Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Marcia Young: Toronto Mike'd #1093

Episode Date: August 7, 2022

In this 1093rd episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with CBC Radio’s World Report host Marcia Young about her career in media, news stories she's covered, waking up at 2:30am and the need for CBC to better serve Black listeners. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Canna Cabana, StickerYou, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

Welcome to episode 1093 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times, and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. StickerU.com. Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals for your home and your GTA. StickerU.com Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals for your home and your business. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh

homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. And that's Electronic Products Recycling Association. Committed to our planet's future. Means properly recycling our electronics.

Can you tell we haven't had this sponsor long? Recycling our electronics of the past. Ridley Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921. And Canna Cabana, the lowest prices on cannabis. Guaranteed over 100 stores across the country. Learn more at cannacabana.com. Today, making her Toronto Mic'd debut is the host of CBC Radio's World Report, Marcia Young.

Welcome, Marcia. Thank you very much. Nice to be here. Nice to have you here. I want to talk about your first name right off the top. Is that cool with you? Absolutely. And you, I mean, you read for a living. I heard you this morning.

I'm going to play a clip. But like that, so brand new sponsor, and I'm very excited to announce a new sponsor, Electronic Products Recycling Association. But that's the first time i read that little tag line and i realized i should have practiced it first like i couldn't have butchered it more committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past i gotta work on that one okay so right off the top your name is spelled like this well all i hear all day long at school Is how great Marcia is at this

Or how wonderful Marcia did that Marcia, Marcia, Marcia Okay so that's the spelling M-A-R-C-I-A But as any good You know CBC radio listener knows I'm going to put on A little jam for this

Young, gifted and black Oh what a lovely precious dream You're Marcia on a little jam for this. You're Marcia. That's right. Okay. And this is Bob and Marcia. This is Young, Gifted, and Black. But this is another,

this is an artist who spells their name like Marsha, but it's Marcia. So how many people come up to you and say, hi, Marsha? Like, do you get that a lot?

Mostly people who don't know me. And mostly people who probably don't speak a second language that is not like Italian or French. Or, you know, anybody who speaks Italian, French or Portuguese, they know my name right away. Is it because it's like Maria? It's like Jennifer. It is the Jennifer of Jamaica. It is so common. Okay, so it's close to Maria, yeah.

But it's Marcia. And so people who are Spanish know it right away. It's like that funny N, you know, that gives you the sound doña or señora. Marcia is the same family of short sounds. And okay, so I'm going to fade down Young, Gifted, and Black. Which I love.

I love that song so much. No, great jam. But we're going to stick with Marcia Griffiths here for a minute. Marcia Griffiths. Marcia. Somebody have a drinking game. Drink some Great Lakes whenever I butcher that. I have given you all my heart But there's someone who has torn it all apart And I'm surely going to give you a try

And if you want to try to love again, baby, you can have the key without a try. The sky is the deepest. The sky is as deep as When it comes to seeing lucky people When it comes to needing people When it comes to seeing lucky people Okay, this jam was covered by Marcia Griffiths in 1974. Do you know who recorded the original? This is a reggae jam.

Like, was it? Not originally a reggae jam. But this. Yeah, I heard everything originally as a reggae jam. Okay, so yeah. Okay, so this was originally a Cat Stevens jam. But when I was growing up, I always thought this was a Keith Hampshire jam

because growing up here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, there was a cover of this jam from 1973 by Keith Hampshire, and that got all the airplay. So it's like I grew up thinking this is a Keith Hampshire song, but I suppose depending where you grew up in the world or what you were listening to, the version, the cover version that you heard became the definitive. Like that is the that is the version of First Cut is the deepest.

Exactly. I love this song. Are you trying to butter me up here? This is all the music I love. She's got your name. So, you know. Well, OK, I am going to be asking you some music questions off the top before we get deep. But here are other prominent covers of First Cut is the Deepest. Okay, P.P. Arnold in 1967. I mentioned Keith Hampshire, you know, who's an FOTM. And you, by the way, Marcia, you're now a FOTM, Friend of Toronto Mike.

So welcome to the club. Thank you very much. Rod Stewart had a big hit with First Cut is the deepest in 1977 a couple of artists i'm less familiar with here don penn and papa d but then cheryl crowe had a massive worldwide hit in 2003 with first cut so there you go lots of covers of first cut is the deepest oh my goodness her version is not the one that comes to mind like the the Marcia Griffiths version, that's the one that, you know, and other versions like it that I heard when I was a kid in Jamaica, you know, different people singing that song. So you were born and raised in Jamaica. born in Toronto at Toronto Western Hospital and ended up in Jamaica because my mother was a new immigrant to Canada and child care was hard and you know her relationship had broken up and so

I had to be taken care of by someone so she sent me back to Jamaica to live with my grandparents. Okay so you're born here but you were so at what age do you return to Toronto? I was about six, and I didn't really speak the Queen's English. I spoke Patois. And so I end up in this Russian-Jewish neighborhood with other immigrant kids who don't speak English because they speak Russian. Right. And so there we all are.

I don't really speak English, having to learn English, and really, really fast. And they're doing the same thing. And it was a very funny, funny time. But you're back here, which is, I guess, is technically home since you're born here. And you're back here at the young age of six. Yeah. And have you been here ever since?

Yeah, pretty much. I mean, I used to go back and forth when I was a kid a lot more and stay with my grandparents. And that was really amazing because I felt like Jamaica had become home and there were so many things that were familiar and so many things that I needed until I was definitely well into my teens. So it was great to go back and spend summers there. And jams like we listened to.

Now it's stuck in my head because mars it's marcia marcia see english being my only language which i can barely handle uh on its own there uh marcia griffiths so uh is that your cup of tea because when i mentioned to you like scheduling this episode i think i mentioned that old friday was the drummer for the tea party and your reply was tea what you're not listening to any tea party i was kidding kind of i mean you know what i can't say that it's in rotation on my playlist right um show me that playlist you got that i want to see it. I'm always curious. And by the way, you can return. In fact, I hope you do at some point. You can return to kick out the jams.

There's a second appearance. So the first appearance, we're going to do the deep dive, A to Z, everything you want to know about Marcia Young. But you can return and kick out the jams and we'll play your 10 favorite songs of all time and just talk music. This is awesome. Oh my goodness, that would be so much fun. Okay. Well right now on my playlist, um, okay. I'm going to see the playlist, ladies and gentlemen, she's gone into her.

So first off, um, I had to, uh, cancel a certain, um, green emblemed, uh, premium membership, uh, music player. I don't say names. I'm used to not saying names because I'm at CBC. And so now we're on the red emblemed with the music note. And so I've had to switch. So my playlist is not what I want to be. So you don't say names because you've been on CBC radio. I've been well trained at CBC.

But on this podcast, you can name names. Let's get the names in here. All the stuff. All right. So right now on the playlist that I have that I call the good stuff, I have, yeah, Buja Bantan, Billy Joel, Daryl Hall, John Oates, Elton John. What else do I have on here? Tiny Dancer, Elton John.

That's at the top. I also have Lockdown by Coffee. Oh, Susanna by... No, it's okay. You can hold that to the mic. That's fine. We're kicking out the jams now. Okay, so that's a sample.

Sauti Soul and Ye by Burna Boy. Let's see what else is on here. Any Super Cat on there? No, not on this one. Not on this one. I have a Swedish artist. Her name is Vagorna, and she's like this black Swedish woman who sings. Here, I'll show you a little sample. Let's hear some Vagorna. And she's like this black Swedish woman who sings. Here, let's hear a little sample.

Okay, so will you come back and kick out the jams? Yeah, sure. Because then I can wear this. We have to talk about my shirt for a moment here it can't be all about you uh so i am wearing and people can see the photo for this episode when they find the uh the landing page on torontomic.com but i and i'll also tweet it and put it on instagram but i'm i'm wearing this shirt the cbc shirt that was uh put together created for the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. So this shirt goes back to 1976. That is amazing. It's in really good condition.

It's just like perfectly faded in that perfect way. It is the orange that reminds me of Mr. Dress Up. Oh, yeah. That same orange. Tickle trunk kind of orange. Yeah. Okay. Now that Up. Oh, yeah. That same orange. Tickle trunk? Yeah. Okay, now that's my jam right there. And a blue that no one sees anymore in the CBC building.

Like, that's a unique kind of blue. Like, it pops up, I guess, on the odds wall. Because everything's red now at CBC? Well, it's like red. There's some green walls, you know, because we have that Lego building. Right? Yeah. And so the colors are all kind of different.

The funniest thing was there was a painter in the other day and they're painting this giant wall behind my desk and i kind of joked i'm like hey what color you're gonna paint that wall can i pick something and he's like yeah yeah you could pick it but i'm not gonna paint it that color and it's gray and actually i just remembered that the wall got painted because i'm looking at this blue thinking wouldn't that be nice to have around and uh we're not that adventurous anymore well that's a shame you know in pink colors they call this the exploding asshole for a reason I think that's what I heard although you know in on CBC was exploding pizza exactly depends how people are

feeling really but the last time I wore it and I've only worn it a handful of times but i wore it for uh tom harrington last summer so i haven't worn it since i think before that it was really special jill deacon i think i wore it and uh i don't even think i had this when when um matt galloway came over so i think diana swain got it but not too many people have got this so you hope you're uh honored i am honored and thrilled it. It's a beautiful shirt. It's a really special shirt that needs occasions to be pulled out. This is a good one. You can't just wear this on a Sunday.

You need to have this. It's just too much here. It's a lot, but it's a lot in a good way. Just before we get into things here, Marcia, Can I, just before we get into things here, Marcia, I was well aware that Drake had this Canadian North Stars night at History, the club he co-owns, I guess. And by the way, funny, coincidentally, I was at History for the first time to see Tea Party.

And I'm not even like a big Tea Party, I mean, I like them enough. But anyway, I don't want to come across like some tea party groupie or something. But okay, so we, this is, I just, I was wondering aloud on Twitter, why FOTM Mishimi was not part of this Canadian North Stars. Because it seemed like she was

a glaring, oh, unless she, you know what, I think maybe, I wasn't there, but I think they announced a special guest. And I actually think now that I'm hearing myself rant about this, I think maybe, I wasn't there, but I think they announced a special guest. And I actually think now that I'm hearing myself rant about this, I think maybe she was part of the special guest that maybe Drake did fly her in. And I think maybe she was part of Canadian North Star. So maybe Drake did it right. Well, I hope so, because Mishimi is really fantastic.

me is really fantastic. She was like a really big part of my understanding of music and women in Toronto, breaking ground in the rap game where it was really a lot of guys. Well, she was the first Canadian to get a US record deal. That was a big, big deal. Like everyone at one point, I remember, you know, I was on the outside of the scene looking in and hearing about everybody talking about going south to get deals, going south to get deals. And then the weirdest thing ever, I met a group of rappers who came north to get our arts grants. It was like, wait a minute. They caught on to what was good up here so yeah yeah no i think she's great and i think uh when i i think maybe when i documented this it was uh when she wasn't part of the lineup because they put out a poster like okay here's the artists are going to be there and maestro was

there and some great art shop claire and then she wasn't there and i think i was like where is she but then i think i did see her post on instagram that uh she was the special guest or one of the special guests that Drake brought out. So that's good. I hope so. I got to check and see. I got to check her Instagram. I think, yeah, no, I know. As I read it, I realized, oh, I think, I think she was like a special guest. She just wasn't on the poster, but I think she flew in as a special guest here. But well, okay. So we're going to go back to your, we're going to talk more music throughout, of course, but we're going to talk about your origin story

when it comes to media. Because I think you're, and you'll tell me, but your debut in like mainstream media is the Fan 590. Is that right? Yeah. Okay, so we do have a lot of Fan 590 people on this program

because there's a lot of sports media people who come by. So I got to hear this. Like, how did that come to be? And tell me anything you can about the fan 590 all right well I had um was I think I was just about to graduate j school and needed a job and I'd put out a whole bunch of resumes and I just um actually I wasn't quite graduating yet so I was almost graduating and I needed like an internship and I needed a job and I needed to kind of get into the industry and I could not get in. Like I didn't know anyone. Like my mother worked for a sportswear factory and she didn't know people in media. We had no in at all. Um, and, uh, I decided to come up with a research project to figure out who people were hiring

like what schools did they go to and what kind of experience did they have when they hired them so I made a list of all the places that I could potentially work you know all kinds of radio stations and media companies and whatever and I came up with like a list of 10 questions and whomever would answer the phone, I'd try to get to a manager or something and see if they would answer my questions for me. And so finally I got to the Fan 590 and I called up and I got some kind of a station manager. I can't even quite remember her name right now.

And I went through and I was asking her all these questions. And she's like, oh, okay, so you're a journalism grad i'm like yeah i am and um i found out that people hired a lot of people from humber by the way not where i went so where did you go uh metropolitan tmu tmu was me that's the toronto mike's universe okay you know they stole that from me so thank you very much. Exactly. TMU. I liked it better as X University.

Me too. Yeah, because I'm thinking shout out to Lieve Femke. But there are FOTMs who work there. And their signature line in email became X University. And I thought that was pretty cool. It's cool. But I bet it's a little taken, right? You know?

I think the X-Men took it. I don't know. But okay. So TMU. So TMU. And so she taken, right? You know? I think the X-Men took it. I don't know. But okay. So TMU. So TMU. And so she says, hey, you know what? We need a receptionist. Can you come in and help us for a little while?

Okay. And so I said, okay, sure. I'll, you know, I needed the job part was real. I needed a job. Yeah, because they weren't, they were going to pay you money for that. Exactly. Okay.

So I went in. Just making sure. They did pay me money. It's not always a slam dunk. Like I have a lot of people come in and like they were going to pay you money for that exactly okay so i went in just making sure it's not always a slam dunk like i have a lot of people come in and like they were doing stuff and it was like part of some unpaid internship or something yeah no i i got paid to be the receptionist and i was just around and i met all the guys um who were there at the time um spider jones and elliot friedman and yeah um a long list of people that would just come in it was like a sports camp okay so let's not bury this lead here okay so spider jones who's an fotm and elliot friedman who's an fotm but like are we talking like was bob mccow in there yep

and john derringer was there right and it's morning show mike richer was there. Right. It's a morning show. Mike Richards was there. Right. And I'm sure there are other people that. Like Jimmy Lang, I would think. Yes, Jimmy Lang. He was working on that morning show. He's in Markham now, the region. Yeah, yeah.

Okay. So all of those people were there. Wow. And I was the receptionist and, you know, taking mail. I don't think I ever made coffee, so I wasn't i was the receptionist and you know taken mail i don't think i ever made coffee so i wasn't that kind of receptionist um which is good no um and scott metcalf was there okay so scott metcalf is coming on toronto mic in september because the fan 590 slash 1430 because it was 1430 before 590, has a milestone anniversary coming up. And if I do the math, I guess that's 30 years.

Whoa. Yeah, 30 years. So 30 years of the fan 1430 slash 590. Happening in September, Scott Metcalf's going to make his debut. That's amazing. He was a very, very cool news director. So I would get to talking to him. And I said to him, listen, I have a journalism degree, I really want to be a reporter. What can I do for you? What can you

teach me? How can I get out there? What can I do? And so he got me to help on some little newscasts and you know, he gave me a tape recorder. And one story sent me out into the middle of the lake when one of the planes had crashed during an air show and said, gather what you can. And so I did that, and it was exactly what I thought it would be and exciting, and I had no idea what I was doing. And Scott was amazingly patient and just kept giving me these great opportunities. It's like, you know,

you go to J school and at the time we thought that we were ready for anything. We were ready for some very simple copy. Right. Cause you got to put in your reps and do it, right? Like you do, you do. And it's also like developing that instinct for what's a story, what's different in a story, what do I actually need to go tell people today? And that doesn't come, I think there are some people who are brilliant and I've seen them and they're postgrads. That means that they went through a whole other program before and then they went to journalism school. I went from high school to journalism school and I didn't know what I didn't know. And I had to learn it. And Scott Metcalfe was really very gracious and patient. And he believed it was possible for me to get there. Okay, good to hear. Good to hear. I'll even maybe

even play that back for the guy in September. I can make him feel good. But I'm wondering now, I'm wondering what caused you to go to J school in the first place? Like, like, like what was the spark that was like, I want to be a journalist? Um, it was a process of elimination, you know? Um, I think I had been a journalist all my life and I didn't know it. Um, I would, uh, sit around with my mother and we'd be going places and I'd be like observing people and just talking about in detail what I've what I'd observed about these people. And she'd look at me and she'd say, they're just people give them a break. Why are you so deep into these people? And they weren't anybody that I knew. I just found people just so incredibly fascinating. So that was when I was a little kid. And then there was like, you know, writing in the school newspaper.

And, you know, one of my very first interviews was Marin Cadell. Do you remember the sweater song? Of course. Love that song. And that was, that was a really cool moment to think that I could just call up somebody and say that I'm with the school newspaper and and ask them whatever I wanted to ask them so that was kind of neat um and then uh doing the yearbook and stuff and kind of getting into other people's business again and so at the end of high school I didn't have the math and I thought I was going to be a doctor and so I had to make some other choices so I chose three schools for three different things so it was like social work

teaching and journalism and I got into social work right away I got into teaching right away and the journalism thing I was still waiting on it and I was just like oh man that's what I want that's what I want any regrets because those teachers like my buddy Joe from TO man this guy's in Mexico City right now like they get long vacations yeah you know what uh the door has not closed right well you're still a very young woman there's lots of time but uh yeah judging by your uh accomplishments it sounds like you probably made the right call. Yeah, you know, I think so.

And every now and again, I do get to stand in front of people and pretend to teach them something. And I realized that I did make the right call because I don't have that bottomless patience and graciousness. Like I could do it for an hour once a year. Okay, fair enough, fair enough. So the Fan 590, how, like, and I guess at any point,

did they want you to do anything regarding sports? Or they just basically, you can do some new stuff while you're there? Okay, here's what I did with sports. I did some kind of a, I think there was a bar named Boosters that was right beside Maple Leaf Gardens way back when on College Street, right? And so Spider Jones and his partner at the time, I'm sorry, I can't remember his name. Let's do this. Let's do it. Norm Rumack?

Yeah, that's it. Stormin' Norman Rumack? That's right. Hammer head alert. Hammer head alert. So they did like this show from the sports bar. Okay. And my job was to do some little game or something in between the periods when they were not talking.

So it was, yeah, it was live to air. Actually, that was my first kind of live to air thing. And did this game and people won stuff like fries and beer. And this aired on 590. Yeah. Cool. Okay. So you're like a Martin Streak out there.

You're just missing the Beastie Boys and Tool. So I was like, that was as close as I got to anything sports because it's just not, it's not in my blood. But Gord Martineau said to me, read the sports pages, you know, just do it. And yeah, Gord, thanks. Well, Gord, Gord, who's also an FOTM, good advice, because you don't want to like say something like, oh, the Jays needed another touchdown. Like you just want to say something that like exposes you as like a sports fraud.

You just need to be able to speak the lingo a little bit. Exactly. You know, I'm not that bad, but I really feel like basketball is a thing that a lot of my friends, my dearest, dearest friends love. Like they would, you know, give up a lot for for basketball and i'm just like you know what happened to me i got a even 2019 you were like that no no no i wasn't i was down the street at the party yeah no i was there i'm a bandwagon jumper as well i'm so good i'm fast

i'm like i'm on it um i got in the mail one time, totally by mistake, a LeBron James jersey in like 3XL. And it was like the maroon one. Is this a Cavaliers jersey? Yeah, yeah. So it's a total collector's maroon Cavalier jersey. And so I have it and I wear it with pride because I do like LeBron James. But do not ask me about his stats or whatever i'm just like yeah king james how many rings just can't king james

no a lot four no four i believe two of miami one with cleveland and one with la i just have to think of his like you know head size hands and how many of those fingers are full of rings. He was here for the Caribbean Carnival. He was like in town, I'm told. Well, you know, I missed him because I get up late once I go for my nap. So once we get you to CBC, I got I got lots of we're almost we're almost there. So OK, so so what's next for you after the fan 590? So after the fan 590, I went fan 590 i went to the sister station easy

rock where i met mike cooper i love easy rock oh god and so because they didn't hire me as a journalist i was like person friday did a little bit of everything and then i got roped into like the marketing study of who listens to easy rock and what songs they like that was well torture but amazing information you know back in the day when you call up people on the phone like just randomly and ask them out of the phone book out of the phone well they had a list okay and uh you ask them to listen to like 10 different songs and tell you how they feel about each of these songs okay and so that has pretty much ended my ability to listen to easy listening music so like okay so let's let's slow down here because this is thoroughly exciting first of all uh was mike cooper uh good to you? Amazing.

He was so funny. It's just like he was just ridiculous. But so good. He's a legend of course in the Toronto radio. He just recently made his Toronto Mike debut sitting in that very chair and you know you go through his career

like he's got the whole 10-50 chum and then you know actually you go through his career, like he's got the whole 10-50 chum. And then, you know, actually, and then he did this and that, including CKEY when that was the 590 station. But, yeah, his big comeback

starts at Easy Rock. And I think, if I hope I got the name right, you'll tell me, Christine Cardoso? Was one of them. And Terry, Terry,

Terry. Oh, no. Have I stumped you? Because, I don't know, but that one, I'm not a big Easy Rock guy. Have I stumped you? I don't know about that one. I'm not a big Easy Rock guy. But I do know that Christine went on maternity leave. And then Erin Davis, I thought, was the one they brought in. Because she was let go from CHFI.

Because Julie Adam made a mistake and then had to undo that at some point. But I don't know this Terry name. Not Terry Hart. She wasn't on the video. No, not Terry Hart. Not Terry Hart. It was Terry something else. And she was also a voiceover actor.

So she kept really busy with that other part of her life. And she was pretty amazing. And I cannot for the life of me remember her last name. Okay. So, okay. So you tell me more about these, like the type of music and everything because i know when i think of uh terry desario no no no not it not it when we hear it

we're gonna be like oh yeah um so this music was just like playing 10 second clips of phil uh phil collins had a big hit back then it was like like, you know, 94-ish or so. And we played all like the top 10 hits of that time, asking people, you know, how they feel about it. Would they listen to it? What do they prefer? Terry Michael? Yes.

Thank you very much. Terry M. Terry Michael. Okay. Okay. My source for that, no joke, because I can show you right now, my source for that was, I googled it and I ended up on my own website, drawmike.com, which is a true story

to learn that it was Terry Michael. And I have ads. Okay, so I love Easy Rock. Okay, sorry, continue. Yeah, so that whole telemarketing moment was discouraging. It was terrible.

And there was a whole bunch of us who had bigger, bigger career aspirations, but we would do anything to be in radio and be around radio. And Hugh Burrell was there at the same time. He was doing news and traffic. And I learned a lot from these people. From Mike, we had great conversations about back timing and how old DJs could back time a song to hit at whatever point and they dip it down

and be able to say whatever they want or go to the next thing. The posts. And back in the day, they didn't have, like now the computer tells you where the posts are. Like I've seen the software. It's like you got a post at 16 where maybe some new instrument shows up. And then the words show up at 32.

And I think I can hit the post if I'm looking at a countdown clock. Yeah, but imagine to do the math yourself and to find the spot back then on a record. Right. Or I don't even know how they did it on an eight track like that's just a mystery and matt like that's technology i've never even seen work but um he talked about all this stuff and it was such an education and so important um yeah i i really enjoyed those conversations and then watching hugh burrell work and then they let me do the traffic a couple of times there he's a a nice guy. Uh, now I, I want to say he's working for

like, uh, fishing and like bass pro fishing and sports outlet or something, or maybe I'm completely wrong. And he's working for a golf place. He's working for some big, some big like sporting company at this point. So he's making real money. He's making, he had to leave. He left radio to make some real money, which is a smart move by Hugh. Oh yeah. I mean, it's funny at those radio stations. I think there were very few people who could actually live off.

We were all like side hustles and gigs and trying to figure it all out. I know. I mean, Bob McAllen was making real money money and then I think Aaron Davis was making real money. You know, I think, yeah,

you're right. Yeah. It's like at the top, you had to be at the top. You had to be sitting in the chair every day and that was your job. You know, Mike also told me about the bits, you know,

like the stuff in between the songs and how to prepare for that and all the things that you're going to say. You know, I think a lot of people think it's just like, ah, it just comes off the top of your head, but you do have to prepare. And you know who else really kind of helped me to understand that in a way better way long after he left the CBC? Andy Barry. Okay. Yeah. Andy berry um he did this video uh for everybody who works at cbc and anybody who wanted to watch about how to be a good broadcaster and i'm like oh my gosh this is amazing i could not tell you where to find that now on cbc like these things come up you watch them and then i hope it's still why don't you score that for me i'll share it on my youtube channel i would love to i gotta i gotta call like the guy who made it to ask him

where to find it because these things sort of get deep into a website yeah it's like the dark web yeah dig up the andy berry how-to i need i need that advice okay you clearly the last half hour has taught you i need that advice badly so So anybody can shoot me that Andy Barry video. Okay, so after Easy Rock, because you didn't love the Easy Rock. and Mike was there and Terry was there and Christine was there and they had a team and I was not quite ready for radio at that level at that moment I went to TV and I went over to Life Network and they were doing this new thing and I did that show with Erica M and there was some other crafting show with Sue somebody and all I remember from that experience was a lot of eucalyptus leaves like everywhere all the time they were always crafting always trying to figure out some way to make a

koala bears would it come on wreath for your door with eucalyptus and as I could only do that for so long I was again you know the person Friday but I learned to produce there okay which was really pretty awesome I mean I produced like this fashion segment where I would uh uh go to like um all the stores in Eaton Center that would let me and I would just take all their clothes and then like do this thing and we had a host Donna Holgate was the host of the show at the time and so we do fashion do's and don'ts and we'd set up these outfits and that was a lot a lot of fun but it was um the kind of um production coordinating that was uh really cool a lot of fun yeah it allowed you to hone your craft so you could bring it to the mothership uh the sea but okay so is that your next stop after life network is cbc It is because then I had met at Life Network,

Karen Gelbart, who had come to Life Network from CBC News. And there was one moment where we were sitting in our pretty comfortable offices at Life Network, we'd moved down to Eastern Avenue at that point. And so it felt like really kind of hip and new and whatever. And so I thought, hey, you know, she's got such a cool office. And she's got this team of mostly women who are just young and up and coming or whatever. And it seemed just, just perfect to me. And she says to me, you know what? Somebody died today. And I didn't know that they died. Like she was talking about some famous person in the news. I can't remember who it was. And she was so upset that she didn't know that the person died like two minutes after. And here's the crazy thing. That's a very newsy experience because we know when something has

happened as quickly as it has happened in many cases. And not to be callous, which is another newsy kind of quality, but I got it and I wanted that. I wanted to know stuff. If someone famous dies, you want to be in a position where you know right away. I want to be TMZ. Or I don't really want to be TMZ.

But they always get the goods right i want to know what's going on as soon as it happens and this is before they invented twitter so that we could all be on the same page exactly exactly and and so it was like that moment that she said that it kind of sparked something and i looked around and i said i gotta go you're like i love erica m and all this but like you know the you know someone famous is gonna die and i'm not gonna know about it for 90 minutes when my friend phones me and says did you hear did you know yeah i'm dying to know i'm dying to know oh by the way shout out to ridley funeral home uh great local uh

funeral services in this neck of the woods. Shout them out, okay? Do you do that on CBC? Very good segue. Andy Berry would like that. I still do listen to Metro Morning, but Andy Berry, I don't know how many years he hosted it,

but I think when I started my daily Metro Morning, Andy Berry had already moved over from 1010 and was the host over there so uh shout out to andy berry if uh he's listening right now all right so you uh you end up at cbc how the heck do you get the gig at cbc television okay well um i was an editorial assistant oh and by the way you you want a beer? You don't know pressure. There's no peer pressure here

because I'm going to crack open a beer because I have... You're just going to... Just like that? So, we've been talking for a while, but they did come from my fridge. They're really nice and cold. I am like...

But I'm going to crack... So, I'm going to crack open a burst. So, I want to thank Great Lakes Brewery for sending over the fresh craft beer. So, I'm going to enjoy this. And just so you know, you can crack one open, but you don't have to. Well, thank you. I'll save it for later.

On your nails, I'm just noticing for the first time, like each hand has a different theme and fancy schmancy. That's the evil eye there on my ring finger. Is that what that is? Okay, so when you give me the finger, the eye will be looking at me there. It will be looking at you. It is the middle finger. Blinking in such a pretty way

and since i'm generating my beer right now uh your shirt matches your hair it's pink is that and so is that intentional that you have uh pinkish hair and then the shirt needs to be pink to match well you know when you change your hair to a crazy color i think you just have to go with it all the way i noticed noticed today that Halle Berry has purple hair, which is very exciting. She just tweeted out. She's busting your style. I know.

She's catching up to me, that Halle Berry. Shout out to Halle Berry. Also, since we're breaking down here before we talk more CBC, I have in my freezer upstairs a frozen lasagna for you to take home. Oh, thank you. Courtesy of Palma Pasta. Like that's real. So that box is empty.

But when you leave, it's going to be full. Wow. Thank you very much. These are lovely gifts. I'm glad you're accepting them. Okay. So the green, that's a measuring tape because you never know when you have to measure something. So you have now like, and that's courtesy of the aforementioned Ridley Funeral Home.

So you can keep that. I don't know if you have a handbag or a purse or something. And if you have to measure something, you're ready to go. You know what? I got to tell you that I always have a measuring tape in my bag and it's broken. So this is a perfect replacement. It's like I knew. Like you knew.

Thank you very much. And we're not even done here yet. Okay. There's a Toronto Mike sticker courtesy of stickeru.com where you get your great stickers and decals and temporary tattoos and such. It's a really good quality one too. Look at that. Oh, yeah.

So you stick that somewhere and let me know where it ends up and then you'll see it. It'll last forever. So be smart where you put that. And last but not least for now is we have a uh an ashtray like i don't know if you smoke cannabis but you might have a if you don't you have a friend who does but that is courtesy of canna cabana also a good coaster it's also a good coaster and canna cabana will not be undersold on cannabis or cannabis accessories and people

can go to canacabana.com to find a location near them. There's like a hundred across the country. Okay. Talk to me. We're getting you here now to CBC television. So you knew you needed to change things up. Life network, you didn't know who died. And now it's time to go

to the place where people go when they need to know instantly who just passed away. Again, we're in a pre-Twitter universe because now I know right away when someone dies. Yep. Because I'm on Twitter. Yep. How did you get the gig at CBC? So I ended up back in the day, CBC had a job shop, which was downstairs in the atrium of the John Street building there, front and john.

stairs in the atrium of the John Street building there, front and john. And so you go down and you go into this little room, and they'd post everything on the wall, and you'd look at it, and you'd sort of make your choices and then apply really old school. And so just like I kept applying to jobs. And then finally, they gave me a call for editorial assistant. And I went in, I had to do a writing test and because Scott Medcalf had helped me along after j school um I was able to write an acceptable piece of copy and you know do a pretty good interview sure and then get in and uh I ran scripts for you know Peter Mansbridge and Alison Smith and you know um, all kinds of different people. These are the big shows.

The big, big shows. And it was so amazing. Back in the day, running the script for The National, I mean, it was a very big deal. You had to run fast because Peter needed to mark up his script. And then at one point, this was like really early on, somebody would tape the scripts together because they'd be

printed out in like you know quadruple or something on this weird paper and they'd tape them together and then like roll them over like through a camera and so his marked up script would be exactly the thing that would go into the teleprompter. So that was the system way back when. Okay, now what kind of guy was Peter Mansbridge? Also pretty funny. He was really cool. You know, with me, he always had time to talk to me about whatever. And I remember there was a moment where I had gotten the job,

finally, in radio. remember there was a moment where I had gotten the job finally in radio and um I had actually by that time gone to uh CP24 come back to CBC and I was now working in radio and my team I didn't understand them they didn't understand me and I went to Peter Mansbridge and I'm like, what am I going to do about this? I don't, these people. And he said, listen, you belong there.

You got a job to do. And he might've said some expletive, just do it. Okay. So it was supportive. No, good to hear. I,

I mean, uh, Peter FOTM as well, but he also contributed audio for episode 1000, which was nice of him to do that. And his wife, I recently reunited his wife, Cynthia Dale, who was in a movie called Heavenly Bodies. And in this movie, Heavenly Bodies,

which was trying to be like a flash dance thing in the mid-80s, I don't think it did that well, but her son in this movie is Stu Stone, who is a regular on Toronto Mike. He's here every month for Toast and he used to be on Pandemic Friday. So Stu Stone has become a very good friend. So I had Stu here for Toast and I brought in Cynthia Dale via Zoom and surprised him. They hadn't talked since they filmed that damn movie in 1986 or something like that. So quite

the moment. Did she like surprises? Well, she was in on it because we were surprising Stu, really. But yeah, she loved it. Like, she loved it. And she has threatened that she's going to appear at TMLXX. So this will be my opportunity to tell all FOTMs listening

and you, Marcia, that there is an event on September 1st from 6 to 9 p.m. at Great Lakes Brewery here in southern Etobicoke. And it's going to be awesome. Everybody should come because Palma Pasta is going to feed us. Your first beer is on the house. There's going to be other goodies in store. Some great Canadian musicians who are also FOTMs are going to perform an acoustic jam or two. It's going to be a great night. So September 1 from 6 to 9 p.m.

Tea party coming? Tea party will not be there, actually. We're going to do better than that. Come on. We're going to do better than that. All right. So that was interesting that you told us about the CP24 thing. So clearly you're not here from 1996 to now.

It's not all CBC. No, it's not all CBC. So I did take a break. So I was editorial assisting. And then I got a chance to go out to Saskatchewan. And I was there for a year. And that was amazing. Because, you know, until that point, I had never met any Indigenous people.

They had never become part of my world. I made a couple of friends out there. I went out to some First Nations communities. And I was, you know, spent a good amount of time just being there and understanding the issues and really opened my eyes to a reality that I had never understood before. So Saskatchewan was amazing for that. for farming as well to understand like i had no idea what a pulse crop was so what it did it sounds like you had a toronto-centric perspective okay i this is my word i'm sensitive about that because you know i know people in saskatchewan

they're like toronto well that's what i'm saying Bill but this this this moving to you know Saskatchewan gives you a different perspective I mean a lot of Canada sometimes I forget this but this is Toronto Mike so it feels a different story but I'm allowed to be I suppose but I can be Toronto centric but uh you now are able to see there you know there are Canadians that don't have the Toronto-centric perspective. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, it gave me, I think, a really good idea about what our government is supposed to do and the kind of work that it needs to do

because we have all different issues. Like, it's not about the financial capital. It's not about, like, urbanization and density and, you know, all the movers and shakers on Bay Street, like they're, they're the breadbasket and the, you know, the cattle farmers and the people who are actually reaching around the world that we don't think of, like we think of all the money stuff, but they're, it is so significant. And, um, it's, it's really great to re kind of recenter yourself. Kind of like, you know, when you do it on your Google map, like recenter,

you're like, right. That's exactly, that's the, I used to do that. Recenter. Absolutely. Yeah. So I love that. So this was sort of good for you in order to, you know, improving you as a, as a journalist, as a journalist, as a person,

you know, I always realized now that there's, there's a slightly different way to see something. And I try to catch myself and kind of step away or step outside or step around to, to, to figure stuff out. But you come back to Toronto. stuff out but you come back to toronto okay here's the thing yeah i really love this city and i love cities so big cities and uh i could probably live in almost any big city um not bc though i got a thing i just can't but now you're down to two cities in this country like there's only two big cities in this country that are not in BC. Like Montreal and Toronto? Yeah, right? Because Ottawa is not going to be big enough for you.

You're right. The hammer is not going to handle it. The hammer is not going to be sufficient. So you're down to two cities. Two cities. It's the variety and the way that people are mashed together that I just love. I can walk down my street and see like you know a transgender guy playing prince on the flute or you know go grocery shopping and that happens all in one block right and it's so cool

like i'm just yeah that's a big city thing a turn away from having my mind blown in some some way or another right whether it's like what people are doing with their lives or fashion or, you know, food. Yeah, I know you sold me. You're going to stay? But I was born in Parkdale. So it's like, shout out to Parkdale here. And now you found me in new Toronto because that's where I've ended up here. But okay. So you come back to Toronto because the big city is calling unless you want to leave the country, which you can always do that, of course. But if you want to stay in the country, there's only two options for you. I've decided you're

in Toronto or you're in Montreal. I wish I was in Montreal, but I'm not. I'm not in Montreal. My daughter is moving to Montreal, looking at the calendar right here, in less than three weeks. It's amazing. I envy her. You know what? If that was my daughter, I'd be moving with her. I'd become like Montreal miked. Okay, you know what? Now you've got me

thinking about it. I was thinking of biking there, but it takes three days or something to bike to Montreal. I'd have to plan out where do I sleep. Flying is much more comfortable. Alright, you're not to Montreal. I'd have to plan out where do I sleep. Yeah, flying is much more comfortable. All right, you're not joining me. I was trying to talk. I was trying to talk.

Imagine you and I on a fun bike road trip to Montreal. We could do a fun bike trip to Islington Avenue, which is not far. You and I, we'll go to the Humber Bay Bridge there in Mimico. Yeah, yeah, that's perfect. I could do that. Shout out to M's perfect. I can do that. Okay, I can do that. All right. So I just want to point out that you returned to Toronto because City TV was calling. Yeah, so it was a great opportunity. I was at CBC at the time. And I just needed to do more. I'd got I'd come back from Saskatchewan. And you know, they took me

back in my EA job or producing and doing a whole bunch of different things. I worked for, you know, did some reporting for CBC Toronto. But there was no place to call home just yet. And so I wanted to do more and I knew I could do more and I wanted to test myself. And so CP24 said, yeah, come on over. So I did. And to remind Torontonians, CP24 was a City TV property. It was. And you know what? The best parties happen there.

I feel like I was. That's because of Moses. That was because of Moses. He was a party guy. And it was the coolest place to be. I feel like I was at the tail end of the that happening scene where you know there were different floors and you wanted to get onto the different floors where the hot people were and all the big stars had come to the the much music um 299 queen street west they had like

the much music uh shows that would happen in the summertime that would take over the whole street. MMVAs? That's right. Right. Okay, okay. And it was an event. So now I got questions. Okay, so you're in. So firstly, I'm trying to think of, so we're talking, what are we talking?

Late 90s, early 2000s? Where are we here? So it's early 2000s. It's early 2000s. And this is my first like splashy private sector TV job. Actually, it's the only one that I really ever had because I went right back to the CBC after this. And I made my best friend there, Anne-Marie Green. Okay.

And it was really a lot of fun. We partied like crazy people. So is that code for cocaine? No, no, we were not. I'm sure other people did that but i have not had such an experience in fact it was my goal to stay far away from it i watched other people um go through that and i didn't know at the time what it was it took me a couple years before i put two and two together and i wasn't there anymore because i just like everybody seemed

to be having a really great time and i thought they're just all party animals but yeah it's a hell of a drug I don't know this firsthand I should point out but I've been told it's a hell of a drug but uh shit'll kill you well yeah it makes people talk really fast it keeps some people really skinny um and that's their secret and and it keeps some people up a long time. Um, but, uh, and then your heart blows up in your fifties. I, but I never saw any, I like, I know it was going on, but I didn't see it with my own eyes. So, um, it was, it was a lot of rumor.

Let's just say there was a lot of rumor. So to get back to the news moment, moment uh although that's the interesting stuff is all the coke that was at yeah well you were part of it in the well the 90s no in the 80s i know for a fact of course i mean i've had steve anthony and peter gross and these people john gallagher and the folks that will tell you the straight up about the cocaine uh you're talking about you know early 2000s i don't really know i don't know I doubt coke was as prevalent in the early 2000s. But there were big news stories. And you're now on these.

This is not like go out in that lake and see what you can find out because you're reporting on the Columbia disaster. That's right. Yeah, yeah. That was a weird one because I remember we were watching, like, the smoke trails in the sky. And did not i think i was just so young that i couldn't believe that something yeah exactly i couldn't believe that something even though i had seen i think it was the challenger disaster 87 yeah or 86 when i was

in elementary school right me too yeah and. Yeah. And, but still that, that didn't, it wasn't imprinted enough to inform my reality at the moment of seeing the, the Columbia disaster with the, you know, the smoke plumes. And so I honestly sitting there as a news person on the desk, anchoring thought that there was some mistake and that somehow there we were going to find out

that, oh, it was just part of the ship that had, you know, either fallen apart or caught fire or whatever. And then they were safely up in the sky. And so that was a, that was a really weird moment. And I remember coming off the air, um, realizing that I really, I hadn't registered that, but I think it was just youth. Um, that would change though. And I would start to, I really, I hadn't registered that, but I think it was just youth. That would change though. And I would start to, I think, register things in a very different way. And also you were covering, of course, SARS. Yeah. And I remember when Toni Morrison decided that she wouldn't come to Toronto because she was afraid of SARS. And at the time, even though I was reporting on it, I didn't know anybody who had SARS.

No, I mean, now we've been through COVID. So it's all, it's all different now. It is all different. But I was working, I know I was working in,

um, in Thornhill actually at a software job. And when SARS was happening and I, all is the biggest change in my life, as I recall, was that they, they, that's when they added the,

um, hand sanitizer. Like now we take them for granted. There's these places you can pump and sanitize your hands but that was added during SARS like that was a SARS thing in the building yeah I remember being totally afraid of um hospital row though we're thinking that okay well we'll be fine uh anyway We just don't go on Hospital Row. That's all. And then everything, don't worry about it. SARS, I mean, you covering SARS, I'm curious how did that affect your coverage of COVID-19?

Because I always said wrongly, I think, that, oh, no city on the planet is better prepared for a pandemic than Toronto because of all this stuff we learned from SARS. Like, I used to believe that. And then when SARS hit, it very quickly, I realized, oh, I was wrong. Yeah. Well, thank goodness for the people who are actually adults and working in it at the time, like Dr. Alison McGeer, for instance, because I realized that I was at a very different point in my life at that point. I was single and clubbing and, you know, had no kids. And my

only concern was, can I make rent? And so like, I was very healthy. There was nothing wrong with me. I had no reason to be anywhere really near the healthcare system. So it didn't affect me in the same way. I think COVID is a whole different game because it was affecting everyone it didn't matter where you were it didn't matter what you worked at it didn't matter your health status like it was an equal opportunity virus um and and so that was kind of different so i need to get you to cbc radio okay so so but but i I am naturally curious. Are you there for the beginning of CP24, like the launch of CP24? No, no. I was there like...

Okay, early days though, right? For CP24? Early-ish days. I mean, where the time that City TV and CP24 shared resources. And so I ended up on the anchor desk a lot when the reporters couldn't anchor. So the expectation was that the reporters would anchor for some of their shift and then go out and do their stories. And, you know, they were really talented people to be able to like turn around news stories so quickly. And, you know, they had good sources and the police talked to them. They

had their police sources. And it was just really cool. But I wasn't a reporter. Well, that was Mark Daly, right? That was Mark Daly. He was connected to all the cops. He was really awesome. And I think of him so, so often. We used to do late nights together.

So I would anchor and then he would do the 11 o'clock for a long time. And we'd have a lot of time to just chit chat. And he'd tell me all kinds of stories about being a cop way back when. And one time he said to me, I think it was before the 11 o'clock news and he was getting ready to go on. And I said, Mark, do you ever get nervous doing the news? Like, you know, you've been doing this for so long. And he looked at me in that Mark Daly voice. The voice.

The voice, which I would so love to hear again. And he said, you know, if you don't get butterflies in your stomach, you're doing something wrong. Wow. And he's totally right. Even on the days where it's like uh you know it's the the british columbia edition of the newscast and you know not a lot has changed um i are there are moments where i remember that and be like okay you're really doing it i hear nothing but exceptional

things about that man like i wish i wish obviously i wish I could have him on Toronto Mike right now, but just like a legend, like a beloved. And he, I understand. Cause we did a special episode about him with, I had Ed Conroy from retro Ontario over and we did a special tribute to him and he would get the calls from the cops,

like before anyone else would be like, okay, come to this scene because whatever. So his connections made him a much better journalist. Yeah, I think so. And that is really so important. Anytime anyone has called me with a tip, it's been incredible

because you're connecting immediately with a community and you're doing something immediately that a whole bunch of people care about. All right. Yeah, anyway. Well'm sorry for sorry for your loss i'm sorry for yeah we lost him far too soon that's a shame he's i think somebody pointed out that on the uh on the city news website the only person who's no longer at city news but is still on the website, is Mark Daly, because they kept him on the site. He'll be there for all eternity, I suppose, as a tribute. So tell me, my friend, about CBC Radio. So this is where you are today. So how do you make that switch from CP24 to CBC Radio in 2004? Well, CP24 started contracting, and they started not renewing contracts. So I just then

at that point went back to what I thought of as home, CBC. And so I ended up at CBC radio. Jamie Purden, who was the executive producer at the time, thought it would be a good idea for me to do um some radio and so i thought i was probably just going to go to tv after but nope i stayed there i did um the the dying days of canada at five um that was a show that was ancient ancient ancient and then um they changed it over to the World This Hour. And initially people called it The Noisy Show because Peter Leo, another fantastic producer that left us far too soon as well, decided that radio, you needed to have sound on radio.

Imagine that. And so he brought the sounds from all over the world and wherever we could get sound from whatever news source, we were using it. Yeah. Very cool. Now, the World Report. So the world is our.

Okay. So and okay. So what I have here is a clip here. So it's actually from today, I believe. Okay. This is World Report. World Report. Yeah.

Let's listen here. It's only a few seconds because you throw to Dominic Valaitis here. Okay. This is World Report. Good morning from CBC News. I'm Marcia Young. Egypt has reportedly brokered a truce between Israel and Palestinian militants. Sources say the ceasefire will go into effect later today. This comes as fighting dragged into a third day in the region the cbc's dominic philetus has the latest

israel's iron dome missile okay now i have questions okay so um so what time of the day was that live? That could possibly have been the 5 a.m. No, the 6 a.m. show today because it's the weekend Saturday. Okay, so why don't you tell us when can we hear you on CBC Radio 1? You can hear me on CBC Radio 1 very early in the morning. So like anytime between 5 a.m. and noon, depending on where you are in the country. So really, okay, 5 a.m. to 9 a.m.,

wherever you are in the country. What time are you waking up? If I'm working during the week, I would be awake 2.30ish. Wow. Yeah. And on the weekend, I get to sleep in until about 3.30. That's a funny sentence.

Okay. So, okay. So you can't come to TMLXX because you can't do a 6 to 9 event. Well, it depends on the day of the week. Depends how badly you want to do it right now. Yeah. And sometimes, I mean,

once I did go to a Lenny Kravitz concert and I stayed up until like the second encore, which was like, but that's like 11. Yeah. It, cause it was at, but your alarm was going off at, right at the,

yeah, now, but then I had to get home. Right. And yeah, so that was, that was a, that was a real sacrifice. So I guess where I'm going here is like,

how do you have a vibrant social life? Like if all the fun events happen when it gets dark outside. Vibrant is relative. I have to pick and choose the things that I go to and I have to say, okay, well, I'm going to go to this thing on Friday. So that means between now and Friday,

I have to really be on top of my naps and kind of take it slow so I can build up the sleep bank. Do you want to elaborate on the napping strategy? Every morning show host, and you're getting up at 2.30. That's even, like I know, you know, I work with morning show people and they're like, you know, it sounds like 4 a.m. or whatever, but 2.30. So like, is that because you have a lot

of work to do before your voice is on it's set into a microphone um yeah well i have to if i haven't listened to my shows the various shows before um i get i go to bed i have to do it in the morning which means i have to give myself a little bit of time to do that. And so that is the 230. Sometimes I just push it to 245 because I need those extra 15 minutes. Rebel. I know. And I also try to take a taxi to work so that I could read the news and get on top of stuff in just a little bit more time.

But I often have been known to ride my bike, which is fantastic. But, you know, you got to stick to that 230 up time. You can't read on your bike. No, you cannot. Although at that time of day, you probably could. Like there's nothing to hit. Nah, you know what?

We have potholes. In this part of the city where you are, you don't have as many potholes. Well, what part of the city are you talking about? Because what neighborhood? Queen West. I'm talking about Queen West. Lots of potholes? Lots of potholes. It of the city are you talking about because uh what neighborhood queen west i'm talking about queen west lots of potholes lots of potholes it's really bad there it's like there are divots in the road that for a biker um at like three in the morning or four in the morning

oh yeah it's scary too because you're kind of relaxed on the handlebars and then when you do surprisingly hit one of those it's like yeah you yeah, you could, you could, yeah, off your bike. So I actually try not to be that relaxed on the handlebars just for, for that. Yeah. Okay. I feel your pain there. I broke my wrist in March, 2020. That's now a couple of years ago, but I've had some bike crashes.

Okay. But I, yeah, I do a lot. All right. Now, what time do you arrive at CBC? So I have to be sitting at my desk at either 4 or 5 a.m depending um or a little bit earlier um if i haven't read everything i have to be earlier yeah okay so and what time are you like what time are you done for the day like uh um i usually walk out of there any time between like 12 30 and one ish that's actually a long day i mean um well it's a four-day work week so

okay we gotta do the math on that one okay yeah so don't don't do the math wait a minute here my tax dollars exactly right what's going you must get that a lot like people feel like they're your boss because uh we support the cbc but you know what it is i'm i feel like i work a lot and all the time because i really love what i do and i feel like i'm actually just doing the thing that is pretty natural for my personality so i'm always reading i'm always sort of working i'm always collecting information i'm always sort of like I'm always collecting information I'm always sort of like emailing somebody something so I never quite I never quite turn off and that seems to be okay right now because it's kind of like my personality yeah like I hope it's okay there's

some therapist listening going oh my gosh you better turn off that That's not healthy. But you go on vacations? It's a staycation. Ever since, you know, the pandemic began, we haven't really been very many places. I really love to go to Europe, like France is one of my favorite places or any place French. I'm such a Francophile. Love it. Love it. Love it. So I was even looking at St. Pierre and Michelin thinking, oh, I could just kind of do that. Okay, so speaking of that neck of the woods such a francophile love it love it love it so i was even looking at uh saint pierre and mickey long thinking oh i could just kind of do that okay so speaking of that neck of the woods here okay so because you're very good at your job i don't want people like people who it's funny i was talking about you coming on and then anyone who's like i listen to a lot of cbc radio and i realize not

all canadians are listening to cbc radio okay but so those who listen to CBC radio, like know who you are. And then those who don't, like when that's a black hole or whatever, CBC radio, they're like, who? Right. Because it's like,

it's like there's two, two solitudes in this country, the CBC radio listeners and those who don't listen to CBC radio. But I want people to know, like, well, let's talk briefly here about when Barbados cut ties with Queen Elizabeth last year.

Right. You, you traveled to Barbados and you hosted World Report and covered that story on the ground. That was amazing because it really was an opportunity for me to dip into an issue that I care very much about. You know, the independence and sovereignty of Caribbean places and states. And, you know, my family's Jamaican. And so my wonder was, you know, could that happen in Jamaica? Are they ready? Can they go there? The answer is not yet. The answer is, some people are still talking about it. But going to Barbados and meeting the prime minister, who is a woman, a powerful black woman,

who really is not concerned about what other people think. And it was all just so powerful and affirming as anything. Like I just, it was amazing. Did you meet Rihanna there? Speaking of powerful and affirming black women i saw rihanna okay so i was close enough to rihanna that if i screamed her name she might have looked in my direction um that's pretty close yeah this is close as they probably will ever get i was on a press riser with all of the international press um kind of

like across um a kind of a courtyard um in barbados as they were celebrating becoming a republic and it was very very late at night and she looked amazing and we weren't all sure yet if she was actually pregnant at that point and uh later we would find out, yes, she was. And her dress was the most unique dress in that entire crowd of people. This gold number that was leaving very little to the imagination. Well, you would know your fashion, okay? You know your fashion because my inside source tells me that you dress like a million bucks every single day

when you arrive at the CBC studios. Oh my goodness. I do love fashion. You know what? Lorna Jackson was another amazing CBC host who was also an incredible dresser. And her jewelry, like wherever she traveled in the world, she was buying something, an outfit. She looked like broadway every single time she came and that inspired you it did because she said to me you

know you dress for the radio like you dress how you want to feel you this is an occasion to be here behind the mic and if you are wearing pajamas you will sound like you're wearing pajamas and and i totally believe her and so many of um the women that um i've seen at cbc who did radio especially when i first started um had that philosophy and i i totally believe it well let me know if you want to borrow this shirt because i would lend it to you just you know but and i guess i'm and also like radio hosts like it's amazing like what you said there makes complete sense because i'm sure there are radio hosts that uh it's jeans and a t-shirt right i think if you um are kind of dressed down on the radio you maybe you have to work a little bit harder to kind of do

it um but i do know some people who sounded pretty good all the time, and I know what they wore. Right. I'm not even going to name any names. Oh, wow. What was Tom Harrington wearing? He actually always looks really good. Of course, of course. I just realized what I'm doing wrong on Toronto, Mike.

I've got to dress better for this program here. Dress for the radio. Dress for the radio, okay. Now, the reports from Barbados, and not a lot of countries are covering that on the ground, right? Like having a, am I wrong there? I would. Well, there were like the British news outlets were there.

Sure, sure, sure. And yeah, so. They're getting better over there. And some Americans were there, but we were, I think the main Canadian presence. I think some other networks were there doing other long form stuff, but in terms of like the immediacy of covering the story. And it was really important to me because I feel that CBC has not necessarily reached, um, the black audience in, in a way that they could.

And in a way that I would really like to see. I mean, we're doing it and it's a process, but it involves telling stories that black communities care about, whether that is African black communities, Caribbean black communities, or wherever, you know, they're black communities all over the world, wherever they come from, tell the stories that matter to them. And this was one moment where we could do that. And I felt like we had to do that because it mattered to so many people who are from countries within the Commonwealth who have issues with, you know, the monarchy and this whole idea of decolonization.

with the monarchy and this whole idea of decolonization. And there's this moment in the last few years where people are really starting to think about how they have not freed themselves from that Bob Marley line. You know, that free yourself from inner slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds, which I think Mia Motley quoted. The Prime Minister of Barbados quoted Bob Marley as well. And so for me, it was also part of that.

Like, how are we freeing our minds? You know, instead of asking for space at the table, push your way through. It's time. Like, don't ask for people to budge. like don't don't ask for people to budge like it's time to to kind of uh do our own thing and step into uh ourselves what's an rt dna that would be my awards so what is it actually like is it a trophy it's a really beautiful award it's uh so it's a like an Oscar. I'm just trying to visualize it. No, it's, it's a glass kind of a glass. Okay. Shelfy looking.

Like a crystal looking thing or no. It's very modern. It's a modern sort of like a piece of glass on top of a square piece of glass, a rectangular piece of glass on top of a square piece of glass. And together they make this lovely shelf square like object that is really nice to look at and you can see through it and it says your name no it doesn't say your name does your name uh somebody took mine away the other day they're traveling around the building they're traveling around the building my producer helen says it's fine don't worry about it you have to share it you don't you have to share it i guess i do but so it's not like in your like bathroom right now

no no i leave it at work and i leave it on the desk so we've actually with world report i've received probably three potentially four and they're all you're not sure i'm not sure because i'm you think you'd know like like that would be something you'd know. Well, okay, I'm going to say I think it's four because. Is it because you're not sure how much you were involved in that particular news story? No, because I've like won a couple, like more than a couple. With World This Hour, we won one for Best Sound. So when you win for Best Sound, it's not the same as winning for like an actual story

that you said i mean it's still amazing i don't want to bury the lead here uh and i know how to spell lead it's l-e-d-e okay because a lot of people think it's l-e-a-d i know what it is okay yeah so don't bury the lead here that you did win you took home the two r-t-n-d-a dna which i want to know what that stands for by the way uh for breaking news coverage of Barbados which we were just talking about becoming a republic and the death of Prince Philip yeah that was a crazy moment I love doing that

we were I think almost getting ready to go home and it was towards the end of the newscast and I think we anyway it was at some point where we started to relax a little bit more into what was going on in the world and uh then we hear that prince philip has died and um we had to like sprint into action and of course at cbc uh this weekend day we did not have any of our regular writers.

So they were like brand new people. He picked the wrong time to die. No kidding. But lucky for me, you know, I find the monarchy a very interesting organization. And so I watch The Crown, OK? And I don't watch The crown and i don't watch the crown all i know is from the crown i watch a lot of documentaries about them and prince philip and so yeah so that that kind of helped but i'd been reading because we'd sort of been we knew for

weeks and weeks and weeks that he was not well and we were watching so the man was dead when he was alive i mean only you know they say only the good die young. Okay. I don't mean to make light of it, but yeah, this was not a shocker. No, it wasn't. So we had, you know, some time to sort of prepare and understand what was at stake.

And there had been lots of discussions and, you know, articles and all that sort of stuff. So we were ready, but of course you're never really, really ready. And, but all of our, the reporters, the people who were live on the ground, sprung into action. And there's an adrenaline rush that happens when you have to go into this kind of thing. I've never worked in the news. But I would think that when it comes to somebody like that, I would think when it comes to Queen Elizabeth II,

that there's actually literally a like there's a plan in place there is and yes in the moment that you're informed by the monarchy that she's passed away a button gets pressed and then this process starts to unfold but like i would think that uh prince philip would be similar and that there it would be just simply like executing this plan which has has been etched in stone. We're just waiting for that heart to stop beating. It's true. There is a plan, and the plan can get you through potentially 15 minutes to an hour,

and then you got to fly. And even in between, within that time that is planned, there is still a lot of room for error. And at that point, like you're talking to people about something that they may or may not care about, but it's happening and it's live. And it has implications. And so it's like, go, it's go time. It's go time.

Okay, so if you checked your phone lately, is the Queen time. It's go time. Okay. So if you checked your phone lately, is the queen still with us? That one's coming. That's coming. I know. Don't even do that. You know what? We, when you're napping, when you're napping, I'm seriously, cause you, you wake up at two

30 in the morning. Okay. So I know I asked you about the napping strategy and I don't think we ever got the answer, but so you do your day. There's a nap. There's a nap. So, um, when i'm really like i really try to be good today and get home right away and jump right into bed okay um and is there blackout

curtains yeah i have blackout curtains is there a white noise machine no no you don't need that i think that i kind of run such a sleep deficit that i can fall asleep probably in about eight minutes. I think I could beat that, but yes. Okay. But only if I do my bike ride. Okay. Yeah. And so I fall asleep right away. I set my alarm, but I think it was, uh, going for like a few minutes. Cause I generally don't have to wake up for my afternoon nap until my body says, okay, it's time to get up. But I, I had to get up, um, to, to chat with you a little bit. I made you get up and again you were late but i forgive you thank you you know that you're still getting your lasagna oh good

because i yeah i like lasagna but you if you're napping and the queen dies during the nap not there's no bat phone or whatever no that is not my business if i am napping that that means that i'm probably off and it will be somebody else's turn to go through that adrenaline rush and wonder how they got through the day. What's the biggest news story you ever woke up from a nap to find out? Oh, my gosh. Like, oh, wow, this happened. Wow. Work to do.

Maybe you don't have one off the top of your head. No, I don't have one off the top of my head. But you know what? I think in the morning, sometimes if I've had a late night and I've gone to bed, say like- And a late night meaning like 9.30 p.m. Yeah, exactly. Or sometimes even 10.

Wow. It's really late. Wow. And I'll wake up like, oh, this Gaza story with Israel targeting- The big lead story right now. Yeah, the big lead story right now. I think I went to bed on Thursday night and I woke up on Friday morning and I'm like, what? And so there are those moments or again, if somebody dies overnight or somebody dies at like, and it's on the national nine or 10.

Right. I'll wake up in the morning and be like, really? Yeah. Like, I think Betty White was a surprise. Yeah. You think you were surprised. I know. Imagine you had her on the cover of your magazine celebrating her 100th birthday.

Yeah. So that's, they were surprised too. Yeah, you can't count those chickens till they hatch. Okay. So, okay. We're winding down here. You're doing amazing here. Can you speak about the day that Joe Biden won the Electoral College,

which I think was four days after the vote? You know what? I can only remember. You'd have to ask me like two days after that happened. I think there's something that happens with going on adrenaline like that, where you're doing a thing. And the thing about being a journalist is that you know something intensely for a very short period of time

and then it's like it never happened. It's like when it's over, you can delete that from your memory. You don't need to retain that anymore. Yeah, I'm like a bad phone. It's something like if a guest is coming over and I do, sometimes I'll do my homework and for a period of time,

I am the world's foremost expert on this human being. Like I know, I know more about them than they know about themselves and then we'll record, but I got another one tomorrow and I'll start prepping for that one. And I will know nothing about that previous person. I used to be the world's foremost expert. It's so crazy. You know?

So what I do remember is the feeling of, of other people feeling very relieved, you know, of those results and of sort of watching. And yeah. But you hosted a live special on CBC Radio. And this is like, not again, Metro Morning and Here and Now are the Toronto shows, but we're talking the Canada shows, right? So like they're hearing you in Prince Edward Island. Where I've worked. That was a lot of fun.

You worked in Prince Edward Island. I did. Not according to my notes. Oh, no, no, I really did. I worked there. I did their Main Street show for like a few weeks. Main Street. And I got to try all kinds of crazy stuff there. We did

cooking on the radio, which I thought was so much fun. And that's the place where I discovered that I could never make lobster on my own. Okay. So you're always learning about yourself. Did you eat cow's ice cream when you were in PEI? I probably did.

A lot of cow's ice cream in PEI. Okay. I've only been there once, but I'm now the foremost authority on all things Prince Edward Island. Okay. So you did a great job on the CBC radio show when Biden won the electoral college

after the mail-in stuff. So I have a very serious question to ask you, but first I'm going to ask about Neil Coxel. Did I say her name wrong too? I always hear it. Neil Coxel. Can you say it for me? It's more like Cooksel. Neil Cooksel. Cooksel. Yeah.

She's, okay, so she's going to host As It Happens. Okay. So here's the big question. She was at World Report, right? Monday to Thursday hosting it. And now, as it happens, okay. Will you be moving off weekends now that Neil is moving to host as it happens?

I don't know. Is that true you don't know? I really don't know. I really don't know. Other people seem to know. Other people think that it would be a great idea. Other people would like, you know. Well, what do you want?

Tell me what you want because I'll make that happen. Can you? Oh, my gosh. I know people. You know people. Okay. All right. I don't know.

You know, it's kind of funny. I have to say that I've worked weekends for a really, really long time. And it's a whole different vibe. And I don't know, I'd be happy. I'd be happy to move over for sure, because then I'd just be in sync with the rest of the world. Um, but I have to say that being out of sync with the rest of the world has given me some pretty fantastic opportunities. So, um, you're hedging your bets. I'm hedging my bets. Go big or go home. Okay. So you mentioned earlier about CBC.

I don't want to put words in your mouth. How did you put it? Producing stories that matter to black Canadians. Yeah. Is that how you worded it? Okay. So when you joined the CBC, there were black people on air, but there was no one, I't think anyone like any of the

bosses were people of color no oh my gosh no they were all white men um oh wait wait and there was cynthia kinch okay who is not a man not a man okay but everybody was white yes everybody was white and everybody seemed to me at the time you, from the same sort of socioeconomic background. And there was one moment I remember, Tony Berman was the, I think, managing editor or something anyways, that the big cheese on in terms of news, and they wanted to find ways to reach different communities. And so I was an editorial assistant at the time and they pull me into this meeting because it was part of the philosophy to sort of like gather in everybody who could say anything about anything and talk about how, you know, they were going to approach strategy

and all this sort of stuff. And I remember I strangely had the courage to speak up in this room. And at the time, like personal computers were still, um, uh, an expensive, luxurious item. Um, you know, not everybody was using email and like it, things just were not as, as, um, easy as they are today. Right. And so my comment was, you know, not everybody has a computer right now. Not everybody has,

you know, all of these things that you guys do in this room. And maybe you have to go back to some old school advertising. Have you thought about billboards? You know, just sure. Reaching people. Like on the side of the,

or the side of the bus. Yeah. Where people might actually, until this day, I can't remember the last time I saw a CBC ad on the side of the, or the side of the bus. Yeah. Where people might actually, until this day, I can't remember the last time I saw a CBC ad on the side of a bus or a CBC. Yeah. So it's, it's kind of not like we advertise all over our building.

So if you pass by the CBC building, you'll see all kinds of, of, of things. But, you know, I would love to see an ad for CBC in um, in Parkdale or an ad for CBC. Um, you know, you see ads for other private stations in the bus stations.

You'll see like a, there'll be Marilyn and Jamar, or you'll see the guys from, uh, what is it? Don't tell me. Roz Weston and Momoka. All of those people, but you don't see CBC people, especially in the places, in the communities where, and I've always thought that that would make a difference. And so that people know, like this young black boy came up to me someplace and he was like, so you work at CBC Radio. Do people still listen to the radio?

I'm like, yeah, they do, but I know you don't. And why? Because there are things on it that I'm sure he would like. But, you know, how do we make that talk to them about is the fact that think about those communities that we haven't traditionally reached we've got a great being black in canada um website and uh information and button on our main page that people can go to for all kinds of amazing stories from across the country um but there's more. There's got to be more. And the management being a bunch of white people, that's changed. Somewhat.

Well, your boss, okay, your boss right now, that's Francis D'Souza, right? Wait, that changes too. Well, what's going on here? Yes, yes, mostly. I'll say that, mostly, yeah. Okay, people remember Francis from City TV. That's right.

He was a reporter there. We were there at the same time. And it's worth noting, just because she's an FOTM as well, but your senior producer at World Report on the weekends, is that Amber Giro? Giro. Is it? I called her Giro.

She didn't correct me. Giro, okay. I never, ever say her last name. Ever, never, never. Amber, yes. And she's pretty cool. And so that has been a wonderful experience, um, to work with her. It's, uh, you know, we used to take pictures when there were like more than two black people on the world report. Okay. But you can, theoretically, there could be a day when world report is hosted, written and produced entirely by women of color.

That has happened. Like, that's a huge, huge shift. That is a huge, huge shift. I'm not saying we fixed all the problems, but we are making progress. But it's still on those days when it happens. I think we all notice. And it happens i mean today my uh technical producer is a woman of color and there's amber and there's me and then we have our boy band of writers

by the way uh there's an episode of toronto mic'd with amber who i think it's jiro but uh now you've got i question everything if you notice i haven't said your first name in like a half an hour i know i know I know. I'm like gun shy. Now it's fair, right? I'm about Amber and you're about Marcia. Okay. Marcia, Marcia, Marcia, Marcia, Marcia, Marcia. It's always about Marcia.

Okay. But the Amber Chiro episode is fascinating because she opens up about racism she experienced in the CFRB newsroom. That's 1010 on your AM dial, by the way. And it's just really interesting to hear her story. Okay. How was this for you, Marcia? How was this episode of Toronto Mic'd?

How was this experience? It was a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun. And was it good enough that you will come back and kick out the jams? I will come back and kick out the jams? I will come back and kick out the jams. Absolutely. I will like get my playlist ready.

And yes. On a Sunday morning, which is this morning, I played a clip of you actually, but when World Report's airing on CBC Radio 1 on a Sunday morning, what are we talking about? How many people might tune in and hear your voice on that program? Hundreds of thousands at least i'm saying a million people are listening to you you know what i never look at the stats and i i know it's like probably more than a million i know it is it has to be

well it's almost as many people as will hear you on this episode of toronto mic that is awesome marcia thanks for making the trip. This is awesome, but you're not leaving without that lasagna, so don't go anywhere. Thank you. And that brings us to the end of our 1093rd show. You can follow me on Twitter.

I'm at Toronto Mike. Marcia, how can we follow you on twitter Marcia Young CBC on twitter and you can find me on instagram Marcia Young CBC I think

and yeah that's me our friends at Great Lakes Brewery or at Great Lakes Beer Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. Electronic Products Recycling Association are at EPRA underscore Canada. And I will practice that intro I butchered very badly at the beginning of this program. Ridley Funeral Home are at Ridley FH.

And Canna Cabana are at CannaCabana underscore. See you all next week. We'll be right back. And I don't know what the future can hold or do for me and you. But I'm a much better man for having known you. Oh, you know that's true because everything is coming up rosy and gray. Yeah, the wind is cold, but the smell of snow won't stay today. And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away

Cause everything is Rosy and green Well I've been told That there's a sucker born Every day But I wonder who Yeah I wonder who Yeah, I wonder who Maybe the one who doesn't realize

There's a thousand shades of grey Cause I know that's true Yes, I do I know it's true, yeah I know it's true How about you? All that picking up trash and then putting down roads And they're brokering stocks, the class struggle explodes

And I'll play this guitar just the best that I can Maybe I'm not and maybe I am But who gives a damn Because everything is coming up Rosy and gray Yeah, the wind is cold But the smell of snow Warms me today

And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is rosy and green Well I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in Spain And I've kissed you in places I better not name And I've seen the sun go down on Chaclacour But I like it much better going down on you

Yeah, you know that's true Because everything is coming up rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold But the smell of snow Warms us today And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is

Rosie now Everything is Rosie Yeah, everything is Rosie and Gray Yeah Yeah, everything is rosy and gray