Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Simon Dingley: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1481

Episode Date: May 3, 2024

In this 1481st episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Simon Dingley who is retiring from CBC News after 30 years as a reporter and producer. We talked about his career, stories he's covered, and why he's decided to let it be. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, The Advantaged Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada, The Yes, We Are Open podcast from Moneris, The Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball Team and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

Welcome to episode 1481 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. A fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. The Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team join me on May 12th at 2pm at Christie Pitts for the home opener.

We're going to have a blast. RecycleByElectronics.ca, committing to our planet's future, means properly recycling our electronics of the past. The Advantage Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada. Valuable perspective for Canadian investors who want to remain knowledgeable, informed and focused on long-term success. Season 6 of Yes We Are Open, an award-winning Monaris podcast hosted by FOTM Al Gregor and Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Today, making his Toronto-miked debut and joining me for his exit interview is Simon Dingley. Well, you know my name is Simon and the things I don't come true.

Oh, just take me, take me up. Simon, welcome to Toronto Mite. Thank you very much, Mike. Honoured to be here and grateful you asked me on. Have you heard that song before? I did because one of CBC's ENG editors, Electronic News Gathering editors, Naomi Robinson, sings it all the time whenever I'm cutting a story back in the editing bay. I grew up watching TVO, the kids programming on TVO like Polka Dot Door and Dr. Snuggles

and I could go on Jeremy the Bear. And one of the great shows I would watch as a, like in the late 70s on TV Ontario, was Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings. So when Simon Dingley was going to make his Toronto Mike debut, I said, okay, I have the perfect song for him. Do you remember, did you ever watch this show? Is this a show that ever caught your attention? Never.

I'd never even heard the song. I mean, obviously I know about TVO. Everybody does. You might be just ahead of it. Like, I feel like this is a mid 70s thing. Yeah. Yeah, but I I know it's very popular You're probably sick of everybody singing the song to you. So you my friend. I'm glad you're here. We're gonna talk about your start We're gonna walk through your career But the not to bury the lead as you guys say in the news business

But do you have retired from CBC News after what, 30 plus years as a reporter and producer? 30 years at CBC. Prior to that, I was at CTV News in Montreal and Global News in Toronto. And prior to that, I worked for CKO All News Radio in Toronto and CJAD 800 in Montreal. They were radio stations. Okay. So we're going to, that's like a teaser.

We're going to walk through all that, but I'm going to ask you a big question off the top, which is why now? Uh, and, and please, this is what I'm always curious about. Like we're, I just had this conversation and exit interview with somebody who was like, yeah, packages were offered and I jumped on it. This is Marks Bolinski from the Toronto star. He's like, it was time. There's a package I can take.

Like, tell me what prompted you to retire from CBC. Um, I didn't want to be one of those old guys who hangs around and prevents younger people from having a career. And I know people did this for me when I was younger. And last fall, when my boss told us that there were likely to be cuts at the CBC and I knew that four young people in my unit of the Ontario Bureau of the National

were likely to be impacted. I thought well, I don't want these kids to lose their jobs. They're all smart young people. They're polite. They're respectful and after a brief talk with my wife, she said yeah, absolutely. So it was a very easy decision to go nobody at CBC pushed me. I'm very happy to do it. And yeah, I'm grateful for the 30 to go. Nobody at CBC pushed me. I'm very happy to do it. And yeah, I'm grateful for the 30 years I've had at CBC. Well, I've been asking around. I don't think anybody would push you, because it sounds like you were a valued member. Who told you that, my mom?

Well, your wife told me that. So and your wife, we should point out, is also a CBCer. Jeannie's with the CBC Business Bureau there. Yes Jeannie Lee is my wife and she has anchored CBC's business news for a long long time I'm not allowed to say how many years. Is she considering retirement? What's going on there? She I don't want to push her so I know everybody's been asking her that she's getting sick of being asked that so the last thing I want like I'm too young to retire yeah exactly she says I'm only 27, I'm too young to retire. Yeah, exactly.

She says I'm only 27. So I'm going to leave it up to her whenever she decides to go is fine. Okay, very selfless of you as I hear that reason. And I've heard that from others. And I always think that's very selfless that you would actually basically say, okay, I can afford to go away now. And that means somebody gets an opportunity, a young, younger, more junior person gets an opportunity. I think that's very selfless of you. You know, I'm no hero. It was a really easy decision. Our money guy told us, yes, you can afford to go. And so if the circumstances have been different, maybe I wouldn't. But it was really not a hard decision. And I've done everything I hope to achieve. I've been very lucky in my career.

So hopefully these young people will have great careers too. Well let's see who gets in office here next election. Hopefully you know any apprehension like I just wondered did that play a role at all like that essentially I don't know probably in 2025 but at some point very soon there might be a new government in office that is less like basically a set I think will cut funding to the CBC. I think he's all but said that exactly, right? Yes, Pierre Poliev has promised, the federal Conservative leader has promised to cut funding to the CBC. And I mean, I can't deny that was in the back of my head. Might as well go now because these things could happen. We can't deny this might happen, but we'll

just have to wait and see. I feel like you might look back and say, oh, I got out just in time. This might be the greatest timing ever. You might be in good shape here. So, congrats on your retirement. Thank you. 30 years, that's incredible. And you mentioned your start. When did you realize you wanted to be a journalist? When in your young life, Simon, did you say, I'm going to be a reporter?

When I was a little boy, I would get up and listen to the radio what was then CFRB 1010, now News Talk 1010 and I would listen to the morning radio and hear the news with Torben Whitrup, Jack Dennett, all the greats and I would listen to the sports with Bill Stephenson at 5 to 7 and 5 to 8 each morning and it just got me hooked. And I guess it was also a way for me to stay close to my father who I didn't see a lot because he worked really long hours. So I really treasured those times and that's when I was hooked on radio.

You mentioned Bill Stevenson. I will tell you, I was hanging out with Dave Hodge on Friday night. He's a good man. I was in Hamilton for Tom Wilson has a new musical that was at the Aquarius Theater in Hamilton. And I was there and I realized as I was going to this thing, I'm like, who are all the Hamilton people I know?

And I was thinking Ralph Ben-Murgy. Damon Cox. You know, Cox has moved to Tobacco though. He's my neighbor. I knew he was close. Okay. You guys are right just above me here. Once in a while I get you guys to drop south of Lakeshore and visit, but he's your neighbor.

So direct neighbor or just down the street? One street over. Okay, that's wild. Is he friendly to you, Mr. Damien Cox? I like him very much, but people find him a little prickly. I like Damien very much and I respect his writing. I've never had an issue with Damien. Whenever we run into each other in the streets, we always stop and chat and talk about the

business. I have tremendous respect for Damien Cox and the Toronto Star. Now I'm wondering, why wasn't Damien at the Tom Wilson musical? I feel like that would be his jam, but Dave Hodge was there, okay. So you were listening to CFRB and what you just said, hey, I want to do that.

I became addicted to radio, Mike. Not only did I listen to CFRB in the mornings, in the evenings I would listen to CFRB 630 news package from 630 to 640 and then the sports came on from 640 to 650 and then late at night I'd listen to the world tonight on CFRB 11 to 1120 and then the late night sports 1120 to 1130 with with Dave Quinn and I'm sorry Fred locking yeah and many others and and Sunil Joshi, these are all people that I grew up listening to. And there's just something about it that made me want to be a part of being involved in covering the world. Now that you're retired, what is your thoughts on the fact that that station, which does now go by news talk 1010,

but still CFRB, the call letters, doesn't even have a news division anymore. There is no news department at 1010 now. How do you feel about that? I feel it's terrible. They were, you know, they were, they were, they were, but still CFRB, the call letters. It doesn't even have a news division anymore. There is no news department at 1010 now. How do you feel about that? I feel it's terrible. They used to build themselves as Ontario's news leader and it's a shadow of its former self. I don't blame the staff.

I understand, of course, the management's reasons for cutting back. Radio is very difficult these days, especially private radio. Margins are thin, so it's just an unfortunate situation. And I feel for all my radio colleagues who I grew up with and learned from, you know, I dreamed of someday working at CFRB. I never did. I wound up working at the sister station in Montreal, but I'm sure you want to talk about that after. Oh yeah, you know, you're right. Absolutely. We'll keep it chronological. But what's happening now with this, you know, you work for CBC. So the, the, the, the public broadcaster, but you know, CTV Bell media, they got, they got a CB 24 and they have CTV slash was CFTO. be a news talk 1010 and what I think is inevitable at some point maybe in 2024

maybe the announcement comes tomorrow I don't know Simon but I think it's inevitable that all three will just come from the same newsroom well they're already doing that all right so so is CP 24 and CTV Toronto's one newsroom right now I'll give you an example if you listen to news talk 1010s weekend newscast they're from CP 24 there's simcast. And so what you have is people making reference using television terms like look here and see this on on radio. Also in the afternoons on Newstalk 1010, the broad, the newscasters are the CFTO or CTV Toronto anchors. So they're already doing it. So I think it's a a fait accompli it's going to happen at some point. That's awful

that's like when you find out there is no radio broadcast of this baseball game for example it'll be a the simulcast of the television broadcast two different mediums two different two different styles you can't just do you remember I know you do but when 1050 before it went to TSN radio they were just simulcasting I think it was a simulcasting CP24. Yes, they were for a while. Yeah, it's unfortunate, but it's the way I believe radio is going.

I mean, the kids these days, when I tell them I listen to radio, they stare at me blankly because they don't. They listen to podcasts, they stream, so it's unfortunate. That's true, okay, so I have a 22-year-old, and I'm actually, so we'll get you to Montreal in a moment. I'm going to be in Montreal tomorrow.

I'm going to be picking up my daughter. She's at McGill. So hello, Michelle. I'll see you tomorrow. But Michelle listens to zero terrestrial radio and my 22 year old son listens to zero terrestrial radio. And I won't even tell you about the, the 10 and the eight year old. They're going to ask you what a radio is so it's such a wild wild time

I must say Mike I still am addicted to radio news I I listen to CBC 630 a.m. radio news the 7 p.m. national radio news and I still listen to news talk 1010 at 8 in the morning and then in the evening listen to CFRB at 5 5 to 505 for their local news, CBC at 5.30 local news, and then Your World Tonight at six o'clock, which is, not to plug the CBC here, but it's a tremendous newscast. I listen to it as a podcast though. Like I can show you my podcast app right now.

I do too. And there's the one that's the hourly one, I think it's 10 minutes that I get that as a podcast. So on demand, I can hear the most recent 10 minutes and I get the half hour once a day. I'm demand, I can hear the most recent 10 minutes and I get the, the half hour, uh, once a day. Uh, I, I, I'm addicted to it. Even when I'm overseas, I listen to it. Susan Bonner and Tom Harrington are the hosts.

And I, they're essential for me, even though now I'm retired, I'm still listening to it. I don't think I'll ever get out of that habit. That's FOTM Tom Harrington to you, Simon. From now on, I want proper designations here. Sorry about that. Hell of a singer that Tom Harrington. He is. I've known Tom for 40 years. We work together. We knew of each other in Montreal. We socialized there. Okay so let's get going here because I

realize I could spend hours with you here. Okay so it begins at CKO. Yes. Tell me about you know how did you get that gig and just give me a little taste of what that gig was like back in the 80s. How did you get that gig and just give me a little taste of what that gig was like back in the 80s? Cko I started as an intern and um I am very grateful that I learned from tremendous broadcasters there like john anderson susan flory Bernie mcdamey who's here monday. Oh bernie is oh fantastic. He's a good friend of mine. Okay, that's wild coincidence. So technically you're back to back. Yes. Wink wink, okay.

So CKO, it was not perhaps the most professional radio station. It was all news and we were flying by the seat of our pants. One of my older colleagues at CKO called it CK0 for the number of listeners they had at certain times of the day. But it gave me a start and I will be forever grateful and I'm still friends with many people from CKO including Paul Smith who is a big wig at ETM Voice Talent. I love the name just please don't hesitate. I noticed with some guests they're hesitant to name drop where I'm actually I need to know the names like I need to know who

influenced you who inspired you who did you work with, who you're still friendly with. Like, so don't, don't hesitate. I love that very much. Okay. So you're at CKO Toronto and what, what is next for you? Is it a global or is next?

No, uh, after CKO Toronto, I was, uh, quickly promoted to CKO's parliament Hill station, in Bureau in Ottawa. And, um, I was covering mostly local news and anchoring the local news there and trying to get better. I probably wasn't very good Mike. I probably needed to work on my skills and I think that really helped me and it was great to leave Toronto and live in Ottawa for a year. It was a tremendous experience. After CKO Ottawa I came back to Toronto and then I realized my career

was in a rut and I had been to Montreal on a brief vacation. I thought, why don't I apply to the radio station that I listened to there and that was CJAD 800 Montreal. The news director was Gord Sinclair, son of the famous Gordon Sinclair. You may not know this, but Gord and Gordon Sinclair grew up here in Etobicoke. So when I told him I was from Etobicoke, I think that created a natural sort of a bond. I'm looking for Marilyn Bell.

Okay, I'm just throwing, I'm just see, cause now that I realize we're both, although I only moved to Etobicoke 10 years ago, but Marilyn Bell is a Lakeshore legend. And I understand she's still with us. This is good news. She's in her, I think late eighties, but I want to talk to Marilyn Bell.

So if you, you as a reporter, see now that you're at an FOTM, I'll be assigning you tasks. I literally just assigned Steve Paikin a task and told him, I want Bob Ray in the basement. And he's like, oh, that's a tall order. He lives in New York, at UN. I said, Steve, I'm assigning you this task.

Steve Paikin has delivered and Bob Ray is in the calendar to visit the basement. Bob Ray's a good man. Funny story, Bob and I get along fine now, but I'm sure he wasn't happy about one story I covered when I was at global. The NDP was trailing in the polls in 1990 and I did a standup covering his campaign and I said, in baseball and politics, three strikes and you're out.

And that caught a lot of people's attention. He's had a wild career when you look back and it's not over yet by any means, but I am looking forward to the chat and I don't know how you're going to find me Marilyn Bell, I'm just signing you this. In retirement you might have some time on your hands. I will. Okay, so you go to Montreal? Yes, I was at CJD in Montreal as I mentioned. I was anchoring local news and reporting local news. And it was a tremendous experience.

It gave me a fresh start, which I needed after starting my career in Toronto. And I met a lot of people and I learned a lot. Eventually I managed to be hired for weekends only by CFCF12, which is the CTV Montreal affiliate and that's where I cut my TV teeth. I'm friends with people from that station even today and it was an amazing experience. I went from, all of a sudden was covering big events, political events. I'm going to ask you about a big tragic event. Uh, I was hoping you could share with me what it was like to cover the, the Montreal massacre in 1989.

Cause you're at CTV Montreal. Yes. What do you remember about that horrific happening? Well, here's the thing. I was actually in Toronto on December 6th, 1989. And I was watching CBC's, the CBC News called News Hour at the time and I saw the bulletin and They I suddenly realized I had to get back to Montreal so I booked myself on a 7 a.m. Flight the next day I was the next day. I arrived in Montreal and it was immediately signed to

To find the suspects home Mark Lippin I try not to use his name, but I will in this case and My cameraman and I Terry Wong we found where he lived in a part of East End Montreal And it's it had what they call a walk-up mic I'm sure you know what that is the steps going up the side right and I'll never forget shivering and in shock when I was able to look into his apartment and see the shock when I was able to look into his apartment and see the living room where he probably plotted to kill 14 innocent women. I've never forgotten that. Just because they were women and I stood there and my cameraman was shooting it

and I was in shock thinking this is where this guy planned to kill these women. You know what is wrong with our society? It's a story I'll never forget. I was not at Ecole polytechnic the night before my wife My girlfriend at the time Jeannie Lee was and this where you meet Jeannie we met at CTV Montreal. Yes Yeah, we we'd actually met prior to me going there, but okay. We'll get back to Jeannie, but yeah, please cuz I This is this is horrific. You're literally staring Into the apartment that along to the gunman whose name we won't use now.

But, and this is the, you're looking at the space and you're like, this is where he's like strategizing. He's plotting his plan to murder women because they are women. That's horrific. Awful. And how did, sorry, how did you, so you just did good old fashioned detective work,

reporter work to find out which apartment belonged to this gunman? Yeah, you call your sources and you ask other people who might know and I think I may have asked a more well-known reporter of mine Robert Viro where I might find where Le Pen lived, sorry I shouldn't use his name, and I think it was Robert Viro who said call this guy and he was a crime reporter with Le Journal de Montréal. And I think that's how I got the address, but I can't absolutely be certain.

It's been a long time. So your contacts, your Rolodex, if you will, I don't know if you still have a Rolodex. Electronic Rolodex, yes. Right. I always think, because in my little, I'm no journalist here, but I often am asked about, oh, can somebody who knows this, somebody who worked that, and I realized I actually here, but I often am asked about, oh, can somebody who

knows this, somebody who worked that, and I realized I actually have this electronic Rolodex that you're talking about and I can very quickly connect the right people and it's kind of fun to watch it to do it. But how vital is that electronic Rolodex to do what you do? It's incredibly vital because reporters every day face a time crunch. You're assigned a story at nine or 10 in the morning and you've got to not only track down this person, but convince them to talk. And if they refuse to talk,

you've got to find other people who are willing to talk. So the more time you can save by having cell phone numbers, by having email addresses, the better it is. I learned very early to take down names and numbers. And what I would do when I was living in Montreal is I'd watch CBC and CTV's 6 o'clock newscast and I'd write down the newsmakers that the more experienced reporters would interview and Then during my off time I would track them down and get their numbers in case I needed to reach them in the future Other reporters do this too. It wasn't just me. No, but you did it well and it served you well throughout your career again

I'm gonna I'm going to, I'm going to like prompt for certain stories and then, and if there's any other stories that strike you, just, this is the time, man, this is the exit interview. Okay. We got three decades to cover here. Okay. Thank you. And I'm thoroughly enjoying it, but before, so I want to talk about some other stories

you covered in Montreal, and then I'm going to give you some gifts for making the trek here, maybe some congratulatory happy retirement gifts here. Is there money involved? Practically, it's better than money. It's beer, it's lasagna, it's better than money. You reminded me, just before I get back to a couple more Montreal stories, you reminded me before we press record that we had met at the Steve Buffery retirement and I had forgot I met you.

Yes, the Beezer. He's a great man and he lives here in Etobicoke. He's in the Etobicoke Sports Hall of Fame. Yes he deserves it. With Marilyn Bell and Gus Ryder. Yes. I'm thinking of all the and Cliff Lumsten. Oh yes. So Cliff this is what I learned so because Cliff Lumsten Park is very close to us here and that's where Biff naked walks her dog and I sometimes see Biff there. Did you know Biff lives in Mimico? I did not.

I shared a flight with her to Newfoundland once. I did not know she even lived in Toronto. Well, she's been here, I think, for about five years now, but she spent 35 years in Vancouver. Yes, that's where I thought she lived, so she was lovely when I chatted with her on the flight to- She belongs to us now. She is lovely.

F-T-O-A. She's all Irish, right, and she's an FOTM for sure. But Cliff Lumsden and Marilyn Bell were coached by Gus Ryder. And they were both long distance swimmers. And then of course, Marilyn Bell, the first person to swim across Lake Ontario. And here's where I'm going with this because Marilyn Bell, when she finished her, her swim, I think Gus was worried about all the press that were there and he moved the finale of the swim like was to Sunnyside.

So she finishes at Sunnyside here in West Toronto. And I'm here to tell you, my friend, because you're living not very far from the Great Lakes Brewery that the Sunnyside Session IPA is now available and that's my summer beer. And I actually don't have one for you, but I do have fresh craft beer for you Simon from Great Lakes Brewery. Thank you very much. I can't wait to show this to Sean O'Shea my friend at Global News. He and I share beer pictures. I want Sean O'Shea on Toronto Mike.

Here's another. I think it's easier assignment than the Maryland Bell. Yes, I can get Sean for you very easily. He's in Albania right now. Okay, when he gets back from Albania. You know what's funny. This is funny. I think that when I hear Albania, I think of the foreign exchange student from the Simpsons in the Simpsons episode, there was a foreign exchange and they got a kid from Albania and there's my

Albania reference points. So I need to, I need to improve that. Okay. So Simon, we still got you in Montreal here. You're not escaping that easily. So there was a huge fire at the Montreal headquarters of the English Rights Lobby Group Alliance Quebec. Yes Tell me about this and Some of the footage you were able to capture. It's a great story One of the things about being a reporter is you have to go to the scene and that's where the story is Reporters who you know stay in the station don't leave they I feel they don't actually get the gist of the things about being a reporter is you have to go to the scene and that's where the story is. Reporters who stay in the station and don't leave, I feel they don't actually get the

gist of the story. It was a weekend I believe and for your listeners who don't know Alliance Quebec protects the rights of English speaking people in Quebec. Anyway in December 1988 I believe it was, sorry, I think it's 89. 89, my apologies. Someone set fire to it and this was during a time when linguistic tensions were very high. Anyway my cameraman and I were shooting the outside of the building and all of a sudden a young woman walked by and she asked me what had gone on and I told her and she went oh my god I work here and she started to go in I said can we follow with you and she said sure and this is gold for a TV crew

Because we there were no police guarding the the building for some reason. I think it was because it was the holidays They were short-staffed. So we went up and my cameraman got tremendous footage And the a good part of the Alliance Quebec building Offices was destroyed. Anyway, that night we led with it on CTV's local newscast at 6 o'clock and then of course CTV National News wanted the story as well, so I recut it for them. It was just tremendous pictures, Mike. Shadow to FOTM Lloyd Robertson.

Okay, I've got a Lloyd Robertson story I can just tell you. Let's do it. When I was working at CFCF 12, one day the phone rings and it's a woman and she said, I'd like to speak to Lloyd Robertson please. So I said, well, ma'am, he's not here, he's in Toronto. And she goes, what? And I said, yes, he works out in Toronto.

That's where the national news is from. And she says to me, how the F can he be in Toronto when I watched him on my news last night here in Montreal? That's hilarious. And she hung up the phone on me. Send her to Asian court there. Okay. So that's wild story. All these stories I love so much. Okay. So when you're covering though, this fire at the Alliance Quebec, you actually had to testify at the inquiry, right? So you do that, you shoot this wild footage, you get all this footage and you had to, because you're, I guess you're in there and

you got this video. We probably shouldn't have been allowed in there. There should have been yellow police tape up, but there wasn't for whatever reason. So there was an inquiry in Quebec as to how, not only- How did Simon get inside? I think that's what they called it, it's like the Dublin inquiry. It was more than just me there were other questions too in the inquiry but they definitely wanted to know how an English TV crew got inside and I remember the Montreal Gazette interviewing me saying how could this happen and I said there was nobody there so it was a regarding security yeah you're like just doing my job ma'am just doing my and

they let me testify in English too. Okay good, how is your French? It's not bad. I'm not bilingual but I speak French pretty well. Passable. So better than mine. Yeah, it's one of the best things I ever did was move to Quebec because I improved my French dramatically. My wife would laugh at that of course because she is fluently bilingual. She's better than you. But the French language is very necessary for the country of Canada. I have this rare situation where my four kids are bilingual. Oh, great. And I'm I got great nine French. So I'm like a philosopher. I am. You are.

A friend of mine many years ago had tossed out his two lines of French when I was in Mexico and I met a young woman there who was from Quebec City. And my friend was feeling ignored because we were chatting in French. And my friend said, to Emile Benya, you like donuts? And then he said to her, to Etan de l'Autobus? And the girl looked at him and I and just walked away. Ah!

This is two lines, okay. Okay, I realize your next stop is not Toronto CBC. It is global, am I right? Yes, absolutely. Okay, so before, I'm not done with you in Montreal is global, am I right? Yes, absolutely. Okay, so before, I'm not done with you in Montreal yet, okay, I love Montreal, like I said, I'm literal, and the times are a bit funny, wink, wink, but I guess I was in Montreal, as now I realize, okay?

Simon, I gotta keep myself honest here. But I'm gonna play a little song, just enough to maybe get us deep platformed here. Just a little bit of something here. Just to warm you up, Simon. 30 years, my friend. What a run. Thank you. When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, let it be. And in my hour of darkness, she is standing right in front of me, speaking words of wisdom,

let it be. Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be. Whisper words of wisdom, let it be. You're Beatles fan, Simon. Just a bit. Yes, I'm a huge Beatles fan. If you were in my basement, Mike, I've got Beatles posters all over it.

I've seen Paul McCartney live six times. I've watched the movie Help 17 times. So yeah, I'm a huge Beatles fan. Do I have this correct that in 1989 when you're at CTV Montreal, you get to interview Paul McCartney? It wasn't a solo interview. It was a news conference.

And yes, I did. I got to ask him a couple of questions. Interesting thing about that news conference is all the French radio stations were there and they carried the a news conference and yes I did I got to ask him a couple of questions interesting the thing about that news conference is all the French radio stations were there and they carried the entire news conference which was in English of course because Paul doesn't speak any French right but it's very rare for stations like CK, CK, CKVL, CGMS to carry an English language broadcast but yeah it was a thrill to be at that news conference and Paul actually said one of my questions

was very good so I was thrilled about that. Good question mate, is that what he said? The Tears for Fears album, Sowing the Seeds of Love, had just come out and it was very Beatlesque and I said... It's the song backwards, right? It's I'm the Walrus? What is the song backwards? No, Across the Universe.

I don't know. I think it's Across the universe maybe but I asked Paul I said, how do you feel about tears for fears with their song sowing the seeds of love and he goes I good question might that is a good question, you know First I wasn't too happy about it But then I was chuffed when he found out it was a tribute to the Beatles by tears for fears Yeah, I think I play I played them both back-to-back a few times because it's across the universe and then yeah, well, okay, so great question. And those are the kind of questions I would ask.

Like, you know, you have a moment with an idol of yours. Don't waste it asking the same question to everybody else. You have those things. Like if I get Paul McCartney in the basement, I'm going to have these questions. I'm going to ask him about Chris Farley on Saturday Night Live. I know what I'm going to ask him about. You got to get them. Can you do that?

No, no. Marilyn Bell, then Sean O'Shea and then Paul McCartney. Sean O'Shea and his wife, Irene Baccaric, who is also a well-known media person in Toronto. Sold. We'll get them both on together if they want. They'll do it for the lasagna because Simon,

you're going to take home with you a Palma pasta frozen lasagna. It's in my freezer right now. Thank you very much. And you're going to love it. And you're going to let me know. And by the way, since you're in Etobicoke, June 27, write this down, June 27 from six to 9 p.m.

I'm hosting TMLX 15, the 15th Toronto Mike listener experience. And good FOTMs like you just wander over. I mean, that's at 30, that's down the street from the Costco on Queen Elizabeth Boulevard, not too far from Royal York and I know it means whatever we got. That's right. So wander over June 27 and just hang out with good FOTMs because Palma pasta is going to feed you and Great Lakes is going to buy you your first beer

and everybody listening is invited. There's no ticketing. There's no RSVP. You show up at Great Lakes Brewery June 27th, 6 to 9 PM for TMLX 15. You got it. And wait one more gift here before we get you out of Montreal. I'm just letting Paul McCartney finish in the background. Okay. You mentioned your finances are in order and that's why you are able to retire. So I don't know. You said you have a person doing it. Even though you have a person doing it and some people listening are doing it themselves,

there's a wonderful free podcast that has best practices and great tips and it's just wonderful advice. It's called the Advantage Investor Podcast. It's from Raymond James Canada and I urge you Simon to subscribe. I will have to take my wife's advice on this. As you know, she is a business reporter. She is our business manager and I leave all the financial stuff to him. I've got hair and teeth. She's got the brains. Will she make a Toronto Mic debut at some point? I bet she would. Perhaps when she retires. I'm sure she would. Now she's from Montreal so she could tell you even more stories about Montreal. And I have a couple of really good Montreal

stories when we get to the CBC portion of this Mike. Okay amazing and is she a Habs fan by any chance? She's not a hockey fan she she constantly says to her girlfriends why did I marry a puckhead. So how are you feeling? I know you're an atopical guy so I'm gonna assume you're a Toronto Maple Leafs fan. I am I follow this damn team since 1969 and every year I shake my hat. Well timelines are funny so we can't you know because normally we would talk about what's happening tonight but then no one will hear this till later this is all very complicated so it's difficult to speak about but it is a interesting being a Leafs fan because

I'm also a die-hard Toronto Maple Leafs fan and in my lifetime fan because I'm also a die hard Toronto Maple Leafs fan. And in my lifetime, Simon, because I'm a Pitch younger, I can tell you I've never seen my team advance beyond the conference finals. So I've never seen my team play in the Stanley Cup final. Me neither. So yeah, not much. Yeah.

So you have no memories of 1967. No, I didn't. I got into hockey in 1969 and, uh, I've, I've followed it almost religiously, religiously since, but the loss to Montreal in the play-ins in 2021 was devastating for me. I was really angry at them. I still am and obviously I don't want to date this, so I won't say what's happening. Yeah, well, just Google it everybody. Will there be a game? I got to do the math on this. Yeah, to be clear so we're recording this and then it's going in the feed a few days later so we know the Leafs as we speak I can tell you because we're no bullshit here we're down three games to

one and we're going back to Boston knowing my Toronto Maple Leafs because Tuesday night is game five did the did the Leafs force a game six I knowing my Toronto Maple Leafs we would win that game in Boston and then we'd blow it at home in game six this is how the leaves operate so who knows we'll see what happens it's exciting to know that we're getting we're being heard after the fact we don't know what's gonna happen stay tuned everybody okay so Simon okay I did tell you to subscribe to the advantage investor Jeannie's gonna make her Toronto Mac debut at some point.

That's exciting. But I do have a wireless speaker for you and that QR code will actually have you subscribe to Yes We Are Open, which is a excellent podcast from Minaris. Thank you very much. Minaris are only at Islington and Bloor. I know where they are, yes,

and I know what Minaris is, yes. Yes, and they have a podcast called Yes We Are Open where FOTM Al Grego, he travels the country And I know what I know what mineras is. Yes. Yes. And they have a podcast called. Yes, we are open where? FOTM Al Grego, he travels the country and he collects inspiring stories from small business owners and he delivers them to you in yes we are open in season 6 is dropping now and the latest episode is a People from a good small business in Canmore, Alberta So he went out west this time

and these stories are inspiring and interesting and Al does a great job. So subscribe to, yes, we are open and you can listen to it on your new speaker. You're gonna love it. I appreciate it. I'm gonna take it to Mexico with me. My wife and I are going there later this week.

Amazing. Okay, how long you in Mexico for? 10 days. See, I go to Montreal, you go to Mexico. This is the life you're living. Okay, I'm jealous. Okay, so tell me what is to Montreal, you go to Mexico. This is the life you're living, okay? I'm jealous. Okay.

So tell me, what is after Montreal, CTV Montreal? Global Toronto. I was there almost five years and I'm still friends with many of the people I work with there. Tremendous cameramen, great group of reporters. There's a friend of mine, Avis Favreau, who used to work for Global and CTV. Avis said it this way. She said, you may work in better newsrooms, you Avis said it this way, she said,

you may work in better newsrooms, you may go higher in your career, but you'll never meet the same quality of people that you do at Global Toronto, and she was right. Nice, and you're at Global when the collapse of the Meats Lake Accord happens in 1990. Yes. Tell me about, you were covering that with Global. Global had sent me back

to Quebec. I had just come to Toronto from Montreal and the Amiche Lake Accord collapses and for the kids who were listening it was a big political thing. Let's put it that way. So my cameraman Jerem Paratsky and my editor Tom Bolt and I all went to Quebec for three weeks and it was a very traumatic experience. You could tell there was anger in the streets and especially for an English TV crew. One anecdote, we had people make the odd comment to us because they could tell we were from Ontario. And I was in Trois-Rivières, Quebec and my cameraman was shooting my stand up And I was doing it in English of course.

And I saw this older gentleman walking towards us and I thought, oh my God, he's gonna yell at me. He's gonna tell us to get the hell out of here. And I'll never forget this, Mike. He came up to my cameraman and I, and he said in English, please tell the people of Canada, we love this country. Oh, Simon. I know, I know.

You're making me cry over here. I've never forgotten that. And I shook his hand and I switched to French and I thanked him very much for his kind words and I've told that story forever. And he told me later on that he said, not everybody here wants to break up this country. We're Canadians first. I've never forgotten that, Mike. Wow. Especially because you're braced to be yelled at, right?

Yeah. Like so that's, you're ready to be yelled at by this gentleman and to hear that sentiment expressed, you just want to weep, right? If I can just tell a couple of more Quebec stories. Of course. When I was at CBC, in 1995, the Quebec referendum was on, it was the most emotional story of my life.

And two little anecdotes, it looked bad for Canada. The, the polls said that Canada was on, it was the most emotional story of my life. And two little anecdotes. It looked bad for Canada. The polls said that Canada was on the verge of breaking up. And the day before the vote, there was a big rally in a place called Place du Canada, which is in downtown Montreal. Tens of thousands of people flew in from across the country to proclaim their love for one country, for Canada. Anyway, I was doing reporting in the square in Plastie, Canada, and I felt this tap on my shoulder and I turned around

and it was a friend of mine, John Muse, who was married to, who is married to former global reporter Marlene Trotter. And I said, John, what are you doing here? And he said, I think his words were and I'm sorry, Mack, I get emotional. That's okay. He said, I can't watch my country break apart. He got up at four o'clock in the morning. He woke his daughters up and said, get in the car. We're going to Montreal to fight for our country.

I've never forgotten that. I interviewed him, I believe, and I told the story on air. Um, it was just incredible to see that he done that. He hadn't even told his wife that he was leaving. He left her a note and he said, we have to fight for Canada.

See, never apologize for emotion. It's really what I find I crave these days, like, like the humanity of it all. Like it's, you're covering these events and you're covering the Quebec referendum in 1995. And to be honest, I don't think we want you to be a robot. Good, yeah. If I can give you another story.

Yeah, another. The same, that night, my cameraman, Randy Shedlowich, who I'm still good friends with to this day, he and I had shot our story and we sent the footage back to Toronto for editing and he said, hey, let's get a beer. And we went to the famous Peel Pub in Montreal, but we'd put our camera gear away in the hotel. Anyway, as we were having a beer, I was feeling very down, Mike. I thought, oh my God, my country's about to break up. And because I'd lived in Quebec and of course, in Toronto, I, it had special meaning to me.

And, uh, the music was blaring in the Peel Pub and I, and I was feeling, uh, all of a sudden the door bursts open and a group of young people come in waving Canadian and Quebec flags and singing in English and French, Oh Canada. And they, they stood up on tables and chairs and they were singing so loud they drowned out the music and waving the flags and I got very emotional and I looked at my cameraman Randy and unfortunately, no fault of his, we had put our camera away so we couldn't film it. It was

one of those moments where you wish you'd had a camera and we just didn't have it and this was before cell phones with cameras were a thing, but it was an emotional moment and I'll never forget people were crying in the pub, um, singing Oh Canada over and over in English and French. I'm getting chills, man. Thank you. Love these. I'm getting chills.

I love these. And what the final, that referendum, correct me if I'm wrong, but 49.9 to 50.1. Is that how I remember? I believe it was, it was less than 1%. 50.1 or 50.3. It was very close. We were on the edge of our seats that night. I remember being at the CBC headquarters in Montreal and I don't mean to drop names here, but all the big shots. I want you to drop names. Remember the orders? Come on. All the big CBC network people there, Peter Manon, which Wendy Mesley and I remember looking at Wendy

Mesley in the hallway and she had a distraught look on her face. And we knew this was going to be close. And yeah, it couldn't have been closer. And yeah, well, the rest is history. Yeah. And you're part of this history cover, you were covering that for so you're covering that for CBLT. That is the Toronto CBC affiliate if you will. So how did you end up at the CBC because you were at CTV global right CTV global now you're you got to collect them all right you're like it's like Pokemon collect them all so how do you end up at

CBC? Well I wanted to make a change because I knew I loved working at Global. As I mentioned, the people were great, but I realized there was only so far I could go. And I was never going to get a chance to anchor there. And I had always dreamt of working for CBC News, Mike. Growing up, I'd watched a TV program called News Hour. The host was Hillary, Hillary Brown. And I realized that the stories they got to cover went a little bit deeper. Also, of course, I grew up watching now Norton Nash on the national and then Peter Mansbridge, of course It was where I always wanted to work. So I Actually took a six thousand dollar pay cut to go from global to CBC and I don't regret it It was the best thing I could do because going to CBC Allowed me to do things like documentaries

And a big big stories work at stories. I reported at a national level. I worked for Hockey Night in Canada, I worked for CBC Sports, I worked on CBC Radio as well as a fill-in. I was never a regular there, but I filled in. It just gave me so many opportunities. So it was a no-brainer movie, even though I was taking a bit of a pay cut. But to me, it was worth it. And then I would do it again in a heartbeat. And money is not everything.

No, no. And I mean, the experiences I've had at CBC have been tremendous. I could have stayed at Global and just continued to be a local reporter. There's nothing wrong with that. But I just wanted to do more before my career ended. All right. Here's a little bit of the tale of the tape, Simon. You ready?

So you filed more than 150 stories as a reporter for The National and several hundred for the CBC Evening News. Probably thousands. You're being shortchanged there, absolutely. And then so what were you doing with Hockey Night in Canada? I was a producer on a segment called The

Headliner. Scott Oak was the reporter and so what I would do is fly to Whatever the feature player was we'd fly to that City and I'd shoot what we call the b-roll or the pictures beforehand and then Scott who was the host of the headliner Would come in and do the major interview That must have been for a hockey fan like yourself. That must have been like a like an ideal kiss You're covering such heavy stuff, right? You know, yeah, it was think about you covered in your career and then you get to play in the toy department for a little bit Yeah, it was it was it was an interesting experience

Wow, okay But enough about Matt Sundin here. Okay, so Just now that so it's 1994 when you join CBC Evening News in Toronto. Is that right? Yes, 94. Okay. All right. Now, you know, we just touched on hockey So I'm gonna ask you a bit more but hockey because you covered three Stanley Cups, right? Which cups do you remember who won these? Yes, I did. I actually may have been four. I I'd forgotten one I one as a rookie radio reporter. I got sent to cover the Vancouver Canucks and the Condors I think that was 82 I believe when they were in the Stanley Cup

final I think that was 82 I was a radio reporter and then Tom Harrington friend of Toronto. FOTM Tom Harrington from the Tommy Hunter show? Yes yes he's a legend. Can you give me Tommy Hunter he's still with us. I don't have his contact. With him and Marilyn Bell, you're going to work on those. But Tom and I worked together a lot, and he was the reporter, and I was the producer most of the time. And we covered the Stanley Cups, where Detroit and Pittsburgh faced each other two years in a row. And that was a tremendous experience. Is that Crosby's first cup? Yes, yes, yes it was. where Detroit and Pittsburgh faced each other two years in a row and that was a tremendous experience and then...

Is that Crosby's first cup? Yes, yes, yes it was. Yeah and... 2009 maybe or something like that. Yeah and it was funny there was a cameraman with us who was a big Detroit Red Wings fan and he was so nervous and we had a ticket for him in the press box. He wouldn't use it. He paced around the arena.

This is Frank Piscitelli, a former CBC cameraman, a big Red Wings fan. He wouldn't come in the building because he thought he would jinx the Red Wings. Okay, so just yesterday we were watching some of the game from Nashville and did you see this Canucks come back yesterday? No, I did not. No. Unbelievable, like they're down 3-1 with a few minutes left and they pulled a goalie because they need to. So they pull it early. They get one pretty quickly and then the way they tie it up to force overtime was like I think six seven eight seconds left This great great goal and then they went it like super early in overtime. They they ended just great game

But in Nashville, they are drinking beer. Someone was drinking beer. A fan was drinking beer out of like a fish Did I wonder what the hell is that? well then so I'm watching this and I got like the eight-year-old and old and the 10 year old are in the room and then I start telling them the story of the Detroit Red Wings and the Octopuses or Octopi, I suppose it is, but, and I'm explaining like, Oh yeah, back then you had to win eight games and there's eight tentacles and I'm giving the whole story. So a shout out to the Detroit Red Wings who I was always that team. Cause Brendan Shanahan were on a bunch of those teams with Steve Iserman like there's such strong esteem Zetterberg and Dadsuk

and man they were... powerhouse. That was a powerhouse yeah and who's the who's a great defenseman? Swedish player... Lennstrom? Lennstrom. Lennstrom. How soon we forget but man that's what the Leafs are missing, okay? Where's our Linstrom? Like I feel like take them and I'm not, no, I saw Marner played better in game three and four and he scored the only goal in game four and it was a great goal actually. But to get a Mitch Marner, because you got to give up something to get something. So let's take this offensive gem Mitch Marner.

And if we could turn him into, I'm not saying you can get a Linstrom. People have Linstroms, don't give them away or whatever, but a Norris candidate type blue liner, like I feel like that's the kind of move we got to make at this point. Nick Lindstrom was an amazing defenseman. Unbelievable. And we never, you know, we saw him in the seventies and then I'm thinking, I mean, I sure I mean, we've never had a guy kind of like that. And that might explain the drought here.

All right, look, I'm just depressed. We don't know maybe the Leafs came back and won this series in seven and maybe maybe we're on our way. What do we know? Fingers crossed. Fingers crossed. Okay you also covered of course you covered Great Cups and the Olympics. Yes. Beijing right? The Olympics that was the other major highlight of my career. Spending a month in China in covering the Olympics was outstanding and I'm very grateful CBC sent me There's no experience like it and I it was the only Olympics I got to cover but I'm thrilled I was there and originally Mike I was you got to remember Beijing was up against Toronto for the 2008 games

I remember and I was hoping Toronto would get it and that little did I know at the time that no it'll actually work out better for you if it's in Beijing. Because I got sent to China and saw quite a bit and experienced Olympic reporting, which is really something. First time I got excited about hosting an Olympics was the 96. I thought Toronto had a good shot at 96. But I guess we didn't have Coca-Cola here.

No, we did not. The fix was in. Shout out to Donovan Bailey, though, who delivered in Atlanta. Yes. The two gold medals. By the way,ovan Bailey though, who delivered in Atlanta. Yes. So the two gold medals. By the way, did you know Ben Johnson was here last week? No, I did not know that.

I've interviewed Ben a few times, yes. So we had 100 minutes. He sat where you're sitting right now. This is last Monday. He came in with Mary Ormsby. Oh, Mary. She's a friend of mine too. Okay.

So you know Paul Hunter. I do indeed, yes. And that's not the CBC Paul Hunter. This is Paul Hunter who used to be with the Toronto Star. Yeah, that does get confusing. There's too many Paul Hunters. Both Mary and Paul are tremendous journalists. Oh yeah, no doubt. Absolutely. And she, for a short time, she hosted a show on both the fan and I think it was 1430 at the time. That's right.

I actually have the, this is from Scott Metcalfe. He gave me an old fan 1430 mic flash thing here. If you were in my basement, my apologies for interrupting. No, interrupt anytime then. I've got a bunch of mic flashes from all the stops in my career, radio and TV. And recently a friend of mine even gave me one for my Hockey Night in Canada days, which I never got for whatever reason. Amazing. You got to, got to keep that stuff here.

All right. So you're, so yeah, great Cubs. Beijing, that's amazing. You're in Beijing, that was 2008. Yes. But you've been deployed to some, you know, you're not just based here in Etobicoke. You've got, you've been to Washington, London, Mexico City, Ottawa, Quebec, Alberta. You got to travel the world on our dime. What's going on, Simon? I'm very grateful and they were all for news stories of course. As I said Beijing was the big one but yeah I was in Ottawa last summer working with our Parliament Hill Bureau. I was in Mexico many years ago for CBC Sports shooting a documentary on an athlete named Nicole Forrester,

a former Olympian. I've been worked out of New York. Sorry, I'm trying to remember where. London. This was a highlight and I must thank my former boss, Leanne Elliott. She sent me to London in 2019 and it was an outstanding experience. We were covering Donald Trump as he visited the Queen at Buckingham Palace. I remember, right. And I was also at 10 Downing Street when there were rumors that, uh, former British Prime Minister Theresa May was about to resign.

So here I am, this kid from Etobicoke standing out front of 10 Downing Street. The, the most interesting thing, Mike, is, uh, I was in, uh, Trafalgar square and, uh, my mother came from Glasgow, Scotland, and she'd always talked about being, uh, what they call a ren, uh, the women's service and, uh, of the military. And she,

she had told me stories about standing there all day in the heat with a box of raisins. That was all she could eat. That was all they were given. So I called her from Trafalgar square and I, she didn't know I was there. And I said, guess where I am? I'm standing in Trafalgar square. And that meant a lot to her that I was where she had been, uh, back in thefalgar Square. And that meant a lot to her that I was where she had been back in the early 1940s. So I know you can't name everybody, but maybe as we, you know, you exit CBC

after three decades here. Like, I mean, obviously your wife is still working at CBC, but who, like who will you miss? I don't want you to give me the ultimate list, but are there any people still at CBC that were absolutely like great mentors or great friends or great help? Friends mostly and I hope to stay friends with them still. As you mentioned Tom Harrington of course. All of the cameramen. Most of them I'm pretty good friends with the the editors to

I'm trying to think it's mostly the reporters and producers that I that I've been friends with You know, they're just so many to mention. Yeah, they're just so many mention and I learned from each and every one of them Mike I must say there's one gentleman. I like to mention who's passed away. Michael Drusky was a cameraman I worked with at Global. He later went on to join CBC in Charlottetown. He and I were the closest of friends. And not only was he, he was a tremendous cameraman, but an even better person. And unfortunately, we lost him back in 2017, or 2000, I'm sorry, maybe 2016, my name.

No, I'm sorry for your loss. my name no I'm sorry he was sorry for your loss well known in the Toronto media and it was a just a tremendous cameraman I'm glad you're remembering him here for sure here what do you do in May 12 my friend are you gonna be Mexico and me 12 yes okay so you got a good excuse you won't be at Christie Pitts but let me just give you a gift here this book Oh Jack Domenico's. Yeah. Yes. This is the history of Toronto Maple Leafs baseball. And they play their home games at Christie Pitts.

Yes. Yes. I, I've been to Christie Pitts obviously, but never watched a game there. I'm going to get you out because, uh, once a month throughout the season. So the season runs through August and it starts May 12th, but once a month I'm going to, I'm

literally going to pack up my podcast studio, throw it in a box, throw it in a trailer and bike it to, I'm literally gonna pack up my podcast studio, throw it in a box, throw it in a trailer and bike it to Christie Pitts and set up there. That's a great idea. Yeah, once a month. And I will announce the dates soon, but one date I can tell you now is you won't be around,

but I will be at Christie Pitts May 12th for the home opener. And here are some of the people. A lot of these people I've arranged to have come out to the game. Some of these people were not arranged to have come out to the game. Some of these people were not arranged by me. So I will tell you, I'm looking at a picture of Wendell Clark here. He's going to be there.

So Wendell is going to be there. Rick Vive is going to be there. Big names. These are big names. Absolutely. I've got Rick Emmett coming from Triumph. I know you're a Beatles guy, but you know, try a big, big, big Toronto, a second best, you know, after rush, I guess you got, you got trying.

I'm going to say something controversial. I'm not a rush fan. I don't think that's, you know why that's a polarizing sound. Like I think that's a common reaction. Actually. Like I think everyone in my family, uh, they can't stand Getty's voice. For example, I think that's a band. You either love them to death or they're not your cup of tea. family. They can't stand Getty's voice, for example. I think that's a band you either

love them to death or they're not your cup of tea. I have tremendous amount of respect for their talent. And I'm told they're great guys. It's just not my type of music. I, but they're, they're international superstars and I'm, I'm proud that they put Toronto on the music map. So here's to rush. I there's some pan. You probably, maybe you don't even remember. There was a band called Brighton Rock. Yes. Out of Niagara Falls.

I do know them because of Bruce Barker. Okay. Bruce had connections with the band and I'm sorry, I've forgotten the gentleman's name who passed away. The lead singer. Jerry McGee. Jerry McGee. And I know Bruce and he were very good friends. Okay. So Bruce, by the way, Bruce would connect the band

with Toronto Blue Jays who are big fans and the two Blue Jays that Bruce Barker connected to the band Brighton Rock I just did a deep dive into Brighton Rock on the weekend with Greg Fraser who's a founding member and the guitarist but the two Blue Jays were Dwayne Ward and remember Dwayne Ward and Pat tabler. Oh, yes. That's right. Pat Tabler. Yes. Right. Yeah.

Big Brighton. They would do backup vocals on Brighton Rock tracks. And Bruce sang with them too, right? Yeah. He'd be, I think he'd be on the background too. Like he was part, I've seen a photo of all these guys together at Metalworks. Shoto to Brewster.

Yeah. He's an FOTM too. So it's all coming full circle here. And that's the second episode. Well, you know, not in dropping order, but recording order. That's the second episode of roll where Bruce Barker got shouted out. So I think he's, uh, he's enjoying this for sure. But, uh, where was it going?

Oh yeah. Blue J baseball. So, uh, just a couple more names. I'll show Steve. Paykin is going to be there. I know Steve. Mike Apple. Yes.

I know Mike. You like Mike. Yeah, absolutely. Who doesn't? That's true. Actually, I love this guy and he's listening right now. So hello to FOTM Mike Epple. Lots of good Blair Packham from the Jitters

is gonna be there. Shout out. Oh, Stephen Brunt, who is a Hamilton guy I was hanging with on Friday night. I know Stephen, yes. He's a Stephen, well-respected journalist. And I'm happy to say I gave him a tiny bit of help when he produced a book on Jordan Tutu because I had produced a documentary at the CBC on the Tutu

family so yeah much respect for Stephen Brunt. Well he's very good at his he's very good at his craft and I'll be seeing him on May 12th and Mark Hebbscher. Yes, Hebbsy, Hebbsy, yes. Yeah, work with him at Global. Yeah, of course. He's a character. Yeah, Hebbsy sports line was my lifeline for a while there. I loved my sports line with Jim Taddy and Mark Hatcher. Yeah, he's asked him to tell you about the time he next time you talk to him and I don't want to steal his thunder. He danced with Leon Spinks, his wife in front of Leon Spinks and that's I'll just tease it that way. He's it that way. I will ask about that for sure.

What's interesting is that I had a well, I bought it in 1992 at the Doug Gilmore Jersey when he was the assistant captain. Cause Wendell was the captain assistant. I always called assistant. I've been calling assistant my whole life. It's this alternate is what the a stands for. I've always called it assistant. Yeah, I have to. Yeah, it's alternate alternate. Yeah, you're right. I've been wrong my whole life. Okay. They're two different words. Yeah, okay so anyway, I have this Gilmore jersey and Hepsey was over here. This is just in January and he's like I'm gonna go see I'm gonna go see Doug Gilmore next cuz it's gonna go west to Doug Gilmore and I'm like he goes

I'll get something signed for you So I gave him my Doug Gilmore jersey to sign and then Gilmore signed it but I haven't got it back yet Like I wanted to wear it for the you know playoffs, but it might be a blink and you miss it. Playoff series. I still got it. So, so Hebsie, maybe on May 12th, you can bring me my Doug Gilmore jersey now that it's signed by the killer. Okay. So the other people, so what I'm telling is everybody should come to Christie Pitts at 2 p.m. on May 12. No ticket required. Just come to Christie Pitts and then say hi on the mics and that'll be awesome. And you got the book there. Thank you. And last but not least, recyclemyelectronics.ca.

That's where you go, Simon, if you have a drawer full of old cables, old electronics, old devices, you don't throw that in the garbage. You go to recyclemyelectronics.ca, put in your postal code, and then the EPRA will say, oh, here's where you got to go to drop that off to be properly recycled so the chemicals do not end up in our landfill. You got a lot of homework assigned to you today, but you're doing great. Okay. So here we are, homestretch. You mentioned Beijing, but is there any other story you covered for CBC that maybe you could

share a story or two about? Oh boy, there's lots of them. Your favorite. story you covered for CBC that maybe you could share a story or two about? Oh boy, there's lots of them. If your favorite, like, like other than Beijing, what other than Beijing in 2008, what was your favorite story that you covered for CBC? The Quebec, Quebec referendum. Um, there I've been involved in a lot of big stories. Oh, one I should mention, um, the TTC crash in 1995 at the Russell Hill Road in which three people were killed and 30 injured. I was a local reporter at the time and my boss told me, drop what you're doing, get up there.

And we went up there and I was among the first there. And a tremendous act of generosity. In CBC, if a national reporter shows up, generally the national reporter would take over doing the stories for the national. But a reporter named Brenda Craig, who was the national reporter, said to me, no, you're here first, you've got a better handle on this than me, you do it.

And I was allowed to continue reporting live on the national that night. Brenda went behind the scenes and gathered information for me and gathered interviews. And, and she had every right to what we call Bigfoot me because she was the network reporter. I was just a local reporter. Right.

And it was just a tremendously generosity, a generous thing for her to do to allow me to be the reporter on it. I've never forgotten that. Amazing. The newsroom won't be the same without you, Simon. I've been told that by multiple people and not just your family members.

So you're going to be missed. And it sounds like, I mean, you're off to Mexico. It sounds like you're going to do more traveling. What is the plan now that you're retired? Well, I have to wait for my wife to retire obviously, and I don't know when that'll be, but eventually we're hoping to do, yeah, a lot more travel like most people, see places that we haven't seen. And I realize not everybody can afford to do that. We're very lucky. So I'm very excited about that. I don't know exactly where we're going to go, but definitely travel is at the top of the list.

Travel is on the top of the list. What about seeing more concerts? I go to the odd concert here and there. The last one I went to is somebody you may not even know, Michelle Pagliaro. Of course I do. In fact, Michael Williams just, I think he just, the day he was here he was on his way to, I think El Macombo I think it was, but he was gonna announce him on stage. The Phoenix. The Phoenix? Okay. Yeah, last September. Okay. And I was there with a good friend of mine, Mike Cancellara, who is a media person as well. You know who I know from Twitter? I get notes from Mike Cancellara.

Hello, Mike. Mike, for your listeners who don't know, Mike was a reporter at CFNY. He's now one of the main news writers at CTV National News. So he's kind of a big shot. Well, maybe I should get Mike on the show. You should. He's tremendous. But that's too easy for you to get me, Mike.

I can. I could tweet him right now and say, get over here. All right, Mike, send me an email. too easy for you to get me Mike. I can, I could tweet him right now and say get over it. Or I might send an email, well let's get you in the calendar here. So Mike and I were at Michel Pagliaro last September, so I don't go to a lot of concerts anymore. Wasn't he on Tears Are Not Enough, Michel Pagliaro? I don't know, he might have been, I don't know. You know, it was recently I saw somebody posted a list of the 20 greatest Canadian rock acts. Yeah. And they're all Anglophone groups, not one was from Quebec where there's... Not even Gino Vanelli.

No, no. Well, maybe he counts as an Alaphone, neither French, English or French. But what I'm saying is that not a single, not Offenbach, not The Box, not Michel Pagliaro. And it just showed a lack of knowledge about the Quebec music scene. But I noticed this, a gentleman passed away from cancer, I think it was last year, and they were talking about how this was the French Canadian, Gord Downie. Yes.

Was how he was being described. And I dove in, and I realized I knew nothing about the band, I knew nothing about this guy, but absolutely beloved in Quebec. Yeah. When you live in Quebec, you hear a mixture of English and French. And you know, my favourite music station there was Chôme FM. And a friend of mine, Terry Demonté, was the morning show host. I know Terry, yeah. He's a big star in the radio world. And it's funny, you live in Toronto, you move to Montreal and you hear, you're listening to Chôme FM my FM, who's a good day list.

We do Montreal show my FM and they would have bilingual, um, programming. It was really interesting. I thought, yeah, Steve Anthony was there for a bit. Yes, he was. No, why? Cause he talks about when Corey Hart walked in and called him, cause I guess he was in a glass box at show him. I don't know what the studio looked like, but Corey said, uh,

called him the boy in the box. Oh, and the rest is history. I did not know that. See fun fact. You can share that. You know, I'm not, I'm not a Corey Hart fan much respect him. My musical taste is the Beatles. Let me hear more of your music on the way out here. So we've established Beatles. Okay. What an obscure indie act that is. Okay. So the breaking news, uh, CBC reporter likes the Beatles. Early Genesis, early Genesis.

So Peter Gabriel, Yeah. Yeah. Fox trot nursery crime, uh, that kind of thing. Led Zeppelin, the who, uh, shoday is one of my favorites. So I've seen her twice. Yeah. I'm glad you didn't sing smooth operator everybody whenever they hear whenever they're both. They're both the same song Yeah, well, that's what my wife says all her music sounds the same But whenever anybody mentions shut it brings down the heart rate

Yeah, and I she's got so much more than that. Did you know shoddy is the name of the group? Yes Okay Yeah, I dropped that mind blow on the rag and people are like, I thought her name was Shadea. Shadea is her name, but the band is also known as Shadea. And I've seen them twice here in Toronto. Lovin' You Ain't Easy was covered by the Trans Canada Highwaymen. And I heard it performed live at the Horseshoe Tavern last December.

I think that was. So even us young us pushing 50 youngsters are learning about Michel Pagliaro. He's tremendous and I if your listeners haven't heard of Michel Pagliaro he had a string of hits not only in French but also in English just just on Spotify just type in Michel M-I-C-H-E-L Pagliaro and you'll recognize you might recognize some of the songs. And again English language hits here like Lovin' You and Easy is an English language. Rain Showers. Rain Showers, yeah, 1972, some Sing, some Dance, so what the hell I got.

What do you think of Alfie Zappa Costa? Is he in your wheelhouse or no? No, no. Okay, all right, right. Oh, name check a few more on the way out. I'm, I'm curious what your jams are. Maybe at some point I'll get to it. Style Council, Paul Weller Style Council. Did you listen to CFNY growing?

Never, no I did not. It was, I must admit the music was too eclectic for me. I grew up on 1050 Chum, got into FM, Chum FM, listened to Roger Ashby, then switched to Q107. So that's what I grew up with but I'm not listening to those stations anymore. No, you're listening to news now. I've always listened to news. I've got a little device that I carry with me that everybody laughs about Mike. It's a little device where I tape newscasts and it's a recording device and it's helped me cover stories and people always see me walking around with headphones on or earbuds, I'm sorry, and they wonder what they think with headphones on or earbuds, I'm sorry.

And they wonder what they think I'm listening to music. I'm actually listening to newscasts. You know, who's laughing now? That's what I would say. What a great career. Honestly, this is the hope for every, you know, member of the media is that they get to leave on their own terms. Like nobody's tapping you on the shoulder and saying, time's up. You're going out on your own, on your own terms.

And I love these exit interviews because they're, they're happy. They're joyous. Yes. Thank you very much for having me, Mike. And I look forward to Jeannie Lee coming on to take, to give the real talk on Simon Dingley. She'll tell you the truth.

And when, oh, I guess this will be when she retires, so it won't be for several decades. We'll have to wait and see. She's only 27. That's what I see yeah yeah absolutely okay so Simon how was your Toronto Mike debut it was a lot of fun and I and I checked with a couple of people who you've had on before and they said you're gonna have a great time it's lots of laughs Lots of laughs And that

I'm actually not gonna say a number just so I can Decide when I drop this because it's a very rare episode that's not dropping immediately after we say goodbye although you do have to take a photo of me by the Toronto tree as Dave Thomas calls it. So let me just say, and that brings us to the end of our show. You can follow me on Twitter and Blue Sky. I'm at Toronto Mike. How can people follow you Simon? Well, I'm on Twitter, Facebook, and the gram as the kids call it or sorry, Insta've heard both I was corrected it's no longer called the Gram the kids are calling it Insta now so I'm on all three and it's not just about news it's my feed is about music sports sometimes politics you know I've covered the Prime Minister many times I I can't

get in who is your favorite Prime Minister to cover oh gosh I've covered a lot of politics so I don't want to say because whoever I say you'll be. But you're retired now. It doesn't matter. No they'll still yeah I've. I'll retrospectively look back and say look at the bias. I'll tell you one thing who a gentleman was Joe Clark. I didn't cover him but I've met him many times and he is a gentleman and much respect to Mr. Joe Clark. Okay. Beautiful. So follow Simon, much love to all who made this episode possible.

That's Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, RecycleMyElectronics.ca, Raymond James Canada, the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team, CMA 12, and Minaris and Ridley Funeral Home. Simon almost forgot. I have a measuring tape for you courtesy of Ridley Funeral Home. Simon almost forgot. I have a measuring tape for you, courtesy of Ridley Funeral Home. They're at 14th and Lakeshore. Thank you very much.

I could use this. Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. See you all next week. 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 much, yeah

All them pickin' up trash and them puttin' down rogues And their broker in stocks, the class struggle explodes And I'll play this guitar just the best that I can