybe at the last act of their career, they landed on the right side of history. Like, this model that they're a part of

does represent the future. But they don't see it that way. Like, they're just sort of hostile about the fact that they're not getting the respect from some imaginary corporate media center. And if that doesn't happen, if this media industry website links to Toronto Mike over and above Humble and Fred,

that they are being slighted somehow, I don't know how you talk them down. Is it even possible? Is there anything you can say? See, on one side of the coin there, you think the goal was essentially that they would be their own bosses, record independent of any Rogers or Bell or SiriusXM

or any of these old distributors, and they will make a living. They will actually make enough money that they can pay themselves an adult wage. This is the goal. And when you look at it that way, mission accomplished. This is exactly what they've done. 10 years in, they podcast, they control the means of distribution, just like I do here on Toronto Mic'd. And they

can pay each other, they can pay themselves an adult wage and that is success. But because they're radio guys and for years they were on the radio, there seems to be this whole, you're right, there seems to be something where they're looking for some acknowledgement from the old school terrestrial radio complex that's simply never going to come, I don't think. Yeah, yeah, learn from Hebsey. Hebsey is over it. He goes golfing with Dan O'Toole.

Right. And I think Hebsey has the upper hand there, right? Because like a Dan O'Toole would Right. And I think Hebsey has the upper hand there, right? Because, like, a Dan O'Toole would love to get back in the game after they separated the Jay and Dan duo. Sure. But it's like Hebsey already conquered that turf, and he did it to some degree. A leap of faith.

Like, he didn't know how it would work out, and I don't know. It's not like it's reached its full promise or potential. You do have to realize that this was a situation that would take, I don't know, five, 10, 20 years to reach fruition. Maybe when you're in your 60s, you can't take it, right? Like, you're impatient. You know you only have so many years left to live.

You don't want to work too hard for the rest of your life. I don't know. What is it about the fact that they are still looking for this validation? I don't know, but I find it annoying. They're the ones who drag you in this morning into an argument.

Is it something you would bring up again on their ceremonial glory 10th anniversary episode podcast? I guess you're just there to spread the love. I'm only a human. I'm a human being. So when I heard them both make the remarks where they'll always say, oh, we're a comedy show and we're doing a bit. But I've known them long enough to know that there's no bit

there. This is actually... These guys are still mad at me for a Howard Stern thing from 1997. But somehow, Mike, I don't know. It's the magic of Mike Boone. Somehow, rather than 25 years

of resentment, you managed to get this all over within five minutes. Right. Because I was at literally, like, it's just the timing was such that I heard them. Also, your personality is different than mine. And I was literally joining their show anyways to talk about something else. Are we going to, okay, so are we going to get into Chris Shepard? I mean, we played off the top of the snow removal machine,

which was like this is when they actually put effort into the show. But it happens to everybody, like Freddie P. I mean, Howard Stern also shows up for work and coaxes his way through a celebrity interview and recycled schtick. Did you hear Howard Stern with Mick Jagger? I did not. That might have been a low point. Did you hear Howard Stern with Mick Jagger? I did not. That might have been a low point in the history of Howard Stern because Mick Jagger doesn't say anything ever.

And yet there was 40 minutes of something that was a simulation of a celebrity interview. So Snow Removal Machine by Fred Patterson was going back to maybe even the days of Pete and Geetz, Steve Anthony, because this would have been around the time that the cult put out that electric album, 1987. Steve Anthony was probably the guy

because it's like a Christmas shtick that they were doing. In 1987, Steve Anthony was probably the guy, because it's like a Christmas shtick that they were doing, and there was Fred Patterson transitioning from being the CFNY sports guy to more of a main stage player on the radio station, which then led to Humble and Fred. Now, the Cult Electric album was actually made possible by a guy named Chris Shepard. This is verified and validated. I read it at the time in Spin Magazine

that Ian Asprey, formerly of Hamilton, Ontario, he did credit Shep with being the guy that introduced him to the Beastie Boys and Rick Rubin and in fact was the one that tipped them off to the idea that there

was a different kind of sound out there that the cult could explore from the British Gothic thing into more this ironic American alternative rock sound and it worked out for the cult at least in Canada

because at the time Guns N' Roses were the opening act for the cult people at least in Canada, because at the time, Guns N' Roses were the opening act for the cult. You know, people are always referring to that. In 1987, it was the fact the cult were more popular in Canada to the point where Guns N' Roses were their warm-up act. Chris Shepard made it happen. Chris Shepard did a lot of stuff. From inheriting the Saturday nights on CFNY from David Marsden,

somewhere in the Toronto Mic feed, you've got a clip of the last episode, final farewell of David Marsden doing Saturday nights on CFNY. He was winding down his time at the station, passing the torch to this young man that he saw in the Toronto dance club scene. And what was happening with raves, Chris Shepard was anointed the successor. I thought that was a whimsical whim on the point, David Marsden,

but as we've honored him here over the years, he was always out there and took this guy and made him a radio star. Chris Shepard ended up going from Club 102 on CFNY to Energy 108 in Burlington with Scott Turner and then became a recording artist and a celebrity with a whole bunch of compact discs he made for Quality Records. Then started his own band, first BKS, recorded with Don Cherry, and later a major label deal for Love, Inc., while continuing to do his pirate radio CDs, which compelled

the youth of Canada. And then at one point, Chris Shepard was nowhere to be found. I think he was involved in some projects into the 2000s. His original run ended. I know he had a little deal with Virgin Records even up to 2006. At one point, he was on the Canadian version of MTV Cribs somewhere around that time, which I don't know if that's anywhere online, but kind of notorious because people were looking at it like,

okay, here's yesterday's man. Here's Chris Shepard, a guy that I looked up to when I was a kid, and now we're all older, and even though he got a little show with Rodgers on Jack FM, Out of Control was the name of the show on Saturday nights in the mid-2000s. It seemed like time was running out for Shep. Everything he originally represented. Look, time marches on.

And eventually the Chris Shepard schtick maybe couldn't find an audience anymore. And you also default to speculating maybe the guy just made a lot of money and his investments were okay and he was able to somewhat fade in the background and nobody really heard from Chris Shepard anymore. He was in the where are they now file from Canadian culture of the 80s and 90s. Had a good long run.

But then in 2014, Chris Shepard made an appearance on the Humble and Fred show. And I excavated this clip because I think it's a fascinating document. Not a lot of people maybe know about this, right? Like Humble and Fred, from what I could tell at that point, they were doing the morning radio show on SiriusXM, also the podcast. I remember hearing it at the time. It was the one and only Chris Shepard media appearance in the 2010s. And I figured, where else on earth are we going to go through this

clip than on Toronto Mic'd? Let's hear and maybe we'll cut in and discuss some of the details. Chris Shepard and Humble and Fred. Okay, I'm going to play this in its entirety. I just got a text from a client

who cancelled the 5 o'clock. So we're going gonna go straight so mike it's a miracle but i'm gonna tell you now and uh not editing this out either i'm gonna play this rather lengthy clip and if you need the facilities now is the time you have seen how many liquids i've consumed okay chris shepherd and humble and f, okay, this is from 2014. So keep in mind, Chris Shepard at that point was MIA for somewhere around seven years. This is seven years ago. So we're talking like somewhere around 14, 15 years without Chris Shepard as a public figure on the landscape. I mean, he's been around.

There's sightings of him and maybe DJ Dog Whistle did some gigs. But Chris Shepard stopped being a public figure 15 years ago. And this was in between. Because Scott Turner, we've talked about him many times in this show, and he's coming over next week. I have put out the feelers with people like Chris Shepard and Ivor Hamilton and basically anyone I have on the show and become a friend with who might know where Chris Shepard is

or how to get Chris Shepard on Toronto Mic, I've been working on that myself since this appearance on Humble and Fred in 2014. And I've had zero luck getting to Chris Shepard to invite him to appear on Toronto Mic. And the takeaway from this clip, which we're about to hear, is that you don't want to have him on at all.

Let's go. There was people with ego problems and ego is always under threat of attack you know it's a real weakness and you didn't have any of that and now uh these years later neuroscience is an interest of yours i know during the break you were saying we wanted to talk a little bit about you know what you perceive as some of the issues that people have. And you were talking about how people's minds are responsible for a lot of the maladies that the physical manifestation of all this stress. And, you know, and Chris is modest, you know, because I asked him point blank. He has three PhDs.

Three. Three of them. And this has all been achieved since its days at CFNY. Now, the second two are neuroscience. The first one not, though, you were saying? I really don't like talking about that stuff because it comes off as ego thing. No, it doesn't.

But the first one actually is quite hilarious because a guy from a university in Canada called me up, a prominent city, and he said, you know, Chris, we just think you're a genius and you have to come down here and just be all part of this thing. And I went down there

and I didn't understand a word any of these people were saying to me they were just talking like these 37 word syllables and I was just like I have no idea so I brought a friend of mine who was an English major basically and he was going to explain to me what people were talking to me about and I really wanted to get out of it and I went down to the party and it was in this converted church the woman who was financing this venture that where everybody got honorary doctorates and I was I mean I was working with these heavy people from around the world like well-respected guys in in space science and all this stuff and I'm like what am I doing here right so I'm trying to get out of it I'm trying to find the guy to get out of it and I stumble in this party room

it's a converted church that this multi-millionaire heiress had who's sponsoring this thing is having this event and this party and I'm trying to get out of this thing and there's champagne at the door and I get in there and then I stumble in this room and there's like people like Margaret Atwood and

a few people I know there and they're like oh hey chap what are you what are you doing here right and then i'm like well i'm one of the lecturers ego came in right and then and then i was i i tried to get out of the thing and and i remember this woman calling me from the university saying okay we know you're a music producer we know you work on radio and we just don't really know what you're doing and as like when fred called me to come on this show i was asleep and the television was on and and there was terrorism at the time in the middle east going on and i said i must i i really want to get out of this thing i don't want i i'm not the person if i don't get a name i i'm gonna lose my job you gotta help me out i said i'm i'm a sound terrorist. And she goes, oh, brilliant, brilliant.

So then the next time, another guy calls, right? And then he's like, Shep, yeah, yeah, yeah. So we need a name for the symposium, right? You're working with this guy and Eisenman, the architect. And I mean, really heavy people. this you know uh gay theorist uh the the uh columbia uh uh dean on uh english literature i mean i was in with all these crazy people and so this guy calls me again i'm sleeping and the television's on and it's an old 40s movie 50s movies playing and and then he's like chep and i'm like i gotta get out of this so you got the wrong guy man i'm not the guy to speak to i'm

gonna lose my job i going to lose my job. I'm going to lose my job. We just need to know what you're going to call your seminar. Come on, give me. And there's that song that's on from that old movie. There's no business like show business. I go, there's no business like no business like no business I know. And the guy goes, brilliant.

And the reason I started getting is when I mentioned, I kind of screwed up the story a bit, but when I brought my English major friend with me to the party to explain to me what everybody was talking to me about, he said to me, I turned to him, and I'm like, so what are they saying to me? And he goes, they're making up words, and at that point, that's when I said,

okay, we're going to play a game on these guys here. So I went, and I did this presentation, got this honorary doctorate from this leaning university. And during the presentation, I opened up with B.B. Bob Lennon singing about the Hoopla, Rachel singing about the American Trang, and he's going to study, take it easy, take it easy, I like emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion, deep emotion satisfaction baby anyway some guys dictated this in a book i see this it's like these guys are

serious right i had this i had las vegas show girls on stage i had these images and then i told them real life stories that happened to me and man i've had a crazy life strange things have happened to me and all of these are true but the the part of it that was because they made up words on me was that i said i kept hearing this sound and it was a really strange sound really strange sound and i play it and then the next thing and i'm over the piton mountains and the the the parasailing rope breaks and now i'm above the mountains and i i've drowned almost before that and i've pulled the thing out and i'm hanging on and i'm doing the lord's prayer and I'm thinking I'm going to die and I hear that sound again. Now all this is

true except for that sound again. And then at the end of it, I go, I finally realized what that sound was and I go and then I play it in its full context and I say, it's the sound of the Reverend Jim Jones committing suicide with 932 others in Jonestown, Guyana. And the whole audience

stands up and goes, brilliant. Chris Shepard, everybody. Look at that. I don't know, you know. Okay, Chris Shepard and Humble and Friend. Now keep in mind, Chris Shepard,

whether it was something he put on LinkedIn at one point or just what he was telling people where they were wondering where he'd been, made the claim that he had three PhDs in the area of neuroscience, which got people like you and me, Toronto Mike, searching around, like, where is the evidence of this, right? Is Chris Shepard not his real name?

Is there some other reality that he exists in that we're not familiar with? Would it be shocking to find out he's embellishing some of his... I mean, if you're an academic on that level, if you have published, you have to have actually completed papers to get those academic honors. There would be some evidence out there.

And, you know, nothing materialized, nothing at all. And there, you know, so there he is sort of being asked by Humble and Fred about all his degrees. And you heard that ramble, like I didn't hear anything there that validated the reality of his claim. You know, there he's going to space science and Margaret Atwood. And I was invited to this conference and people just want to talk to me about anything. And they refer to Eisenman, the architect to me. I don't even know the name that he's referring to.

Peter Eisenman. Yeah, yeah. Was he invited to these, was it Moses Neimer Idea City conference that he's describing? I don't even know. Like, and then you also notice in there when he broke into singing, there's no business like show business. It's like when Gilbert Gottfried every once in a while slips through with his real voice. And you realize in that appearance with Humble Howard, that was just Chris Shepard in Chris Shepard drag. Chris Shepard does not talk like that in reality.

Of course not. And there he was in 2014. I don't know how old he is. I mean, again, back in the day, he was probably shaving a few years off his age. He's somewhere now around 60 years old. You know, there's a guy who's mid 50s. He realizes he spent a long time in show business.

He's got to keep up appearances. He's got to put on the Chris Shepard voice. This guy can do an impression. It's crazy. Chris Shepard. Didn't imitate it, never duplicated it. Never imitated it, never duplicated it. And there he is, you know, trying really hard to do it.

At 8 o'clock in the morning with Humble and Fred, you just kind of end up feeling sorry for the guy, don't you, when you listen to that? Like, if you had him over here for a real talk interview, I don't think he would be any good. I don't think you could get any real talk out of him because he doesn't want,

he doesn't want to reveal his real self. At the same time, we got to be compassionate here. I don't know what he's been going through. I don't know. I don't know if you could find out, you know, is he just sort of living comfortably in this retirement

or is he maybe kind of annoyed and upset? Everyone gets the benefit of the doubt. Yeah, and everyone's going through a little something. So in revisiting, it's part of the 10th anniversary of Humble and Fred, that clip from Chris Shepard, that combination of like feeling a little sorry for the guy and at the same time wondering, I don't know, A combination of like feeling a little sorry for the guy.

And at the same time wondering, I don't know. Was he like a complete fraud? Was Chris Shepard like an Andy Kaufman performance artist for all those years? Is there a different personality that lurks within? My takeaway is I don't think it matters if we ever hear from the real chris shepherd at all that he might have actually done his legacy a disservice by having this mp3 lurking out there in the depths of humbleandfred.com but it is out there the whole appearance the one and only chris shepherdard with Humble and Fred in 2014. This song by Drake. I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I the previous Drake albums, I would literally take the albums on bike rides, but now

I'm so into my podcasts that it's hard for music to get some head share, if you will, some mind share when I'm on these daily rides. But I do need to catch up on my drizzly. Girls Want Girls by Drake featuring Lil Baby.

Do you know the difference between Da Baby and Lil Baby? And Lil Kim? Da Baby is the one that got in trouble for his sociological opinions. Lil Baby with

Drake Girls Want Girls. That is the song which was behind his Right Said Fred homage, which hit number one. You know that one because you put it in a post on TorontoMike.com. Absolutely. Number one single. So the runner-up in the streaming sweepstakes,

the week that Drake had nine out of the top ten, and Justin Bieber was on the tenth song. So you had, in fact, the all-Canadian Billboard Hot 100 top 10. That's how Girls Want Girls. Just ridiculous. Like, I think that is a song that makes people think that, okay, you've had your run, Drake. It's over.

Your day is done. You're doing this rap song about, you know, Girls Want Girls. He's rapping about how he's like a lesbian because he's so into the ladies and here we've got aubrey graham in october turning um 35 years of age can you believe drake he's catching up to it that'll like i think that was that was a tipping point that that was a song that got the critics saying okay drake you know enough already like stop mailing

it in with these uh misogynistic lyrics. And, you know, you've got your house on the bridal path. You've got the life you've always wanted. Just try and find another act. It's almost, it's compatible with Chris Shepard in that way, right? It's just sort of like, you've had your time. You made your millions or billions, and time to do something else.

So there you go. A little snapshot of September 2021 in Toronto. Girls want girls. Bye, Drake. Mark, Ridley Funeral Home, they're at 3080 Lakeshore. That's at 14th Street and Lakeshore in New Toronto. Brad Jones is a tremendous FOT. Yeah, thanks Brad for hanging in this

long each and every episode to hear the Ridley Funeral Home Memorial segment. So you can pay tribute without paying a fortune. You can learn more at RidleyFuneralhome.com Not like you could lose face So sad that you're not as smart As you thought you were in the first place Maybe

I could choose some of your persuasion To that persuasion To that persuasion To that persuasion Hard to operate Wipe, wipe, wipe, wipe, wipe away The taste of your machination To that machination To that machination

It's all I can put Except for the tails To that, for the tails To that, to that Norm Macdonald, I think, stands as the most significant celebrity death of September 2021. And as far as I know, Toronto Mike Boone, you were a huge Norm MacDonald fan. That is true, my friend. And from like the first day I learned he existed, he just... And when do you think that was? Was that Saturday Night Live? I think it was Saturday Night Live.

1993. And I think the path to doing something like that, where he had that airtime to himself on NBC, I think partly had to do with the fact that he came in during a low point in the history of SNL, where things were a little more up for grabs. It was one of those SNL eras where there was a lot more anarchy. It was the tail end of the Lorne Michaels renaissance,

and cast members were leaving, and they were experimenting a bit more, bringing people in on a short-term basis. I don't know that much was expected from Norm MacDonald, aside from the fact that he was Canadian, had that kinship with Lorne Michaels, even though at one point there was a big Canadian connection to SNL. That has not been the case since those days

when Mike Myers was on. Phil Hartman was Canadian, Mike Myers. And Phil Hartman and then Norm MacDonald. So at the time, definitely that aspect of Canadiana. And here was a performance artist kind of comic. And throwing him the weekend update after Dennis Miller, after Kevin Nealon, this was something different. This was unconventional.

He was bringing you into a different zone by being the anchor on this Saturday Night Live weekend update. But by that point, he had paid his dues. I mean, he was a writer on the sitcom Roseanne, and that came after working his way up in the clubs, including, well, starting in Ottawa, Ontario, where he, born in Quebec City, but moving to Ottawa.

His brother, Neil MacDonald, worked for the CBC, and it was Bob Saget who, on his podcast, gave very touching tribute to Norm MacDonald. The fact that they met at a comedy club when Bob Saget was like 21 and Norm MacDonald was 17. Wow.

And just showed up and approached him and was just like looking for advice, mentors, ideas about how he could get into this game. And that was the first meeting there of Norm Macdonald and Bob Saget. Right, and Bob Saget would go on to direct Dirty Work. Somewhere in 1980. I mean, Norm Macdonald, among other parts of his performance art, and he had a memoir. It was based on a true story.

Did you read that one? That was about five years ago. I need to read that one. There he was blurring the lines between fact and fiction. That included Norm MacDonald's public expression of his age, that he said initially was four years younger than he actually was and if you watch his weekend update clips i don't think there's any reason to doubt at the time he was like around 30 when he was more like 34 so it was

uh it was four years something he could get away with for all that time and no doubt uh savored that as part of his act that he just like made up a different official age and uh maybe a guy with a little more respect because he seemed like like he was that much more of an innovator also in auto it was tom green who uh remembered uh learning at the foot of of uh norm mcdonald in the comedy clubs now i don't know if the foot of Norm MacDonald in the comedy clubs. Now, I don't know if the history of Norm MacDonald would have been as interesting if his weekend update on Saturday Night Live didn't end with him being fired,

removed from having this liberty with his weekly fake newscast, because Don Ohlmeier at NBC, it's amazing in retrospect that this actually happened, that he did not like all the dunking on his friend O.J. Simpson, which of course became an integral part of the Norm MacDonald Act.

Then Norm goes on and makes a movie called Dirty Work, something that would have been, when he was riding high at SNL, I think that was in that summer in Toronto. And starring in a great. When he still had the Weekend Update gig. FOTM, Gordon Martin was in that film as well. Gordon Martin, Dini Petty, Artie Lang. Artie Lang,

who was a bit player, fat guy on Mad TV, became more of a legend. His association with Norm, which led him to Howard Stern. I think they were trying to make him the Chris Farley, I think is what was happening. Chris Farley, John Belushi, so a lot of great Toronto

moments in Dirty Work, including Don Rickles. Right. Do you remember the name of Don Rickles' character? The movie theater manager? No, remind me. Hamilton was the name of the movie theater boss. And from what I can remember of the plot, I mean, Dirty Work became a movie. You can meet people.

I'm sure you know some of them. We've seen Dirty Work like 500 times. Memorized. Those of us who like it, like it a lot. Memorized every minute. It just became one of those movies. And then Doug and the Slugs. Too bad.

The theme for the Norm show. And I thought, okay, you know that was totally a Norm MacDonald thing. Absolutely. Like no one else in Hollywood, no one else in the ABC television network would have known that song. He would have had to be a struggling club comedian in Canada to identify with Doug and the Slugs by the time he got to 1999. And how big a fan was I? I even watched the Norm show.

And that, again, was with Artie Lang. And I don't remember watching much of the Norm. I think I understood that the Norm show. And that again was with Artie Lang. And I don't remember watching much of the Norm. I don't even, I think I understood that the Norm show. It was kind of like, okay, you were a little bit famous and sitcoms were more of a thing. It was kind of like they would just put anything on the air, trying to find the next

Seinfeld that Norm Macdonald could actually somehow deliver. And the Norm show, was there any continuity? It was, it was a production association with the, with the Drew Carey show, which also was big,

made a lot of money. So it was like Norm, Norm could follow in those footsteps. Like in my little tiny little circle, because we were Norm fans from SNL, we followed him everywhere. So if he was on a late night talk show, for example,

it was a, you know, appointment viewing. Oh, Norm, he would show it was a, you know, appointment viewing. Oh, Norm, he would show up in the TV listings in the Toronto Star. Norm Macdonald was the guest. You,

you watched because you didn't miss a Norm Macdonald late night talk show appearance. And if he had a sitcom called the Norm Show, whatever it was called, you watched. Like I totally was there for the, for the whole damn thing. The only time I jumped off the Norm wagon was when he was the Bell Canada beaver.

Do you remember these beavers? Do you remember these pranks? Yeah, yeah, look, Mike. Everybody's got to make a living. I know, I know. And now in hindsight, I realize, okay, the man needed to make a living. He had some gambling debts.

Well, I guess whatever. He had an ex-wife. He had a kid. He had to sustain a certain income level, otherwise end up like someone like Dave Foley, you know, complaining that you're millions of dollars in debt to your ex and the court making you pay. But I mean, look, by the time the Norm Sherlock canceled, I think that was like a second wind,

right? It was like Norm MacDonald actually became more of a cult figure after he was famous rather than before. Somebody, I don't know who to attribute this to, except I thought it was pretty accurate, that he's sort of like if Andy Kaufman were funny, then you get Norm MacDonald. A lot of it had to do with the talk show appearances. Conan O'Brien, most of all, and David Letterman, that he would come in and be a reliable guest and incorporate, I guess,

a monologue into the idea of sitting on a talk show couch, deconstructing the medium that he was participating in. Not a lot of great memories of Conan O'Brien on the Tonight Show, which ended badly, and yet

what has gone down based on The Tonight Show, which ended badly. And yet, what has gone down based on the memorials, like the most legendary Norm Macdonald clip is what? Him telling a joke about the moth. I'm going to say that's a definite. Which was on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.

I would say that's a strong number, too. I think the go-to late-night talk show appearance by Norm Macdonald would be Courtney Thorne-Smith talking about his Carrot Top movie. Yeah, a movie with Carrot Top. Chairman of the board. And how much do you think that was spontaneous and improvised? And how much do you think it was a setup?

My brother Steve and I were in front of the television that night. At that time, we never missed Conan Live. It was aired live. It obviously was recorded earlier in the day. And it felt very improvised and on the cuff. And I mean, I've been to a, maybe we'll get into this of the next death we speak about,

but I've been to Conan Live when he was here in Toronto, and it's very live to tape. To be quite honest, when I started Toronto Mic'd, I had no idea how anything worked because I've never worked in the industry, but I had these memories

that Conan O'Brien recorded it all live to tape. There was no editing as it came out live. That's how it aired on the TV. And I remember thinking, that's how I want Toronto Mike to be. When you're done paying tribute to the hilarious Norm Macdonald, I think I have a good segue into more on that exact topic. So Norm Macdonald, again, like more of a cult figure doing his stand-up show

and all these talk show appearances and Comedy Central at one point, like he was going to or started doing a sports version of The Daily Show. Maybe that was, again, like too corporate for him. There was Norm MacDonald Live, earlier kind of podcast and streaming video thing. And then he became a presence on Twitter. And there was actually one point in time when Norm MacDonald was following me on Twitter. Wow. Like, imagine you get a notification, Norm MacDonald is following you.

And he was only following a couple hundred people. And I thought that was interesting. I'm on the radar with Norm MacDonald. He knows a little bit of who I am for a moment, anyhow, because I think he ended up unfollowing. But you knew that was Norm MacDonald because he got very personal on the Twitter account. And this included things that rubbed people the wrong way.

Maybe that his politics were considered improper for someone from Hollywood. He was revealing himself to be right-wing. In his disposition, Jesse Brown on Canada Land even mentioned that time that Norm MacDonald was defending Gian Gomeschi against his detractors, that maybe there was a conspiracy against him. And Norm MacDonald also expressing a considerable amount of faith

in religion, and that also being part of what he shared on Twitter. Now, isn't it heartbreaking to think that through the 2010s, while this was going on, he was in fact silently suffering with cancer. And that was part of what threw people for a loop when it came to the Norm MacDonald death announcement that he had been diagnosed with acute leukemia nine years before September

2021. Neil Peart, actually, is what it reminded me of, because that's another famous Canadian who kept his illness private. And then he only told, like, very few friends, family members. And on the Conan O'Brien podcast, I listened to the Norm Macdonald tribute, and they corroborated it. There are no reason to make this up, that they had, of course, reached out to Norm.

Inevitably, Conan O'Brien needs a friend. You know, they wound down the Conan O'Brien late-night TV show, but he seems to be doing more than ever, podcasting and HBO, so the Conan brand is strong. Of course he wanted Norm there, most legendary guest of all. And he said for three years, reaching out to Norm, like no reply.

And they were in fact wondering what was wrong, what was going on. They could only guess, they could only suspect that he was ghosting them or whatever. In fact, he was struggling and ultimately really sick. And Norm MacDonald, who died September september 14th 2021 61 years old and after that was the emmy awards and you know like lauren michaels is always easy to take shots at of course he's got last laugh look he built this saturday night live and turning the corner to doing this for 50 years um but of course they asked him about norm about Norm MacDonald who had died a few days before and

the way he was quoted like I don't even know if he met the guy. Like it was kind of like they operated on entirely different planets but Lorne Michaels must have had something to do with giving him the approval and I think when you reflect

on the legacy that Norm left behind you know isn't it amazing? This guy goes from Weekend Update on SNL, his own sitcom on ABC, dirty work movie in thousands of theaters, and then home video. And it was only after that that he earned the respect of the comedy cult.

He did it in reverse. He sold out first, After that, that he earned the respect of the comedy cult. Like, he did it in reverse. He sold out first, and then he spent the next two decades being this Norm MacDonald. So many out there worshipped, and I mean this is a given with any comedian these days, like posthumous cancellations. I'm sure you know what it sure you notice the clickbait headlines. Let's round up all the wrong think in the Norm Macdonald jokes.

They'll do it to Dave Chappelle in real time with Norm Macdonald. I guess they waited until after he was dead, but the consensus from Mike and anyone who knows anything about comedy like Norm Macdonald will be studied for decades to come as a master class comedian. And there you go. Real tragic.

Norm Macdonald dead at 61. My first guest can be seen in the upcoming film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Please give a big welcome home to Ontario's own Jim Carrey. Hello, T.O.! I love this city! I love ketchup chips! I love crunchy chocolate bars! I love ketchup chips I love crunchy chocolate bars I love big jerks And fruit salad But what really keeps me coming back to T.O.

Is the music There's a place to stand And a place to go They call this land Ontario A place to stand A place to go Ontario

Come on, Conan! Do you think they knew that the composer of that song was the same as the composer of the Hockey Night in Canada theme song that the band was playing when Jim Carrey hit the stage? Do you think they had any idea that they were both composed by Dolores Klayman? Well, I would think based on what was going on legally around the Hockey Night in Canada theme that they did know,

and she got paid, Dolores Klayman, here for the second time in a death segment in 2021. But this one is actually paying tribute to not a well-known name, but someone who was a celebrity adjacent. It was a guy named Peter Somalius who was a co-founder and the organizational face for Canada's Walk of Fame, something that started in 1998. But part of his obituary died October 1st at age 70. So he got a Toronto Star obit,

and it mentioned that part of his cheerleading for Toronto and Canada and celebrities was in the wake of SARS in Toronto and wanting publicity for the city and some hometown pride for everything represents. He was the one who lured Conan O'Brien to Toronto early 2004. And on Toronto Mike dot com, you can read about a certain audience member early 2004, and on torontomike.com, you can read about a certain audience member who happens to be on the mic. So knowing the guy that made this possible passed away.

What was your impression, yeah, of Conan O'Brien at the Elgin Theatre, 2004? Again, I mentioned my brother Steve and I never missed a Conan O'Brien episode on NBC there. And he got the tickets. I guess there was a lottery. And he took me. Thanks, Steve.

I know he's listening right now. So Steve and I went. And my impressions, I remember Vinay Menon was sitting in front of me. That was like my- Vinay Menon. How do you say his last name? Menon?

Menon. I've been saying Menon. I feel it should be Menon. I'm still waiting for him to show up in your basement after nine years. Well, he did take me to lunch one day to pick my brain about a Leafs blog he had for the Toronto Star. This is way back when.

Whatever. Someday you'll get Vinay here and you will get real talk like never before about the newspaper business. You have to understand, I alluded to this during the Norm Macdonald segment, but I literally had never seen anything made before like a television show at all ever seen it made so the fact that the band would play and the guests would come on they would take their commercial breaks and it would be like

let's say it's a three minute break for a hotel boy much more exciting than the mike board show going on going on up the street but you know adam Masonic Temple. Stomp and Tom was the musical act and Adam Sandler. And this was the night that I went was the triumphant insult comic dog. He got in trouble. Not Ed the Sock. He didn't mention.

But honestly, Mark, you have no idea with the impression it made on me to see, oh, they're baking it. The way it was unfolding was exactly as it would air that night on the television. And I'm not joking.

When I started Trottle Mike Dog, Tr Mic, was that the name of my podcast? I had no idea how anything was made, but I said it should all happen the way it should be listened. I should play these elements live and fade them live and do everything live just like Conan did when he came to Toronto. And once again, Peter Simalius. Without him, none of this would have happened. And for Conan O'Brien, that trip was a kickoff

for the idea of doing remote episodes from other cities, other countries, a week at a time. So Canada's Walk of Fame. Have you ever paid attention? You've got these Maple Leaf stars, the entertainment district. I actually surprised how little I care. I don't think I care. Have you ever paid attention? You've got these Maple Leaf stars, the Entertainment District, Roy Thompson Hall, Roy Alex Peter. I don't think I care. You know, there are up to 200 stars on Canada's Walk of Fame.

This also, look, partly it just seems to be like that. Is James B. there? Is there a James B. star? Not yet. Well, let me know. Because he's not famous. But, look, it seems like he also leveraged like all the right uh contacts you know government and subsidies and uh broadcast money and turn canada's walk of fame

into something uh to be a little proud of like they've got this in hollywood other places and there's walk walks of fame in different suburbs in toronto I always thought there was a sale. There's a Scarborough Walk of Fame. Don't you buy your Walk of Fame? Well, in Hollywood you do. Okay. But Toronto, a different deal. I mean, it's still a moneymaker for somebody. But there is a, I know there's a,

at the Scarborough Town Center there's a Walk of Fame. In FOTM, George Strombolopoulos was recently inducted into a Mississauga Hall of Fame. Even though he's from Rexdale. But I think he had some part of his childhood in Mississauga. Okay. I think I've got that right. I know he was inducted.

Mississauga from Moulton. Moulton, Ontario? Is that Mississauga? I don't even think it's a Mississauga Hall. I think it's a Mississauga Music Hall of Fame. It's drilled in even further. I used to play hockey at the Moulton Arena. Oscar Peterson is in there.

I think it's Toronto Moulton, I feel. That's Toronto. But I don't know. Regardless, I should check out, when I'm at Roy Thompson Hall, I should check out this Walk of Fame. It's not far from you. Mississauga Music Hall of Fame. Mississauga, it's not far from you. Mississauga Music Hall

of Fame, which is in the park in Port Credit. I bike there every day. Port Credit Memorial Park. Okay. Take a selfie with the Strombo star.

I will. I'll do it tomorrow. If it's even there that he was inducted here in 2021. Look, at least Strombo came to town, honored the city with his presence. Oh yeah, he's in LA usually. So it was him, yeah, back and forth doing his Apple music show. So this year it was him and Noel,

not Noel Castor, F-O him and Noel, not Noel Caster. F-O-T-M, Noel Caster. Noel Cadister. If I'm pronouncing that right. He's an engineer for Drake. I'm digressing. You digress. Okay.

On this day, October 7th, after I think a year off pandemic due to COVID-19, we have a whack of new inductions into Canada's Hall of Fame for Canada's Walk of Fame for fall 2021. They're doing a ceremony in December. And one of the things in Canada's Walk of Fame every year, which caused some lobbying uh maybe also controversy was the fact they would only induct one dead person per year into canada's walk of fame so whether it was mr dress up or jeff

healy uh whoever uh the deceased are uh whether they got in there. I can't keep track. Like I said, they're up to 200 names. But this year, the guys, four of them who set up Insulin, you know, Banting and Best. Of course, U of T. It turns out it wasn't just Banting and Best. That's like only Lennon and McCartney. It's Banting, Best, McCloud, and Collett. Wow.

I did not know. All four of them going in together to the Walk of Fame. And Salome Bay. Oh, yes. That makes sense. Who also died. So she's in there. But among the living, we've got Julie Black.

Okay. Bruce Coburn. Of course. Romeo Dallaire, which in a lot of other countries like that would not be a celebrity, but for the purpose of Canada's Walk of Fame, you can qualify if you were a general who's done some great things. Also, the football playing doctor Laurent Duvernay-Tardif. Is that how you pronounce it? Yeah, he left a Super Bowl caliber team to fight COVID in Quebec.

Graham Green, the indigenous actor. Sure, Dances with Wolves. Die Hard. There'll be movies on APTN, Aboriginal TV Network, and it's like they'll put on Hollywood movies. And it's like, well, why is this aboriginal? It's like, oh, Graham Greene is in it for three minutes, and it counts.

Bret the Hitman Hart. How did it take to 2021? The only wrestler to appear on The Simpsons. Bret Hart has been... He was more famous in 1998 when the Walk of Fame started. I don't know if... The Hart Foundation. It's like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

I don't know. You need to pay your dues, be a certain age. Speaking of aging Gen Xers, Keanu Reeves is getting his Walk of Fame. I don't know if it's because finally these people agree to appear or make a... Did he appear? Make a video. Well, it's in December.

Okay, it's in December. Okay, it's in December. It's a big deal. Maybe he'll show up on Zoom. The guy started Cargo Jet. A.J. Vermani is in Canada's Walk of Fame this year. Again, I mean, this isn't really the arts. It's just like sponsors getting a star. Serena Ryder.

Okay, so there's someone who's not too aging yet. Whatever songs. Stompa, is that it? Serena Ryder? Yeah, that's her. Is that familiar? Yeah. And Damian Warner.

There you go. There's a legitimate athletic famous person. Canada's Walk of Fame. So there you go. Up-to-date news in the Ridley Funeral Home Memorial segment from Canada's Walk of Fame, courtesy of the late Peter Simalius. That's Van from Q107 from the Moondance album, which is the album that introduced Van Morrison to a lot of people, oddly enough,

because it was really one of the first ones to get a lot of airplay on your average old radio station, one of which this is not. I'll tell you, Q107 is going to be a very amazing radio station. You'll get a chance to find out as the weeks go by. And a lot of people have been calling so far this afternoon to say congratulations. Some of the people who were involved in installing the transmitter were calling, saying congratulations on the transmitter not going off the air.

That's one thing to be happy about. A lot of people have been calling, just saying, you know, thanks for being around. Thank you. We want to listen to you at Q107. If you want to drop, you'll probably never get through on the phone today. I should tell you that right now. The phone is just jammed. It's like a premiere movie here, sort of. But if you drop us a card, or just scratch

a note on a piece of paper, and mail it to Q107, our address is this. Ready? First chance you've had to hear it. Suite 3000. Suite. 2 Bloor Street East, Toronto. Q107. Actually, if you just address it to Q107, it'll probably get to us.

Everybody knows where we are in the post office department right now. And we want to find out what to do. We want to find it out from you, too. Best of Bachman Turner Overdrive, So Far, is the name of the album. And this music doesn't sound really too Mormon to me. I don't know about you. Alan Slate is who we're remembering here, who died September 19th at age 90.

And Alan Slate would have been the one responsible for that air check. We're hearing John Rohde on the first day of a radio station that the Slate family made possible. C-I-L-Q-F-M-Q-FM Q107. And as far as the career of Alan Slate was concerned in Canadian broadcasting, that was the point where he went from being a smaller player in the industry. smaller player in the industry. He worked at 1050 Chum as the program director,

the head of promotions. They hired him in 1958 right after it switched to rock and roll. He worked for the Waters family, and Alan Slate was connected to a lot of things we remember 1050 Chum for in the 1960s. But then he went off to England and worked for Radio Caroline, which has come up here in the history of Toronto. Keith Hampshire. Keith Hampshire, OK Blue Jays.

First cut is the deepest guy was what, a DJ? Young DJ on Radio Caroline. Broadcasting from a boat in merry old England pirate radio, which was a way of competing with the BBC because everything was tightly licensed. And there were these radio pirates that Alan Slate hooked up with in the mid-1960s. Now, when he came back to town,

he decided it was time to be a media mogul of his own, and the company Slate Broadcasting was started in 1970 initially with a station called CFGM. At the time, 1310 a.m., do you know what CFGM is now? We talked about that radio station here earlier in the show. It moved to a different dial position. It happens to be... CHFI.

No! AM 640. Oh, sure. I should have known that. Where Greg Brady is now doing the Milk Toast Morning Show in 1970. You see the connection here? So first Alan Slate acquired CFGM. Was it in a strip mall or somewhere in Richmond Hill?

Way up on Yonge Street. And how CFGM went from 1310 to 1320. Later on 640 in 1977, you've got a license for the sister station of am 6 40 q 107 does it all connect yes you following me here with you buddy and also in the process he was involved with the development of global television, which launched in 1973 and originally went broke and bankrupt. 1974 for global TV, and Alan Slate was involved in the restructuring over there.

But it really comes down to the fact that he was the father of Q107. Gave his son, Gary Slate, the job of programming the station. Gary had been working as a record company promo guy, I think, for WEA Canada, Warner Electric Atlantic. And it was his generation, it was his people who were associated with this concept of rock radio. The Slate Broadcasting Empire continued building up muscle from there, and on the first day of Q107, we hear them,

John Rohde broadcasting from to Bloor Street East, the top of the Hudson's Bay Center, where the day before coming into this podcast, I snapped a picture, put it on Twitter, of the fact that the sign from the bay is no longer on the building, and that's because they're restructuring the bay. Hear about this? Like the bay is the website now, and Hudson's Bay is the store.

Oh, I thought they were going to put a Zellers logo up there. Bay, yeah, well, exactly. Pivoting to Zellers, like they were doing in the mall in Burlington. So the bay logo is no longer on the building, even though at least for now there's a bay. I don't know what's going to happen. No less than FOTM, Gene Val Volitis chimed in on Twitter with a lament for the fact that he spent 10 years working there for the Slates,

for Q107. I mean, this was the heyday. Gene Volitis, straight out Ryerson. There he was working as Q107's main morning newsman, eventually morning show comedy sidekick. He put on Twitter, you know, the fact that there was a picture I put of the building, and his reply, working that newsroom every morning for 10 years,

and a lot of co-hosts, that was a real Q107, here we go, in for the kill from Gene. Not the fake thing on the air now, which has nothing to do with what we created, even though John Derringer on the Bob's Basement podcast would beg to differ. Yeah, the Q at a 7. I mean, outside of the name.

Listen, I will be seeing very little to do with that spirit of radio at two bluer streeties. I quote unquote, I'll see Gene Valaitis tomorrow morning. He doesn't miss an episode of Hebsey on Sports. Okay, well, he's right about all that. And yeah, shout out to John Derringer

for some semi-real talk. Bob will let him, Bob's a spaceman. So Alan Slate, let's... I didn't catch much real talk in there, but I'm glad that somebody in the TMDS family got John Derringer on. It's like that Chris Shepard clip. Like, you got to find out what would it be like to interview him and whether or not you've decided it's something you really need to pursue

after listening to him there. Okay, so QNH7 became a big enough business. Alan Slate and his family, following in the footsteps of the Waters at Chum, kept trading up, and there we got to 1985 and a real big deal for Standard Broadcasting, which at the time was half-owned by Comrade Black and his family business, Hollinger, Argus,

and his family business, Hollinger, Argus, and making a deal for Toronto's most heritage radio station, CFRB, 1010, CKFM 99.9. At the time, you could only own two licenses, 1AM, 1FM, in Toronto. So it meant they had to divest themselves of CFGM and Q107 in order to take over these even bigger stations at Young and St. Clair. And there we had Gary Slate, I guess, reunited with Young and St. Clair. Alan Slate, that is, who worked for Chum, you know, suddenly was head to head up and down the street. Chum, you know, suddenly it was head-to-head up and down the street.

It was Allen and Gary representing one family, and then down the street, 1331 Yonge Street at Chum, you had Allen Waters and Jim Waters with Chum, AM, and FM. So I thought that was a terrific rivalry in the history of Toronto Radio where they squared off against each other in different ways. And it was where I mentioned Gary Slate. He was a one with Mix 99.9, like kept trying to chase Chum FM. It was this fixation of his that he could try and figure out, in fact, how to beat whatever was going on there.

But I'm sure everybody drank together at the end of the day. So with standard broadcasting, building up stations across Canada, and eventually, I think, the biggest radio owner in Canada. Times were changing. 2007, they sold Standard Radio to Astral Media for a $1.08 billion deal. And handing off these stations so that all the old-timers could say

radio isn't like it used to be. Eventually, of course, under Bell Media, Chum and Standard kind of became one and the same, all part of Bell Media Radio now, but gave the opportunity for Alan Slate to become a total philanthropist, done lots of great work. He was a child magician,

and one of his interests was in fact in being a patron to the magic industry in Toronto but lots of donations all around including Slate Music one time sponsor of Humble and Fred and

the Slate family I think having loyalty and devotion to a lot of their employees, which is always good. This is before the days of mass radio layoffs. You know, people would lose their jobs all the time, right? But it was never like a thing where Alan Slate would bring out the chainsaw, get rid of dozens of people at once.

You only got fired from radio if you really sucked. Or they changed their mind about 1050, the team Toronto. Or, I don't know, maybe you were on too many drugs. But, I mean, a lot of loyalty out there, a lot of love for the Slate family.

And on the website, he's subsidizing, FYI, music.ca, you can read a tribute to Alan Slate from his son, Gary. Alan Slate from his son, Gary. Alan Slate, dead at 90, September 19th, 2021. Oh, and don't forget, he was also involved in the Toronto Raptors.

I should mention that in the resume. We could do two hours on Alan Slate. Cut it here. But here's another one I think you have more to say about than me, because, Mike, I have never watched an entire episode of The Wire. Well, you're not alone. I suspect far more people. You watch all of The Wire, it seems, every single year. I watch them with my first wife.

You watch every person you ever meet has to sit down with you, watch the entirety of The Wire. Actually, only three people have sat down with me to watch the entirety of The Wire. Well, you're only up to two wives. That's two out of three right there. I most recently, in fact, this past summer, revisited The Wire with my oldest son, who's 19 now, and he absolutely loved every minute of it, as I do.

Shout out to Molly Johnson's brother. My favorite character, and there's about 100 fantastic characters on The Wire, but my favorite of all, and I think Strombo agreed with me when he came over and we talked about The Wire, but it is, of course, Omar, and played wonderfully by Michael K. Williams.

Okay, I might have never seen The Wire, but I'm culturally literate enough to know that when Michael K. Williams was found dead in September 2021, it was kind of a shocking big deal. And the cause of death, officially acute combined drug intoxication. And a big loss there because this was a legendary character.

I mean, this is one of the greats. Whole other level ahead of him, and yet he only made it to age 54 on September 6, 2021. So explain Michael K. Williams to me. Great actor, man. Yeah, great actor. He was even in that new HBO show, Lovecraft Country, or I did watch that's a show I watched three episodes of and actually

did not stick with. But every time he showed up in something, he made it better. And again, in my tiny little universe, his portrayal of Omar is his magnus opus, if you will. And damn, it's a good show,

buddy. I know you're a busy guy listening to all those podcasts, but if you ever, if you ever want to, you can find yourself a stream of the, the HD version of the wire. I, I couldn't.

It's not lack of interest. It's just that my attention spans. No, it's not time. Come on. You can make time for that. How's just that my attention spans. No, it's not time. Come on. You can make time for that. How many episodes are there of the... Like, how many hours are you talking to commit to this?

Probably 60. Six zero in its entirety. It's probably 60 episodes in total. And The Wire also here in FOTM Universe, best known for reference on the Molly Johnson episode. Right. Where you ecstatically brought up the fact that her brother Clark Johnson, what?

How did you put it? Well, I said he was in The Wire because he plays a character in the fifth season who works at the Baltimore Sun. Clark Johnson we're talking about, of course. And Molly took, because I had the, I used to have the box set of The Wire on the studio table. It's been moved

over here. But she started hitting the box saying check the liner notes. It's in here somewhere that he created The Wire. And upon further review, he of course wasn't just a character in season five. He also directed

four episodes of The Wire. But of course, wasn't just a character in season five. He also directed four episodes of The Wire. But of course, that does not a creator make. Always read the liner notes. Shout out, by the way, to FOTM Andy, who then bought me a t-shirt that says, I read the liner notes. So thank you, Molly. Thank you, Andy.

So Alan, take it away, my friend. Thank you very much, DL. Yeah. Big night tonight. Uh-huh. 5,000th show. Wow. A lot of people might say this is a time for looking back.

No way. We're looking ahead. It may be 5,000 shows, America, but we're just getting started. Yeah. Yeah. America, but we're just getting started. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go.

Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go.

Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go.

Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go.

Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go.

Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go.

Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go.

Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here A-Z-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N- Oh, references in the Death Segment. You know what it was? It was that Q107 clip. But I think also in that Jim Carrey,

I can't remember anymore. In that clip we played of John Rohde, first day of Q107, at the very end of that clip, he basically plays this song, Ain't Seen Nothing Yet by BTL. He plays it. You can hear it as I trail it.

It was only two, not three. I'm hallucinating after this many hours on the show. I don't remember. Thank you to, by the way, to, what's his name? Heart to Heart, your podcast guy. Yeah, Dr. Mike Hart. Dr. Mike Hart for bailing out of recording

with you, allowing us to do this seamless transition. Doesn't help my bank account, though. It doesn't help my sobriety to keep drinking beer as we get here to the end. Okay, that was another late-night TV fixture. the announcer on the late show with David Letterman for 20 of the 22 years that it was on CBS. So he did not move initially with Dave and Paul from NBC to CBS. That, in fact, was the announcer. From NBC to CBS, that in fact was the announcer. Bill Wendell, who was like a staff member at NBC.

And he initially switched teams towards the end of his career after so many decades working at NBC. And there we had Alan Coulter dead at 78. Big red. Always up for doing bets. We would insult Dave and insult celebrities. And a former synagogue president, Alan Coulter. Dead October 4th at age 78. Winter flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup. They slither wildly as they slip away across the universe.

Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my opened mind, possessing and caressing me Shakuru De Oh Oh Nothing's gonna change my world

Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Mike, I'd like to leave you here with Memorial Singments stories that you can think about a little further because suddenly this Beatles song across the universe got back on the radar this week because it was found

that one of the backing singers on this Beatles song, a woman named Lizzie Bravo died at age 70. Great story here where the Beatles were trying to figure out this song. Of course, John Lennon won.

He was trying to get right and figure out what to do with. And the Beatles went outside the Abbey Road studio and they were looking for backing singers among the teenage girls who were congregating out there looking for an autograph or whatever. And Lizzy Bravo was a Brazilian teenage girl, big Beatles fan. She had moved to London, England, 16 years old, working as an au pair while she was there. Working as an au pair while she was there. And big enough Beals fan to just hang outside,

looking for a glimpse of them. Invited in by the band to provide the vocals on this song. And that is her singing like a high voice alongside John Lennon in this original take of the song. Right. Right here. Yeah, it's there. So it's like Yoko Ono, almost like a premonition of the role that she later played

on John Lennon records. Now, there is another teenage girl on this record as well, and she was credited. Gaylene Pease. She was 17 years old at the time, also a big Beatles fan. But Lizzy Bravo is the more prominent voice.

And of course for this, you know, imagine like you're just picked out of a bunch of rabid Beatles fans. They would call them Apple Scruffs. But like this was even before, a little bit before that era. Like suddenly you're on a Beatles record. Could you imagine?

I don't know that even they knew what to do with this song. It ended up on a charity record. It was the World Wildlife Fund. Nothing's going to change my world. Nothing's going to change this world.

Whatever the history was, it kind of ended up on the cutting room floor uh of the beatles for a while uh but then later it was redone without the backing vocals in the let it be album it all builds up to the point where uh we learned that we learned that uh lizzie bravo died, and then when people got digging around what happened to this other girl, she also passed away this summer at age 70. So the two teenage girls on the original version of Across the Universe by the Beatles both died this year. And after hearing that, maybe it'll have the same effect on you, anyone else. I just was transfixed listening to that song, capturing that moment in time from that original version of the song.

It's not the more famous version. It's not the one from the Let It Be album, which remixed the girls out of it. But it was the initial version. Are there any female versions? I tried to get his song right. Nothing's going to change my world. Do you hear any female voices on any Beatles songs on the albums?

I'm trying to think. Do you know off the top of your head? I know that's a big question. I can't picture a female voice on a Beatles song that's on one of the albums. And that's why they went outside. Just saying, who here knows how to sing? Who can do a high voice?

I need it for this song. A whole rabbit hole there, I think, of Across the Universe. A song that John Lennon did not think the Beatles ever got right. Then later he redid it with David Bowie. But there's going to be, this November, the whole Get Back, Let It Be restoration from Peter Jackson. So I think it sheds even more light on the song and the two teenage backing singers not around to see it. Now, from Beatles to The Rolling Stones. Yeah, yeah, just like that song from Metric. Beatles and The Rolling Stones. A, yeah, just like that song from Metric. Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

Ahead of their staff concert. Are we allowed to say what company? Did we already say it? No, I decided we won't name the company, but we did name the band, of course, Metric. So yeah, from the Beatles to the Rolling Stones and another little backing vocalist story. And I thought worth highlighting here

because last month we talked about Charlie Watts, who died just before the Rolling Stones were about to go on their rescheduled American tour. And first he announced he was going to set out the tour, and then we found out that Charlie Watts died. So in the set list for the current Rolling Stones tour because Keith Richards

always does a couple songs and there were not a lot of obscurities in the Rolling Stones set. I learned that much from Mick Jagger talking to Howard Stern. They prioritize the crowd pleasers but when Mick takes a little break,

maybe a shower, a powder, when Keith takes over and drags out some more obscurities from the Keith Richards lead vocal catalog comes this song, which as far as I know,

from the Rolling Stones from like the past 40 years, right? Like, Rolling Stones play a concert, songs from the 60s, 70s, maybe they do Start Me Up from the 80s. But you don't hear anything anymore from Steel Wheels except this song, Slipping Away, which is the last song from that. What about Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place? I think that's also falling off the radar. They do their Living in a Ghost Town single, the new one. But it's like 40 years of Rolling Stones, totally in a void.

But Keith must have a soft spot for this one because he's played it quite consistently for the last 25 or 30 years slipping away. And backing vocals on this song, in part, singer singer heard on here, along with Mick and Bernard Fowler, who also sang jazz with Charlie Watts and Lisa Fisher. They're like the lifers backing up the Rolling Stones is a singer named Sarah Dash. And Sarah Dash was a member of LaBelle. Okay.

With Patti LaBelle. Right. She later was on stage, what did they say, what's the name of that documentary? 20 Feet from Stardom? I know Lisa Fisher is in there representing the Rolling Stones. But when Keith Richards was doing a solo career, when the Rolling Stones were on hiatus,

he put Sarah Dash right up front with him in his band. So after singing with Patti LaBelle, like Lady Marmalade, Nona Hendrix, Patti LaBelle, Patti LaBelle and the Blue Belles, it was in fact Keith Richards who discovered her and the fact that they still played on stage, a big part of her legacy, that Rolling Stones ballad, slipping away in there and make you feel a little bit sadder, there are two people on that record

who we have lost here in the past six weeks of 2021. R.I.P. Charlie Watts and R.I.P. Sarah Dash, dead at 76 on September 20th, 2021. Hey, look who's skating. It's Ronald McDonald, the hamburger happy clown. Here he comes. There he goes. Wahaw!

Isn't that McDonald's hamburger delicious? Mom told me never to talk to strangers. Well, your mother's right as always, but I'm Ronald McDonald. Give me a McDonald's shake. Well, you sound like Ronald. Here, I'll prove it. I'll give you three more hamburgers. I know, you're not supposed to accept gifts from strangers either. But you're no stranger, you really are Ronald McDonald.

Ha ha! He's Ronald McDonald, the hamburger happy clown. A McDonald's drive-in restaurant is his favorite place in town. Willard Scott, the original Ronald McDonald in McDonald's commercials. Throw for a loop there because, boy, TV commercials used to be long, right? Like the attention span. Anybody has to sit through 60 seconds of pitching McDonald's. And yet, as McDonald's became a national franchise across America, they had McDonaldland.

You know, all the residents of McDonaldland. Fry guys. A bit of a scandal in September because Grimace's identity was revealed by a McDonald's manager. Did you catch this one? It was in the 1236 newsletter from Windsor, Ontario. State secret for all these years. What is Grimace?

Like, what is Grimace supposed to be? Grimace is a, like, if you spilled a chocolate shake, like one of the McDonald's shakes, that would be Grimace. That's a guess. The revelation from this McDonald's manager at the end of the summer was that Grimace is an enormous

taste bud. Wow. He's like a Barbapapa. So whereas before the official Bible of McDonaldland said that Grimace was the embodiment of a milkshake. They put that on Twitter. No, Grimace was the embodiment of a milkshake. Yeah, that's what I thought he was.

They put that on Twitter. No, Grimace is a taste bud. So this became big news. He smelled the beans here on the CBC. I don't know how I missed that one. CBC did an interview with, I don't know, this guy who was heralded the greatest McDonald's manager in the world for whatever he did in Windsor. And I don't know,

did he fall out of line? Was he supposed to keep this a secret? Is this something that McDonald's managers are entrusted with, that they sign an NDA, they're not publicly allowed to divulge? If this is true, how did it keep a secret all this time that Grimace is a taste bud? So that was a diversion there from McDonaldland and corresponds with

willard scott now we knew willard scott uh from the today show he was a weatherman and uh well i think nbc i think uh there's a whole other conversation like i think nbc was uh the most clever of the american networks but it was willard scott i think he brought like this homespun middle american flavor to to doing the weather on the Today Show. And here was even a song I found. Ray Stevens did a B-side. A song about Willard Scott.

Today Show with that sexy weatherman for superhero, old devil there, devil may care. Willard Scott. As far as Ray Stevens songs go, I don't think this was as popular as the one. Yeah, exactly. Definite B-side material. You know, along with being on the Today Show, Willard Scott did some acting.

And you might remember that he occasionally appeared on a show called The Hogan Family. That is a Valerie Harper sitcom where she had a contract dispute. So they just like killed her character. And they kept the kids, one of whom was Jason Bateman. Right. And it was one of those legendary sitcoms where it was like, mom's dead. Let's just like carry on like nothing ever happened. And we'll never speak of her again.

She wanted too much money. We're the Hogan family now. So there was Willard Scott as Mr. Poole, married to Mrs. Poole. It was Edie McClurg. Oh, wow. The actor's still alive. From WKRP. And her husband on the show was Willard Scott.

So for a guy who made a point of he would shout out anyone who was turning 100 or more on the Today Show, it was bittersweet that Willard Scott himself only made it to 87. Never to be gotten a 100 birthday tribute. But, you know, it came pretty close. I mean, 87 versus 100. It seems like that last stretch there would be something of a struggle. Unless you're Dick Van Dyke.

Yeah, Dick Van Dyke still living it up. Keep moving. There was an article at Vice.com, I think, just this week, speaking of secrets from behind the scenes of McDonaldland. Whatever happened to Ronald McDonald? Any current marketing for McDonald's? There is

no Ronald. Interesting. He's gone, and I don't think they disclose very much. It's just up to conjecture. I think it's if they stopped gunning for the kids. I think they stopped marketing directly to children. But you have small kids. Do they still have the playroom when you go to McDonald's

with all the McDonald's characters there? Or are you on more of a health kick? You don't want these kids to associate fast food with a plastic playland. You've got to admit, that was brilliant back in the day. fast food with a plastic Playland. I know that. You gotta admit, that was brilliant back in the day. Yeah, and my teenagers definitely spent a lot of time in these McDonald's playrooms. And there is one definitely at the McDonald's

in New Toronto here. But since COVID arrived, it's been like off limits, closed. So the bulk of these youngsters' lives have been during this pandemic. Now, there was confirmation that in 2016, five years ago, they did a dial-back exposure for Ronald McDonald because remember when people were citing creepy clowns all around everywhere? So it was like between those creepy clown perverts and Stephen King with it.

Like the whole idea of Ronald McDonald is getting a bad rap. Right. And do you know what Doodoo the Clown and Norm MacDonald have in common? Norm MacDonald or Ronald MacDonald? Norm MacDonald.

Oh, different MacDonald. Well, yeah. Book ending here with two different MacDonalds. Well, actually, we're not book ending. I have a late-breaking death we're going to talk about that actually happened at some point

since you began your journey to Russia. Okay, what do they have in common? Doodoo the Clown, FOTM Doodoo the Clown, and unfortunately, never FOTM, nor McDonald's. What do they have in common? They both appeared in the movie Billy Madison, starring Adam Sandler. And Doodoo the Cl the clown cousin of, of a Stewart stone,

right? He's very careful about his public portrayal, right? He does not want to be canceled. He, he does. He takes great precaution to be associated with fun. Whereas Ronald McDonald,

yeah. Whether it's the issue, a backlash against fast food or people having problems with clowns. Well, here. You know, you don't want to have a mascot who's too creepy. What were you going to say? Well, before we pay tribute to somebody who passed away, literally we got news of this. It happened on your way here.

Yeah, good thing my bus was delayed. Otherwise, we might not have noticed. Right, right. I worked at a mcdonald's for a period of time as a teenager and i was responsible they had a bluer west village festival and because i worked at the mcdonald's in bluer west village which is now gone it was a run of meat in bluer i was responsible for like shepherding the ronald mcdonald from the like home base of the mcdonald's to the stage at like Windermere and Bloor. Like

that was my job as a responsible teenager working for the store. And I still have this, like I'm haunted by this memory of when Ronald McDonald dropped the facade and left the character and was just a dude asking like, is this, has his car arrived in the laneway yet? And it was like strange. I was a teenager, but like he was in persona of ronald mcdonald full makeup doing the voice and everything and all of a sudden when we were alone in the back room he just became a dude and it was like oh yeah fuck ronald mcdonald's just some guy in makeup doing a character you know what they say like never ever meet your heroes oh speaking of heroes uh let's pay tribute one more thing well, let's pay tribute to this gentleman. One more thing. Well, here, let's play this.

Do you think people view Canada as an easy place to kind of commit to these kind of crimes? I think so, yes. Why did they pick on Canada? You have to cheat on the taxes to make money. I'm paying taxes. That's the taxpayer's dollar. Watch it, buddy. That's taxpayers' dollars. Watch it, buddy.

Well, you know, you sure got a big mouth standing behind that door, but why don't you come out and say it? Why don't you come out and speak to the camera? Yeah, why don't you? Watch it, buddy. And actually, Cam Gordon just tweeted something at us here. Hold on. Teaching Silverman the economics of the track. Look, just lend me the economics of the track.

Just lend me $20 now. I'm a little bit tapped. I've had some real bad luck. But lend me $20 because I know a horse that's going to win the next race. Peter, I understand it. It's like everywhere else. You borrow other people's money to use. You'd never use your own.

Great sport, Pete. I thought you'd understand it. On the world according to Gross. Okay, so basically this is the great Dini Petty introducing the world according to Gross. Okay, so basically, this is the great Deanie Petty introducing the world according to Gross with my friend and, of course, my client, Peter Gross, talking with Peter Silverman. Peter Silverman passed away. And continuing the history here,

where an FOTM, that is a guest of the Toronto Mike podcast, has yet to die. You spent several years in negotiation. You were even going to do a groundbreaking remote episode when you refused to do them. Did I tell you that?

It came up over the years. What happened was, I actually just today when I heard Peter Silverman from City Pulse, who had the, of course, Silverman Helps segment, Consumers Affair program on City Pulse, and of course, I was a big fan of Peter Silverman. Watch it, buddy. I've been saying, watch it, buddy, for decades now. That's something I literally say because of that clip that we heard from Retro Ontario there. But I just want to, I looked into my, I went to Gmail and I searched for his email address because we had a back

and forth correspondence and he was telling me he had just moved to Coburg. This is, I don't know, about five years ago or something. He had just moved to Coburg and he wasn't in Toronto very much. And then I said to him,

and this is way pre-COVID and it broke all my rules, but for Peter Silverman, I was more than happy to do this. I said, listen, we can do it on the phone or Skype. He was just, I was just looking at the correspondence. He said he didn't understand Skype, but I said, we can just have a phone call and have a conversation over the phone. That's how badly I wanted Peter Silverman on the program. It never happened,

obviously. And it is, you're right. It is a little strange that these close calls, and he was 90 years. It's not like he was suddenly taken from us at a very young age. Peter Silverman was 90, but he never did appear on the show. We've yet to lose a guest of Toronto Mic'd, and we're almost at 10 years of podcasting. I'll have my own 10-year anniversary in August,

and I'm not suggesting by any means I'm keeping anybody alive, but it is a very interesting coincidence. I remember Peter Silverman, who was a real tough guy, talking about the fact that at one point he served in the Israeli army. So I don't know if there's a full obituary out there, but he was a guy who was ready to fight with anybody, which made him perfect for the role on City Pulse News.

Silverman helps. He was the guy who would take your call if you were having a consumer problem. If you needed someone to be confronted, Peter Silverman would roll up his sleeves and go to battle, of which the most famous fight of all was with an optician. Did I ever tell you who that was? Did I tell you? The guy's name is Adam Plimmer.

So it is documented. He was on the news and he is known. I think I can say this. If he gets mad, that's fine. I believe that gentleman who was fighting with Peter Silverman in that infamous moment where he goes, watch it, buddy, is the uncle of our mutual friend. Do you know who I'm going to say?

Chris Mavridis. Chris Mavridis. Did I tell you that? Okay, so Peter Silverman at that point, basically a senior citizen, right? He's willing to go there and physically fight any guy who's rubbed a consumer the wrong way. And there, at one point, maybe he met his match, like in classic kayfabe style. This optician was like inviting him over.

Do you remember this? Of course I do. Voicemail leaves a message. I love you. I want to see you. I want to make it up to you. And then Peter Silverman enters the store with a cameraman. The guy just starts wailing on him.

Yes. And, you know, you're wondering, like, is Peter Silverman okay? But, of course, he loved every moment. He was part of what Moses Neimer called the living movie. And because I think he retired from City TV with some dignity there. He's on the City TV website. I don't know if everybody's going to be afforded that sort of tribute. You said, you mentioned here before we got going,

you're going to bring this up to Ann Roszkowski, right? Do you think somebody who got unceremoniously tossed by the station would be treated with the same order in death as someone who was able to retire? Well, respectfully to the late, great Peter Silverman, he was fired from City TV. Oh, did that actually happen? Yeah, I remember when it happened, and I wrote about it.

It was 2009 or something. Typical Rogers cleaning out a bunch of the... Okay, well, then even more so, right? He wanted to work the entire time. He still would have been out there. And don't kid yourself. Fighting the rogue opticians of Toronto even to this day.

If FOTM Gord Martino, heaven forbid something should happen to him, they will have his beautiful face with those piercing blue eyes on the front of the citynews.com website. You know it. And the moral of the story,

as with every 1236 episode, if you want to have a good life, always go on Toronto Mic'd. Shout out to Brian McFarlane, going strong at 90. That's how you live a long life. This episode wasn't bad, and I would say it made all the trials and tribulations of getting here worthwhile. What do you think? Who's taking over the CHFI morning show? Did we ever give the final answer there?

Guess what? By the time a lot of people hear this, I'm betting they would have found out. Let's get back together in a month and talk about what happened then. And that brings us to the end of our 927th show you can follow me on twitter i'm at toronto mike mark is at 1 2 3 6 subscribe to the 12 36 newsletter like richard kraus does our friends

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