Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Stu Jeffries: Toronto Mike'd #153

Episode Date: January 7, 2016

Mike chats with radio personality and television host Stu Jeffries about Good Rockin' Tonight, Switchback, Acting Crazy, his work with Colleen Rusholme at Country 95.3 and EZ Rock and his very cool story of rebirh at Boom.

Welcome to episode 153 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a local independent brewery producing fresh craft beer. I'm Mike from TorontoMic.com and joining me this week is radio personality and television host Stu Jeffries. Mike. Welcome to the Toronto Mike Studios. Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. And I see I'm staring right into the Great Lakes Brewery parting gift. So, you know, I'll come here anytime. You might, you know, you might not be aware. That's the first time I've read that. This

is the first episode since we signed the sponsorship. Well, then they deserve all the mentions in the world. Great Lakes Brewery, fine. You know, you're taking that home with you today. And I got more even. That the world. Great Lakes Brewery, fine. You know you're taking that home with you today. And I got more even. That's awesome. That is awesome. I didn't want you to late. Yeah, I guess that is assumed.

But imagine now I tell you, no, that's just a prop. It's just you don't actually get to take that. This isn't the parting gift. Okay, all right. That and more. So yeah, thank you to Great Lakes Brewery. By the way, the irony here is I have trouble saying the word brewery. And they're your sponsor. You're a professional. Let me hear it Great Lakes Brewery, and I will say this

That I recognize this can here, and if I can Go ahead This is a pompous ass, and I get this all the time Like this is, I'm not kidding You're called a pompous ass Yeah, I'm called a pompous ass, and this is really good beer I've had it before, so thanks to those guys at Great Lakes Brewery That's very nice Yeah, it's the first time I've had it before. So thanks to those guys at Great Lakes Brewery. That's very nice.

Yeah, it's the first time I've had any kind of sponsorship. Congratulations. Hey, you got to start somewhere. But these guys, I like them because they're local, like really close to here, and they're independent. You know, bless their hearts, you know, Molson, LeMats, and these guys, the big guys. But this is an independent local brewery,

and I met the guys there, and they're just down-to-earth, nice guys. Like, it's just a perfect little marriage. Well, they found the perfect spot too. That's very nice. Yes, thank you. Speaking of people giving me money real quick, I have a couple of new Patreon patrons. So I'm doing this Patreon thing

where people can become like owners of the show, if you will. So Pete Fowler, who was my last guest, has ponied up. So he left the show and then he pledged and Pete Fowler's my um most recent patron and i can't remember if i mentioned him last time but norman forbes is on board as well so norman forbes and pete fowler so just go to my site toronto mic.com and you'll find become a patron click that and cough up i don't a dollar a month or a thousand

dollars a month i'll treat you i'll treat you the same either way. Equally, that's very nice. And come over and I got some Great Lakes beer for you as well. Hey, I'm going to, I got to, I did a little homework. So I had, somebody might've heard of Colleen Rushholm. Does that name ring a bell? Of course, of course it does. Yes. And she was on episode number 97.

All right. We sat down and I, at the time I was thinking, I got to get Stu in here, but you know, it's hard to get to Stu Jeffries because you're at this... It's hard to get to Ever Ashland. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That email is very difficult, Mike.

That's right. So I asked Colleen. It's really brief, but I'm going to play what Colleen had to say about you. Oh, okay. Because this started things off. We're at Easy Rock, and you're with Stu Jeffries. Stu, how is the relationship with Stu right now? Amazing.

Talk to Stu. He's a nice guy, right? He is what you think he is. He is the coolest, most down-to-earth guy you'll ever meet. Continues to be my best friend. That's so sweet. So no pressure. Uh-huh.

But I'm expecting you to be like a nice, nice down-to-earth guy. I will do my very best. And you know what? I will say, with all due respect, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart to all the people that I have, you know, hosted a show with. Colleen is by far and away the best. The best there is. And there were so many things that clicked with us right off the bat. and one of them was our passion for the stupid and for the immature

and that we came from sort of similar backgrounds. But there was one person I loved immediately. And you know this, right? You've talked to people who've worked with other people before and cannot stand to look at them anymore. I've had this convo with many people, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And with Colleen, you know,

if Colleen showed up here today and said, look, we're working together again. Yes, I would be the happiest guy alive. She would be the only one that I would go back to work with willingly and know that it would be a perfect combination. She is wonderful. Ever since I announced I had an unlimited supply of beer, she's been coming over all the time. That is Colleen's style. Very good.

She hasn't changed a bit. Actually, I will say this about Colleen. I've met her a few times. And like I said, we had a nice one-on-one here. Just delightful. I'll go meet her for a beer and talk to her anytime because she's delightful. And she just announced an engagement. She's getting married. Yeah, to Big Jeff.

It was the best news. I heard it happened before Christmas, I think Christmas Eve. And I'm ecstatic for them. I know she's going to be, they're going to be just great. So I'm really happy for her. Yeah, that's great for her. She's fantastic.

And she does great. She used to do the, not too much, this is a Colleen show, but it's like all the weather girls, she'd work for some service that would provide weather people to different stations.

So she had to have different names at each station and different personas. She'd have the, I don't't know the roaring 20s kind of you ever heard this roaring 20s yes great yeah so she and yeah and there's and also i there's one thing about colleen that um i i think it's changed now but i think back when we were working together she did not get credit for how good she was and i that was something that's always bothered me. I don't think people realize just how talented she was then and is now. We'll get back. There'll be more Colleen later in the program.

Excellent. Chronologically, this is your life, Stu. Oh, dear. God help you. So we're going to start. And you should tell me where to start. But I'm starting, I think, in Winnipeg. Would this be a good place to start?

Sure. So you started on the air in Winnipeg. I didn't starting, I think, in Winnipeg. Would this be a good place to start? Sure. So you started on the air in Winnipeg. I didn't actually. No, I left Winnipeg. I was raised there. Real quick, I was born in Vancouver or Richmond, just outside of Vancouver. And my parents divorced when I was very young. And so my mother moved us all to Winnipeg because that's where her mom and dad were.

So I lived there for 17 years. And that's where I developed that passion I have for radio. Winnipeg radio, to me, was so exciting back then. And my first job was in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, in 1979 for CJGX, and then I kind of just worked my way around from there. Cool. Now, the first time people like me discovered Stu Jeffries is a little program, Good Rockin' Tonight.

Good Rockin' Tonight, yeah. And that was, Terry David Mulligan was like the guy there. He was the host. He was there for about a year and a half. And I think, if I have my facts straight, Terry was looking for a longer contract that CBC wasn't willing to cough up at the time, only because I think the show was done out of Vancouver,

but CBC Toronto pulled all the purse strings, and they really had no clue what was going on out there. And they saw it was sort of popular, but they thought, nah, you know what, we're not ready to commit for a year. How about another 13 weeks? And I think Terry said, no, that's not good enough. And then much was coming around the corner, so we ended up going there. And then the job was offered to me based on some work that I had done for CBC in Regina,

when I was working in Regina. The producer had called me and asked if I would be interested in coming to audition to host the show. And I said, sure, just thinking it was going to be a one-off and it turned out to be eight and a half years. Yeah. Okay. So what were you doing in Regina for CBC? I was working in radio in Regina, but CBC had a, I don't know if you remember this or not, it was a show called The Fame Game. And then it later became rock wars uh but fame game was they would go across canada and in the in the capital cities of each um province they would have a band war and then they would uh and then that show would be shown in that local part on cbc and then they'd all compete for the national prize

right so each city had a host and i auditioned for that job just on a bet i wasn't even going to go and the guy that was doing afternoon drive Drive at the time, Dave Mitchell, I was looking at this posting in our radio station saying they were looking for a host for the show. And Dave Mitchell said, are you going? I said, no, I'm not going. He said, hey, I'm going. He said, and if I'm going, you're going. So I went and I got that.

And then the producers saw that and thought I might be host material. Oh, that's wicked. Okay, so I pulled a little promo just to set the table for this Good Rockin' tonight, which I remember quite fondly, but here's a promo for it from, I don't know, 1986 or something like that. Hi, I'm Stu Jeffries.

Let's talk this week on Good Rockin' tonight. We got you exclusive interviews with Loverboy, currently enjoying their biggest hit ever with This Could Be The Night, as well as Animotion,

back on the charts with iEngineer and Vienna's Pride and Joy, Opus, who had a number one international smash with Live Is Life. We'll have the Mr. Mr. Trivia winners, and new videos from Stevie Nicks, ZZ Top, Katrina and the Waves, The Outfield,

Pointer Sisters, and Jim Foster. We've got the top 20 singles and albums, the latest rock news, and so much more. Be here this week on Good Rockin' Tonight. Ah, early promo. That was before the Good Rockin' Tonight that we would end them all with. I was hoping you'd do that, actually. With, early promo. That was before the good rocking tonight that we would end them all with. I was hoping you'd do that.

I think it works for you, the sore throat. Thank you. I know for a fact, because this is episode 153, and I've done a few where I had the sore throat. I never sound better than I do when I have the sore throat. You at least have good pipes, okay? I need the throat ailment.

You need the rasp. It really works for me, but it I need the throat ailment. You need the throat ailment. That's right. You need the rasp. Yeah. It really works for me, but it's working for you too. That promo, boy, I tell you, that was every week. Every single week there was, and I had forgotten, and I'm still reminded by other people about the power that that show had. I mean, the lineup was always really good. It was spot on for what was going on at the time.

And then when you listen to a promo like that it it's like a snapshot right like you go back and oh my god like mr mr and opus yeah yeah and it just makes you i'd say what certainly makes me appreciate the i mean the job was amazing but i was so young that i didn't really have an appreciation for it until later right when people say that was such a part of my life, I grew up with that show, that's where I got my information, and you hear that and you go, wow, that was pretty good. I only had three spots. This is, I guess, kind of pre-much music for me anyway.

There were only three spots I could kind of go to. I loved music, especially in the 80s. I wanted to see videos and stuff. I had video hits of Samantha Taylor. I had Toronto Rocks. Right. With John Major. John Major.

Yeah, yeah. And I had Good Rockin' Tonight with Stu Jeffries. Oh, that's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah. And yeah, that's guys. I'm sure you hear this a lot from guys my age, but if we want to hear the new Platinum Blonde video or whatever, where are we going to go?

We're going to come see it. Right. And again, I had no real, I shouldn't say i didn't appreciate it i just didn't understand it like i really didn't understand the magnitude that that show had at the time and now and of course hindsight's wonderful 2020 right when people look back on history they think it was the most amazing show ever and you're like yeah yeah okay but we were young and dumb what did we know that's right i liked a lot of crap back then i was proud to be part of that crap. Yeah, that's right. So, okay, so you're at Good Rockin' tonight. Right.

And, like, I mean, I have a note here about, like, the icons that you come, you're talking to, like, Paul McCartney and Madonna and Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey and then even film stars I see here, like Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman and Matt Damon and Meryl Streep. So, like, what the hell is that like? That's got to be amazing. It was. And, again, it's good to be young. And I, and I think with, with youth comes this, you know, I think if I had to do it again, if somebody was to ask me to do it again,

you'd be coming at it from a different perspective, interview wise and whatever. But when you're young, you're too dumb to realize how cool this is. So you, and it's your job and you don't want to lose your job. So you're doing, you know, the best you can. And it's only until you look back on it where you go, Oh my God, that's right. I talked to like Paul McCartney to me was, that was the holy shit moment for me. Like that was the, that was when I knew this is a, not only a great job, but this is amazing. Here's, here's a guy that I idolized when I was a kid. And now I'm face to face with a freaking Beatle and not just a Beatle, it's freaking Paul McCartney, right?

And then you realize that you, I can't put it into words, but you've arrived at some certain point in your life where this is really good and maybe somewhat important, right? Right. You know that Saturday Night Live bit

with Chris Farley interviewing Paul McCartney? Remember when you were with the Beatles? That was awesome. I always think it's like that. Sometimes when I'm doing the show, I think I'm Chris Farley interviewing Paul McCartney. Remember when you were with the Beatles? That was awesome. I always think it's like that. Sometimes when I'm doing the show, I think I'm Chris Farley and it's like, you know, that's what I'm doing here. You're talking to Paul friggin' McCartney.

And you know what's amazing, though? What kicks in is your whatever skills you may have built up at that point, right? Because I remember sitting across from him and I asked him my first question something about how do you... He was touring on flowers in the dirt so saying okay with your song repertoire and your history how do you possibly go about coming up with a set list right and he answered the question he answered which to me i have the

i've always had utmost respect for him but when he the way he answered this question was he answered it and then he took me full circle through in one basic soundbite full circle through the Beatles through wings to all the way up to his solo career mentioning the lads and all of that stuff and all I can think of while he's talking I'm nodding and looking very interesting all I think of is holy shit it's Paul McCartney and he's talking about the Beatles like it was just so magic yeah it's It's so cool. Yeah. Yeah. And surreal. Exactly. Okay. So like I could ask you all the standard questions and all that, but I want to know like that, that young up and comer you knew was going to make it, who did make it. And then, uh,

that young up and comer that you're shocked made it, if you will. You know what I mean? Like you ever meet people on the way up and then you're like, I knew they'd be that. Sometimes I'll hear a single from a young artist and I'll make a bold proclamation to my kids or something like my wife whatever they're gonna be big and then sometimes they become huge and i'm like i knew it but sometimes this is having a few times you know hayden this local artist i i was certain when i was hearing early hayden i'm like this guy's the next freaking neil young like i was all over hayden right i'm shocked to this day how obscure the Hayden stuff is But then who knows what happens to them

Your prediction could have been bang on But who knows what happened to Hayden Maybe they just took a turn for the worse I want to get Hayden There's no disrespect to Hayden because he's doing his thing And he probably just chose not to sell out or something cool like that Or whatever But that's one of the examples where I was certain

He would be a monster I was certain So would be a monster. Okay, I was certain, man. So tell me, enough about my wonderful Hayden predictions. Right. You got any of those? Yeah, I think for me, Corey Hart was, you know, Corey Hart had the goods. And not only did he have the goods, the guy could sing, no question,

but the record company forced this James Dean dean thing on him which he played perfectly and he would tell me in later years he had no idea who james dean was and i you know but he said they said do this do a lot of pouting you know look like you're very serious when you when we do videos i want you looking sad all the time like you're so misunderstood yeah you know and he played it perfectly but it wasn't just what he did on videos what he did musically and his personality. And he was for an eighties artist, which back in the time was, if I sign you, Mike, I am in complete control of what you're going to do. So your first video, you're dressing up like a caveman and I don't care what your song's about, but that's what you're doing. Corey was in absolute control of everything. So you thought

with all of those things put together, he was going to be big and he was, and it was, um, it was a pretty fast or pretty hot comment because it, it lasted for a couple of years and then it kind of fizzled and he went away, but he went away on his own accord. There was no, um, okay, I'll give you one more album and it'll stiff. And then all of a sudden he disappears off the face of the earth, or you find out that he's doing drugs and he's, he's, he's, he's washed up or he's, you know, he's driving a truck, whatever. That was none of that. It was sort of like, good, I have my moment. I know what it was.

I'm done. See you later. And everybody still looks back on Corey Hart and goes, that was a great career. You know, Corey Hart, first of all, he's the original Corey, okay? You know how you have that string of Corys? Yeah, yeah. He's the original Corey, okay?

He's the original Corey, that's right. And real quick, there's an episode I did with Steve Anthony, and he tells a great story about Boy in the Box. Right. And Steve Anthony tells a story that he was the boy in the box

that Corey Hart. Corey Hart was. Exactly. But no, Steve Anthony was the boy in the box. Oh, Steve was the boy in the box.

Now, this is Steve's story and I haven't confirmed who Corey Hart, but Steve tells it. I can't wait to hear this. And he did have, he had an awful lot of sweetener in his coffee,

so I don't know if that was part of it, but he tells me that Steve Anthony was the boy in the box that inspired the Corey Hart song. Really? Yep. According to Steve. Okay, now, it was the 80s.

And Steve's been up very honest about what's happening with him in the 80s. Yes, and it's the first I've heard of that, Mike. If it's true, that is something else. Dig it up, people. Episode whatever with Steve Anthony. But I suspect that the boy in the box was, in fact, Corey. But it's okay. I mean, it could have been Steve.

I got to get Corey in here. So, but the Corey Hart, the way I remember it, because this was my top 40 era when I was a kid. And I remember Sunglasses at Night breaks, and it's a monster single. Still, by the way, holds up. If I hear that today, I'm dancing. Still good. You can't stop me, I'm dancing. Still good. You can't stop me.

I'm dancing. No, it's still good. Yep. And then, Boy in the Box, the album comes out. I buy this cassette and I love this cassette.

I loved Never Surrender. It was like a thematic thing for a kid. I loved Never Surrender. Boy in the Box, I'm trying to remember, at least one other single. It Ain't Enough

was a great song with an awesome sax solo. But, I couldn't tell you what the follow-up album was. This is where the cliff is for Corey Hart in the masses. I don't know what the follow-up album was. Well, he did.

His debut was just Corey Hart, I believe. And then his second one was Never Surrender. No, Never Surrender was a single on Boy in the Box. What's that? Never Surrender was a single off of Boy in the Box. Okay, right, right. Okay, so his debut was his debut. Yeah.

Just Corey Hart. With the sunglasses at night. With the sunglasses at night, right. And then it was Boy in the Box. Yeah. And then... Then who knows? Fields of Fire.

Okay, see, that... And I was listening to CFTR 680 and all my stuff. Right. Much music. I was watching your stuff. I couldn't tell you anything after the Boy in the Box album. So I love Corey Hart. I'd love to talk to him.

And he sounds like he was but like you said, a comet. It seemed like it wasn't for longevity there. Not like Bryan Adams, who was the other guy we were always comparing him to, who had the longevity to go. And it's still going. It's still going. Adams just can't stop touring. I had an interview with him last summer and he is father of two and

he's still only home two weeks out of every year. Is he still wearing the white t-shirt? No, no, no. He's still very he he's very, he still looks like Adams, right? He's just an older Adams, but he's still, man, that guy's still doing it. Oh, man, that's awesome. So, okay, so that's somebody. And what about, is there any, just out of curiosity, anybody you met and you thought it was just another schlub in the line

and then somehow turns into a big deal? Did that ever happen to you? Like you're surprised that this guy made it? I can't, you know, we can go along and if it comes to me, I'll tell you. I can't think of anything off the top of my head. No, I ask the tough questions here.

I'm feeling very awkward. I see the steam coming out of the hat there. The wheels turn. Yeah, I can't, if I think of it, I'll let you know. Nothing comes to mind right away.

Speaking of the hat, so when I look at the old clips from Good Rockin' Tonight, I gotta ask you about the hair. Right, right. Is this a perm? No, no. Is that natural curls? Natural curls, yeah. Kind of a Michael Bolton thing going on, is that fair to say you about the hair. Right, right. This is a perm? No, no. Was that natural curls?

Natural curls, natural curls, yeah. Kind of a Michael Bolton thing going on, is that fair to say? Yeah, probably sort of receded the same way that Michael Bolton's did, but I did, no, no, that was all natural, and I think that that hair served me well in the 80s. It's funny, I coach my kids' hockey teams now

in house league, and It's funny, I coach my kids' hockey teams now in House League, and my youngest son, Sam, he's nine years old, and he has got a gorgeous crop of hair, and it's red, but it's so curly, and it looks amazing. And Sam's teammate, as we were all getting dressed after the game, I had taken off my hockey

helmet, put my hat back on, the kid saw I had no hair. And Sam's friend, he goes, did you used to have hair? He's looking at me. And I said, yeah. And my assistant coach, Wayne Leak, said he had national hair. You'll never forget that guy. It was epic. Did he have hair? Let me tell you about this hair. Everyone knows hair. You know, it's funny. You don't know, like even looking at your nine-year-old, you don't know which way it's going to go. Like you got the thick head of hair as a young man. There's so much hair. You could keep some guys.

I'm actually doing all right. I'm holding on, right? You're looking good. You've got some pretty sick flow going on. Yeah. So I actually feel good about myself because I made it that way. You're in your 40s. It's still thick.

Yeah, it's good. There's no bald spots or anything. Right. So how did it feel being the national hair and kind of starting to see it was kind of crawling back yeah you kind of go you know at first it's sort of tough but then you kind of go well look at i mean it's all part of getting older now and now i just sort of shave my head and i'm happy with it um but it for me it was only tough for a little bit and then i just start to realize it looks much i think it looks way worse if you try and hang on to the few strands that are floating.

Like Hulk Hogan. Yes, exactly. And if it went, like receded all the way to the back and I grew it long at the back, I would look ridiculous. So I would sooner have somebody say, I remember when he had a full head of hair, as opposed to he's trying to hang on to whatever piece of hair he had. You're a good company. There's lots of epic hair stories. And really, at the end of the day, I'm 55. I mean, I don't care.

I don't have to worry about national hair anymore. And quite honestly... And you grow a beard. I can't do that. Exactly. I can get up in the morning and just shoot off to work without any hassle. So I'm good. I'm okay.

I've come to terms with it. Yeah. I'm thinking Kim Mitchell and Gord Downie. You know, there's a lot of epic hairs, national hairs that have suffered. National hairs that have gone by the wayside, exactly. So, you know, we're all okay. There should be a memorial somewhere. That's right, the National Hair Memorial.

Poor Hulk Hogan, man. That guy just was in denial, I think. He just said, like, I'm not going to, like, acknowledge that. But I get it. It's hard, right? Especially when you used to have it. But after a while, it's kind of, who cares who cares all right so help me out with the uh timing here so you're at good rocking tonight from 86 to 93 right that's awesome but uh you're also doing switchback right so where

is switchback in this is it concurrent yes so what i um what i did was after i got the good rocking tonight job i was still in regina doing a midday show at the station there and flying to Vancouver every weekend to tape Good Rockin' and then flying back to Regina. And after a while, that got to be too much. And I had said, you know what, I'm going to leave. And thinking that I would be able to get a job in radio in Vancouver and sort of supplement the income. Not that CBC didn't pay well, but it was sort of like I love radio. It's my first passion. So I thought I should be able to do okay there but when i got out to vancouver one thing i found out right away was that every buddy there in radio

auditioned for that good rockin tonight job when i came out there it was like who's this kid from regina how did he get it like it was really quite nasty and i had of course i didn't know anybody out there at the time um so i just kept searching for a radio gig without much luck. And then the producer of the kids show Switchback, which was broadcast in Vancouver, there are different shows throughout. Different hosts in different regions. Different hosts in different regions.

So we had BC and Alberta when I was in Vancouver. And the producer of that show, Herb Baring, had just got rid of his host. I don't know why. And then he said, would you mind filling in until we can find somebody? And it was Sunday morning, it was live. And again, here enters that too dumb to know any better.

And you think, yeah, I can do this. This'll be fine. So I auditioned, or I didn't audition, I just filled in. The next thing you know, the letters came in, everybody loved it. So they said, would you stay on? And I said, sure, it's fun. So, and then I got a job offer

to do mornings at K97 in Edmonton. And I wanted that because I wanted to stay in radio so my schedule then became Monday to Friday do the morning show Friday at nine o'clock get off the air go out to the airport in Edmonton fly to Vancouver tape Good Rockin on Saturday do switch back live on Sunday hop back on the plane and come back to Edmonton again how long were you able to do that crazy for a year and a half and a half. And then it... That's why you lost your hair. That's why I lost my hair. I lost a lot. And then I went back out to

Vancouver after that and sort of settled in. And then, you know, things sort of became a little more stable after that. But it was crazy for a while. But the switchback, so it's aimed at kids. Yes. But it's kind of cool format. Like, you don't see anything like this, I don't think. It really is. No, you don't.

And first of all, live kid show. Yeah. Because Letterman for Kids, is that what this is? It was, except you know what? And it's funny you say that. That's a great assessment of it. But each host and each producer had sort of a different vision of what they wanted it to be like in respective cities. Right.

But one of the things that I loved about what the show wanted to do in Vancouver was that never embarrass the kids. And I saw, you know, different hosts across the country do their thing. And it was always kind of at the kids expense. The jokes were coming and stuff. And I remember that was drilled into my head right away. And it made me fall in love with the show because it and it also made me realize how much I like kids. I didn't realize, you know, I enjoyed kids, but I didn't realize that I really liked them. And I really drew a lot of energy from them and, you know, and got what they were about. And that show brought that out in me. And in return, the kids just gave it back. So it was, you know, it was, it was, it wasn't just a safe place for kids to come where they knew they wouldn't be embarrassed or they could phone in and request and you wouldn't make fun of them. But it was also kind of an edgy place for kids to come where they were, if they were in the studio audience for Switchback, they were cool kids going to school on Monday, right? So it was like getting Letterman tickets at the time when Letterman was Letterman, right? That's right.

So it was, yeah, I love that show for that. And the energy, I can't even begin to describe what the energy was like there. It was mad, like mad. See, I have no personal memories of Switchback. Right. None. But I know other hosts in other personal memories of switchback right none but i uh i know other hosts in other regions actually have switched back and out of curiosity i've done sort of a

deep dive via youtube and the internet to learn about so i know so i don't have any personal memories but i mean it's it's a place you mentioned it's an edgy kind of thing it's actually also a very educational thing like for you to educate kids about stuff like in pop culture stuff yes yes so there's lots of clips out there where stew jeffrey explains things to kids all right i got a couple now you know i'm gonna i don't it's my show so i'm gonna play them all even if it goes a couple of minutes here that's fine you can't stop me so this one to set it up this is switchback i think this is 1987 you'll tell me later if i'm wrong but you're gonna explain to

children of the day what is rap okay you're gonna teach them what rap is so sorry for the audio quality but here it is you know one of the hottest hottest items these days thanks to guys like run dmc and the beastie boys is rapping what is rapping let's have a look before we go any further. Rapping. My name is Saf and I can really rap. So come on, baby, don't give up. You'll be down on one knee before you can see. We're the baddest raps in all of history. People tap the beat right to the beat. Getting in the groove, they start to move. You know I'm the best. There is no test. The, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the end. All right, that is rapping. But usually there's a story involved or something, and it's just a whole lot of fun.

And obviously they were having a whole lot of fun. We're going to have a bit more rapping, plus we're going to check out what's happening in our makeup room with our makeover. But don't go away. Give me some rap. I want to hear rap. Ew, because they're close. Don't look at them.

Don't, don't, don't. All right, I actually am going to fade this out, because the rap is really good. Those kids are probably big successes today, I bet. You know, I'm curious. I know that video, which, by the way, would be the only video involving me that ever went viral. But I remember thinking to myself,

I've got to go back, and wouldn't it be cool if one of those kids actually ended up doing something? That would be really awesome. I think one of them might have been snow very well abandoned he had some snow potential no question that around that same time this is 87 i was writing rap songs yeah and my oldest who's turning 14 in like two weeks uh he's he writes rap songs like in his notebook he writes rap songs for him and his buddies, okay? So I've given him my rap song. One of my rap songs, I kept it in a scrapbook, and it's actually in these bins here,

and I gave it to him, and he memorized it. And sometimes, this is just random stuff, like he drops rhymes all the time, but usually it's Eminem or it's Kanye. He likes guys I don't even know, like Tyler, the Creator, and Earl Sweatshirt, who I don't even know. I'm familiar with.

So whatever. I'm always like, who's that? He's like, oh, that's Joey Badass. And I'm like, I got to catch up on what's going on.

So one day randomly, he drops a rhyme in the back and I'm like, I know that song. And I'm like, that's my song. He ripped you off. I'm hearing him do my rap.

I was like, I was honored that he had dropped my rhymes. That is awesome. This era, and I'm hearing that, this is what inspires things like the Bartman and everything.

You can name it. Everyone dropped a rap song back then. For sure. For sure. And for those, I watch that stuff and listen to that stuff and think,

not only wouldn't it be cool if one of the kids that were on TV went into something, but you never know. You're exactly right. You never know what sparked somebody watching that show

to go, I got to give that a shot. They're like, oh, what is that? Oh, they tell a story. And then later they go, oh, yeah, but the stories are usually like gunshots. I heard it's midnight.

I'm rolling the streets of Compton. And then later you find out, oh, my rhymes. That's why my rhymes weren't successful. That's why my little bit innocent rap was what it was called. Hopped on the streetcar, you know, went to McDonald's. All right. But that's awesome. But one more quick here while we're doing the switchback thing is,

now I call this a ghetto blaster, and I'm sure that's not a politically correct term. No, no, no. Did we actually call it a ghetto blaster back then? No, you call it a blaster. And it's clear that the CBC is intentionally leaving out the G word there. So let's hear you explain to children of the mid-80s what a blaster is. What is a blaster here?

Okay. We'll get to a few of those just a little later on this morning. Today's big word is disclaimer. Can you say disclaimer? That's what I said at the top of the show. When I said, bear with me because I'm going to mess up a lot today, here I am, man. I'm messing up.

So that was a disclaimer. Use that on your parents. It'll impress the heck out of them. All right. We've got another prize to give away. This is a beaut. This is a beaut. This is a Sony bl. It'll impress the heck out of them. All right. We got another prize to give away. This is a beaut. This is a beaut. This is a Sony blaster.

They're calling them blasters now. Calling them boxes, right? You can hoist this thing up on your shoulder and just bop down the street. Yeah. These two things are speakers. Yes, they are. These are speakers. They connect up to the whole thing.

I'm just going to move over here and have a quick look at it. I'm just trying to show you. You know, Vanna White has got nothing on me. All right? Why, that's right, Pat. Have a look. Okay, so you got your five band on your equalizer there. You got your play, your rewind, your thing, and it's got two of them. So, in other words,

you can dub from one tape to another, but don't tell anybody that I said that, because I don't think you're supposed to, right? Can you dub from one tape to another? Well, I guess you can, because I build them like that now. Okay. So that we're going to give away. And all I want you to do to be eligible to win it is tell me who sang

with Michael J. Fox on Light of Day. I know. I know. Can I answer that? You can. That's Joan Jett. Very good.

You get the blaster. Did you know her big hit was a cover song? Yes. I love rock and roll. That's one of the trivia things. Nobody knows that's a cover. Right.

You and me now. You and me. Who did I have on here recently? Adam Groh was sitting trivia things. Nobody knows that's a cover. Right. You and me now. You and me. Who did I have on here recently? Adam Groh was sitting in that seat recently. He does Cash Cab, okay? Oh, right. So he does a lot of trivia, and he threw a couple of trivia questions at me.

We'll fade you out. You're great, by the way. Thank you. I always wondered. That's amazing. It was amazing. That was like you teaching children what a ghetto blaster is.

I always mention the word snapshot all the time. Those are great snapshots for me. Because, you know, especially when you say, look, we got a contest, make sure you specify VHS or beta, right? And you're like, yeah, that was it. You had to.

It was like eight track or cassette. So cool. But yeah, and also you notice the whole thing of that show, don't stop talking. Just keep talking. Even if you're not saying anything. I like your tone on that show

because it's not condescending. You know, you're kind of one of the, you know, even your joke, you use that on your parents, like you're kind of educating, I like your tone on that show because it's not condescending. Even your joke, you use that on your parents. You're kind of educating, but not in a pompous, kind of pretentious way. Not in a pompous, pretentious way. Yeah, you try.

And you know what? I had a producer, again, Herb Bering, who would always be on that. He would say, you know what? Everything was great, but when you said this,

it could be misconstrued like this, so be careful. I learned so much from him. I would have watched that show. Yeah. But where did this air? Vancouver and Alberta. That's why I missed you.

That's why you missed me. Because I only grew up here. That's right. And we didn't have a Switchback here, did we? Did we? You said it's regional. I think you did briefly.

It didn't last very long. Or maybe you got Winnipeg. Because I wouldn't have missed that. You got Winnipeg Switchback. Who was the host, do you know? Uh, no. Only because I know myself at that era.

Like, how would I miss that? I was watching Street Sense like crazy. Right, right. Good show. That was produced out of Vancouver. Right. But at least that was...

Yeah. Oh, no. You sure? Wasn't it? Out East or Halifax? Segments were produced out of Vancouver. Sorry about that. Yeah, yeah.

Only because I had Jonathan Torrens on this show. Right. I think it's a Halifax thing. Right. But yeah, I didn't miss that. I wouldn't miss a Street Sense. I wouldn't have missed a Switchback. I'm sorry.

Not your fault, man. You know, go on YouTube. There's tons of that there. You learn all you need to know. You can see the hair. That's right. All right. So here, you've taught the kids about the ghetto blasters and the rap.

They go together. It's a fantastic combo. Those kids all became streetwise thanks to you. So how long did you switch back for? I'm fascinated. Switchback was, I forget now. Those kids all became streetwise thanks to you. So how long did you switch back for? I'm fascinated. Switch back was, I forget now. I think we did for five seasons.

I think for five on top of switch back ended before Good Rockin' ended. Right, because Good Rockin' ends in 93. In 93. When does the hair end? In 91. Hair started going, you know, 91. And then it just got progressively worse from there. Gotcha. Yeah.

I still had a fair amount in 93, though. Good. At least it held on for the run of that show. Exactly, yes. Hey, you did a bunch of... So back to radio. You ended up on the radio in Vancouver. Right.

Where were you there? I did... Where was I in Vancouver? In Vancouver, I hosted the morning show with Stu McAllister, who's been there there a billion years i think he's still on the air right now great guy uh i did the morning show at cklg at the time which was a legendary amr uh and i of course latched on to that when am died a miserable death and you know not too many people were listening anymore everybody was all about fm but i guess it's another great thing about my radio career that i've been really grateful for is i was able to do AM radio

when it was still relevant and music based and all of that stuff. And it was super exciting. So I'm happy to have been part of that. And so aside from filling in for shifts for various stations, it was always CKLG. And then I had the opportunity to come back out here

through Chorus. And when that opportunity came, I've always wanted to be here in Toronto. So it was a pretty simple and easy decision. Well, it's no brainer to go to FM because you know what? The thing about FM is no static at all. I think you may have coined one there. You may have coined one there.

All right. And just to get some closure here, I got a list of a bunch of shows I never heard of and I'm sure they were all great, but like the score? The score, right? Half Hour Sports Show. That aired after Hockey Night in Canada.

How did I miss that one? I was watching Hockey Night. Vancouver-based. Oh, Vancouver-based. Only Vancouver local-based. Got me again. And that show was kind of cool, because it was very locally based, but they would also have a thing where they would have a fan, just a random guy that wants to be a fan or a woman that would sit in this easy chair and watch the second game of Hockey Night in Canada while we were doing our show.

And then they would pick highlights. There are three highlights at the end that couldn't be normal highlights. And then we would send them on their merry way with some gifts or whatever, all the while talking about local sports. So that was one that lasted a couple of years. And whenever somebody brings that up, I had completely forgotten I did that. It was a fun show. Okay, the score, and then Metro Café.

Metro Café, that was real brief. I was one of five hosts, I think, on that show. I think it was only maybe a season, possibly two seasons. Someone on Twitter wants to know, what's the deal with Love Handle? Oh, Love Handles. Yes. That was a game show that I hosted, a newlywed style game show, which

I tell you, one of the things I'm very proud of of that show. First of all, some of the most fun I've had doing television in a long time. The producer of the show is named Blair Murdoch, and he does a ton of those type of shows. Acting Crazy, Love Handles, they're all very cheaply made.

And he does about, how many do we do? So we do six shows a day for an entire month. So whatever that works out to. And then he just runs them in perpetuity forever in a day. But you do the sign-off. You don't get residuals. So he basically, I remember he had this contract laid out for me to host the show, Love Handles.

I'll never forget this. He said, so just have a look at that. Let me know what you think. So I looked and stuff. And I remember I had a couple of questions. And I couldn't remember what they were. But I asked him a couple of questions. He goes, does that answer your question?

I said, yes. He said, good. Just sign right there. And that sound you hear is your career being flushed down the toilet. And he's laughing. And I thought, what the heck? And so that show was the very first show to feature same-sex couples. Oh, wow. It was really, it was kind of an honor to be on. And now that show was the very first show to feature same-sex couples. Oh, wow.

So it was really, it was kind of an honor to be on there. And now that show is showing on the Pride Network. Is it? Yeah, they run it on Pride. Wait, there's a Pride Network? Yeah, yeah. Or maybe that's not even around anymore. I don't know.

But yeah, so that was, and that was fun. To host a game show, I recommend it to anybody that has ever done television at length to try a game show because they can be a lot of fun. And you mentioned acting crazy. So I have a lot of fun. And you mentioned Acting Crazy, so I have, you know, notes on Acting Crazy, so you got like... Wayne Cox hosted that show.

I was a contestant. They actually called me a celebrity. That's to give you an idea of the kind of... So how many... You only appeared in the one episode?

How did... Acting Crazy? No, I think I did about six or so. Okay, gotcha. But this is the same now. Celebrity hits a real gray area when you got me on TV,

but they were... And this show was... Well, you're good, but they were, and this show was. Well, you're good rocking tonight. Yeah, but this show had like Frank Burns from MASH. Larry Linville was on the show. Who was like one of my favorite, him and the guy who just passed away

were like my two favorite characters. Yeah, Wayne Rogers. Yeah, yeah. They had Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. on. Like they had some old school guys on. Captain and Tennille. Like, I mean, it was pretty fun.

Well, okay, I got here. Yeah, it's almost like, what's that? That would be the Hollywood Square type crowd canadian version of the hollywood squares on a really low budget because you had uh sally struthers sally struthers and jim jay bullock okay you know from uh yeah from the ted night shows or whatever yeah um too close for comfort and uh for simpsons fans the late great marcia wallace right yes yeah that's right too yeah marcia was on the show.

I completely forgot. Yeah. Yeah, it was amazing. Every so often, I come across a video of that stuff, and it's like, again, and it's like,

you think about it now, and you think, wow, those people were legendary, but at the time, you're thinking, hey, I'm just hanging with Larry Linville.

This is pretty cool. And now you know that they're not with us anymore. It makes it even that much more important. We still have Jim J. Bullock and Sally Struthers, though. Yes, exactly.

Yes, yes, which is good. And Stu Jeffries. That's a lucky you. Hey, look, almost 40 minutes in and now we're going to get you to the GTA, okay? Okay. So it's all movies together.

So first question I have is about what you... I didn't watch CMT. CMT, I had this conversation with Colleen Rushholm, actually. Right. She was in CMT. She says that's the one...

That is the one genre, I guess, where you can't fake it. This is her words. She says, they can smell out a fake. Oh, smell a rat a mile away. And country, to me, I have absolutely nothing but mad love for country. And in the time that we spent, Colleen and I were in it for three years. And we both say, and even to this day day it was like we were welcomed into a club that had always existed but we had no idea how you can't even explain it how um real it is and how

your listeners and your viewers are 100 honest and up front and the artists for me having done rock and roll for years for interviews and you'd get some guys that were awesome. And then you get some assholes that would come in that just didn't want to be there and gave you attitude in the whole bit country was, what can I do for you? How long do you need? And ask whatever you want. And I remember we got our first taste.

Vince Gill is a legendary country artist, right? We had just started a country 95 three and they had set up an interview with Vince and for whatever reason it was supposed to happen at two in the afternoon and Vince never phoned. Don't know what happened, Right. We had just started at Country 95.3, and they had set up an interview with Vince. And for whatever reason, it was supposed to happen at 2 in the afternoon, and Vince never phoned. Don't know what happened, but that happens sometimes, so whatever. The next day I came in on my voicemail. I get, hey, Stu, it's Vince.

Man, I'm really sorry. I missed your call yesterday. I was doing such and such and such and such. Here's my home number, or you can call me on my cell or whatever. And it's like, okay, and this is a legend. But that sums up exactly what country artists were like. And when we got a taste of that, it was unreal. And to leave it was really difficult.

And both Colleen and I were lucky because we got the video side to host that show on CMT as well as to do radio. Okay, so that's my question. So you're doing, this is in Hamilton? Yeah, Hamilton. And then they moved their studios to Liberty Village. Oh, did they?

No, sorry, not Liberty Village. What am I talking about? The one just across from Lamport Stadium. What do they call that area? I forget. Anyway, the studios were there. King West?

Or where are we? Yeah, it's like around King and Jameson, around, a little bit. How were we? I'm trying to think. Tip Top Tailors? Is that like around that area?

Or is, I don't know, King? It's not Liberty Village. What do they call it? Anyway, it doesn't matter. You're close to Liberty Village. Yeah, so it was studio, Toronto for all intents and purposes. And what they wanted to do was

from the Burlington or the Hamilton signal, come crashing into Toronto and be the only country station that Toronto had. Right, because we had Kiss 92.5, but that had been, I guess that's gone by then. It was Kissin', right? Wasn't it CISS or something like that? Yeah, it was CISS. Yeah. And that was country. Right, CISS, right guess that's gone by then. It was Kissin', right? Wasn't it CISS? Yeah, it was CISS

and that was country. Right, CISS. Because Mocha was there. I just had this convo with Mocha Frapp from the now, he's on 92 now but now it's, you know,

it's different, it's top 40. Yeah. But yeah, so you're, the station, which is the Hamilton station is playing country music.

What is it? It's vinyl now, right? Is that the vinyl? Now it's fresh. It's fresh. It was vinyl then fresh. It was vinyl then fresh. It went country, vinyl, fresh.

And I guess when I wasn't there, when they went from country to vinyl, but the general manager, Suzanne Carpenter, who's a wonderful woman, said there were death threats for me for switching that format. There were people that were so devastated by that switch. She said, I couldn't even look at my email anymore. I couldn't look at Facebook posts or anything because it was so nasty. And country fans

all pack heat. Yeah, yes. Right? In the pickup truck. Oh, yes. So here's the thing. So you bring that up and that was the thing

that used to piss me off to no end was the country stereotypes that you had to sort of put up with and what people would do when they, and this is,

and here, this is the real killer. My wife is totally into country and long before we got country 95.3 and she used to watch country on tv and i would make fun of her incessantly i would like hear the lyrics and i would go you got to be kidding me and she would be can you just let me enjoy this thank you very much and i would be so critical i'd be such an ass and then I got into country and I defend it now to the death. So when somebody says, yeah, you know, it's about your dog dying and your pickup truck guy, and it's like, no, it's not that. And you get really defensive about it.

Colleen and I used to say to people that would do that, say, look, you give it a half hour. Go tune it on for half an hour and tell me it doesn't affect you in one way, in one way. And come back to me and let me know more times than not they wouldn't do it they'd be more content by putting that

go yeehaw see you later but it wasn't you know it wasn't like that that's still I love that era so much those were great three years

you know to each his own you know it's not my cup of tea but I was I do have vivid memories as a very very young man where my mom would

incessantly play this Kenny Rogers greatest hits LP over and over again. And I don't know if it's because of like, you know, you're captive and you're just at Stockholm syndrome or something. Yes, yes, you start to sympathize. But to this day, yeah, to this day,

I will listen to a Kenny Rogers song with one of those songs from that album, Reuben James or whatever, or Coward of the County. Yeah, yeah, Reuben James is a great song. Or even the cheesy ones like the Lionel richie like um uh there was a big hit she not she she believes in me it was a good one too yeah there's a lot of i actually thoroughly enjoy hearing them now because you know memories and stuff exactly exactly but okay so uh so i don't listen to

so i do listen to kenny rogers so i would probably give it a half an hour and see if okay so i just this is very important so you you're teamed up. Are you right away, when you're on the country music radio station, are you right away teamed up with Colleen Rushmore? Yes, yeah. And that was by choice. So now I was hired by Country 95.3. There was no co-host. Had a choice of three or four people. And Colleen was working across the hall from me. She was working with Nicholas Pickless on, what were they then? God, I should remember that.

And that's a former CFNY DJ. Yeah, yeah. So they were working, they had a four-person show going. And then Nicholas took a job back in Buffalo again. But I remember Colleen and I used to come in and see her in the morning. I'd just walk into the control room, say good morning.

We used to joke around about stuff, and then I would go do my gig with Pete Cugno at Y108. I know Scary Pete. Yeah, Pete's great. So we're right across the hall from each other. But I remember thinking, every time I saw her, I remember thinking, she's so good. Like, she's so funny.

And then, so she was really my first choice. And when I had the, I got to interview potential co-hosts, and Colleen and I talked on the phone, she was on vacation and I said, what do you think? And she sort of gave me her assessment of what she felt a co-host should be. And I think when we started working together at first, I don't think that there was sort of a hundred percent buy-in because we were both coming from not great. I shouldn't say not great, different situations. Uh, I've been working in classic rock format and it was nothing but pete and you know lots of um what's the word lots of uh just lots of edgy stuff edgy classic rock stuff right and colleen's coming from pop and that's why 108 that's

why 108 yeah so colleen's coming from a pop sort of background so now the two of us are meshing for country which is all about family all about values all about don't embarrass me in front of my kids like all that stuff right and and a respect for the music yeah so we were both kind of yeah where are we going to go and i'm bringing stuff that i was doing at y and she's bringing stuff that she was doing with nicholas and we were still trying to figure our way out. And it wasn't until, I would say a couple of months in, where we started realizing that we really had something here. And people, the listeners, were starting to buy in. And then, out of the blue, we ended up getting the bronze award for best morning show in Toronto from the Sun readers,

which is like I still have today going, come on. And I can't even remember who was first and second. All I know is what, we're number three, and we're a one and a half share in Toronto. Like there's no way that's happening. But that to me speaks- That's your demo, man. Yeah, but that speaks to volumes of that,

the power of those listeners, right? That was amazing. So, okay, so you're, so I guess, how do you as a team end up on Easy Rock? We, well, for one, I think, you know, without sounding like an ass, we were good. And I think when we got into year two,

plus all the work we did together on CMT, we were a very good brother-sister act, if you ask me. We were, we knew each other well, and we were funny, and we related. And I think we got a lot of props for being our real selves which is something i think we both maintain to this day uh and it resonated uh and then um brian depot who

was program director of easy rock uh was going to lose aaron davis aaron was working with mike cooper right going to lose her to um uh chfi. And he knew that Mike was going to go with her. And so Brian had sent out, and Brian had sent out a feeler before saying, would you be something you guys might consider? Actually, no, it was to me first, would you consider coming over? And then Brian and I had a meeting and I said, it's got to be Colleen. And Brian says, well, we do have some people there already. And I said, no, it's got to be, I got it.

It has to be Colleen. And Colleen and I having a bit of a fight over that. She goes, well, it would be nice if somebody phoned me. Nobody's talked to me yet. And to this day, I get it. It's like, I'm doing all the talking. She's like, no one's asked me anything. Right, you're like her agent.

Yeah, I'm like her agent. That's right. And getting her into stuff like who knows what. And then as it turned out, you know, we did. And we had so much fun at Easy Rock. But the first thing that we heard from our country listeners was that we love you guys, but it sounds to me like a lot of the free and easy breezy stew and calling

has been taken away by a little tighter format, right? Which may or may not have been true, I can't recall. And then we had three good years there, but we just, I don't know. We got to a point where we couldn't get any traction, I guess, and we were consistent, but we weren't building yet. And when I think back on it now, I think this is the bitch about Heritage Morning Shows that people talk about, Mike, that you know too well about. I say, look it, Mike, I got a radio station here. I want you to be my morning guy.

You're competing against heritage radio stations and heritage morning shows like Roger, Rick, and Marilyn, and now CHFI with Aaron Davis being over there, and they're dominating, but they're heritage, and that's why they're dominating. So I need you here to compete against that good luck. And then with support or without support it doesn't matter you give your best shot and then after three years i don't see enough traction so i got to get rid of

you while i try and build another heritage show the trouble is i'm not getting heritage if i'm replacing morning shows every three years right or every two and a half years um and but but pressure comes from you know shit runs So, and in this particular case, Astral was buying the station from Standard and my contract was up at the same time. So it's like, you smell a perfect storm here. It's like, okay, you know what? We're taking over. Let's start fresh.

Let's start with a new show. And then they went with Howard and a four-person show with lots of guests. The legendary four-person show. Speaking of Roger, Rick, and Marilyn. Yeah, exactly. And I guess with all the best intents, because I guess it's a good idea

if you're going to compete against multiple shows, but it just didn't work, and it was another one of those things that didn't get traction. And oh, surprise, three years later, they're making another change. Like, you can't get a Heritage morning show unless you give it a shot.

And everybody will tell you that when Roger, Rick, and Marilyn got together, when they first started, it wasn't very good. Right. Like, it took a while, right? And now, look,

they're dominating as they should be. But it's like, you know, if you want Heritage, you've got to be patient. Okay, while we're at this moment in your career, I'm going to play

one more Colleen Rush home clip. Okay. About the end of Colleen and Stu, or Stu and Colleenen or whatever we were calling it only aaron davis gets to be on a morning show where the woman is first remember that which is that's right that is true it is true she was on the show and she said that was important to her when she came back by the way because you mentioned we're gonna play a little

bit of that but you just mentioned this is a big part of like toronto radio legend stuff like so you have so so the aaron davis was fired aaron davis is fired from chfi right she gets a gig at easy rock where she's teamed up with mike cooper and then i something you rarely see which is in you we're going to talk to you because you can kind of uh sympathize with this as well where the program director whoever makes a call realizes she made a mistake right i. I've made a... It's like Job in Arrested Development. Yes.

Yes. I made a huge mistake. Yeah. Yeah. And they actually do something you almost never see. I can think of a couple examples, and we're going to talk about you in a minute. But where Aaron Davis and Mike... Yeah, Aaron Davis and Mike Cooper go back...

Well, Mike Cooper follows Aaron Davis to CHFI. And you and Colleen, I guess, are the successors to the Aaron Davis and Mike Cooper show that was on Easy Rock. We are. A show that they took to number one. And it was, as many maintain, the quietest number one morning show ever. And then they went to CHFI. And of course, now here we are talking about a Heritage morning show. So here's a brand new morning show arriving in Toronto at a major player.

It's Stu and Colleen. And one of the most seismic changes in radio history in Toronto over the past couple of years takes place when Aaron and Mike team up and go to CHMI. It's her return. And oh my God, numbers go through the roof. So imagine this.

They had number one numbers when Aaron and Mike left. Colleen and I take over. They take basically all their cue to CHMI. So if, I'm guessing here, but if a number one number is a 10 share, we went and half that immediately. So now they're looking at a 10 to a five and everyone's going, what did we do? Let's just say it's a difficult spot to be in. It's really hard. It's really hard.

Especially too when you're putting your best foot forward, but you know what's coming, right? You could have the show of shows every single day of your life, but you know what's coming. It's not going to be good. Let's hear a few seconds of Colleen talking about, since you're still great friends of Stu, what was it when you found out they were letting Stu go at Easy Rock? God, that was a weird time for us. It was really weird.

That was these little clues in the business. It'd be like, hey, did you hear that our coffee sponsor this morning isn't brought to you by, How did they change it again? Stu and Colleen, sponsored by Coffee Time, ended up being Easy Morning. So I went, Stu, kiss the death. Kiss the death. So it was tough for us. We maintained our friendship throughout that time, but it definitely was a little awkward.

I had to continue with my career, and he understood that. And that's when the whole humble Kim and Colleen and Rick thing happened and we flipped a boom. So there you go. Yeah. So they flipped a boom. Yeah. Now her, that was a great assessment

from Colleen because it was really awkward. It was really hard and it was like, I'm hearing my, basically, you know what it feels like? It feels like I'm hearing my girl

and I'm not with my girl and my girl's with like three other people and that's not right. And sometimes I would hear her say stuff and I would go, that's not my girl. Does it sound like my girl? What's going on? It's always strange to me as a listener when a well-known brand name team is kind of broken up by management.

And I had literally had brunch with Fred Patterson two days ago. Right. And, you know, he was fired from Mix 99.9. But Howard was still there. Right. And, you know, we've all seen private parts when Robin is fired and Howard says you gotta keep going or whatever

but so Colleen's they keep Colleen to be the morning show person they let you go and then they flipped a boom and they got the four man show and so here we're in an interesting this is interesting for you

because of the success we're going to talk about in a minute. But I guess my question is, how is it that you were fired by Astral from the airwaves of Easy Rock, which is becoming Boom, but then not too long after, relatively speaking,

you're back on the air at Boom. I actually, you don't have any memory of this, but I once took a tour. I was sitting in on that morning show, the four people morning show. Right. And then at some point I'm taking a tour. I can't remember, but I see you in the room doing your show. Right, right.

Just you. You're doing the, you're opting, you're sort of like you're opting it. There's no one else and there's no producer. This is just you and you're doing your thing. So how is it you end up back at Boom? We did, first thing that happened was a, I'm trying to get my timelines right, but I think Orbit, which is a division of Astral, had come up with a concept for an 80s show, which would run on the weekend for a couple of hours.

And that was with Kim Clark-Champness. And then Kim initially did it with Erica M. And for whatever reason, that wasn't working out. And so Leslie Soldat at Orbit asked if I'd be interested in doing that show. So that was like, yeah, okay, sure, I want to do that. And then at the same time, they had flipped to Boom. The program director at the time, I think Rob Farina was there, and Martin Tremblay was there.

And I was kind of looking for anything. And this is where I look back, my wife and I talk about this all the time. It was such a hard time for me. One, I had never been, and technically I wasn't fired. My contract wasn't renewed. It ran out. But I had never been in that situation before. And it was really hard. And it was harder because I was hearing what was happening after I had left. And it was really hard and it was harder because I was hearing what was happening after I had left and that was difficult to listen to and also to see that the numbers weren't happening and it's such a ruthless business. Like it's ruthless. You could be doing mornings and doing well and or okay enough to sort of – little fate. We can work with this, make it happen and you know that you to sort of you know little fates we can work with this make it happen and you know that you've got a good product and then you're done and then you find yourself doing

weekends and then you find yourself doing an evening show right which is what i did and it's the equivalent of construction where you are like i gotta get a gig okay you know what i'll help these guys build a house for a sec keep the money coming in until something else happens radio construction is like that to me. You're coming back now and you're doing shifts that, I remember Brian DePoe had heard me do evenings at Boom and had through Steve Parsons, a friend of mine, had said to Steve, he said, he sounds fantastic.

And I remember Steve told me that. And I said, you know what? I better because this is my 30th year and I've already done evenings a million years ago. It's not your first rodeo. Yeah, exactly. So it was just hard, like really, really hard. And you have to bite the bullet and know that your chance is going to come around again.

Or, no, that's not right. There were times where I thought I'm not getting another chance. And that was really hard for me. there were times where I thought I'm not getting another chance. And that was really hard for me. Like that was really like, because, and again, without trying to sound like a jackass,

I know that I'm good. And so that didn't mean anything though. It doesn't matter if you're good radios like that. It's ruthless. It's like, I was telling you, I had this audition for a commercial today. I could do the best read or the best of my abilities is great read.

And then you hear the spot when it's on the air and it's complete garbage. And you're like, okay, all right. right i don't understand but that's how it goes and in this case that was the hardest part for me was to try and realize that no hang on it'll get better and it did but it was like it was a lot of work no i can imagine and i'm just mad dog for example i know now he's in a similar spot so he could probably relate but there's guys that you're getting your big time morning show guy and you know what comes with that and then all of a sudden they take it away and then you're you're wondering like am i ever gonna get am i ever gonna get back and then and you know your passion for it because i love radio so much your passion for it keeps you going but it's also like

your anchor because it's like you can't do anything else right it's like nothing else is going to fit i have to be doing what I'm doing. My skills are on air. And if I can't be on air, I don't know what the hell I'm going to do. So it was pretty tough. But I guess you swallow your pride a little bit, right? Because you're doing things that the kids are doing

for like $10 an hour or whatever. You got it. You got it. Yeah, yeah. You're like, I'm Stu frigging Jeffries. I'm good rocking tonight. That's right, which means absolutely nothing I found out.

No, the way this story, this story in the movie that we're filming here that there's, this turns into quite a happy little ending coming up here. It does, it does, yeah. But it was, you know,

the road to get to that, you're right, it's an interesting movie. It was an interesting movie full of lots of twists. I want the rights to the movie. Yeah, full of lots of twists, yeah. I'm going to get Michael Bolton

to play you. That's good. Perfect, perfect. I'm going to get Michael Bolton to play you. Perfect, perfect. You're doing, like you mentioned, whatever you can at Boom, but the nice thing is you don't seem to be a guy who would burn a bridge on the way out. Somebody asked me about the Aaron Davis situation. Can you name

other examples where somebody's... You're right. The terminology is that they didn't renew your contract, but to us guys on the street you were fired you know exactly same difference does even though it's technically different it's yeah you know we don't want your services anymore exactly yeah so you're now back at the same company that although yeah you're back at i'm trying to make the ownership's weird too in this situation you got astral buys it from standard and then they're now it's new cap now it's new cap right Bell bought it from Astral, but Bell didn't want us. Well, didn't they have to choose?

Well, they did. Oh, yeah, they had to choose. But you know what was kind of cool? And I mean, I don't care if I get into trouble with this. Yes, exactly. I think that we had a real attitude with how things turned out at Bell,

where they had taken not only... I remember being in a town hall meeting where everybody was assured that when the separation took place, that it was going to be equal and balanced. And there wasn't a person in that room that wasn't going, you're full of shit. And it's going to be, we are going to be orphans. We are going to be orphans. I like the inside baseball stuff because it's Virgin. Virgin 99.9 is a Bell Media station. Right, yes. And so now is Chum FM.

Yes. Right? Yeah. And there's some CRTC rule about having too many. You can only have two FMs and two AMs in each market, as I understand it. Right. So they basically were told, you have to sell one of your three FM stations. You've got to sell now two because they ended up with the Flow as well.

Flow, right. So Bell's got Flow and Bell's got Boom and Bell's got Virgin and Bell's got Chum. Right. Okay. And Bell is like, we'll take Chum and we'll take Virgin. You know, you can see them making that call, right? Sure. Sure. Sure.

And then, but what that does is leave two stations behind with a major attitude. And so they called us Divesco for a while because we didn't have an owner. And then NuCap swept in and had always wanted a station in Toronto. And NuCap was like, is, exactly what I remember radio being like when I was in Regina in the early 80s.

It was exciting and all of that. But what it was was all for one and one for all. And it was exclusively radio. There was no wireless, no cable, none of that synergy crap going on. None of that, you know, it was all exclusive. Like Great Lakes Brewery here, right? Like the fine people at Great Lakes Brewery. So what it was, was these guys moved in and said, here's what we're all about. We have 60 stations across Canada, but no one has ever taken us seriously because we don't have a station in Toronto. And I remember the exact words of one of the execs who said they have to take us seriously now.

And everybody in that room was like, good. And not only did we have the great management in place, and we have terrific management in place, you can just sense it right away. Flow came in from being the red-headed stepchild. Flo came in from being the red-headed stepchild. I mean, they came in and it was like they were so tired of being shifted around and misdirected and all of that stuff. And they came in here a little bit cautious going, here we go again. But you look at that hallway in that building, it's like magic. It's like everybody is, yeah, this is the right place. Well, I have the great Mae Potts has sat in that very seat.

Right. So she was my, and we talked a lot about, she raved about NuCap and the atmosphere. And it's kind of nice to be on a station that's not Bell. It's not Rogers. It's not Chorus. It's like, yeah, you feel, again, you feel like it's a throwback, right? Which is like a throwback to a time

where there were so many different radio companies, right? And now instead of the monsters that are out there now, and I mean monsters in terms of science. Conglomerates, yeah. Conglomerates, yeah. So yeah, it was the best thing that could have happened to boom and flow and maintains that way. You keep fingers crossed and you keep knocking on wood all the time that it stays because it's pretty fun. I got to ask you about the German word, schuldenfreud. Right. That's all I know in German. Guten Tag, I can say that. Guten Tag, yes. about the German word, Schildenfreude. Right.

That's all I know in German. Guten Tag, I can say that. Guten Tag, yes. And to you as well. Schildenfreude. So there's a moment in Boom history when they decide that, so the four-man team,

they say this isn't working and they got to pare it down to a two-man team. Right, to Humble and Colleen. Humble and Colleen. And then there's a point where they get rid of that too. Right. And I'm not sure right away what happened,

but it didn't take long before an announcement was made. I remember your tweet because I wrote about it. And you tweeted that you were excited to be back on mornings at Boom or whatever. Right. And you were announced as a new morning guy. So the first question is, and I know you're dear friends of Colleen, so I can kind of guess where this will go, but any ounce of schadenfreude

when basically the team that replaced you at Easy Rock was just let go and you replaced them? Yeah, no, and I say that with all honesty because I know what it's like on the other end. It happens, and it's another bit of ruthless radio nonsense. But having said that, I was grateful that I was getting another shot. I will say that how it was laid out,

how the show was going to go, had lots of limits. And it felt, although it was never spoken, it felt like it was temporary. And so I wouldn't, I'd be lying if I said I didn't think I was keeping the chair warm for somebody else. I really, there was a time when I really,

I never spoke it, but I was, I always felt it. Uh, and then, but from the moment I took it over, I remember having this. And here's the thing with me. If, if somebody, um, pisses me off, somebody gets me mad, especially when it comes to my skills and whether it's my skills professionally or personally, my skills as a parent or my skills as a hockey coach or my skills on air, if somebody makes me mad, says something that is not true

or I believe not to be true about my talents, then I channel that into, okay, you'll pay for that comment. And I can't say particular comments or who spoke them, but they are always top of mind with me. When people say certain things that, that somehow come across that they don't believe in me. And if that happens,

then I'll turn it around and I'll make you believe in me. And in this particular case with the limits that were put on this show, um, and there were lots and it was really sort of pitched as a, you know, just get high energy and get lots of calls over there, getting some requests on and stuff like that. And I'm thinking, yeah, what can go wrong with that? I thought, okay, this will be a throwback. I'll go back to the radio. I used to listen to at the seventies where they got all their business done over the intros, every single thing and use that to the best of my advantage. So I'm,

so I'm allowed so many intros and maybe two stops, that's an hour. So I can do that. I can do that. But so you're only allowing me a minute 20 here to talk. Okay, fine. And you're allowing me all this intro time. Great. So that's what I i did and i just kept going and going and i remember and so here's the piss off moment somebody phoned no emailed and said um uh something about a mistake in either a song that we played or something that i had said i can't remember what it was but the comment at the end was i don't really listen to the show it's not my thing and i that i can still see in print i'm gonna and all i can think of is i'll make it your thing you will be sorry it's not your thing right and and so those things get me so motivated and then you

know i'm hanging on to the fact that and all i'm hearing is hey they gotta get you some help in there come on you gotta get some help i mean come on you're doing everything yourself and i was doing everything myself i don't i still which inspired this show because i insist on doing everything myself and i don't have a producer insist on doing everything myself. Yes, exactly. And I don't have a producer. I still don't. I don't have an op. I don't have anything.

It's all me, 100% me by myself in there. And I'm starting to like it a lot. Having said that, Colleen shows up. I mean, I'm happy too. But it's like you're, you know, I'm the funniest person in the room. That's awesome. I can sort of do what i want on my own guy but from there potential was shown that we could turn this into a show and now we start adding features like thousand dollar minute and fast five and things like that and now i've got

some breathing room and you know it's working and um to me that's like i get choked up when i talk about that but it's also an avenue for me to be me and they've let me be me. And I'm an emotional guy. I'm a sensitive guy. Stuff gets to me. Sometimes I let that out. It resonates. And it feels like this real kind of, I feel like probably for the first time in my career that I've, no, I shouldn't say for the first time, but I feel I've hit a new level of just being me and being comfortable in my own skin. And that resonates with listeners. It's like, that's magic to me. In the movie I'm making about this.

Right. Because it's going to happen. I think I'm ending it with like a ratings book will come out or something. And maybe the last ratings book. So I don't get access to these books, but I get fed parts of it. It's really frustrating, actually. I'll see what I can do. Can you score me a book? Come on.

I just want to see these freaking numbers, man. Let me do my thing. It looked like you guys did fantastic at Boom. It really looked good. And I look at the I say the woman thing? And then I look at the men, whatever demo I can get access to. But you guys had very strong numbers.

Right. Like Boom. And I happen to like the mix at Boom because I always turn it on and I like what I'm hearing. Right. I like that song. Great.

So I guess firstly, kudos. Thank you. Like that you guys in your indie, almost indie because you're compared to those big monster conglomerates yeah are kicking some ass over there yeah and it's i'm glad that uh you're still there because i i you doing i honestly when i went in the room and you were by yourself

i'm because i there was another room down the hall okay yeah virgin was down the hall yeah i saw maybe eight and i just came out of i came out of the boom studio right there's four people on the mic right let alone a producer and whatever else going on one guy's running down from 10 10 I saw maybe eight. And I just came out of, I came out of the boom studio. There's four people on the mic. Right. Let alone a producer and whatever else going on. One guy's running down from 1010. You know, he's running down the hall

and he's out of breath and he's like, he's got to do his 30 seconds here. That's an interesting day because I told that story and he wasn't happy about it. He blew a gasket, Mr. Rick Hodge that day.

But I've had him on since then. We are friendly and we're fine now. But I had him on to talk about it. But I witnessed something and i actually wrote about it like what was i supposed to do i'm the embedded journalist you knew i was there that's right okay but uh it was awesome that you do it yourself and this whole story that you're fired from uh the show with colleen and then suddenly that colleen and humble Humble basically takes your spot and that show is shit canned and who comes in to be the new morning show host

as boom rises Stu Jeffries like that's how I'm ending the movie yeah yeah it's like a bit of a phoenix right yeah

it's unusual in this I can't think of any comparables except you got Aaron Davis Bobcat maybe at some point was gone and came back

can't remember exactly and then you like there's no other example. No, and the last book that came out, this is pretty funny. We had Steve Parsons, who's my direct report and also just a really good guy. And we had worked together on Country 95.3.

We launched it together and it was great. And so I'm so happy to be working with him. And Steve, we're sitting in his office and we're, this is early in the single morning show thing. And he says, look, we're trying to do contract. And he says, you know, we got to have some sort of a bonus structure and we're kind of figuring it out. And they're being very kind, you know, I mean, they're looking at, okay, so 10th place, we should really. And we're kind of laughing as we're doing this thing.

Yeah, you're being very kind. And then we would joke, we'd say, okay, so what happens, you know, if we get to number three? And we laughed kind of laughing as we're doing this, thinking, yeah, you're being very kind. And then we would joke. We'd say, okay, so what happens if we get to number three? And we laughed and laughed. And we even joked and said, how about number one? And Steve went $1 billion. You can guarantee that'll be your bonus. And we laughed a lot about it.

And so when the last book came out, first of all, the big step for me, the big moment for me was about a year and a half ago when I went top five in 25-54 adults. And I thought, okay, it was tenuous. I mean, anything from the bottom to the top could have changed by somebody gaining a share and a half or two share points could have knocked you out. But I was top five, and I never imagined for a moment that I would ever be there. Then the next book came out, and I'm number four. And you can see this sort of steady growth. The best part of it, Mike, for me was the steady growth. There wasn't any of this big spike and then you fall down again. It was all just sort of steadily climbing and you're seeing some stations fall a little bit

and you're trying to gain some traction. And then, uh, four and then number three. And when he, when Steve told me I was number three, um, it was like so surreal. I actually got frightened because I thought I've never been here before. And this is Toronto and this is all I've ever wanted in my life. And now I'm a top three morning show in the demo that they want. And I'm feeling great. And I'm thinking this is great,

but all I can think of is, Oh God, the next one's coming out and it's going to be a disaster. And then when the next one come out, uh, came out, Steve had, we're actually, I didn't even know. uh troy mccallum our pd who had said boom's the number one station in toronto and i was so excited i thought okay well that's got to be good maybe

i'm steady maybe i'm steady and that's good because if boom's number one then maybe you know everybody's numbers are good like just steady i wouldn't i wouldn't even dare think right uh and then they had a little ratings gathering and i saw ste and Steve came up to me to give me a hug and Steve is not a hugger at all so I thought okay this is a good sign and I said what's up he goes haven't you heard and I said no he said you're number two and like even have to say it

I was like holy cow and to this day that brings the see this is one of the biggest problems on air. Sometimes I don't want to shut it off. But that to me was the ultimate rise, right? That to me was – but it wasn't just look at me.

And it actually wasn't even that at all. It wasn't look at me. It was I knew I could do this. And I was trying to tell everybody that I could do this. And now I did it. And it's like number two is cool. And of course, now all I can think about is, okay, you know what?

Somebody at number one pissed me off. Is it Derringer? Who is it? Is it Derringer? What, at number one? Yeah, at your target demo. At 2254. No, or what is our demo again?

2554. It is Chum. Chum FM. Who are, you know, a few share points up. But I mean, now I'm just looking going, okay, this is really good. And I'm in the same conversation as these people. And isn't it funny? It's not really the numbers, and it's not the money, and it's not bonuses.

You want to be in the same conversation. Yeah, you're back, baby. Yeah, and it feels really good. Don't feel bad. I had David Marsden on the show. I made him cry twice. Don't feel bad at all. He's a Dave Nicky, for goodness sakes. That's right. Anybody that knows me knows that I have no problem twice. Don't feel bad at all. He's a Dave Mickey, for goodness sake.

That's right. Anybody that knows me knows that I have no problem crying. So, yeah, no sweat. Sometimes good guys finish first. I'm sure you'll be catching. I had Roger Ashby here, and I let him know. Watch out. Stu's coming for you.

He left shaking, so just, you know. Good, good. But last thing is, you're like a superhero. You're like Batman because an arsonist set fire to several cars, okay? And then in the newspaper, some guy named Stu Jeffries sees these fires and starts banging on doors and rescuing children. My version of the story is years go by. This was in our neighborhood at, I can't remember what we call our neighborhood. It's Moore Park, I think, or something like that.

And what had happened overnight was I woke up early in the morning to get up to go to work. It was actually the day before my birthday. And I remember hearing this sort of pop, pop, popping sound. And it sounded like my neighbor's kid was playing, as he's, uh, taking shots in the driveway with pucks. And I thought three o'clock in the morning, why is he doing that? So I looked out the window and look across the street and my neighbor's house, the garage is on fire. And I wake up my wife and go, there's a fire across the street. Call 911. My wife's getting dressed to come and help me out to see if anybody needs any help. My oldest son, Ben wakes up, we toss him the cordless phones.

I say, call 911. Ben says, what do i tell him our address is you'll find it um and so he does that and we go running outside and you know it's really weird yeah you you always wonder in your dreams you're a superhero right in your dream you're like the guy that's going to save lives you don't even think yeah i went running out i act and i went running into the house and screaming at me he says his name's doug um uh and i forget what else are the kids names like just to yell names yeah and of course i'm yelling doug doug and doug's got his kid from upstairs whose bed was right above the garage like this was it could have been oh holy shit this is batman yeah so i'm knocking the door because and then next door i see the flames are coming from his house into the window next door so i'm slamming on their door

to wake them up and we just basically got people out and they were safe and it was fine. But the big joke is, the image is, as it gets as the years go by, is me holding a baby, jumping over a flaming car. Yeah.

This legend is growing. That's right. That's right. Oh, man. That's how I want it to end. Not only are you a great radio personality, but you save children from arsonists. All in a day's work, Mike.

And that, first of all, that was awesome. Thanks for this, man. Thank you. I did take a little extra time from you, so I owe you. I'll owe you another beer. I know, you're good. Thank you. And that brings us to the end of our 153rd show. You can follow me on Twitter at Toronto Mike

and Stu is at Stu Jeffries. See you all next week. ¶¶ I want to take a streetcar downtown Read Andrew Miller and wander around And drink some Guinness from a tin Cause my UI check has just come in Oh, where you been?