Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Toronto Mike: Toronto Mike'd #1363

Episode Date: November 9, 2023

In this 1363rd episode of Toronto Mike'd, Toronto Mike is interviewed by original Toronto Mike'd co-host Rosie Ferguson as part of the AMP Talent Group's Spotlight Sessions podcast series. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, Electronic Products Recycling Association, Raymond James Canada and Moneris. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

Welcome to episode 1363 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. A fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free, free local home delivery in the GTA. Free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta. Pasta. Pasta. Either or.

Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Go to palmapasta.com. Recycle my electronics.ca committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past the advantaged investor podcast from raymond james canada valuable perspective for canadian investors who want to remain knowledgeable informed and focused on long-term success season five five of Yes, We Are Open, an award-winning podcast from Moneris, hosted by FOTM El Grego,

and Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Joining me today is, this can't be right. It says Toronto Mike. Hey, it says Toronto Mike. That's me. I'm pretty sure. Apparently, this episode

of Toronto Mike is an interview with me by Rosie Ferguson and this audio was originally shared as an episode of Spotlight Sessions. Spotlight Sessions is a podcast you can subscribe to right now by the AMP Talent Group. The AMP Talent Group are a multi-award winning principal

talent agency that creates limitless opportunities for Canada's leading actors, models, singers, dancers, voice talent, comedians, broadcasters, hosts, speakers, sports athletes, influencers, content creators, and brands to excel in their career. And that's where I came in. So here's my conversation with Rosie. And as you'll learn in this episode, Rosie and I have a very interesting and unique podcast history, kind of a mind blow. Enjoy responsibly. Welcome back to the Spotlight Sessions. I'm Rosie Ferguson, your host. Today, we're talking about how to own your digital space, how to build a strong online presence, shape your personal brand, and something I think many of us have considered but weren't sure how to get started. I know this

was the case for me, using blogging and podcasting as a platform for success. Joining us with his expertise today is Mike Boone. He's the owner of TMDS Digital Services and host of the incredibly popular Toronto Mic'd podcast. Mike's blog, torontomic.com, has been a favorite for over 20 years now. Back in 2012, he launched his podcast, Toronto Mic'd, and now with over 1,300, like 1,300, more than that, episodes and counting. Mike has millions of downloads and Toronto Mike consistently ranks at the top of Apple podcasts, all achieved through passion and hustle and without any mainstream media background. Mike has grown his podcast to the point where top Canadian musicians, media personalities, athletes, politicians, they're reaching out to make an appearance on his show.

When we're done here, check out the guest page on torontomike.com. You can see some of the amazing artists he's chatted with, Martha and the Muffins, Chuck D from Public Enemy, Paul Langlois from The Tragically Hip, Maestro Fresh West, just to name a few, and there's so many more. And Mike is our producer here at the Spotlight Sessions, which is why it sounds so terrific. Lucky for us, our friend isn't keeping this knowledge to himself. He gives workshops to

help others navigate the online world. And today he's stepping into our spotlight, sharing insights from over two decades of carving out an authentic presence in the digital space. So get ready to hear Mike's take on how to stand out online, the art of blogging, and the power of podcasting. Mike, welcome to the mic. It's great to have you here on the other side of things. Rosie, that was fantastic. I wish I had recorded it. Seriously. You're our producer. You're supposed to know how to do this. Oh, I did record it. I would make that my ringtone. Can you just say it a little faster? No, seriously, I'm listening to that and I'm thinking, oh, just print the legend.

I just want to clarify, I do rank very highly in Apple Podcasts, but it's typically for my category. It's not the overall, but I like what you said better. Okay, yes, let's go with what I said, all right? Thank you for the invitation. I'm always on the other side

doing what you're doing right now and and you're very good at it. But here I am on this side, and it's not as fun on this side. I want to be on your side. Well, here's the scoop. You know more than anyone about how to be real and how to be real online. And I think for a lot of performers, that's something they want to achieve. But it's hard. It's hard to know.

There's so many platforms. performers. That's something they want to achieve, but it's hard. It's hard to know. There's so many platforms. It feels like there's just so much noise out there and you want to be authentic. You want to be real. Before we get into how to make your online presence something special, tell us a bit about your journey into the world of blogging and podcasting. How did you become, your name is Mike Boone, but online you are Toronto Mike. And tell us how you became Toronto Mike. Well, my superhero origin story, Rosie, are you ready? I'm a natural born archivist. So that means I had scrapbooks and I had journals. I mean, I should pull out some of the scrapbooks I had for the drive of 85 when the Blue Jays had their run, when somebody I cared about like John Candy

or someone of that ilk passed away, Kurt Cobain, etc, etc. I kept these archives, but they were offline, of course. But in the early days of the web, I mean, late 90s, I'd say, I started developing a personal homepage. And on that personal homepage, I was essentially blogging. It's where I would kind of document these finds and share these different articles and opinions on things. And when I stumbled upon a burgeoning new format in the very early 2000s, I converted my personal homepage into a blog, which, fun fact, is short for weblog.

That is a fun fact. I'm not sure, it was a while before I knew that, and I'm sure, is short for weblog. That is a fun fact. I'm not sure. It was a while before I knew that, and I'm sure many people didn't realize that. Well, if you would get in the time machine, go back to 2002 when blogs were just kind of starting up. That's when we would refer to them as weblogs. And I said, hey, this is what I'm doing now. But I would write something on my personal homepage, and then I would delete it and write something else. Like there was no date-based archival system. And

when the blog format arrived, I realized, hey, that's for me. Amazing. So when did you realize your online presence was really connecting with people and making an impact? Like when did you realize people were actually paying attention to what you were writing online? Well, I mentioned those scrapbooks and personal journals, etc. Like they were for an audience of one. They were for me. And then when I started writing and blogging at torontomike.com, I was writing for, you know, some friends and family members. I was like maybe five or ten people might enjoy this, and family members. I was like maybe five or 10 people might enjoy this,

but I enjoy doing it. And when you enjoy an expressive art, then you'll do it for an audience of 10. And I would be blogging like a million people were reading, even if it was like seven people and maybe you were one of them. But over time,

if the content is compelling and content is king, you will garner an audience through word of mouth and search engine traffic. Early in the game, I learned how to write for Google, for example, for search engine results. And that was quite helpful. So if I would write about, I don't know, the tragically hip, then somebody Googling about the tragically hip would end up on my blog and might enjoy what they saw,

and then they would bookmark it and return. But I remember back in the day writing about a radio personality that was fired and then I would see hundreds and hundreds of comments on the post. Right. And that's when I knew I was connecting with people. We were all kind of collecting in this little slice of real estate and basically conversing via the comment section. And now 2023, we have three in-person events a year. and basically conversing via the comment section. And now 2023, we have three in-person events a year.

So it's gone from those comments many moons ago to collecting in person and having a beer and some Palma pasta. It's fantastic. So you've built a community. It's not just a, you still had a website and from that website came comments, people interacting, people engaging, and out of that, a website. And from that website came comments, people interacting, people engaging. And out of that, a community.

And of course your podcast, which is very, very popular. And there's so many episodes and they really reach a wide range of people. Now you produce podcasts for artists, for performers, for athletes, for a wide range of people. Some of the guests you have,

the people you produce for are really, really fascinating. Mary Jo Eustace, Donovan wide range of people. Some of the guests you have, the people you produce for are really, really fascinating. Mary Jo Eustace, Donovan Bailey's in here once a week. When you work with one of these personalities, tell us about the process of helping them build their brand with their podcast. They've obviously reached out to you because they want to define themselves in some way. People know them, but they want people to keep knowing them. So how do you make that work for them? Well, with Mary Jo and Donovan, it's not as much brand building as like brand amplifying. Donovan was, fun fact, you might know this, Donovan was the world's fastest man in the world. Oh my gosh. When I tell my kids that, particularly the two little ones, it's like you're talking about a superhero like a marvel comic superhero like what do you mean he was the fastest man in the world like and then i

can't is it fastest man in canada no in the history of the world no one had run faster than donovan bailey did in the hundred meters uh in the atlanta olympics in 1996 so like my role of donovan is just to give him a venue where his like his vast experience and keen analysis is on full display. Like when it comes to talking track, nobody does it better. You might've seen him on a CBC analyzing the world championship. So my role is just to, to capture that for Donovan and amplify his,

his awesomeness with Mary Jo. Mary Jo is interesting because she recently refocused her podcast because we had an original strategy that involved her ex-husband. Wait, what? And yada, yada, yada. We now have Mary Jo speaking with women about the many positive aspects of aging

because in the media, we're inundated with ageist messages. But how interesting is that? So you evolved what she was working on due to, I guess, things imploding. Well, do you read the tabloid, Rosie? Of course I do. So MJ happens to be an incredible interviewer, but the original concept was very different. I always say, if you're not small and nimble, Rosie, you're just small.

Sure. So we have, dare I use the word pivot? Have you heard that? I love the word pivot. During the pandemic. So MJ's a good interviewer, very good at what she does. She's no Rosie, but she's pretty damn good at this. All right, okay.

So let's now, so those are some names we obviously recognize. What if you are someone who is starting out, you are a performer that's trying to, you're auditioning, you're trying to make a name for yourself, you are trying to have a brand online. Like right now, if somebody Googles you, you're going to come up, all the things you've done, it is really clear what your message is, it is really clear what you are doing. And someone starting out might want to hone that online. How can a performer use blogging or podcasting to showcase what they're doing,

to showcase their talents and connect more deeply with the people that follow them and attract new people to follow them? How would you start that off? Well, you mentioned earlier that, you know, I'm building a community here. So when you're building a community, it's best to cut out the middle person

and just like communicate directly to your fans, your followers, you know. There's nothing more intimate than being the voice that they hear in their headphones

when they walk the dog or they go for a run or they're preparing dinner or they're mowing the lawn, you know. I've heard from people who tell me, you know,

I took a road trip to Florida with the family and you were the voice in the car on our drive to Florida or our road trip to Montreal. And I mean, recently a woman told me that her husband listens to Toronto Mike every night going to bed. So she falls asleep every night to my voice.

And then I had to ponder, I don't know if that's a compliment or not, but I decided I'm taking that as a compliment. I would definitely take it. so there's nothing more intimate yeah and so it is worthwhile to try to leverage these platforms to connect with people and it's so inexpensive to you know it's very expensive if you were going to start your own terrestrial radio station and you get a license and a signal and there's a whole rigmarole there but like to start your own podcast, there's very little overhead.

It's, you know, it's still in theory something free, you know, much like you can start blogging today for free. For sure. So it's a low bar barrier of entry. And it's a smart move if you want to grab valuable real estate on someone's smartphone and be their voice for that road trip to Florida. So what are the key steps then to getting started, especially for those of us with limited technical savvy? You want to start a blog, you want to start a podcast. How would you advise somebody who doesn't really, you know, like, I remember years and years

ago, you built my first website for me, I had no idea how to do it. Somebody listening wants to talk, maybe they're a comedian, they want to, you know, try their jokes out, they want to start connecting with fans. How do you how do you do it? How do you get started? Well, to be honest, you can just do it, right right like you can start with a half decent usb microphone which might run you like 120 bucks you'll need some knowledge this is and we'll cover more of this later but you need you need some how-to knowledge and then you need to break a few eggs to make the omelet like these eggs aren't going to crack themselves so and now i'm hungry but yeah and i guess you should just do it

perfect be the enemy of good right like just give give it a try just just put something out there uh yeah it's going to evolve uh i can't even in fact you might remember episode one of toronto mic'd i don't know if you've heard it but like episode one of toronto mic'd and episode 1310 of toronto mic'd you know they weren't't, they're clearly, there's been an evolution that took place. Definitely, definitely. And full disclosure,

I was the, Was that you? Rosie, was that you? I couldn't remember who it was. It was a talented young woman

and it's you. I just put the pieces together. Episode one to 40, what was it? Three? It felt like more than that, but. It felt like an eternity

to you, but absolutely the first few dozen episodes of Toronto Mic'd are co-hosted by you, but absolutely the first few dozen episodes of Toronto Mic'd are co-hosted by you, Rosie Ferguson. We had a ball. Now, what can you do for free and what should you spend money on? Okay, so it's all about where you want to spend your time. So if you have plenty of free time and you're interested in rolling your own, there's very little money required to start your podcast. But if you have other of free time and you're interested in rolling your own, there's very little money required to start your podcast.

But if you have other things you want to spend your most precious resource on, for a guy who hosts a podcast, you think I could say the word precious. But I'm like saying the word precious and I'm like, that's how you say precious, right? Okay. But it's not money that's the most precious resource. It's time, right? So if you are wanting to spend that time on other things that are maybe more important or are necessary for you, then it makes complete sense to outsource all those other moving parts and then you can just focus on content.

So where I fit into the equation is when you want to focus on the content because content is king. The content has to be compelling. So you're the subject matter expert. You focus on the content because content is king. The content has to be compelling. So you're the subject matter expert. You focus on the content. I handle all other aspects of the equation. And that's why you're talking right now into my fancy microphone. Everything sounds amazing.

And it's true. When you're able to just focus on the content and leave all the technical stuff to somebody else, it certainly does take all the pressure off. So that's podcasting. What about blogging? What would you tell somebody if they're like, there's all these social media platforms right now. Do you have a website? Do you just, you know, pick one of those and go with it. What do you recommend people do when it comes to social platforms to engage their audience, amplify their online presence?

How do you know? How do you know what is going to connect best with people? Yeah, you almost have to timestamp this because it changes by the day right now. For a while, it was pretty stable, but not lately. So what I say today might not apply next week or even tomorrow or even by dinner time.

Who knows? But I personally, I've been focusing on Twitter for my audience. And yes, I'm still going to call it Twitter, Rosie. That's fine. Is that okay with you? You know what? That's funny. I went to tweet to something and now it says post.

And it was like, oh, and I'm still looking for my blue bird on my phone and now it's a black, so I'm like, where is it? Where is it? And there's a black X there and I'm not quite used to it yet, but it's true by the time someone might be giving this a listen, we might be well past. Every time I wonder like what's he doing? I'm like, well, I guess if you want

to throw X billion dollars at something you can do stuff like that. So it's like so it's like what what am i gonna do i guess i can go buy my own social media app and then i can do whatever i want with that but okay so i still focus on twitter uh again we need to time stamp it because by the time people hear this i might have quit in rage but okay but i keep a light on with i'm definitely keeping a light on with uh with linkedin instagram and facebook so i maintain presence there so if i have a new episode of

toronto mic that drops today i'm going to post not just tweet about it but i'm going to post on linkedin instagram and facebook and uh all of those four places and you know the state of twitter it's devolving so rapidly that I recently did start a Blue Sky presence. Have you heard of Blue Sky? I have. I have. I got an invite and I signed up, so I'm super excited.

So that's just it. It's opening up slowly, so lots of people don't even have invites. But Blue Sky, it's very similar to the classic Twitter. And I keep a presence there now as a plan B for when Twitter implodes. So that's my current strategy. Okay. So how, all right. So you named a lot, you said a lot of stuff. How do we decide? I sure did, Rosie. A lot of words.

That's how I got to episode 1130. It's quantity, not quality. I love it. So how do we decide though, where to focus our efforts? Because everyone's busy. You're trying to focus on your craft, but everyone knows that having a presence online is important and defining your brand is important. So how do we decide where to focus our efforts? Do you pick a couple? Like what, how would you recommend doing that?

That's a great question. Like I noticed anecdotally with my clients, I noticed my boomer clients have more success with Facebook. My Gen X clients have had more success with Twitter and my millennial audience has more success with Instagram. But there's all these exceptions everywhere. For example, we talked about Mary Jo Eustace. She's all about the Instagram.

It's all happening on Instagram. And she's targeting women over the age of 50. So I think if I think on it all, it's really about finding the space that you enjoy, because if it's not fun, I don't think it's really worth nurturing. Like I'm not on TikTok. That's not just, I'm not here to dismiss TikTok that you're wasting your time. It's just, I don't currently want to nurture TikTok because it doesn't feel fun for me. And the reason I focus so hard on the app formerly known as Twitter, that's what we should call it, like Prince.

Exactly. The app formerly known as Twitter is because even though it's not as fun as it was five years ago, it's still the best game in town for me personally. So that's where I'm doing most of my nurturing. And for you to reach your audience as well. Right, my Gen X audience, absolutely.

You know, I have to say I still use Twitter because I find that, you know, Threads started and Threads is fun. Oh, I forgot about Threads. Yeah, and it's attached to Instagram. But I still feel a little bit like you're posting into a vacuum on Threads. Like I'm not sure, you never

really know who you're connecting with. Whereas on Twitter, I still feel there is a bit of a connection there. But you made a really good point that if it's not fun, then you're not going to probably do it consistently. You're not going to want to do it if it's not fun. So you need to pick the one that you dig. Yeah, I think you have to enjoy. And then when you find that space that you, where you enjoy creating content, then go hard there. Just quickly on threads, for me, again, my experience was I like to create content on my laptop. So I consume it on my mobile phone and I'll be consuming it, but I don't like to create my contact on the mobile phone unless it's an Instagram. So there's a picture and then maybe, my contact on the mobile phone unless it's an instagram so there's a picture and then maybe maybe two or three or five words or whatever so when it came to threads i i tapped out early in

my threads experience early meaning within the first two hours because they're currently again we should time stamp this but as we speak there's no mobile app for create i'm sorry that's the opposite there's you have to do it via mobile if you want to create content on threads. There is no web experience like so with Twitter or Blue Sky or LinkedIn or Instagram or Facebook. I can do it all on my MacBook Pro. And that's where I'm the power user creating all this great content. Sure. So I mean, maybe that will evolve eventually, but if it's not suiting your needs. So we have to find something that works for us, that we enjoy. And that really sort of leads us into the next point, being authentic, being real, being yourself. Mike, what people love about your podcast, and I hear this a lot, is that you are you. You're so real. You're not

trying to be anyone other than yourself. When you chat with guests, you call it real talk. And by doing that, you do create an environment where people share a lot with you. It's pretty remarkable. So talk to us about the importance of keeping it real and being authentic when you are creating content for an online platform, whether it's Facebook or X or a podcast, whatever.

Real talk. Okay. So this happened because I was having this emotional, like heartbreaking chat with George Strombolopoulos here in the TMDS studio. We were talking about the passing of his friend, Martin Streak, who is a popular DJ on the radio here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. So he called it, we were having this moment and we were literally tearing up in this convo. And he said, this is real talk, man. This is real talk. And it really resonated with me.

And I realized that's kind of what we're up to here on Toronto Mic'd. And I started using the phrase and the hashtag real talk, real talk. And I ran with it. And then I saw other podcasts eventually started using it, like in the name of their podcast, like real talk or whoever and with it. And then I saw other podcasts eventually started using it, like in the name of their podcast, like Real Talk or whoever, and using it. And then when I saw other people using it in that same context, the bloom came off the rose.

And I don't use it as often anymore. I'm not against it. It's still Real Talk. I just don't use it because other people have kind of adopted it. But in essence, Rosie, i'm allergic to bs there's no swearing on this podcast right not on this one no it's bs we'll leave it at bs on the toronto mic it's funny when you listen to mike's podcast the guests will be i think the one i most recently listened to was um was it bob wiseman or was what was the the the artist you most recently spoke to?

Bob Wiseman was here recently. I feel like he actually said, is it okay if I swear? And you hear that, you hear people say that a lot. You know who does it a lot? Radio people. So a radio person will come here, radio or TV, but typically radio, and they won't swear by default because they're so well-trained not to swear when they're on the microphone. But I might slip an F-bomb or the S-word into the conversation. And then I see them perk up.

They're like, oh, we can swear on the show? And they're like, oh, like this idea of swearing on a microphone is exciting to them. Yes, radio people love to swear, yeah. And I will, you know, within reason, I will swear. But I'm allergic to BS. we'll call it bs and the i'm personally not at all interested in the pr spin like oh this person's gonna has other opportunities they're gonna work on documentary features for the mothership and all this nonsense so so i like to you know leave all that pr spin and the bs and try to find any uh authenticity there and it's there if you know where to look and i'm pretty good at sniffing it out and in terms of authenticity

for me well toronto mike you've known mike for a lot longer than there was a toronto mike and mike's not you know toronto mike's not a character like i don't know it's like you often hear about radio professionals who assume like a curmudgeon persona when they're on the air. And then when they're in real life, they're maybe they're more meek, different personality. It's like, oh, you have to play a role every time you're talking on the microphone. Like for me, it's just me. So it's kind of easy to be authentic when you're just being yourself. Like I just have to be myself. And that's easy. That's a really good point. We think so much about how do we just, you know, be real, just be, just be real. It just sounds, I won't name him, but there

was a very popular sports media person in this market. I think maybe heard across the country for afternoon drives, like forever. Like this was prime time listening. Okay. Everybody enjoyed this, even the raccoons and the bobcats okay so this personality who i'm not gonna name had a persona as this like grumpy curmudgeon and this person had to adopt that persona every time they were on the microphone for decades and i always thought from the very beginning like i don't want to have to go into character. Like, this isn't, I'm not Ed the Sock here. You know, I just,

that sounds like a lot of unnecessary work. What if I were just myself and then I can just talk normally? I don't have to do a funny voice. I don't have to have that FM DJ voice because I don't have it, Rosie. So that kills two birds of one stone. I'll just be myself.

It's just you. Some words I'm going to mispronounce. I couldn't say precious 10 minutes ago. That's right on brand. But I'll be authentic because I'm just being me. So you were just on, you know, you just said the words, you know, that was on brand. If someone is trying to figure out what that brand is, what would you, what would you say they, they, they do? Just, just do it. Just try it. Just write or talk or.

Oh, I'm big fan of like, I'm a big fan of just doing it and then finding your voice as you go. I did not know what Toronto Mic'd was going to be until, again, we had our experience and then you got a higher paying gig, as I recall. and then i brought in elvis i got you started you didn't need i launched you you didn't need me anymore it's time for you to fly right well you were there for the birth and you were my first call to be uh my uh my co-pilot for the birth of this thing which was really leaving my comfort zone i had never unlike you who i could see on tv doing weather presentations etc etc. Like, I had never talked on a mic or had any mainstream media.

People often, one of the compliments I get is what station did you work at again? Like, they want to talk about my time in mainstream media, and then I have to break their heart. Yeah, when we started it, that's a really good point. You hadn't done any broadcasting at all. But you were just you,

and it turned out amazing. Well, yeah, my point there was that I didn't know what Toronto Mic'd would become until I started putting in the reps and I had to see

where it would go. And I don't know how I would have got here without going through the different evolutions and, you know, here we are. Yeah, and I guess

don't be afraid to make some like you said break some eggs make you know what i'm hungry enough rosie okay where's the local brunch place let's go well now that you've done you know you you've have so many episodes under your belt people are reaching out to you to be on on the podcast it's so successful it's so exciting you've had so many incredible personalities. Tell us which guests were extra amazing for you to have

right here in this studio on this mic that I'm speaking into. Okay. I'm going to change. Here I am. I'm going to produce. So that,

in the studio, I'm going to change to in person because, fun fact, I will sometimes pack up my studio, the mics, the board, the whole thing.

And I will take it, I will throw it in a bike trailer and bike it somewhere else in the GTA, set up shop there and capture a great audio on the same mics and everything, but not necessarily down here in the TMDS studio.

So one person I did that for was Chuck D of Public Enemy. And that's like, if you go to your local boomer and just say, Hey, I had Paul McCartney on the podcast. It's to me, it's the same damn thing. Like that's what, that's how important Chuck D is to me. Love Chuck D. He agreed to an in-person conversation. The only caveat was Chuck D wasn't going to visit Southern Etobicoke. So I packed up and did it at the C&E Bandshell in a back room. And it was fantastic.

So Chuck D was a big deal for me and an honor. You mentioned Paul Langlois earlier. The Tragically Hip is my favorite band of all time. And Paul, not only did he come over and was very generous of his time, answered my many, many questions I've been holding on to since like 1989 or whatever. He had a guitar with him and he played live. Like,

I still can't believe, like, I'm at a point now where Paul will visit, play live and chat me up or whatever. And I do want to shout out one more individual who

brought his guitar and played live and he was just bizarre, but in a good way. You can have bizarre bad, bizarre good. I love bizarre because my enemy is boredom

i like it when things are interesting shout out to gino vanelli amazing you're a big gino fan right rosie gosh i absolutely adore him are you kidding me that is epic epic epic epic i think people still talk about that episode it was so memorable in a good way because he was just i would ask him a question and he would answer in song and it was he had to be there but luckily i did record that too but like so many of the media personalities I enjoyed back in the day I'm just shouting out uh Hebsey, Mark Hebbshire, Dave Hodge, Stephen Brunt, Humble and Fred, Ron McLean like all these interesting people I grew up watching like I to have them over to extract their fascinating stories that I could share with the universe, like 1300 episodes into this thing,

Rosie, and I'm just getting started. I just getting started. So who do you hope to talk to next? Who do you hope to have here next or to take your show on the road to? What a great question. Who is next for me, Rosie?

Let me think for a second on this. Okay. There are a few people long time coming. Like there's some musicians that I thought would have happened a while ago, but because I'm now a stickler for in-person interviews, I haven't happened. But people like Tom Cochran, for example,

or Geddy Lee, like I want to sit down with Geddy Lee and not only talk about Rush, but I want to talk about Toronto Blue Jays baseball. I know he's a diehard fan, but I mean, in this country alone, this little country of ours, there's so many fascinating people I've yet to have on.

I think I could do 13,000 episodes. Absolutely. And how terrific for you to be documenting it all, all these amazing, interesting people. It is terrific. It all started with you, Rosie. I know, I know. It's such an honor to have been a part of it.

It's absolutely amazing. Mike, this has been awesome. Thank you for sharing your expertise with us. And thank you for being a kick-ass host of The Most. Mike is the best. His website is

torontomike.com. From there, you can find all the various ways to listen to his podcast, Toronto Miked. Learn more about his digital services at tmds.torontomic.com

and that includes podcast production like the one he is producing for us here at the Spotlight Sessions. You can follow him on Twitter and Blue Sky at Toronto Mic and on Instagram at toronto.mic. Thanks so much for spending time with us today. I'm Rosie Ferguson, your host. You're

listening to the Spotlight Sessions. Bye for now. Hi, it's me again. Toronto Mike does so hot right now. In addition to these podcast award nominations, the downloads are up, the rankings in Apple Podcasts are up, the buzz is up, the engagements are up, everything's up.

This brag is simply to introduce the fact that there is a unique partnership opportunity in January. So if you are representing a brand, a service, a product, and you want to be a part of this, send me an email. I'm mike at torontomike.com. Send me a note. We can meet up for coffee or a Great Lakes beer or we can jump on a Zoom. Have a chat with me about what you're looking to do

and I'll bet we find a way to make beautiful music together. See you tomorrow when my special guest is Alison Stewart from Cycle Toronto.