Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Rick Ringer: Toronto Mike'd #758

Episode Date: November 26, 2020

Mike chats with veteran radio broadcaster Rick Ringer about his many years on CHUM-FM, working with Rick Moranis, Pete and Geets, Brian Master, Ingrid Schumacher, Lee Eckley and so many others, his relationship with Rush and Max Webster, the evolution of the station, his move into programming and where he can be heard today.

Welcome to episode 758 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. CDN Technologies, your outsourced IT department. CDN Technologies, your outsourced IT department. Joanne Glutish, a lifetime member of the National Chairmen's Club, awarded to the top 1% of agents at Royal LePage Canada. StickerU.com, create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals for your home and your business. Ridley Funeral Home.

This year's Holidays in Hope Candlelight Service of Remembrance is December 2nd at 7 p.m. And Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. I'm Mike. From torontomike.com and joining me this week

is veteran radio broadcaster Rick Ringer. Rick Ringer, welcome to Toronto Miked. Oh, well, thank you so much, Mike. I'm honoured that you asked me to be a part of your illustrious lineup of rogues and famous and not so famous people. Yeah. Well, I'm saying Rick Ringer, that's a

famous name to a lot of people listening right now. So I think a lot of people are very excited to hear your voice. Oh, well, thank you. I appreciate that. And it is cool when I still, even up here in the Owen Sound area, I'll still encounter people who remember me from the days of Chum FM. So it's always good. Yeah. I record once a week with Mark Hebbshire.

Yes. When I mentioned to Mark, you know, I was chatting with Rick Ringer about coming on. Like, Mark lights up. You know, he just lights up. He's so excited because he loved Chum FM, particularly in the 70s. Oh, well, I

loved Hebsey, too. He's a great guy. You've got to make sure to say hi for me. He's listening right now. You could direct a message right to him right now because I'm 100% sure Mark Hebsey is listening to this episode. Oh, well, cool. Hebzer, I hope you're doing well.

I like following you on social media and seeing you and your sons, and you're golfing way too much, bugger. But you know what? Yeah, he and Taddy were amazing on Sportsline. It was a must-see for me when I would get off of my evening shift on Shem FM and head home and start to relax and laugh a bit with the two of them. They were great. Yes, guy. Yes, exactly.

No, pretty amazing. Okay, Rick, we have a lot to cover here, but I'm opening with something that has nothing to do with radio because I asked people what they would like me to ask Rick. I have Rick Ringer coming on. Do you have any questions? And Fred Wallace said, and I know where he's going here because I also follow you on social media.

Hi, Rick. Hi, Rick. Who did you vote for in the recent U.S. election? Well, anybody who follows me on social media at all knows that I've been very active on it over the last four years. And let's just say I'm quite happy with the results of the election. So, yeah. Now, you're American. We should start with that. You're from Wisconsin. I am, yeah.

I grew up in Wisconsin. I was born in New York State, actually, but grew up in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, which is about 100 miles east of Minneapolis-St. Paul in the western part of the state. And I got my radio start there while I was still in high school at a little station

called WBIZ AM and FM and um it was a great training ground um it was a soup to nuts sort of station in terms of everything that it did programming wise but I couldn't have asked for a better training ground to be able to uh learn the craft I was I was very lucky that I was able to get in there and start to play radio. And then applied for the job at Chum when I was 22. Okay, first question is, were you always Rick Ringer when you were on the radio? Was that always your handle?

Always, because that's my real name. Okay, stop the press. Hold on. I would have lost a lot of money in a bet, because I have always assumed Rick Ringer was one of those fake radio names, like Jim Van Horn or whatever. Rick Ringer is your real name. It is. And it was funny, because when I first got to Chum, Duff Roman, who was my PD at the time,

talked about possibly changing my name because Rick Ringer did sound made up and it almost sounded too much like a 1050 Chum name. And we got talking about it and it was like, well, it's my real name. So why don't we just go with it? So, and I'm glad we did. I'm glad we stuck with it. But people always say, yeah, wow, you've got a name for radio. So, yeah. Honestly, I would have lost a lot of money. because he was Ronald Ringer, Ronald Richard Ringer. Oh, it's all coming out now. And he said no, and she just switched the names around. So I became Richard Ronald Ringer. Lots of R's there. Okay, I'm going to quote you.

This is going to start us off. So you're in Wisconsin, born in New York State, but you're living in Wisconsin, and this is what you wrote recently. So this is your words. I almost hate to admit it, but it's been 45 years now since I pulled into Toronto with all my belongings packed inside and on top of my Volkswagen Beetle and began to achieve my dream of being on the air

at a major market radio station. I have Duff Roman to thank for having the faith in a 22-year-old kid from Wisconsin. What a wonderful adventure it was in the Chum building for almost 20 years, and what a great career it's continued to be to this day. Okay, Rick, how does a kid from Wisconsin end up on the radio in Toronto, Canada? Billboard magazine, actually. Chum FM had posted an ad, a help-wanted ad in Billboard. And I was looking to get out of Eau Claire.

I was preferably looking to go somewhere warm, places like Arizona and Florida and whatever, because the climate there is very similar to here. And nothing happened. And then I saw this ad for, they were looking for what they called a communicative progressive jock. You have to realize this was 1975 and Chum FM was a very different radio station than it is today. And so I answered the ad and followed up with a phone call, sent the demo and everything and followed up with a phone call to Duff. And I think I caught him at a bad moment or whatever, because he was pretty dismissive when I first talked to him. And so I figured, well, I just blew that and figured, well, you know, move on, find something else. But then a while later, I heard back from Duff,

and he said, yes, we've narrowed things down. And we'd like to hear an updated demo from you, because we figured that you should have grown in the time since you sent in your original one. And so I did. And then shortly after that, he called back and said, we'd like to fly you up here and meet everybody. So they did. They flew me up for the day. Benji Karsh picked me up at the airport, knew immediately who I was because of the way I was dressed. A kid from Wisconsin dressed in double knit slacks and a plaid suit jacket. And yeah, I got to meet the people at Chum. jacket and and um yeah i got to meet the people at chum and i i'll never forget um as duff drove me back to the airport that night don schaefer was on the air and um you you know what don's

voice is like he's he's got the pipes of god right and all i could think of because they had told me that that i was going to be doing the late night shift, 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. And all I could think of was, I'm going to follow this guy? And I was completely, completely overwhelmed and intimidated, basically. Everybody there was just wonderful, though. Chuck Azzarello was on in the afternoon, the late Chuck Azzarello. At the time, David Pritchard was doing middays. Pete and Dietz were on in the mornings,

and everybody was just wonderful there. But yeah, that's how it was. It's a long answer to your original question, but it was a matter of the right person in the right place at the right time, as it usually is, I think. No, Rick, I love the details. So long is good on this program. Okay, so I insert joke here. I want to ask, well, there's a big. So long is good on this program. Okay. So I insert joke here. I want to ask, well, there's a big name I need to ask you about, but maybe I'll warm us up a little before we get there. Could you just talk a little bit about working with Pete and Geetz? I've had Geetz on the program. Sadly, Pete passed away before I started this podcast and I never had the opportunity. But a lot of folks my age or a little older

listened to Pete and Geats on CFNY when David Marsden brought them over. But could you talk a little about the Pete and Geats that were on Chum FM in the 70s? Well, the Pete and Geats, by the time I got there, they were in their final days at Chum FM doing the morning show. They were amazing though as anybody who listened to them in the early 70s onward could tell you uh very flew by the seat of their pants uh had great chemistry together of course Geetz with all of his various

characters on the air and Pete as kind of the straight man although he had a wicked sense of humor as well a little inside story about all of those people my first Chum FM Christmas party we had it at some Italian restaurant and for some reason tape recorders a tape recorder was set up in the middle of the table with a bunch of microphones and a lot of wine was consumed and some things were probably said that shouldn't have been said and i've always kind of wondered what happened to those tapes but uh david pritchard bless his late heart as well and pete and geats and tim thomas i think actually tim had to stay behind and be on the air that night uh the late tim thomas as well uh was a part of things at that time brian master uh benji whatever anyway it was a wild and raucous time and um it was just kind of indicative

of the atmosphere of the culture of gem fm at the time which which was you know still an extension of the freewheeling early 70s when they first went to Progressive. Well, later in this conversation, I'll be asking you about the changes that happened at the station while you're there. So that, because I find that very interesting. Because you're right, a younger listener right now who only knows, you know, the Roger, Rick and Marilyn, Chum FM, would be interested to learn more about the spirit, i don't with apologies to david marsden the spirit of the uh chum fm in the 70s like it sounds like that would have been my station

for sure and you know it's one of the it's one of the regrets that i have is that i got there too late to be able to work with with david he and i worked together afterward on a couple of things actually some game show pilots that he was producing and he was kind enough to insert me as his host for these these pilots which never got bought never got off the off the ground but it was fun to get to know him through that fabulous fabulous broadcaster but yeah I mean it was it was if you knew CFny in its early days then that's what chum fm was like in its earliest days in the early 70s especially uh i got there right about the time of the transition as as they were we were still picking our own music at the time but we were also playing a couple of programmed songs per hour that were from the chum chart or whatever basically

what year are we talking uh rick like what year are we talking here when you arrive uh 75 october 75 okay sorry for interrupting you continue please sorry oh that was pretty much that thought um geats, that was your original question, I think. Geetz, David Haydu, of course, is a broadcast engineer as well, and that's how he's kept himself employed over all these years as well. And just a fabulous person, too. And a huge fan of Disney. He's a big Disney fan.

So I learned a lot about him. How he and Pete came together. I don't know. You probably know this, but David was in doing some work in the control room while Peter was doing the morning show one morning, and they just started kibitzing on the air, and it turned into a thing.

It turned into a wonderful thing. It's funny how that could happen. It's just serendipity. There it is. Fantastic. Now, you mentioned a name in passing there when you talked about that Christmas party, which I can just imagine getting a hold of those tapes that were recorded that night. But you mentioned a name and I need to shine a light on him because he's become quite a good friend of this program. I've been lucky enough to work with him recently. I consider him a friend uh pre-covid i would you know he's in mimico and i'm not too far away from there i would bike over and kind of meet him for a coffee and have chats about this and that but tell me about uh working with brian master

brian master uh was so helpful he was i i'm to remember. I think he was the guy who trained me the first night that I was on the air, if I through things, including the pronunciation of particular Toronto street names, like the Esplanade, which, because, you know, you would do live tags on commercials. And I think I called it the Esplanade or the Esplanade or something like that. The first time on the air. That's another one. Islington. Yes. Yeah. And so, you know, time on the air or a tobiko fails as well that's another one islington islington yes yeah it's so you know he was very helpful that way and just very helpful in in helping uh guide

me and shape me and as i said the late tim thomas was also very kind in in that regard helping me out and i'll never forget that tim said you know a little while after i'd been there and i think i was having a little bit maybe having some misgivings about whether I was right for this position, whether or not I was in too young, in too soon or whatever. And he said, you're going to be fine. You're going to be fine. And you're going to be fine in this big city. Because the town I grew up in, Eau Claire, is about the size of Peterborough, basically. So then to come to Toronto, to come to a major metropolitan city by myself was kind of overwhelming at the time. And Tim was a very comforting influence that way.

Like I said, all of the people at the station, Sheila Walton, who worked in the music library at the time, Brian Thomas, Brian Thomas. Brian Thomas and Larry Wilson were doing the In Toronto show. Everybody. Everybody was just great and very supportive of a kid from Wisconsin. Amazing. Amazing.

So I mentioned Hebsey earlier. He's a big fan of Chum FM back in the day, and he's a big fan of uh you know chum fm back in the day and he he's a big fan of yours rick and his first he only i asked him i said hebsey if you want me to ask rick ringer anything like what would you have me ask him he wants to know what it was like working with rick moranis oh wow yeah that was was incredible. There was a period of time where Rick was doing afternoon drive and I was doing the evenings. And he was Rick Moranis. He was absolutely brilliant. I've always kind of we ever kind of foresaw him starring in Disney movies and Ghostbusters and SCTV and all that kind of thing. But you could tell that this was a brilliant, brilliant mind. So when I would come in traditionally at six o'clock or just before six, before Rick was going to get off, uh, there would be a handoff where he'd basically say, Hey,

what's up and what are you doing? And whatever. And sometimes it, it, it was, it was the way the radio station was at the time, which was pretty extemporaneous and also a little dangerous at times, uh, but never strayed too far from where it should basically. But I never quite knew what to expect from Rick. And some days it would be very quick and other days it would be, he would have me laughing, rolling on the floor basically. So I, it was a, it was a privilege to, to, to work with him.

Like I say, i he he was kind of working below his pay grade at that point i think believe it or not if you're going to say doing the afternoon show on a toronto radio station is but he was we as as we all found out later capable of so much more and i'm really glad to see that that happened for him. I'm sorry for his personal circumstances in the last number of years with the loss of his wife and whatnot. But a good guy, a really good person as well. Good to hear. And yeah, I know you got in the news recently for being sucker punched in New York. So I hope he's okay from that.

And yeah, everybody loves Rick Moranis, right? So the fact that, you know, that's the fun fact in Toronto circles is, you know, before striking it big and, you know, globally, he was on Chum FM. So it's just a fun fact. And I think he was, I think he was on a CBC TV talk show for a little bit too. Didn't he have the same, didn't he host that TV talk show, that late

night attempt at a talk show that Peter Zowski also did? Maybe. I'm going to throw a maybe at that one. I gotta, I gotta, cause I have to go back into the archives and, and jog my memory, but possibly,

possibly. I mean, so again, this is the Hebsey show, not the Rick Ringer show, because I see he also tweeted at me again. I told you Hebsey's very excited to have you on the show. This is what he tweeted at me.

Used to listen to Rick every weeknight, 6 to 10 on 104.5 Chum FM. He and Rick Moranis, who did PM Drive, did a great extra intro every night around 6. I think I might have heard an early version of SCTV's Jerry Todd in one of those

bits. Yeah, very possible. I know when I saw the Jerry Todd character I had to laugh because it was like he he was he was taking a swing at every fake voice radio DJ that there ever was and just did it brilliantly you know in the way small ones you know uh just just incredible yeah but yeah i never quite knew what to expect with rick and that was the fun but also it was kind of terrifying sometimes because i wasn't sure what he was going to say or do and how i should react because i mean i wasn't anywhere near uh on a plane with him in terms of that kind of uh off the-cuff creativity. But anyway. Who is, right?

Oh, exactly. Maybe Dave Thomas, maybe Eugene Levy, maybe Martin Short. Those guys are, but not just a playful DJ, no. Scott Foster wrote me a nice note when he heard Rick Ringer was coming on Toronto Mike. He said, I was a Chum FM listener back in the mid to late 70s before I discovered CFNY in 1979.

I remember Rick Ringer would always have the boys from Rush in for a record release interview whenever a new album came out. Please ask him what his relationship was with the band. And he puts in parentheses, I think they even mentioned him in the liner notes on a couple of their albums does he still keep in touch with them he goes enjoy your podcast so thank you scott foster so talk to us if you will rick about uh your relationship with rush oh well thank you for the question scott um yeah the the situation with rush was uh was a really interesting one uh the first time we met i, was when they came in to do an interview.

I believe it was the Massey Hall shows that ended up being recorded for all the worlds of stage. I'm pretty sure. It was Alex and Getty at the time. And somewhere I have a picture of the two of them sitting behind the guest mic, smoking a cigarette, because you could do that in the control room at the time. And wearing these absurd platform sandals and just looking all the part, the rock star, the rock stars, whatever.

Anyway, it started from there. And I'm not sure exactly how and i think the liner no cities referring to was the all the world's a stage album i'm pretty sure that that's where the credit came from um i do have i did get a double gold album from them for that also a platinum album for uh permanent waves did you. Did you keep these? You have these on display somewhere right now? I have the Permanent Waves one in our office. Yeah. In the office of my wife and I here.

And unfortunately, the All the World's Stage One got damaged by water and mildew and whatnot from being in a basement too many years. There was too many years when they weren't displayed because it just didn't go with the decor of a family man you know or whatever so uh but anyway the the relationship kind of expanded from there and i'm not sure exactly how um but i did go out on tour with them a couple of times one time was as an assignment when um and the radio station and um russia's management team sent me out on the road with them i basically roomed with howard unger lighter uh their stage manager and lighting director so there was no extra cost to them i was just kind of tagging along and filing reports back to toronto back to chem fm at the time because this was all leading up to a Toronto show that they were going to do on the

tour I can't remember if it was a finale or not but anyway it was it was great getting to know them that way and also getting a keen insight into what it's like on the road which is kind of like the life of a cop I mean the largest the largest percentage of it if you don't have a job to do, if you're not on the crew or the band or whatever is boredom, uh, because there's a lot of sitting around and all you see are hotels and arenas and the tour bus. And that's it basically. Um, so I went out with them one time that way. And then, uh, another time I went out with them just for the heck of it on my own time, had vacation time to use and went out again just to have fun. And then the album premiere started, and I can't remember what the first one was or how many of them were. I think there was at least

three altogether. And there are some YouTube clips out there of of one of them at least one of them with getty uh he became the spokesperson and he would come in and uh one time the first one i think was still getty and alex both and i have a picture of that somewhere on my facebook and then after that it was just getty and And we would sit down. And I mean, good luck doing that on any radio station these days. We would sit down, play every track on the album, talk in between them. They would tell us about that particular track and whatever, and pop some champagne and just generally have a good time. And it was pretty incredible, yeah.

Do I stay in touch with them? Unfortunately, the only way I've stayed in touch with them recently on the road as kind of their personal ballet while he was he worked at bombardier aircraft at the time when it was called the haviland and he went out on the road with them for a short time too but anyway we had a celebration of life for him in august he had passed away in july and and alex was there howard was there as well and uh it was it was nice to see a, even though it was sad circumstances. I have not seen Getty and I did not, you know, kind of fell out of touch with them when I moved to the suburbs and started a

family and, you know, it just, my life changed that way basically. But yeah, anytime we do see them. but yeah anytime we do see them and the last time I saw them both was the R40 tour in 2015 in Toronto and I had arranged to get a meet and greet for myself and three friends and you get 30 seconds with the band that's it right right and so we wander up they both just kind of looked at me and went reish and i said yeah and they were but you know it was turn smile and then you're done sort of thing so like i say it was nice to see alex even though the circumstances were sad um a little while back and uh so i i would love to i whenever i'm watching blue jays games and i see getdy behind home plate, I go, oh, there he is, there's Ged. Had some great memories from those road trips for sure

and the album premieres. And Neil's passing, of course, was extremely sad. And I think both Ged and Alex are still kind of struggling with that a bit. I have no doubt about that, actually. I'd like to remind listeners that this year's Holidays in Hope Candlelight Service of Remembrance will be a live online event. You're invited to join the good people at Ridley Funeral Home to receive comforting messages, enjoy live music, and reflect on your loved one's life and legacy. and legacy. It's Wednesday, December 2nd at 7pm. To attend, please RSVP to 416-259-3705.

Or you can send an email to contactus at ridleyfuneralhome.com. Now, Rick, you kind of painted a picture there and I can see it in my mind's eye. It's you know hanging out at the station and you guys are playing songs from the band and you know you're you're getting you have them relaxed you're talking about the songs like today I when I picture that today it's a podcast but like why can't that be radio today like that just sounds amazing like you and a big band like a big huge band like Rush just kind of kicking out the the jams together like why is there no room in radio today for such a happening that's a very good question but i think you know the answer as well as i do that that because radio has become very corporate these days and very formatted and i mean we had a format back then too when uh when they used to come in

and do the album premieres. But we would just we would break it for for a couple of hours and do this thing. And it was because of the relationship that the band had with the radio station and with me. I don't know if it would have happened if it hadn't been me on the air. I'm going to you know, I'm going to say maybe not. But yeah, these days it's pretty tough. Pretty tough to just kind of abandon the format for a couple of hours like that because as you know, and I mean, with all the recent layoffs

that have been announced in the last couple of weeks and even morning shows, local morning shows being blown out in favor of a Toronto morning show being beamed into markets like North Bay and Timmins and Sault Ste. Marie, as I was reading this morning. I'm going, yeah, how's that going to go? But anyway, I'm getting off track here. No, no, but that's actually like, and I know, Rick, of course, you're still in the industry.

But I'm always curious about those things. You kind of notice it. Let's say you're listening to a station. Let's say you're listening to Q107. And let's say a staple of their classic... No, they're not technical. I don't know if they're called classic rock anymore now, but they're a similar format today.

But let's say somebody passes away. I don't know. I'll say Tom Petty or Neil Peart was a good example. But somebody who's a fixture on the station passes away there's something to the being nimble enough to break format and talk about that and play that and sort of that would be sort of what listening to listenership to borrow a term from scruff connors would be uh craving at that moment right uh you i know when i had and this is the name I'll ask you about in a moment

because she bridges the generations like you, but Ingrid Schumacher told me about being on the air, being on Chum FM the night that John Lennon died. Yes. So I guess there's something to having the creative freedom, I guess, to break formats when it's warranted, like when a band like Rush shows up and is willing to talk. Yeah.

No, I agree. I think a lot of listeners and rock fans especially, let's say, really crave something like that. I think when Kim Mitchell was on cue, I think he had the most leeway when it came to stuff like that. I think when, when Kim, Kim Mitchell was on cue, I think he had the most leeway when it came to stuff like that. You know, if an artist was in town, he could get them in, get them on the air. And which was a, you know, pretty amazing because a musician talking to another musician on the air was,

was, was pretty incredible. So, but to my knowledge, I think that's kind of the last time that you've seen stuff like that happening. I don't know. I'm not that in touch with Toronto Radio anymore, so I don't really know. But to me, there's room for it. There's always room for it.

But unfortunately, the people who were the stewards of radio stations and radio companies in the past are no longer in the business. And that's made a big difference to radio itself now. And you did talk to Ingrid already, did you? Yeah, absolutely. In fact, so like yourself, you sort of bridge eras at Chum FM. You're sort of part of the different Chum fm eras if you will and ingrid as well and that ingrid was there a very very very long time and uh everybody you know everybody loves ingrid 40 years uh if yeah she came on here just just before she was uh let go so i haven't talked to her since uh she was let go but

uh well we'll get to that in a moment because i want to ask you real quick you talked about rush are there any any other bands and by the way quick aside on rush is that uh rush really liked the chum fm guys because of course uh at some point they put out a song called spirit of radio which was inspired by the station mars didn't move to at some point uh cfny and even very recently they put out a new spirit of a new video that paid homage to, uh, to, to David Marsden in the,

in the, in the video. I don't know if you caught that, like an animated video. There was like a tribute to David Marsden in there. But, uh, are there any other bands?

Like I'm thinking of when I chatted with John Donabee and he would talk about, you know, hanging out with the band. Uh, and he was very close with Warren, with, sorry, with Levi and Helm. Is there any other bands like Rush that you were, you were tight with at that time?

I was probably the tightest other than with those guys was with the, the tightest with, with Kim and Max Webster. They were a very similar a very similar sort of situation where they came in and uh did their first interview on the air with me Kim still had hair Paul Kersey was still the drummer Mike Tilka was still the bassist and um and the friendship just grew from there and it really was a friendship as well. And, you know, not trying to pat my own back or whatever, but I think I got an album. In fact, I know I got an album credit on High Class and Borrowed Shoes from them. I could just go hang. At one time, they had a house, they rented a house in the Yonge and St. Clair area that was within walking distance of the radio station. And so I'd get done with my evening shift at 10 o'clock and just wander over and we would just hang. And so that was very cool.

And then the other part of that that was really neat was getting to know Pied de Bois, because he was a very mysterious figure. Of course, the lyric writer for Max Webster's songs who worked with Kim. And he was this mysterious figure, but he really wasn't. He was, I think, actually a trained clinical psychologist by trade. by trade. Brilliant as a poet as well. And just came up with these bizarre lyrics that somehow made sense in the context of Max Webster songs, but he was just a regular guy too, you know? And so getting to know those guys was really neat as well.

That would probably be the other band I would say I was the like to take a very short break from this conversation with Rick Ringer to tell you about some companies that have stepped up to fuel the real talk. It's a tough time for small businesses, and these tremendous sponsors of Toronto Mic'd are no exception. Much love to the fiercely independent craft brewery that is Great Lakes Brewery. Great Lakes beer, you can find them in Ontario's LCBOs,

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Support Palma Pasta, a family-run business. They're in Mississauga and Oakville, and they're online at palmapasta.com. You can find StickerU in Liberty Village, but it's e-commerce. They're everywhere. Go to stickeru.com. They've been tremendous partners. Support them. Get your stickers, decals, temporary tattoos, etc. Joanne Glutish is full-time focus as Toronto Real Estate, especially Etobicoke where she lives, but you know, the West End, Mississauga and Oakville as well. She knows every neighborhood inside out. She's constantly in the

community volunteering at events and working to find out what her clients need to know to make real estate decisions. JoanneGludish.com. Reach out, let her know Toronto Mike sent you. Her clients describe her as savvy, hardworking, tenacious, and always committed to their care. hardworking tenacious and always committed to their care speaking of savvy hardworking tenacious woman much love to barb paluskiewicz she's from cdn technologies cdn technologies are there for you should you have any computer or network issues or questions they're your outsourced Call Barb today at 905-542-9759 or writer. It's Barb at cdntechnologies.com. Now, back to my conversation with Rick Ringer. Oh, no, very cool. I just very recently had the opportunity to talk to Kim Mitchell.

And just like Brian Master, Kim is now a Mimico man. So shout out to Mimico. Okay, so let's talk about... Yeah, he seems happy too. Let's talk about the evolution of Chum FM. So like this, particularly in the 80s. So like maybe talk me through it. Like it's sort of new wave

and then it's kind of heavy metal because I know I talked to these Q107 guys and they were they would refer to it as scum fm there seemed to be a great rivalry there and then of course then it kind of i suppose with roger rick and marilyn in the mid 80s or whatever it becomes kind of what it is today which is sort of a top 40 station of sorts but can you talk about that? Because you were there for all of it. Well, the evolution really goes back to when I started in terms of my experience with it. Like I say, when we were still picking our own music, except for a couple of songs an hour, and you even had the opportunity. And there were certain certain albums current albums that uh were in

the control room that you were that you played the bulk of your your music from but you always had i think about once an hour you had a track you'd be able to go back into the very deep record library that they had at chum fm and pull something out whether it was fairport convention or freddie Hubbard or whatever. It could be anything. And you got to play that. The next step, and this was pretty distressing for a guy who had always picked his own songs, was when they went to an all-album format.

And that was where entire 20-minute sets were either made up of tracks from a particular album or tracks from a particular artist. And you would you would talk about that. People loved it because they would turn their tape recorders on and get free music recorded for their their own mixtapes and whatever. And then the next step, I think, from what I can recall, this would have been after Q came on the air and we kind of had to react to them. And then we went pretty heavy for, for quite a while. Uh, Ted Nugent, Ozzy Osbourne, Motorhead, um, obviously, you know, Led Zeppelin, Rush and, and whatever. And yeah, it was a pretty heavy radio station at the time. And then the time you're referring to in the early 80s was kind of a reaction to CFNY and trying to do this kind of, as you can tell, I didn't necessarily agree with it, kind of try to do this commercialized version of New Wave. You would play, you know, you would play acts,

but you wouldn't be playing the out on the edge stuff so to speak that cfny was was playing um and then at some point and i think it was around 1984 probably uh they brought us in for a staff meeting and said this is what we're going to do and it really was kind of the birth of the hot AC format before it was actually called that. And that was a combination of everything from Madonna to you would play a rock band, but not a heavy rock band. And you would play Ray Parker's Ghostbusters.

And that was something that the folks at Q grabbed onto and did their Chum Busters parody, which was hilarious. Didn't think so at the time necessarily, but it was hilarious. But it was also the birth of, like you said, of what Chum FM is now, or 104.5 Chum, whatever they call it now. Well, I think they're just calling it chum now i think i think here i look yeah it's just chum so uh so that that really was so about the mid 80s on

no i know no one can see us by the way only you can see this but uh doug thompson came over so i don't know if you can see what i have here but but this is the 1050 Chum car sign that Doug Thompson gave me. So shout out to Doug, who was very kind to give me that. Cool. Sorry. So yeah, I think they just... But anyway, that was the first of Chum the way it was now. And really, that's where all of a sudden the ratings really soared.

And we became a very competitive radio station in the numbers with CHFI with CF. Well, the AMs were already starting to fade at that point, both 10 50 jump and CFTR. Um, but that's, that's where it got serious in terms of numbers and,

and being a top rated radio station. Because when I started there, we were the weak sister station to 1050 Jump. Right. Right. Okay, so just some people, so yourself, of course, and we mentioned Ingrid. Maybe because I kind of said I'd come back to it,

but a moment to speak of Ingrid. Firstly, have you talked to Ingrid since she was let go by Chum FM? I guess it's been a few years now, but how is she doing? Do we know? She's doing great, actually. She sold her house in the city and she moved out to a country property out near Coburg.

And she is loving life out there. She's taken up painting and she's very good, by the way. And she also does, I think, a weekend segment on the Northumberland kind of volunteer community station, a gardening segment or something like that. And she has pets. She has a beautiful dog and at least one cat, I think. And she's just she's she's loving life, basically.

Glad to hear it. I have a big, yeah, big place in my heart for Ingrid. And like you say, she spent the generations of Chum even more than I did because she started in 77, but she lasted much longer. The last time I actually saw Ingrid was at the industry gathering. You know, kind of the, what do they call it? Kind of the radio and records gathering that they have. It's the only time I've ever been to it.

And that was last summer, I guess. Okay. 2019. Two years ago, I don't know, maybe two or three years ago, I was invited to that event. So what's Mike, what am I, what's Toronto Mike doing here? Because I've never worked in radio. But John Donabee asked me if I would come.

And I biked Roy Thompson Hall, I guess. And I biked over. And that was a great day. Just so many people, from Roger Ashby to Keith Hampshire. People like Michael Williams and Alan Cross kind of hanging out. Actually, a lot of future Toronto Mike guests guests uh i met at that event so i know that event and yeah it's great that you guys are hopefully it comes back when covid disappears yeah i'm pretty sure that that was just last summer yeah uh 2019 when i was there and that

was it would have been the last time i saw himgrid. She took the train into Toronto, and it was great seeing her and lots of other radio pals. Awesome, awesome. Okay, and another person I want to ask you about who bridges the air is Lee Eckley. Lee Eckley is still on the air in Oshawa, but what was it like working with Lee? Lee is a very good friend of mine. Um, we don't see, uh, each other near enough, but when we do, we have a wonderful time. Uh, he's living in Whitby working at the 94, nine rock in Oshawa. Yeah. And, um, you know, he, he feels like I do, lucky enough to still be doing this thing. Lee was a guy who grew up, and this is kind of a running joke, I grew up listening to you. But he did truly grew up listening to me and then came up from Q107 and started working with us at Chum FM. And we not only became workmatesmates but fast friends as well. He's another

guy who lasted longer than I did in the building once I made the transition to programming for CHUM and whatever. A true personality I guess I'll call him. There's only one Lee. And I have a lot of time for Lee Beans, as I call him. It was kind of an inside joke that he was Lee Beef Eckley when he was on Q107. And then when he came out to us, he became kind of the light version. So he was Lee Beans as in the vegetarian Lee Beans Eckley. So I still call him Beans and he calls me Rich Riprod. Terry Lee beans actually. So I still call him beans and he calls me rich rip ride. So, um, yeah, another very good broadcaster and just an excellent person. And, um, he's, uh, very happily in a relationship with a former, uh, ballerina from the national ballet, uh, Martine, who is

a lovely person as well. And, uh like me as uh you know grown children and grandkids and and whatever and he's he's he's doing fine yeah yeah i mean he's i would consider him a future guest because we've gone back and forth a few times uh but he doesn't want to do it on zoom he wants to do it in person so we're just gonna maybe in the spring i'll get him in the backyard in the spring yeah Yeah. I hope you can. Yeah. And I would love to have done this with you in person as well. But yeah, it would have been tough, especially with COVID now.

But he's a guy you've got to talk to. I've always said, because a lot of people have said, man, you need to write a book. And I've always said, if I do, Lee is going to have to be the co-author because he remembers more stuff about me than I do. He'll say, hey, remember when? And I'll go, oh, yeah. Yeah, now I do, now that you mentioned it. But otherwise, it's just kind of buried in there, right? All right, Rick, why does it end?

You mentioned you move into programming. So what happens? Do they tap you on the shoulder and say, you know we have an another opportunity for you or like what what changes why do you leave the airwaves of uh chem fm well that's that's pretty much the way it happened yeah uh ross davies who was my my pd at the time um said uh so where do you see yourself five years from now? And I said, well, what do you mean? Where do I was doing afternoon drive at the time on Chimayfem? And I said, what do you mean? Where do I see myself? I see myself on the air on Chimayfem. Why would I want to do anything else? You know, it's the greatest job in the world, you know, working for one of the best radio

stations and companies in the world. And and just kind of got the gentle nudge and said well it's something you might think about so if you were to change direction what would you like to do would it be programming would it be this would it be that and so i said yeah i could take a shot at programming and uh so i started to i i shifted to a uh weekend and swing position on air and began working, learning as much as I could in the music library with Chum FMN, 1050 Chum, with Barry Stewart, John Terminesi, and Brad Jones. They could only teach me so much though. And then an opportunity arose at the CHUM stations in Peterborough in late 94. And it was determined that I would go up there and take over the reins up there. Originally it was supposed to be for CKBT and then to work with the existing program

director for Country 105 at the time. But then he decided that a radio wasn't going to work for him. And so I went up there with no programming experience and had to dive into the deep end programming two radio stations. And for the first six months commuting an hour from Whitby to get up there until I could move my family up there. That's yeah. That is very much the way it happened. And I'm glad it did. At the time, it was difficult because I didn't see the future and I didn't see that it would

extend my career by at least 20 years by being in management and learning those skills and whatever. But I'm thankful when I look back at it, thankful to Ross for making that suggestion in the first place. Amazing. So, uh, what, so you're, is this CKLY FM in Lindsay where you're, uh, you're actually, uh, not only doing programming and, you know, the technical operations, but you're, uh, you're anchoring the morning show, right? That's right. While I was in Peterborough,

Chum acquired CKLY. And so I went over there. Well, I, first of all, became an operations manager for all three stations. And then it was determined that I was going to do the morning show over there. And so I did that for five years. We do mornings in Lindsay, drive the half hour from where I lived in Peterborough to Lindsay in the morning, drive back, you know, closer to 40 minutes back to downtown Peterborough to do my managerial thing. And did that, you know, for all three stations, for the two Peterborough stations and for Lindsay,

and oversaw the transition to Bob FM and Lindsay and whatnot. And then it kind of came to an end at that point. And that was one of the reasons that I actually took a package from Chum when I did that and some personal circumstances as well. Um, but it was just, I, I, I wasn't doing justice to the job. I didn't feel either, either parts of the job to, to be a really good morning man and to be a good manager of these three radio stations. And so, um, it was a, it was a contributing factor to my decision to end my tenure with Chum after over 30 years.

And is this when you make the move to Wasega? It was. Well, six months later, yeah, I sat on the beach. Excuse me. I sat on the beach for six months living off of the payout and trying to figure out what I was going to do next. Did a little bit of work for Howard Ungerleiter's lighting and production company, actually. He gave me an opportunity there to learn about a new industry.

And then just as I was beginning to learn about that, then I got a call through Chris Burns, actually, who was consulting for Bayshore Broadcasting at the time, and he asked if I would be interested in Wasaga because they were launching, Bayshore, then in May of 2007, then I moved to Wasaga. And that's where I met my second wife, my current wife. She had a business there and she was one of our best clients. And we moved in together, bought a a house together got married in Wasaga in the meantime in my five years there I also helped with the launch of the Bayshore property in Orillia which is now Max FM at the time it was called Sunshine Sunshine 89 and was overseeing those both of those radio stations for a time and then exclusively Aurelia just before

I left to come over here because I was my wife wanted to come back to Owen Sound she was she's from here originally and uh the drive between Wasaga and Owen Sound for her was uh getting too much she had sold her business in Wasaga and uh with with uh just had had the business in Owen Sound. And the drive, an hour and a half drive each way, especially in the winter, was getting too much for her. And so she decided we needed to move. That darn Owen Sound internet. Yeah, it's probably my internet here.

We're actually out in Sobel Beach. It's fine. One quick note, Rick, before we pick it up, I was just going to say, because I'm in the same boat where I'm enjoying my second marriage and I'll sometimes refer to her as my current wife. Is there that moment when you realize

just saying current wife suggests there's going to be a third and a fourth? You're my current wife. It's kind of a strange uh way to say it right it's well it's it's awkward any way you look at it you know my second wife my current wife my i don't know you know you can always say the love of my life and that'll that'll always do right i'm gonna write that down hold on that's a good one that's a good one so where do we hear you today rick are you you're on the air with a bay shore station today right i'm on the air actually with uh about four different bay shore stations right now um so coming off the country 93 morning show i've become a i guess you'd call it a voice track specialist um i vt shows on country 93 in ow Sound and Country 102 in Muskoka and

our AM560 CFOS in Owen Sound every weekday. I also VT Saturday and Sunday afternoons on our station in Port Elgin, 98th Beach. I also prepare a classic country show. I mean, go figure.

Rick Ringer, the rock guy doing classic country but I'm loving it we do a show called the hall of fame on that airs on three of our four country stations on Sunday mornings so I prepare and uh and record that as well and help out with some office duties and whatnot too it's kind of my kind of my winding down here as uh I come to the tail end of my career so well you're working too hard for a man who's supposed to be winding down. Did I see correctly, did you do some teaching with FOTM Evelyn Macko? Yeah, I did.

Well, I taught before I came back into radio and started doing the morning show on Country 93 in 2007. In early 2007, I taught a class in Humber College's postgraduate program. So I only got one semester in before I got back into radio, but it was a wonderful experience. I was blessed with an incredible group of students. And that's one of the great things about doing a post-grad program is that they're a little bit older. They're a little bit more experienced, a little bit more mature and whatnot. But this particular group of students were they were outstanding. They were they were pretty exceptional in their talent. And I think that's that's borne out by the fact that one of them is working for CBC in Edmonton.

That's that's borne out by the fact that one of them is working for CBC in Edmonton. Another is working for the CBC on air in the I can't keep track either the territories or the Yukon. A couple more have ended up at Hits FM in St. Catharines, Ashley and and and Stephen. and Stephen. And another one is doing a CBC morning show. Raham is doing a CBC morning show in St. John's, Newfoundland. And so,

you know, they were called the sweet 16 and they were, they were a great cohesive group and they were great to teach. And there was a lot of mutual respect and admiration there. So great experience for me. I had also taught at Seneca college while I was still at Chum for three semesters in the late eighties. So well, shout out to Wacko Macko,

who's a good friend of the show. And hopefully she's listening right now as well. So Rick, you kind of closed with this very positive little story about these students who have gone on to actually have, you know, careers in radio. Cause I was going to close with this big question but i'm going to do it anyway uh what

would you say to a you know a young a student today who aspires to be in radio like what would be your heart-to-heart honest advice to that person uh today my honest advice would be um good luck you've got a steep hill to climb ahead of you these days, especially because of obviously the shrinking job market. As we've found, you know, with the Bell and Rogers cuts within the last couple of weeks, you've got a lot of veterans on the shelf again now, too, that you're competing against for positions. But it can be done um as i was mentioning the students uh that i had um in the humber program they weren't afraid to travel they weren't afraid to go as far afield as they have to to get that first job and that's

what you have to do be prepared to do that and um learn as many as you can. Don't rely on just being an announcer or just being a producer if you can help it. Be ready to take just about anything that you have a skill set for, but prepare yourself to have that skill set in the first place and be yourself. Present your best self whenever you have an interview situation. yourself, you know, present your best self whenever you have an interview situation. You know, be yourself, because that's who you're going to have to be sooner or later. If you get the job, there's no, there's no point trying to feel fool them into believing that you're somebody different than you are. So good advice, good advice, Rick, thanks so much for checking in today. Like this has been fantastic. So thank you for your time and for sharing these great stories from many decades in radio.

A lot of people are going to be very happy to hear your voice here in the GTA again. Thank you so much, Mike. Like I said, I'm honored that you asked. Maybe someday we'll be able to do an update again post-COVID

and actually meet face to face here oh i'd love it and the next time you guys have those uh those radio parties that you have with you know geats in the gang at uh near the roy thompson hall there i want an invitation uh so if john donabee is listening i'd like to be invited again because that was great fun and i'll meet you there well i'd like to be invited again like i said the last one that I went to was the first one I was ever invited to and oh we're tied

it was it was it was amazing it was great so Paul Fisher's another guy by the way who's a good friend of mine

and we do stay in touch and and whatnot but he's another guy that you should get on this podcast if you haven't already so oh I know I'd love to

great great idea so thanks very much Rick Rick. This was great. All right. Thank you, Mike. Take care. And that brings us to the end of our 758th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike.

Rick is at RickRinger52. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Rick is at RickRinger52. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. CDN Technologies are at CDN Technologies. Joanne Glutish is at JGlutish, T-L-U-D-I-S-H. And Ridley Funeral Home are at Ridley F-H.

See you all later tonight with Pandemic Friday with Stu Stone and Cam Gordon. Cause my UI check has just come in Ah, where you been? Because everything is kind of rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold But the snow, snow Wants me to dance

And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is rosy and green And your smile is fine and it's just like mine and it won't go away. Cause everything is rosy and green. Well, you've been under my skin for more than eight years. It's been eight years of laughter and eight years of tears. And I don't know what the future can hold or do

for me and you But I'm a much better man for having known you Oh, you know that's true because everything is coming up rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold

but the smell of snow wants me today We'll be right back. Well, I've been told that there's a sucker born every day But I wonder who, yeah, I wonder who Maybe the one who doesn't realize there's a thousand shades of gray Cause I know that's true, yes I do I know it's true, Yeah. I know it's true. How about you? I'm picking up trash and then putting down roads. And they're brokering stocks, the class struggle explodes. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Roam Phone.

This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Roam Phone. Roam Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls. Visit RoamPhone.ca to get started. It's cold, but the smell of snow warms me today. And your smile is fine, and it's just like mine. And it won't go away, because everything is rosy and gray. Well, I've kissed you in France, and I've kissed you in Spain. And I've kissed you in places I better not name And I've seen the sun go down on Chaclacour But I like it much better going down on you

Yeah, you know that's true Because everything is coming up rosy and gray Yeah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow warms us today And your smile is fine and it's just like mine and it won't go away Because everything is rosy now Everything is rosy, yeah Everything is rosy now everything is rosy and everything is rosy and great