Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Mike Richards's Big Announcement: Toronto Mike'd #1595
Episode Date: December 9, 2024In this 1595th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike Richards drops by to make a big announcement. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, The Ye...s We Are Open podcast from Moneris and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at mike@torontomike.com
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Welcome to episode 1595 of Toronto Miked!
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.
Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees
from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville.
Season seven of Yes We Are Open,
an award-winning podcast from Minaris,
hosted by FOTM Al Gregor.
RecycleMyElectronics.ca, committing to our planet's future, means properly
recycling our electronics of the past. And Redlee Funeral Home, pillars of the community
since 1921. Joining me today, returning to Toronto Mike to make a major announcement, it's Mike Richards.
Yeah, and a real announcement for once.
Every time you repost something, it always says the same thing.
It's embarrassing for me because it's true.
It's like Mike Richard drops in to tell a huge major announcement and then two years later
a huge announcement coming from Mike Richards is like when is there ever
gonna be a good one? Well I can tell you today there is. So you're self-aware
then okay because I mean I'm aware of the fact that I always joke once a year
Dave Hodge will come by and he'll tell us his hundred favorite songs of the fact that, uh, I, I, I always joke once a year, Dave Hodge will come by and he'll
tell us his hundred favorite songs of the
calendar year.
And once a year, Mike Richards will come by
to make a major announcement.
Like it's like sort of a ritual.
I'm and, and, and it hasn't been a year since
you were on Toronto mic because you made the
long trek and you know, bless your heart.
Uh, you're, you're a sweetheart.
I tell anyone who will listen, Mike Richards
is a sweetheart, but you made the
trek to Christie Pitts for a Toronto Maple
Leaves baseball game.
And you co-hosted that episode with me and
you were amazing.
That was a great day.
That, that was a great day.
And with the guests that were on there were
fantastic.
Some of them.
You remind me, cause they're all blurring
together now, cause I did four of those things.
Well, the guy who, who ended up working for
Moses Neimer for all those times probably put the
dance party thing together. Oh, Joel Goldberg. Yeah, he was really interesting. Yeah. Oh,
then the guy from Blair Packham. Was he there? I'm trying to remember from the from the jitters.
And yes, he was. That's correct. He was fascinating, too. Well, there are a bunch of great guests.
And would you co-host I'm putting on the spot here, but before we get to your major
announcement, would you co-host another live recording from Christie Pitts in 2025?
Oh, of course I would.
Okay, we're going to make sure there's going to be another Mike Richards, so it'll be
like Mike and Mike's excellent Christie Pitts adventure here.
So some of those times you made major announcements, they were like real things.
Like you had a new show somewhere and it was, it actually happened, but sometimes you made major announcements, they were like real things, like you had a new show somewhere and it was, it actually happened, but sometimes you made a major
announcement and it never came to fruition. So before we get to this one,
you, you made, I think about a year ago, you made a major announcement about, and
I don't know, Izzy Asper was involved, I don't know what was going on, but like
what happened to that? Okay, so that, that's a company called, they call
themselves Anthem
Sports and Entertainment and so I was dealing with someone there that was on
one of their channels that they have called the Game Plus Network and so I
was working with another company as well called Homestand Sports those were XTSN
guys Mark Silver and Mike Day and so it all looked like it was coming together like
really nicely even though no one has ever and still has never heard of the
Game Plus Network. No one gets it. I mean you know it's if the
difficulty in this time because of the decimation of sports media in this
country especially sports radio but sports media in this country, especially sports
radio, but sports media as a whole, which means when you're independent, like I've,
I've had to be out of necessity for the last five to almost seven years, I would
say that you have to find dance partners.
And in this world, that's not a good place to be.
I, I've not enjoyed this ride.
It's like being the pretty girl at a, I don't know, a dance for Marines when they haven't
like seen a girl in seven years and you're not wearing as many clothes as you probably
should and you've been drinking cough medicine all day.
It just wasn't a very safe place for me because not everybody is ethical.
In fact, this last five to seven years, most of the people and a good portion of them
basically pirates. So are we talking like snake oil salesmen or are we just talking about like
they're out for a quick just to sell you, I don't know, Swampland in Florida? Well, I think what
happens is they have a little bit of power because those that did have the power have left. Yes.
There's a vacuum, right? Yes, there is. And so those that control a little bit of power because those that did have the power have left. Yes. There's a vacuum. Right. Yes, there is. And so those that control a little bit of where you could possibly put on a show
are not overly, at least for the experience I've just had, they're just not really good at what they
do. So you said you use the terms you're looking for a dance partner. Okay. I've had lengthy discussions with your former colleague,
your good friend, Jeff Lumbee. Yes. So let's shout him out.
Cause he's listening in France. Yeah. Talk to him yesterday.
As a matter of fact. Okay. So Lumbee's listening.
He's a big Mike Richards fan, but he's also a dear friend of yours, right?
Yeah. Very close. So can you explain to me as a guy who, you know,
is this is episode 1595. So again,
the announcement will come after you crack open the great lakes beer,
which will come after I, uh, you can crack it out.
I'm an Irish person. Like I need some, the drink there.
You have a Canuck pale ale in front of you, Mike Richards, please.
It's a five o'clock somewhere. I don't know where I'm me Hawaii.
I know it's five AM. What just crack it open. Oh, not even on the mic. Mike. Okay, take that back. Okay,
take a sip. So why do you need I'm just just tell me why do you
need or want a dance partner in 2024? Why not roll your own with
the technology we now have access to? And then if that's a
heavy question, it's because I, you know, I humble and Fred are
rolling their own because I produce that show and they don't have a dance partner unless
they're dancing with me. Why do you need a dance partner?
If I want to get what was taken away from me, I probably can't do it just by being a
sports podcast because there are 10 billion of them. I don't, and I wasn't in Toronto probably, at least to my take long enough
to probably garner the kinds of numbers where the sort of sponsors that I'd be
looking for would even be remotely interested.
I need the largest platform I can find and trying to get there in the last five
years seemed like,
let's just say what it is during the woke culture of what we went through.
Sorry folks.
That's what it was that guys, okay.
I'll say guys weren't going to be necessarily welcome to the airwaves guys of a
certain age group of a certain category.
Oh, you're saying white guys were not getting new jobs
because they had held all the jobs for so long
that the pendulum had swung
and now they were gonna hire people who weren't white guys.
Pendulum swung so far over that it broke off
where it was nailed to the wall
and went sailing way to the left.
And so I just watched it sail into the clouds.
Right. So you found, though, before we get to the end, but you found a dance partner
that you want to dance with. Correct.
Okay. Now, you know, maybe a moment or two on what the fuck is wrong with our sports media
on terrestrial airwaves. Like I don't, you know, there were big shows on the fan 590 and 10. Now
I think we're down to like, there's overdrive, there were big shows on the fan 590 and 10. Now I think
we're down to like there's overdrive, which is still seems to have a little heat on it. But other
than that, there's no show on Toronto airwaves. I'm talking about 590 and 1050. I hear any buzz
about like it's all just kind of vanilla. There's no characters left. Like what are your thoughts on
the current state of sports radio in this market? Toronto?
It's the, the, the problem isn't just this market.
It's this entire country.
And for those that hold the keys to those stations,
Rogers and Bell, both of them,
that and one's worse than the other on obviously that's Bell.
But there is a fine balance to making that format work,
which is not understood by those who currently run it
I don't mean those who own it. I mean those they put in place for instance program directors those who are programming this
so what we have now is a
Bunch of people who aren't necessarily broadcasters. They're just like sports
nerds
It's it's the problem where where podcast, where I'm as excited about a podcast. Well, most of the
things that I hear on these given shows has nothing to do with broadcasting and everything to do with
how much they know. And they know a lot. But if I want to go and hear an avalanche of sports nerd
talk, I'll just go to a local bar and hear them argue about who was the greatest guy drafted in 1997. I don't care.
I've never cared about that. In fact, most people don't unless they're like the GM of the team.
I got news for these guys. You're never gonna be a GM. In fact, these guys never talk to GMs.
They don't talk to anybody. They turn on the microphone and they blather away about how much they know and they know a lot.
In fact, I would say they know too much. There's only so much
I want to know about the fourth line guy. I don't, who? Stan someone? Nobody cares.
And then they do three hours on it. I'm like, what about all the other sports? What are
the biggest stories? Well, they will gravitate to stories, talk to themselves like they're
in their friend's bedroom. And there's hours of this. I'm like okay if you're a podcaster and this is sort of the advent of podcasting it is a
availability for those that are sort of driven in a niche of some kind. So let's
just say it's the Leafs. So Steve Dangle, so he's the the the big Leaf guy, so he can go on.
Yeah, Jump Cuts on YouTube. Rant and rave for hours and people who love the Leafs
love him and I know him, he's a good guy. He's worked very hard. He's been down here.
And he's worked hard to get what he's got. Trust me, I'm not knocking what he's
done. He's been very successful at something that I would never have
thought would be popular, except it's the Toronto Maple Leaf. He lives and dies by, by every pass, every whistle.
And so he has found himself, but I couldn't listen to that for hours on end,
but he's a podcast.
Yeah.
So it's a Homer podcast.
Yeah.
So that's fine.
But what's happened is some of that element and a lot of that element,
quite frankly, has now gone to the airwaves.
Cause why the guys who guys who talk like this,
those individuals who now have the microphone?
No, they don't pay them anything.
They're not gonna pay them any money.
I talked to a guy last night,
he was the general manager of an entire company.
He said, we don't pay these people anything.
We don't have to.
They got nowhere to go.
He goes, but they do it for free.
Almost, almost. At least you got a beer go. Right. He goes, but they do it for free. They almost, almost. You got a beer out of this. So, so what is the, what,
where's the answer? Right.
Where's the understanding of trying to get that balance back of
sports knowledge, really interesting guests and entertainment.
Right now as I sit,
it just had to be me doing something independent and as much as I I've struck out and I've been down here for seven years or longer
coming down, here's my new announcement.
And then it not happening or it being a fraction of what I thought it would be.
So just some context there is like, for example, you made an announcement,
you were returning to radio and you did in fact return to a small Mississauga station.
Yes. Yeah.
But you did in your announcement, you talked about how one day Drake would drop by.
Do you remember?
No, that was, no, no, no, that was the podcast.
Sorry, there's so many announcements
that are bleeding together here.
That was a different one.
Okay.
But so there was a project where you said, you know,
you're going to hang out with Doug Gilmore
and then there'll be a knock at the door.
It'll be Drizzy will be at the door.
Who's Drizzy?
I'm sorry.
That's Drake.
He's got a few nicknames there.
But that obviously then this,
whatever that was never obviously Drake never dropped.
No, in all fairness, I will tell you going into that world.
This is what I was told by that company.
You know what you're dealing with? Snake, Snake oil salesman, essentially. Like,
they're, they're telling you this magic cream, Mike Richards is going to make you,
it's going to make you, uh, give you a six pack, okay?
Rub this cream, now careful, on your,
on your abs.
Now this is taking a turn for, you know.
Would you, yeah, that's why the cameras are here,
because you can show us that six pack.
But bottom line is, they're selling you this thing,
and you're so, I think you're so vulnerable,
because you had, you have such great content,
and you're so good at what you do have such great content and you're so
good at what you do but like you said radio that as you knew it when you were
on when I would go to the washroom at the Air Canada Center I had to stare at
your handsome face right like true you were when you were on the morning show
at 1050 they had you like literally you can't go to the washroom at the Air
Canada Center to you look at Mike Richards it's really interesting but you
were you had that, you were there,
you touched the mountaintops, you have great content,
you've got a good rap on you,
you've got fanatical fans who wanna hear Mike Richards.
You'll do some Bob Cole, you'll do some,
who's the soap opera guy that you do so well?
I should know this.
Victor Newman.
Victor Newman, okay.
But at the same time, you'll talk about how Juan Soto
just signed for a trillion
dollars to play at the New York Mets and how the Blue Jays weren't in it. I actually wouldn't mind
that take because that's the hot news from last night. But you are so hungry for this and a dance
partner that will take you to that very ball that you were at, that you're susceptible to snake oil
salesmen. And I think that's why you've had all these false starts
I think they tell you the world you're like, you're like Charlie Brown. Okay, they hold that football and you're like
I'm gonna get the cook kick the football
I can't believe it Lucy's gonna let me kick the football and you do your big run and then Lucy's like psych and then you hit
Your your ass on the way down and that happens multiple times, but this time it'll be different
Well, it is different because it's but this time it'll be different. Well it is different because it's done. This time through again trying to acquire a dance partner and understanding, we
talked about the pendulum. Because if I get something, then that should tell
everybody that the pendulum is coming back the other way. And there are other
signs. There are other signs that the world that existed four or five years ago is now coming back the other way.
Just look at politics.
Right.
And so when you see the Trump world, no, again.
That's your target audience, mega.
Might be.
But if that, if that, Pryapoliev is gonna be
our next prime minister.
Most likely, absolutely.
Now, if you go back four years, none of those,
that's a joke.
People, look how many clips you have
of huge celebrities south of the border saying,
Trump has as much chance as, I think Tom Hanks said,
his dinosaur's falling from the sky and all those.
And I understand why they would say it,
because in trying to follow what you would say
is a societal norm, then quite frankly,
as one high executive put it about four years ago,
he goes, you're the Howard Stern of sports.
So when this current time, if you come into a building,
like babies will start crying.
Like they are afraid of what you have brought.
And they don't...
There's a risk with you.
Well, this is how they see it.
And they're risk averse.
That's why it's so vanilla, as we talked about earlier.
And I mean, they got rid of Bob McCowen.
One day they just said, Bob, your last day's Friday.
Like this is how it went down.
And Bob's walked out of the building.
Bob McCowen was sports radio in this city for decades.
Like prim time sports.
Well, the country really sort of owes him.
I certainly do.
He's the one who brought me into the fan back in 1994.
Or I probably take my chances in music radio
where I existed at the time.
With Lumbee.
Lumbee was one of them, sure.
John Deringer was another one.
John Deringer.
It's just, you know, that was the-
Have you heard from him recently?
No, I have not heard from John.
Um, but, but to your point,
Yeah.
Most of my contemporaries.
Yeah.
They're all gone.
Yeah.
So Bob McCowan, but, but then this is actually interesting timing, this big
announcement you're about to make.
I'm on pins and needles over here.
Okay.
Because it was just last week that Bob McCowan announced,
forget, yeah, he was walked out by Rogers at the fan 590 after how many years of
service there. But he's like, I'm done podcasting. So the people who wanted,
and again, Bob has had some strokes and he's not, you know, in the best condition
of his life physically. But for those who wanted their hit of Bob McCowan, they
can't get it anymore because Bob McCowen has shuttered his podcast
So it's interesting that there might be a void there and it's interesting
We talk about you know, you talk about the shift, you know, Pierre Poliev and Donald Trump
So there is now you're saying there isn't now an appetite for the the old straight cis white guy and
You can now be the Howard Stern and on your own terms because you don't need
Terrestrial radio to broadcast. It's correct
Okay, so it's the last one standing a lot of times I would talk smack and say I have no competition
But that was me just being okay. So I'm now in the Larry Bird of sports, right?
I'm gonna leave right you got some bravado to you, but it was kind of let me tell you on that point. Yeah
You got some bravado to you. But it was kind of, let me tell you on that point.
Yeah.
When John Derringer and myself take over at the fan after Bob and they put
Bob to the afternoons, there was a lot of, you know, John had gone from Q107
to Montreal and then come back.
And of course, with our good friend, Jimmy Lang, Jim Lang.
So they put all of us together and Craig Venn running the board.
Right, also known as Lobster Boy.
Absolutely. Lobster Boy.
That's the crew.
It was in the time where there was fun yet fierce
smack talk amongst other morning show hosts.
It was a great time to be doing morning radio in the city,
but we also had a lot of respect for each other.
There wasn't a lot of nasty. And our first day, John and myself get a phone call
live on air from another morning show.
Another morning show.
That would never happen now.
And quite frankly, if another morning show
called another morning show,
I wouldn't know who they were
because no one else knows who you are.
You would have to be in the same damn company, right?
Like it would be like, oh, Virgin's going to call
10, sorry, 104.5 or whatever, because they're in the same damn building, right? Like it would be like, oh, Virgin's gonna call 10,
sorry, 104.5 or whatever,
because they're in the same damn building.
Yes, it would be one of those.
Which morning she'll called you?
Humble and Fred.
Humble and Fred?
So Humble calls to wish us good luck.
Wow.
That's the kind of professionalism,
the dignity and the respect that's gone now.
Like, and just because I would say,
because of the names
and the weight of Humblin' Fred,
that was one of the coolest things I think
that I recall amongst morning shows.
But again, that's when it was fierce.
There was competition.
There was competition for the sponsors.
There was competition, ultimately,
because of ratings and numbers.
Try finding anyone.
Well, if you
can find the numbers, good luck. Right, yeah that's difficult to see now.
They keep it under lock and key and they spin it and the way they, I've noticed
everyone's number one in some demo. No some aren't. You can only spin a 0.5 so many
ways before you realize you're shit. How many listeners did you have on that Mississauga station?
Well, they weren't on the numeris. They were on something convenient.
Well, I think the most I had was like, oh, I don't know,
30 or 40,000 a week, something like that.
You know what I would have taken the under. So good for you, buddy.
Cause I would have taken the under on that one here.
But here's the other thing it did. It financially carried my family for probably two almost three years to get me to
this point. It was the bridge between the weirdness of trying to start a podcast and trying to find a
dance partner and the dance partner by the way what we're talking about is not radio. It's not
radio. Okay so I'm now ready for this announcement because I can hardly contain
my enthusiasm over here. So Mike, you know I love you. I root for you. I root for you
so damn hard. I'm like, anytime you want to come over, this is an open door. I can't wait
to see you again at Christie Pitts. I can't wait to learn the details of this big announcement
so I can root for you in whatever forum or whatever platform we're going to get the details
in a moment here. We missed you
at tmlx. Yeah that's too bad I couldn't have made that one. That was at Palma's kitchen and I know
what a fanatic you are of palma pasta. Yeah and so Anthony owes me. So Anthony owns you but you know
I will take care of you. Anthony Petrucci is a big Mike Richards head too so loves you. So what I do
have and you've cracked open a Canuck Pale Ale, I'm gonna send you home with some craft beer and of course...
I'm taking a lot of stuff, I know what you've planned, but I'm taking more than you planned.
You can rob me blind man, you can whatever, you had me at hello. Ridley
Funeral Home who hope that you're not at their doorstep anytime soon.
No, let's hope that that one doesn't. Very good. Very good.
You know, during those times where I was hoping
that I wouldn't get stuck with a colostomy bag,
which I do.
So as you're listening right now going,
what's that now?
Yeah, that's part of the whole life saving thing.
So you can either worry about the vanity of that
or be happy that you're still a dad.
Do you have one right now?
Absolutely.
Okay, so I wasn't sure,
cause you had surgery to reroute things, right?
Well, that was the thing.
Normally you get what they call an ileostomy.
So while, when they have like a bowel resection,
so while the cancerous part was taken out,
so while it heals, they redo your plumbing
so it comes sort of in the outside into this pouch.
When I hug you, I got to be,
I don't want to hug you too, squeeze you too tight.
Things might leak out.
Well, I think that's just a good rule, whether I had one or not.
So you got a bag of colonoscopy?
Is that what it's called?
No, what's it called?
So I have a colostomy bag, but they say-
Tough word to say.
They have to say bag all the time.
Can't you say pouch?
Pouch.
I think you called it a bag.
They want to say pouch.
But most of the time, you wouldn't even know that I have it.
Okay, but you feel most of the time like you would wouldn't even know that I have it okay so but you feel good I feel great and you're about to embark
on a brand new chapter in your life and that's exciting so Ridley Funeral Home
who will see you in about let's see about 35 years my never never never you
think I'm dying they took its best shot good luck with that if you died okay they
can't cremate you because they'll never get that fire out is that what I
understand okay so that's correct Ridley Funeral Home sent you over a that if you died, okay, they can't cremate you because they'll never get that fire out. Is that what I understand?
Okay.
So that's correct.
Ridley funeral home sent you over a measuring
tape, Mike, so you can measure, uh, measure
anything you want.
You've earned it.
You've earned that.
Hmm.
Okay.
It's a measuring device.
That's interesting.
It's a measuring device.
And I want to give you a wireless speaker.
This is maybe a way we could hear your new
content.
We're going to get the details in a moment.
Monera sent that over, but you have a condition here. Okay.
It's nothing in life is free.
Those snake oil salesmen who wanted to dance with you must've told you this,
but this is a,
on the condition that you listen to season seven of yes, we are open,
which is an award winning podcast from Monaris hosted by Al Grego.
Al Grego was at TMLX 17 cause he likes me more than you do,
at Palma's Kitchen.
That was a couple of weeks ago,
it was a great time,
but you must come to the next TMLX17.
I will be able to,
I can guarantee you that.
Okay, so the season seven,
by the way,
the final episode is with Tyler Schwartz and his wife,
and they run retro festive in Oakville.
And Tyler Schwartz was also at TMLX17,
and he gave everybody a gift.
So last but not
least the big announcement is coming. I'm not going to place, I'm not going to do a
drum roll or something cheesy. That's more of a morning zoo type thing. Okay. So I will
just tell you that if you have a drawer full of old electronics, old devices, old cables,
don't throw that in the garbage mic so the chemicals end up in our landfill. Go to recyclemyelectronics.ca, put in your postal code,
and then drop it off to be properly recycled.
It's good for everybody, good for humans,
good for mankind.
You know, this is a woke show here, you know that, right?
So we were taking care of the planet.
Mike Richards, I'm ready for the big announcement.
I'm gonna lean back, stare into your beautiful eyes,
give me the details.
back, stare into your beautiful eyes, give me the details.
So after a very long,
an arduous journey,
I will now be,
and raw Mike Richards will be on Rogers on city TV,
and it's going to be in Calgary because if I'm going to trust
people that I'm trusting my Calgarians and so I will start in the new year.
It will be Saturdays.
It will be from nine to 10 in the morning simply because with a sports show like
this and the commentary that I'll have, it's mountain time.
So before pucks drop, before there's kickoffs. Remember, there's a two hour difference, so I had to start at that time.
I'm thrilled.
And I would like to thank those at Rogers who I've always had a great relationship
with, it's when I dominated out at the fan 960 and we had the biggest numbers in
Canada.
So if I'm going to start somewhere where there's going to be a level of trust, we
talked about accountability and professionalism, there's a gentleman by the name of Kerry Elliott who's the
boss out at Rogers in Calgary for their group and he has been a unicorn. I don't recall those
moments in the last 10 years where I've met someone who's not only smart, but he has great enthusiasm. And so besides me, you mean,
aside from you, aside from you. Right.
And so I am thrilled to announce in 2025 that raw Mike Richards television,
Rogers city TV and Calgary, no one does it like,
no one does like the Calgarians. So if I'm going to restart,
if I'm going to reboot what I want to do, then it will be once again,
a one hour show,
sports based.
But the biggest difference probably in this is that not all guests, like main guests,
and they will be of substance, are going to, they're not going to have to be a sports
personality, a character, a coach, a general manager.
They can be from music, they can be from film,
they can be from politics.
Rick Emmett might come on the program.
Rick Emmett could come on.
I can't give away everyone who's coming on,
but I can say some major bands like world famous bands.
There are-
Triumph is a world famous band.
They're a famous, yes.
I'm just gonna make sure you know that.
But one that's currently planning.
Okay, okay.
The Arkells will show up, okay. I like the Arkells. You know, that one that's currently planning. Okay. Okay.
The Arkells will show up. Okay. I like the Arkells. The Arkells are welcome anytime they want. Yeah. Are they world famous though?
No, I, you know, there are certain bands,
even when there was a time when you'd go down and talk about the tragically hip,
there were certain cities that understood, right?
There were certain pockets that knew what the hip were. Yeah.
And then there's others like, bro, what are you talking about?
Yeah, like they, I mean, I noticed this,
that like Lowest of the Low is a Canadian band,
really famous in the GTA, to be quite honest.
They really nurtured this market.
But they can go play Buffalo multiple times a year
and everybody's excited in Buffalo.
And why are they excited in Buffalo?
Cause in Buffalo, they would tune in 102.1 and they would hear lowest of the low
and they would hear the tragically hip. So like Buffalo's like sort of like,
they always talk about lately,
there's a lot of rhetoric about Canada being the 51st state makes me nauseous,
man. You know,
Buffalo should just become like the 11th province or something.
I love going down there. I like the people. I like the city.
I always have a great time. I know it takes a kick in the nuts.
It shouldn't. Did you watch that Bill's game? Yeah, that was crazy, right?
That was more pain. Yeah, it was very crazy. When all the props,
well look who you're talking to.
And I should also mention that within that hour. So what we're saying to people,
yeah, I'm going to get back to your announcement. Don't get me wrong.
A little detour. Go ahead.
That this is an opportunity that's not coming
back again. And I don't know if anyone is going to get this shot. So I have to be very
careful. I'm, I'm shooting it in Toronto because that's the way it's working right now. Uh,
a company called, uh, eggplant film and sound on queen street, uh, long time friends, uh,
Paul Moore, Bruce and Dave, they're just the greatest guys.
Again, I've aligned myself with a team that is,
not unlike you, right?
But you trust these guys.
Yes, like I trust you.
You have a history of these guys.
Yes, yes.
They're not snake oil sales.
No, one of them went to high school with me.
My dad taught them.
Good.
Paul Moir.
But then, through Paul Moir, I met a guy named Wayne Craig.
Wayne Craig has been a director of huge commercials.
You'd see them during Superbowl, spent most of his time
and a lot of time in Los Angeles.
So he is like a partner.
You have a guy named Matt Gillespie
from Joe Media in Calgary.
So he can handle all what we call traffic.
So a lot of the administrative,
a lot of the TV paperwork and stuff
that I don't understand, Matt Gillespie, Chris Duncan,
who used to run City TV in Calgary and Edmonton, has always been in the TV business, mostly with
CTV. He is sort of the consultant when it comes to overseer of all things television.
Right.
And then the coolest thing is just lately, within the last two weeks,
because of how tricky the gaming is, I know people get mad about commercials when they see, you know,
that 365 and sports betting.
So a guy by the name of Phil Gray, who used to be on my show all the time because he was
the lines maker for sports interaction where Dave Bastel now works because that's what
that's what Dave does.
Right.
Right.
You'll see him talking about showing up on Amazon and him making his picks. So that's what Dave does now. So before people ask, what about Dave? That's what that's what Dave does, right? Right. You'll see him talking about showing up on Amazon and him making his picks.
So that's what Dave does now.
So before people ask, what about Dave? That's what Dave's doing.
But Phil Gray, who is sort of a rock and roll guy, too,
was in a touring band, played bass. So he fits it.
He's come on to be literally the director of gaming properties
when it comes to raw Mike Richards.
And he has just started.
And if you go right now to his LinkedIn live he has
just announced what I'm announcing so that just hit this morning at 9 a.m. and
it all is going out if you want to advertise this is how you find it touch
of gray grateful dead I hate the grateful dead I wish they were like
their name I really I just cannot you know some of them are dead call Ridley
and give them all the tape measures
They want cuz Jerry Garcia is probably lying in in state at Ridley right now. Okay. I have questions as you can imagine
Okay, cuz I live and breathe this world. I'm very very interested in
In in some of the details here. So you refer to it as Rogers TV in Calgary, correct?
So that's not the same. Is that the same or is it different than city TV in Calgary?
No, it's the same.
Okay.
Okay.
Yes.
So city TV.
So we have, so I got to speak cause this is Toronto Mike.
So everybody here speaks.
Most people here speak Toronto.
So city TV, shout out to Gordon Martino.
Gordon Martino is a God to me.
He's going to be a guest on your new show.
I'd love to have.
He's fantastic.
I was talking to him the other day.
So, Gord Marnow, for example, Ann Marzkowski, I love the City policy.
I just talked to Lorne Honigman and Peter Gross yesterday.
That's how into I am.
But there is an equivalent to R City TV in Calgary, Alberta.
Correct.
Okay.
And you will have a show, a television show that's going to air on that station,
which is the Calgary equivalent to City TV,
and it's going to be one hour a week,
is that what I heard?
Yeah, so Saturdays from nine till 10 a.m.
And it's going to shoot here, so you have a studio here,
it sounds like you're in eggplant.
Eggplant, film and sound.
So you're going to, oh, and is it,
I'm going to ask them dumb questions, is it live?
No, so I will accumulate what I want to do do that week and it has to be shipped by Thursday
Okay, so then it plays Saturday
So I only have about 48 hours where should something happen and I'll give you an example, especially when we're talking about Calgary. Yeah
The terrible Johnny Goodrell Johnny hockey story if that happens. I have no chance and
Except what is going to come.
That's not down to the detail.
I'm going to have to support the television show with digital.
So there has to be an availability.
Maybe it's not a full podcast at this moment, not that it can't be, but for one day a week,
that leaves a lot of stuff that's going on, including making picks.
So those that have seen my show over the years will also find that Jimmy the bag, the legend,
Jimmy the bag, speaking of bags.
Yeah.
He's going to be on the show and, and he's just my favorite.
I just, he's just the best.
So he will join me.
So we may back that up on a digital perspective at other times during the week. That Josh Allen performance yesterday I read was like the greatest fantasy sports
day for a quarterback in the history of the sport, NFL anyway. Great for props.
I know, what an unbelievable effort for Josh Allen. They did not win the game of
course, which is some old school guys like me say that's the bottom line. Okay,
so I have some obvious digital streaming.
So if you don't live in Calgary, let's say you live in Toronto.
Okay.
And you want to watch raw Mike Richards.
How would you consume this content?
If you don't have a, uh, the Rogers city, a city TV station from
Calgary on your, uh, device.
So there'll be a bunch of ways,
aside from those watching in Alberta
that are gonna see it from nine to 10.
If you have time shift,
so a lot of people who have television can watch
Winnipeg or Vancouver, Montreal,
so you will be able to simply just go to your television
and watch it when it shows up via your bell
or Rogers cable, that's one.
Two, it will exist on the Rogers digital platform.
So if you didn't see it, you're going to be able to go to Rogers City in
Calgary, just go right to the website and boom, there it is.
So you'll be able on demand.
You can watch older episodes of your program via, I don't know,
rogers.com or wherever you go to watch on demand.
This is what I was talking about, trying to get on a major player, a major
broadcast partner, because when you do that, the eyeballs that I can get from a
platform like that, aside from being probably just independent, trying to do
the raw Mike Richards thing.
And that was very difficult.
This I, I have some pretty lofty goals for it,
as you can imagine, that I always do.
So, okay, so will there be,
this is since you're on a podcast right now,
and I always think podcasts first,
like I wanna just like throw this in my podcast app
of choice, which happens to be Podcast Addict.
I wanna go for a bike ride
and I wanna hear an hour of Mike Richards
talking about Juan Soto and Josh Allen
and all this stuff, okay.
And more, because of course your special guest will be Drake for the
first episode.
I don't think that's ever going to happen to be honest.
And I didn't really know who it was back then and I don't really know who he is
now.
I, I just, I'm just saying it's not my thing.
Oh, I think it's chapel Rowan will be your first guest.
Okay.
So Mike Richards, will there be a podcast component out of the gate or is that
something that might be added later?
What's the deal there?
So if you want the audio portion or it delivered in a way
that you could put your headphones on and go for a ride
or go for a bike ride, that will be available from the start.
That will go right from the very beginning.
Okay, okay, good.
There is actually, I've been linked on the live stream,
live.torontomike.com. I've been linked to a PDF.
Okay, so I now am now looking at the logo, the raw Mike Richards show and you're referred to as Canada's number one sports
talk personality and I think you can use that because I feel Bob McCallan was trying to own that but he quit his show
last week. So it's up for grabs. He's no longer a sports media personality it's all up for grabs it's yours okay and I'm now looking at the very handsome
Mike Richards and it says media icon Mike Richards is back this is this is
quite the press release I see a Rogers logo so you know qualms about getting in
bed with the evil Empire because they can dance well put it this way everyone
in my business is gonna have a feeling about how they were treated by a major corporation.
And most of it's going to be terrible stories, sad stories.
Everyone's relationship with those companies is different. Mine with Rogers has always been good.
Has always been good. The other guys, not as good. So to me, for instance, the vice president of Rogers is
Greg Sansone. I've known him since he was a kid with his baseball cap on backwards being the producer
for Bob McCown back in the early nineties. And so he has an understanding and a language that he speaks, I understand. And no, I don't mean Italian, but what I'm saying is he at being at the top of
that totem pole or almost is a very good sign for me.
There is, there is, there is room for myself to do something positive.
And, you know, I'll, I'll go a step further because there's not a lot of local
content anymore, especially when you go to different cities in Canada,
this is a chance to prove that we can do something
that will show up on a local station that can grow.
Because the growth of this is important.
I don't wanna be just one hour a week.
The goal is to be live every day, five days a week.
That's the goal.
It almost sounds like a proof of concept, okay?
We'll go live for an hour a week, Rogers will see, oh my god, look at the great content Mike Richards can
pump out with that well-produced polished hour of content. We need content. We have digital, you know,
we have Sportsnet, we have a CityTV and other markets like Toronto. We have a radio station
called 590. Like it sounds like this is a proof of concept to get Mike
Richard's content into the umbrella of Rogers.
So I have some, that's 100% but I have some big, yeah, that is,
that is exactly how one would look at this.
Okay. So that is amazing. You've got your foot in the door at Rogers. Okay.
It it's in the Calgary. And again,
to remind the listenership who thinks that you just kind of always worked in the
GTA, you were a big fucking deal in the Calgary market
I say were but I feel like that scene in The Wire where he goes
He was a man never talked about cutty wise he goes
He was a man back in the day and then Slim Charles says he's a man now
Okay, yeah, all of a sudden, you know what you got you got you can hug you can hug me as much as you want
Okay, so I You can hug me as much as you want. I'm going to squeeze the shit out of that bag. Literally.
Okay.
So I have some questions again, and I hope with all due respect, I need answers. So one is, uh, so this shows on in Calgary, but a lot of your fan base is in Toronto,
but will, would this be Calgary talk?
Like a lot of talk about the Calgary flames and the, the, what do they call the stampeters?
Yeah.
I had to think about that for a moment.
So yes, this needs to be local.
So I'm gonna have someone from the fan 960
join me every week so we can go over what is happening.
What's going on in Calgary?
With the Flames, with those kinds of things.
They love the Flames there.
But here's the trick to all of it.
Going back to an earlier question you asked about,
why is everything, why has it collapsed? Why
does sports radio sound the way it does? Right. Vanilla. There is a fine balance in that format
to understand how much you can talk about one thing and what is it surrounded by. So
if you need the inside workings of a sport, you would have an insider.
So you would have Darren Drager because he talks
to the coaches, the general managers, the owners,
the players and so-
Mitch Marner's dad.
Or Mitch Marner's dad.
But you, but you know, you can have,
but if that's the only thing you do in any market,
it's just not transferable to other markets.
Right.
This show is going to have, but see, just like before,
it always had Calgary content,
even when I was the morning man at the Fan 960.
Except all the guests and all the other content,
you could have been from San Diego,
it still made sense to you.
That's the trick, and quite honestly, to be blunt,
when you're a broadcaster
that needs to have a level of talent,
in the pool that I came from
back in the, and listening to it in the seventies and the eighties,
when you had what's gruff, Connors would do when you had brother Jake,
what he would do when you had jungle, Jane Nelson, when you had, uh, I mean,
you can go through all the names that existed. Tom Rivers, Tom River, right?
These are people who put together what I like to call shows. Right.
And when someone else would listen to it, you like, well I can't do that. The unfriendly giant for example. Yeah you're talking, okay, but so I think in my
opinion and you didn't ask me but it's my show I'm gonna tell you, it's got to be
local. Like I think the great mistake made by, I don't want to bring any PTSD
up here, like I don't want you to have any reaction, but the the Team 1050. The
Team 1050 tried to be on Toronto airwaves as a national show.
And we learned very quickly that, uh, us assholes in Toronto don't want to hear about the Winnipeg jets.
Canada is a regional country.
Right.
US is not.
I can talk about the bills Rams game in any city today in the United States.
They all watched it and they all get it.
Right.
If I talk about the great start by the Winnipeg Jets and I go down to Joey,
Joey's, they're going to be like, why are you talking about that?
Right.
Don't you know that Mitch Marner last night had a cheeseburger and someone saw him drop an onion?
Right.
The Nylander brothers played together or something.
Just enough.
Right.
But the balance is all in presentation. Right. The Neylander brothers played together or something. Yeah. Just enough. Right. But the balance is all in presentation.
Right.
So that takes experience and a little bit of knowledge into what people might find
interesting about another market in Canada.
It's a trick.
It's a challenge, but you have to know what you're doing when you're driving that
bus.
And the problem is when you put on, you know, some know it all who knows everything
about, you know, the Toronto Maple Leafs or the, or the blue J's to get them to expound
upon it.
Like, why don't you talk to it?
Why don't you, you know, in talking about Vladdy, whether he'd stay or go based on
the numbers that he's had in the last three seasons, because they saw what Juan Soto got.
So if you're wondering, okay, well, why doesn't he just put his hat into the ring?
Because he's got numbers that aren't far off.
It's like, okay, that's fine.
Have you ever thought about talking to him? I mean, you can talk to these guys. I mean,
I don't think necessarily who's that? Necesito. I'm a London. It's been, you know, you maybe don't
have to do that. I can, but why not have some of the Raptors on? Why can't you do that? Why can't you talk?
Not just, here's your insider,
here's Josh Lohenberg, who I like,
but where are the guys?
Yeah, but don't you think with media training in 2024,
they never say anything of substance or interest?
Like, it's not like the old days where Alexander McGilley
would talk about his hemorrhoids, you know what I mean?
Well, they're-
Five inches.
Yeah, but there's certainly, but there are ways to, in fact,
one of my last interviews that I recall with John Tavares.
So John Tavares comes in and basically you're going to get,
cause they all became quite good at this. And I,
you asked about the training media training. Yeah.
I think the professor or the teacher, the prof must've been Mike
Babcock because when you first asked a question to any of those Leafs,
they all started to sound like the coach.
I'd say, so you've got Columbus tonight,
what do you think the biggest challenge is going to be
in terms of your offense?
Well, I think you've got to get out there
and you've got to play as a group.
And if you get it together, they've got good players
and we've got good players.
And I think if you go about it the right way, I think you get a goal and I think
you got to give her, I think that's what you do.
I'm like, wait a minute.
That's pretty accurate.
John, are you going to be okay?
And then you have to have a way.
And I have my own style of doing it.
Breaking down the person to get to the person.
There's some that one of the greatest interviews I had on TSN was with Joe Montana.
After the mics were like it was pretty good and then the mics went off.
After the mics went off, you had the best welcome to my world.
It's what happened because his son, who was a walk-on at Notre Dame, obviously where Joe
went to school. Rudy.
Wasn't really given. Well, don't get me started on Rudy. Don't get me started on Rudy. The worst movie and the worst story. I had to work with the real guy. I couldn't take it. Well, let don't get me started on the same. Don't get me started on Rudy. The worst movie in the worst story.
I had to work with the real guy. The real guy. I couldn't take it.
You know, there's some guys that are just so irritated. That's why they finally
said, fuck it. Just put them on the field. You want to go get them out there,
but his helmets on backwards, get them out there. Whatever.
He's been bugging me for seven years. Get them on the goddamn field.
I no longer care. And so that's what it,
because I saw him speak in Hamilton. I no longer care. And so that's what it,
because I saw him speak in Hamilton
because I speak in Hamilton.
I had to leave.
I couldn't take it.
He does seem like an annoying,
I want to steal a line from an annoying little fuck.
Like he just seems like he'd be annoying, right?
But, and again, the best scene in that Rudy movie
never happened, right?
It's where they turn in their jerseys.
Oh, there's a bunch of stuff.
Like all the best scenes in that damn movie never happened. But I digress. Okay, so you had a great convolute. But again,
because we only have the hour here and I need to understand when can we expect
the first episode of this brand new show? I am like Richard. I am hoping that we
can get it on by Super Bowl. My initial goal was October so I would get most of
the NFL season.
The problem being, and like I said beforehand,
when it comes to gaming and the gambling aspect,
what I didn't know was Alberta technically is not live.
And by that, I mean legal. So like two ish years ago,
when everyone went live in Ontario, so bet three, six, five, fan dual,
bet MGM sports interaction who was already here because they're Canadian, well they were Canadian.
They're not that way, the only thing that's legal,
technically to be, have the ability to advertise,
is like their, well,
they're pro-line, they're pro-line.
Yeah, so that's the ALGC,
Silly Verda Lottery Gaming Corporation.
So they're the only ones technically,
so we had someone on board, and then Phil joined late,
right, because this other guy was promising.
One of the crazies that I've talked about.
So we had a guy who said he could help us out.
Not surprised by that.
And he turned out to be like Frankenstein's monster.
I have no idea what happened to this person.
But it got really weird.
And then there was this promise of this big gaming company. I said, Oh, it's great. But then I contacted Phil
and goes and Phil Gray goes, okay, well that can't happen. What do you mean? Well, there'd be a
compliance issue. You can't have, how would they not know? How did this person get that company
without bringing up the fact that by the way, you can't air these ads in Alberta. You can't do that,
but that never happened. So thank God for Phil, uh,
that he came to the rescue and said, look, here's what's coming.
Yeah.
They're going live in the new year. They hope by super bowl and there's going to be new
companies, including companies like stake bet. And people are like, whoa, what's stake bet?
Um, you know, bet 99, cool bet, all these other ones that they'll all be glomming on to Alberta
like they did here and they need a place to put their advertisement.
So wait, when does it become legal in Alberta?
It could be as late as the spring, which would be 2025.
Yes.
But it's coming like it's coming.
Oh, no, it's not.
No, it's done.
Okay.
It's done.
Right.
So there'll be that day.
I remember the day when you can legally advertise, you know, sports betting in Ontario.
And you're right.
There were a whole bunch of approved,
accredited sports gambling sites that were buying
lots of digital airtime.
So it went nuts.
In fact, it was overkill.
You couldn't go five seconds.
So you're waiting for that before you go live maybe.
Well, I may not.
I may just go with the, you know, with-
Super Bowl time, which is like early Feb, I guess,
early February.
Yeah, I would like to think, you know,
because to do the show itself, which is like early Feb, I guess, early February. Yeah. I would like to think, you know, because to do the show itself, which is sort of,
we, we see what the segments will be, but it's going to be a very fast moving one
hour. I mean, this hour is going to move.
So I don't have a lot of time.
So there's the, there, there won't be a lot of this.
Well, we're aimlessly just talking, going, Hey, look at that tape measure.
Wonder what I'll measure today. You know, it's going to be all killer. No filler. You got, hey, look at that tape measure. I wonder
what I'll measure today.
It's going to be all killer, no filler. You got, what was the name of the bag guy?
Jimmy the Bag.
Jimmy the Bag. You got people, it's going to be fast. And again, you're producing, it's
not live. So it's been packaged together by the eggplant people here in Toronto and then
sent over to air on City TV in Calgary. Was it Saturday morning?
Saturday morning. Saturday morning, what time?
Nine to 10.
So nine local time, so Alberta time, nine a.m.
And it's gonna be, again, it sounds like it's gonna have,
of course, the big stories, which are national stories,
but you're gonna have a little more hyper-focus
on stampeters and flames.
Well, because of when this is going,
there's gonna be obviously flames talk.
Of course. I'm going to talk to flames and then I can actually, I'll actually talk to flames. So
instead of going, you know, the problem with, you know, the problem with, you know, this,
this constant nauseating criticism of players or whatever, just say to their face then,
why don't you put them in there? Right. I mean, that's what I always did. If there was
something going on, I assumed that I would talk to the coach or one of the players. Difficult to do. And people are like, well,
they won't say anything. Yeah, they're guarded. I get that. But then you have to go down and
gain their trust. That's something I learned from Paul Romanuk, who knew all these guys when they
were junior. So he would talk to them in junior. So the first guys off the ice, Paul would talk to
all of them. And they would talk to Paul. It's why guys like Jonathan Taves, who, uh, a lot of these junior
guys out in, in Western Canada, when they, you know, would go to the world juniors,
they already knew me because I put them on the air all the time.
So they would talk to me when they became professionals.
But now you need access, right?
They, they control the access to these guys, like nobody's business.
And it's not like the old days.
So it's up to you to form a relationship with the team,
not just the PR guy, but I have to, you know, I'll go up in there.
There's Keith Pelly. So someone who's known me for years, who's now,
of course very pleased to see that MLSC. And if I said, you know, Pels,
here's, here's what I need. Now, if I'm with Rogers right now,
that's a good thing for once, Mike, I might be on the right side of history.
Right.
That's true.
It's like, hey, I got a free trip on a boat.
Can I ask something?
It's the Titanic.
That's what that is.
That's what's happened to me.
That's funny.
All right.
So a few annoying things.
Okay.
So you can't, your package is up in Toronto.
It's going to look pro.
So I have some question about like, who's paying for the eggplant production like right?
So that all comes from sponsors of all the money that we're raising via the sponsors. Okay, then I have another dumb
You know insider question which is so this is different than Rogers tapping on the shoulder and say hey
You're a Calgary sports media superstar. Would you have a show on our network?
And it's more like you guys maybe maybe it's your gentleman touch of gray here
who kind of tapped the shoulder of Rogers and say,
hey, can we buy an hour on a weekend?
That's the only thing that exists for anybody currently
that's not an employee of one of these big companies.
Okay, but you're buying the time.
Yes, correct.
And you're paying eggplant to package up
to the professional video production.
It looks like I've seen this.
I've seen the, it looks like're you're I don't know,
you're it's the national or something like you're at the desk there.
Like it looks big leagues.
So that's got to cost a pretty penny.
So you got to pay a plant.
No, the people who have come on to support this know that it's important to get me
for the industry to start to prove that we don't necessarily always need an American show
to fill that void.
I love Pat McAfee, don't get me wrong.
I watch Pat McAfee probably every day.
But when I saw that I'm like.
He's not talking flames.
He's not talking flames, he probably don't.
Does he know there's a Calgary flames?
I don't know if there's a lot of NHL talk,
but I love the show, I love what they do.
Colin Cowhert, articulate, interesting, great takes.
I mean, Dan Patrick's got his thing,
but it's almost become a little folksy for me.
It's not really where I would go.
However, this is what we put on our airwaves.
Why can we not in this country, who are crazy about sports,
we're still sports fanatics.
We don't have any hosted shows by our own people
who have their own takes.
Well, guess what?
Starting in 2025, now you do.
Mike Richards, again, you'll have to follow you.
Where's a good place on social media
to find out what day that first episode's gonna be?
Twitter, I still use Twitter,
even though people very upset with the Twitter people.
I hate it now.
And I was the biggest, I will say, go go to the archives it's all there. No one used
Twitter, no one enjoyed Twitter more than I did and now when I go in there my gut
hurts like the the cesspool, the Nazis, all of it. Fucking hate it. I'm on blue
sky now. Do you like it because I've not even been to the... Yeah no it's like
so you are you know what it is? It's old Twitter without the Nazis. So are you
saying I should have a blue sky?
Do I have any?
I mean, if you worked with me,
you'd have a blue sky account.
And you can just think what I do is I write it for blue sky.
Cause that's what are we gonna work together?
Because we can work together.
No, no, are we gonna work together?
Is there room?
It sounds here's the thing.
So my only concern, so first of all, again,
to reiterate the obvious,
there's no, no one's rude and harder
for Mike Riches than I am.
I told you, I alluded to the Jeff Lumbee converse combos.
I've had my only concern for you is keeping alluded to the Jeff Lumbee combos I've had.
My only concern for you is keeping your overhead low
because you have to pay yourself too.
I'm worried you're gonna forget to pay Mike Richards.
Yeah, but I'm selling a house in Calgary, so I don't care.
You want to hear what we honestly hear?
I've got 10 minutes, let's go.
So I'm gonna sell a house.
But there is money.
But you own property in Calgary and you're going to sell it and that's going to finance
this micro-
No, no, no.
There's no, there is going to be no personal money in this.
There doesn't have to be because now just so we know, it's some of the bigger sponsors
we're looking for, but we currently do have sponsors in Calgary.
I mean, we're going to try to sell out obviously, but I'm not really worried about that either.
I'm not worried about the sponsorship.
So you're not worried about this, EK, because nowadays you'll have like, I'm gonna use Jeff Merrick as an example, right?
You might relate to being fired by mainstream media, right? Like Jeff Merrick was a popular...
Yeah, very popular, good guy.
Good guy, popular show on the Rogers networks. And he got, he was living in Vegas and he got the tap
on the shoulder and said, go home, your services are no longer required. And then he licks his
wounds for a bit, he lays low, He's a pretty chill guy. He takes some
calls and now he's got a podcast. Okay. That's basically the next venture. But his overhead
on the podcast is significantly, it's pretty low, you know? And my worry for you is because
it's going to be a big league TV show filmed here and then it's going to be on time that
you bought from Rogers in Calgary. My worry is you got to pay this guy, this guy, this guy, this guy needs a cut and by the end of
the day you're like oh shit I made more money going on Toronto Mike because at
least he gave me a speaker, he gave me a lasagna, he gave me a measuring tape.
That's the difference of being on a major network with major you know
implications that we've got sponsors. I won't, and with the way that things
are shot now as opposed to
in the day where you had all these moving cameras and you had a lot of
expense right this is the cost have come way down we the least of my concerns
would be studio cost do you have a makeup artist why what are you saying
they're not cheap first it was all the hugging now it's what are you gonna do
about your face I see lipstick on there before we do that big hug here after.
Okay, I'm so excited about this announcement because you're back on TV, man.
Like, I've never been on TV. You're gonna be on TV in Calgary, and Calgary already loves Mike Richards.
You got brand recognition. And you got, I saw the logo, I've seen the set.
This is gonna be like a major television television production and we get an hour of Mike
Richards on City TV in Calgary and like we talked about earlier, once you're in the family on the
airwaves, some wise person at Rogers is going to be like, I like the cut of this guy's jib.
We have other markets that need content and they're going to be tapping you on the shoulder and it's
going to be the good news, not the, uh, it is bad news.
I'm fully expecting that also. Look,
the major concern for a lot of these people, including in this was,
but you're going to not do some of that other stuff, right? Like,
you're not going to have cool. No, no,
you're not going to have like contests like gay or not gay and all that stuff.
I'm like, oh, you're not going to make you a good question.
Are you going to do something like gay or not gay and all that stuff. I'm like, no, you're not going to make, you're going to do this question. Are you going to do something like gay or not?
Gay? No, I, I would say after years of trying to get a deal to drop something
that would probably offend everyone's gay, right? But the, the thing is the
show was that, that segment, that contest, which is what it was, it's
not like gay people were accosting me on the street or saying that was terrible.
What they were saying was, because it had nothing to do, it was the terminology of what
was gay.
That's what it was.
So these gay guys, you'd be in a place and a guy, excuse me, what?
Do you seriously think that's gay what you said?
Are you saying that that's your understanding of what gay is?
Because honestly, you are so far off.
And so they wanted to be on the show.
But that was then, I'm not gonna,
I don't wanna get into where I'm gonna spin my tires
on something that I don't need to involve.
Someone said, what are you talking about
the transgender issue or that boxer with the high?
No, I honestly, I just got this gig. I really am probably not coming up with the high no no I honestly I just got this gig I really
am probably not coming out with the cannons look at it and let me not had
this comfort conversation look at it like how they constructed Seinfeld they
didn't do the masturbation show first they didn't do there's nothing wrong
with that gay show quote-un, like in the second season.
It takes you a while to gain the confidence of people
that you're not only broadcasting on behalf of,
but your audience.
Like what does your audience really wanna hear?
Do they wanna hear you rant and rave about something
that they're like, eh, I don't know, why is he so upset?
Why can't he just do a Peyton Manning?
Why can't he just do whatever Peyton Manning? Why can't he just do you know?
Whatever gag or whatever take they want
Do they want to hear me talk about the Blue Jays and how most of those fans they feel bad for who pay way too much
Money for their seats they pay way too much the concession stands are a nightmare and they're like, oh we're gonna call them neighborhoods
Well, you should call them pirates because that's what you are. It's awful
we're going to call them neighborhoods. Well, you should call them pirates because that's what you are. It's awful paying $40 for a hamburger or whatever it is. Careful Rogers. Well, you know
what? Then there better be a discount because I'm not doing that. And if you really think they're in
this day and age, especially with the Canadian dollar, and I know they get paid in American
dollars. Do you know how much it costs for an American to come here or anybody else that wants
like a trillion
dollar deal I got news for you Blue J fans they're not coming like one Soto
for example not coming show hey Tony like do you think we're gonna get him I'm
like I heard from a good source he was on a flight here yeah okay probably
because he likes Wonderland Mike Richards great announcement I look
forward to learning what day I can see
this product from you, but I think having your voice, your take on Canada's
airwaves on any platform, we're all better off for that. Like I root
for you, I can't wait to follow your journey here. Well it's a great show, a lot of
people are saying, a lot of people, it could be the best show, the greatest show
that's ever happened, and we're gonna bring it back, we're gonna bring it all back,
and it's all because of you, you did a great job,
not the best job, but you did a pretty good job.
Can you tease one of those major recording artists
that's gonna drop by the Raw on my Grifters show?
This person is currently working with Van Halen.
Oh, oh my goodness, I can't believe it,
I don't even have a guess, I don't know who's working,
is there still Van Halen?
I feel like Eddie died, and I feel. Is there still a Van Halen? I feel like Eddie died and I feel like, uh, is there still a Van Halen?
You'll have to watch the show and find out.
And that brings us to the end of our 1,595th show.
Go to torontomic.com for all your Toronto Mike needs.
I'm on blue Sky at Toronto Mike.
Much love to all who made this possible. That is Great Lakes Brewery. How was the Canuck Pale Ale,
Mike Richards?
All their beer is good. It is. I'm not just saying that. All their beer is fantastic.
They're going to love to hear that. And Palma Pasta. Again, we know you love Palma Pasta.
Anthony's listening. a message for Anthony?
Um, am I getting free stuff when I go there next time? Because I really enjoy, no, the thing we
talk about lasagnas on the show, you gotta go to the stores and see what else is available. He has
some of the nicest pastas, the little, the fettuccine roll, again any of the, any of the sozich, the
suprasata, you know calabrese and quente i mean it's all beautiful
beautiful recycle my electronics dot ca minaris enjoy the speaker enjoy season seven yes we are
open it's a great speaker we're gonna be listening to you on the rogers city tv in calgary come in
hopefully february maybe yes sounds like okay february 2025, right? Not 2026. 2025.
Okay. And shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. I literally have another recording in a half an hour.
So if you're on the live stream, just stick around. I've got a great Indigenous musician coming by.
We might get his commentary on the new Mike Richards news. Stay tuned for that. See you all then. So So Music