Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Rewinder: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1708

Episode Date: June 10, 2025

In this 1708th episode of Toronto Mike'd, and first episode of Rewinder, Mike chats with Blair Packham about what's happening in the Canadian media landscape. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball, Yes We Are Open, Nick Ainis and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

Rewind Up with the Packum who is also known as Blair and Mikey Boom Boom too. Rewind Up looking back and yippee yopping on the air for the quarterly review. Rewind Up skiddly badly doodly. Rewind Up bibbity babbity noodly. Rewind Up with the Packum who is also known as Blair and Mikey Boom Boom too. The Pack'em Who is also known as Blair and Mikey Boom Boom 2. Well done Blair Pack'em. Thank you.

I have questions. Yes. If they're legal questions, save them for my lawyer. They're for Lauren Honickman. Ah. Welcome to episode 1708 of Toronto Mic'd, proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga

and Oakville. Yes, we are open! An award-winning podcast from Monaris hosted by FOTM Al Greggo, Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball, Christie Pitts has the best baseball in the city outside the dome, get to a game, recyclemyelectronics.ca, committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past, Building Toronto Skyline, a podcast and book from Nick Aienes, sponsored by Fusion Corp Construction Management, Inc. and Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Joining me today for this very first episode of Rewinder, it's Blair Packham.

Rewinder. That was a great opening theme. Please give us a little insight Blair Packham before we remind the listenership as to who the heck you are and we tell the listenership what the heck is Rewinder. Can you give us a little like insight into how you put together that opening theme? Well, I AI did it. Is that what you're telling me? It wasn it wasn't, it was not. Oh, thank goodness. No, it was all handmade, handcrafted in my, uh, studio, uh, at my home, which sounds palatial, but it's really a middle bedroom. Have you seen my studio?

Yeah, well yes, we were very similar in that way, but you know, we do big things in little rooms. Um, Whoa, write that down. I think that's a slogan and, uh, yeah. So, um, um, I had to, I took the title. I mean, you and I talked about it and we talked about Rewinder as a title and then we talked about how you had Snow on recently and Informer might be a good basis for a theme song. And I wondered about the legality of it and I still do, but I feel like hey it's a modest podcast. You know? Remember this, I am BFFs of sorts.

I can text not only Snow himself, but I can text Snow's lawyer manager, Paul Farberman, who's also an FOTM. So I feel if you're gonna rip somebody off, rip off Snow. He's not coming at me. I hang with the Snowman. That's right.

Maybe not a good thing to say, rip offoffs, no, but I know Paul too. It's a parody. Yes, it's exactly. Although as I understand anyway, we don't need to go into legalities as I- Blair, we wish the best thing that can happen to Rewinder, which is a sub series of Toronto Mike, welcome to Rewinder, the first episode.

The best thing that could ever happen to us is Snow Six's, his lawyer who's an FOTM, that'd be wild, but you know, they come at us, we would like get it framed, we would just like lean in. Right, and you would do a live segment from the courtroom. Oh, and I'd be in trouble again. Oh my god, shout out to Peter Gross. That's right. Okay, so I realize, so I'm going to tell you my vision for Rewinder, and by the way, I loved your opening theme,

and what I really loved about that theme is it does pay homage to the snowman who's been on my mind a lot in 2025 because I've been in his orbit, so I wanted to pay tribute to that great Toronto song, the legend that is Snow. You did a great job, but I'm so grateful to you that you baked that by hand. I'm so happy you didn't like tell, I don't know, chat GPT to make a theme song with these words that sounds like Informer by Snow. Like you made that and I can hear it and to me,

that's everything, man. Thank you. I am anti-AI when it comes to making music only because the argument always seems to be let's do it faster and cheaper and I think that's, is that art? That's not art. No, the things you want to do faster and cheaper I guess are like the the invoicing. Yeah. All the crap you want, the art is what you actually want to do by hand. Yeah and you want to take time with it. You want the human element to be in it. So, so yeah, I want, thank you. I'm glad for me, the, the, there's a couple of funny things going on that I will now point out. Cause that's what I like to do is underscore and

repeat jokes and explain them. Um, but, uh, for me, the fact that I'm trying to toast like snow, you know, and all I can come up with is skiddly badly doodly. It's a, it's a joke on me and my culture. May I ask you though, did you hear the snow episode of Toronto Mike? I heard much of it.

Well, did you, cause your friends, let's disclose this and we're gonna, this is a good chance to remind. See, I'm gonna treat this episode as if it's not regular Toronto Mike listeners, which means I'm gonna pretend, I'm gonna assume that a listener of Rewinder doesn't know who the heck Blair Packham is. So we need to establish who you are. But one thing I know about you Blair is that your friends with Stephen Page. Is that right? Yeah, Stephen and I are. Okay, so in the Snow episode of Toronto Mike, Snow basically says his second cousin or his his cousin Stephen

Page, they're related somehow. His cousin Stephen Page for one week was basically borrowing the snowman's stuff. Like one week is trying to be like an informer. That's according to Snow. So I think it's awesome that you as a friend of Stephen Page are now borrowing from Snow. And I texted Stephen to find out about the familial relationship and he said, yeah, that

he and Darren talked about it, but they didn't, they weren't quite clear on what it was. So it's a bit, it's a loose association, maybe a familial connection. A little more about Stephen Page later. So let's tell the people in a nutshell, who are you, Blair Packham? In a nutshell, I am a singer-songwriter. I write music for film and TV, but I've also, I just, I've done a lot of things to make a living and also to amuse my ADHD brain. I had a radio show on News Talk 1010 for 11 years with Bob Reed called In the Studio and we had lots of guests on and I had a band in the 80s called The Jitters that was on

Much Music and was on Capitol Records, the Beatles label I always like to say. On Much Music and on 680s CFTR. That's right. Yes. And yeah, I was all over the radio and so forth. So I've had, I've had a varied career. I was, I was a swing shift disc jockey on Q107. Um, uh, I, uh, I was at a university of Toronto radio before it was called CIUT.

And I did not know Mark Weisblot at that time. That was the story that I put out thinking it might have been true. Right. Well, he's corrected me many times and made sure that I'm aware that there's quite an age gap between us. Well, I'm going to shut out Mark Weisblot right

now, because I used to do, well, they were quarterly episodes and then they became monthly episodes. And these were basically 1236 that's another name for Mark Weisblatt that we use 1236 would visit my basement and we would go into the deep dive into what's going on in the Canadian media landscape like we would talk about television and radio and just what's happening who passed away and it was very me, it was very nourishing.

Like, and again, I hope we don't do this, Blair, but Mark and I would go three hours. And again, this is a monthly show. This is a very deep dive we were doing, but for a variety of reasons, Mark's not jumping on my microphones lately. I don't think he's been on, he went, he was on my show once in 2024 when he came on the

mic during a live recording at Christie Pitts. But I mean, I'm waiting for this return and I basically got tired of rate waiting and I thought we needed something to replace those episodes. So Rewinder, it's not good. We're not replacing Mark Wiseblood in 1236 because that's you are no Mark Wise. I am no, no, he, he brought a manic energy to, those episodes were very entertaining and very informative, they were great.

Informative. That's right, that's right, informative. My, Mikey Boon Boon down. Because I'm worried people will think, oh, I replaced him, but this is sort of like what I did with Toast, Toast is another, well, Toast is monthly, I was gonna say it was a quarterly episode It's monthly, but I had a couple of co-hosts that I loved doing toast with

Cam Gordon and Stu Stone but for a variety of reasons they stepped away from the mic and I didn't want to end toast so I brought in the great the great Rob Bruce and Bob Willett who you can hear on Indy 88 eight days a week, I think is what he's working right now. But so I'm not replacing 1236. I just felt like we had FOTM cast, which was super meta. It was like inside baseball, what's happening in the TMU.

And it went really deep. It was for the real heads out there. So we need something for the Great Unwashed where me and a co-host, and that's you, Blair, we're gonna talk about the last quarter of Canadian media happenings and just discuss it. I will represent the Great Unwashed. Have you watched today, Blair Pound?

I actually have watched today, but here's the thing. Mark Weisblat brought a great depth and intensity to the stuff you guys were talking about. I'm not sure I can do that because we don't want to do that. His knowledge of stuff, like all kinds of stuff, is very deep. So this will be different. There's no replacing Mark Weisblatt. So this is a different kind of segment. And why would we try? He's a unicorn. Yeah, he is a unicorn. Are we going to find another unicorn? So... Nope. This is different. You're only going to be Blair Packham.

Yeah. Can you do that for me? I can definitely do that. You mean right now, like you're calling like James Brown, can you do that to me? Come on! Yeah. That's a James Brown lyric right there. Okay. So you're going to be Blair Packham. Yes. I'm going to be Toronto Mike. And we're going to talk about what's going on.

But just to set the table here, this is going to be quarterly. So we're recording in early June. So our next episode of Rewinder, unless this is just the worst thing we've ever Oh yeah, it could be the worst. But you'll be back in early September for another Rewinder. We'll, we'll discuss everything that happened from now till then. That's fantastic. That's the plan?

Yes, and I will learn from today's mistakes. Oh, I can't imagine that. Because the mistakes are what, the imperfections are what make me like what we're doing. AI is where you go if you wanna have something that seems phony, baloney, and clean. Exactly. But we're humans.

Yes. Prove to me you're a human. What numbers do you see in this? Captcha, okay. So I'm gonna just tell people that we're quarterly. This is called Rewinder. We're about to rock and roll here. Let us know what you think of it.

Like, did it suck? Was it good? Do you want more? Did it scratch that itch? Was it even 10 percent as nourishing as a 1236 episode of Toronto Mike? And also, here's a thought I had For the second episode of Rewinder We could have a mailbag segment like any questions about anything going on that you just want us to chat about or you want an

Answer on or whatever you could write Mike at Toronto Mike calm and just put Rewinder in the subject line and we'll have a mailbag I've never had a mailbag in any of my like 1700 and whatever, seven episodes. Now are you speaking of a metaphorical mailbag or are you actually gonna get one of those canvas bags that says Canada Post on it? Like Miracle on 34th Street, I envision like the post

officers just come in with these bags and dump them on the table. That's right, or Beatles fan mail. Do you know they changed the ending for the remake? So in the 90s, they remade a miracle on 34th Street, but they changed that ending, that glorious ending with the mail being dumped on the table. They changed it.

Did you know that? I didn't know that, no. So you gotta go back to the 30s for the OG version. Okay, so just to be clear, we now have a few quarterly episodes. I just wanna spell them out. So Toast is monthly and it's going to stay monthly. In fact, we're going to record a Toast episode

just before TMLX 19 on June 26th. So the next episode of Toast with Robin Bob is June 26th. But we do have a few quarterly episodes in addition to Rewinder. Ed Keenan is still a quarterly guest where we capture what's going on in like Toronto news, etc Ontario Ed Keenan is actually due to be here in early July

FOTM cast which is like the opposite of Rewinder is for the real heads I want FOTM cast to be so meta that there's like eight listeners like that's my dream I always think no, we're too broad here. That's gonna attract a hundred listeners Give me eight listeners for and You could probably name those eight listeners that you want. One better be Blair Packham. That's all I know. Okay. Okay. So FOTM cast is Cam Gordon and the great Tyler Campbell, the VP of Sales. That's still quarterly. I want to shout out, because he's on the livestream too, that's live.torontomike.com. Shout 2, Jeremy Hopkin. He's a quarterly guest. Every

quarter we talk about something regarding Toronto history. The last episode was about Old City Hall. So that remains a quarterly episode. So that's like four quarterlies and one monthly. There you go, Blair. That's great. I'm glad to be amongst that. I'm proud to be in that number. Everything's a song. If you said you were proud to be an American, I was gonna boot you off this program. No, no, no. That's what I thought you were gonna say there.

Okay, so we're gonna begin with a media that, reports of its demise are often exaggerated, but I still love talking about this media, and or medium, I suppose. And I'm talking to a guy who was on the radio, so you'll have some interesting insight but we're gonna start with a segment on Toronto Radio and this segment Blair Packham of Rewinder is brought to you by Meneris Meneris is dropping episodes of Yes We Are Open season 8 I love this show Al

Gregor who's turning 50 and he's got a concert for his band, the Royal Pains on Saturday night. I'm gonna check him out right after I see the Watchmen at the Danforth Music Hall. That's not too far from your hood, Mr. Blair Packham. No. I'm gonna check out Al Gregor, wish him a happy 50th. Wow. That's a milestone. I know he looks very young. He looks young for his age. He's awfully cuddly though, but looks very young. He looks young for his age. He's awfully cuddly though, but he hosts the show, Yes We Are Open, and the finale just dropped.

And if you haven't listened to the season eight finale of Yes We Are Open, you're missing out on one of the sweetest episodes featuring Brenda and Rick Coletta, owners of The Parlor and The Fry's The Limit in Thornton, Ontario. So thank you, Al. Thank you, Minaris. I'll see you Saturday, Al. Blair, do you listen to terrestrial radio? I do a little bit. I have, um, I have two presets, no, no, no, two presets on my car radio, which are terrestrial. So CBL, CBC radio one. radio which are terrestrial so CBL CBC radio one eighty eight point no sorry ninety nine point one that's correct and I listen to News Talk 1010 so when you're listening in the morning are you listening to John Moore in the morning

or are you listening to Metro Morning it I flip back and forth depending on how they are how interesting they are to me. They're always interesting, but you know, to me. Yeah, I like, I think John Moore is great. I really do. But I think, I think Metro Morning is great as well. So, yeah, I don't know. Oh, I love Metro Morning, David Commons and FOTM. Yeah. I'm wondering about radio. So I have in my possession here, the recent radio ratings. Yes. But these are like this is what you get. Yeah. Adults 18 to 54. So there's no gender breakdown here. This is literally, you're out of this demo. I know I was gonna say this doesn't count for

me. And I think by the way for my demo, News Talk 1010 would be much higher on this list. I agree. I agree 100% when you get over 54 That's when you get more am talk radio chatter and stuff So again all I have because I don't know how you get anything more. I just don't have this power but adults 18 to 54 I have like a percentage so this is like a percentage of the pie and We will you know, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to know that the pie is shrinking. Yes. Because of people like us recording wonderful content for podcasts and streaming with Spotify, etc. The ease at which you can like Bluetooth to a device or your car or whatever terrestrial

radio pie is shrinking. But and then you have this. So I'm just going to ask you if you want to guess, but you can't guess because I gave you this information, but the number one station in Toronto in this demo, 18 to 54, is Boom 97.3. With a 12.6, I was in radio, do they call it a share? You'd think I'd know. Yeah, that's got to be a share because it's a share of the, it's a hundred, so all these numbers I guess equal a hundred. So at any, I guess that means of all the radios tuned into Toronto stations that are measured, 12.6% of them would be tuned into Boom 97.3.

That puts them in first. Yeah, which is kind of amazing that it's a relatively small number. It's not like 50% of radio, although that would be amazing. Well, that would be like back in the old days, 10, 10, right? Yeah, yes, exactly. 10, 10, listen to, not only listen to, like my father told me when he began working there.

Yeah, he was a financial guy there. And he told me that, I guess somebody had told him the story of CFRB at that point. And he said, did you know, Blair, uh, and he did speak like that. Did you, did you tell Blair that, uh, uh, you know, many people, they bought a radio in, you know, in the twenties or the thirties and they never changed the station. It, and they, and it was on all day in people's houses. So, you know, different times now, but boom 97.3 won the day with 12.6 only one other station in Toronto had double digits when it comes to a

Share of that pie there kiss 92.5 Yes, yes Sharon Sharon Taylor's old frequency shadowed too. I was there's a joke on the live stream I wasn't gonna read it because I feel like it bugs Sharon He's a great FOTM, but the joke on the thing was that Sharon's your driver I guess that's a recurring bit on the show. Yes Drove her I drove her yes where we to the show where we met Yes, she was not if Sharon's listening or even if she's not she's not my driver. I did sell her a car though What kind of car Kia soul? Oh?

Yeah, did she get a good deal? She did she got got a really good deal. They're the boxy ones. Yeah, yeah. I love the boxy cars. I really do. Was that old Volvo thing boxy but good? I feel like that was in a movie. Yeah, yeah. Probably. Okay. So but one thing about Boom before I move on again, I'm just gonna shed out some of the surprises in a moment here. But Boom plays, please correct me if I'm wrong, but Boom plays Last of the Red Hot Fools by the Jitters. Yes, incessantly. They- Well, that's why they've got a 12.6%. They play-

They should play it more. They should, they alternate that with another Jitters song and that's it, it's just all Jitters all the time. But is it true, Blair Packham, that you wrote last of the red hot food? I'm just, you didn't really mention that song in your intro. It's my feeling.

I wrote last of the red hot fools. Well, the thing is what I find Mike is you're the only person who remembers that song. Not true. Okay. But so to tout it as a, you know, this is something I wrote as you say. Yeah, I wrote that song. I'm with Danny Levy, the guitarist in the band. I wrote the chorus and I wrote verse and then he wrote the rest.

Well, that chorus is everything. OK, I, yeah, sure. OK, so just around out the top five here, I'm going to tell you about it. Like a couple of surprises here. But so CHFI 98.1, that's at nine 9.9% like this close to the double digits. 680 also a station that Sharon Taylor was program director at but that was before it went all news but 680 news 8.6 and then here I want to stop for a moment and just shout out Indy 88 which is like this like I don't I don't know how

strong that signal is, but it's like a fairly newcomer. It came, it was going at a CF and why. And I think it's kind of wild that Indy 88 is in, what is that fifth place with 6.8% for that station. That's wild. That is wild. Yeah. And yeah.

It's beating chum. Yeah. And, and Virgin radio and Q107 and 102.1 the edge and CBC like it's higher than all of those that that is amazing. Now you may be getting to this, but it does surprise me to see way way down the list news talk 10 10 CFRB. Yeah, tough, but that might be to your point, which is that this thing we're looking at is 18 to 54. So I would, like, I don't think there's anyone 18 to 54 who tunes into 1010. No, I, why would you? Yeah, well, you used to, in order to hear me.

Oh, you used to to hear you, and they used to have a robust newsroom, right? Yes. Which they don't have anymore. They don't. But yeah, it's 0.5% for News Talk 1010. And I believe that's gotta be because we're not looking at anyone over the age of 55.

Yeah, it would be interesting to see the over 55 list, for sure. I mean, Zoomer radio's on this list with 0.2%, which means that they probably had one guy wearing a device under the age of 55 who was tuned in, right? Because there's a station that it would be, all their listeners would be over 55. Well, it's aimed at those people.

Yeah, it's those. I shouldn't say my people. It's aimed at my people, people over 54. So there you go. The in the if you're looking at those like specific battles, we used to look at with 1236 here is we would look at 640 versus 1010. And in this demo, 640 is beating News Talk 1010 pretty handily in that 640 has a whopping 1.2% of the listenership and News Talk we mentioned is at 0.5%.

Yeah. The 640 thing, when I was at News Talk 1010, they were always aware, they were always flipping those two stations in terms of ratings. But that's quite a significant difference, more than double. Well, that must be the Ben Mulroney effect. Yes, who knows? Okay. The other one we always look at and we touched on it when we said Indy 88.

And again, the next toast features a guy who's on Indy 88 eight days a week. And, uh, we're going to talk a little more inside baseball with Bob Ouellette on the next host and get a little idea of like, what are they doing differently at Indy 88? I know they broadened their playlist. Like I used to like the Indie 88 playlist more than I do now because it was less like they'll now they'll throw in like a Bruce. I like it. Yeah. Like they broadened it. Yeah. Right. So they're getting, they're trying to get some of those boom listeners, those cue listeners, whatnot. Bruce is isn't that Indie. I don't't think no, but they were never indie by the artist

It was always indeed that we we the ownership was indie, right? Right. It was never like we only play indie artists They they always played they'll play like, you know Nirvana or whatever But I do want to say in that race between indie 88 and 102.1 Which we followed very closely for many years because a lot of us have been listening to CF and Y forever. Yep. CF and Y, 102.1 The Edge had a 4.7, and they were beaten soundly by Indy88, 6.8%. This must be the Bob Willett effect.

I think it's Bob Willett, and by the way, I think Bob Willett could get us the over 54-year-old demo of the ratings. I think he Willett could get us the over 54 year old demo of the ratings. I think he will have access. Well, we'll definitely ask him for that on the 26th of June just before TMLX19. Now we mentioned 640. Just one thing to discuss. Greg Brady, who's an FOTM like you, Blair Packham.

Greg Brady is the morning show on 640. He actually, this happened in the last quarter, he left his post, like he took a leave of absence, I suppose, and he ran in the recent federal election. And when he was running to be an MP, he was replaced by FOTM Kevin Frankish, who's most famous for being on breakfast television for a long, long time.

Greg Brady ended up losing this election to Toronto City Councillor Jennifer McKelvie, who now there has to be a by-election to replace her here on Toronto City Council. But Jennifer, who was a Liberal Party candidate, got 56.3% of the votes and Greg Brady got 39.1% of the votes and Greg's lucky that 640 welcomed him back. He's back on the air doing mornings and I guess Kevin Frankish is like doing fill-in work I suppose at 640. Right, that's quite a story really and it is a great thing that they welcomed him back because you know radio is very volatile

and it's very possible they could have moved on. They could have moved on, but they didn't and Greg Brady's back there. So that's kind of an interesting radio happening. Do you know where CJOSFM is located? No. Okay, it's a station in Owen Sound. Have you been, I know you have a son named Owen,

but have you been to Owen sound? I always wanted to open a recording studio. They're called Owen sound sound Or if my son opened it it would be Owens Owen sound sound that's why you're here Blair. Yes, bring the funny I think I was interviewed on that station I believe I was interviewed years ago maybe in the 90s and the broadcasters name was I believe it was Claudia Staines. Oh. And I always thought, I always thought yeah exactly I thought and she was really nice and a good interviewer and very popular apparently locally but I did

think for radio don't you think you should change your name? Stains. I had a guest recently whose name might come up soon, but his last name was stairs and he walked with a cane cause he had a fall recently and I made a, like a joke about the fact that he has to now handle my stairs. And I said, a guy named stairs, falling down the stairs would be funny, but it's not a ha ha funny.

No, it would be an Alanis Morissette ironic thing. But yeah, I can understand what, yeah. I'm getting back to CJOS, but have you ever met Alanis Morissette? Yes, Alanis and I wrote together, we knew each other briefly in the 90s, and we wrote a song, we didn't finish it, but. It never made Jagged Little Pill.

No, she was in the songwriting group. You'd be driving a nicer car. Is that what you're saying? Yeah, I'd be driving a nicer car. Yeah, exactly. I heard it sold a few units that album. Yeah, it moved. It moved some, some product.

Oh my goodness. Jagged Little Pill holds up though. Like when I'm, whenever I have to drive, I don't do a lot of driving, but sometimes, oh, there's a, an event happening in Whitby or I just did a drive this weekend for a family thing and then I have these five stations I kind of toggle just listening for the tunes so I'll hear, I don't know, it'll be on either Q107 or 102.1 or whatever, I'll hear an Atlantis song and I always think to myself, still sounds good. Like that jagged little pill era Alanis, that's some good shit right there, Blair.

I think Hand in Pocket in particular is a great sounding song. Yeah, it sounds great. One Hand in My Pocket, because Hand in Pocket is like the pretenders. Oh, I know, I get- Brass in Pocket. Brass in Pocket.

No, but isn't that song called Hand in Pocket? Oh, you might be right. You would know. Well, I don't know, but, and it was recorded, as I understand it, in Glenn Ballard's home studio. So it sounds pretty good for a home studio. Like, home studios, of course, now, and especially a guy like Glenn Ballard

who has billions of dollars. But still, it sounds great. And no relation to Harold Ballard. Not, or Bill Ballard, as far as we know. Well, they're related, though. Okay, so I mentioned CJOSFM because in the last quarter, Not or Bill Ballard as far as we know. Well they're related though. Okay. So I mentioned CJOS FM because in the last quarter and you know there wasn't a lot of radio news.

We got more in the television segment coming up but Zoomer Media the aforementioned Zoomer Moses Neimers company took control of CJOS. They bought this station and it's now known as Zoomer 92.3. Wow. Well, you know, lots of Zoomers are moving up there, you know, in retiring, in their retirement years, they're going to the outlying areas and Owens Hound is certainly one of those places. It's one of those destinations.

And Zoomer Radio of course has our friend, Lily Frost broadcasting on it. Love Lily Frost. She's so good. she's so good. Yeah, and Andy Wilson was over very recently, so let's shut out the morning show. Excellent, Andy Wilson on Zuma Radio. There's a Jane Brown I need to get over here,

I gotta work on that this summer, getting Jane Brown over here, I will do that. So now I'm gonna spend a little time closing out the radio segment with you, Blair Packham, talking about, we mentioned CFNY, we talked about how they're currently losing that race against Indy 88 there's no sign as we speak on June 10th 2025 there's still no sign of the CFNY documentary that has been in the can for at least a year now are you aware of the CFNY doc only that

I've heard you speak of it only I'm the only guy talking about this. Yeah, but no, I think it'd be fascinating. And I imagine David Morrison would feature in it very heavily. Yeah, he was. Yeah. I mean, I think most people they approached agreed to be interviewed. And I know because I produce Humble and Fred show, they were asked to go and we'll talk about the El Macombo later, but they were asked to go to the El Macom combo to be interviewed by Alan Cross for this documentary. So you've everyone who's with us, obviously, it'd be difficult to talk to somebody who was no longer with us.

Shadowed to Ridley funeral home. But we have this somewhere. Someone's got all this footage has put it all together. It's interesting to me as I watch how these, you know, cakes get baked. Yeah. And we'll talk later, I'll have an update on this SCTV documentary. But the fact that this CFOI doc is like sitting on a hard drive somewhere, just sitting there, I don't know what needs to happen. I know who I need to talk to you to get the info,

maybe an Ivor Hamilton or a Scott Turner or an Alan Cross. But as we speak, no one's even talking about this documentary anymore. Doesn't it always come down to money. I mean, isn't, isn't that likely what it is that the distribution is needed. And in order to have that, you need to have a commitment of, uh, you know, promotion budget and, and all that stuff. So I have a little theory on that.

Yeah. So I believe they made this with chorus chorus currently owns that station. So I feel like the path of least resistance was some kind of partnership with Chorus. And I believe that maybe part of this issue with the distribution, lacking distribution and the money situation you're discussing is because of the financial strains, and we'll talk about Chorus in an update soon. But you know, Chorus has a lot of financial difficulties.

So I feel like maybe that's tied to this. in an update soon, but you know, Chorus has a lot of financial difficulties. So I feel like maybe that's tied to this. Yeah, and this is, you know, in the grand scheme of moving forward and surviving in the business, I'm sure a documentary about a radio station's past, you know, and just one of the properties that Chorus owns, I'm sure it's not a priority. I have some comments from the live stream

as we leave radio for television, but uh, Sharon Taylor is on the live stream. Okay. Good. I points out that Indy 88 had a recent change of ownership. So that sort of coincides with the broadening of the playlist. That's true. Sharon was a consultant for Indy 88 in fact, for uh, for several years. Yeah, in several recent years. Well, she should be my co-host. Exactly. What the hell?

Ian's service on the live stream says hello to Sharon. Leslie says that it's Bob Willett. Hopefully Leslie hearing Bob Willett on Toast on Toronto Mic. But Leslie's over 55 and she now listens to Indie 88 thanks to Bob's participation. And Ian confirms the name of the Atlanta song is Hand in My Pocket. Hand in My Pocket, okay.

Hand in My, so I was wrong, Blair. That's not gonna be the last time today that I say that sentence. I believe I was wrong too though, wasn't I? We shared that. Oh, maybe. And Leslie saying, it's Bob Willett, I thought what she was implying

was we had mispronounced his name or I had because I thought you wouldn't. So then I thought he started. Rhymes with Gillette. I was then replaying it all in my head. Did I say it wrong? Did I say it wrong? Yes, but what she's saying, I believe Leslie,

what Leslie's saying is that it's Bob Willett who is responsible for the success of Indy 88. I think we can all agree on that. Yes. To be discussed on June 26th. Exactly. How's Rick Emmett doing? You worked with Rick recently. Yeah, I made Rick's, I engineered the recording

of both Rick's latest record and the accompanying audiobook. And yeah, we had a great time. Went to see him perform and at the Redwood Theatre on Gerard Street at Greenwood and that was a great show. And then he went off to Edmonton to reunite. So with Gilmore, Mike Levine was unable, he apparently had a medical appointment he couldn't change, so he did not make the trip to write Mike wasn't there Yeah, but this whole triumph resurgence. It's heavily tied to

Was it late on the line? That's the big jam Yeah, so the use of that song on the NHL playoffs on Roger Sportsnet So it's I mean if you watch hockey, which I do a tough game last night, we won't talk about it. But like that song was heavily used. It was like being pounded. You know, kids today were learning about triumph and there's been a bit of a resurgence. I like to think that resurgence is tied to the fact

Gilmore recently made his Toronto Mike debut and sat down here just before this big boom from triumph. But maybe it's tied to you picking up and driving Rick Emmett to Christie Pitts last year for the home opener. What do you think? I think it's definitely, definitely tied to that. The fact that, uh, that Rick accompanied me in the car. Well, no, I, you know, whatever that I delivered him. You delivered him. And we won't, well, maybe because I'm treating this episode as if it's not just the regular. Well, no, I come, you know, whatever that I delivered him. You delivered him. Yeah. And we won't. Well, maybe because I'm treating this episode as if it's not just the regular listenership. But the fact is on the phone that day,

I kind of promised Rick Emmett he was not going to be singing the anthem. And then on the field, when I lost control of the situation, FOTM Rod Black basically went rogue in it and basically asked Rick Emmett on the field at Christie Pitts before a Toronto Maple Leafs baseball game, asked Rick Emmett to sing Oh Canada and I felt very badly about that. I was standing just off to the side and I watched, I think Rod said something like, I'm not going to sing, we've got Rick Emmett here and handed him the wireless mic.

Yeah, handed Rick the wireless mic and Rick said, well, I'll start us off anyway. And he did, and he did a great job. He did a great job. Yeah, but it was specifically something I'd relayed to Rick as well, that no, you don't have to sing the anthem. Well, I asked the owner if Rick had to sing the anthem and the owner said no.

So Rod went rogue. We're putting all of this on Rod Black. Now, by the way, the Jitters, my aforementioned band from the 80s. Love that band. Our song was a theme song for the Edmonton Oilers in 1988. So, but the thing is we didn't cause a resurgence in this. What song?

It was Closer Every Day. It was our second single. Which is a great song. Thank you. And really the words in the bridge are some of the worst words ever written by anyone ever. And they were written by me, it was me. But the, but yeah, 1988, our song was the

Lay It On The Line song of that year. Well, Lay It On The Line was on national television. Well, that's the thing. Your song's in the arena. It was only in the arena, but they played it every time. So you could hear it in the broadcast, but it wasn't featured. There were people talking over it.

Now they use La Bomba. Oh, is that right? That's the, yeah, that's the Euler song. Yeah. Because Joey Moss was a big fan of La Bomba. Just play La Bomba. So the reason I brought up, oh, I love talking to you about Rick Emmett in that day,

cause it was so surreal. So surreal. Like we should make a documentary about it. But we had to, like I brought up, oh I love talking to you about Rick Emmett in that day because it was so surreal. Like we should make a documentary about it. But we had to, like I made sure because every last, that was early times for some of the Game Ops people with this ownership at Christie Pitts of Maple Leaf. So there was a, they forgot to basically give him all his swag. So we arranged to have shipped to him like the jersey and all this awesome Toronto Maple Leaf swag. So I want to give you Blair right now because we're going to talk about television now. I've got some great stuff to discuss with you. And this segment of Rewinder is brought to you by Toronto Maple Leafs baseball.

Blair, there's a book for you, the history of Toronto Maple Leafs baseball. They should add a chapter about the first pitch I threw out a couple of Sundays ago. Yeah. Yes. You, you are now in that line. My goodness gracious. Uh, I'm following in the, is the footprints of the snowman who threw out the first pitch a couple of Sundays before that. So the snowman did that's amazing.

Yeah. So the snowman is the, uh, the official ambassador of Toronto made believes baseball. Wow. You want to know how that happened? Yeah, I do. I did that. Really?

I did that. That's amazing. I know what's amazing that happened? Yeah, I do. I did that. Really? I did that, Blair. That's amazing. I know. What's amazing is that this awesome baseball is free. Like it's awesome. They don't ask you for a ticket. You just sit on the hill or whatever

by the field at Christie Pitts, grab a hot dog, grab a beer. They have a good Leafs Lager there from Left Field Brewery. Enjoy awesome baseball. Yeah. For free. Yeah. It's, I know someone who lives in the neighborhood

who is at every single game. Larry Milsom. Mike Zimmerman, in fact. Almost. Yeah. Mike Zimmerman is also a, is a guitar repair luthier to the stars. David Wilcox is one of his clients and he's-

Do the bear cat. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Life for me is, anyway. I kinda wanna get David Wilcox on Toronto Mike. Like I wanna chat to this guy, but I don't know where he's living these days. Yeah, I think that would be challenging. I have the impression he's media shy.

I'm a huge fan, huge fan, and have been since I was about 16 years old. Wow. Well, I'm that's reason enough for me to get him on Toronto Mike, I'll see if he'll zoom with me or something, but you ready to dive into television. Let's dive into television. Okay, so Everybody wants to talk. This is the reason Rewinder exists because we need to talk about breakfast television But just before we get there a little press release I got from Bell Media. You ever heard of Bell Media? I used to work for Bell Media. Yes. Was that when you were at 1010? Yeah. Yeah. And invoicing them was a pain. But anyway.

Well, did they ever pay those invoices? They did. They did. But it always took a little while. Took a long time. OK. It's true. And my TMDS has been, you know, sending invoices since 2018 and the, the invoice that took the longest time was to in Bev, which is basically LeBats. Like they're called in Bev now. But I, I just, I realize, oh, the, the bigger the company, the longer it takes to pay the invoice. Cause I have smaller clients typically, and sometimes they're paid like the same day I issue the invoice, like get it out of the way, get her done, get, make Mike happy, but no, it took, I'm going to say it took about six months to get an invoice paid. Wow.

That's amazing. Yeah. It wasn't like that. I mean, we were doing the show weekly, so we would get paid a couple of weeks later. Well, thank you, Bell Media. Two weeks, not bad. So Bell Media, shout out to Bell Media. I got this a press release that they're bringing back.

This was the press release. I'll read it actually, it's from April 22nd. Day before my birthday. Well that's what it says in the first line. Happy birthday to the man who gave us last of the Red Hot Fools, Claire Packham, co-host of Rewinder on Toronto Mic. Rewinder.

Much Music's iconic concert series, Intimate and Interactive, returns with an all-new special featuring Grammy-winning country superstar Keith Urban as he joins VJs Teddy Tong and Georgia Kolev for a deep dive into the stories and inspiration behind his music, along with some electrifying performances. The special premier is on CTV, a date that's in the rearview mirror, and is available for streaming on Crave and it's available across much music's multiple digital content and social channels such as TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X. So full disclosure, I'm not yet over 54, but I'm getting close to that number,

and Blair is over 54. Well over. Did you know, Blair Packham, that there's still a much music in some form? I actually, I did, but only because I've referred to it to my students, my 18 to 20 year old students at Seneca College, and they know what I'm talking about. But it's only available as a digital thing, like it's tick,

talk, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and X. It's yes. And I, and they don't play music videos. They have programming, regular programming, which, you know, which is great. Now, intimate and interactive. I, to me, that sounds like an AI girlfriend. I'm just saying. I've seen the movie her. Yes. What, whaten Phoenix there. So intimate. That's sort of the, I don't want to bury the lead here, but they're bringing back intimate and interactive. Have you ever attended an intimate and interactive at the old two 99 Queen street West? You know,

I never have. I never did. Doug McClellan recorded them though. And, um, it's FOTM Doug McClellan. That's right. FOTM FOTM Doug. I gotta get that rolling off my tongue. FOTM Doug McClendon. That's right, FOTM, FOTM Doug, I gotta get that rolling off my tongue. FOTM Doug McClendon. He's recorded everybody. Yes, he has, but also everybody is an FOTM too. FOTM Satan was also there. Beelzebub.

Beelzebub, that's his street name. That's his nickname in the TMU. So it's interesting that, and again, a quick note here, but they're bringing back Intimate and Interactives and what does it look like in 2025? It's really just sounds like it's a thing you can like on demand watch on crave, but you can still follow it on much music. But it's just interesting there to bring back in Intimate and Interactives because Gen Xers particularly, or are you a Gen Xer? Where's the line? I am a generation Jones.

Jones, so is that like a cusp between Boomer and Gen X? Yep, exactly. Mr. Jones and me. That's right. You ever met Adam Duritz from County Crows? No, but I really like that song a lot and I've enjoyed, I've seen clips of interviews he's done with Rick Beato and he seems like a lovely guy.

He may have done an intimate and interactive, but there's so many I remember. I just remember tuning in to see what be it, I don't know, or Downey or whatever. Sarah McLaughlin. Right, probably an Alanis Morissette in there, who knows. But interesting that Bell Media's trying to revive that brand with Keith Urban of all people.

This is what I think without any inside knowledge at all, but I don't think they're trying to revive the brand. I think Keith Urban's people came said Keith's gonna be promoting this project and you know he'd be willing to play for you and they thought okay we're not really set up for that and then they thought oh we could revive intimate and interactive and because I don't think you're gonna suddenly see more of these I think it's a it's you might be right so it's like okay we what do we what does and interactive. And, cause I don't think you're gonna suddenly see more of these. I think it's a, it's. You might be right.

So it's like, okay, we, what do we, what does this look like? Well, we have this old thing we used to do. We can borrow that branding or whatever, that bunch of people recognize intimate and interactive. And then this can satisfy, and we have, now we have this content for Keith Urban's people. Right.

And, and you know, I mean, Keith Urban is a big get. No, he's a, so. You gotta do it. I'm gonna confess. I can Keith Urban is a big get. No he's a so you gotta do it. I'm gonna confess I can't name one Keith Urban song. Can you? I can't but I know he's married to Nicole Kidman. I know that too. I know he's Australian and I know that too. He has a he's a hell of a guitar player like legitimately so. You don't know much more than I do. What I know is that Keith Urban it's funny there's some people like this where I know, oh, that person is extremely popular. Yes. Completely off my radar.

Like I simply couldn't name one song. If you gave me a free ticket, well, maybe just for shits and giggles, let's see what this big thing is about. If you gave me a free ticket, but if it was $2, I might have to pass on it. But Keith Urban, big deal, married to Nicole Kidman. I'm sure this is the great unwashed love, Keith Urban.

If you put a gun in my head right now, Blair, don't do it, please. No, not again. I couldn't name a Keith Urban song. No, I couldn't either, even though I have known one, I just can't remember what the name of it is. But yeah, same experience. I just don't know really anything about him

other than what I just said. I can name several Garth Brooks songs. Yeah, I know. What's the difference? Is it because? I know more Chappell Rhone songs than I know Keith Urban. I love Chappell. Yeah, of course.

Yeah, we all do. So it's interesting to me that there's somebody as big as Garth Brooks crossed over in a way that Keith doesn't seem to, I don't see him crossing over. I don't think Indie 88 or Kiss 92.5 are ever gonna touch a Keith Urban song. He's still country. He's limited to that.

It's a wide genre these days, but he's still limited to that audience in a weird way. There's a guy named Post Malone who can sing songs in all genres. In fact, he can. What a great voice. Country, grunge Hip-hop he does it all okay. Yeah, let's get let's let's get to what everybody's in meeting for this is it you ready Yeah, breakfast television. This is what your personal experience with breakfast television. Did you ever tune in and watch?

I yes, and and I appeared on it once with my ex-wife my lovely ex-wife Arlene Bishop We played two songs on breakfast television. Had to get up at like, I don't know, two in the morning or something. Who was the host when you did that? Oh my, it was Kevin. Kevin was. Kevin Frankish.

Yes, Kevin was one of the hosts. Was it Liza Fromer? Yes, yes. I love Liza Fromer. Oh, I had such a crush on her. She took over for Anne Romer. Yes, oh no, wait a second. When we were on it was Anne Romer,

but when I would continue to watch and had such a crush on Liza Fromer. Take a number no, wait a second, when we were on it was Ann Romer, but when I would continue to watch and had such a crush on Liza Fromer. Take a number. Yeah, I know, I know. Very popular woman. I know I'm not the only one. But yes, it was Ann Romer who I also thought was great, but I was on the show with my wife, so you know.

Ann Romer, who I do, I'm lucky enough to have a personal relationship with Ann Romer. Really? Can you believe it? Like I feel like all of this is worth it just for the fact that we call each other in chat. This is why people are tuning in. This is why people are listening to hear about that. People know about my relationship with Ann Romer.

It's very near and dear to my heart. So Ann Romer is the OG host. She was replaced by Liza Fromer, who was then replaced by Dina Pulezzi. I probably butchered that. Dina stepped away and then they brought in Meredith Shaw, who was also an FOTM, but she came from CHUM, okay? Well, I also know, by the way.

So, do you know Sid Sixero? No. Okay, so the hosts were, I like how you said that the hosts were Sid Sixero in Merit of Shaw. And then suddenly we were told they have been relieved of their duties. Oh, so your, your friend there, uh, Merit of Shaw was let go. She was, as we say on Toronto mic, got a tap on the shoulder, right? Um, and now I should say, I did say she's a friend and then, you know, or I said I know her.

You said she's a friend. Oh yeah, I just assumed. I haven't seen her in years. Good singer. Yes, really good singer and wrote a bunch of songs with Patrick Ballantine who wrote some great songs for Big Sugar. Patrick is a lawyer and really a wonderful guy.

And he's, but he still makes music and really a wonderful guy. But he still makes music and releases records and stuff. On March 17th, which is St. Patrick's Day. Yes. 2025. After 16 years at 33 Dundas Street, Breakfast Television relocated to a new studio at the Rogers Building. So they're no longer at the Young Dundas Square,

which is now called Sankofa Square. Did you know that? I did know that, yes. It's more of a Keegan, sorry, it's more of a, I almost said Keegan Matheson. It's more of an Ed Keenan thing to discuss Sankofa Square. But they did relocate and they introduced the new hosts of Breakfast Television.

So Sid Sixero out, Meredith Shaw out. Let's listen as they introduced the new host here. Good morning Canada, welcome to breakfast. These are like the sub hosts. Happy Monday everybody, that's Melanie Ng. Thank you for joining us once again. Melanie and Devo. Frank Faragini, hello.

Hello everybody, exciting time. More on Frank in a moment. Good morning everyone. Look, it's a new set. Those of you that were on March break last week are like, what's happening? What's going on? You might not have gotten the announcement, but yes, we are in a new set, new location,

new, a lot of things going on. And we have some new teammates that will be joining us in just moments. But this is something we're all finding out together. Which makes it even more exciting, honestly. And we waited too, all the kids were at school, so the parents right now that are sitting there can actually have your coffee right now. Relax, breathe easy, and we're going to take you through what we're going to make even

mornings even that much better. Well, that's it. Look, you know, people are talking about these different changes and this and that. We thank you. We appreciate you sticking with us through everything. And over these last five weeks, Mel, thank you for your time as well. Thank you. But it's been a lot of fun.

There's a lot of anticipation on what's going on. So now waking you up on Breakfast Television, please meet one of our co-hosts, Tim Bowling. Come on! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Yes! Yes! Yes! It's a lot of excitement there, eh? Mike, I think we should talk like that don't you we should talk very fast And we should have a live audience here. Don't you think that what do you think about that Mike? Do you think that that's right? finally, yeah, finally we Tim Bolan was announced as one of the two

new hosts of breakfast television Tim Bolan came from CH CH his morning show. Oh, so do you know this name? Yeah, I should. No, I don't know. I don't know Tim's name. Who I've never met, never talked to by all accounts is a really nice guy. So Tim Bolan is announced. So this is I think a new name for most breakfast television viewers. I don't think a breakfast television viewer was tuning into CHCH over there. So Tim Bolan is announced as the new host. But wait, there's more. So to paint a picture, they have somebody in, I don't remember what was it a bear costume

or was it like a moose? I think it was a moose. Okay. So somebody comes in in a moose costume. Okay. Wearing a moose moose head. Moose head. That's the wrong beer because we drink Great Lakes.

We don't talk about that. We'll talk about. Yeah, we drink great legs and this happens next. Where's my new co-host? What's happening? Where's my new co-host? Wait, did somebody get shot? There's a moose in here. Bang, bang. Woo!

Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! You've done really better. Yeah. Oh my God. Guys.

Listen to that applause. I can't see anything. But we'll be right back right after these moosages. Keep it locked, baby. Woo! Woo! So you can't see this audio, but that voice belongs to the aforementioned Dina Pugliesi.

Pugliesi. Pugliesi. Nice. I'm working on it. Dina back. Dina, this was the big surprise announcement. Dina back. Right. And how long had it been since she had stepped away?

Only a few years, right? Like she was kind of a surprise. She's going to step away. And I guess they made her an offer that she couldn't refuse to get rid of. She was cohosting with Sid Sixero. Right. So we're not going to do any, like, there's no gossipy speculation on rewind. Or you can, you can, you can check other outlets for that.

We were above that. We're above that. When they go low, we go high. Because that worked out so well for the Democrats. I think they need to go lower. Yes. When they go lower, we go a little lower too. Maybe if you're at a TFC match and you see Sid Sixero, you can maybe buy him a beer and ask him what's going on there. He might tell you, he might not. I don't know. I don't know, Sid. So what you're suggesting though is, and you're not gossiping, but you're just saying

it is interesting that Dina comes back and Sid doesn't. Right. And yeah. So Dina comes back, it is interesting. So you gotta purge her former co-host before she returns. I don't know anything. But Dina is back. It sounds like most of her appearances

on breakfast television are pre-recorded. Like she lives out of the country. She might fly in, I don't know, once a week and record like all this stuff for the week. And then you watch breakfast television and it seems live. But if you're a detective noticing how she comments on things, time-sensitive things, particularly, you can realize, oh, this was actually pre-recorded. No kidding. But she's back.

Yeah. So I just confirmed it was two years she was gone and then this and this surprise announcement apparently people on set did not know who was in the moose costume so that screaming and yelling is apparently authentic like they were just so excited to have Dina back. Well, okay, first of all, I have so many questions. Please hit me up. I'm the breakfast television expert. Where does Dina live? The Cayman Islands, I believe.

Holy moly, that's quite a thing. Okay, that reminds me of my friend, name dropping, Tara Sloan. Who I love. Who is fantastic. Who does, works with the San Jose Sharks. Yes. And lives in Toronto.

She moved back. Yeah, because she went out west and then she came back. Yes, exactly. She's currently back in Toronto. She's in Toronto, but she's still doing work with them. Right. Which is interesting to me, that commute. The next thing is the offer they must have made,

just deducing- Yeah, we're just speculating here. To Dina. Yeah. That would, think of Einstein. Einstein was known in addition to his great scientific work, mathematical work, he was known for wearing the same clothes every day

because it simplified his life. This is similar to Steve Jobs, who did a similar thing. But, and Warren's Yvon as well, by the way. So all those people, what they may have in common with Dina is that she made a deal that all she had to ever wear was a moose outfit. And so then she didn't. Yeah, you don't have to match the clothes.

Yeah, it eliminated a big worry about being on TV. And they may have offered it or she may have asked. That's the part we don't know. Did she request a moose outfit or did they just offer? about being on TV and they may have offered it or she may have asked. That's the part we don't know. Did she request a moose outfit or did they just offer and they think, you know, Dina, what might sweeten this deal for you? We're just speculating people.

We don't know. Did you catch her little quip at the end where she said after these moosages? I heard that and I thought good on you. Did you groan internally? Did you do a big groan? I was relieved on your behalf because you initially thought it was a bear outfit

and you would have had egg all over your face. We will, bear with us, we'll be right back. I could write for breakfast. You could. So I'm not even done, Blair, I'm not even done. That's the big, that's the big. So Tim- You barely started. Tim, who I hope to eventually meet and get over here.

But Tim and Dina, who I've always wanted on the show, but she's somehow eluded me. But Tim and Dina are the new hosts. But if you heard in the clip, you can hear Frankie Flowers is on that show that was recorded in April or something like that. So Frankie Flowers has been on the show for many years. Many, many years, Frankie Flowers. His real name is Frankie Faraghini, I want to say. I'm exposing myself as a guy who hasn't listened

since Anne Romer was hosting that show. But he's a beloved gardening expert. He's a weatherman. He's known better as Frankie Flowers. So that's how I'm going to return, refer to him. But they made a big announcement a little bit later that Frankie Flowers was retiring. He's only like 53 or 54 years old, but he's retiring from City TV's breakfast television. Did you hear that news about Frankie Flowers? I didn't, but I have a couple of thoughts. One is Freedom 53 and good for him. The other thought though is, I just realized because it's all about me ultimately. I just realized, well, I'm the Frankie Flowers of this show.

And then I had a third thought, cause I'm the guy who can talk about all kinds of things, but you know, not very deeply like he can. But I had this also, I had this thought in his retirement, maybe he'll replace me. And you know, we've barely begun and you're already talking about my replacement. This is the pilot episode. We don't know if we'll get picked up or not. We might not get picked up. maybe you'll replace me. And we've barely begun and you're already talking about my replacement.

This is the pilot episode. We don't know if we'll get picked up or not. We might not get picked up. The board, TMDS board needs to meet and listen to this. And do we keep this guy or do we make, you know what we do? We let, and I think I heard somewhere

that Mark Weisblad had moved to the Cayman Islands. I don't know, there's a rumor, okay? Or Frankie Flowers is retired. He might be available. Now if we offer him a moose outfit to wear. I would offer anything to get the great 1236 back and then I would have to give you a tap on the shoulder. You ready for it?

But here, so. Can't we coexist? So Frank, I'm loving this. So Frankie Flowers leaves. I don't know, again, more speculation. I don't know anything. Is it a tap on the shoulder? Did he actually up and decide I'm done with this amazing morning show gig? I've had for so many years. I feel like it's a tap on the shoulder. Do you know why I feel that way? Why?

Do you know Rick the temp? Yes He's an FOTM to he's been on a couple of times. I like that guy very much. You can't been Ellie So Rick the temp you might see him on like billboards across the city, because he's doing like afternoon drive on CHFI, did you know that? I had seen that. You've seen like the four headed monster. Yeah, yes, yeah.

So it's like Gurdip and Pooja, and then it's Rick, and I'm not sure the name of his co-host. But the announcement I got earlier this week is that Rick the Tem temp is going to join The breakfast television team. He's gonna be doing the live eyes. It really looks from my perspective I would say allegedly the tap on the shoulder to Frankie Flowers was to create some room to bring Rick the temp into the fray That may be it may have also coincidentally

It may have coincided with Frankie Flowers decision, Freedom 53, to retire. Because you know, in broadcasting, usually what happens is people just disappear rather than, like they don't make an announcement about their retirement. Right, Frankie got to say goodbye. Yeah, Frankie got to say goodbye and that's rare in broadcasting. Sure, but when Kevin Frankish came came over he told us a story on the record on Toronto Mike about how on like a Wednesday they basically said your last day is Friday and Like he was told he was tapped on a Wednesday and on Friday He was saying he was like stepping down to focus on I don't know documentaries or something else or whatever So it can come at you very quick and you're given the two options. This was the

Kate Wheeler. I always credit her because when she came over with Kate Wheeler and geez who Bentley Christine Bentley. How can I forget the great Christine Bentley? Okay. Kate Wheeler talked about the tap on the shoulder. They both got, but they were given options. At least Bentley was given an option. She could either be walked out with a box or she can spin it as a retirement in front of the cameras and she said for her pride she chose the ladder which is Christine Bentley chose to pretend like she was retiring even though she did not want to retire she had a tap on the shoulder times up right and you know human nature being what it is,

of course, most people will, will pick the ladder. You know, they'll pick the, but what the danger is, as Christine reminded, told us on the episode, the danger is when you tell the world you're retired, nobody offers you a job. Right. Yeah. No, that's, that's true too. And you're not ready to retire. So it's difficult to find work because people think you've retired. They kind of leave you alone.

They're happy for you, et cetera, et cetera. Right. When in the studio, the show that I did with Bob Reed on News Talk 1010, when it ended, it just ended. We were fired. We didn't get a chance to say that we- No finale. No, we did.

So ladies and gentlemen, I'm not retired. If there's anyone out there- You have a job for Blair. Yes, if you have a job for Blair me, I only pay in lasagna and beer Yeah, I I'll take it as long as I can be on once a week this lasagna by the way It's once a quarter it lasts I know this this lasagna though even with my voracious son it lasts about three or four days Well, you're getting a palma pasta lasagna today. It's so good. It's very good here. This song. Blair, do you remember when the great Dolores Clayman song, Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun Canada theme because they lost the beloved old one. Did you submit like they had a contest

or something? Did you submit a song to become the new hockey night in Canada theme? How many years ago are we talking? 2014 I believe. No, then no. But I thought it was there was a time earlier when I did. Maybe, maybe I know why I maybe I'm conflating stories. This is the current, I believe this is the current Hawking and Canada theme, which is, uh, replacing the one that Dolores Klayman composed. Right. I do remember when the Dolores Klayman theme was, uh, retired and I do remember there was a call. It was bought by Bell. Yeah. And, and our, um, I used to write TV music with a fellow named Bruce Fowler.

And he and I pitched on something at some point. But we did have a theme running on TSN for years on NHL Tonight. Right. That's why I was thinking, wonder if you submitted something or tried to get that game. I could sing that theme and some hockey fans would actually recognize it. Well you want to do that? Da da da da da da da da da da da da da da ba da da da, da da, ba da da da da. That was a melody.

Wow. I wrote that in 1992. Why bother bidding on the Dolores Clayman song when you have that? That's right. Colin Lyndon played that. Legend. Played that line.

And the rockish solos were played by Kurt Schefter, who was with Atlanta Miles. Yeah, I know this name. Yeah, and the rhythm section was Gary Craig and John Diamond from Blackie and the Rodeo Kings. Yeah, it was a great session. That was my introduction to writing music for TV. Speaking of Blackie and the Rodeo Kings,

yesterday was Tom Wilson's birthday. Yes, it was, yeah. Happy birthday, Tom. Also Steve Paikin's birthday. But more on that in a moment. So I played that song because, uh, you know, there was a lot of talk about the, uh, Rogers deal that was signed. The, they signed this big, you know, what it was a $5.4 billion deal or whatever.

And we talked about it quite a bit with David Schultz and stuff about like, oh, that much are they going to get value? You know, the Leafs never make it out of the second round. Uh, you know, you need the Leafs to go deep if you're gonna get big numbers in this country. But Roger's just inked another 12 year deal that is valued at $11 billion. That's almost double the value of the current deal.

So this kicks in for the 2026, 27 season. So what do we know? Apparently that deal is worth over, like worth twice as much. Yes, except remember Mike, money is just a construct. Right, right. What's money? It's just like, yeah.

I mean, this is why eggs cost so much is because of deals like that. Down south I think. Well, I think even here, but yeah. Beware the avian, okay. So I just bringing that up as a big television thing It's happened in the past quarter that Rogers has inked. That's a that is amazing. Eleven billion dollars. Yeah. Yeah, that's uh, That's the cost of my house. That's

You've been to my house, you know what I'm talking about. That's the cost of East York All of these you add up all of East York, you get to $11 billion. I would say so, yes. I'm only on the, just on the, I'm slightly inside East York's boundaries, by the way. But you are in East York. I am definitely in East York, okay, fine. There's nothing wrong with it.

Shout out to Chris Cooksey, he's also in East York and he's gonna be at the Watchmen show on Saturday night with me at the Dance Floor Music Hall. Yeah, that's great. Amazing. I mentioned earlier, chorus is having some difficulties. Okay. This is not necessarily new, but it is interesting that Troy Reeb was like a co CEO. They had two CEOs. Troy Reeb got the tap on the shoulder. I'm sure he got a golden parachute to step away,

but he's no longer CEO at chorus. Right. I didn't know Troy. I have done work for chorus. I did get a phone call once that said, Blair at chorus, we're all about diversity. And then it went from there. Oh, you're not diverse enough. Exactly. Yes, that was exact. And I was mad for about 30 seconds. I was like, Oh, what the hell? And then I thought, oh no, I've had a good run. It's okay. And I became very philosophical about it.

And then I proceeded to do five more things for Chorus anyway, so. Okay, good. Yeah. Good. As long as you, did they pay faster than Bell Media? They were also slowish, but you know, I had a long relationship with Nelvana, the animation house.

Of course. And they were ultimately purchased by Klaus. But Clive Smith is an FOTM. Yeah, a lovely guy. I never really knew Clive that well except to know that he's a funny and interesting guy. And shout out to Mellie Fresh. Yes, that's right.

Absolutely, and in that car, I don't know if she's still rocking that car. Yeah, was it a Volkswagen Rabbit? Yeah, I believe so. Covered with all kinds of- Doll heads or something? Yes, exactly. I mean, what else would it be, Mike? Oh, I believe so. Covered with all kinds of. Doll heads or something? Yeah, exactly. I mean, what else would it be, Mike?

Oh my God, Melly Fresh. Now we're talking here. Okay, now we're in the James B. universe. Do you think he's famous or what? In my world, he's famous. Perfect answer. It's like you know what's coming. Price is Right, have you watched any Price is Right

since Bob Barker was the host? Yes. Drew Carey is still the host? Yep, yep, that's correct. Drew Carey is the name that, if I was on a dating site, people would, like women would say. Put on your glasses for a moment.

Women would say, you look like Drew Carey. And I would think, I didn't ask. I didn't ask you. Well, you know, could be worse. I like Drew Carey. Yeah, no, yeah, me too. But I didn't like it so much. You know, I wanted to look more like John Hamm, let's say.

Well, you- And I don't. Or George Clooney, one or the other. Yeah, exactly, George Clooney. I'll take it. So yeah. I'll take Patrick Dempsey, OK, that's what I want. OK, I can see that. Yeah. Oh, you know what? Just close your eyes. Yeah, I can see that.

I'm on drugs. So why am I bringing up prices? Right. Well, firstly. The price is wrong, bitch. I believe we're getting a new Happy Gilmore like soon like it's in the can I'm sure it's dropping on Netflix anytime here but I don't I'm not here to talk about the new Happy Gilmore. I'm here to tell you this is another press release I really received. There's a new Canadian version

of The Price is Right debuting next spring on City TV and it's gonna be hosted by Howie Mandel. Would you apply to be a, I think you'd make a great The Price is Right contestant, Price is Right candidate I suppose. I could do that, yeah, yeah. I would enjoy that. I like, I like weird, I like inserting myself into weird situations,

hence being here for rewind. Nothing weird about it. We're cooking with gas here, my friend. No, but diverse, let's put it that way, because you know, Packum is all about diversity. I did, I appeared on a game show that Sean Cullen was the host of. Love that guy.

And he and I had vaguely known each other through mutual friends. And so when I came in, it was a one on one thing. He looked me up and down like, he looked really genuinely confused because I was supposed to be just some person he didn't know, but instead it was somebody who might know. So that-

Corky and the Juice Pigs. I feel like at the beginning of Bare Naked Ladies, they were thought of as a bit of a novelty thing because they came up in that same kind of movement here. I would agree with that, yeah. With Moxie Froovis too, maybe. That's right, Moxie Froovis and yeah, and Corky and the Juice Pigs.

Sean Cullen, very funny guy. Saw him open for Ricky Gervais at Massey Hall and it was something else actually. You had me at hello. Your dear friends with Paul Myers, right? Yes, dear friends. Dear friends, where you'll house sit for him. Yeah, house sit for him.

You'd be a good friend to house sit for somebody. I would loan him money. I'd love Paul Myers. Wow, would you loan me money? Yeah, he and his wife performed my marriage ceremony to Arlene Bishop in 1998. F-O-T-M Arlene Bishop, please. Let's give her her proper title.

Yes. Well, so this will tie into Paul Myers in a moment. Okay. The 50th edition of TIFF is opening this year. This is the 50th TIFF, which is hard to say, 50th TIFF. You gotta slow down when you do that one. Unfortunately, you only have to say it once. I can't even say brewery. 50th TIF. You gotta slow down when you do that one. Unfortunately, you only have to say it once. I can't even say brewery.

50th TIF, next year you don't have to say it. So sort of like Al Grego, TIF is turning 50 this year. Very close to Al Grego. They're opening with a, it's Colin Hanks and Ryan Reynolds made this thing. It's a documentary on John Candy called John Candy. I like me. It's called so there's we're going to get a lot of candy talk in 2025 because this doc and Colin Hanks a bit of a nepo baby but he's very talented. Okay. And Ryan Reynolds right

practically the prime minister of this country make this thing and I happen to know because it's already in my calendar that this fall, this autumn, if you will, Paul Myers is putting out a book on John Candy. So we're going to get the one to John Candy punch. Did you ever meet John Candy? I did. I met John Candy when I sang the national anthem at a Toronto Argonauts game when he was one of the owners. And after singing the anthem, uh, was invited up to the owner's box, uh, with Arlene Bishop, accompanying me and, um, uh, there was John Candy. And he came over to me to thank me. He said, many thanks,

many, many thanks. And I said, thank you so much for the opportunity. I've never sung an anthem at a game before. And he said, he said, many, many thanks. And I said, I, I really loved it. I thought I, I might forget the words even. And he said, many, many, and I said, I said, I even brought sheet music, you know, had it in my pocket just in case. Would you, can I get an autograph? And he, and he wrote many thanks, John Candy. So the only things he ever said to me,

the only thing he ever said were the two words, many thanks. Love that John Candy encounter. Like that's amazing. John Candy gone far too soon. Far too soon. And so beloved, like from SCTV to, you know, you name it, home alone, you name it. Trains, planes, automobiles, yes.

Uncle Buck. Yep. The Great Outdoors. And I don't have an advanced copy of the Paul Meyers book, but I can tell you Paul is a terrific writer. Yeah, Kids in the Hall book is amazing. Yeah, oh, and I have Kids in the Hall news too, by the way, well.

Would you want to drop it now? Well, sure. I don't want you to forget. Yeah, no, that's true, I might. Well, no, well, you know what? I'm not sure how public it is, but I'll be working with Bruce McCulloch soon. Can you get, Bruce is a missing,

I only have two FOTMs in the Kids in the Hall family there. That means there's three outstanding. I doubt Dave Foley's ever coming over, but Bruce is a guy who would visit, right? I think so. I will mention it to him. We'll be working together in the next few weeks for a day or two and

Tell him the Scott Thompson episode was off the hook. Yeah, it was off the hook for sure But Paul though Paul Myers. Yeah great writer meticulous researcher and He draws great stories out of people and I am looking forward to the book I think it's gonna be terrific. So the doc comes first, I guess, the way you'll soften the LZ and then that's the landing zone.

See, I'm talking military terms here. And then can swoop in for an autumn for the, in time for the holiday book selling surge. You get Paul Myers in his John Candy book and he'll be in the basement. First time I talked to Paul was via zoom cause he lives in California. So it'll be exciting to get to meet him and have him in the basement. And when he's in the basement, cause I don't know if his plans to come here,

but I know he will for the book. Yeah. But, uh, we will no doubt have dinner at libretto pizza on Danforth. Not Palma pasta. Oh, sorry. We might go to Palma. They know there's other pizza places. It's just that it's in my neighborhood and it's a place where my son will actually go and Paul and Lisa are essentially Owen's godparents.

Amazing. Not officially, we don't actually have godparents. There's no god in your life. No. You're not a religious man. I am not. I shun religion. And you have that Bible in your pocket. No. So you're not a religious man. I am not. I shun religion. Why do you have that Bible in your pocket?

That's not a Bible. I'm just happy to see you. I gotta do a little mop up on the live stream because there's a lot of people tuned in for the first episode of Rewinder. Rewinder. Radio Lady says they pay you more, and she would know because she was

in radio program director, probably in a position to fire people. Oh yeah, they pay more if you choose tap on the shoulder. That's in quotes, but that's how I call it. They love when you do that, it, uh, cause they don't look bad and nobody will be jumping to hire a retired person. Uh, they also have to sign a gang order. Okay. There's, there's anyway, so she's just chiming in on that But here's a good piece of fun. FOTM trivia from the vp of no sales. He says uh, Shout out to michael's wyg My beloved we finally said this edward michael's wyg composer of the saturday night song that used to play

For the pregame show on hawking and canada and that was a fact he learned when Michael Zweig made his Toronto Mike debut alongside his brother Alan Zweig. That's right in a show purportedly about Michael Zweig. There's a lot of Michael in there but you can't have Alan in the room and not do a little Alan. No that's true. Michael really talented guitarist and composer and yeah, he wrote a bunch of great things that were on TV. And he, you know, he wrote, I don't know if he actually wrote Home of the Handyman, but he worked with Home Hardware for years. Yes, he did.

He was the guitarist in The Jitters in November at Hughes Room Live. He replaced Danny Levy, who opted to not play that show. Well, shout out to Jane Harbury. Yes, and actually I'm gonna approach Hughes Room just based on you saying that right now. Say that, because Jane and I had an exchange yesterday

because she's trying to get Ashley McKisick in the basement. And Ashley is not an easy guy to get to commit to being somewhere at a certain time. I'm learning this on the fly here, but she's putting in like an A plus effort to get Ashley McKyzek on Toronto Mic'd. And you've had Michael Phillip Voivode on. Yes I have.

He rode a motorcycle here. Yeah, there you go. And on his way to Argentina, he, he wrote to Argentina, did you know that? I might have known it and then forgot I knew it. So now I know it again. But he produced the well-known Ashley McKisick album, the first one. Which has, Sleepy Maggie was the big hit.

That's right, yeah. And it's in Celtic, or not Celtic, Gaelic I believe is the language of that song. Okay, maybe the biggest Gaelic hit in Canadian music history. Probably, I would say, yeah. Moose Grumpy would like to tell me, because I need to know that Happy Gilmore 2 is going to be on Netflix on July 25th.

So mark your calendars, Happy Gilmore 2 is coming here. And VP says he was excited to hear that Rewinder theme. He said he had heard an early demo at Christie Pitts. So I guess that was at TMLX 18. to hear that Rewinder theme, he said he had heard an early demo at Christie Pits. So it's true. That was at TMLX 18. Yes. I, I, it was fresh in my head and I said, it's going to go something like this. Yeah.

So, um, and I, I pretty sure all I sang was rewind. Now Moose Grumpy though, you'd think would have something to say about the Dina Pugliese. Uh, yeah, give us your thoughts on the Moose costume. Yeah. What do you think of that? I mentioned earlier, the CFM, what we don't have something to say about the 299 Queen Street West Dock although I got to see that at Roy Thompson Hall. So that's a bit different. But the SCTV Dock is another tease I received. But it sounds like according to FOTM Dave Thomas that the footage that Scorsese captured for the SCTV Dock this kind of ties into the late great John Candy

who sadly was not at this reunion. Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. But this footage has been handed to Jimmy Kimmel's production company and Kimmel's gonna get this thing made into an actual dock that we can see. I heard that too. Yeah, I think that's fantastic. I remember walking down Victoria Street with my son Owen.

I think we had been to France for lunch or something like that and there was Doug McClellan's mobile truck. And of course I worked with Doug for years and we're friends. I was at an usher at his wedding. And so knocked on the door and went in and I didn't know what he was recording, but he was recording the interview portions of the SCTV doc.

So we sat there, Owen and I, while they were recording some of these, the interview footage and, uh, who did you see? Oh God. Um, Andrea Martin. Yeah. They were all there except, except John Candy. Yeah. You keep naming them. Um, well, what was exciting is that you had their Joe Flaherty who is no longer with us. That's right. So the longer we keep this footage on the shelf, the dustier it gets, because you're going to have a reunion

with people who are six feet under. It was shortly after that, when I spoke with Doug, I said, so what's the word on that, Doc? And he said, it's actually shut down. It's done. Scorsese moved on to other projects, is what I was told.

It was like a week later though, and it seemed cataclysmic. A week later? Well, or it was very brieflysmic. A week later? Well, or it was very brief. I thought the Irishman got in the way. I don't know, but it seemed very short. It was the next time I spoke with Doug,

and or exchanged an email or a Facebook message or whatever. Wow. Yeah, it was very fast and I was very disappointed. We all are, but it sounds like we might get something salvaged out of this. I guess my pet peeve is knowing, because you know, I kind of, I don't know, much lower scale, okay, but I do try to capture stories to share with the masses. Like that's what I try to do here.

It's like, let's get this story from Scott Thompson or let's capture this Blair Packham story about talking to John Candy after, I don't know, this don't know, this game. Okay, many, many thanks. Many, many, that's like a 50 Cent song. You could do a parody. Many thanks, many, many, many, many thanks. Okay, you can. Doug L'Eclément recorded 50 Cent. Did you know that?

No, I just know. He went on tour with him. He went on tour with Fitty. 50 Cent. Yeah, and he would set up like at the arena and then Fitty would do his show and then come and rap a little bit and then go back to the hotel and Doug would drive to the next city. It was crazy. Yo Greggo it's your birthday. Okay we're moving on to the journalism section. Okay we've moved on from television. The journalism segment of Rewinder is brought to you, Blair Packham, by Building Toronto's Skyline.

I have two recordings with Nick Iainis on Friday morning. We're going to talk about the role of AI in the world of real estate. So we don't want AI touching the theme to Rewinder. No. It's handcrafted by an artist named Blair Packham. But what role is AI playing currently in the development, the condo development world and the real estate world? We're going to do a couple of episodes with experts on this Friday. We love Nick Eines on this show.

I hope he'll be at Tmlx 19 on June 26th Steve Paken What is your experience like with Steve Paken did you ever appear on the agenda Blair I did once to talk about Napster and downloading and stuff. I was a representative of the the songwriters Association of Canada and I was a president, co-vice president with Rick Emmett. And so Rick wasn't available to be on the show and I was, so I spoke about that briefly. But I had an embarrassing encounter with Steve Paik. And tell me, I am so excited to hear this.

This is, this is at, this was at the TMLX. The 50th birthday one, when I got the kayak. No. Oh, at GLB Brew Pub. That's right, of course it was GLB Brew Pub, yes. So, no. 16 maybe? I introduced myself to him and just said,

at University of Toronto Radio, we crossed paths a few times, quite a few times actually. And I said, I don't know if you'll remember me. And he said, no. And I wanted to say, I've also been on the agenda. Come on, get it together, man. Um, but, uh, yeah, but, but then some, there was some weird, he started talking with, I think it

was Cam Gordon and his partner. Yeah. MF. MF. And, and so they're talking about something and I misunderstood something they said. And I thought he was talking about me. He said something like, well, an old relationship like this, you know, blah, blah, blah. And I said, well, you know, we haven't really known each other or something like that. And she said,

Blair, we're not talking about you. Oh, and that said that. Yeah. Oh, I love this story. And he said, and Steve Bacon said, yeah, no, we're not talking about you. Wow. And I was like, Oh, and you felt the, yeah, I felt like, not talking about you. And I was like, oh. I felt like such an idiot. I feel secondhand embarrassment for you. Yeah, I was sort of standing there like, uh huh, okay. You know what, not okay. Oh, it could have been worse. Yeah, it could have been worse, but in the moment,

you don't have to embarrass somebody who just was kind of in a good mood and that vibe maybe just kind of joining the convo. Are you suggesting that MF could have held her time? I'm a little, I'm mildly disappointed in MF, whoever she may be. Whoever she may be, yes. And I'm hoping I have the right people. Oh my goodness. Maybe I'm maligning the wrong person.

MF's reputation just went in the toilet. I mean, it certainly wasn't a momentous occasion that I expect anyone else would remember But me well, I'm getting a text here from Cam Gordon. He says he quits FOTM cast What do you do in June 26? Well, I'm available Well, I've hoped to see a team like so gets that a minute But I want to play a little clip of Steve Paykin on Toronto mic'd last week But I'm wondering in any sense do you feel at all maybe, especially as June's just starting and it's gonna happen all month, like you're attending

your own funeral? Absolutely and the funny thing is when we made the announcement that the agenda was going to be wrapped up at the end of June, I started getting, I'm happy to say mostly, positive emails from people saying how much they're gonna miss it and you know that i did an okay job etcetera etcetera and i i have said all i i think this is probably what it's what it's like to die you know people say a lot of nice things about you when

you die i'm glad to say there've been a lot of comments on the other side as well such as good riddance you won't be missed you were overpaid uh... you know you're a bum in the tank for party x party y party said you know i got a lot of that too right and that's all about just that's fine

everybody's entitled to react to all this stuff anyway they want local or we're going out with francis albert's anotra that's a beautiful thing that's a beautiful thing. That's a beautiful thing. Blair's the agenda airs its last episode ever on June 27, 2025. That's a wrap. That's amazing. Um, yeah, it's, it's funny about shows just going away. You know, Mark Marin, uh, yeah, he's announced he's, he's decided to wrap it up as well.

He can't catch me. No, he can't catch you at this point at all. I mean, he's announced, he's decided to wrap it up as well. He can't catch me. No, he can't catch you at this point at all. I mean, he's, yeah. He's like, what's the point of trying? Yeah, exactly. Once he got Seinfeld on. But you're right, that was a lengthy run for, yeah, one of the OGs of these

long-form interview-type podcasts. Yeah, and really demonstrating, I think, that you you know that you can talk about yourself in a solipsistic way and people will listen you know if the stories are interesting enough and so forth but it doesn't have to be a showbiz kind of presentation right and which I think you do with your guests certainly with me here and I think it's I think it makes for really good listening but he's decided to think it makes for really good listening.

But he's decided to wrap it up and so, and the agenda is going away and like, you know, it's funny, you know, end of an era comes to mind. Well, so, you know, we aren't talking about Steve leaving TVO because he's signed a new deal where it's for, he said something, 75% less money or something, because he's going to be doing much less work. And one of the main things he does is the agenda. And that's that's leaving, he's not going to be hosting a similar show. So Steve Pagan, it sounds like he'll be recording the on poly podcast with john Michael McGrath, who's also an FOTM. And I believe he lives in East York

as well, by the way. So he'll still record that podcast on poly, and he'll do writing for tv o.org. And he'll have a few other little things he'll do for YouTube and this the way. So he'll still record that podcast on Pauly and he'll do writing for tv.org and he'll have a few other little things he'll do for YouTube and this and that. So Pagan hasn't left TVO entirely, but he's reduced his workload so he can go do other things now. But it is the end of an era. And I want to give a shout out. I know I like him personally, so I'm super biased on this, just like I like you Blair, but I think he was excellent at what he did because you asked 10 people about you know Steve Paken's I don't know political ideologies and you get like 10 different answers. Yeah I agree he he always seemed very not detached at all he seemed very engaged but he didn't

seem to be affiliated with any particular ideological point of view so yeah. Which is which is a very important thing when you're hosting these debates and you're having on these different members of the political spectrum. And you're on a public broadcaster. You know, you have to maintain that distance. But he doesn't remember you from UT radio.

No, apparently not. He had a show, I want to say his show was with either Michael Landsberg or Bruce Dobrigan. It might have been I don't know if it was Bruce but it was definitely Michael. Okay Michael Landsberg. Yeah. Okay I knew them both but only as sort of peripheral characters in my experience being at U of T radio. All right I'm gonna play another 24 second clip and then I'm gonna ask you you about this. The Toronto Miked podcast. Toronto Mike, welcome back and I remember the last time we talked, you described this shift in real time that you were hearing people move from what is a very strong conservative movement in Canada to where we are now. This is a prime minister

Carney talking about Trump, making him an issue. Take a listen. So I cut it there because of course there is an episode of Toronto Mike where you can hear that conversation in its entirety, but question for you Blair Packham, am I now the new Canadian correspondent for CNN this morning? I think third time's a charm.

I think you've been on twice now, and I think once you're on, like one more time, you will be the official spokesperson for the American media for Toronto. We're just going to piss off the rest of the country. Of course. I got a lot of messages like why are you talking to a Toronto guy to represent Canada's thoughts? And I'm like, I just accepted the invite, but okay. So there'll be more talk on that. So that's more of an FOTM cast thing,

but I thought I'd sprinkle it in because it's kind of a journalism thing from the last quarter. But FOTM cast will dive deeper into the second CNN this morning with Audie Cornish appearance by yours truly. Do you know Valerie Pringle there? I was interviewed by Valerie Pringle. I was interviewed by Valerie Pringle in grade 12 or something like that. She was on CFRB. She was like- And your dad worked there. Yeah, and she was like grade 12 or something like that.

She was on CFRB. She was in like a- And your dad worked there. Yeah, and she was like an intern or something. Yeah, she's been there a long time. Yeah, and she interviewed us, a couple of friends of mine. She had a different last name back then, right? She would have been like Valerie Whittingham

or something like that. Well, as I recall, it said Valerie Pringle on the tape. I have the tape in my basement somewhere. But it was an interview about Helmsford House, which was an English gentleman's club that I was part of in high school. We would wear suits to school and play Baccarat and blackjack.

We had a casino in our math class before class started and we had a coat of arms that consisted of two crossed umbrellas and a beaver or something. It was ridiculous and of course was really responsible for us getting beaten up all the time. But yeah. So that, go ahead. Somehow it became something that Valerie Pringle

who I guess was like a community reporter or something decided it would be newsworthy on, or not newsworthy, but you know, like an interesting item on the radio. So Valerie, you mentioned CFRB, and then she was on CBC, of course, where she was on Midday with some guy named Ralph Ben-Murgy, I think that's what it says here. Oh, I also know, yeah, yeah.

We love Ralph. And we do. And I'm back to producing his podcast. Oh, that's great, good for you. Because I was producing it, and then the Canadian Jewish news came and took it from me, but I've now taken it back. Good for you.

Not that kind of rabbi. I know good for me. Come at me CJM. Okay. Canada AM. Valerie was on Canada AM. Right. Shout out to Ridley Fielder home. But Valerie Pringle and now she's retiring. And then there might be people saying like,

Oh, I thought she retired a long time ago, but she had a show on PBS, I believe, like an interview show on PBS, but she's retiring. And then there might be people saying like, oh, I thought she retired a long time ago, but she had a show on PBS, I believe, like an interview show on PBS, but she's stepping away. She did a thing on CTV that I wrote music for actually, now that I think of it. Pringles Travels or something like that. Well that was a potato chip ad. No, this was-

Oh yeah, she did a travel thing. Yeah, it was like a travel thing. And I did some music for that with my aforementioned Bruce Fowler, who's not related to Pete Fowler. Not at all. And that's where I met you. Yes. I know it's all connected, man.

I'm so cosmic. Oh my gosh. Okay. So you have, I love that. You know, I throw a name at you and you'd be like, oh yeah, I did this. I love it. Yeah. That's why you're here. But you know what? It bodes ill for quarter number two of Rewind. Well, we'll have new names for quarter number two.

So Valerie Pringle retired, Pagan's not retiring, but the agenda's being retired and his role at TVO will be significantly less. Tom Harrington retired from CBC. He did his final sign off on The World at six in March, the very end of March. He worked for the CBC for 44 years and I'm excited to tell you he's actually coming on Toronto Mike this week to talk about retiring from CBC. Oh, that's amazing.

I'm a fan. I love his voice and the way he delivered the news. It always sounded official and it sounded serious, somehow playful at the end of the broadcast. There would always be a light little item or whatever, but he, yeah, I'm an admirer. I just checked in. He's my guest on Thursday because the aforementioned Al Grego is actually my guest tomorrow,

so we'll talk more about season eight of Yes, We Are Open Tomorrow with Al Grego. And then Tom Harrington will drop by Thursday afternoon and we'll talk about his 44 years at CBC and why he's stepping away. But I'm with you. He was very good, Tom Harrington, very good at his job. He had some gravitas, some weight to it. Excellent.

I worry maybe, I hope the pipelines are full of people who can kind of assume these roles as these oldies, these moldy oldies step away. Speaking of moldy oldies, do you know the name Mark Truman? No. No. So you probably know Mark's father. Mark's father was Peter Truman. Yes. Yes. Global News, yes. He was the news, he was more than just a talking head. He was also the news editor wasn't he? He was a big deal. Peter got his son in at Global News where

Mark Truman worked for long run as a senior producer at Global News. Mark Truman has retired from his post. So I'm kind of shouting out some of the journalists who are leaving their posts. And Mark Truman, many, many good years, decades even, at Global News as a senior producer. So he'd be a behind the scenes guy. People might not know the name, but they definitely know his dad, Peter. Here's one more name for you. I just want to shout out FOTM Farrah Nasser because she got caught up in those chorus cuts.

There were some significant chorus cuts. That's an ongoing theme in this episode is chorus needs money. Send money to chorus. But Farrah Nasser had a little gig at CBC during the election cycle. So we got to see Farrah on CBC and I'm hoping that leads to more gig at CBC during the election cycle. So we got to see Farah on CBC, and I'm hoping that leads to more work at CBC because she's a great broadcaster and there is a journalism update for you, Blair.

That's fantastic. Do you know that radio lady, Sharon Taylor, her son is a journalism grad from TMU and his name is Jack, Jack Wanan and he is an excellent journalist in fact. He worked at CBC briefly, interned for a while, but he does a not a podcast, YouTube videos, I believe about, um, uh, I can, now I'm getting the initials wrong. The ultimate fighting, um, thank you. I guess all I had to do was,

which again, much like Keith Urban, this is the same category. Yeah. I know that's very popular. I don't know anyone or anything about it. The only time I've ever, I know there's a Joe Rogan connection of some sort. Yeah. He did like a reporting and like calling matches maybe? Yeah, something like that. An analyst work? And the only shows I've ever watched were with Sharon and Jack. And Jack meanwhile was writing, tapping busily on his laptop so he could put out a report.

And yeah, hopefully he will be one of those people who gets, who gets, you know, who's in the pipeline, as you mentioned earlier. Yeah, so UFC is like the, that's like the NHL, that's the body or whatever, and then the actual sports called MMA, mixed martial arts. Right, and I should have remembered that, but my, see this is why I'm retiring from commenting on UFC. When's your UFC exit interview?

I will never, someone tapped me on the shoulder and said, you don't know anything about this. You've got a callus on your shoulder from so many taps. Exactly, so many taps. You know, I've only been, the Jitters only got fired once. Once. Tell me how they got fired. We were fired, you loved the names. We were fired by Mike Tilka,

who played bass in Max Webster. But at this point, he was booking the CNE, he was booking the beer tent, and we were appearing at the beer tent. And Mike told us, and Mike was an old friend of the band, and he told us, listen guys, whatever you do, don't mention dancing, okay? We're not licensed for dancing.

And Danny, Danny Levy, our guitarist, we finished playing the first song, I was like, hey, how's everybody doing? And people went, woo! And then Danny went up to his microphone, he customarily didn't speak to the audience, and he said, whatever you do, don't dance. And then we finished the first set and Mike said, sorry, I got, I'm gotta fire you.

Sorry. Yeah. We got fired for that. That's rock and roll, man. Yeah, man. That's what he brought it back to the jitters. Yeah. Cause it had been five minutes.

Yeah, exactly. Because the next segment of Rewinder is all about music. Do you know any music experts I could call into close? Well, there's Paul Myers, but in lieu of Paul. Gravelberries. Yes, the Gravelberries, yes. They had that one song that CFNY played all the time that I just loved.

Wonder Where You Are Tonight. Wonder Where You Are Tonight. What a great song that is. It really is, yeah. Jeez, okay. The Beatles were jealous of that one. Scott Dobson. F15 Scott.

Yes, made the video for it. I ran into Scott at a supermarket a few weeks ago, or a couple of months ago. Oh yeah, so he did it on Blue Sky, I follow Scott, and he replied to somebody, because somebody said that Trump might sell his Tesla, and then he replied, does he even drive that thing? And then I replied, he's not allowed to drive,

because this is just a fun fact about presidents of the United States of America, they're not allowed to drive because this is just a fun fact about presidents of the United States of America. They're not allowed to drive. I didn't know. Yeah. But Scott replied something about, I can't remember, but something like as if I was like being pedantic, but I was just sharing a fun fact. Like I wasn't even trying to.

You get in trouble with your fun facts, man. You know, you, you. And my pedantry. Yeah, that's right. So Scott, you have a problem with Scott and you have a problem with it. Was it Jane Sibri? I have no problem with Scott. Jane Sibri doesn't like my pedantry. Yeah, that's right. So Scott you have a problem with Scott and you have a problem Was it was it? I have no problem with Scott. Jane's sivery. Yes, like my fun anytime you have a fun fact, you know measure your audience Love that. Jane's sivery chat. Okay, so we're in the music segment, which is brought to you by recycle my electronics dot ca Blair if you have old electronics old cables old devices

You don't throw it in the garbage because those chemicals end up in our landfill. You go to recyclemyelectronics.ca, put in your postal code and find out where you drop it off to be properly recycled. Blair Packham, are you a Chilliwack fan? I am. I'm a Chilliwack fan and I, when I, you know, I mentioned being on the board of the Songwriters Association of Canada, Rick Emmett and I were co-vice presidents. We were co-vice presidents under Bill Henderson,

who was president, Bill Henderson of Chilliwack. Bill Henderson, FOTM Bill Henderson, who came on Toronto mic to talk about the farewell tour. Chilliwack was making their final Toronto appearance at Massey Hall, nice little venue. Have you ever played Massey Hall? I have appearance at Massey Hall. Nice little venue. Have you ever played Massey Hall? I have not played Massey Hall and it is a thorn in my side. Well, it's not too late.

Yeah, no, it's definitely not too late. Sometimes they do these things where it's like, oh, everyone's gonna play a Gordon Lightfoot song or something and you can sneak on the bill and like do- And do a Blair Packham song. Yeah, Rio Road trilogy. No, Blair Packham's trilogy. Screw you! Do the Rewinder theme song. I'll play what I want. Rewinder. I think it's Blair Packham song. Yeah, Rio Road Trilogy. No, Blair Packham's trilogy. Screw you!

Do the Rewinder theme song. I'll play what I want. Rewinder. I think it's gonna be catch on. I think people are gonna be singing Rewinder. Oh yeah, of course. And they're gonna wonder which was the original? Yeah, they won't remember, but no.

Do I play it at the end? I actually haven't thought about this. Oh yeah, you bookend. You have to. The very end. As a broadcast veteran, I'll tell you, you have to. I'll play it at the end. Yeah, now I would say this. I have sung at Massey Hall.

It was the very first place I sang anything other than in a grade school gym, when I was in grade school, when I was in fifth grade, in the May Festival, the Kiwanis Festival. I'm not gonna count that. Oh. Sorry, nice try. Thanks a lot, okay. That's like saying, I went to Massey Hall

to see Bruce Coburn, and I was singing to myself at the urinal, saying I went to Massey Hall to see Bruce Coburn and I was singing to myself at the urinal. I have sang at Massey Hall. I'm old enough to remember when the urinals at Massey Hall were a trough. Just like the old Maple Leaf Garden. Yeah, so you have, you stand there in front of a- It's just traumatizing, right, when you're a kid.

Yeah, you stand there- Because everyone's hanging their meat. Yeah, you stand there in front of a bunch of guys. Like women can't imagine the kind of trauma. It'd be like if they had to take out their breasts or something in the morning. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I'm not saying men have it so hard, okay.

I'm just saying that it was traumatizing. It can be traumatizing. You notice they don't exist anymore, these troughs. Yes. I'm wondering whose great idea it was and what their agenda was. Speaking of Steve Paik. It sounds like it'd be a lot of splashback and stuff.

I don't want to think about it, okay. Yeah. Not a good idea. I'm back and stuff. I don't want to think about it. Okay. Yeah. Not a good idea. That's why we moved on. I'm gonna continue talking about it whether you want to think about it or not. So, Chilla Wax done. Yeah.

There's a great Bill Henderson episode on Toronto Mike. I heard it. It's so good. There's a great episode of Clela Arrington. Do you know that name? Clela is a friend of mine who I love, who I recommended to you that you have her on. And her album blew me away.

She sent it to me and people send me their records and if I don't know them, I may or may not get around to listen to it because life. But when a friend sends you something, you listen to it and you wanna enjoy it and in Cleo's case, I listened to the whole thing. I loved it. It's mildly interesting to me,

I have to preface it with the word mildly because I don't wanna upset Jane Sibri, but it's mildly interesting to me that I have to preface it with the word mildly, because I don't want to upset Jane Sibri, but it's mildly interesting to me that I tried to, based on your recommendation last time you were over, I tried to book Clila through you. And I actually was unsuccessful, but shortly thereafter, a PR person asked me if I would talk to Clila on Toronto Mike, and I booked Clila through the PR person. So it is interesting how this world works. Yeah. Well, Clela is, I've known her a long time, but not that well, but it turns

out that Clela is, um, has good boundaries. So we were at, um, Kurt swing hammer and Lori Cullen's place. Love them both. They're fantastic. And, uh, we were And we were talking about your podcast and I was saying, with your new album, you should consider going on Toronto Mic'd. And she said, what is that?

And I described you in glowing terms. And then she said, that sounds great. Can you send me a reminder? So I did. And then she said, no, I'm too busy or something. And I thought, wow, after all that buildup on my part. You had to break it to me that I was unable to, the great Cleelan Arrington will not grace your basement

with her books. Yeah, and I was so disappointed because I thought she could use the exposure and she would enjoy herself and you'd enjoy her. And then next thing you know, she gets booked by her publicist, which is great. Very interesting to be discussed maybe on FOTM cast, because we dive into the meta details there.

Right. Are you a fan of The Who? Yes. Are you supposed to say who? Oh, sorry. Yeah, The Who. Yeah, I saw Stephen Page open for them. When was this?

Several summers ago, like I guess two years ago. That's amazing. At the Scotiabank Arena. And they were, Stephen was amazing, but the Who were also very, they were great. So we're down to two founding members now. Yes. Okay, so they, and famously before my time,

but I've always heard growing up that the Who announced a farewell tour, and then reneged on that promise, and this is like the early 80s they went announced a farewell tour and then reneged on that promise and this is like the early 80s they went on a farewell I watched that show simulcast it was in Toronto and it was simulcast on I guess chum FM and so I TV then I put my speakers on either side of the screen and yeah so they're now now apparently I think we can trust them now because soon they'll be shutting out Ridley Funeral Home but September 2nd and 4th at the Budweiser stage will

be the final The Who concerts in Toronto history. Wow and I think that's gonna be there? Maybe it depends on if I get tickets. Depends if Stephen Page is opening. Yeah exactly it depends on if somebody's opening who I know and invites me to see them Yes I'm not big on spending a lot of money on concert tickets because I'm I come from a generation where you know I saw Billy Joel for five dollars and fifty cents, you know, I'm kind of with you not I'm from the I'm more from like the $30. Yeah, I know yeah, but it it really is a mindset It's difficult for me to even think about spending $200 on a concert ticket. Yeah, yeah. I went to see the Tedeschi Trucks band with Owen

and it cost us about 400 bucks to go. And it turns out, I thought he was really anxious to go. It turns out he wasn't as anxious. I enjoyed it, but he was like, Oh, interesting. That's like a Hebsi band. I think he'd be into that. And shout out to Canada Kev who would dig that too.

Yeah. Brian Adams. Have you ever met Brian Adams? I've recorded Brian Adams in the studio as well as live many, many times. So he was in town recently talking about CanCon rules and he said, it's an archaic system. We don't really need it in Canada.

People listen to music, they don't consider nationality. What are your thoughts on the CanCon rules? I think they should still be in place. I think that Canada is under cultural attack constantly from America specifically and America is a rapacious animal that will take over if it can and and I think that having some cultural protection is totally appropriate. I know that he's had this this beef with CanCon in the past. I think very, it's very privileged of him to express that opinion. He's, he's had his success and he benefited from those CanCon regulations in the early days just because they don't serve him anymore

Doesn't mean that that they should go away. I think I think that there are stars in Canada the tragically hip being amongst them the beloved revered Hallowed tragically hip who benefited from can con it doesn't mean that they're not good or mediocre it just means they're given a leg up and they're they're given an opportunity to be heard and the tragically it proved uh... you know given the depth of people's uh... affection for them they prove to be the real deal just because they didn't make it in the states in any significant way doesn't diminish them in any way at all.

I agree with you 100%. Blue rodeo, likewise there are so many examples. Gowan, who had a whole career, I remember when Jules Shear was producing the Jitters' second album and he came to Canada to do it, although we did some of it in New York, he was amazed because he would watch much music in his hotel room.

And at that time, 1990, 1989, much music was playing, music videos all the time. And he was amazed because he was thinking, who the hell are these guys? Who's Gowan? And he came to the studio, he said, tell me about this Gowan guy. You know, and we were like, well, he's a bonafide rock star.

And Jules was like, no, he's not. He's a criminal mind. Yeah, yeah. And he's a strange animal. But just because Americans aren't exposed to it, that's tough shit. And let's face it, he's, it's, that's, that's tough shit. You know, like, like, and let's face it, uh, let's, he's got a bone to pick because of that waking up the neighbors album. I think that was the right

hit a monster album that wasn't qualifying for, I think everything I do, I do it for you. Yeah. Did not qualify as Cancon with that, that maple rule that will let us explain to me too many times, but I guess all you had was artist. You need two of the four, I believe, in the maple designation. Music, lyrics, production, and artist, I believe. Yeah, I think that's right. But all Brian had for Canadianity was the artist.

So it didn't qualify. Which is why today, if Boom's gonna play, if Boom's gonna play a Brian Adams song, they're gonna play Heaven over Everything I Do, I Do It For You, because it'll satisfy the CanCon requirement. Just a little fun aside there. I know broadcasters still bristle.

I mean, Radio Lady might be bristling right now. Well, she wrote, fuck Bryan Adams. Oh, good, well good. He was able to practice on Canadian radio thanks to CanCon. Exactly, I do think that the Canadian, I think CanCon has allowed Canada to have what I have referred to as a charm school kind of situation for rock stars. So, Bare-Naked

Ladies, when they hit in the States with one week, they were bonafide experienced rock stars who knew exactly what they were doing. And so they already played the peach pit. Yeah, that's right. But they had a real career here. They had already made a lot of money and done well, and then it exploded in the States. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that. And you know who else had a number one hit

in the United States of America who really honed his craft here? Tom Cochran. And I'm only bringing up Tom Cochran, whose life as a highway went to number one, he's the opening band for the, he's the opening artist for the who this year. Oh wow. That's, that's great for that's courtesy of moose moose who, um, said that Dina

should be passing that moose costume to her. She's going to wear it to TMLX 19 on June 26th at great lakes brewery. And Jeremy Hopkins points out that the GLB Brew Pub event that you and Paken had that awkward exchange with Cam and MF there, that was TMLX 16. And he was wearing, Jeremy was wearing a hilarious House of Fridenstein tea that Paken liked very much. Yes, I remember seeing Jeremy in that tea.

And to wrap this up, you mentioned Steven Page opening for the Who, that was October 2022 also with with With Stephen Page FOTM Craig Northy that is correct and I sat with Chris Murphy and Mo Berg That's two that's right. Cuz if you have nor the then you're very close to having all of the tree Well, Stephen Page that's that's the Trans Canada Highwayman. Exactly. They can add a fifth member, Blair Packham of the Jitters. I'll talk to them. What song would I play though?

One last, oh, there's two. You can play Edmonton Oilers' 88 song as well here. All right, so to wrap up the music segment, the Elma combo is for sale. Yes. Michael Weckerle, who is probably most famous for being on Dragon's Den. He's defaulted on a, this is just pocket change for you, Blair, but $55.6 million in debt through the companies he controls. So there was some money

mismanagement at play. He spent a lot of money on bringing Elma combo up to speed. He might have some grandiose ideas. I don't think that the COVID-19 pandemic helped matters, but it's for sale. What do you think of that? Have you been to the El Macombo? Yes, multiple times. I saw mid-year, FOTM mid-year in shock circle there.

Yes, that would be a good show. I think it was a fool's errand all along, not calling Weckerle a fool. I don't know him at all. Um, but his mom taught at my high school. Is that right? This is Weckerle. No kidding.

Well, um, and I think he went to my high school, but he's older than me. So I don't remember him from my power. I, I, I just think that it was misplaced. I wish that the money that he spent, uh, had been spent on some other endeavor. And I, you know, the jitters had a, we were entangled with the El Macombo for a decade, you know, really. We played the downstairs all the time

when the downstairs had six night weeks. You'd play Monday to Saturday. And we did that all the time. Like we were probably there every six weeks for a full week. And then we did the upstairs when it was more of a concert venue, and we rehearsed there, we recorded demos there when the show, when the room was dark upstairs,

we had an association with that place. Mike Elder, who was the technical guy there, was a friend of ours, and so the Elmo means a lot to me personally, but even so I think if somebody, if I sold off all my holdings in East York, because I do own all of East York, and if I sold them and then ended up with $50 million just to invest in something,

I would not invest it in the Elmo combo. Nor would I have invested $10 million in the Elmo combo. Not that I know these things, but it certainly seems to me that I like a bar that was popular in the 70s and the 80s. Those people are old, I'm old, and we're not going out to bars, you know. We'll go as a novelty.

I've been to the Elma Combo twice, and I've, the new Elma Combo, and I've liked it. But- But it is awkwardly, like you have the stage, and it's not very deep in front of the stage, and you have this like, it's like an L shape. I'm trying to describe it. But it is awkwardly, like you have the stage and it's not very deep in front of the stage and you have this like, it's like an L shape. I'm trying to describe it, but it's a bit awkward for a music venue.

For 50 something million dollars, I would have bought the building next door. I mean, it's easy for me to say, right? But I would have bought the building next door and doubled the floor space in front of the stage, right? So that you'd end up having a decent room for the audience. It's like Weckerley was chasing that Rolling Stones gig. We all were at that gig.

I was not at that gig. You know what I did though? I was with my friend Ted and we decided we would, cause it was a secret venue. They weren't saying where the Rolling Stones were playing. So we got in his girlfriend's car, Ted's girlfriend's car, and we knew that the buses were picking up contest winners from St. Clair subway station and the bus turned around. I don't know how we knew that somebody we knew worked at

Chum or something. So we went and sat and waited for the bus to leave, filled with partiers, and we followed the bus to the El Macommo combo and then we didn't have cell phones We couldn't alert anyone but then we knew that it was at the elmo combo So then we went and we went down the alleyway behind the elmo to see you know What what was there that the there was a recording truck there, and you know, etc, etc It was it was an exciting night and yet we didn't ever even got in Wow Okay, so elmo combos for sale make your bids with I have to sell East York before I can buy the 11 billion for East York I think that's oh, that's true a lot of money. Yeah, can exploitation

This is the the segment that will take us to the Ridley funeral home segment and this can exploitation Segment of Rewinder is brought to you by tmlx 19 Which is June 26th from six to nine p.m. at Great Lakes Brewery in South Etobicoke. That's 30 Queen Elizabeth Boulevard. Some people are like, oh, do I gotta buy a ticket? Do I have to RSVP? No, just show up, okay?

Come by, say hi. Your first beer is on the house, courtesy of Great Lakes Beer. They have sent over fresh craft beer for Blair Packham here. Nice. And you know who's gonna feed you? It's delicious. Yeah, the GLB is delicious and the Palma Pasta is delicious. over fresh craft beer for Blair Packham here. Nice. And you know who's going to feed you? That's the GLB is delicious and the Palma pasta is delicious. Palma pasta is going to feed you.

So get your butt to Great Lakes Brewery on June 26, 2025 from six to nine PM. Get your Great Lakes beer. Get your Palma pasta. I have a lasagna in my freezer for Blair Packham. You're being taken care of Blair. I'm, I'm thrilled. I actually didn't know if the rewind or segment would result in a in a lasagna. You know what? Every quarter, I'll try to make that happen every quarter. If it was monthly, we'd have to talk. I can't can't afford to give Rob Proust a lasagna every time he visits. Right. Maybe once a quarter here. Okay.

What area code do you have? You don't have to give your number to the listenership, but what's the area code for the phone number? I have a four one six and it was radio lady who, uh, pointed out to me that that was much coveted. Um, I have a four one six as well. Yeah. So what's, I know there's, there's four one, six, there's, there's I know there's there's 416 there's there's 647 so that's where I get lost actually so I remember when six four seven came along and I know people who have a 647 but we're we're getting we're getting a new area code Yeah, and but isn't there a third before the new one even and like two nine two eight nine

yeah, I think that's what Sharon Taylor has. And she was, she, she was covetous of mine and, uh, of my four one six. So there's a lot, I guess it's cause everybody has their own number now where it used to be like households and businesses had numbers. So now everybody, you know, every, every single citizen in our house. So, cause I've got these kids of a big age gap and now that I've got an 11 year old, it's like, the question has been, because my 11 year old has friends in his grade 5 class who have their own cell phone yeah yeah but to me that thought I the idea of an 11 year old having a phone it's a bad idea it's a bad idea especially a smartphone if they

had a flip phone maybe because then you know you can text simple texts and so forth but you're not what time you can be home for dinner yeah and you're not accessing the web at all times yeah with my boy we didn't get him a phone till grade 9 but those were different times so no I hear you I'm trying to think with my oldest two they actually did get phones mainly because all their friends had phones like it's a whole thing like you don't be the only kid in the class about a phone but this whole idea they were 13 years old but it's like even that I remember talking to my my wife at the time that 16 sounds right for a phone and I had to make

concession there. You can't win all the battles. But yeah, it's interesting with the new kids coming up, how much younger they are when they get a phone here. But do you remember Blair when we went from seven to 10 digit dialing? Like that was a big deal, right?

Yes. And it annoyed the hell out of me because I would dial a number without adding four 416 at the beginning and there would be this recording saying you must dial the prefix 416 you must dial the error code and I would get mad at the recording and say for the time it takes for you to give me this recording, you could have automatically added the four ones that meant anyway. By the way, the new area code, 437.

So Toronto's new area code, 437. At least it starts with a four. Thank goodness. It's just three of a six, we're the six. Okay, Canada Kev says he once sang on stage of Brian Adams. No kidding. Yeah, so we'll have to get more details.

I think I've got that story before, but again, it's one of the many stories I got and then I forget I had. But VPSAO says, fuck Bryan Adams and fuck boot sauce. Jeremy Hopkins says, I hope the Elmo was saved once again. It wasn't recreated as just a bar. There's now a big recording studio upstairs as well. You know who the manager of the recording studio is? Doug McClement.

Wow. Yeah, I'm telling you, it all ties in. It all comes back to Doug McClement. Wow. Yeah, I'm telling you, it all ties in. It all comes back to Doug McClement. Wow. Yeah, I shouldn't say manager, he's the head engineer, chief engineer. So, and he oversaw the building of that studio as well. Wow.

It was at Doug McClement's studio that I recorded vocals on a Brian Adams track and then he drove me home from the studio. Brian? Brian did, yeah. Wow. What album is this on? It was a song that he and Jim Valance wrote

for a Jaclyn Bissett movie called Class. Do you remember that movie? No, but I remember her, but I don't remember the movie. Well, it was a movie called Class and their song didn't land as the theme song. They, like Brian and Jim, they didn't get their song placed. And, but we worked on the vocals for it and Brian sang and at one point I said, man, you sound like Lou,

Lou Gramm on that. And I was about to say Lou Rawls. He sounded like Lou Gramm on that. And then he, a minute later, he said, what was the Lou line? What was the Lou line? And I didn't know what, what was the Lou line, what was the Lou line? And I didn't know what he was talking, I was, what, the Lou line?

And I thought this is some Vancouver musician speak for something. But anyway. You gotta bring in Bruce Allen to translate. To translate, yeah. But he was a good guy and he drove me home. We met a couple of other times subsequent to that and he had no memory of that studio session.

And the drummer who has played on all of my recordings, my post-Jitters recordings, Pat Stewart, is Brian's drummer. And played on Summer of 69. And- Wow, take that Canada, Kev. Yeah, and Pat posts on Facebook, he posts videos of them playing these enormous domes in Belgium and all through Europe. It's crazy stuff.

Well, crazy stuff. I wonder if Jim Valance and Brian Adams had anything to do with this jam. We're coast to coast, short to sure We've got what you're looking for All the style of today That's why you believe in the faith You're working hard and so are we

With everything you want to be They'll have you all the way That's why you believe in the faith We're the same friends, friendly smiles, big cities and open skies Helping you every day That's why Canada's just a thing I know you care about all you do But I'll be there to see you through For quality every day We used to be a serious country.

Okay. That's a real song, man. I don't remember ever having heard that before, 88 I bet I know every player on that on that But hearing that I'm like just guys just go another two minutes. You've got yourself a full song 680 CFTR Top six set six winner. It really does sound like a Brian and Jim song though Doesn't it like like they just the chord changes in the way the melody it sounds like they you know They couldn't have Brian sing on it because he was too famous But they whoever did sing on it had to copy the demo.

But could you imagine Brian singing that song? I can easily. Top of the charts. My goodness gracious. Uh, you know, that's why the Canada that that song, we, we, uh, the Canadian entity segment would not be complete if we didn't talk a little bit about the Bay. It's always, man, I don't know how old you are Blair,

but I bet you you're younger than 355 years. Slightly. Yes. Yes. But what demo are you in? The 350 to 399. My age group is called Generation Beaver. Generation BC. That's right. All right. So I'll give the news update and we'll get your Bay memories if you have any.

But after 355 years, Hudson's Bay is officially closing all of its doors. It's done actually. This is from before they closed their doors. They basically had no viable future for the remaining stores. So they had liquidation sales, big discounts at some of these places, and the stores that were in Toronto, North York, Richmond Hill, Montreal, Laval, and Pointe Claire, that's my French accent, Pointe Claire, were shuttered. They're gone. I think Canadian Tire bought the IP, like they

basically, hey we'll take that logo and that that style for the blankets But do you have any memories of the Bay as we say goodbye? I used to live in the Plaza two apartments at Bloor and Young and I That so above the Bay So I would go to the Bay frequently because I'd come from the subway through the Bay to the lobby of my apartment. I can see it in my mind's eye. I can see it now.

Young Blair Packham going through the Bay. Going through the Bay and my friend Katie Fillmore worked there and I was always flirting with Katie and so I would go on my way home. I would flirt with Katie and then go to my apartment. Oh my God. Sounds like a big day in Blair's world. You know who you wouldn't see when you were going through the bay You know who you would not see there who snow snow has been banned from every bay in the country Wow and

Bringing it back to the informer himself I know this is Rewinder But he tells this story in his Toronto make debut and he's returning pretty soon where we're gonna dive a little deeper into his being banned from every bay in the country. Wow. Wow. Darren O'Brien, I wanna hear that story. Listen, you gotta hear that story. It's part of our history.

Just like the bay, which was always here, interesting is that they're kind of famous for the blankets, the bay blankets. But I have definitely heard from people that these blankets were used to transfer smallpox to our indigenous people, okay? And that our could possibly be interpreted as a symbol of colonialism.

Sure, and attempted genocide. Right. Yeah. I just read something recently that refuted that. Okay. Refuted that. Was it a PR release from the bank? No, it wasn't. But it was just saying we don't actually have any solid evidence of that.

However, we know the intentions of the people at the time, the colonialists and so forth. So, you know, you can lend credence to it for sure. Well, I'm glad to hear you say that because I have one of those blankets upstairs. I don't think it has smallpox, but sorry, I shouldn't beence to it for sure. Well, I'm glad to hear you say that because I have one of those blankets upstairs. I don't think it has smallpox, but sorry, I shouldn't be laughing at it. That's such a thing.

All I know is I read something that was counter to that and whether, it seems more likely to me that it's true, frankly. Well, goodbye to the Bay, farewell the Bay. We have all those memories. Although I'll be honest, I don't have a lot of Bay memories because as an adult, I never went to the Bay. Like the Bay to me is like, you go into that,

you find the menswear. It seemed a little pricey for me. I just, I'm like you, I walk through the Bay to get to my destination. Yeah, it was definitely a walkthrough for me. It's a walkthrough. No wonder they had to shut it down. We were all walking through here.

The CN Tower, still with us. They're not tearing it down, Blair were all walking through here. The CN tower still with us. They're not tearing it down. Blair. That's good news. The CN tower has a turn 50. Wow. I'm glad they're not tearing it down because that would be quite a job. Did you witness the, uh, the building of the CN tower? Well, yeah. When I was in grade seven and eight, uh, it was being built. And I remember, I was amazed by the, well, you know, I remember that'll be cool but didn't really have many thoughts beyond that until I heard the Michael Giordano and the poles song which I'm sure you could find on YouTube called CN Tower and it went like this CN Tower it's very much like the

Rewinder theme now that I think of it. Did you borrow the rewind? It wasn't at all. It wasn't Darren O'Brien. It was, who's the artist? Michael with an E on the end, Michael Jordana and the polls there. And dude, you're so fast. That's a little buffering on the YouTube. Danny Levy of the jitters was in the polls for a while. I got a huge blind spot here.

Doug Stevie, Loose and Ricky? Loose? Yeah, that's Doug Pringle, by the way, not the broadcaster. Not Valerie's husband. No. I have a polls blind spot. Maybe you fill it in. Just give me a little bit.

She looks a bit like Carol Pope. Yeah. I don't know much about them except that Dani was briefly in the band and I remember this song. Yeah this Carol Pope vibes. Yeah and at one of the jitters. Well here she is with the teenage head, diodes, vile tones like I know all these bands. The Poles need a Toronto Mike deep dive. Well it's funny cause I think I sent you a text about this. When you talked about CN Tower, I thought, I thought I sent you a text saying, have you ever had Michael Giordano on? What did I say?

You said, no, I know, I don't know. I don't think you replied, but rude of me. She and her daughter came to a jitters reunion in like 2012 or something. Michael, if you're listening, I like the name. I want you on Toronto Mike, then we need to talk about the polls and the CN Tower song, but very cool.

David Steinberg knows her. David Quinton Steinberg. That's right. Okay, so thank you for that. It's funny I mentioned Carol Pope. I love that dead air. It's just so real. You're so earthy.

I accidentally, so. What happened? I just was for some reason I was mesmerized down the YouTube because normally I put in my soundboard and I'm bringing down the YouTube. And for reasons I don't understand and on the live stream, they won't even know what happened. It was literally like a blink of an eye. Right. For reasons I don't quite understand, I press stop on the record. Press stop on the record. Oh, so I actually, so that's why I had the heartbeat of quiet was because I'm like, I got to record this.

This is a professional operation over here. So I don't actually know. I think I thought I was in YouTube maybe like cause I was and I hit stop. I see. So we're back in record now. Well, we only left it for a heartbeat there, but this is what you get for taking me to YouTube here. Okay. left it for a heartbeat there but this is what you get for taking me to YouTube here okay so I think it's interesting that I played a song from I referenced

sorry I didn't play a song from Rough Trade but I referenced Carol Pope because the final segment Blair this has been awesome we never talked about how long we were gonna go in my mind it was always two hour episode but we actually are gonna leak over that so maybe we'll figure this out for episode two of Rewinder. Okay. But the final segment is brought to you by Ridley Funeral Home, Pillars of the Community Since 1921. That measuring tape from Ridley Funeral Home is all yours, Blair. Thank you. It's all yours. Measure what you wish. Thank you. And we're again, I we can talk about whether we want to end this way but I did capture a few significant deaths I wanted to chat with you about from the previous quarter and I mentioned Carol Pope and that's as good an excuse As any to play a little rough trade

And talk to you about somebody we lost I pushed her tense face away from me I pushed her tense face away from me The hot smile, voice going on Like a razor blade on glass Oh touch, but no contact We lost Kevin Staples. I love this song by the way. It's a really good song. Really well written and catchy and yeah.

I love the, it's half time in the verse and double or full time in the chorus. Sounds good in the cans. Exciting. Yeah, it does. I was at this community event on Saturday called the grilled cheese challenge. Okay. Yeah. And they had a few spots of live music and there was a duo that performed High School Confidential.

Oh, wow. They played it live. Oh. And it was pretty cool. And it feels like that's the song people might gravitate towards when they're playing a Rough Trade song. But I like this one very much. But did you ever have the pleasure of meeting Kevin Staples?

You know I probably did but I don't remember and we never worked together. I knew of Kevin of course from Rough Trade but also he had a reputation as being a very nice kind pleasant guy and he certainly was a really talented composer for television and so forth. I know Carol a little bit but I never really connected with Kevin and but I'm sorry that we lost him because I wanted to meet him. It's funny you know at my age you start losing people around you and you realize oh man I've known of them my whole life practically and I never made a connection an actual connection with him and I regret that Some people you hear are dicks So you don't care if you met them or not, but you know in Kevin's case

He was much loved and and you know it's nice to meet people who are much loved because you know it can make you a better person and just to have that experience of Crossing paths with them can be beautiful. Do you remember Elaine Loring? Yes, Elaine Loring interviewed the jitters once. On Global? On Global, yeah. Cousin of Kevin. And Kevin, because some people were, when they learned Kevin Staples had passed, they were, you know, writing about Kevin, I-N.

Kevin is actually A-N. Kev-An. Kev-An Staples had passed. They were writing about Kevin. I-N. Kevin is actually A-N. Kevin Staples. But Kevin co-founded Rough Trade with FOTM Carol Pope. And I know I talked to Rob Pruse about this, but to echo your sentiments, by all accounts of sweetheart, and much like you kind of regret, I'm sitting here thinking though, why did I never get Kevin Staples in the basement to chat about everything?

Sounds like a very nice guy, interesting guy, talented guy, and he'll be missed. Yeah, he will be missed. I just, I missed the, I missed that I missed the opportunity. You know, we talked quite a bit about your buddy, Stephen Page today. He comes up now and then, but I ran into him.

I went to the murder records garage sale, which is once a year Sloan has like a garage sale where they sell albums and t-shirts and all these different things. And I went there to see the guys from Sloan because all four members are FOTMs now, but I bumped into Stephen Page. Oh, that's so nice. This is like two weekends ago. Right, yeah. I don't have enough Stephen Page in my life, frankly.

Whenever I see him, it's always, it's lovely. He's looking fit. Like I said to him, I said, you've lost weight. And he goes, yeah, he lost a lot of weight. He looks like chiseled down, man. He's probably get great cheese on those abs Possibly, but one of the things he said to me we had a brief chat, you know, like a laneway literally in a laneway he said Thanks again for your

episode with Mark Nathan. He was very close to Mark Nathan. Yes, and I wanted to recognize that Mark Nathan passed away earlier this year and And I wanted to recognize that Mark Nathan passed away earlier this year. And amongst many claims to fame, Mark Nathan is the man who introduced bare naked ladies to Seymour Stein at Sire Records. That's right. Sire Records, of course, the home of, uh, of talking heads and blondie and Madonna. Yep. And lots of lots and lots of acts.

Katie Lang. Yeah. I want to say, yes, I believe so. Yeah. And, uh, uh, so yeah,? Yes, I believe so, yeah. And so, yeah, Mark Nathan, I never crossed paths with him either, but he was a friend of friends

and somebody I always thought, oh yeah, I'd like to meet that guy. So, again. So Mark sought me out because he had heard his dear friend. So you're a friend, yeah, you're a friend of a friend. So Mark Nathan was dear friends with Stephen Page, and he had heard Stephen Page on Toronto Mic Mike then he reached out and just said hey

I like I'd like to tell you some stories about bare-naked ladies and Marin Kadel and Concan yeah, so he did help to get con can something Barry Harris there So there's a lot there is an episode of Toronto Mike obviously remembering mark Nathan But there's a recent episode with the gentleman Graham Stairs, who I referenced earlier. And Graham came over to tell some stories about Bare Naked Ladies back in the day and how Maren Kaddell ended up with the music behind the spoken word song, The Sweater. So originally, that's just a spoken word joint that Maren Kaddell put together. And Graham Stairs suggested they add like a

musical backdrop like a bed I guess and then it became a top 40 hit. Yeah without a chorus just for the story it was yeah it was amazing. It's funny you know when you mentioned Stairs you made that reference to falling down the stairs right I immediately thought of Graham who I well that's him yeah and but I was gonna say oh that would be, uh, that's funny. I'll mention that to my friend Graham stairs, but I haven't seen Graham. So this tells me you did not listen to Graham stairs on Toronto mic. I did not get some catching up to do there.

Absolutely. So we lost Mark Nathan. We lost Kevin Staples. Uh, there's a gentleman named, I'm not sure if you'll know this name, Jeff Rahoman. I don't think so. No, he was a broadcaster who had a very lengthy run at Rogers radio stations, specifically 1130 News Radio, Sportsnet 590,

the fan, 680 News Radio, lengthy run, and he passed away far too soon. And I want to give some love to him because I know FOTM Mike Epple wrote a beautiful piece about him and was close to him and many people feeling the loss of Jeff. Yeah. Did you watch Cheers? I did. I enjoyed it immensely. It was very well written. Funny as hell. I liked it a lot. Liked it a lot. Here's a little... liked it a lot here's a little this looks like a nice friendly place Sammy you're too old to go on a date with two twins on the same night you're supposed to marry Diane without Rebecca knowing okay Carl I'll make your bet if this affects my major league comeback I'll sell the bar Woody give, give me a beer. I think you've had

enough Mr. Peterson. My chiropractor says I can't carry you home anymore. Just give me another beer you brain-dead hick. I'll kill you. I'll kill all of you. Whoa, settle down honey. Gotta save those pipes for karaoke. I love you guys. So that's the, uh, character, norm Peterson portrayed by George went who, who passed away recently. George went passed away. Yeah. That's news to me. I'm sorry to hear that. Yeah. He was once at a, the horseshoe standing at the bar and I talked to him. I said, hello, I enjoy your work or something like that. And that was it.

He was alone. I don't know what he was doing in town. I don't know why. He's playing the character. Yeah. But he was just leaning against the bar. There were a bunch of people there. Nobody else was talking to him. I just saw him and I normally don't, you know, don't like to bother people, but I, you know, it was Norm from Cheers. My goodness gracious. Yeah, he passed away, of course, most famous for his role on Cheers. I actually saw him in an early episode of MASH. So a very young George Wendt I saw in MASH, but lest we forget, George Wendt played Macaulay Culkin's dad in the Michael Jackson black or white video

that debuted after the Simpsons. Oh wow. That's a, lest we forget. Yes. Which was kind of a parody of the twisted sister videos with the dad, right? He'd be salivating and saying, what are you gonna do with your life?

That's right. Or whatever. So rest in power, George went, but there's one more death we're gonna talk about before we close up here. And I only learned about this death yesterday and I'm still kind of processing it. I'm still kind of shocked, but let's listen to a little bit of Juliet Powell

on Toronto, Mike. That's a longer story. So I was actually introduced to Moses while I was still in Toronto. I think I had, I was still Miss Canada or had just given back the crown, but for whatever reason I'm at the sky, what was called the sky dome at that point. And Moses is there and I have no idea who he is. And a friend of mine, Anik Kavukian, who is an amazing photographer, decides that

I should meet Moses. And so he introduces me to him. And again, I have no idea who this person is. And I don't know whether Moses even registers that I really don't know. But he said, do you want to be in

television? And I said, sure. And he said, well, to be in television, you must adhere to my church. And I look at him, and now I really don't understand what's going on. And I don't know Merce's personality or where he's coming from.

So I just said what was true to my heart, which is I don't follow anybody else's church but mine. And I walked away. Years later, years later, I'm in Montreal and that that whole adventure that I just told you about, I do this audition and I get this job to be a VG and music blues and Pia Marchand tells me you don't actually have this job until Moses says you have this job and he's going to call you and I get this phone call and I was painting my balcony at the time.

I'm covered in paint and hey, it's Moses and I'm sitting at Shed Cafe on Saint Laurent Boulevard. Come meet me for lunch. You don't have this job yet. And I'm like, great, this bodes well. So I run down to Shed Cafe and we order burgers and he proceeds to cut, he removes the bun and he's like cutting his burger with a knife and fork.

And I had never seen anything like that before. And I just start laughing. And I said, you don't remember me to you? And he said, no. And I said, oh yeah, that hole, you must adhere to my church. And I only want to adhere to mine. So Moses, if I have to adhere to your church,

I'm not the right person for you. But if you're willing to work with me, if we can work together, then let's do this. And that was it. Actually, a friendship was born and So that's Juliet Powell. Do you know that name? I do from music plus. So she parlayed music plus to much Music. She moved to Toronto from Montreal, where by the way she mentioned it briefly, but she was the first black Miss Canada. No kidding. In 1989. Yeah. So she's on Musique Plus. She's from Montreal and then she comes to Toronto and she's on Much Music and then she becomes the host of Electric Circus.

Oh, of course, then I would recognize her, yes. Yeah, she became the, I guess, I guess that's the third overall host of Electric Circus. And a lot of people know her in that role, but she also hosted a show called French Kiss that was on Much Music. And then she went to CP24, the same media company, but she did some hard-hitting news because she was always getting education. Like she was taking economics at U of

T while she's on the air. And then she moves to New York, starts a consulting company, writes books, inspires people, delivers Ted talks, what she's been up to recently, which you can hear all about in an episode of Toronto Mike. I literally just last night put together a remembering Juliet Powell episode of Toronto Mike. But I got to say, Blair, I did not. I mean, if you said who's going to be the next VJ to pass away, Juliet will be one hundredth on my list. Very seemingly healthy, very highly educated, very smart, accomplished, living in New York, kicking ass, taking names,

and she died very suddenly from meningitis. Oh boy. How old do you think our dearly departed Juliet Powell was when she passed away? I wouldn't, I don't know. You can't even. Given all the things that you've, the accomplishments, I would think, I don't know. You can't even. Given all the things that you've,

the accomplishments, I would think maybe 50 something. 54. Wow. And I got this news yesterday. She passed away last week. I got this news and it hit me like a punch to the gut because I had this lovely conversation with her. As I told her in this conversation,

I had just seen her at the King Eddie where David Kines had a breakfast for Hollywood Suite. And I'd saw her and I was actually, so I'm there, she's very tall and beautiful. And I was too nervous to say hi. I know. And I was like, I'm like 10 feet away from her and I'm like, I should go up and say hi to Juliette Powell, but she's like, she doesn't know who I am. And I was like intimidated for some reason, which sounds ridiculous because I go up to almost anybody, but I was intimidated by her and I didn't say hi,

but we ended up recording a great episode of Toronto Mic'd and gone far too soon, Blair Packham. Yes, far too soon. That's what I've noticed as I've been getting older is, people die all the time, of course, but the people who are close to you, they're getting closer in my experience and it's getting very, it's sad. No, I don't wanna hear about any 54 year olds dying.

No, or 64 year olds for that matter. Or maybe 74 year olds. Maybe 74. Can you die at 84? Yeah, you can die, yeah. You can die at 84. East York John on the live stream said he just saw Carol Pope in Guelph with Tim Welch.

It was an unplugged performance. And East York John, a fellow East Yorkian. Right, who I guess I own him, since I own all of East York. Cut your check to Blair Packham. That's right. But he says that she was awesome. That's great. That's good to hear.

And Radio Lady also loved Rough Trade. Says that they were so good. And on a lighter note, because I wonder, should I end these episodes by talking about people we lost too soon? But I, like Jeremy Hopkins, comment that when Canadian Tire bought this IP for the Bay because they bought the logo and the copyrights and all that stuff Does that also mean they bought? the snow ban Snow being banned from every day in the country

Does that come with the purchase? That's a funny idea Me so now snow can't go to Canadian Tire either. Right, but I gotta ask Snow what he thinks of this. Is he now banned from every Canadian Tire? Because that means if you're banned from Canadian Tire, you're banned from Mark's Work Warehouse. Do you know that? That's right, all the triangle businesses, yes.

Right. Yeah, he can't have his loyalty card anymore. What did you think of our first episode of Rewinder, Blair? I thought it was fantastic. I thought- Is it too long? No, because it's you and me talking and I like it. To be discussed. Yeah. We're going to end up being about two and a half hours. Yeah, we'll see what the crowd thinks. Remember, there's a mail bag. Yes. Not a female bag, a mail Next, Rewinder. So we need some emails. So mike at torontomike.com. Any question about anything in the zeitgeist, in the Canadian media landscape or whatnot, send it and I'll read it and Blair and I will address it on the next episode of Rewinder.

And we'll see you in September, right Blair? Yes, you will. Will I see you at TMLX 19 on June 26? Yes, you will. Will I see you at TMLX 19 on June 26th? Yes, you will. Wow, that's, you know what? I'd come for the Blair. Can we fly radio lady in from Winnipeg? Hopefully she'll be here.

That's what we're hoping. I can't even speak now. That's amazing. And that brings us to the end of our 1,708th show. Brings us to the end of our 1,708th show, but of course it's our first episode of Rewinder. Rewinder. Go to torontomike.com for all your Toronto Mike needs. Much love to all who made this possible. That's Great Lakes Brewery.

That's Palma Pasta. That's Monaris. That's Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball. That's Recycle My Electronics.ca. That's Building Toronto's Skyline and of course Ridley Funeral Home. Subscribe and listen to Life's Undertaking with Brad Jones. It's a great podcast. See you all tomorrow when the cuddly one Al Grego drops by to kick out the jams. Remember at the end of this, I'm going to play the Rewinder theme again, so don't go anywhere. So I'm gonna be your friend I'm gonna be your friend I'm gonna be your friend I'm gonna be your friend

I'm gonna be your friend I'm gonna be your friend I'm gonna be your friend I'm gonna be your friend I'm gonna be your friend I'm gonna be your friend I'm gonna be your friend I'm gonna be your friend

I'm gonna be your friend I'm gonna be your friend Rewind Up! With a pack of moos also known as Blair And Mikey Boon Boon too Rewind Up! Luckin' back and yippee yoppin' on the air For the quarterly review Rewind Up! Skiddly, boppity, boodly Rewind Up! Bippity, boppity, noodly Rewind Up! With a pack of moos also known as Blair And Mikey Boon Boon too Rewind Up! Luckin' back and yippee yoppin' on the air For the quarterly review Rewind Up! Skiddly, bubbly, doodly. Rewind Up!

Fibbity, bubbity, noodly. Rewind Up! With the pack of moos, also known as Blair. And Mikey Boom Boom too!