Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Steve Anthony: Toronto Mike'd #123

Episode Date: May 27, 2015

Mike chats with Steve Anthony about his years on MuchMusic, his work at Breakfast Television and CP24 Breakfast, replacing Pete and Geets on CFNY, his use of cocaine, his broken hip and where Anne Rohmer went for a few months.

No, I don't like lots of sweeteners in my coffee. What is that, four? Welcome to episode 123 of Toronto Mic'd. Wow! I'm a Toronto Mike, wanna get city love My city love me back, for my city love Welcome to episode 123 of Toronto Mike Wow! A weekly podcast about anything and everything Wow, man, that's magical I'm number 120?

123 123! 123, okay, bye Often with a distinctly Toronto flavour I'm Mike from torontomike.com And joining me this week is television host Steve Anthony. So, Mike, how long have you been doing this for? A few years now.

Okay, good. Of all the interviews that you've, like, I'm interviewing you now. No, shut up. Shut up. No, go ahead. Go ahead. No, this is fun. So, I'm just curious myself, and I know lots of fans of your show.

Lots, by the way, who say that it's their favorite podcast. And there are a million podcasts. Is that true? Not a word of a lie. Okay, that's good to hear. I work with one of them who somehow, had you plugged the fact that I was coming in? Just on Twitter the last couple of days. Okay, fine.

I thought they'd heard it, but they're big fans of it. The Aaron Davis one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They came up to Beeline for me and said, oh, did you know about I never knew that. Figured that out. So he knew. He's very excited about that. He says it's his favorite podcast. That's awesome to hear. If you have any bigwigs over

at Bell Media who are aching for a hardcore interview, just send them over. Yeah, they're just hiring everybody these days. They're not trimming the fat at all. That's right. Yeah, they just open up the doors. Anybody walks in, what do you want to do? Fine, have the job. Oh, no, yeah.

Come on! If you've got an hour block you need to fill with reasonably priced programming, I could be seduced. If I was the president and CEO of Bell Media... Isn't that job open? No, it got occupied real fast. I was going to say, I would be fired.

If I had that job, I would start to offer you a job, and then I would get fired before I even had you put your signature on the contract. Okay? No, I can't offer you a job, and I don't think there are any. That's all right. You can't afford me, Steve. By the way, if I get off the microphone, it's because I'm drinking my coffee. I live on coffee.

And that's a big coffee. What size is that? That's extra large, and you won't say the name of the company because we're sponsored. Yes, I live on coffee. You could lie, like just say the name of the sponsor. No, no, don't do that. My wife thinks I drink

too much coffee, but I only drink decaf, so she's full of crap. But there's a lot of sweetener you put in there. Yeah, I don't know. I think that made the cut. I actually think you said that after record, so everybody needs some context now. Okay. There's an extra large coffee, and I did put three sweeteners in it. Excuse me.

And then I put a fourth. That's insane, dude. Because I put three grains of sweetener in my coffee. It's just sweeteners. Sweet is the sugar, you know? Taste it. Tell me if that's outrageously sweet. I can tell by looking at it.

No, that's just a whitener. Just taste it. And don't spit it out. Swallow it no matter what. Yeah, you know, that's actually not good, Steve. First of all, you can't taste coffee in there. It's like sugar water. Excuse me.

It's like heated. Stuff it. By the way, people, hey, there's people who say, oh, you have to drink eight glasses of water a day. That's baloney. You have to drink eight glasses of water a day. That's baloney. You have to have that much fluid. And then coffee constitutes it. What is coffee made of?

It's made of beans. And? Water. There we go. You know, I just read an article in the New York Times. This is a good source. New York Times talking about all the benefits we've learned. Hockey has numerous benefits. Heart benefits,

cancer preventing agents, like coffee is good for you. Oh, coffee. I thought you said hockey. No, did I say hockey? No. I think you did say hockey. Did I? Yeah. Well, there's always the rewind button. So later we'll confirm, but I was thinking coffee. Hockey is good for your health too.

Do you watch hockey? No, you're too busy to watch hockey. No, I do watch hockey. My wife says that I'm a fence sitter and I'll go with whatever team is winning type of thing. I'm from Montreal and I can say this and I've said it publicly for decades is that when you're born in Montreal, you have to be a Montreal Canadiens fan.

Otherwise, all the other Montreal Canadiens fans will kill you. Okay, that's a good reason. You know what? The option of being killed or not being killed, I tend to sway towards the not being killed part. That's a good reason. You know what? The option of being killed or not being killed, I tend to sway towards the not being killed part. That's a good best practice. Yeah, but I mean, of course, I'm a

fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs. I live here. If the Ducks win tonight, I win my hockey pool for the first time in 25 years. Probably you're underwhelmed by this, but it's a big deal to me. 25 years of participating and I run this thing. That is an awesome series.

That's the Stanley Cup final. That is an awesome series. It really is. That's the Stanley Cup final. That is the best two teams left going at it. Amazing. Really exciting hockey. It didn't end up being all flat. Amazing.

Except some of the games end way too late. Like triple overtime, I was gone. You wake up at 3 a.m., right? So you woke up just in time to watch the end. Believe me, I didn't.

I didn't. Sometimes when I wake up at 3 o'clock in the morning, I've recorded something that I should have watched the night before because no doubt we're going to be talking about it on the air. Oh, yeah, yeah. Like an Oscar. I don't know, Dancing with the Stars or whatever. And so, yeah, here I am at 3 o'clock

in the morning, and most people wouldn't think that this is preparation, but I have to actually sit and skip through. Sure, Steve. You're watching Dancing with the Stars because it's your work obligation. Sure. I'm working on the moves. I got a song I'm going to kick right in.

It's going to bring us back to another time, and then I want to hear a little story about it, but I just learned this fact, so I'm excited to play. You're not like a Brian Linehan, are you? Oh, he's the best. No, Brian Linehan scared people. Did he?

He had a lot of homework He did a lot of homework before Wikipedia He would have stuff that people who he was interviewing would go

Where did you get that? I thought that was five Your email signature links to an article where this fact is dropped so I didn't dig too deep for this one but okay

for those who I don't know who out there doesn't know He's got to sing it Turn it up when it's Okay Vocals coming Corey Hart Boy in the Box Toronto Mike I don't know. Who out there doesn't know? He's got to sing it. Turn it up when it's singing. Vocal's coming.

Corey Hart, Boy in the Box. Toronto Mike. You just hit the post, my friend. That's what you do on radio. Music, anyway. You know, I was wondering, how long does it take for Corey to say Boy in the Box? It takes him 90 seconds,

so we've got to wait for the 90-second mark before I ask you a question. Okay, and anybody who relakes it so long, you can find it anywhere on YouTube, so don't say, oh, the DJs are talking over the music. I hate that. And I actually linked, I tweeted a link to this video

because I let people know I'm opening with Boy in the Box by Corey Hart. I loved this album. Well, yeah. I think this was his best album because Never Surrender was on it. I think he sold, I don't know what it was. It was like a hundred million copies. It was ridiculous best album because Never Surrender was on it. I think he sold, I don't know what it was.

It was like 100 million copies. It was ridiculous. Anyway. You're from Montreal and he's from Montreal. Right. So Corey Hart, I mean you can crack it up when he says boy in the box, okay? Keep it there. Corey Hart was a young songwriter in Montreal.

He was, I guess, maybe 22 at the time. Here we go. I love your socks, you're the boy in the box. Boy in the box. What does the rapper say? Rapper say? Bring me back, man. Okay.

All right, so I was doing a, I did an afternoon drive radio show in Montreal at a Top 40 radio station. Those people listening in Toronto, herald back to the times of CFTR, when CFTR was like the hottest station there was. Tom Rivers in the morning. That's right. Top 40 radio in North America.

It was considered one of the top five stations, the station in Montreal, CKGM, was in that vein. And I was lucky enough, on its fall, as it started to fall, I was doing Afternoon Drive and I was the music director, etc. And Corey Hart, who was just coming out, he was just trying to get Sunglasses at Night played, listened to me, he liked me, and I had it added to our station. So Sunglasses at Night in Montreal became a hit. It wasn't just because of us, because it was in the States and Europe and all that stuff.

But we were supporting it, I was supporting it. He and I got to be, he wasn't a huge, huge, huge star, and we got to be friends. And my line, the way I identified myself, my handle on the radio at CKGM was Steve Anthony, the boy in the box. And one time he phoned me. He was recording in Morin Heights, which is a very, very famous studio north of Montreal. Andre Perry is the guy who owned it.

And the police have done albums up there, all kinds of... Anyway, he's recording up there, and he phones me, and he goes, he goes, Anthony! He goes, yeah, listen. He goes, I'm up here, man. I just wrote a song.

It's just like, it's a remarkable song. I just want to let you know that you inspired it. So, you know, yeah, listen. He goes, I'm up here, man. I just wrote a song. It's just like, it's a remarkable song. I just want to let you know that you inspired it. So, you know, that was it. You're the boy in the box. Anyway, so I didn't know what it was. He just said you inspired it. And then a couple of days later, he said, Anthony, recorded the song.

It's so great. It's going to be the title of the next album. And then when the name of the album was released, I saw the connection. I didn't know until then. You know, that's an amazing fact. The best Corey Hart album is essentially named after you. Well, it's a bad... This would be the only story I tell at dinner parties. I'd love to say that this song is about me, but it's not.

It's about Jimmy Dean or something. Same difference, man. Same difference. Except I didn't die a car crash in the 1950s. That's true. Yeah, it was Spider, right? Was that how he was driving a Spider? I don't know who it was.. Yeah, it was a spider, right? Was that how you was driving a spider? I don't know what it was.

I should know these things. You know what? That's how you live forever. You leave a good-looking corpse. You've got to die young. No, you live forever by writing a Christmas song. Only Jewish guys do that. No, but if you write a Christmas song, even a crappy Christmas song,

it'll be played on a station that plays nothing but Christmas music because there's only so many Christmas know, they have to, they play there's only so many Christmas songs so yours will get played. So you live forever that way. The other way is if you get a parkette named after you. Like for example, you know, Steve Anthony parkette little small thing between houses

you know, as you walk through to the subway and people ring their dogs and they crap on your back. Have we done that yet? No, that'll never happen. It's only a matter of time. Well, that's how you live forever. Or getting a street named after you, that's not going to happen. Park it more easy. They named something after Roz Weston in Acton, okay?

Shut up! I'm telling you, I'm not making this up. Something, I don't know, some little parkette. Shut up! I'm not making this up. You haven't heard of Roz Weston? No, I haven't. You know, knowing that now, it is not worth the drive to act in it. That's right.

That's what I said. All right, so you start your career in Montreal, and you're doing radio. Actually, let me clarify that. No, I started my career. Yes, that's true. C.K.G.M.? Well, no. As the boy in the box?

Okay, just for clarity. And it's, I mean, just how particular are we going to get? And we don't have to split hairs here. Come on, I'm Brian Linehan. I need details. Right, okay. Well, I fell in love with radio when I was like 12. And my first job was operating the board for an overnight announcer at a station in the West Island of Montreal,

kind of like Mississauga to Toronto. The West Island of Montreal where I lived, a radio station called CFOX. And it was a guy named Andy Kim, I'm sorry, Andy K, who has since passed away. Not Andy Kim. No, Andy Kim. I just talked to Andy yesterday. Okay. He was also a pal.

But anyway, drop names, Steve. Go ahead. No, drop a lot of names. They're fine. Anyway, Andy K was working at CFOX doing the overnight show. Somehow we became friends. I would talk to him on the phone. He knew I was competent, so I would operate the board for him all night,

and I'd go to school. So I had that expertise. I knew how to operate a board. And then, of course, I was just voracious about learning how announcers did their things. So I would tape them, and I'd memorize what they did and their cadence and all that stuff. So that actually was the first job. It was just a non-paying job. And then at school I started

the radio station was there and it was just a whole bunch of hot smokers with blue light, what do you call it? Blue light posters and a couple turntables and an amplifier and playing music to the cafeteria somewhere. Anyway, we took it over. A guy named Les Criffitin,

who works at a TV station in Las Vegas, is a weatherman. Anyway, the two of us, we did some politicking, and we stole it from these people, and we started a real radio station. So all of a sudden, we have this real radio station with a real student body, with news and current affairs coverage

and all the things that a university radio station is supposed to be. And because of that, I used it as leverage to get hold of all these announcers in Montreal, which we did. So now I have a whole bunch of friends who are professional radio announcers. And so with their guidance and many other things, I put a tape together. I fired it off, and three places gave me the nod. One was in Campbellton, New Brunswick. One was in Estevan, Saskatchewan.

I had no idea what an Estevan was. One was in Timmins, Ontario, so I took a site on St. Timmins. My dad and I are looking up Timmins. We look at Ontario, and we can't find it. And then we have to flip it. And go higher. And flip it to the other side. That's right.

And there, oh, my God, it's Timmins's timmons oh my god right beside it is porcupine oh my god there's a south porcupine as well so that was my first job timmons okay great and then you at some point you get this gig at uh your boy in the box at ckgm but what i want to know for toronto mike does how the hell do you get lured to toronto because your first tor Toronto gig is Q107 is that right correct so how do you get lured to uh and don't worry take some of that take a sip of that sweetener coffee anytime uh anytime you like hi Steve Anthony for extra sweet coffee it's sweetener not sugar um so, let me get into the particulars. Yeah. I'm trying to make sure that the filter is in place between the brain.

Now, just keep in mind, you're the one who told me you have, like, an actual hard stop at a certain time. So, I got a lot of, you know, I got to get to, you know. Okay, fine, fine, fine. A certain music station. Fine, okay. certain music music stations fine okay so um i'm working as the music director and program director of the ckgm in montreal at the time and i was uh dealing with a lot of people internationally and dealing with a couple of people in particular in toronto and the owner of the radio station who had been asked many times to sell it, finally did decide to sell it.

And he sold it to the folks at Chum, the Waters brothers, the Waters family. And consequently, I was advised that Chum, supporting from within, would take one of these people who had been out in the sticks programming a station, and they were going to bring them in to program the station. That was just inevitable, meaning I was on the outs for program director. Still doing the gig. Anyway, so one of these people, Toronto-based, after that happened, they warned me it was going to happen. They just kind of had their ear to the rail.

They said, is it safe to assume that you're not happy about the situation? And I kind of said nothing. And then before I knew it, they spread the word here in Toronto to particular people. And one of them was Gary Slate, who was at the time general manager, PD of Q107. And so they contacted me. He contacted me. And they actually spent, I'm flattered, six months trying to get me to come to Toronto. And the reason being because, you know,

I'm only three and a half years into the business professionally. And what I'd heard was, oh, if you ever leave Chum, you'll never get another job in radio because they're so big. But he spent six months trying to get me to Toronto. So he succeeded and it was great. It was like legendary. K107 at that time was legendary. This is like 86, 87,

and you're doing the afternoons on cue. Right. So I'm trying to remember my own mind. I used to wake up to Brother Jake Edwards. Was he there at the time? Yep. Okay. And Gene Villaitis was doing the music.

Right, right, right. So just on that note, I recently introduced my two oldest kids to The Champ. Okay. So I used to... One note on the piano that made the guy a million dollars. I have no idea. I just know Brother Jake did The Champ.

And he used to do it at 6.40 in the morning. And I used to wake up to that station. I would actually wake up for The Champ. And we would talk about it at school. We would all talk about The Champ that morning. Like, some are still in my head. I got it. It's just, again, it's one punchline over and over and over.

Pass the tea bag. I lose it on you. No, I lost it. I just lost it. I've got uppercut to the jaw. I hit him in the solar plexus and he went for it. He went for it. You know, and they write themselves,

and then you would write your own and people would submit them. He made money off that? Tons of dough and he syndicated it to classic rock radio stations all through the United States and Canada. Everybody's playing the champ. This is not unknown.

This is public knowledge. But it was McLean and McLean, the Canadian comedy trio, the tremendously rude comedy trio who had the champ. It was a bit on one of their albums. Really? And Jake, excuse me, the term is not stolen. It is co-opted. No, he borrowed creatively.

He was inspired. Right. And then they did a cease and desist. Okay, yeah. So they should, yeah. And he said, can I buy it from you? And they had no intent. It was like two minutes on a record.

They were never going to go forward with it, and he had a great idea for it. So it was not as if... I mean, like I said, he bought it creatively, but he was the one who wrote and had writers. I mean, how many episodes of The Champ are there? For 10 years or something. Yeah, yeah.

60,000 of them. Same joke. Same punchline. Okay, can I just tell you one that I still remember? The Champ took his wife to buy her a lot of expensive makeup. He was like, I'm going to shower my wife with these presents, expensive makeup. And then the guy goes up to The Champ and goes, hey, Champ, I heard you blew a wad on your wife's face this is aaron at six i mean i said pardon champ i hear you blew a wad on your wife's face you know

what so this is like i don't know what we're now 30 years later or whatever i still laugh when i can't believe that was on the radio we all thought it was like holy smokes did you hear that one radio television now is far more controlled than it was. We're not looser. It's a lot tighter. I don't know if you can say that today. Could you say that today? No. You blew a wad on your wife's face? No. You'd have just too many

people, meaning one, upset. And it's too easy now. You can just send an email. Yeah, one very vocal opponent of something can just make something crash to the ground. Yeah, that's disappointing. But you're at Q107, but you're there for a little while. So how do you end up, and I want to get to TV in a minute,

but first I got to talk about one of my favorite stations. How do you end up on CFNY? Oh my God, I'm so boring. Okay. No, no, this is exciting because actually a lot of listeners to this show, because I've had a lot of the old David Marzen and all these guys. And what's key here, I guess,

is that Marzen's gone by 87, right? Oh, yeah, yeah. So this is post-Spirit of Radio. Now they've introduced, I can't remember if it was McLean Hunter or which company, but somebody's introduced like pop music. I think it was, no, I think, what did you say? McLean Hunter?

Maybe it was, or maybe it was Northern Broadcasting. I don't know. Oh, I think it was maybe Northern Broadcasting think, what did you say? McLean Hunter? Maybe it was, or maybe it was Northern Broadcasting. I don't know. Oh, I think it was maybe Northern Broadcasting that turned into McLean Hunter. I don't know. Sure, sure, sure. Okay, so one of the deals at MuchMusic, when I went to MuchMusic, which we haven't touched on. Which we're going to touch in a minute. Okay, when I got on MuchMusic, one of the deals was, because it came after me, that they wouldn't restrict my trade.

That I could do whatever i wanted uh good deal and uh they didn't honor that um because i got offered a sunday morning kids show on cbc and they said that would be a conflict which to me made no sense because it's one hour on a sunday versus you know a whole whole week on Much Music. It could only bring new viewers. That was their attitude. And then CFTR came after me because Mike Cooper, who was doing the afternoon drive, he was leaving, so they wanted me to do the afternoon drive and they sat on their hands. It was offered, sat on their hands until finally, oddly enough, Q107, finally, after about

two and a half months of them waiting for me to sign this contract because I'm trying to get the okay from the Much Music people, all of a sudden I hear on the radio that Jesse and Gene have been hired to do the afternoon show at CFTR, which was my gig. Anyway, so after that, I said, you guys are like, you've got to change your attitude. And then CFNY offered me the morning show, which worked out. It's just that it was out in Brampton at that time. Now they're down on Queens Quay. So the day consisted of waking up early, driving all the way from my place in East York, all the way down the Don Valley Parkway, across the Gardner, up the 27, up west, blah, blah, blah. It was like a million miles to get there.

Did the show and then raced back and was at Much Music at noon. Okay, so you were the guy who took over for Pete and Geats. Was there anything between you and Pete and Geats? I don't think so. Okay. Because Pete and Geats. Legendary. Legendary.

Absolutely. Right. And I guess they left, I guess Marzen brought him over from Chum, I think, and then Marzen left and then Pete and Geats were out. So I have a buddy who was on that show too, Fred Patterson. Sure. I love Fred. So who was with you on the, doing mornings at some Sure, sure. I love Fred. So who was with you doing Mornings at some point?

Mary Ellen Benninger. Oh, yeah. Mary Talen Cross, right? Right, Mary Talen Cross and Fred. That was it. So Stafford's gone by now, right? I'm trying to, because I had Stafford here, and I know at some point he disappeared.

No, he wasn't there. He was there at the time. Yeah, so that was it. What can I say? Kind of the same thing fell into place here there was two situations with that were difficult um one was in montreal and the other one was here with cfny it was the people who were hardcore pete and geats fan um didn't like um cfny because they weren't there anymore sure and then um then they disliked me moving in. I've heard this from someone else. From Double Edge.

I'm starting from... Well, you're not Pete and Geats, first of all. That's going to put you behind the eight ball. Yeah, the people who didn't like Pete and Geats were gone. And the people they were gone because they were there. And then when they left, they hated me because I wasn't Pete and Geats.

I remember this Pete and Gates. No, yeah. I see. Yeah, I remember this period, too. This was the true CFNY fans were very disheartened by this period. You mean when we had to play George Michael Monkey? Yeah, exactly. Oh, my God. Once Madonna's on the playlist.

Oh, my God. There was one day that's... I don't know who was programming. I do know who's programming. You going to name drop that one? No, it wasn't him. It's before Reiner. Yeah, yeah.

The same. Yeah. Before? I don't know. See, the general manager, program director, I don't know. It was the general sales manager. He got put in place to program the station. And he was bouncing music ideas off of his girlfriend.

I remember this. That's actually a recipe for a successful show, I think. Right, so she liked Monkey, and she liked Madonna, so all of a sudden CFNY. Yeah, that Monkey was a catchy track. There's another reason why people hated me, as if I was to blame for bringing George Michael Monkey on CFNY. Well, it says guilty by association.

Is it even a song? Is it even called Monkey? I don't know. Why can't you do it? Why can't you set the monkey free? Is that what it is? Yeah.

If you do, you love the monkey or do you love me? Remember? No, I don't, actually. I put it on my brain. That album, I'm not here to

toot the George Michael horn. He does that probably himself. But we have a this album faith i guess had number of hits like i just remember like i think they're done the hits and then another hit and monkey was like the 12th hit off that album i'm not denying that it was a great album it just certainly had no place no no no no none i actually somebody sent me like clippings of like the fan they were like protesting they were literally like having marches at the CRTC and stuff because CFNY...

Had broken what they promised they would do. Yeah, exactly. I don't know if that's true. Because they were airing... I got like clippings and photos and stuff from people who were like rallying against... And apparently the new company that bought CFNY, they put Reiner Schwartz in charge

and he started to try to like shape it back a little bit. And then by the early 90s, I guess, you've got... At least you've got rid of Monkey. Anyway, you're doing a lot of Nirvana and Pearl Jam now, but at least it's like, you know, grunge as opposed to Top 40 Pop. And there's the history of CFNY.

Well, kind of, yeah. And then legendary Humble Howard came in with Fred and, you know, the rest is history in the sense that they've been around for decades and decades as a great team. So you got any dirt on Freddie P just while we're on the topic? I would never. You would never. He had a great mustache back then. Does he not have one?

It's long gone, man. Oh yeah, of course it's long gone. No, no, no, no, no, nothing. I had a great time with Freddie when we were together. Witty, fast, opinionated. Got nothing but admiration for the guy. So you're not going to get any dirt from me. That's okay.

Everybody loves Freddie P. I'm going to play a little clip for you, man. So let me jack up the volume. What is that program? Oh, this is Soundboard for the Mac. Yeah, so I load up all my... For you, I got two clips. We've heard Boy in the Box.

You get one more. Okay, fine. And it's not good audio, but actually, that might be your fault. Whoever transcribed this, it's not on me. Welcome back. Actually, you probably didn it's not good audio, but actually, that might be your fault. Whoever transcribed this, it's not on me. Welcome back. Actually, you probably

didn't go away. We kind of went away and we're back. This is the new blonde VJ person, Steve Anthony. And these are the Music Plus people over here

and I was just talking with them seconds ago. They're whining about how Les Canadiens probably aren't going to win this series against the Flyers. They take things to heart, don't they?

We'll see. There's still a chance. All right, coming up on the Nation's Music Station, Blow Monkeys, Dead or Alive. Oh, I said Blow Monkeys. And the Pulse are on tour, or will be on tour, with Billy Idol shortly. Like this band a lot. The new LP is a monster called Electric.

Used to be called the Southern Death Cult. Then they released another album, and they became the Death Cult. And then they released another album, and they became the Cult. Then they released another album, they become, they became the Death Cult, and then they released another album, they became The Cult. And Kim, this album should of course be called, in logical fashion, they should call themselves The. But no. But there's already a band that couldn't do that, The The. You got a stutter problem? Anyway, this is, and I like this band a lot because they use huge stacks of marshals, and they've rediscover a lot because they use huge stacks of Marshalls and they've rediscovered how to use a power cord. From Electric, here's The Cult and Love Removal Machine coming up.

First Dead or Alive and the Blow Monkeys on the nation's music station. I said Blow Monkeys twice. Is that your first, that's your first... That was the first show. First show, okay. Yeah, it wasn't the first break. But first show. It was the first show.

It was, I think, I'm pretty sure it was the first show. Yeah, boy, I sound like I'm pretty confident there. No, you sound like a veteran. No, it sounds good. Munch Music was... I loved Munch Music. Everybody did. Loved it. Go ahead, sorry.

No, I was going to say, I'm not saying that because of me. It just was. It changed the face of music appreciation in this country for at least 10 years, from 84 when it was to 94. After that, it just became a victim of its own success in the sense that it had to change, it had to grow, it had to be bigger, so it became different.

Why do things have to change? Well, I don't know, but they just do. And there are people who say, well, you can do any company expanding. We've got to be bigger next year. So that was the problem. But the vision was from John Martin and Moses Neimer

was give a bunch of young people that care about music and pop culture and stuff, just give them some money and let them just screw around. And that was that. Yeah, I remember going home from school and just tuning in to hear. You always had your three videos, and you had your VJs, and you were one, of course, and Michael Williams, and Erica M.

All still alive. Yeah, actually, yeah, very good. I'm kind of shocked I'm still alive sometimes. Christopher Ward. Yeah, more than that. We have, I'm going to name them all. What the hell? Kim Clark Champ.

That was Kim in the background, by the way. Yeah, the accent. You can tell. Very cool. So tell me how you end up on Much Music because that was amazing. Okay. I had...

I mentioned earlier that Gary Slate had spent about six months trying to get me to come to Toronto to work for Q107. And then shortly after... I like doing stuff in public. I just run around like a goof and do things just my way. But three months after I arrived, I was hosting a movie premiere.

And Q107 listeners. And it was a music movie. I don't even remember it. It was something called Absolute Beginners. David Bowie was starring in it or something. And I just messed around with everybody. And there was a couple of producers from Much Music that were there. So they contacted me, and they asked me if I wanted to work for them

because they had a slot because J.D. Roberts at the time, he was leaving. He was going to go to City TV. Whatever became of that guy? I think he's now in Atlanta. He was on ABC, then he was on... He was definitely on CNN. He was the heir apparent, right? Dan Rather?

CBS, right. CBS. Yeah, and he left because... Whatever, I don't... Yeah, I was kidding. He's still around. He's still a great guy. It's a big deal.

He's still a great guy, and he's not as high profile as he was because I think he's doing something local and I don't know. Sure. I don't even mention. Anyway, so he they offered me the job and I turned it down because I'd only been in Toronto for three months and working for Q107 and Gary Slate for three months. And it felt like a betrayal. After spending all that time to get me there,

and three months later, I jumped ship. That would be a dick move. It would be really scumbag, douchebag. Did you know that douchebag is two words? No, because I don't write it. I write it as DB. It's much shorter. Oh, really?

Because I'm typing a letter to friends, like I use the word a lot, and on Microsoft Outlook Mail, it says dou shorter. Oh, really? Because I'm typing a letter to friends like I use the word a lot and on Microsoft Outlook mail, you know, it says douchebag, one word, and it's underlined in red, which means it's grammatically wrong. Yeah, and it's two words. I bet you those Microsoft guys haven't added it to their dictionary

that time. It's one word. It's two words, but it is there. Douchebag. Who was the douchebag? I got to do this douchebags podcast today. I'll see you after. That's right. Douchebag. Who was the douchebag? I got to do this douchebags podcast today. I'll see you after. That's right. Douchebag. I didn't, so I didn't want to betray him because he was a great guy.

He is a great guy. One of the most wonderful guys on the planet. One of the most generous, you know, and he doesn't listen to this thing, so I'm not sucking up to him. He might. He might. Whatever. And so that was that.

And then a year later, Much Music came back back and asked me and that felt like it was okay that i'd at least put in almost a year and a half at q so that was it and so then i went to work for them what was it like i mean i've heard some stories i how many v i've had yeah ed the sock was in here he's he was a vj and he told some he talked about working for moses and the vision of moses and uh he was a big fan and i mean mean, the guy inside Ed the Sock, Steve Kersner, was telling this story. And other VJ, George Strombolopoulos was in this show, but he was like later years. But still, tell me what it was like working for Moses. It's like very biblical when you ask it that way.

You want some dirt on Moses? I don't want dirt. I want to hear about his vision. Moses, I told it to you. I ask it that way. You want some dirt on Moses? I don't want dirt. I want to hear about his vision. Moses, I told it to you. I mentioned it to you. What, you're not listening? Truly it was. Elaboration.

His idea was, other than those other legendary visionary things, we're here in the environment, which always sounded very pompous to everybody except Moses, because it's a work atmosphere and you're also here. Well, anyway, his idea was to be mobile, to be absolutely live, to let all the mistakes happen, not that they were encouraged to happen, to not worry about faults or flaws,

not go for, I think I was one of the only... Think about it. I think I was one of the only real radio announcers. Mike Williams was, but I mean, I'd spent my entire career in radio. Michael had done other things. He just wanted people who knew their business, knew their music, cared about it, had some other ideas for some fun stuff on TV that hasn't been done before. Give them some money, you know, and then just go.

And that was his attitude. And he would defend people to the ninth degree to make sure that we were allowed to do that. In fact, I have a great story. This is proof. John Martin, who has not been honored by the music community, he passed away. He was the program director and really the one who took Moses' vision

and translated it into real hardcore. This is television. The television you saw was not Moses. It was John Martin. And Nancy Oliver was also there. But anyway, John Martin, who's since passed away. We were up on the patio, which anybody who watches much music or anything like that, there's a patio upstairs.

So we're just doing it outside. And what had happened was Guns N' Roses and Sebastian Bach. Skid Row. They were playing at The X. This is when they actually played at The X. And we were told, I was told, it was implied that Skid Row is coming up for an interview and that Axl Rose is also going to come up. So we do the Skid Row is coming up for an interview and that Axl Rose is also going to come up.

So we do the Skid Row interview and then we're sitting in every single time we come to a break. It's like, I can't kind of say that Axl Rose is coming, but I kind of can imply it, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, I just get fed up at one point

and I just call him out and I don't know how mean I was. You know, scumbag, douchebag, whatever. you can't make the trip over from you're so special this is i think this was the time it was really ticked i think this was the time they were at the height of their career so that uh he he was asking reporters he was allowed to vet their questions this is like the use your illusion time i think yeah i mean who do you think you are? Never impressed by the guy. Anyway, so I start denouncing him. I start, you know, putting him down on the air. And the way the story goes, the way I heard it was,

he's watching me down at the X in his trailer or whatever the case may be. He's incensed. He phones his manager. Pissed off. His manager phones the record company in L.A. Crazy. The record company in L.A. phones the record company in Toronto.

The record company in Toronto phones my boss, John Martin, to say what I'm doing, and John Martin says, fuck yourself. Oh, nice. Yeah. Very nice. You have to deal with the record companies and did. But I didn't hear that. All I got was John poked his head under the patio and he said, Steve,

could you maybe calm down the Axl Rose attack a little bit? That was what I got. Right, right, right. Oh, that's excellent. Like I said, so the philosophy of much music was let your people go and do what they want how come you had to vet my questions today like why did your face real quick on this note too shut your face so in all honesty i was able to connect directly with you like when i was trying to arrange for you to come in i would actually deal with you steve anthony i've been trying to get

master t to come on to talk about his save with you, Steve Anthony. I've been trying to get Master T to come on to talk about his Save Much campaign. Yeah. I get this. They call themselves Master T's team. Shut up. I'm not kidding with you. Is that him pretending he's got a team I've got to go with?

I've been dealing with his team. I have no idea. I know. Why can't I deal directly with Master T? He can always say no. I'm not going to be heard. I've been told no before. I have no idea.

I can't speak for T. You don't have any contact with him? I do. I'm not going to be here. I've been told no before. I have no idea. I really, I can't speak for tea. You don't have any contact with him? I do. I talk to him all the time. Tell him his team should get him in here. Who do you talk to for much music? Everybody. Okay.

Mostly people who weren't on the air. A guy named Dennis Saunders, he was in charge. We called him head of daycare services because his job was to, his expertise was herding kittens. And that was on a day-to-day basis. He was producing the eight hours of live TV we did. So he had to kind of make sure everything went properly. Craig Halkett.

Do you know Craig? He was a VJ as well for a bit. He's got a stage name, right? Oh, no, he doesn't. Okay. That's okay. You can edit that. But I do remember this name.

Yeah. Well, he was on. He did a weekly show called Combat Declip. Anyway, he was also a floor producer, ended up being a senior programmer there. So I'm really close with those people. And then all the other VJs, bits and pieces. Talk to Mike Williams.

I talked to Eric Am. I talked to Chris Ward. Chris Ward's writing a book right now about much music. Cool. You should get him on here. I would love to. Yeah. The way I understand it, there were a number of people

that were going to write a book about much music. And one book will barely be able to make it, let alone three. So I think somehow the three authors got together and decided that it would be Chris's. But he can clarify that. Who else? Terry David Mulligan I talk to all the time. Angela Dorman I'm in contact with.

Eric M., like I said, who mastered tea a little bit. So, you know, we still see each other. We don't hang. We never did hang. But you guys are friendly and you still keep in touch. And that's nice to hear. Right. I mean, friendly would be the operative word.

I mean, we love what we did. We love the time. Are you self-aware of what that meant to guys my age? Yes. So you have an awareness of basically the pop culture. Yes. No, I do. And I'm very fond of the fact that it was so impactful in people's lives.

It really was. Not just teenagers, but that's fine. But I think the group up to even 25, and now we're talking, there'll be 55, almost 60 now, those people on the outer fringe. It was just different being able to see your artists, being able to connect with your artists because they were there on the show, never knowing what was happening. If you look back on it

and you were to look at the television and you never knew it before, you go, boy, this is really cheesy. Well, yeah, but it had never been done before. The stuff we did, there were no rules. We made it up. We ate asbestos. We rubbed lead paint in each other's eyes.

There were no safety rules. There was no net to catch you. Nowadays, you can't do anything. I feel bad for new broadcasters because everything has been done, and whatever they're doing is somehow there's going to be an accusation of them, you know, taking from an original thing, which we were allowed to do. The sky was the limit when we wanted to do stuff. The difference, in my opinion, between, and I know people don't like change,

and everything when you were younger is better, and I understand that, but it seemed like you guys had personality, excuse me, you had personality, and it seems like things are sanitized now, just me as a, my opinion as an observer, but you're, like, I even heard in that clip there, you know, the cult stuff, you know, there's a personality there, this is Steve Anthony, and he has a personality, and it's, you know, love it or whatever, but it's interesting, and we'll follow you, and in fact, real quick side note, real quick, love it or whatever, but it's interesting and we'll follow you. And in fact, real quick side note, real quick, is that at my high school,

there was no bigger band at my high school than The Cult. That was like the Beatles at my high school. Really? I mean, that album, Love Removal Machine that was on it, whatever, it was awesome. What's his, Duffy, that guitarist? Never, he was like a guitar god on that album.

Well, that has She Sells Sanctuary on it, right? That's still a crazy single. Oh, sure. Like I said, that was an album. Things are different now. Don't kidding, Steve. But you would go and get that album, and you would listen to it both sides.

You would listen to it from beginning to end. Nobody does that anymore. Actually, it's funny. Speaking of your old friend, Freddie P., he did a snow removal machine, which is still a staple. I think CFNY played the hell out of that when he was there. They play it on their podcast now every winter, pretty much. It had a lot to do with Canadian content regulations, too. They would qualify as Canadian content.

Oh, yeah. They had requirements, and they would fit that in there. Good to hear these industry secrets. Yeah. Cool stuff. So what do you think about, I know you work for Bell and Bell owns much. Actually, I work for Bell Media.

Is that different? So does Bell Media own much? So Bell owns much music. Bell Media is owned by Bell, which is owned by BCE. Right. So you BCE. Right. So you know. Okay.

That's the chain of custody. Do you have a thought on the sanitization of the character of Much Music? Like, is there any way to bring life back to Much Music? Do you remember a song by Bruce Springsteen called 52 Channels? Yeah, absolutely. Okay, that was astounding for him to say, 52 channels. Because I had like 29 at the time, absolutely. as they get 100% of the Duck and Geese fans watching it and they keep costs down, that's fine. They don't need a lot of listeners. They don't need a lot of viewers. They just need as many

of the people who fit into that niche to watch. So Much Music, unfortunately, what its mandate was, was very, very broad when it first got its license. And then everybody else starting to impinge on this and grab that and then YouTube. I think YouTube is a big reason.

And that's just again for the videos. We're talking about the people on the air. The thing about people on the air, and I don't want to put anybody down at all because they're all talented. Everybody's talented. Sure. Anyway, is that it's easier for the people in charge

to know what's coming out of their mouth. And if that's the case, they can control things. They don't have to worry about figuring out what someone's doing and the repercussions of it. I don't know if they do focus group research. That's how generally you would do it. You go, this is what they want. So they go, here's what you do. I'm hiring you because you're you, but I want you to do this.

It's like hiring a jazz musician to play for you, but here are the notes you need to play in this order. Right. I love you. You're a great drummer playing jazz, but I need you to play rock. Yes. What? Charlie Parker. So we'll leave Much just to tell you that guys my age, it doesn't matter what you do in your

career after Much Music, you are our VJ from Much. I'm your blonde VJ, pal. I don't know if that's good or bad. I'm your blonde VJ, pal. Any truth to the rumor I heard you insured your hair for a million dollars? No, it was my legs. It was my scrotum.

Aye, Richard. Nobody done that before. Hello, Lloyds of London. Yes, I'd like to... I'd like to insure my scrotum. Absolutely. I'm going to fire my researcher. I was like to insure my scrotum, absolutely. I'm going to fire my researcher. I was told you insured your hair for a million bucks.

Still looks good, by the way. Thank you. Congratulations on holding on to that. Thank my dad, Rob. He just... Genetics? Yeah, genetics. He had wavy black hair until he passed away and not one hair gone and not one silver hair. So I got good genes. Great genes. You don't have to tell me, but not one hair gone, and not one silver hair. And so I got good genes, great genes.

You don't have to tell me, but you're coloring this, right? A little bit, a little bit. But, you know, if you were to find me on a desert island, and obviously I'd be a little unkempt, it would be blonde. Okay. It would be, the sun gets it blonde. I mean, if you want to see, look at my frigging eyelashes.

Come here, come here. frigging eyelashes. Come here. What color are they? They're blonde, ladies and gentlemen. Correct. I don't dye my eyelashes, I mean my eyebrows. So, yeah. So that's the case, yes. Tell me about breakfast television.

I've got it that you were there from 89 to 94. This was another Moses Yeah, well this was just after CFNY CFNY and I were going to part company excuse me, or had

I'm not sure of the history of it Is this because Humble's coming from Montreal? No, no, no. Humble came because I left. Okay, gotcha Yeah, I didn no. Okay, before that. Humble came because I left. Okay, gotcha. Yeah, I didn't get, you know. Anyway, so there we go. That's all the sweetener. No, it's not.

I don't remember eating that at all. So what was the question? You're coming to, so how do you get the gig at Breakfast Television? Oh, right. Okay, so yeah, so I would go out on the street. I don't watch music all the time.

So CFNY had kind of ended. Actually, it wasn't ending. I remember this. No, Moses approached me and he said, I want you to come back to the fold 100%. Because obviously it had to be sanctioned by him for me to go to CFNY, competing companies. He said, I want you to come back to the fold.

I've got this TV idea. And nobody had done it, by the way. There was a station. There was a show in Britain, in London, which was Bob Geldof's invention. It was called Breakfast House or something. And actually, the morning team lived in a house. Or the whole thing was in a house.

So they would go upstairs to the kitchen and be doing stuff while they in a house or the whole thing was in a house. Wow, okay. So they would go upstairs to the kitchen and be doing stuff while they're talking, doing the news. Anyway, as far as I know, Moses, he was the originator. I think he tried to sue them for stealing the idea. But breakfast television was exactly what it was at that time. And when he presented who the team would be for the public, which was David Onley, our former Lieutenant General. Right. And Romer and myself,

he played a clip of when I had him, when I confronted him out on the street, I was doing animal, sorry, human parts, it was called. People who could do stuff with their face or bend their fingers or whatever. And I confronted Moses, and he could wiggle his ears. Very talented man.

I know, and it sounds, oh my God, that's cheesy. Anybody can do that, but people hadn't done that. You know, nobody was going out on the street getting people to show tattoos or bend their leg backwards or whatever. So he said, this is what we're going to do. We're going to send Steve out with a live eye, and he's just going to mess with people.

So that's kind of how it happened. Cool. So I was a live eye guy. Hey, I remember, I think it was breakfast television. I get them all a little confused, but you're the guys who had issues with Zanta. Remember Zanta? No. Toronto guy. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I forgot, did you have, you're the guys who had issues with Zanta. Remember Zanta? Oh. Toronto guy. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I forgot about that. Yeah, the muscle-bound guy. You blocked out the crazy muscle-bound guy. He's still around. You know, but yeah, but he's gained like 300 pounds. Oh, is he? Somebody just told me the other day that they saw him. Kind of a sad story.

It is a sad story. It's a very sad story. We won't go too, not too hard on Zanta, except Zanta would do push-ups and stuff and say things like, yes, yes, yes. I can't remember stuff like that. I don't know. He'd go around Toronto topless. He was really, really muscle built.

He wore a Santa hat. He would do knuckle push-ups in the subway between stops and just get off. And people just kind of knew him. And he would show up. But he'd be in the background. Yeah, yeah, wherever we were. Eventually, I guess you guys had to, I think, get security to kick him out or something.

A lot of times. It wasn't just him. Other people did it as well. People do. You want to show people out? You want to have windows that look out on the street? You're going to have to suffer

the consequences of people doing stuff. Right, exactly. So you had a good time on breakfast television? We did. It was fun. As I said, with the live-by,

there were literally no safety rules i i we were able to to do anything nobody these things hadn't been done before so nobody knew that we weren't supposed to do them you know like like climbing over a railing inside the CN tower where it falls down 1800 feet without a harness on, because we're coming to air and it's, we have to have the shot and then putting the harness on while hanging on this wire fence about to drop 1800 feet, getting the camera guy into a harness, not knowing if it will hold him and dropping down and doing the shot like that. That is the that's just the top of the tip of the iceberg of the stuff that we were able to do. And so that's what made it kind of kind of cool. And this is this is I'm flattering myself by doing this because I still have a copy of it.

But after the first year, the show was so successful that we got an advertising budget. And so at a meeting, the morning show meeting one day, they revealed what the poster would be, and it would be in subway stops. It would be on bus sides, et cetera. And all it was was it was on black, and it was white writing or yellow writing that said

we apologize for steve anthony this morning beautiful do you have it framed somewhere you got a i got it laminated that's a cool one yeah they didn't ask me if i approved of it but but kind of that was the attitude of the show we apologize for steve anthony. Why did you leave Breakfast Television? It was really, it was hard. I mean, I get up early and I'm still doing much music, so no matter which way you looked at it, I was doing a lot of TV. I used to call myself in an

unflattering way the most seriously overexposed broadcaster in Canada. It was just... So Toronto Mike has become sort of a, this is your life Toronto and different people come in, but you can't really have that show without you because for the last 30 years, you've been kind of a public figure in this city, like all over the place. I didn't understand what that meant, what you just said right now.

I think, I think you were, you were flattering me, but I don't know what that meant. It means you, you're everywhere. You were everywhere. You were in Much Music. You were on the radio. You were doing Breakfast Television and we'll get to what you're doing now, but you. You were in Much Music. You were on the radio. You were doing breakfast television. And we'll get to what you're doing now. Are you going to agree with me now that I'm seriously overexposed?

Except this period, my crack research staff. So when you leave Much Music. Your crack research staff is cracked. It's you, isn't it? They can't find you after Much Music. So you leave Much Music in 95. Yes. And then I did.

I did. This was. Now, you then I did, this was, now, you're not going to believe this, but in 95, there weren't a lot of, there was not a lot of internet. There really wasn't. I remember, this is true. I was developing websites for people,

which I did. So I did that for, I did that for about two years. You're the guy responsible for that spitting mailbox. Yeah, no, and the girl who spins, and you can't tell if she's going left or right. That's me. And that dancing baby, was he yours?

Same guy, same guy. Anyway, so that's what I did. That's cool. That's the early days. Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that was that. And then, remember i told you about um i wasn't pete and geats yeah same deal happened oh wow my wife and i are watching the

news and at that time howard stern was syndicated doing a morning show here in toronto q107 and a station in montreal in Montreal classic rock station called Shome FM and he was so the first show he was on Shome he insulted so many French people and that's just the way he does things and they you know whatever so after a period of time

they fired him and we're watching it they're saying Howard Stern's being taken off the air at Shome my wife and I are watching this and she looks they're saying um howard stern's being taken off the air at show my wife and i are watching this and she looks at me and she says your phone is about to ring and not a word of a lie an hour later the program director from show phone so um they hired me to do mornings in montreal where i was for four years so there you go again same kind of deal everybody who hated howard stern had stopped listening to show them. And I,

and when I arrived, I wasn't Howard Stern. So they didn't like me. So it was like an uphill battle to start with. But so, so I was there for four years and then, um, and then, uh, the station got bought again, going back to this Gary Slate thing. The station got bought by Gary Slate's family company, Standard Broadcasting, and he came to Montreal and said, I want you to come to Toronto. Nice. Back to Toronto. So he brought me back to Toronto.

And you wanted to go back to Toronto. This is the center of the universe. I'm from Montreal. I adore Montreal. I adore everything about it. But, you know, frankly, when you're talking about a market of 800,000 Anglos left of it, it's fine to say Montreal is a big market. But 800,000 Anglos, you it. It's fine to say Montreal is a big market, but 800,000 Anglos, you can't speak French on an English station.

Do I want that or do I want a market that's six and a half million people in the listening area? So I said, fine. So I came back and I worked at Mixed 1999 for like a lot of years until the current gig, which is CB24 Breakfast.

And at 99.9, you're doing the morning show with Carla Collins. Yeah, that was the worst idea ever. Tell me why. Because they never tried us out together. I love Carla. She and I are very, very good friends. Funny lady.

But it was the worst. It was about the worst three months of radio ever. Mostly because nobody knew. See, I thought I was in charge, and she thought she was in charge. And you can't have two alphas at the trough. So they didn't bother with like, just to see if you have chemistry is vital.

No, they didn't bother. They just made the assumption that she's funny, I'm funny. We're both good radio people. I have more meat and potatoes radio than she does, but nonetheless great comic. It would work. And it didn't. It was just loggerheads all the time. We wouldn't even talk to each other

after the show. We didn't talk. We didn't plan anything. I'd come in with my prep. She'd come in with her prep. We were trying to force it down each other's throats. So... And chemistry is a funny thing. You can't force it. It's either there or it's not. Correct. I mean, right. You can't. They can say fake it till you make it, but

that's not the case with chemistry, especially when people are very perceptive about the vibe, even if it's only audio. So oddly enough, one of the deals that I had to make with them when I came to Toronto, I had already been hired by Space to go across the country. This is 2001. They hired me to go across the country from East Coast to West Coast and investigate all this stuff, like meteorite site crashes and houses that spin and ghost sightings

and all those weird paranormal, odd scientific things. You know, the bug museum here in town at the ROM, at the basement. Anyway, so that took me away for almost two and a half months so they had to have somebody fill in for me and the person they put in was a good yes man it was a good second fiddle so the show sounded better because there wasn't loggerheads things so when i came back they they asked me they didn't tell me they asked me if i would go to afternoons and same deal,

same money. You know, morning men make a lot of money. So I was making morning man salary for an afternoon drive show. No, that's sweet. And you get to actually have a nightlife, right? Because you morning guys don't get much of a nightlife. Some do. Some do?

Some do. I won't name who they are, but some, no, some actually. Did you though? Like, did you, did you actually have a, when you were doing morning stuff, which, which you're doing now, do you have like bedtime? Like you gotta be in bed by 10 or anything?

Well, you know, if you're doing it every night, you're just screwed. Um, but no, I mean, I can manage it.

I can stay out, I can stay out till 11, 1130 if I get a good nap or if I don't get a good nap, then I got to make up the hours later. I mean, I know people who actually would spend, they would do their show and they would sleep, literally sleep for five hours in the afternoon.

And so all they need if they're getting up at four means if they go to bed at one, they've covered their eight hours. So there are people who do that because they figure if I'm a morning person, I have to reflect the city, I have to reflect the pop culture here, I have to get out and see things and do things and meet people and shake babies and kiss hands and whatever the case may be. I won't say who, but I know a lot of people like that. Oh, come on. You've got to say who.

Mad Dog. Oh, yeah. Mad Dog's a party animal. Yeah. Mad Dog. You know, Mad Dog's been on this show. I didn't know that. I know. He's very... He was very raw and honest, actually. Came clean about a few things.

Yeah, he's happier the way he is right now than he was, at least. Well, he's a very talented broadcaster. He'll end up on his feet somewhere soon. Oh, no doubt. The only reason you're not hearing him is because there is a non-compete. Are you kidding me? I asked him to come back because we hit it off. We had good chemistry.

Come back and do another episode. And he was worried that might mess up the non-compete. So there's a period of time where he didn't, yeah, he's not going to be heard anymore. Right. So it doesn't mean like he doesn't have a deal already. He may have a deal in place. Yeah, I know. I have no idea.

He's going to talk about it. You're going to give us a big exclusive here? No, you don't want to. No, I really don't. No. I had coffee with him at my place about three weeks ago, and he wouldn't let up anything. But he's working on shit.

He's a great guy. Okay, so you're at the mix, and then, like you mentioned, you end up actually doing the CP24 breakfast, which I'm going to tell you because I rank highly for this show that there's still many, many Torontonians who get confused between breakfast television and CP24 breakfast. Just an FYI. Do you think?

Wait, I'm going to give you an example of this. When I get a tweet or some kind of communication to me, I'm very vocal about my email address because I wouldn't do that i'm not

that popular i'd worry about people inundating me but it'd be it would be like um oh hey steve say tomorrow morning say hi to kevin frankish yeah yeah okay we've been on there for six years what are you watching i don't get but that's how confused people you know why it's because they simulcast breakfast television on 24. I get it. Yeah, you get it. It's six years later. Six years later. I know.

I even wrote an entry once, like, CP24 Breakfast is not Breakfast Television. That's literally the title. Just when people Google it, they can see it, and then they can, oh, you know, different shows. Completely different shows. I don't know what the marketing idea was, but I think it was that they would cash in on the breakfast name. All they did was confuse it up until this point. But it's probably, I'm guessing, you know, I know you work there, so you can be quiet on this one, but it's because breakfast television was their first, and that's like the heritage show or whatnot.

It's in your best interest to be confused, is my feeling. That's what they thought, but here we are six years later. Yeah, it's true. I mean, I'm not sure how the ratings go. There's something called people meters right now. Yeah. Instantaneous. But there's not many people wearing them.

No, I know. No, I know. I know. And there's something called BBM, which was another form of statistics. And I think that we don't get credit a lot of times because they're watching us, but they write it down. They write it in breakfast television. Right.

They write it down because that's what they're thinking, and I don't think we get credit for it. I don't think the reverse is true at all. No. That's going one way. That's going one way, that we don't get the credit for people watching us because they somehow. I think that's a good hypothesis.

Very good. Now, you work. So here I have a question from my mom. So my mom wants to know if Melissa Grillo is... Grello. Grello. I got to say that right. My wife, actually, was on mat leave recently.

So sometimes I'd go upstairs at like 1 p.m. and she'd be watching the social. So I know Melissa's back on the social. She had a baby. She came back to the social. Is she coming back to... No. And if I'm breaking any rules by saying that, too bad.

She was really bummed about it, but she's got a young baby, and her baby is very active in the morning, and she does not want to miss her babies growing up. So it just wasn't possible. She was impossible to do the two. And she might have done, if her baby just got active in the afternoon, she may have said no to the social. Right, right, right.

But that's the way her baby is. And as much as she has a huge support system, she doesn't want to be one of those absentee moms. So mom, there you go. She's social only. Yeah. And not terribly pleased about it, except that it makes her life easier to manage.

So who's your co-host right now? I should know this, right? At CP24 Breakfast. Brent Pujanda. Extremely talented, very, very funny, very credible news person, reporter, anchor, which she does. Great levity.

She can mix the two. She can be like that, again, that news person. She puts on her news person hat, and then she can mix the two. She can be like that, again, that news person. She puts on her news person hat, and then she can put on her I'm just fun and hosting hat. So she does a marvelous job. We get along tremendously. Cool, and you've been on that show since 2009. This, what day do we know?

2015. May something, May 27. It's six years in March? I think it was Six years in March? I think it was six years in March. Yeah, so we're going on six, whatever. Six plus. A couple of quick hits here. I know I've got to let you go very soon,

but I have a question that's been irking me. Don't let anything irk you. You're going to fix it because you're on the hot seat here. This is a real sincere question I need to know. So Ann Romer, we've been seeing her on channel, I guess I call it channel 24, but you know, CP24 forever. And they made a big deal out of her retirement from television.

There were cakes and there was parties and articles and Ann Romer is leaving CP24 to, I think they said, work in the airline industry. I think the term was the aviation. Aviation, okay. No, you're probably thinking the same, but I think specifically. Similar but different. Okay, gotcha. So she was gone a little while, okay?

And then suddenly, people tell me these things because I'm Toronto Mike and I kind of monitor this stuff, but I'm getting an over. Are you Toronto Mike? You didn't even know that, did you? Oh, my God! Hey! Toronto Mike, I love you! this stuff, but I'm getting in over. Are you Toronto Mike? You didn't even know that, did you? Hey, I love you. I'll sign autographs later. I'll sign autographs later. Liar, because you didn't know Mad Dog was even here.

He's a buddy of yours. Does that mean I listen to all your stupid 122 podcasts? I thought Mad Dog, when he has coffee, would he be saying... 122 podcasts and I'm supposed to listen to all of them? You're 123. No, I'm 123. Mad Dog, when you have hot coffee with him, should be like, Steve, man, I had the best time at Toronto Mike's studio.

I can't tell you how cathartic it was, how great an experience it was. I digress. We're back to Ann Romer. This is Ann Romer. I got Ann Romer sightings. Ann's back on CP24. I'm monitoring it. I'm tracking it. I'm whiteboard here. Like Santa Claus. Yeah, exactly.

Suddenly, she's not just making these Claus. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, no rad. Suddenly, she's not just making these sporadic appearances, but now she's on a lot. I'd argue she's on that station now half the day. 12 hours of Ann Romer. What the heck? Did she go to the aviation? Why?

Was that a lie? Let me... Tell me everything. Okay, I'll tell you it wasn't a lie, and I'll allow you to speculate. Go. Well, I mean, I'm not going to speculate, but people... No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Okay, I'll tell you it wasn't a lie, and I'll allow you to speculate. Go. Well, I mean, I'm not going to speculate, but people... No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Okay, this possible... I'll tell you what I've heard. What? Okay. Ann Roman, this is what I heard. Speculation. Supposedly, she left to have maybe some plastic surgery. You're kidding me.

So... You're kidding me. Really? She goes off to get her new work done. I don't know. I don't know if she's ever heard that either. She's a very sensitive lady. There's no aviation going on here. There was.

What was she doing? As far as I know, and Anne and I are friends, we haven't discussed it at length. I keep saying people are my friends. I'm not just saying it's not bullshit. Are we friends? Yes, you and I are friends.

I want to know where the line is. Well, you're a friend. I'm a soon-to-be friend. Smell me. Smell you later. You're a small F friend for now. Anyway, yes, Anne had a sincere offer on the table. She was, through the years, she was waking up between CP24 breakfast

and before that breakfast television, waking up a lot very early, obviously didn't have a whole life, and she thought, okay, it's time. I got offered because of my connections and where I've been and being a news anchor and all that. I can parlay that into something. And it was a great offer made to her. And it did not translate into what she wanted. And in fact, in departing, she really missed what she was doing.

She just didn't want to do as much of it as possible. Now, you say she's overdoing it. One of the deals that I understand she made was she would do a shorter work week but longer hours. One of the deals that I understand she made was she would do a shorter work week but longer hours. So now she has her freedom because she doesn't mind. I'm already here. I'm already here. I might as well do it for lengthy periods of time.

And then I'll have extra days off. So those retirement goodbye and parties, they were sincere and legit. Of course they were sincere. They were absolutely sincere. And she had no idea. No one explained this to us. We were sincere and legit. They were absolutely sincere. No one explained this to us. We were all very confused. Nobody explained what happened with Mike Tyson. We didn't go in the air about that. You just kind of think it's going to go away.

Mike Tyson just losing it. Like the chef. Do Mike Tyson. It's a little different. I lost it. I lost it. I hit you with your solar plexus and you went for it. I hit the solar plexus right in the head.

Great Mike Tyson, by the way. Thanks. Yeah, so it wasn't addressed. And though I might have done it differently, I would have let Nathan Downer address the issue. I would have had us address it. We need to know. I'm not in charge.

I'm not in charge. So they could have dealt the same thing with Ann Romer, but felt it best just to move on. You mentioned that Mike Tyson viral video. There's another video that went viral, and I just want to touch on it really briefly here, but you were covering a monster truck event. I don't know if you know about this.

This is going to be my legacy. But you, you know, I made for a good short viral video. There's another one. No, let me just tell you. That's another thing that they wouldn't, they didn't want to address it.

They just wanted to leave it alone. Interesting. Once it's out there, you might as well go with it. Well, you know, it's not the worst thing that could be out there. I have to respect what, they're in charge. Yes, you might as well go with it. Well, you know, it's not the worst thing that could be out there. I have to respect what they're in charge.

Um, I, yes, I was at a live eye and I decided, uh, because somebody was showing off his monster truck that I would go and kick it. So I did a flying leap. And, um, when I hit the ground, you drop kicked it, I dropped it. It was a flying leap. Like you were Hulk Hogan. It was a bright, no, yeah, that's right. Or a bad Bruce Lee.

Yeah. Anyway, flying it thing. And I thought the ground was softer. It's not the first time. It is not the first time I've run and jumped and kicked something or slammed into something. You know what? I have a history of doing it.

I did it, and when I hit the ground, I just knew I had fractured my pelvis, my pelvis, my hip. Your hip. So I have a new, I have a metal hip. How does that, how do you feel? Like, are you mobile? Yeah, better. It's not, certainly not up to.

How long are you off? Very short. I was home within 10 days, and I was back on the air within three weeks. Were you embarrassed when this went viral, or no? I'm kind of... I laugh about it. It'd be sad that this would be,

after almost 35 years of broadcasting, having a pretty decent career at it and being very successful, that that will be my legacy, that Steve Anthony will be the guy. The guy who dropped your truck tire. And broke his hip. Right.

Yeah, I'm glad you're doing better. And I know that when it came out and people were like, what an idiot. I honestly defended you because of the fact I could see myself doing that. I can see myself. I'm a high energy kind of guy. I can see myself seeing a truck thing.

I can see myself drop kicking that. And you're just bad luck when you hit the ground. It was. I could see myself doing that. I can see myself. I'm a high energy kind of guy. I can see myself seeing a truck thing. I can see myself drop kicking that. Bad luck when you hit the ground. It was. I thought that there would be some give on the ground, but it was like cement. The dirt was like cement. They rolled it down and packed it down. That was a reminder that you're not 22 anymore.

I'm not made of Kevlar. I found out. Now I'm apprehensive about doing stuff. Before I was fearless, now I have a tiny bit of fear. Originally I was thinking, well, I'm afraid of Toronto, Mike, but not now. You will be after this final question here. So like I mentioned, you've been in the public space in Toronto forever. I like my socks, by the way.

They're very colorful. You know, funky socks is the new thing. They look like clown socks, don't they? Anyway, sorry. I have like plain black socks. I need to liven up my sock collection. So one of the things

we used to talk about, so you were big on Much Music, you were everywhere, we just covered most of your career and one of the things people always talked about Steve Anthony

was like, you know, he's getting all that, you know, this is before Red Bull but where's Steve Anthony getting all this energy from and people said, oh, you know, it's cocaine. This is what I used to hear.

I address that. And no doubt that it was some of the time. The bad part of all of that, and part of it was like, it was a lifestyle that everyone wanted to live. It was a lifestyle. I wasn't on the outside of things. Considering the environment in which we lived, it was truly living rock and roll. And that's

what you did. It was all part of the, I'm using the wrong term, lexicon. So yes, there were times, there weren't as many times as people think that I was actually working professionally that way. I won't deny that it happened. It happened a lot.

In fact, I don't do anything anymore for that reason. I don't drink. So you drink beer? No, I don't deny that it happened. It happened a lot. In fact, I don't do anything anymore for that reason. I don't drink. So you drink a beer, you know? No, I don't drink at all because it was one of those things where it was wonderful fun and then it stops being, that's why you do it. And then it isn't fun anymore. It's just like out of control. So, so I stopped everything about six years ago, over six years ago, you a glass of wine, just because I've had enough. I've had all of that. So the reputation that I had was warranted for the wrong reason. It's like the term is the postman always rings twice.

I'm not catching you for what you did, but I'll catch you for something else, and I can blame you for what you did before. So though that did happen in my lifestyle, the notion that on much music i had that energy because of that is false uh because um because this wasn't the case i've always been a hyper you're just a naturally energetic guy right and you know and the drinking and the cocaine use um lent itself to that lifestyle but that would be a lot of after hours i'm not saying it never happened i'm not not saying that. I'd be lying. But the notion that, oh, yeah, Steve Anthony's just a co-cat, I think it was grossly exaggerated.

But again, and again, I'm not trying to be defensive. No, no, no. It's out there. If I didn't ask it, it'd be like, what's Sean Mike doing? Oh, yeah. And real quick, just for what it's worth. So Fred Patterson and I are buddies. We have like one-on-one non-recorded chats.

And I ask him lots of questions because I'm fascinated by the history of CFNY, for example, and things of this nature. So one of the things I always ask Freddie P about was, you know, in the 80s and CFNY, like there must have been like, I envision lines of coke everywhere. That's what I envisioned in my head. Like, you know, the 80s, this is a big rock station. There's lines of coke. Freddie P tells me in his entire radio career, he has never seen cocaine. That's possible. He's never seen cocaine.

So you weren't doing lines between breaks at CFNY. I can confirm that. You can. And here's a funny story. Sure. I won't say where. I won't say when. All of the

announced staff was brought in and the person in charge was very, very angry in this boardroom. Everybody's sitting

around the boardroom and he's saying, all this partying has got to stop. It has to stop doing this and slamming and a rock of cocaine

falls out of this person's nose and bounces down the table in front of everybody. So there you go. That's perfect. It is and it isn't.

That's the 80s in a nutshell. It is and it isn't. Well, you look good. Thank you. You too, too. And get yourself some fancy socks. But you've never seen me before, so for all you know, I've always looked good.

That's right. Get yourself some fancy socks. You'll feel better. You know, George, I think Strombolopoulos is the guy who's always wearing the funky socks on hockey night. Oh, maybe. I think so.

I don't know. He's not my fashion advisor. That's a pure implying. You two remind me of each other. I don't know, but it's a good thing. And that brings us to the end of our 123rd show. You can follow me on Twitter at Toronto Mike and Steve is at Steve Anthony appropriately enough.

Yeah, how'd I get that one? You're a lucky guy. You gotta get verified though. I noticed you're not verified yet. If you're not verified, who is? They decide who they're gonna verify.

I'll make some calls. Okay, thank you. You are an influential man. See you all next week. See ya! I wanna take a streetcar downtown Read Andrew Miller and wander around