Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Mike Richards: Toronto Mike'd #219

Episode Date: February 21, 2017

Mike chats with sports broadcaster Mike Richards about what happened at TSN Radio 1050 and what exactly Raw Mike Richards will be.

I love daddy. Welcome to episode 219 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a local independent brewery producing fresh craft beer. And Chef's Plate, delivering delicious and locally sourced farm fresh ingredients in refrigerated kits directly to your door. sourced farm fresh ingredients and refrigerated kits directly to your door. I'm Mike from TorontoMike.com and joining me this week is sports broadcaster

Mike Richards. As evidenced by this sound. There he goes. And I had to come in and save it after Craig Venn ruined everything with his river of lies. That's his nickname by the way. River of lies. That's his nickname, by the way. River of lies.

Yeah, well, in some areas. That little thief. I have to ask, tell me about the Craig Van lie. Sometimes I have guests and they're a little dishonest with me and I find out afterwards. He's always been a shady character, as you can tell. I'm surprised you still have silverware.

Not to be trusted. No, it's funny. Craig Van and so Lobster Boys, as you can tell. I'm surprised you still have silverware. Not to be trusted. No, it's funny. Craig Venn and so Lobster Boys, as John eventually went on to call them. But when we started doing that comedy service up where the hideous part of CFNY was, where the chicken murdering was taking place across the street.

This was the strip mall in Brampton. Yeah. And I guess it was Maple Lodge Farms or whatever, but really what it was, was the end of a lot of very happy chicken lives. I had no idea the destruction that was happening through the smokestacks. I mean, it was the worst imagery of all time. And I see this young guy because I said, well, Bob Mack would just say, well, get this. This guy can produce the comedy service.

And I look at this. Oh, my God. He was 100 and what? 115 pounds, probably. Yeah. And I said, well, he looks terrible. And, of course, we've been very close friends ever since, attending his wedding.

Although we did say they brought me in to do comedy or something at the fan. What he failed to mention was I was there before he got there with Bob McCallum. I wasn't brought in. I was already there. You liar. That is funny. You know, your name comes up a lot. Since we record here, let me set this up for everybody. Your last appearance was episode 156.

So if you guys want to go get the A to Z of Mike Richards' career up until TSN Morning Show guy, TSN Radio Morning Show guy. Up until then, it's all in episode 156. In fact, I'll read the bio here. So Mike chats with, this is me, not you.

Mike chats with TSN Radio 1050 Morning Show host Mike Richards about his years on the Fan 590, the team, Calgary's Fan 960, and why he chose 1050 over 590, the team, Calgary's fan 960, and why he chose 1050 over 590. We also discussed TSN radio ratings going against Dean Blundell and his battle with rectal cancer. That's a lot of stuff

in there. So there's a lot of stuff in there. And a lot of that apparently has changed since we've talked last. And for the most part, and people, you know, the one question they said is, so what happened? Blah, blah, blah.

I said, well, it's simple for me. Do you want to save this one? Well, just here. You go ahead. You do what you're supposed to do. I drive. You're used to driving, but now you're backseat. Have a sip.

So which one is that? Apocalypse Later. Yeah, Apocalypse Later. So very strong. Strong beer. Very hoppy. There's some bitters in there as well. So there's a octopus wants to fight that's there. It's also cold. So

this six pack here is not as cold as those two. So we'll start you off and see how it goes. But if everybody's wondering what Mike Richards is drinking, it's Great Lakes beer, but we'll get to that in a minute. Believe it or not, I just had correspondence with Brian Williams of all people, and he says, say hi to Mad Mike.

So Mad Mike is your nickname. Mad Mike, okay. I've never heard him call me that before, but no, Brian Williams and I have been good friends for a while, got even closer at TSN. No, he's a good man. You see how I dropped that name. That's because Brian's going to come on very soon. We're going to talk about it later this That's because Brian's going to come on very soon. We're going to talk

about it later this week, and Brian's going to come on. Oh, I thought you were saying while I was on, because that always goes sideways when that happens. I wish. I wish I was that organized that I'd have that happen. And one more note here. So Brian Williams is coming on, and he had nothing, believe it or not, he had nothing but good things to say about you.

I want to, so my buddy Andrew Stokely, who helped me with this audio gear and picking these microphones and stuff, I want to get this right. His niece in, I don't know, in Buffalo or somewhere in upstate New York, did backup vocals for an album by a guy named Aaron Rizzo. So Aaron Rizzo puts out an album and Andrew Stokely's niece is heard on one of the songs called Jericho. Let me play that song where I tell you where this story

gets kind of funny. Okay. Andrew loves this album. I mean, he's biased, but he says it's amazing. This is Jericho by Aaron Rizzo. So on Facebook, Andrew Stokely's raving about Jericho by Aaron Rizzo. And because his niece is singing on it, but he thinks it's fantastic regardless. It turns out this guy's dad is a diehard listener of Toronto Mic'd

and recognized Andrew Stokely's name from this show. So I want to say hi to Joe Rizzo, who's listening right now, and let him know that I've been listening to his son's work, Aaron Rizzo's work, and it's excellent. Yeah, it sounds great. You know, got some little nasty, dirty blues in there. Yeah, it's got a dirty, kind of grimy feel to it.

Oh, very good. It's good stuff. And one more note, this is my buddy, Matty Spry, who is a diehard mike richards fan this guy used to he works in construction and he used to call in all the time and talk to you he's in bolton now and uh at new year's eve i was hanging with the guy and all his questions were about you like just loves you can't wait to hear you again and i want to say happy birthday because today is maddie's birthday. So happy birthday, Maddie Spry. Happy birthday, Maddie.

All right, buddy. We're going to dive into what happened at TSN and what's coming up next. And it's going to be awesome. But I listen to a podcast called Someone Knows Something. Yes, apparently a lot of people do. In fact, I would say that that particular podcast by CBC, I think is pretty much on a weekly basis the most listened to podcast in terms of Canada. Like when I look at the Canadian numbers, the

iTunes numbers, you know, you're going to see Joe Rogan up there. You can see some of those other ones. But they're in the top five very almost consistently week after week. Well, I think it's Canada's answer to Serial. So Serial came out from the guys behind This American Life. And Someone Knows Something,

this is season two of that show, and it's like a real crime, what do you call that genre? Real crime or something like that? Yeah, I would say, yeah, sure. Yeah, there was a crime, sadly, there was a crime committed in early 98. So this is in Hamilton, Ontario.

A woman named Cheryl Shepard disappeared in early 1998. But this is kind of a weird story, and you get involved, and I'm going to play the clip. But on New Year's Eve 97, she's at, and you're going to tell me the specifics, but she's at some kind of New Year's Eve broadcast hosted by Mike Richards.

Yes. Yeah, it's at the Convention Center in Hamilton where I am emceeing this circus, this circus of booze ingested sort of really rough around the edges crowd. And only I would host or emcee something where it ends up being like Murder, She Wrote. Yeah. Next day someone's missing. Yeah. Okay. So let me play the clip, and then we'll come...

I got some questions for you as a listener of this podcast. So, this is you on New Year's Eve, 1997. Okay, come on back. That's a little better. Very brave man. What's your name here? Yeah, put the drink down. Thank you very much.

Very warm moment. What's your name? Mike. Your name is Mike Lavoie. From Hamilton. From Hamilton. Apparently Mike has a very, very important question to ask this young lady or this young lady. All right. Come on in here. All right, go ahead. Right here. In 1998, I'd like to ask you to mirror me, Cheryl. Marriage proposal. I can't believe this. And

now it's turned into a soft porn film. Hey, what was the answer? The answer was yes. All right, I'll break it down. So I got so many questions. So the guy there with the mullet, I guess, is Michael Lavoie. Michael Lavoie proposed to Cheryl Shepard,

the woman who eventually said yes. You, by the way, look great in this. I'm looking at this. How old are you here? You're like your early 20s? No, no, no. You, look great in this. I'm looking at this. How old are you here? You're like early 20s? No, no, no. You're mid-30s. I'm like 30. Is that right? You must be... What are you now?

90? 92? Yeah, I'm 68 years old. Yeah, that was 97. And Michael Lavoie is the only suspect. He's never been arrested for this crime, but Cheryl Shepard disappeared shortly thereafter

after this engagement we heard. She looked wasted in that video, by the way. The whole crowd was. They were molesting me. It was the weirdest night of all time. Tell me a bit. So I know I did hear you did talk to CBC, and it appeared in one of the episodes.

But until then, I had no idea you were the DJ for this infamous thing. Yeah, they called me a TV host, all these weird adjectives that I've never really been called a DJ either. Like all this stuff. I was working at Y95. It was myself and Jeff Lumpy. That's what was happening. And so myself, of course, at this point in my life, personally, I'm separated.

So I do what a lot of really unbalanced men do, and that is the girl that they're seeing, they put them on TV. And so that's who Tracy is. So that, yeah, your co-host was your girlfriend at the time. So we don't know what's going on. I'm trying to figure out why I didn't do that in the first place, because it's so weird.

And then all these years, like, what is it, 30 years later, whatever it is, someone calls from CB and said, do you remember where you were in 97? I go, lady, 97? For me, I don't know if I was wearing pants. Like, it probably was something bad. 20 years. Because I thought I was going to get something else weird. And she goes, do you realize that the girl that was proposed to,

like, we can't find her, we think she's murdered? I'm like, yeah, it's Hamilton. Of course that was proposed to. Like, we can't find her. We think she's murdered. I'm like, yeah, it's Hamilton. Of course that's what happened. It wasn't until I saw it that everything sort of came back. But that was a very, this has been amongst the strangeness that my life is and continues to be. Why wouldn't this show up? It's so bizarre.

Suddenly you're connected to this real crime drama and the disappearance of Cheryl Shepard. Yeah, a murder now. You'd think the cancer was enough. No, no. I'm going to get an update on that. I definitely need an update on that in a minute. But that's just I just couldn't believe it when I heard Mike Richards was somehow involved.

Now, there's no blood on your hands. You're just a host here. I watched the clip. The guy does come off creepy for what it's worth, but you can't be convicted for coming off creepy. Then they all would have been arrested that night. They're in a big bus. But it was just in the way in which Hamilton can be.

Look, I'm a Ticat fan. I've been since I was born. I've got family there. My brother went to McMaster, sold my dad. You know, I get the hammer. But along with that comes the roughness of that area.

And I was looking at him and then her. She was bombed. Like, she was hammered. She was wasted. But she wasn't even aware of the question. Like, she was stunned.

And she didn't even say yes initially. Right, right. And then he just, you know, pulled a Ron Jeremy and just stuck his tongue right in there. Yeah. And moved in like it was a prize. Like that wasn't a romantic kiss. That was like a conqueror. And it just, it was odd looking back at it now, hearing what the story is.

But I would have been oblivious to that back then. And you know, this is live TV. You've got a million things going on. You can't, you know, 20 years ago, you can't remember the little details of what they were like when they weren't on Mike or whatever, like, how can you? But it's just very interesting that of all the people,

you know. Of course. This is the world of Mike Richards. Something's going to go wrong. In the world of Toronto Mike, I need people to go to patreon.com slash Toronto Mike and give what you can

cough up a buck or two a month and help keep this passion project going I mentioned Brian Williams off the top Bob McKenzie's another guy who's promised to come on he says later in March

so some big time TSN heavyweights they're coming on and I got a former TSN heavyweight in front of on and I got a former TSN heavyweight in front of me right now. He's around the corner. He'll be here any minute now. But go to patreon.com slash Toronto Mike.

You, Mike Richards, have already dove into the Great Lakes beer so that six pack goes home with you. There's a couple of additional because you were stuck in traffic and I feel bad and I want you to have some cold brews here and get comfy. Here's what kills me when you're stuck in traffic. So feel bad and I want you to have some cold brews here and get comfy. Here's what kills me when you're stuck in traffic.

So this is an area called New Toronto. That's news to me. Didn't know there was a New Toronto. But as you're coming here, they built all these condominiums and to entice you to live there, there's smiling children. They're running, they're frolicking in some green.

They've got pictures of the clipper, like the blue nose and these yacht splashings. And everyone's having wine and wearing white clothes and laughing. I can tell you, I pass those areas, there's none of that going on. None. And you're not tricking me by your loser fake signs

after it took me two and a half hours to get here. I'm going, now I've got to live here? So whereabouts, can you give me, where are you coming from? Curtis. So where's Curtis again? Curtis me, where are you coming from? Curtis. So where's Curtis again? Curtis is just on the other side of Oshawa. Actually, it's like a mailing address. It's not even a real town. It's just for people

who move to slightly bigger homes to say that they don't live in the dirty schwa. That's really what it is. It's just like, we don't want to live in Oshawa. Let's build some more roads and not call it Oshawa. That's funny. You know what? Terrible time of day to be making that trek.

One of us should have known better. Well, there it is. There's the Mike Richards story once again. You set the record for the latest a guest has been. Oh, yeah. I could do better than that, too. Maypots bailed. She told me it was snowing and she didn't want to make the drive and she said, can we do this tomorrow? So I don't even, that doesn't count.

No. So I've had five minutes late. I've had 10 minutes late. I've probably had a couple of 15 minutes late. This was, I'm going to say 75 minutes. I was two and a half hours in the car. Two and a half hours in the car. I drove, just a true story.

My son needed his car. He's got a job out in Calgary. I thought it'd be fun to go from here to Calgary. I drove it. I left on a Thursday morning. I thought it'd be fun to go from here to Calgary. I drove it. I left on a Thursday morning. I got there on a Saturday night. Aside from almost dying going from Thunder Bay to Kenora, that was bad, and losing my wallet so I had no ID,

and my luggage. Once again, you can't have a conversation with me where something doesn't go wrong. It's just how it is. Well, here, this is what's going to go right for you before I get the health. I need the health update. So let me just say, if you want to eat healthy and you don't want to worry about meal planning,

I think this is a new addition since you were last here. So I now send you two meal kits. You give me a shipping address in Curtis or whatever, and this box will show up, like a refrigerated box with the two meals of your choosing. So I'll send you a link and you give me your two favorites. And this is going to just show up. It's courtesy of Chef's Plate. And anyone else listening who wants a couple of free plates from Chef's Plate, go to chefsplate.com and use the promo code Toronto Mike. Tell me, Mike, how your health is doing since we last talked. Well, 100% cancer-free, which is the battle,

and I wish even those listening out there this evening that they could hear that for some of those that they had crossed their fingers and had prayers, wishing that they could hear that. So I don't take that phrase lightly. So that is obviously the biggest of the news. I wish I had a sound could hear that. So I don't take that phrase lightly. So that is obviously the biggest of the news. I wish I had a sound effect for that. I feel like a big, you know, exciting.

Hallelujah. Yeah. You know, there's so much of it. The problem now is I'm looking for a reversal, as they call it. So I still have the ostomy bag, and I'm praying at some point that they can get it off. Really what it is, is plumbing.

So when they did the bowel resection, they take the tumor out. So now they've stitched it back together. Everything's fine. Except where it was severed, the colon now is closing itself because the body protects itself. Okay. It's called a stricture.

So it's, it's closing it so it's not leaving a wide enough opening that they can seal me all back up, and the exit goes where it's supposed to go. Sure. But until they can get that open more, and now, usually, I'm in the 3% or 4% where this happens. So again, it's a little tough for me, but they would have to go in.

They can put a stent in there and open it up, and once it's open for long enough, try it that way, or they've got to go in and they've got to do another operation. They've got to go in. They can put a stent. They can put a stent in there and open it up. And once it's open for long enough, try it that way. Or they've got to go in and they've got to do another operation. They've got to cut again. So I still have two options before I really would have to face the fact that I could have this for the rest of my life. So you're saying there was only a 3% or 4% chance that this would occur? Yes. I fall into the smallest of categories.

Most people, once they get it done after a period of time, they go in, the reversal's no problem. Gotcha. But I think being, well, an Irish tank, really, it's what saved my life. It didn't spread. It should have spread for the amount of time the tumor was in there.

Wow. But the body just, in that part of the, he said, I've never seen anything like it. It was like a gang that just sort of surrounded it and said, you're not going nowhere. I wouldn't take another step there, Jimmy. And it didn't. So it didn't go into stage, you know, a bigger stage of stage three and of course stage four, which is the scary one. So I really was stage two, even though it didn't, there was some lymph nodes, but basically it was just, it didn't go anywhere.

So I'm very lucky that way. So, and look, there are people out there who are not as fortunate as me. And again, I don't take it lightly because I mean, the aesthetics of having this bag and dealing with the issues of an ostomy bag are really truly not fun. I was going to ask you, like, what are the day-to-day, like, just be very, be as graphic as you can.

So basically what it is, they call it an appliance. So then you take this almost like a Tupperware like element, this plastic part and a bandaid. It sticks to your belly over what they call a stoma. So that's really the intestine that they've taken and put it outside of your stomach just to the right of your belly, sort of where that is.

And then the pouch snaps onto that over it, if that's the kind you have. Okay. And it's involuntary. So I don't know how much is coming out, when it's coming out. All I know, if you don't eat, that's how you can slow it down.

So for instance, now wearing something with a belt, because where the stoma is, where that pouch is, has come out three or four inches from my waistline. So if I stand on one side, I look kind of normal. On the other side, you look like Fred Flintstone. It comes way out.

And people are like, what's that all about? Well, it's a stoma. So if I wear a belt and I crunch it all in, I better not have eaten because it's going to pull it up. And that has happened for me

from time to time. It's really humiliating. It's really tough. That's the toughest part I have. But there's still a hope that this thing opens up, as you said? They'll force it open or they'll go in or they'll cut it out again and literally cut out the part that had closed and try it again. So if you've been declared 100% cancer-free, which is amazing, and I actually knew it before

you came in. That's why I'm so toned down. I knew it, but I wanted to hear it again. That's fantastic because I was rooting for you as everybody out there is. But how often do you get tested now to make sure you remain? Six months.

Six months and at some point it'll go to a year. But in trying to build up that foundation, and that's the thing that really got its knees cut out from underneath it when all this stuff happened at TSN, it literally became impossible to do the foundation. It just, it was very difficult to do it when you're not on air. So that has taken a back seat for the time, but I will get back to it.

So I'll be with the Sunnybrook people for the rest of my life. So, you know, I'll always be in contact with them. So you mentioned what happened. Now I've got to get to the big question people are waiting for. They've waited long enough. What's it been, 21 minutes? Okay, so last we spoke to you

on this show, Toronto Mic'd, you were doing mornings at 10.50. At some point shortly thereafter, I hope it had nothing to do with your fantastic appearance, but they moved you to 1 p.m. Yes. Then tell us all what the hell

happened at TSN Radio. So let's, this is the best way I can put it. And this, this will hopefully summarize my experience working there. When I went there six years ago, myself and my agent, JP Berry, listened to both, both the fan and TSN, 1050. At that time, there was a lot of turbulent sort of issues going on with the fan, and so Pelly was still there and Scott Moore, but there was a lot of stuff going on that really wasn't quite settled. TSN came unified. They had a sameness of thought. They were all focused on what they needed to do,

and so J.P. And so, you know, JP said, you should go there. And that was the right decision at the time. There's no question at that time, going with TSN 1050 was the right thing to do. At that time, I'm dealing with TSN, CTV, and the radio side is chum. Basically it's chum limited. I'm a chummer. That's where I started. That's where my heart is. They're like family to me. So that became also easier as well. As time moved along, the chum people slowly got moved out, but still it was a TSN entity that, you know, we went to Russia. Uh, you know, they put me on television, all the things that I wanted to have happen in the three years absolutely happened to a T and it's going exactly the way I thought it would. At the end of that three

year period, numbers come out in June. And, uh, so that's when they had, uh, Brady and Walker and they had like a, I think like an eight share or an eight point something, something big, something big, which was a good number, but I'm almost at a six. So I came from, and this is what you have to understand. Cause people get a little confused with ratings because it is confusing because there's not very well done, uh, for us to go from a zero to a six in mornings was fantastic. The fact that we're now, you know, you know, pushing the, the, the, the 20 year, uh, you know, veteran of, uh, of, uh, the legacy station is, is really good.

But here's the big thing. This is what I kept telling TSN 10 50, because of what I concentrated on in Calgary, you've got to get 35 and under. So if it's the 34 and under, that's where the key is, because if you get them, people have birthdays and you can sit there and just rake it in for the next basically 20 years so at that point uh i think uh greg and andrew had a five share under 34 i had a 20 share is that right 20

so at this point and i'll try to not speak too badly out of school because i don't want to embarrass anybody it's not really my thing that's not I do. But I will tell you with that time, just like it happens every other time with myself and the fan, the timing is terrible. So when I turn them down the first time when I'm in Calgary, they go out and they get Andrew Crystal. Right. Because I turned them down like two or three times. I talked to Don Collins and it just wasn't right. And I love being in Calgary as much as my family's here back in the Toronto area. Calgary becomes a hometown. I family's here, back in the Toronto area, Calgary becomes a hometown. I have no use for whatever they're talking about.

When it comes up again, they're not quite settled, I go with TSN. After the three years, the fan is aware of how this works. They just had me for six and a half years in Alberta. Now they see a 20 share under the age of 35. They know where the story goes. But I re-sign. I re-sign with TSN 1050 because everything's okay. Sure.

Well, they go, they get Dean. They go get Dean. That's why he was there. At the same time, TSN, the television entity, loses hockey for 12 years. Right. And at that moment, they take us off television. My television is gone, and I don't see them ever again. It's sort of like being, you know,

TSN was the stepdaddy, and they got together and made this radio thing and i was the uh the stepchild right the redheaded stepchild where's where's daddy he's not coming back and they never did they never did so don't confuse when people say how can tsn tsn folks left 10 50 three years ago most of them aside from stew johnson who saw me after the cancer, I never saw them again at all. So you'd have some TSN personalities come by, but it was more a working of them trying to get their panel people just on the radio station. But there's still a television property. This wasn't trying to build up the radio property. This was trying to build up the other way around,

the television property. And the television side doesn up the other way around, the television property. And the television side doesn't give a rat's ass at all about radio. What makes it worse is Astral has to come in. So Astral comes in. So that's RB, that's all the other stations. And of course, you know, you've got the Chum FM machine, everything else that really sort of works on its own. And now the people at Astral get handed the red-headed stepchild, sports radio. And none of them know how it works. Not a person. In fact, the woman that sort of runs that cluster,

that's what they like to call it, the morale was so low on those little tests that you do. They have these little internal surveys. And the worst and the lowest number came from TSN Dan 50 in the whole chain. So she comes in and she's staring at us. She doesn't know what to say. And you know what? Kind of not her fault.

This is not what she wanted. This wasn't part of the program. So she looks at all these disheveled guys and sad people and says, well, maybe once in a while you could have a potluck dinner. And I go, yeah, she's right. That's the problem. No casseroles. I want noodles roaming off. I want mac and cheese.

I want disgusting things with jelly in it. This is what we need to do. This will brighten up our spirits. It's insane. And therefore, I take a look at my situation at the time. This is pre-cancer. I say to Dave Bastl, we got to get out of here. We got to get out of here. I don't know what's going to happen, but more and more, I'm seeing a complete erosion. Rob Gray, the original programmer, he's gone. Jeff McDonald comes in. So, number one, we're talking no sports radio experience at all.

At all. In fact, no radio experience at all. So that's like going and saying to someone, you know, we've got to go up against McDonald's. They've been doing this a long time, making a lot of hamburgers. We're going to start a burger place, too. And the guy doing it worked with shoes. Like, we have no chance at this point. Worked with shoes.

Like, we have no chance at this point, and I'm concerned, but not to the point where I think they'd do something stupid. So I'm wrong on this. Then I get diagnosed with cancer, have the chemo and radiation, and then at the same time, on both stages, the numbers kind of slide a little bit. And so I'm down to, I don't know, like a little over a two-share or whatever, but I'm trying to take chemo radiation and not miss a day, which I didn't, which is why no one knew. I go off the air and they bring in people to fill in for me, whoever they were at the time. And the Blue Jays have the magical run.

2015. So I'm sitting there in the hospital bed looking at the, because people, they never understood it, TSN 1050. I said, if you don't have a plan of what you want to do in terms of your programming, you're dead. We're all dead. I've seen this before. I've been at other radio stations in the city when the Blue Jays happened to be great.

The irony is whenever I had them, one of the Blue Jays were on one of my stations. Shit. They were shit. Like win a game once every month. Terrible, right? Oh, they got the baseball bats upside down. I think some of them weren't wearing shoes. Terrible times.

But this time, and I'm going, they're going to start, they're going to do something bad. When I come back, Jeff McDonald has a conversation with me, and he's not a very good actor, nor a liar. And I can see all over his face something has happened. That someone above is now pulled. They've made their decision. They made their decision when I was on the operating table. This is the class, this is the true class of where I just worked.

So when I come back before i get back on there ank the producer who got me every guest i ever had including the prime minister well they gas him he's terrible he's not very good he doesn't get enough guests really he doesn't no we can't work with him so they bring in sean levine so sean's there well within a couple of months dave's let go. Right. And then I'm pushed off. They said, well, you could work nine. You could work nine to noon or whatever. You can do one to four. And I'm like, what are you talking about? Like the day I'm told I'm staring at it like it's it's a horror movie. Like I'm doing what what are you doing? Why would you do this why well i said well if if you're asking me i'm not going to follow my own shift that i just did right like are you that special needs sorry i mean there are other words for it but i got to look at these people and i'm like what is good to this day when i look at it unless there's only two two things number one they're either a radio station that is trying to

prove to other radio stations in major markets that if you work really, really hard, you actually can get zeros in every shift on every day part if you put your mind to it. Or you tanked on purpose. You tanked on purpose. So there you are, George Cope and the rest of the guys that only care about the shareholders, trust me, the guys that only care about the shareholders, trust me, after every one of their Bell Let's Talk days, and that's not to sell that short either, because they actually, it does do an enormous amount of good, and they have done significant work in bringing those kinds of issues, and I've never seen so many people talk about it on a daily basis. They talk about it on Facebook. They tweet about it. So you can't take that away from them. But that is very calculated

and very clever how they've done this. The next day, firings! They fire people the day after that thing is over. I have noticed as a commoner, if you will, like the English Schumacher,

for example, it was one week, it was the Thursday after the Bell Let's Talk day that she was walked out after 40 years on the air at 104.5. Sometimes it's the next day. And when they do the massive firings, and I can

tell you that there were people in that company, a lot of people in that company, because they still have, I mean, you know, the people that are still there at 1050, you know, I feel sorry for them. I'm still close to them. You know, I text back and forth. It's not like I'm the bad guy there. I feel sorry because I left them behind.

It's like the Titanic. And I got off the boat in a dinghy filled full of money. So it wasn't so bad for me. So firstly, when you move to one o'clock, it's one to four. Now, my understanding is there are like two spots on the radio dial that pay, you know, real cash, like the morning drive and the afternoon drive. Correct. Right.

So you're making morning money. Yes. And you're moved to 1 o'clock. Yeah. In fact, I have Greg Brady coming in tomorrow. It's going to be a very similar conversation. Probably. Actually.

But why would they pay you morning money to do 1 o'clock? See, they can't get out of that contract. They can't get out of that contract. They can't get out of that contract. And the reality is, and for those listening, and maybe there's some lawyers, I can't tell how many lawyers came up to me and said, are you kidding? So you're the best guy in terms of the ratings,

bar none, it's not close for the years you've been there. Then you get cancer. Other people come in and there's nothing but rubble when you come back. Then you get moved to a lesser shift. It's called constructive dismissal. Why did you not lawyer up? Why didn't you sue? And I'll tell you right now, for those listening, it crossed my mind. But I mean, we've only met a

couple of times, but I think you would get a feeling even when you listen to me. That's not my style. And even though you listen to me, that's not my style. And even though you should protect your family at that point, my thinking is always the same, which is why we'll get to raw Mike Richards.com. Right. I'll come back with something that's better than what I just did. I usually do. And, and it's the kind of pressure I put on myself, but I've never not gone on to something. And this is the most different, the biggest leap I've ever had. But at this point, where we look at we are from a technological standpoint in broadcast, there really is only one move that you've got, and it's that.

We're going to do a super deep dive into rawmikerichards.com. But first, you mentioned something about tanking there. So, I mean, I'm a Leaf fan. I know what tanking looks like because you won Austin Matthews. So what's the incentive for TSN to sort of tank Great question. And see, that's what people should be asking.

I still see on certain blogs or people send me stuff and I'm going, but don't you think if they move this guy, I'm going, what? You're talking about a place that has just gone into the ocean. You know,.8s,.3s,.5s, I think even overdrive is a 1.5. We had that number after almost the first 30 days we were on the air. And so what is the benefit of a business like this tanking?

In sports, as you said, you get an Austin Matthews, you get a Conor McDavid, you get an Andrew Luck. in sports as you said you get an austin matthews you get a conor mcdavid you get an andrew luck what is the possible benefit of completely junking it and the only thing i can think of in the george cope world in the bell world in the shareholder what do we get next now well maybe 10 50 goes on the block they've got 10 10-10. 10-10 signal is fantastic. 10-50s is garbage. But it always has been. I started there in 85. I know what I'm talking about.

And you were on the team. I was on the team as well. Because your story about being let go of the team is legendary. Yes. I love that story. Yeah. So go back, everyone, and listen to the other

episodes of My Gritches to hear that story. Well, Paul Romanek's the star of that one. Honestly, it wasn't me. But the only thing I can think of, the only benefit you get is so all the salaries are gone. Mine was by far the biggest one that they had. So it was easy when it came to that kind of cutting.

But here's what I will tell you as a little teaser to what's coming on rawmikerichards.com. Not in the first week, but in the first couple of weeks, I will play a sound clip from TSN 1050 that proves that they lied to everybody, and they don't even know I have it.

In fact, I think the people that said it and the person that said it didn't realize, as I was listening to it, he just gave up the farm. That's a great teaser, man, because I'm hooked. Yeah, and I am going to play it and say, why doesn't Bell talk now? What about Michael Landsberg must make some real coin right after so many years there?

Like, isn't he... You know what? I wouldn't know what his deal was once the television ended, and, of course, the tie with Bell at stock. I don't know. I think it's a day one-er, but yeah. But yeah, I would say so, or at least pretty close to it.

But the thinking and what they do. Look, Dave Naylor was in Calgary, my favorite guest. And I've known Dave for a long time, and I think he's an outstanding reporter. But then when he had to do Afternoons, you're asking him to be a host. A host is something that's completely different. And in radio, it is the animal that some people just still don't understand. So in the support they were giving him, I thought his numbers were, you know, decent.

They want to compare it to Bob, but that's a stupid comparison. That's a dumb comparison. So I thought he held his own. The day part, for the most part, myself in the morning, you had Leaf lunch with Brian and Jamie and O-Dog, and then you had roundtables that would come in and have these great sports conversations with Dave, who is so well-versed in many sports. I particularly love his football. And I don't mean just the NFL.

I'm talking CFL. I'm talking college football. I love having conversations with him. That actually, at one point, after that three-year, I'm looking at him thinking, okay, there's things that you could tweak. But now in radio, and Mike, this is the thing that people really have to grasp. As much as we talk about sports radio being that niche, there is something common to all radio that's very, very important. It's the personal relationship that I have with my listeners. And to get that, radio really in its essence is about community. Sometimes it's geographical, the actual community

that you live in, and then there's the community that you create. Not unlike what you have with this particular podcast. You have created a community of those that are interested in radio personnel or television personalities. They're interested in their lives, how their careers came to be what they are, and how it all interacts with each other. That's also community as well. In order to do that, that takes time. Even Nelson Millman will tell you that it takes a minimum of five years just to make your morning show work. That's just the morning show itself.

Right. Well, we had four and a half years. Like after three years and we had that number, the chum people that were still working and going, go, this is fantastic. Like you're on this. This is going to be your thing. We had no one.

Number one, they're all gone. Everyone else kind of left. They lost hockey. The television people took a hike, and they have created this almost fake sense of this faux radio station. Isn't this the plot line? Isn't this the plot of the producers?

Is TSN Radio the producers? Yeah, Zero Mostel, she could come in there, and yeah, absolutely. I mean, it'sel, she could come in there. Yeah, absolutely. I look at it and say, so there's got to be some benefit somewhere. I don't see it. I feel bad for my 1050-ers. I also feel bad for the Waters family

who put so much into 1050. They still mean, and will always mean, the world to me. But you're not as ticked at them for the team, like the team experience? Well, see, they again were out of their element. When I say that people, okay, so I make that... Maybe because Jim Van Horn came on

since you came on, and he went off on that experience of the team. Well, it just wasn't thought out. They wanted it to work like Chum FM worked. They wanted it to work like a music format. It's not. It's not. It's not even a, technically in some ways,

it's not just a talk station either. It's sports talk. It's a different animal. You've got to get to people in a different way. And it's not the way I see a lot of these people saying, well, it's got to be hardcore sports. You have to know a lot about sports. Number one, I do.

Just because I have fun doesn't mean, look, if you want to go, you pick any high school you want and pick whatever sport you want, I'm comfortable coaching it. And you can pick the sport. If you can't do that, you should not be talking about sports. Hurling. Can you coach hurling?

I've been to hurling. Crow Park, you kidding me? It's beautiful. But to me, that's knowing sports is going down and saying, okay, this team against this team, why is this going to happen? Like, break it down for me. It's beautiful. But to me, that's knowing sports is going down and saying, okay, this team against this team, why is this going to happen? Like break it down for me to talk about certain things that are going to happen, but don't tell me the trivia counts. Don't, don't tell me that somehow because your fantasy league is great, that means you know a lot about the sport. It doesn't. And I think there's also, I mean, the real problem, I think when it comes to sports talk is, and I'll,

I'll point, I'll call out the fan on this one. Why they changed, uh, Brady and Walker is beyond me. It was a stupid move. Stupid. It almost, I mean, to a degree, if the timing had been slightly different now, look, they saw my under 34 numbers and thought maybe Mike will talk to us again. That story goes into Dean Blundell there. Don Collins, I believe, hires Dean. I think it was Don Collins

because he left shortly thereafter, but I believe it was Don Collins. I think he did. I think that was some of the changes that they had gone through. He decides, Brady and Walker, who had good numbers, we should move them because on CFNY 102.1, Dean Blundell had some monster numbers

in this demo we want, and maybe he'll bring that, like maybe his audience comes with him to sports radio. I mean, that's why they thought I was attractive at the time because everything was working, and I have a 20 share.

But is it, in some alternate universe, do you jump ship from 1050 to 590 instead of them going out and getting Blundell? Well, that's exactly, that's what happened. In some... That's what happened. Well, that's in the alternate reality that happened.

No, in the real reality, I don't, I can't, because I just, if... Because you were under contract. If it'd been... By 60 days. By 60 days, the re-signing changed the course of history for both myself and Dean, probably. Because Dean would not be on the fan. Right. It would have been me.

Right. It would have been me. And we're probably not... Interesting. We're not talking about this because the other thing is, you know, when you have the Blue Jays in the playoffs... Okay, here's the other thing. And this is where Numeris, the genius, is over there.

Explain to me how the Blue Jays go on a run and some of the shows and the fan go down in the fall. How does that happen? I remember... Their numbers,

when you start talking 1834 males, they go, well, number two is CHFI. Really? Because I guarantee you I could go to every high school and university and go, do you know who Aaron is? Like, do you know that name, Aaron Davis? Do you know what CHFI is? 98.1? Because apparently you're all the rage.

You know, you're smoking your bongs and you're listening to the jokes. It's probably Maureen Holloway mentioned you too. I guess you worked together at some point. Yeah, way back at 99.9 CKFM. That's right. She was on just before Lobster Boy the day before. Your name comes up

like I said and later at the end I'm going to ask you about a couple of times it came up. Of course I want to get you to Raw Mike Richards, I want to get you to Raw Mike Richards. But I need to hear about the firing. So you're doing one to four. Yes. So tell me how it went down where you were removed from the airwaves altogether. Okay.

So then the summer. So it goes over the summer. And I come back after all the holidays. And I go in to do my shift. So I throw out a tweet. and I go in to do my shift, so I throw out a tweet, and Mike Hogan or whoever is doing the whatever the – it wasn't Leafs lunch or whatever they call it at the time. And so it all goes out, and they said, you know,

can you come in early, can you come into the office? So I go see Jeff McDonald and this woman that I've never seen in my life. I'm like, oh, really? And I'm thinking, if I'm lucky, if I'm lucky, they'll buy me out because I don't trust them at all at this point i mean if i burp on the air they're going well you know according to the crtc regulation one five there will be no like i just didn't know what they're up to because i don't trust them at all right because i know as in you'll find out when you listen to the show when it starts april 12th

when i play you that clip and then tell you what was said at the time right you're going they lied yeah of course they did they're not good at what they do which is why when i make the announcement i don't want to do that again and i want to make sure i'm going to where real audiences it's what you're doing now this is where that lives i can't tell you how many people that i talk to at some point who don't even bother turning the radio on at all anymore because it is the way of, well, I mean, it's the easiest thing in the world, but it's why we have PVRs. Who watches a show when the show's on? Right. On demand.

Almost never. It's, you know, there's no occasional, you know, viewing or listening anymore. It's when you want it. you know, viewing or listening anymore. It's when you want it. And so the only way to really get the audience that I also think the advertisers want as well is to be Joe Rogan, to be Mark Maron, to be someone knows something.

That's the road you want to go down to. And at first I can tell you a little, here's a little tidbit. When I'm thinking about this months, way before this whole thing at TSN, because I mean, I knew what was going on anyway. I think I'm just going to go to Satellite Radio. I'll go to Satellite Radio and this will be awesome.

I see that the models already, as always, by Howard Stern. So Stern 100, Stern 101. I'm like, this is what you want. So I contact and have a meeting with the satellite people. Well, and they're awesome. The Canada people though, right? The Liberty Village guys? Yes satellite people. And they're awesome. The Canada people, the Liberty Village guys? Yes, the Liberty Village guys. But what I failed to realize, and as I was

filled in, much to their sadness as well, they only give up so much bandwidth. So they got two stations. Canada Laughs and Canada Talks. Canada Talks, raise your hand if you've ever listened to that ever. Okay?

No one. No one. And the budget they have for it is almost something. Don't worry about the budget. I've never been a guy who's worried about money. I'll find the money. I'll get money. But I just need that shift.

But there's certain qualifications. And, of course, the CRTC, those losers, they're in on it. Because I know some guys with shows on SiriusXM. I'll be on there. I'll be on Humble this week. So Humble and Fred? Yeah, that's one example. I'll be there this Friday morning, and then I'm going to see Todd.

Yeah, that's the other example. Well, those are my two examples. Thank you. Because that's all exists. I know those two guys. I helped them in the back end when they started. They had an interesting perspective on this. But I can say two things I do know is that there is no budget for talent. They can give you a slot or whatever, but you're going to have to sell your own advertising and your local pizza joint

or whatever, or good beer people. But the other thing, so there's that, but the CRTC, I don't think there's anything with CRTC. But here's how it works in. They also have, and this is where all the bandwidth is burned, those creepy,

weird music channels that have like Inuit Christmas carols or whatever's on there. Not offending. I'm just saying that's not a choice for me. You know,

the Francophone, you know, Oktoberfest songs. What do they have on there? What is this shit? Needs programming for like one guy. For one guy. And they burn up because of CRTC, CBC.

They get in there. That's all their stuff. They've completely wasted them going, get rid of that channel. Get some people who want to do their own stuff and do it. You're better owning your own shit anyways. Well, they said to me, they said, look, if you had done this three years ago, we would have fallen all over you. And there would be Mike Richards 100.

Guaranteed. But, Sirius and XM, when they merge, someone loses. And the programming kind of guys are on the XM side, and the XM side guys are losing. The Sirius guys are the American guys, and they don't give a rat's ass about Canada. They just don't.

So we get what we get, and they make do. I mean, Joe Thistle's got to make all these stations work for like 50 cents. Like 24 hours a day he's got to figure out this stuff. And so it's very, very difficult. So for me to go to them and say, give me my own channel, they said, oh, yeah, because you're actually nationally popular was their response, which is one of the reasons I'm doing this now.

People go, wow, you're going to get back at TSN. I'm not getting back at TSN. And by the way, it wouldn't be TSN anyway. TSN to me is TSN, the television property. Always is, always has been, and always will be. They're class all the way. They do everything right. They're still, in my mind, the elite of not just sports broadcasting, but what they do and how they've done it to me is just exceptional. But they left radio behind. That was me. Am I mad? Hey, it's business. It's their decision to do it. It's like, what, am I mad at those guys? No, I'm not mad at those guys. Bell, when I look at them, they're not even of body. They're out there in the atmosphere somewhere, but are they a communications company?

That's a joke. At the end of the day, at least Rogers, Rogers is still a real radio company. Rogers still is vested in radio. They still have real radio people there, and they look at it and handle it in a radio-like fashion. So that you got to credit them. Bell, forget it. What, you're a radio company now? No, you're not. You're a firing company. That's what you are. They went into Ottawa and gutted that thing like a pig. People have been there for years. And then, I think this is what I'm going to allude to,

there are people in that company that every time there's a mass firing, the next day, here's another thing they do, the next day they print out, or they send out via email, their profits. The moment they gut all those families, and sometimes it's three, 400 families, profits are up.

And the one day that happened, so after my buddy Dave Bastel gets canned, profits are up. How they did quarterly. This time it's $200 billion. And I'm starting my foundation. I go to the lawyer's office and there's one of those Forbes magazines

or whatever the insert is for the Globe and Mail, whatever that one is, the business one. George Cope on the cover, man of the year. Man of the year. It was like a scene from Scrooged or something. It was just so weird. I was like, is this really the world I live in? It is. Close the world I live in?

It is. Close the loop here for me because then I got my raw Mike Richards questions, but the loop I need closed is, so you're called into a room with your program director and some lady you've never seen before. She's obviously HR

and she's probably got a folder or something. That's correct. And they hand you a folder. They go, well, we're not going to, I'm trying to remember how we put it. Your services are no longer required?

No, it wasn't like that. It was all financial. They weren't shy about saying, we can't pay all this money, and we're not going to, or continue the contract at that level, or whatever it was said. I said, so we're going to buy you out. I'm like, all right then. I thought, please do that. Right, because that's what you're hoping for.

That's what I was hoping for. Right. Because it's just going to buy me more time, give me all that money to figure out my next thing, which is the next thing. Okay. So, yes. And now I saw your promo.

Let me play a little bit of this, and then I got some questions. So this is what you tweeted out the other day, prompted this visit, by the way, because I'm like, I believe you promised me an exclusive on this at some point. Yes, and you didn't get it.

I didn't get it. Well, when you hear the story about driving out to Calgary, you'll know why I didn't make it. Okay, here we go. Hey, Mike Richards here. I know it's been a long time. Trust me, it sucked for me too,

but I've been busy. I've been working on something that I've kind of thought about for the last probably two or three years to make sure that this time I do the right thing and I think I have no more corporate bullshit no more assholes no more people getting in the way and quite frankly working for people who just don't know what they're doing so I've created raw Mike Richards calm I'm telling you it's raw it's indepth, it's the big names that you want to see.

And this time, it's completely accessible. It couldn't be easier. I'm going to be on your phone, I'm going to be on your computer, and I'm going to be in your car. Stuff that I'm doing this time around, I've never done before. And when you see the kind of website that RawMikeRichards.com is going to be, you're going to flip. kind of website that rawmikerichards.com is going to be, you're going to flip. Over the next couple of months, there'll be a series of teasers that are going to go out just to give you an idea of what you can expect from rawmikerichards.com. Once again, straight ahead, in-depth, no more bullshit. When's it start? April the 12th, the first day of NHL playoffs. Don't miss it. Remember to sign up.

rawmikerichards.com So this is, you tweet this out the other day and it's like, okay, there we go. I was, I knew you were going to resurface somewhere. Now we know.

And you're your own boss. You're going to own this whole thing, which to me would be huge. And you know, it's a passion project. It's beer money and beer. That's it. But,

so what is your, I have a passion project. It's beer money and beer. That's it. But so what is your... I have so many questions. Like, for example, is this going to include a podcast? Yes. Yeah, so you'll be able to get it in that form via Raw Mike Richards' app. Okay, so there's going to be an app for Android and iOS? I believe so, yes. Okay.

And this app, there's... So maybe instead of me peppering you of what I think it might include, No, no, you go because it's easier for you to do because you live in that. Yeah, no, I do.

Sorry, it's a nerd world that I don't understand at times. Is it free? Yes, it's free, 100% free. So the user, it's free and you will have sponsors

to monetize this? Is that the deal? Yeah, big ones. That's why you just, I overheard your phone call, you poached Great Lake Beer from Toronto Mike. There will be about every kind of corporate sponsor you can think of.

And I think that's what's going to really not make Bell happy, if that's how they perceive this. So in this app, there's one part, which is the audio. You mentioned the Bluetooth. So this is the big game changer in my wife's car, in my 1999 protege. I'm lucky. I have the roll-up windows. I still manual windows. But in my wife's car,

I do listen to podcasts when I'm in the car. I stream it through Bluetooth. The radio's hardly touched in my life anymore. It's amazing. You told me that 10 years ago because I used to listen to so much radio. Well, okay. This is how it is. Let me just stop you for a second. In making this decision,

because I had a feeling that the fan was probably going to, was afraid of whatever they had just done, and they were going to go back the other way. So that means not me. So for the one time I'm available, the one time I'm available, they could have been. But I knew, at least to me, I'm looking and going,

no, they're not going to go that way. Because the way everything happened, I. They could have been. Yeah. But I knew, at least to me, I'm looking and going, no, they're not going to go that way. Because they just, with the way everything happened, I don't think they would touch me. And I'm okay with that. Like, honestly, I'm okay with that. And so they've gone back another way. But the reality is that blowing your brains out on terrestrial radio is, it's admirable, but you're

working for Blockbuster. I want to be Netflix. And that's the difference. So there's an app and there's a podcast element to this with the audio. So how regularly do you anticipate? It will be a two-hour show. It will be

high-def cameras and it's going to be a three-shot. So it's going to be a three shot. So it's going to look as good as anything. Okay, so it's not just audio. There's a video component. This is a two hour TV show. But also available in podcast form. Okay, I got you.

And is it YouTube is where this will be? That's yeah, a dedicated channel, I'm sure. Okay, so this podcast is YouTube. It's free for the user. There will also be, I guess there are actually written word articles that appear on this site. Well, it's funny that you mention that. Because I'm so new to it, and you're not, once I get this underway,

see some of the sponsorship sort of coming to fruition and getting it down that way before I start April 12th, I'll openly say to people, if you think that something belongs on rawmikerichards.com if you think you have a podcast that fits the profile or if you're someone that goes

well I'm a pretty decent writer and I'll tell you what there are guys like because it's not really my world the journalism side of sport but I know there's that I read occasionally that Mike in Boston. Yeah, yeah.

Pretty good writer. Like, I mean, I see some of his stuff, and he's got some pretty solid ideas. I think he's well-versed in what he talks about. You know, that's the kind of guy I said, well, you know, because he's on that other blog or whatever. He wrote Jonah, who owns that website, and he just basically said, hey, can I write, can I contribute? I want to write, and I don't know where to put it.

And Jonah said, sure. And that's how Mike Boston ends up getting his stuff posted. Those are the kinds of guys where if Mike in Toronto said, can I be in your thing? I'd be like, of course you can. You've got beer. You can do whatever you want. Right.

But I am going to be that open to it. See, this is the thing, Mike. And, you know, I put a lot of William Wallace imagery on the tweets. There's a reason for it. Because I this is the thing, Mike. And you know, I put a lot of William Wallace imagery on the tweets. There's a reason for it because I want to take it back. I think the people who've taken it have ruined it. They have made it less than. They're not the Waters family. They're not

the Slate family. They're not the Shaw family. What they have done is, is year by year worsened what was a fantastic medium and made it mediocre and to a point where it might be forgotten. So I'm saying to those listening, those interested, I sure hope you sign up for it, that I'm also looking at taking on, and there's some properties that might come down the road that

I'm going to announce, that I'm sure people are going to say, can he do that? I don't think he can do that. Can he do that? Because that's how aggressive this is going to be. Because over 27 years, 30 years in this business, I've met a lot of people, a lot of great people, who are saddened by the state of radio itself.

And I'm saying, you want to take it back? And as William Wallace said in that one famous scene, he goes, well, where is he going? I'm going to pick a fate, and I am going to pick a fate, and I'm not afraid of it. Well, so this is like just the rebel in me, if you will, that gets excited by this when you go up against big business and whatnot. I just like it when independents like myself can actually have a voice and kind of be heard in the same kind of level as like the Toronto Star or CBC or TSN or whatnot.

It's empowering. In this day and age, you can self-publish. But what you have that I don't have is you have years and years of established brand. You're Mike Richards. You have loyalists, if you will, who will follow you. Well, the Richards Army is pretty excited about it. But there are people in Calgary

who are thrilled because, of course, if I go 10 to noon, which I'm going to every day, that means between 8 and 9, I'll be in their cars again. And so they'll drive to work with me in their car. They're thrilled. And that's why sponsorship and those that want to be a part of it is, well, of course, because of geolocation and the computer reading the IP address,

I can advertise anywhere I want. Because if you're watching in Dublin, then I can have Seamus' Fish and Chips on Carleton Street, and it's going to show up. So that's one of the advantages of hiring what I think is a very, very good web firm. Well, yeah, I was going to ask you, so before you get to the web firm, have you actually signed any sponsors yet,

or you're still in discussions? You showed up any big... They are big. You're going to see I wouldn't divulge right now because that's the hardest thing right now, I find, is the business aspect. Coca-Cola, McDonald's, who else? Well, you know what?

They are some pretty big names. When they come out, they're like, wow, didn't think that was going to happen. But see, they don't want to deal with the burning of money that they spend on terrestrial radio. I mean, what's the biggest complaint you hear about sports talk? Wow. That, how long is that stop set for, of, of, of commercials?

What is that? Eight minutes? How many of those commercials are you listening to? You know how much money they spend on those commercials? It's just like TV ads. So you PVR Gotham, you're telling me that when you watch it on your own time, that you don't fast forward through the commercials? These agencies have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and you don't give a shit. So the trick is, and it's kind of going backwards, you're going back.

How do you take a big corporate sponsor and interact it within your show to make it programming? I've always been pretty good at that. I never got a real chance at it here at 1050. But in Calgary, I did a lot of that stuff, and I'm going to do it again. And they're like, well, if you get a couple of million eyeballs on a show or in a week or whatever those numbers end up being, they'll spend a fraction with me. on a show or in a week or what are those numbers end up being? They'll spend a fraction with me, still good money, but a fraction of what they'd spend trying to buy time during a CFL game or whatever it happens to be.

I'm going to be the best value for the most eyeballs in their demographic because, of course, you're getting that because they're going through my website, the database and the information that you're getting in that database. As you know, in this business, that's where the money is. And mine is going to be a very sophisticated website. So is there a beta version

I can check out on the download somewhere? Okay, now I recently had the cats in from the cats. What year is this? No, I like saying cat. Cats is cool. It's like you're a jazz musician. Yeah, it's like, hey, daddy-o. These cool cats came in. Oh, I had the guys in here from The Athletic.

Yes, yeah. And their model is you pay for monthly access. So yours, you get it for free, but it sounds like you're going to have some creative ways to embed the ads. So it's not going to be like an ad block that people can block out, but it'll be like embedded. It sounds like it'll be embedded as part of the content. If I'm reading between the lines. It's going to be, I guess, the best way to describe the website,

an ecosystem. That's how I would describe it. And that model though, because I guess at some point you had a thought, like what's it going to be? Is it going to be you pay to access it and then it's like an ad-free realm

or are you going to have sponsors pay for it? And a lot of people are going to be very happy you went this route. People don't want to pay, Mike. People don't want to pay. It's funny. Even if he's a 99... I've been thinking about this. Like, 99 cents a month is nothing.

You can't get a coffee for 99 cents a month. But me trying to... I know because I have the Patreon account. It's like pulling teeth, man. I don't know what my expectations were. I'm going to ask you in a minute what yours are, but people don't like paying for stuff that they're used to getting for free.

Absolutely. It's like I'll be trying to research, okay, let's say a basketball game. So I'm trying to handicap a basketball game. And it's William and Mary and East Carolina. And so I go down, and I'm looking at the Carolina, and I go to the newspaper article. Oh, yeah, the Pirates.

Oh, the Pirates playing William and Mary. And it stops. Subscribe to the inbred loser Sleep With Your Mother Tribune to further read this article. I'm like, I'm not doing that. You're gone. I'm not going to give you five cents for this.

For the one time, I'm actually going to touch William & Mary in East Carolina on this lousy newspaper. So no, it should be free. No, so that you can download it when the app's in development right now. Is that right? Yes, that is correct.

Is that the firm doing this? Is that you have sort of a digital firm that you've hired to handle this? They're called Avi Studio out of Liberty Village, as a matter of fact. That's where all the cool guys are hanging out, right? He's a cool cat. I almost said cats again.

It's Ben and Lauren, and look, they're millennials. They get this kind of stuff. They go like, you know, are you prepared to, you know, you've been in broadcast, you walk through a door, you think you can get $100 million, and then you find out that you've got to kind of build it yourself. And they were so inspirational in all of this.

And I think also with the facility, and I can't give away too many details right now because I will, but I'm going to have the choice of three studios. They're all state-of-the-art. I can tell you that one of them is a rooftop one. So in the summertime when you're sitting back and you got Joe Montana, and because it's the internet and I'm broadcasting after 11 o'clock, you don't think?

I'm not, by the way, Joe, just hold on. Did you ever sleep with Farrah Fawcett? You know, when it gets into that kind of stuff, right on the Toronto skyline in the background. I also have the capability when I want of shooting in 360 virtual reality. Wow. Yeah. How about that?

I don't even know what to say about that. It sounds cool, man. Yeah. One of them, another studio, is actually glassed in in a working bar. I can have bar shows. You'll be like a fish in an aquarium. People will come and feed you. So there is, as I said,

the element of it is the camera work. So it's a three shot, I can tell you that right now, which means for those listening, so I can be talking. There's the other guy, the co-host I'm talking to. Then, you know, Doug Gilmore comes in, then goes back to the three shot.

So it has to compete at the highest of levels, because remember, Doug Gilmore comes in. Wow. Then goes back to the three shot. Professional production. So it has to compete at the highest of levels. Because remember, what I'm going after isn't like just here in the GTA. It's globally. It's the web. So it's got to look good here. And it's got to look good in San Diego or Boston or Chicago or London. How deep is the sports going to go? It sounds like it's going to be a sort of a,

I don't know, I almost called it, you know, remember Mojo Radio kind of, is it kind of, it's men's, you're targeting men. Yeah, so the backbone of it is sports, like the shows always are. But when there's someone cool in town, then I'm going to have them on. For instance, times where I had Regis Philbin on,

when I had Martin Short, when I had Andrew Martin. I think of any of those guys that are just a little bit outside. If Anthony Bourdain is in town, I'm going to expect him to be on my show. And he'll be a fantastic guest. So in that way, in terms of its guesting, Stern will have the popular person on it the day. So it could be Gwen Stefani or it could be Daryl Strawberry. So it's going to be a little more like that. I'm not going hardcore sports because I never have

because if you do, you're going to find that your numbers, you want to talk about niche, guys who really want that and understand because they complain that they don't get enough hardcore sports, well, that's great. But you're going to find yourself with the lowest part of the share that you don't get enough hardcore sports, well, that's great. But you're going to find yourself with the lowest part of the share that you possibly could get. The subset of the subset of the subset.

It is. It is. So if, you know, it's not like we haven't heard in-depth sport. Put it this way. Yeah. As much as you think you know about sports, and you could regurgitate it, you could analyze it

every single day for the three and a half hours that you were on the radio, there would be some guys who would think this is fantastic, but you would get literally the sports nerd. In the same way, okay, so you listen to a John Derringer, one of the most well-read guys in almost anything I can think of, equally funny as he is intellectual, Like he really is a gem. But if he went

all music nerd on you, so he did more of an Alan Cross, but now we go into the fifth cut of Sweet recorded by Mushroom Studios by

Wiggy McNutton. And the thing about Wiggy, you know, like, what are you doing? What are you doing? That is nerd in the other side. Just play the tunes, pal. It's just like, just give me the hits. And most importantly, it's opinion.

It's opinion. When people say, oh, you mean like a hot take? No, not like a hot take. That came from America, where they purposely go out of their way to write something that they believe piques interest in audience. I've never done that.

When Dave and I would talk all the time, we're like, hey, well, I'll tell you what. The problem with that, it's fake. It's put on. Like, have an opinion. If you want to call it a hot take, I guess it's a hot take. But I'm not into cliches and, you know, basically when

you'd see consultants come and say, well, here's how we're going to break down your show. Don't. Make a connection with your audience and make it so, and I've always said this, if you can create a show where guys are actually, and girls, but for

the most part, you know, in my format, guys are really interested to see what you're going to say the next day. You're going to laugh along with me. You're going to interact with me. Sometimes it's by the phone, although I didn't do a ton of phones because it irritates people. Twitter is big for me. I'm going to make sure that the interaction is as big as I've ever done when I do rawmikerichards.com. And for those that are part of the Richards Army and those who follow it, know that I always see it as a thing that's a collective. You're building a community. It's always been that way for me, Mike, and I look forward to doing more of that. So you mentioned David Bastel.

He's with Rogers now, is that right? So you mentioned David Bastille. He's with Rogers now, is that right? He's on contract right now, and he's filling in for, I guess, before Greg gets there. Are you going to poach him and get him involved? You never know what's going to happen with that.

You never know. I cannot say, but I will say that, why they didn't entertain having him on that station, I don't know. I don't get that part either. Sorry, you never know what happened there. I think a lot of people would like to hear you together again. Do you have a co-host to begin in April 12th? Yes, I do.

Any clues? No. You get nothing. I went from getting the exclusive. Actually, no. Great. Now, I think I have a much better idea now of what Raw Mike Richards entails. And April 12 is the big launch date.

So will people be able to download this app before April 12? Like, when is the app available? That's a good question. So that's why I've got to keep active on Twitter, all that other stuff. You've got to get on that Liberty Village agency. That's correct. Stop being so lazy. Those millennials, come on.

Yes, with their Hitler haircuts and their long lumberjack beards and their checkered shirts. And when these guys, these hipsters tell you, when they tell you, don't worry, Mike, just get the iOS version for the iPhones, it's bullshit. There are a lot of smart, interested guys like me who need an Android app, okay? Make sure you get an Android app, too. I've got an Android right now, too, so I guess I kind of have to. But it's an interesting world. It's a new world. I hope a lot of people will follow along, you

know, and be a part of something that to a degree I feel is taking it back because that's a big part of what I'm going to be doing. Now, man, I wish you the most. This is like David and Goliath here. I wish you the most luck as you go up against this MSM and your words, I'll paraphrase you,

but they've fucked it up and you're going to fix it. I like that. Maybe you should, maybe this should be on rawmikerich.com with that salty language. I think there'll be maybe

some independent synergies as the corporate guys would say between the Toronto Mike community and the Mike. I would like that. I enjoy it. Because what you do, actually, Mike, in all seriousness,

it's such a cool thing that you take the time away. I mean, your family's upstairs starving. I think the little babies that are looking for the gruel. Is that what it is? It's gruel, Tuesday night gruel. It's Tuesday gruel.

And to take the time for us to come on. Look, most, historically, we've never been able to explain our side. We've never been able to tell our story. It's like, well, this guy, see, the other part of it is too, when talking about Greg or talking about Andrew or talking about Dean, like I don't know Dean at all. Like I don't know Dean. I don't know Dean.

And I really don't know Greg that much either. But most guys, and I can only speak for myself, I get along with everybody. Pretty much most of those guys that we're talking about, any of these guys, I'm friends with them. And we're friends whether we're on competing radio stations or the one I just left. So guys like Matthew Cause or if it's Brian Hayes or O-Dog or Jamie or whatever, those are the kinds of guys. And I do kind of feel sorry for them in what has transpired. But that doesn't lessen the friendship side

for any of the guys that we would talk about. You're all in the same gang, as they say. Well, I think it should be looked at that way. I certainly do. I recently had Jesse and Gene on this show. Yes. And they told a story about basically when they returned to Q107 to do the morning show.

And already Jeff Lumby and his crew were all set to be the new Q107 morning show. That's correct. And they were celebrating this at like a barbecue or something. There's a story where they're like literally. So my first question is, were you a part of the Jeff Lumby crew that was going to come on Q107 and be the morning show? That is a very tangled story. Because even Jesse and

Gene weren't probably supposed to get that gig either. That's when John and I, John Derringer and myself were working at the fan. We think we will just transfer to Q107. And I'm thinking John and myself on Q,

that's not going to be any good. It'll be like the greatest thing of all time. Yeah. Their management at that time had some reservations about whatever and didn't go that way. And then entertained Jeff and myself being on that show. Pat Cardinal was the program director. And I just don't think Jeff saw eye to eye with Pat at all

about anything and I'm not even so sure in the way in which, I'll be honest, the way that Pat treated Jeff was not my favorite moment and then so I sort of came into this picture or whatever and then Cowboy Ted Smith said, get Jesse and Gene back

so Jesse and Gene come back and so it went from about three or four different versions of whatever show. They even tried to get myself and Bill Carroll. Yeah. Okay. Bill Carroll and me. Sure. I'm like, what?

Who? And Bill, I think, was at 640, I think, at the time. I don't think he was in L.A. yet. Or maybe he was doing, it was just all over the map. don't think he was in L.A. yet. Or maybe he was doing... It was just all over the map. Yeah, he wasn't in L.A. yet. Yeah, it was just a very strange time. So then I had to sit in one show with Jesse and Gene.

That was a terrible experience. Is that right? It was awful. Because then I had to do voices again. Now I'm doing impressions. And you've got to have a rapport and we just didn't. It's funny, I just talked to Jesse the other day

and I talked to Gene probably twice a week. I talk to him all the time. It goes back to getting along with people. But that was just, I thought, I can't go back to being the voice guy. I just can't. Interesting. Shortly thereafter, they get turfed anyways

for Howard Stern. Then we all know who takes over when they cut howard stern from q it's uh derringer yeah and then john because they you know he was in afternoons and it was biden's time and he goes down and uh i was talking to 640 actually at the time about doing their morning show but they didn't really understand what i was talking about and there was so much of me as a as a voice guy a comedy guy as a co-host that to understand what i was talking about. And there was so much of me as a voice guy, a comedy guy, as a co-host, that to understand what I really wanted to do, that didn't happen there either.

They didn't get that part either. Dude, I enjoyed this appearance as much as the first one. You're going to have to come back eventually for a third. Well, just keep doing it, and you come on my show. That's the other thing, too. I talk about the interaction with people. There is a real possibility, depending on the studio I use on that day,

that people will actually just be able to just come in. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. And that brings us to the end of our 219th show. You can follow me on Twitter at Toronto Mike, and Mike is at Raw Mike Richards.

And our friends at Great Lake Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer, and Chef's Plate is at Chef's Plate CA. See you all next week. ¶¶ is 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 but I like it much better going down on you Yeah, you know that's true

Because everything is coming up