Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Shirley McQueen: Toronto Mike'd #652

Episode Date: May 25, 2020

Mike chats with radio personality Shirley McQueen about her career behind a mic and camera with a particular focus on her years at Q107, hosting "Something Else" with FOTM J Gold on CFMT, hosting Rockfile on CHCH and more.

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Text TORONTOMIKE to 59559. And our newest sponsor, CDN Technologies. Your IT and and cybersecurity experts. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me, we're almost there, Shirley, hang in there, is former Q107 radio personality, Shirley McQueen. Hello.

Welcome, Shirley. How is life treating you in the birthplace of my wife, Edmonton, Alberta? Really good. Really great, as a matter of fact. I'm still in radio. I work for Harvard Broadcasting here, a station called 95.7 Cruise FM. I do the afternoon drive home show. Oh, yeah, for sure.

I've done my homework, Shirley. We're going to have an, I hope, and I should have asked you this before I pressed record, but you do have a solid hour for me, right? I do. I cleared my schedule for you here in Edmonton. We've actually got a fairly decent day going on too. So, but yeah, life is good. Life is good here. It's got my 15 year old daughter, Lily. He living with me here. My son lives in Calgary with his dad.

So yeah, COVID-19 is got a self isolating of course, but I'm still going in to do the afternoon drive show. Okay, just tell me, because I look at the numbers. Alberta seems to have it pretty light. I mean, here in Ontario, we're kind of getting hammered by this thing if you look at the numbers. But Alberta, I'll be honest, it seems pretty sparse there. How is it there in Alberta? How's the anxiety levels and

the social distancing give us give us the uh the edmonton perspective on covid19 surely well i just heard this stat this morning that uh we've got 42 new cases that brings our total up to 801 total cases. That's the one thing maybe the UCP government is doing well. They've managed to plank the curve pretty good here. Well, that's good news for you. And I'm wondering now if maybe we should turn off your video because the Internet's a bit… Audio? Okay.

Like let's try this in phases. So let's, let's turn off your video. Turn off my video. Right. And then we'll give all the bandwidth to your audio. And if this doesn't work, maybe I'll have you, uh, Twitter DM me your phone number and I'll just, uh, phone you, but we'll try it like this see all the fun we're having uh during it's real time i should boost my internet uh bandwidth yeah well it's still better than hamilton sometimes i do these zoom calls with someone in hamilton and it's uh it's yeah it it's it's not so great so great. But let's catch up now by starting you at the beginning. Like, so before you get to Toronto, so whereabouts in Canada are you from?

I was born and raised in Regina, Saskatchewan. And started my broadcasting career there with Rolodeo. I was, well, I actually started with Harvard, just working the desk, you know, reception at their CTV television station in Regina. Then I moved to radio. Okay. Would it be okay if I phoned you on your phone? Because I can't see you anyways so i might i'm thinking that we'll get your internet's a bit touch and go and i want people to hear you

could i phone you absolutely okay so dm it to me because people will hear you if you say it out loud Okay. I'll go on Twitter and DM you. No worries. I'll vamp, as they say. That's what they say, right? Anyways, I'll give you a moment to send me your phone number, and then I'll call you from my Google number, so you'll get a call from Georgia. Okay.

But answer it. It's me in Toronto. Georgia as in Russia, Georgia? No, the Atlanta one. Okay. All right. All right. And for the podcast, I'll do a little editing here so they don't hear the blank spots. But for those watching on Periscope,

Shirley's internet is such that I'm making the executive decision to move it to the phone. Okay, so I'm going to my Twitter. Just waiting for the DM to make it to Ontario. So you're not live streaming it? Well, I am, but we're going to live stream it, but they'll hear you on your phone. Okay, so now what I'll do, Shirley,

now I will actually disconnect the Zoom and then I'll phone you in like 30 seconds. Okay, sounds good. Cool. Talk to you on your phone. Exciting here. You never know how it's going to go. Zoom is usually pretty good but shirley's internet is not so we're gonna do this on the phone so i'm not telling you shirley's phone number

i know you want it and i'm going to phone it from my google phone you're really getting the behind the scenes hello hi shirley hi long time no talk so have you got me better now have you got uh everything's in real time it's uh much better now and see what's to me the most important thing is I want the people to hear what you say. So, this is much, much, much better. Absolutely. Okay. That's, it's working for me too. Okay. So, we'll pick it up. You're in Regina. And of course, this is Toronto Mic'd. So, we're going to focus more heavily on your Toronto chapter. So, what brings you to Toronto? Oh, just piss and vinegar. When I was 24 years old, my girlfriend and I thought,

hey, we're ready for the big smoke. Let's go. So we both quit the jobs we were in and packed up and moved to Toronto. But Shirley, that job you were in, was that radio? Yeah, I was working for Roco Radio for a station called Zed 99. And at the time, it was CJ and me, their AM counterpart. I was doing the overnight show on Zed 99 in Regina. And I think I had about a year under my belt.

And I thought, okay, I'm ready. And we packed up and in January of 1985, my girlfriend and I, we both moved to Toronto together and got a place. And my first job in Toronto was, again, it was back in television. I started, you remember the old MTV before MTV? Okay, Shirley, the old MTV before MTV? Okay, Shirley, a little background before you tell us this story. Is that a very good FOTM, that means a very good friend of Toronto Mic'd, is Joel Goldberg. Oh, of course.

And it was me and Joel hosting something else on MTV, CFMT. Wow. Which was just fantastic. You know, I mean, it was gold to be working with Joel Goldberg. And Vince Alexander was our boss, our programmer. He had this daily show. We called it Something Else, where we had Top of the Pops videos. So we were kind of the alternative to Toronto Rocks. We were on at the same time on the other channel.

And we had all the English band stuff, whereas Toronto Rocks was a little bit more American-centric and Canadian, you know? And we were live as well. It's almost like Toronto Rocks was the Q107 to the Something Else's CFNY. That's right. Yeah, it really was.

And before myself and Joel as co-hosts on that show, it spawned people like Samantha Taylor. She was the very first host before she went to video hits on CBC. And Jonathan Gross, who's, you know, that's a name from the 80s for sure i'm not sure whatever became of jonathan gross but he took over from sam when she left to go to cbc and uh i think he did a season or two but it was kind of the door that got both myself and Joel into the media scene in Toronto. He had moved from Cleveland and, um, it, but everybody watched that show. It was kind of, it was opposite Toronto Rock. So it was really a, a great door opener and, uh, a great introduction to the media in,

and, and the viewing in public in Toronto. When Joel, I'm trying to remember when, he's been over a few times. He, the funny thing is he's been on Toronto Mic'd on his own because we, you know, he, the man started Electric Circus. Okay. Helped create Electric Circus. And he used to direct the old Maestro Fresh West videos. Yeah. So we have a lot. So he's been over a few times, but he also is the official Ziggy chaperone. So whenever Ziggy Lawrence comes over, uh, Joel Goldberg is her, uh, chauffeur,

if you will. So during one of his visits, he gifted me this poster. It's, uh, the cover of a magazine. And I, I have to get it framed because I want to hang it up in the studio here. But you see, Michael Williams is in this poster, Erica M. You're in this poster, Jay Gold, Samantha Taylor, the late great John Major's in this poster, Christopher Ward is in this poster.

You know the poster I'm talking about? I do, Graffiti Magazine. I've still got a copy of it. And you know, the fun fact i often drop because uh i learned she was married to jean volitis from q107 uh is the the very first female vj in much music history is on the cover of that graffiti magazine and uh do you know who the first woman vj was at much that wouldn't that be Catherine McClanahan? Correct.

Fun barroom trivia if you're ever trying to make a few bucks. And I believe she's in Los Angeles now. I believe she's married to the guy from, you ever watch that show back in the day, Coach? Right. I mean, I did. But, you mean, I did, but you know, I did evenings for so long, I missed a lot of primetime television

in the 80s and 90s, but I know the show. Okay, well, there's a dumb guy on that show. He's just really dumb. Or how about this? You said you have a 15-year-old, right? Yeah. Do you remember, did you ever watch SpongeBob SquarePants? Oh my god, I love that show. Okay. Are you ready, did you ever watch SpongeBob SquarePants? Oh my God, I love that show.

Okay. Are you ready? Are you sitting down? You know Patrick Starr? Yes. The voice of Patrick Starr went on, it got married to Catherine McClanahan in LA. Oh, I didn't know that.

That's fantastic. So for those who don't remember Something Else on CFMT, how long did that run for? That ran for all of about 12 weeks that first season that I did that with Joel. And then Joel did a second season, but they called it... I was going to say they called it Something Else a second season, but they called it something else.

No, they didn't call it something else. They changed the name. But Joel and Tony DiPasquale, who was our camera operator, they remained at CFMT. And that's when I jumped over to Q107. But Joel and Tony did another season. Okay, interesting. How did you get the over to Q107. Joel and Tony did another season. Okay, interesting. How did you get the gig at Q107? Well, it's funny because basically they were blowing up something else.

We didn't seem to gain enough traction for the higher up, the management. So they wanted to blow it up. And so word on the street was that this Something Else show was getting the axe, the shepherd's hook. And one of our very last shows, I think about a week before we went on a fair that spring in 1985, I came back down after the show, back down to my desk, and there was a message from Gary Slate, the owner and purveyor of Q107 Standard Broadcasting. Wow. Just a giant, a titan figure in media in Canada.

And he wants me to come in and interview for a gig at Q107. I just about fell off my chair, of course, because, again, talk about gold. So, yeah, that's how i got my job at q107 i went and sat with gary and uh by the end of our conversation he offered me a job on q107 so i started doing overnights and weekends and stuff like everybody does of course and uh yeah the rest is history did at that time like mid-80s, did you have any desire to try to get a gig at, I guess it was 99 Queen Street East at the time, but see if there was something for you at Much Music? I absolutely did. who worked there. And my sister eventually came out from Regina, and she went to school radio television in Belleville at the Loyalist College there. And she came to Toronto after that. So that

would have been about 88. And she immediately started working at City TV Much Music as an audio editor. And she was there until we both left in 98. So she was there for years. And then a year after I moved out to Toronto, so this would be 86 now, two of my best friends from Regina followed. And both of them ended up at Much Music City TV throughout most of the 80s and 90s. Graham Yates was an on-air producer. And Bev Nansen eventually, after a career with Yuck Yucks in the

publicity department there, after that blew up, she wound up being one of Moses' right hands in the 90s at City TV Much Music. And then just tons of friends who also worked there, yeah. And of course I wanted to be a part of that scene.

Oh, it was just so exciting. You know, Toronto at that time in the 80s with the birth of video and video channels and the rise of it, of course, was just such an exciting time to be there, you know, and it was all about music and the culture scene, and there was just so much going on. It just felt so rich and so active, like anything was possible, you know. And I tried, I auditioned probably a half a dozen times

for various jobs with much music, but somehow the door was shut for me. I don't know. Well, that's their mistake. Okay, Shirley. Moses is a visionary, but apparently this didn't get to him because he would have seen hire this woman. Well, you know, as it turned out, I, I remained at Q107, thankfully.

Although again, not for lack of trying to get back into television. I did end up quitting Q107 a year after I started there in early 86 or mid-86. Do you remember the first edition of the Life Channel? Not really. Tell me about it. Yeah, their offices were on Cumberland, right in Yorkville. Yeah, their offices were on Cumberland, right in Yorkville. And I, like with stars in my eyes, I leave Q107 like a fool and bounce over to the Life Channel. They were starting this daily video show, and they offered me the job. And I'm, you know, I had my eyes on television. And luckily, Gary, with all his wisdom, didn't actually tell me not to go. But he did say, well, listen, why don't you just, you know, can you be my swing person? Can you be my evenings or weekend swing if I need somebody, if somebody's on holidays or something? Keep your foot in the door here at radio. And I think he knew, he saw the writing on the wall,

Life Channel, that lasted all about four or five months, and they were bust. So I was out of a gig, but thankfully I had, Gary had my back at Q107, so he invited me back in, and I eventually got full time again. Now, I'm trying to think of how to word this about sounding like, you know,

I don't, I'll just do my best with this one, but is it, did you have this overwhelming sense? Like that perhaps, you know, the old, the old joke was that,

Oh, that person has a face for radio. Right. Okay. So you with me? Meanwhile, okay. Cause,

and I, I've seen you, you you know we'll talk about rock file and these different things but like uh shirley mcqueen uh didn't have a face for radio and that's not to say everyone on radio i mean joanne wilder's in radio okay she's she's a beautiful woman lots of attractive people are in radio but uh there was a sense that hey shirley mcqueen uh should be in front of a camera, not just a microphone. And I tried my best, but somehow radio pulled me back in. Like Godfather 3.

Okay, so let me take you, so Q107, I got lots of questions, but before I bury you with the Q107 questions, let's talk about some of the TV you did around Q107 before you left the big smoke. Like, for example, Rockfile. What can you tell us about Q107's Rockfile? Well, that was in 1989. And did we do one or two seasons of that? And we shot it out at CHCH Hamilton, which is now, I believe it's called O or On or something TV. I can't recall. I think they're back to CHCH. I think they went to On something and then I think they switched it back to CHC,

but I could be wrong. Who knows what's going on over there? Omni maybe. I can't remember. Anyway. So, um, yeah,

we shot it in Hamilton and that was through Q107. It was a, basically a video show of our top 20 of our weekly top 20. So I would head out to Hamilton. Uh, was it every Friday? I think it was. And we'd shoot. I think it was Saturday or maybe it was shot on a Friday, but aired on a Saturday. I don't know. I think it aired on Saturdays. Yeah, it aired Saturday nights, but we would shoot like two or

three of them. Maybe even once a month, I would head to Hamilton and we'd shoot like two or three or four of them. I can't remember now. That's taxing my brain. That's 30 years ago. Well, that's what I do. I tax the brain. But it is interesting though, Shirley, like to learn that this is something that's a weekly countdown, right? So the idea that you could like can it or stockpile them like a few weeks in advance. It really is like finding out, you know, like just being, you know, finding out about the smoke and mirrors because you're, it's, you know, you're faking this out. Like this is some kind of a weekly tabulation or something.

Well, I mean, behind the curtain, but yeah, I mean, they could project, let's say. So, so yeah, I think I only would shoot two, though. If I think about it, I think it was two at a time. Funny story, I remember one week we finished shooting and we had to get out of there quick because Leona Boyd, the classical guitarist, was coming in for an interview on a different program right after

it, so they needed that studio. So we packed up and we had to get out of there pretty quickly. And the guys were setting up for Leona Boyd, and she came in and she had set her beautiful classical guitar down. And something went wrong, and somebody had, I can't remember what it was, but a wall fell over and smashed her guitar to bits. Oh, wow. Wow, yes, that's right. We were like, oh, everyone was mortified. She's still performing, Leona Boyd.

Yeah, she's fantastic. Am I remembering right? She had all the really long fingernails on one hand, if I'm trying to remember. Yeah, yeah. That's right. So a couple of episodes now it's not so bad.

You're just faking us out three weeks out, but you're only faking us out maybe eight or nine days out. That's right. I remember now it was bi-weekly I would go in, so it was two weeks. That's right. You didn't bump into Billy Vann or any Steve Smith or any of these CHCH,

Bill Lawrence or anybody? No, I didn't. We were always, we were just off on our own. And we had sort of a separate studio from everybody. If I recall correctly, too, it was in a different part of the building sort of thing. Any other...

Go ahead. Great crew out there at CHCH. Are there any other television things you did while you were in Toronto and also on Q107? Yeah. Basically specials.

Do you remember the Toronto Music Awards? That lasted for three seasons. Oh, with Ian Thomas. Yeah, it was 89, 90, and 91 were the Toronto Music Awards. And it was a Q107 initiative again. So they'd get me in front of the camera. And one year I co-hosted with Ian Thomas, the musician,

Painted Ladies in a Bottle of Wine. Absolutely. Dave Thomas's brother. And let me see, did I have a co-host the other couple of times? I'm trying to remember now. I'm sure I did. But the first year we were at the Phoenix, at the Phoenix Concert Theater. And then, I think that was two years.

And then we switched to the big club in Mississauga. I'm trying to remember the name of it. Was it Stars or something like that? And that time it was on CBC. The first couple of seasons we did it again with CHCH, but the third time we did it was CBC Television, and that's when Ian Thomas came on board. Oh, we had some fantastic musicians.

I remember presenting Gordon Lightfoot with an award and Blue Rodeo played. We introduced them and it was great hosting with Ian Thomas, of course. And then I also did that global, before it was global, it was Canwest Television, remember? Yes.

And it was their telethon oh variety yeah yeah variety club and i hosted uh uh a day of that with burton cummings and terry david mulligan the three of us so there was that and i think that was it yeah I think that was it in terms of television now is it okay if I ask you about some Q107 personalities you worked with and then you can riff on them, tear them to shreds, do as you wish alright

let's start with a guy, you worked with a guy at Q107 whose son is now a very good NHL player slash prospect because he's very young. But I'm referring to Andy Frost. I know and love and miss Andy. Yep.

So, yeah, Andy, for many years, hosted Psychedelic Sunday. Well, many, until actually pretty recently. And again, it's amazing that he's got a son who not only makes the NHL, but he was a star for the junior team. And there's high hopes he could be a perennial all-star, as you say, which is kind of amazing. Isn't that something else, huh?

Yeah, I'm so proud and happy for him. Morgan is his name, Morgan Frost, Andy's son. Yeah, working with Andy was just tremendous. I mean, he came to Q107 about, I want to say less than a month after I did, from Winnipeg, of course, I did, from Winnipeg, of course. And Steve Warden followed behind, not too far behind. And when Andy first came on board, was he a program director yet? No, I think they just brought him on board for Psychedelic Sunday and for some specials and things like that. But at one point, he started doing Afternoon Drive, too.

Maybe when Derringer went to Montreal that happened. But yeah, Andy, you know, Psychedelic Sunday and of course our live stuff at the Phoenix, the live club gigs that Andy was doing Strange Paradise Mondays.

I went often to the Strange Paradise Mondays. I went often too and I would pinch hit whenever he wasn't available or on holidays. I hosted a few Strange Paradise Mondays myself. But otherwise, I was in the parlor at the Phoenix doing Friday nights, the retroactive Fridays. So Andy would do Mondays, I would do Fridays, but we were always at the Phoenix, as was, like you say,

as were most people. Now, yeah, it was a, it was a hot spot for, for my people, that's for sure. Now,

when, when I had Brother Bill on the show, so Brother Bill was, is now known as Neil Morrison, but he was on CF, CFY as Brother Bill, and now he's, he's out West, he's in White Rock Morrison, but he was on CFY, his brother Bill, and now he's out west. He's in White Rock, actually.

I listened to your show with him last week. Yes, it was last week, and it was very revealing, very interesting. We talked about how these club gigs were kind of like, that was where a lot of the cabbage was made. Like, you know, lucrative money-wise, these club gigs were really kind of important for a radio DJ back then, right?

Well, yeah, thank God for that because the mainstream, you know, radio job, you almost needed a second job, most of us. Even in Toronto, you know, it's, it's people hear these exorbitant salaries that some of these morning people make and think everybody in radio makes that kind of money. But the only reason that they can pay the, you know, the select few, that kind of money is because everybody else makes peanuts, right? And, and I mean, basically, else makes peanuts, right?

And I mean, basically, in Toronto, you could make a living, but just barely. And that's true even today in the major markets that, you know, you can make a living if you get one of the high-profile shifts, right? But those club gigs basically

paid your bills, you know? Right, and I think you nailed it when you said, you know, people hear, like, for example, I'll just say, people will hear, oh, I hear Aaron Davis made this. Meanwhile, we're talking about the, well, I'd say the 1%, but it might be less than

that, but you can't paint the whole, you know, this is, these are the, you know, I mean, I was going to ask you in a moment about working with John Derringer, right? We all heard about his contract, but these are few and far between. It's interesting how other than a select... This might have changed now, but other than a morning show host, and it used to be afternoon drive, although I hear that's even less so now.

How do you live in a city as expensive as Toronto and stay on the radio? Yeah, like you say, I'd be surprised if it's even the 1%. It's just those select few people that can really drive the bus. And so for the most part, it's the morning show because that's where the numbers are. Most people are listening to radio in the morning, getting ready in their cars, driving to work, especially in a town like Toronto where the commute is so long. So that's your goal right there in terms of numbers and available listeners.

And that's the drivers. That's where you want to, your best foot forward, of course, is in that morning slot and also to a lesser degree the afternoon drive. But it's important as well. So you got these club gigs to make a bit of cash so you can feed yourself. Exactly, you know. But it became somewhat dangerous because you're in the clubs all the time and the drinks are flowing and people are buying you drinks and shooters. And boy, I mean,

at some point it was like, I gotta get out of here. Okay. So I got to ask you before, uh, while we're on the Q and O seven, I got to ask you because, uh, I, I host a, I don't host it. What am I saying? I produce a podcast that features Peter Gross, who was at City TV. Gallagher. Yeah, and John Gallagher. You got it. Okay.

So I'm inundated with stories of cocaine in the 80s, late 80s. So obviously I'm not going to ask any personal health questions here, but it sounds like it could be an unhealthy environment to be at clubs of this crowd all the time. You got that right. I mean, even today, you look at any kind of fame and people with a lot of money and a lot of available sycophants around them, for lack of a better term. And it can be dangerous. A lot of people can't handle it.

You know, you see the evidence in the number of people that go overboard and wind up in a really bad way and sometimes don't come back, you know. It can be very dangerous. And I applaud anyone who has managed to pull themselves back from the brink. I heard you mention Steve Anthony when you were talking to Neil last week. And yeah, so there's a few that, you know, like, thank God they're still on this side of the grass, you know? Oh, yeah. You're right. I know, because you hear, I always hear these stories about, like, let's say somebody like a George Michael, right? Because you hear, I always hear these stories about like, let's say somebody like a George Michael, right?

And George Michael will have a heart attack and die well before, you know, well before his time, you'd think. And then they'd say, oh yeah, you know, cocaine, apparently cocaine is not good for the heart. And then you worry about your buddies who might have partied a little harder than they should have back in the day. But so far, so on that note, because I work pretty closely with the guy and I know he had a lot of airtime in my Brother Jake episode, which was a couple of weeks ago, because I know he enjoyed listening to that. But can you share any, and good or bad, he's got thick skin, anything you can share about John Gallagher at this time would be appreciated. at this time would be appreciated. John has always been such a character and he is so much fun to be around. And there you go, like, thank God he brought himself back from the brink

because, man, it was dicey for a while, you know. And, you know, hey, I call myself a participant to a certain degree back in the 80s, too. But I never sort of got the appeal. I mean, I dabbled and I immediately thought, oh, I don't like this, you know. It never really, it wasn't addictive for me. It was not my drug of choice, you know. Well, that's good luck.

I mean, that's good because if you did it and you're like, oh, I love this, then you're in trouble, right? Then you're in trouble. And, you know, not only is it bad for you physically wise, but the money, people just spend thousands on that, right? Like, no wonder you needed club gigs, because

holy crap, you know, and then you weren't saving any of that, because it just evaporated up noses you know it was uh like what what a terrible drug that that is and that was yeah and uh john if you're like john gallagher you needed to be both a morning show guy on qn07 and a uh sports uh guy at night on city tv. On City TV, yeah. And, I mean, John's just one of those guys where it's like a car wreck.

You're compelled to watch because what's he going to do next? What's he, you know, what crazy antics, what jab, what barb, what turn of phrase? Like, he was just one of the best in terms of writing great material, stealing great material, whatever he could do to bring it to the masses. But he delivered, that's for sure. And still does. Still does. That's why I love producing that podcast. He's bananas, but I love bananas.

They're good for you. They've got lots of potassium. And he's such a loyal friend too. Whenever I'm in Toronto, he's one of my first calls because he's so much fun and he's invested. He's a good, loyal friend. Now, speaking of people we lost too early, probably due to vices here, let's talk for a moment. Did you work with Scruff Connors? I did. And Scruff, oh my goodness. And there's another guy who, you know, like brought himself back from the edge a couple of times, but I've got a good Scruff story. Yes, please.

but I've got a good Scruff story. Yes, please. So I did evenings for so many years at Q107. And you may recall after we left Young and Bloor, we went up to Young and Norton in just north of Mel Lassman Square there in North York. And that's where Andy was doing the overnight syndicated show, which I remember, Overnights with Andy Frost. And Scruff came on and was doing the two shows that Andy did not do, syndicating across the country. Most markets were carrying the overnight syndication. And so I would do evenings, and I'd hand it off to Andy Frost

and his producer, Gio, who were in the other studio next to Q107. And on the other two nights, it would be Scruff who came in. Well, one Friday, Scruff comes in for a show, and there was a bar across the street from our building. I can't remember the name of it. So I'm just walking out. Scruff is just walking in, and he literally does one of those shepherd hook arm things with me and says, come on, we're going across the street to the bar.

We want some drinks. And I'm like, but Scruff, don't you have a radio show to do? He's like, and he's, oh, I put the first hour in the can. Come on, let's go get some drinks. And I'm like, well, okay. So we go across the street

and we sit in the bar and he's just pounding these shots back. I'm like, Scruff, maybe you better take it easy. You still got a radio show to do. And then I, so I thought, I got to get him out of here

or he's going to be too hammered to go on the air. So I'm like, okay, come on. It's our last one. We're going to, we're going to, you know, pack it in here, Scruff. So I take him back to the studio and I get him all set up in, uh, on the air and I left. And then next morning I called in for whatever reason, I needed something from somebody there. And do you hear about Scruff? And I'm like, no. It's like, oh, he had a heart attack last night on the air. They had to send the paramedics. I'm like, are you joking? Yeah. So Scruff just lived hard. The man lived hard. But again, talk about a guy who could deliver. I mean, he was one of the funniest people

in the room at all times, and was the same off air as he was on air. You know, there was no pretense. He was just that guy with, you know, the best lines, the best jokes, but authentic, you know? And Brother Jake, same way, right? Yeah, I heard your talk with Brother Jake last week as well. And there's a guy who I just love to pieces and has been an integral part of my career, that's for sure. Another really good friend and mentor. I said, I said, champ. I was hoping you would have asked him about his,

uh, um, veal character. Oh, you know what though? I'm going to do a sequel with, uh, brother Jake because,

uh, Oh yeah. He was a full value. So we're doing another one for sure. I just gotta give it a little time and then I'm going to pounce and I'll, I'll talk about that. But you know, even like I've been telling my, I have a teenage time and then i'm gonna pounce and i'll talk about that but you know even

like i've been telling my i have a teenage son and uh i've been kind of telling him the joke like not the joke the champ bits i remembered and uh it's i'm telling you it's it might not be quite some of them are i guess what i would say is this in the 2020 years a number of the champ bits sound either homophobic or borderline homophobic. Like they're not appropriate for 2020. They were at the time, of course, you remember that's a time where in the playground, your insult, your go-to insult was you're gay. That was the go-to insult at the time.

So we've evolved a long way. But I will say a lot of those champ bits are still very, very funny. Like, we had a lot of laughs. And same deal with, you know, borderline, well, not even borderline, but full-on misogynist. Right. As you illustrated about the, you know, the origin of the characters with the McLean brothers and how there was no pullback with, there was no, what's the word I'm looking for? There was no pullback from the misogyny with the McLean brothers. And Jake took that character

and, you know, there was retribution, if you will, you know. Right, right. Now, you know, so did you, by any chance, so now that I learned you heard a couple of recent Q episodes, did you listen to Gene Velitis a few weeks ago? I had it queued up and then I got distracted on the weekend. Who distracted you, Shirley? I need to know who distracted you. And this is unacceptable. But I bring that up because with Gene, it's funny because, you know,

Gene had that rotating thing going where we talked about Scruff Connors. We talked about Brother Jake. And then, of course, Jesse Dillon, right? Which was Jesse and Gene. Yeah. And in fact, I know there's a near Yonge and Norton right now. There's a Jesse and Gene lane somewhere apparently. There is. Yeah, that happened when

we were up at Yonge and Norton there when I was there and they were doing the morning show. So anything you can say? And again, I finally get Shirley McQueen. We can thank, if you're looking for a silver lining to the pandemic, and I think we're all looking for a silver lining. The fact that I decided to actually do some remote conversations with the

brother Jakes, the brother Bills, the Shirley McQueens, who were just nowhere near my Toronto studio to come here and physically, you know, like if anything, there's the silver lining. So again, I'm sorry that I'm pestering you of all this Q107 stuff, but it's been eight years of podcasting. It's all built up and pent up. And now I finally have you on the phone. No problem. I love talking about my time at Q107 and in Toronto. I miss it terribly even now. And I miss all the people, you know, like I said earlier, in the 80s and the 90s in Toronto, it was just such a rich cultural time to be there and to be immersed in it and the

club scene and the restaurant scene. And my colleagues, everybody from Andy Frost and Steve Warden, Bob Makowitz, John Derringer. Do you remember Dusty Shannon? Yes. Yeah, she's in Vancouver now. She's an actress. Her real name is Joanne Wilson. And she's acting, or sorry, sorry, not Vancouver. She's in Victoria. She moved out there years ago.

And she's doing a lot of theater now. She's a trained Shakespearean actress. Yeah. Okay, well, you mentioned two names i need you to elaborate on uh talk about again i have to call macco senior because i've had his son on the show uh bob macklewood's junior right so tell us about macco senior and then if you don't mind uh after that i want to hear about somebody who's you know still on the air at QN07, John Derringer. Yeah. Well, Mako Sr., I mean, he, again, just a great mentor, a great mind. He's a 19th century English lit major at Rochdale. And I don't know if you've heard the stories. Well, he actually

wrote the book on Rochdale Tower. It's called Tower of Something. Oh, it's escaping me right now. But Bob and a partner of his wrote the book on Rochdale all about that experiment in the 60s and early 70s, Rochdale College in Toronto, which is just, I mean, it was sort of like a hate Ashbury scene, if you will. There was lots of Ash, you know, and Bob was part of that. He was immersed in that. So he's got an amazing mind, and he's so literate and so intelligent and smart, and yet he's just fun to be with as well, and loved the music that came out of that period as well,

and brought that to Q107, of course, when Slate hired him to program the music on Q107. I'm not sure if he was there at the very beginning, but he was there for most of the 80s and 90s, most of the Gary Slate years anyway. So just a fantastic guy to learn from and to be around and absorb all that knowledge about music and the scene, you know. Mako, just an incredible guy. And he was putting a station on the air in Vancouver a few years ago. So I had occasion to meet with him again

because I was looking at maybe perhaps joining that station. But my life went sideways and I wound up doing my divorce and stuff. Oh, I know what that's like. Don't worry. Yeah. Never ended up panning out. But anyway, probably a good thing because the station that Macco put on the air was called Shore 104 in Vancouver.

And now it's, oh, it's, I think it's Shore 102 maybe because now I believe it's called The Peak and it's a Patterson station now. Okay. If I'm not mistaken. Yeah. But so yeah, Macco is just fantastic to work with. And then, you know, my time at QN07, I said all I have to do is stay here long enough and I'll work for every company.

All I have to do is stay here long enough and I'll work for every company because we were bought and sold like about three times, four times in my tenure there. And I had over, I think, eight PDs in the time I was at Q&A. Well, can you name the owners? Because you mentioned, I'm going to let you do it. I was going to take a stab at it. But do you remember all the owners of Q during your time there? Well, as I mentioned, I was hired by Gary Slate,

and that was Standard Broadcasting, and they sold to WIC, Western International Communications, a year after I got there. So I only worked for Gary for that first year, a year and a bit kind of thing. And when WIC bought us, that would have been, they hired Don Schaefer. Actually, I just got a text from Don just this morning. They hired Don Schaefer to come out from Vancouver and program Q107.

So my PDs up to that point had been Gary Slate and then Bob Makowitz, Andy Frost for about five minutes. And then, believe it or not, Joey Vendetta was PD for about five minutes. Yes, Joey Vendetta. By the way, what was it like working with Joey Vendetta? Joey, again, what a character. It was so much fun. That guy was just boundless energy, you know, and had a character. It was so much fun. That guy was just boundless energy, you know, and had a story. And he had a way of wheedling his way in. He could pick up the phone and call

anybody from Chris Robinson of the Black Crows to, you know, the guys of Guns N' Roses. Well, he's in LA now, so he's hanging around with all those guys because he's part of the Hollywood Records, which I believe now Disney owns. So, I mean, he knows all those guys. But even at Q107, he got into the music department and just started making his friends and colleagues with the bands and stuff. So after Derringer left,

Joey started hosting the Six O'Clock Rock Report with Steve Warden. And the two of them, they got everybody. Well, Derringer did and Macko did when I first joined Q107 in 85. It was Derringer and Macko doing the Rock Report. So, I mean, you know, they got everybody too. Everybody from Roger Waters to, you know, Robert Plant to Robert Plant to, again, the Black Crows. I mean, everybody came to Q107's Rock Report, right? So I was lucky because I was doing the evenings for so much of that time that I would come in and I'd be doing my show prep while the guys were doing the Rock Report.

So I got to meet and greet everybody. It was fantastic. so I got to meet and greet everybody you know it was fantastic and Joey again those guys doing the rock report it was just everybody listened because it was so much fun and

they were funny and they were well informed and they knew the music and Shirley to remind listeners this is a time when there was these foreground programming requirements right from the CRTC. Yeah. So now I believe they're all gone.

Like, I don't think we have them anymore. But like, you know, I guess, you know, the name Scott Turner, for example. And he's been on the show and he kind of explained to us all the shows he started at CFNY, for example, to make to comply. But yeah, the shows would show up like these five o'clock and live in toronto and on cfny and the five o'clock rock report or whatnot and basically because you needed the foreground programming that's right and on the weekend when i first started at q and 85 uh on the weekends we had bill king uh doing a jazz show for an hour. He's an FOTM, so shout out to Bill King because the man played piano for Janis Joplin, for goodness sakes.

I know. He's just a national treasure, and he's American. But we got him because, again, smart, intelligent, visionary that he is had the good sense to get out of America long ago. Well, I think he was dodging the draft, right? The Vietnam draft. He was. Yeah, he did.

He came to Canada. We got a lot of great people. A lot of great people emigrated to Canada to avoid that Vietnam draft. Yeah. And so I was doing, opting for Bill. I opted for Bill doing the jazz show on Saturday morning. I would work the board.

Right. And same with John Donabee who came in for, what was his show? I think he was just, you know, being John Donabee in his vast knowledge again of the music and the scene. And his connections, right? He could have picked up that phone and had Levon Helm on the phone. He could have had John Lennon. Oh, my God. Oh, John Lennon was dead in 1980. But, I and had Levon Helm on the phone. He could have had John Lennon. Oh, John Lennon was dead in 1980. But, I mean, Levon Helm for sure.

And a lot of the guys from the band and elsewhere, he was, I mean, come on. John Donabee's a legend. He is. And so having my eyes open to these amazing guys that I'm sitting across, I'm operating the board for Bill King, for John Donabee. Oh, my God. Right. So and then Grant and John did the blues show and they would come in Saturday mornings.

Was it Saturday mornings, I think. And pleasure to work with those guys, too. So I had just this front row view to just all the best music and the most knowledgeable minds of the music and the culture seen in Toronto and Canada and America, you know. So it was really a wonderful experience working at Q107 all those years. A listener by the name of Kevin wants to share that I'll read his tweet here. They were doing a round-the-world contest back in 89 or 90. I got through and Shirley told me

I was one caller off. Sigh. You know, Shirley, I mean, this is all about like, you know, you mentioned tearing down the curtain or whatever, but I've been in the room of a major radio station when they did these things. And let's pretend you were taking the 107th caller. Let's pretend. OK, let's I've seen it where the phone you pick.

The person would pick up the phone and say, your caller 52. Sorry. And then the very next call, your caller 106, sorry. And then the third call, you're the 107th caller. Congratulations. So I'm just saying I've seen this in action. I've heard that other people do that. But, you know, and I'm saying this in all honesty, I tried to maintain doing the way I said I was going to do it. Like

if I said caller nine or whatever, I would do it. But like with me, I tried not to do the caller 107 unless it was some major promotion and that came down from the mucky mucks back in the office, you know. But who wants to answer 107 phone calls, right? I'm busy here. wants to answer 107 phone calls. Well, I was going to say. I'm busy here. That's your first. We were spinning vinyl and CDs back then. So I have stuff to do.

I couldn't answer 107 phone calls. The fact we believed it to begin with means we were just like naive because of course nobody's sitting there to answer 107 phone calls to give away, I don't know, two tickets to Super Tramp or whatever. Like this just wasn't how it was done. I'm going to ask you about a couple more quick, because they're great friends of the show. So I just want to ask you real quickly about working with Al Joines and Jeff Woods.

And John, was John Scholes there too? I can't remember when he showed up. Yeah, John Scholes showed up after I had already left. But through my, like, whenever I came back to Toronto, of course, I'd go into the station and hang out with old friends and stuff. So then John, that's how I got to know John Scholes, because he was around once Chorus moved everybody down to Eaton Centre. And so whenever I came back to visit, and especially because when I left, I went out to Vancouver with, again, with Chorus. So I stayed with the company when I left, and I just started working the weekend shift. I took over from Brother Jake in Vancouver.

Wow, small world. So when he and Brother Jake was an integral part of getting me on Rock 101 in Vancouver. But sorry, to answer your question, yes, again, Jeff Woods. I mean, talk about a wealth of knowledge and a guy who's just got, you know, I mean, sexy, oozy energy coming out of that microphone and knows his stuff inside out

and, you know, like, I mean, easy on the eyes. And he is also a good friend. And I treasure the days I worked with Jeff. And again, he was my PD for a while. We were colleagues at first, and he left. He was at QNF 7 early as well, like back in the mid-'80s with us. And then he left to open his record store. Remember, he had that, I think it was on Church Street, he had that record store for a while.

And I remember going to visit him in there, buying vinyl from him. And then I think he left the city for a while before he came back again. And then our paths seemed to cross. Then I went out to Vancouver and Jeff stayed in Toronto. Well, again, he was my PD for a while in Toronto before I left. Well, he was assistant PD under Pat Cardinal, was my final PD at Q107.

And Jeff was the assistant PD. And then who's the other one you asked? Oh, I was going to ask about Al Joines. Al Joines. Al Joines. He's a good egg, too. And, you know, thank God for social media in this day and age, because I've managed to keep a line open with so many of my old friends and colleagues through social media.

So Al and I are always popping up on Facebook, talking to one another. Oh, good. Same with Gallagher. Same with Jeff, although I haven't talked to him for a while. Not since we had a Q107 reunion in 2017. Jeff moved up to, it's called Thornbury, but like near Collingwood. Yeah, yeah.

With, you know, funny as it is, I think he's up there with an old friend of mine and a boyfriend of mine, Patrick. And yeah, Patrick and Jeff ended up becoming really close after I was long out of the picture. So I think they're up there like being buddies

building houses, I think. I know Jeff likes to paint houses. I don't know if he builds them, but he definitely paints them. I think they were renewing the house that Jeff was buying or moving into up in... What's the name of the town again? Thornbury. Thornbury, yes.

I don't know why I wanted to say Tilsonburg, but no, Thornbury. Okay, I'll remember that now. Okay, Shirley, I'm going to take a moment to thank the sponsors of Toronto Mic'd because these are some great companies that help fuel the real talk. And then I'm going to, here's a teaser as if I worked in radio. The teaser is, I'm going to, I have a question that I've had, I'm doing the math in my head right now, for over 30 years, and you're going to answer it for me. Okay. So I've held onto this for 30 years and now Shirley McQueen is on Toronto Mic'd in 2020 and we're going to get answers to it. But first, I want to just say, if anyone listening has not done this yet, then shame on you. Go, this is Garbage Day. Garbage Day is a, it's a free service and it ends the guesswork related to the collection of waste and recycling. So you don't have to worry about missing a collection or trying to figure out what bin to put out of the curb.

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Speaking of safe, curbside pickup, and there's also delivery from Great Lakes Brewery. If you want local fresh craft beer, you got to go with Great Lakes. They got a bunch of new beers on offer. Go to greatlakesbeer.com. And finally, but not lastly, Palma Pasta. We literally had Palma Pasta lasagna for dinner. There's six of us here. Everybody was just delighted. It's the most authentic, best Italian food you can buy. And they're open for business.

And they just celebrated their 35th anniversary. So happy anniversary, Palma Pasta. And thanks for being a part of the Real Talk experience here on Toronto Mic'd. And Shirley, if you're still with me here.

Yes. Okay, here it is. So I was a, I guess I was a religious listener of the top 10 at 10. I never missed the top 10 at 10. And I would often record it even, and I took it very seriously. Looking back, I'm like, oh, I remember thinking remember thinking like oh paradise city is only number four still it should have risen to the top like i remember being very like taking it very seriously but what i'm hoping you can uh answer now and i'm hoping you can be crystal clear and tell us the

real the real truth here how was the top 10 at 10 tabulated? Was there any criteria? Or was it like the music director would just move the parts and say, here is the top 10 at 10 for tonight? Just give me the real scoop on how the top 10 at 10 was assembled at Q107. It was authentic. It was authentic. I would take requests all night and compile the top 10 of 10. I had a notepad from my show started at 7 after the 6 o'clock rock report finished.

And I would take requests all night. If you want to vote for the top 10 of 10, give me a call. And I kept a tabulation of the songs that were getting the votes. And it was completely authentic. Whatever got the most, that's how the cards landed, you know? First of all, it's great to hear that because that's what I thought at the time. But, you know, as you get older and you become jaded and cynical, right?

And you learn the truth about so many things and you realize, I was a stupid kid. I remember, you know, now that I've talked to so many people like yourself and they'll tell me the truth about things, I'm like, oh, there's no... That's just... Shirley McQueen just said, here are the 10 songs we're pushing this week on QN07

and that's the order and maybe you'd make little adjustments every day or add in the new, you know, Rolling Stones single or whatever you would do. But this is great. There is some kind of science to this. Yeah, it was just the way that when the crumbs landed was exactly how I played those songs.

I think when, I don't know whose episode it was now, I can't remember, but somebody from Q was on years ago and I explained that there was a song I heard once on the Top 10 of 10. It might have been Jeff Woods, but Salty Dog had a song called Come Along and I recorded it on the Top 10 of 10 and I love this song. And then it like disappeared. Like I never heard it again. I never, you know, there was no much music video to catch. And then it was like from a time pre-internet

when it was like sort of like that song just sort of like disappeared from my life for decades until I could find it again on the internet. It's just interesting how these little pop-ups would happen in that era. And you just remembered that song for me. I love that song too. And I was really hoping it would do better and stick around and that band would do well.

Yeah, salty dog. But there's more than, yeah. So come along. In fact, I can hear it in my head right now and I'm going to do everyone a favor and not sing it, but it had this kind of buildup thing and then it had this manic part.

So, uh, I, I just couldn't get enough of it. Like I thought it was the coolest song and it would get my heart rate going, you know, the adrenaline pumping, but I just assumed I was the only one who liked it because it never got,

it never got airplay beyond a couple of top 10 of 10 appearances. Yeah, beyond that, you're right. And obviously those guys have fallen off the map, it would seem. It's funny how these songs, and people have, like, I'm glad to hear you remembered it

because, you know, Jeff, you know, you talk to people and, you know, I think John Scholes remembered it. But, you know, it's one know, you talk to people and, you know, I think John Scholes remembered it but, you know, it's one of those kind of obscure songs in this market anyway. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. And I think they even, were they a local band? They couldn't have been. I think they were American. I'm going to say California and I don't know why I think that

but maybe it's from, like, recent research. I'm wondering if they actually came to Toronto because we were giving them airplay. I'm trying if they actually came to Toronto because we were giving them airplay. I'm trying to think, did they play Rock and Roll Heaven? Because again, if you recall, when we were at Young and Bloor,

Rock and Roll Heaven was in the basement of that Hudson Bay office tower, right? Of course. So of course, it was just easy enough for me when I got off at 11 or even later when I started getting off at midnight, just slipped down the rock. One, Gareth Brown was programming the bands who played there.

And oh, my God, we had some good fun down at Rock and Roll Heaven. Wow, those are the untold stories we're going to have to get on your next tour. Well, I remember the first time the Black Crowes came to town and their record had just, their first record had just come out. Shake Your Money Maker. Yeah. Shake Your Moneymaker. Yeah, Shake Your Moneymaker. And they came in for the Six O'Clock Rock Report and they were green, right? They were just so happy.

We were playing their record and they were so open and willing to talk and come on down to the bar after. So we all went down to Rock and Roll Heaven after their gig that night. And they became, again, F-O-T-Q, if you will, because every time they came to town, we would get together for dinners and drinks and their show, of course. Yeah, they were awesome guys. I think, in fact, I know that Steve Gorman, so you had the Robinson Brothers, but then you had Steve Gorman, who was like a primary songwriter for Black Crows. He lives in Toronto. Oh, does he?

Yeah. Huh. Wow, that's cool. So they clearly liked it here. And this actually, funnily enough, every Friday during the pandemic, I do these Pandemic Friday episodes with Stu Stone and Cam Gordon,

and they're great fun. And we kick out thematic jams. So we play 15 songs with a theme. And I'm trying to remember, it'll come to me in a minute what the theme was on Friday, but one of the songs we did kick out was from Shake Your Money Maker. It was the cover of the Otis Redding song.

Hard to Handle. Hard to Handle. But when I heard Hard to Handle, which was obviously a big hit for them, I kept thinking of the song I used to hear on Q107 that was from the same album that I far preferred, which was Jealous Again. I love that song, too.

Me, too. I thought that song was amazing. It probably was played right alongside Salty Dog. Who knows? Anyway, good times. Yeah, Rock and Roll Heaven was great fun. I still remember being at the Phoenix for the very first Tragically Hip show. And again, we were very close with the Phoenix guys, with the Liberty Group.

Nick DiDonato and his team over there at Liberty Group. close with the phoenix guys with liberty group nick didonato and his team over there at liberty group uh so we were side stage at the phoenix for that you know the first tragically hip show and yeah good fun i and i remember being at the hip show at the horseshoe the one that's famous for the jake gold the manager for the band had brought in a record rep from la trying to get them a record deal with mca right and uh i think there were like one or two songs into their set at the Horseshoe. And of course, they were just hoping to be perfect that night. And Gordon started swinging around his microphone and smacked against the Marshall stack and just shattered it to a thousand pieces.

And they were sure that that was it. They'd lost this record deal. But no, the dude liked it so much, signed them, and, well, the rest is history. Well, I'm glad you mentioned the hip, because on this show, I've been accused of favoring CFNY, because I'm very interested in the spirit of radio, but also the 90s incarnation of CFNY, because I listened to a lot of it in high school and university, etc.

But I should point out for the record, the reason I ran out and bought Up To Here was because they were playing Blow It High Dough on Q107. And I heard it, I think I heard it on the Top Ten at Ten. And yeah, you were

the station that broke the hip for me. That introduced all those kinds of bands, yeah. Well, I remember the first song we started playing was Last American Exit from their initial EP. Do you remember that song? Yes, yes, yes. That was the big small town bring down,

all that stuff from the first EP. Yeah, so good. Yeah, I mean, you just knew being in a club with that band when they were first starting out, like it was obvious these guys are going to blow the lid off music in Canada. It was obvious from the beginning. Oh yeah. Just the energy about them, you know? And that up to here with Blow It High Dough, of course, then, you know, New Orleans is sinking and then you're like, whoa, what is this?

This bluesy rocker is just as good as anything I've ever heard coming out of the States. Anywhere. It didn't matter that they were Kingston band. They were kicking ass. That's right. Go ahead. Sorry. I was just going to say they did go down to New Orleans to record

that and you can really hear it too. It's got that real swamp-like swagger to New Orleans to record that. And you can really hear it, too. You know, it's got that real swamp-like swagger to that record up to here. And that New Orleans is Sinkin', was it? Is that the song that they based off the riff of the Guess Who song, Shakin' All Over? Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure. Oh, wow.

I'm not even sure. I'm not even sure if I knew that, actually. But Shakin' All Over, that was Chad Allen in the Guess Who, right? Chad Allen in the Guess Who. You're right. Okay. I'm not even sure. I'm not even sure if I knew that actually, but shaking all over. That was Chad Allen in the Guess Who, right? Chad Allen in the Guess Who. You're right. Yep. And you know that guitar riff in that song. Sure. And the opening riff of Robbie's guitar in New Orleans to Sink, and that's based on that Guess Who riff. Oh, Shirley, we're going to have to do a sequel, too, because I'm going to need more time with you. So I hope this went well for you.

Now, I just want to run off some more questions that listeners sent in when they heard Shirley MacLaine was coming on. So I read the Kevin one. Hard Rock Dad, that's a pretty good handle. Hard Rock Dad says, In 1991-ish, Q had a contest where they'd play a few songs in a row, and if you called in and named them, you'd win $107. I called, but because I was under 18, I couldn't win.

Thinking quickly, I asked Shirley if I could put in my dad's name, and she said no problem. So Hard Rock Dad is grateful you let him still win by putting in his father's name. Oh, that's awesome. And whose tweet was that? Hard Rock Dad is his Twitter handle. Hard Rock Dad.

Hard Rock Dad. I know I follow Kevin Van Steadlander. Yes. And he's been tweeting about looking forward to hearing this interview. Oh, he's listening live because he actually, here, I'm just popped into Twitter. He actually tweeted during our conversation that you were right, that Andy took over Derringer's afternoon slot. So he's been fact-checking as we go here.

Well, shout out to Kevin. Who would call, you know, the Q107 request line? I'm just thinking back, you know, just what it's like back then with no internet or whatever. When you hear this, can I say sexy voice? Am I allowed to say that? Is that okay? I'm going to say it anyway. But you hear this sexy voice on the radio,

you start to like feel like you're friendlier than you are. And I'm wondering if you ever had any problems with people, with guys calling the request line to chat with you. Yeah, I actually had some issues with a couple of guys showing up at the studio with flowers and stuff, you know, where, yeah, I had to, yeah, oh, I had some doozies. I had a couple of doozies there. As a matter of fact, when I left, I was sort of glad to be dusting off my hands of one problematic guy I had.

I was like, sayonara. He called himself the Lamb of God. And at one point, do you remember Jim Richards? Of course. He's on. Yeah? Yeah, of course. There's a guy you should have on, too.

Oh, he said no. I asked him, and he kindly declined. Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, too bad. Because I agree. He should be on this show. So Jim, for a while, he was, I think it was before Scruff came back,

he was the weekend overnighter when Andy wasn't doing overnights. It was Jim. And one night, Jim came walking down to the studio where I was still there. Our crossover lasted about an hour because they went on the air early for Eastern Canada, for Atlantic Canada. So they were already on the air by the time I was wrapping. And Jim came. And now what had happened, the Lamb of God had called Jim in the overnight studio, and

he wanted my address. And yeah, and Jim kept him on the line, and the cops, and he got the cops on the other line, because he was making threatening statements, scary statements. And he got the cops on the other line listening to him, and he determined that he was somewhere south of Queen, like in the downtown core, Richmond, Adelaide, somewhere down there. like in the downtown core, Richmond, Adelaide, somewhere down there. So the cops literally turned on their siren, and through listening to the phone call, were able to hear their own siren getting closer, and they found him in a car.

Yeah, and he had a rape kit in the car. Dude had duct tape and all this. Oh, my God. Yeah, it was really scary. And he wanted to kill the devil I was living with. And at the time, I had just met my fiance. And we were moving to Vancouver together. Christian, and he's a radio dude now too. He's actually the national program director for Harvard Broadcasting, the company I work for now, my ex.

Oh, wow. But yes. So he was happy that we were bamboosing to Vancouver. the national program director for Harvard Broadcasting, the company I work for now, my ex. But yes, so he was happy that we were Van Moosing to Vancouver. Yeah, surely, seriously, that's scary shit. Like even, like I'm just, you know, I got a couple of daughters and I'm thinking, oh my God, like I'll start the engine. We're going to Van City. Like, and firstly, the first sign,

and I hope no one takes offense by this, but when somebody gives themselves like a biblical name, just run the other way, right? Like, Lamb of God, I'm out of here. Like, I'm sorry. Even if you're the nicest guy ever, I'm out of here. Yeah, you can say that again. And he's the one who showed up with flowers, too. That's when we were young in Norton,

and thankfully we had security down on the main floor that wouldn't let them up. So, yeah, that was probably the most extreme example of trouble. But, I mean, most of them were exemplary individuals with, you know, just a crush. Right, but you can't tell the crushers from the, uh, lamb of gods, uh, over a phone. So you have to assume they're all lamb of gods, which I think would be difficult.

But, uh, yeah, this just in, it's tough to be a woman, uh, breaking news on, uh,

boy. Yeah. Okay. So here we'll, uh, okay. So you go to Vancouver and this is where you work with, uh,

brother Jake. Yeah. Like brother Jake, uh, Okay, so you go to Vancouver, and this is where you work with Brother Jake? Yeah, like Brother Jake was working for the chorus affiliate called Rock 101 in Vancouver. And he was doing weekend mornings at the time because he found himself a sponsor. I think Molson came to the table. So he went to Rock 101 Vancouver and said, you know, give me a job. I've got Molson here with $100,000 to spend. So they put him on weekends. And, of course, his numbers went through the roof.

I recall him talking about that with you or your conversation with him. And so very quickly they wanted to put him on either mornings or afternoon drive. And he went on to the drive show first, a Monday to Friday drive show, but quickly went to mornings. But so when he was vacating the morning slot, that's when I happened to show up for a vacation in Vancouver. And he's like, you should come out and do mornings. And I was acting at the time quite a bit too, because I did evenings for so long that I spent my days auditioning for film and TV in Toronto, you know, and did a couple of like indie films and, you know, just bit day part stuff that

nobody remembers really. But my best friend in Vancouver, her and her husband owned Pacific Artists Talent Agency. And she was lonely out there and wanted me to move out there. She also went to Toronto for a while, was in Toronto for a while and had moved out to Vancouver and started this agency. So she's like, come on, come on out here. I'm lonely. I need a best friend and I can get you auditioning. And so you could, can't you get a weekend radio gig and come out and I'll get you auditioning out here. And so there's Jake offering me this weekend radio gig. And there's my best friend, Deborah saying, come on, I'll get you. So I made the decision.

Yeah, well, if I'm going to do it, I've got to do it now or it's going to be too late. And so my fiance was Christian Hall. He is a national PD for Harvard Broadcasting. At the time, he was doing my tech production. He worked the board for me when they gave us all board ops at Q in Toronto. I hired him to do that for me. And he was the player to be named later when we moved to Vancouver. I just said to Ross Litter's PD at Rock 101 that, well, I've got this fiance and he's

a radio guy. He's doing overnight. At the time, it was Y108 in Hamilton. And I said know have you got a gig for him said yeah i won't throw up some bones and inside of a couple years he was apd and md for both rock 101 and eventually the fox as well he just leapfrogged but um but at the time yeah we we both just went out together and so that that's how I started working with Jake again, who's always had my back. He's been such a great cheerleader for me and a good, loyal friend, too.

And then you stayed at West. You never came back, I noticed. So you went home for a bit, right, before you went to Alberta? Well, yeah, because in Vancouver, Christian, like I said, he leapfrogged into the MDAP PD position under Ross Winters at Rock 101. And then we joined forces with Seafox. They moved into the Pacific Center where we were in Vancouver, 20th floor of the Pacific Center. And so now we're sister stations.

Prior to that, we were fierce competitors, you know, just like Q107 and The Edge, right? fierce competitors, you know, just like Q107 and The Edge, right? And so Christian's now working and APD, MD, and I'm pregnant inside of two years. We got married in 99. And then in 2000, I was pregnant with our first son, Sam, who's, of course, going to be 20 this year. Yeah, 20. And no, he is 20. I was going to correct you, but who am I to tell you that you're wrong? So now I'm pregnant. And so now I'm off on mat leave. And then they offered Christian the PD gig at Power in Winnipeg, Power 97 in Winnipeg, the core station there. So now we're leaving Vancouver in December, going to Winnipeg. But it turned out that was great fun because Lachlan Cross and his wife,

Deborah, he was the MD at Power. And so Christian and Lach became fast friends. And then I became fast friends with Deborah and we were a foursome and had great fun with Locke and Deb there. And now I work with Lachlan again. He's our morning host at 95.7 Cruise FM here in Edmonton. So it's kind of full circle again. But, yeah, so we were in Winnipeg for all of about 18 months, and I wasn't going to work because Sam was just a baby.

And I wasn't going to work because Sam was just a baby. But I ended up getting a job offer to be the first morning host on Canwest Global. It was starting into radio. Izzy Asper got a license for a jazz station in Winnipeg. And he was a jazz aficionado. He gave a lot of people their first leg up. Everybody from Diana Crawley, you name it. And he had a basement full of vinyl, right? Anyway, I could write a movie script on that experience. Oh my God, that lasted about five minutes. But anyway, and then we ended up getting the bump up. They asked Christian to vacate Winnipeg

and go to Calgary. They were flipping a station called The Peak, which was a rock station in Calgary back in the 80s and the 90s and they wanted to flip four maps. It wasn't doing too well and Christian said, well, why don't we call it Q107 Calgary

because the dial position was 107 and let's just mimic our Toronto And Christian said, well, why don't we call it Q107 Calgary? Because the dial position was 107. And let's just, you know, mimic our Toronto format on our Calgary station. So that's what's there now. We moved to Calgary from Winnipeg to flip the peak, and it became Q107 Calgary. And they asked me to come in and be the secondary imaging voice. So they had a guy doing the main imaging, but I was secondary imaging. So I was in Calgary, and that's where we had our daughter, Lily, and she's 15 now. And then Christian and I split, and I thought,

I'm going to take the kids and go home to Regina and just, you know, hole up for a while, housecoat and coffee it for a while. The kids in Regina. But I immediately started working there as well. I got a gig. What was my first gig again? Yeah, I was the host on CBC television. They started a show.

It was a regional show. There was nine different versions called Living Blank. So there was Living Toronto. There was Living Calgary. There was Living Atlantic, I think they called the one out east. Anyway, there was nine of them, and ours was Living Saskatchewan. And we were on every day at one. It was kind of a female-centric lifestyle show, and I did two seasons of that.

a female-centric lifestyle show, and I did two seasons of that. And then I got a gig mornings on Jack FM in Regina, 94.5 Jack FM with Woody and Tim. And that show was a gas. Woody, he's still there doing the morning show, and he is one of the funniest, most talented people I've ever worked with. He's an actor as well and And just a brilliant guy to work with. Tim was great. I don't think Tim's in radio anymore, but Woody's still there. And that's with Rolco again. Back to my old beginnings. I went back to Rolco. And then Kristen and I just found

it kind of hard to co-parent between Calgary and Regina. So we were looking to get me back to Calgary. But as it turns out, he was working for Harvard now, programming their radio station in Calgary, X92.9. It's an alternative rock station. They're doing great. They're consistently number one in Calgary. And he's also the national PD for all the Harvard radio stations. So he said, well, we're going to flip formats in Edmonton.

What do you think about moving to Edmonton? So that's how that came about for the last few years, especially when the kids were young. We've just been driving back and forth between Red Deer. As so many parents do, I hear, well, I know it to be true. Everybody meets in Gasoline Alley and Red Deer flips out kids every Sunday. How do you like Edmonton? How do you like Edmonton?

Pardon me? How do you like Edmonton? Edmonton is a great town. Lots going on here. It's really culturally active and rich. It's a great acting community. There's a huge theater scene here. There's, of course, the hockey team, so there's NHL here, and of course, it's oil country, and there's always been lots of money here. So, you know, there's

a really rich gourmet and culinary scene out here, and lots of bands from Edmonton, too. Pursuit of Happiness, Moe Berg's from Edmonton. You said your wife's from Edmonton? My wife is from Edmonton, that is correct, yes. Yeah, yeah. It's a really good town.

I'm loving it. I don't know if it's my forever home. I think I've probably got one more womb in me. But it's my forever home. I think I've probably got one more move in me, but it's great right now. And we're here for the kids because Sam lives with Christian in Calgary. Lily's here with me in Edmonton and it's easy to go back and forth right now. And the kids are here. And of course, being 15, Lily's married to all her girlfriends, so she doesn't want to go anywhere. So that means I can't go anywhere. I hear you here.

Now, you heard the Brother Bill and the Brother Jake. I feel like I did a lot of brother episodes in a row, but Brother Bill, that's a name he hated. They said, your Brother Bill, he was Neil Morrison. He said, your Brother Bill, he didn't like the name, and then he went back to Neil Morrison. Brother Jake wouldn't tell me his real name, but he's sure not a Jake.

He might be a Jake, but he's not a Jake Edwards, so I don't know his real name but he's sure not a Jake he might be a Jake but he's not a Jake Edwards so I don't know his real name meanwhile you know we have a guy in this market who's an FOTM named you know his Mad Dog and Mad Dog is actually a fake name built on a fake name because he goes by the name Jay Michaels which is not his real name so I guess I'm curious just

you don't have to tell me what your real name is but there's no chance your birth certificate says Shirley McQueen on it. My maiden name is McCormick with an I-C-K. M-C-C-O-R. M-I-C-K. And you just changed it to McQueen. Pardon me?

Yes, I did. And is that after Steve McQueen, or what's that for? Is it just because it's a cool sound and rock name? And I actually did that when I first got to Toronto, and the show I did with Joel Goldberg, Something Else on MTV, that live daily video program, because I can't remember now why Vince Alexander, our program director, wanted us to change our names.

I don't know. He had this thing. Well, he was Jay Gold. On that show, Joel went by the name Jay Gold. Jay Gold, exactly. And so I wanted a name that retained my heritage. So I wanted the Mick in there. And I was from the Queen City, from Regina.

So I thought Queen. And then like you say, like Steve McQueen was like a cool cucumber. That's as cool as it gets. Yeah. Yeah. So I thought, you know what? Yeah, that works. I'll use that.

And it stuck. It sure did. You're stuck with it forever now. And before I play you out with some lowest of the low, I'm going to ask about your role on the same show that had Brother Jake on it. So you were on Corner Gas, right? Corner Gas? I did two, three episodes of Corner Gas,

but one of them you basically see the back of my right ear. Well, it's more episodes than I've ever done on Corner Gas, and that's pretty cool, right? That's cool. Oh, yeah, that was great. And again, you know, it was funny because I did a couple of indie films in Toronto and a couple of other things, but it was when I got out to Vancouver, and like I say, my best friend Debra Mortensen and her husband Russ

were my agents at Pacific Artists. And so I did quite a bit of stuff there. And then when I moved back to Regina with the kids, that's probably where I did the most of my noteworthy work. I did three episodes of Corner Gas. And then I also shot a movie in Regina called The Messengers. And that starred John Corbett. And Penelope Ann Miller was in it, Dylan McDermott. Oh, these are big names, yeah. And Kristen Stewart, who's, of course, become a superstar.

Well, they are. All of them were. Sure. But yeah, so that was in the summer of 2005 and 2006, we shot that. It came out in 2007, horror flick, kind of almost forgettable. But I still get the other sensual check for that movie, so that was cool. And yeah, the corner gas stuff was great fun to do. And of course, when Jake came to Regina to do his episode, we had dinner. Yeah, his episode was so fun. Oh my God, his character was fun.

Well, Shirley, this was fun. I'm so glad that we finally connected. Yeah, you sounded great on the phone call. I didn't have to worry about the internet dropping you. It worked out well. Thanks so much for doing this. I will definitely get a better setup and get myself fixed up

so that we can do Zoom next time. Well, listen, I'll take a phone call with Shirley McQueen over nothing of Shirley McQueen every day of the week. So thanks so much. That was fantastic. A real pleasure, Mike.

And really great to meet you. And all the best to everybody, all my friends and listeners in Toronto. And that brings us to the end of our 650-second show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at TorontoMike. Shirley is at

Shirley McQueen. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. The Keitner Group are at The Keitner Group. CDN Technologies are at CDN Technologies. And Garbage Day are at GarbageDay.com slash Toronto Mike. See you all next week.

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