Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Vic Rauter Returns: Toronto Mike'd #343

Episode Date: June 4, 2018

Mike catches up with TSN's Vic Rauter before they play and discuss his ten favourite songs of all-time.

I love you, Daddy! Welcome to episode 343 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery located here in Etobicoke. Did you know that 99.9% of all Great Lakes beer remains here in Ontario? GLB, brewed for you, Ontario. And propertyinthesix.com. Toronto real estate done right. And Paytm, an app designed to manage all of your bills in one spot. Download the app today from paytm.ca. And our newest sponsor, Camp Tournesol, the leading French summer camp provider in Ontario.

I'm Mike from torontomike.com, and joining me is TSN broadcaster, Vic Rauter. It's been a while. You've grown up since the last time I've seen you. Am I better now? Yeah. This is nice.

Thanks. Well, Vic, you know, the secret is to do it. Like, keep doing it. And then you can't even help but improve if you just keep doing it. Exactly. Good for you. Thanks for the invitation back. Oh, are you kidding me?

I would record every week with you if you lived even a little bit closer. The drive-in from Orillia was, but mind you, I did well. I gave this town, listen, I'm Toronto born and raised. Yes. But you know what? They should put a gate up on major highways. This town is full. It really is.

It's chock-a-block. But today I did well. I made it 145. That's, well, I mean, that's well, I guess. I don't know, because Dan O'Toole, so the last, well, the last real guest was Dan O'Toole, who came from Orono, which is further away, I understand. He said it took him over two hours to get here. Yeah, he's, Orono would be up Peterborough way, I believe.

Yeah, that's right. That's exactly right. Exactly. No, listen, I leave myself. Right, that's exactly right. Exactly. No, listen, I leave myself. If I have to go down to BMO Field and it's particularly late afternoon,

I'll leave myself a good two and a half to three hours. Wow. And you're okay with this because you got your tunes, right? You got your... Hey, listen, this is neat. I thought to myself, this is a great idea. So we're going to run the gamut here. I'm pretty eclectic. And I've, you know, from my age, I've heard a lot of music, different music.

And Vic's talking about kicking out the jams. So, yes, I mean, I love kicking out the jams with somebody because, yes, you get to hear their favorite songs. But to me, that's nice and all. But what I love is hearing you tell me and telling us why you love the song. Like, it's just you learn so much about a person by hearing why they love certain pieces of music. Yeah, I mean, listen, I, as I say, I will go through it. But, you know, from the standards, from that American songbook right up to today, there's some people that I truly enjoy. But I was a top 40 bubblegum kind of music fan. You know, when some of the stations like Q came on board,

I didn't go over there. That was alternative rock. You were a 1050 chum guy? I was a 10, well, yeah, but then I worked at TR. Right. And we had that battle. We were trying to take the, you know, with Jim Brady and Duke Roberts and the like.

Did you see that? So Evelyn Macko brought this over for me. Okay, so the 680 CFER 680 button, that was a big promotion. It's a t-shirt. It's a cloth. She tells me this is a cloth. I won't open it to find out. It's possible, but they used to have the 680 buttons. And the way it started off was

the billboards went up as if to have a $30,000 button. It was as if to have flying saucers were arriving. And that's all you knew. They're coming. They're coming. And so finally, that was a huge promotion. We'll have some time here, but I can remember the competition was so fierce

that they were, Chum was sponsoring the Bay City Rulers coming to town. Now we're talking 74, boy, four, five, something like that. And I'm 19, 20, 21 when I started. I started at TR when I was 19. Wow. And I'm 19, 20, 21 when I started. I started at TR when I was 19. Wow.

And I'm on, they arrive, and we have Eddie Luther and Daryl Dahmer following the caravan. And they said, they're going down the Don Valley. Does anybody close by? I said, well, it was my day off. I'm near the, they're going to the end of the park. Anybody? Yeah, I'm nearby. Follow them. And I followed the caravan of cars the

limousines in and as the bay city rollers got out of the car i'm there with my 680 news mic flash so i got the bay city rollers on a chum promotion right before chum got them and that was huge that was really big back in the day because there was really competition between the two, the pop stations. Oh, man, yeah. I mean, because I come in a bit later than that, because I come in when Tom Rivers is doing mornings on CFTR.

And, I mean, at that point, I don't know, Chum is, I don't even know if they're still, they might have moved to Golden Oldies, I'm trying to remember. I don't think so. Not yet, not yet. Not yet. No, no. Like 86 or something. They do that, I guess.

You're right. But CFTR was my station. And at the top six at six, I'd record it to cassette and hear all of my... To cassette. Yes, of course. Yeah. What else could you record to back then, right? Exactly, yeah. But listen, I want to tell people listening that if they want to go back and listen to

your first visit here, this is... I'm going to read the description I wrote at the time. So was the you came for the 168th episode so today is 342 and you were 168 so uh yeah you were due for a return mr router okay in this 168th episode mike chats with tsn broadcaster vick router about his years at tsn the origin of his make the final catchphrase, Ron Burgundy. Yes, that's right. I played the Ron Burgundy. That was great when he was promoting Anchorman.

The many sports he's called and the unfortunate corporatization of sports media. So I guess we had a good chat about that too. This episode, that episode was exactly one hour and 35 minutes and 32 seconds. So download if you want. Pause this. Go back and get 168 and bring yourself up to speed.

Because that was a great chat. And today we're going to do some catch up before we kick out the jams. But the A to Z of Vic Rauter's career is 168. Now, Vic, I was watching the Stanley Cup Finals. And in Vegas, they had Michael Buffer come out and do his, let's get ready to rumble. And he's apparently, because he copyrighted. He does.

He can't use it. Right. And he's made a lot of money on this phrase. Sure has. Have you copyrighted Make the Final? No, he wanted to use it. That's the thing. No.

You know, the last curling event of this season was the men's worlds and it was in Las Vegas, not at the, uh, not at the T-Mobile, T-Mobile, but, uh, at the Orleans arena. And we got a chance to go to a game, one of the last regular season games. Boy, I tell you, they, what a show, what a show. And I, you know, Vegas is a complete surprise, obviously, but they are a fast team. Now, will they have enough to get by Washington? It would be quite the story. I'm a little mixed. I'd like to see one for Ovechkin, honestly.

I'd like to see somebody like that get his due, but it would be a wonderful story, I tell you. There's lots of – there's general managers all over the NHL, to my mind, that would like to blow up their teams and get rid of some of the high salaries and follow that model. Start from scratch. Yeah, start from scratch. Yeah. In fact, I think both teams in this final have the same architect, if you will.

Yeah, yeah. Which is. Yeah, yeah. But think about, I mean, give Gallant, the coach, his due. He's taken those players and looked at them and said, here's our system, and we're going to skate them to death. Nobody plays this. I've never seen a team play that hard, that consistently.

No, that's true. Yeah, it's unbelievable. Unbelievable. At TSN, I got a question. So since your last visit, Jay and Dan have returned to TSN. And I joke, they've both been on the show. I like them both. I gotta admit, they're both genuinely sweet people that I enjoy spending time with. I

don't think TSN has a lot of jerks. If they are, they're behind the scenes because everybody I have on from TSN seems pretty darn nice. You know, there's some jerks, right? No, no, no, no, there's not. And I don't know. Listen, I think it's the, right? No, no, no, no, there's not. And I don't know. Listen, I think it's the same at Sportsnet too. I think we all feel somewhat fortunate

to be doing what we do. And why would you want to be a jerk in the first place? That's a good, but some people seem to like the, I don't know, the perception that they're a jerk. I don't know, but I guess, so Jay and Dan are great. And I wondered if, like, are there posters of Jay and Dan everywhere at the TSN facility? Like, is it because there's a lot of marketing dollars put into promoting the return of Jay and Dan.

You know what? I'll be quite honest with you. I rarely go in. One of the reasons why I moved to Orillia now 11 years ago, it was on a bucket list, of course. I wanted to do that. Right. And I had some relationship with the city when I was growing up. But I'm fortunate that most of the things I do are on the road.

So I'm going to the airport and now mostly going down to do an MLS show or do an MLS game in a booth, sitting in a booth not unlike this and calling the game. So be quite honest with you, I don't see it. But certainly, listen, for them to go down to the U.S. and to come back, that's a big deal. The trick to your happiness in your career is avoiding the office. Is that what I just heard? Well, no, you know what? I would not have been able to do the move or make the move if I was doing sports centers, but I'm not. And that was, they, for lack of a better term, many years ago separated church and state, as it were. They separated the production side of things from the new center, sports center

side of things. So if you were doing sports centers, that's what they wanted you to do. I mean, I remember doing the sports center and then going off for four or five months to Curl. They rarely do that. The only person I think they allow to do that now would be Rod Smith. Yes, I was going to say, he does that. So Rod will do it. Now he goes off to do his CFL hosting.

But mostly they want you to dedicate one or the other to one or the other. I think we need to copyright Make the Final and figure out how to monetize Make the Final. i'm going to play a clip in a little bit uh so there's a sponsor of this show uh brian gerstein he's at property in the six.com and he's got a question for you very shortly i'll play you the question and i'll give you a gift from brian but before i do that uh he did send me a link because he was watching he's a big expose fan he's from montreal and he was uh oh boy but this is link because he was watching. He's a big Expos fan. He's from Montreal. Uh-huh. And he was...

Oh, boy. But this is not... No, this was actually... It was a Toronto CBC newscast and you were doing sports and you were sort of just talking about an Expos game and he sent me the clip

and I'm going to play that in just a little bit. But first, you're friendly because I heard a story today that I thought was kind of interesting, but you're friendly with Mark Hebbshire. Well, Mark, yeah, sure.

We go back a few years. Yeah, of course. Well, he's just a little bit younger than me. Yeah, he was here this morning because he records his podcast here. And I just mentioned in passing, he likes to know who's coming in. Who's coming in? Oh, Vic Rauter's in today. And he tells me a little Vic story.

But he did record a question for you. So let's hear. This is Mark Hebbshire's question for Vic Rauter's in today, and he tells me a little Vic story. But he did record a question for you. So let's hear. This is Mark Hebbshire's question for Vic Rauter. Hey, Mike, can you ask Vic about the really cool car he owned in the 80s? He had a really great sports car. I was envious. I had a cool sports car, but Vic's car was even cooler. Ask him about that.

I had a, well, a cool sports car. I had the old Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. And what year would it have been? 68. Red with a black interior. And it was, I got lots of kidding about it. It was not a, it was their, what they called their semi-automatic. So you had no clutch.

So you basically pushed the forward for up to around 40. And then you just put it back into what I guess they call their overdrive. Okay, okay. So this was their thing. And eventually I had it for four or five years, and it would break down every once in a while, but it was a fun toy. Hepsi seemed rather jealous.

Jealous of your car there, man. I didn't hear about this. Here's a nice note I got from somebody when I mentioned you were coming back. Okay, so I'm going to read the note. And this, I'm going to attribute, this goes to Steve Leggett. Steve Leggett writes, grew up with zero curling knowledge.

I had never played and had no background in the game. Each season I would watch curling on TSN and it was Linda, Ray and Vic that taught me and many others how the game worked. You three were the coaches, instructors and friends for millions of Canadians. Thank you for doing a remarkable broadcast that has kept us all watching for decades. And thank you for opening a door to a sport that has given many of us so much joy and excitement. So big thanks, he says. That's nice to Steve. Thank you very much. You know,

listen, I'm going to be starting, what will this be? 33rd, I believe. 33rd year of curling. And started in 86. And to this day, I still get people will come up and go, have you never played the game? And there was a point in time when I was playing two and three times a week. But it was always the late Jim Thompson who mentored me and said before the start of every season, what do you know about the game? I know nothing.

And he goes, perfect. Now, I can't say that I don't know anything, but my job is to be the eyes and the ears of the people who are watching at home. And so when someone comes up to me and says, and I'll ask them, where are you playing? They go, we don't, we just enjoy the game. And I think that's the greatest compliment of it all. Just a wonderful compliment. That's what I would say, my greatest compliment to you, and it's

sincere, is that you make me want to watch curling. That is the greatest compliment I could pay you. And as I told you last time you were here, so I won't gush too much, but you're the Vin Scully of curling. So there's no higher compliment, I think. Here's this question. I actually personally don't understand it,

but I know you will. Okay. This question comes from Anonymous. That's how exciting this question is. Wow. Would love to hear Vic's thoughts on TSN TV rights deal with Curling Canada. Word is Curling Canada actually pays tsn for the broadcast deal

for season of champions events uh and he named some rather than normal setup where tv company pays big bucks to broadcast events and then he explains like you know obviously like nhl and major league baseball sports and stuff so he would be this guy says i'd be keen to hear vick's thoughts on that unique setup and whether he expects a bidding war when the deal expires next year. So that's some inside curling. Yeah. Could you explain that to me?

It's always been that way, actually. TSN, together with we provide, oh, think of it this way, it's a split. We provide the production costs, that's TSN's commitment. And then they come to us and they sell the advertising. And there are certain limitations on what advertisers you can be because you've got Timmy's and Ford and Scott Paper. So you can't sell outside that group but the commitment is uh production versus their commitment to us with advertising and uh so that's how it's done two years remain on the current contract both domestically and uh in terms of the world curling with sports nets involvement they run the tour uh cbc is now back

in and doing some online curling uh would I expect there to be some interested people? Yes. Would I expect them to pay some money? Yes. Interesting times in curling. Well, that's the thing. It's Canadian content, first and foremost, and it's amateur.

Right. And it's, yes. While you see them making some money, it's still an amateur sport. And it's been ruled that way. see them making some money, it's still an amateur sport. And it's been ruled that way. You know, the Canadian Olympic Federation realizes that as you're competing to go to the Olympics, you're an amateur sport.

Gotcha. Yeah. So that's important. And it's popular, right? I mean, these numbers are big. There's a lot of Canadians that tune in. Well, quite often. I mean, I say this, and honestly,

quite often we'll beat, depending on the event, who's on the ice, we'll beat a Leafs game regionally. What? That's crazy. Yeah. Seriously. That's big numbers. Yeah, it is. And I think some people in the heart of Toronto don't realize,

because I think we have so much going on here, we might miss a curling break. Well, that's right. I mean, but you're talking about the country. Right. So, and particularly in where the hotbeds are. Northern Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta. No, they'll, and don't forget, we will, we'll have a game on, a Breyer final.

We'll, my goodness, that Breyer final with Guzhu a couple of years ago against Cooey, it topped, topped two million. Wow. Yeah, that 2 million. Wow. Yeah, that's some monster numbers. Jason wants to know, he would love, this person, Jason, says, would love to have known if he misses hosting. Oh, this guy thought I already recorded.

That's right. I saw on Twitter. I tweeted you were coming on, and he thought he missed you. And he writes it in past tense. He says, he would like to have known if you miss hosting the F1 races on TSN. Yeah, of course.

But we couldn't compete with what now is available. Again, it's the difference in the technology. You know, when I think back to those early days of hosting F1, and Jerry Donaldson was on a phone, the cost then to open up lines and satellite were too much. Now it's cheaper to bring in Sky and there is no way that we could compete with that. So do I miss the sport? Yes. Do I miss some auto racing? Yes, very much. I'm still a gearhead. Norbert. Norbert's a great name. I don't know. Do you know any Norberts?

No, but Norbert would be an older name to me. It would be like in women's, like an Agnes or something. Yes, you're right. There's not a lot of young Agneses out there. Norbert would be a 30s and 40s name to my mind. Yeah, maybe. I don't know how old Norbert is. But Norbert says, ask Vic to do his, forgive me if I screw this up, but his Mobilio call. So every time Dominic Mobilio would have a scoring chance,

he would stretch out his name. That was back in the Canadian Soccer League days. Six years they ran. And Dominic Mobilio, who had died much too soon, was a star for the Vancouver 86ers. who had died much too soon, was a star for the Vancouver 86ers. That was interesting because it came after the World Cup, and the Canadians, the Americans had promised a league for many years,

but the Canadians got on it. Dale Barnes is to be given a lot of credit. There's a soccer name from the past. In fact, he was an original at TSN starting a soccer show before Graham Leggett took over. And it ran for six years, but it collapsed under the weight of the travel. And, you know, we have a new Canadian league that's looking to start next year.

That would be my biggest concern for them, how they set this up, because the travel costs are enormous. And we had at one point in time, we, the league, had teams from Nova Scotia to Victoria. And if you went on a trip out West, you played three and four games in seven days. Because you tried to get it all in.

It's funny. I have a lot of Canadian rock bands will come through here and they always talk about, you know, traveling this country, like it can break you. Like financially it can break you. Like a lot of bands break up because they can't afford to tour.

And the airlines are giving you no breaks. Yeah. Right? They're just not. Right. So it fell apart under that. But it was a great six years because it gave guys a chance to play,

some of whom ended up going overseas to play. Yeah, I give that Canadian League a lot of credit, and now we have it in MLS. Yes, absolutely, absolutely. The little update for everybody is that since the last episode I recorded, what was that? Elvis came over Friday. A different Elvis, not the Elvis. But that would be quite the coup. Well, now we know where he's living.

Now you know where he is. He's in North Oshawa. But I got my SmartServe certification. So here's kind of interesting. I think it's kind of fun and interesting. This coming Saturday, there's a local event called the Grilled Cheese Challenge. All right. And the primary sponsor of this show, Great Lakes

Beer, have a beer tent at this event. And I can now legally serve, I can work the beer tent and serve alcohol with my SmartServe certification. So listeners should come. I'll pour you a beer. I think it's only $6 a beer, I think. I have to

confirm that with the guys at Great Lakes. They handle the money part. But I do accept tips. So bring lots of fives and tens. Exactly, yeah. Yeah, take care of me. But a grilled cheese challenge. Right. You know, you see some of those cooking shows.

And what goes into a really grilled cheese, oh, you put in some pulled pork, throw in the onions. Oh, all right. It doesn't look like the grilled cheese we were making as kids. No, no. Just a plastic cheese. Some margarine, a slice of the processed cheese, and then white bread and go. There we go.

And some ketchup. There we go. So speaking of Great Lakes beer, there's a six-pack in front of you, Vic. I see that. Thank you so much, Great Lakes Brewery. Great Lakes is like, as I say off the top, 99.9% of the beer that they can stays in this province. So it's always fresh.

And you can see the date on the bottom. And you never find a dusty can of Great Lakes. And the cans are great. Yeah, they've got interesting artwork and stories. And it's independent. Dick, I don't know about you, but there's so many conglomerates running this and that. You know you're part of one,

which is all good. Uh-huh. But this podcast is completely independent and I like the brewery because they're completely, like, they call themselves fiercely independent. They, they, the owner has been over here to kick out the jams with me.

Okay. Try to find the owner of, you know, Molson Coors. Okay. This doesn't exist. Uh-huh. No, well, thank you. Great. Thank you very much.

Enjoy that. Cheers. Thank you. And Vick, when you're pouring your beer on a nice hot summer night in Orillia, you're going to need a pint glass to pour it into. Yeah, I see that. That's from Brian. Oh, is that right?

The aforementioned property in the six.com. Okay. Thank you very much. So let me play. First, before we hear the message from Brian. Let me play a little bit. If you don't want a couple of minutes of you in the early eighties doing sports on CBC Toronto.

Yes. So let's hear you. Blue Jays and Expos played tonight. Are both games over? Yeah, they are. But first of all, we want to talk about a record tying night and it was,

yes, we do. It happened in the first inning of tonight's game in Milwaukee, Oakland's Ricky Henderson, tying Lou Brock's record of 118 stolen bases so he still has a chance to break the record they are late in that game and we'll update the score in just a minute but he ties the record tonight of 118 stolen bases well it is sure time for those blue jays to come home they have just been hammered on this road trip to New York and Baltimore. Orioles making it three straight tonight.

The final in Baltimore was 12-5 for the Orioles. Baltimore getting four home runs. Eddie Murray, two of them, including a Grand Slam home run. So the Blue Jays now come home. They will play New York starting tomorrow. Game time noted is 1 o'clock at Exhibition Stadium. Taking a look at other American League scores. Milwaukee leading the Oakland A's. Ricky Henderson

who tied the record tonight. I loved Exhibition Stadium. Fourth inning. California. Boston split of pair. Angels in the first. Red Sox in the second. Lee Mazzilli. Boy, does he like being back in New York. Future Blue Jay Lee Mazzilli. I've got a story for you about Lou Brock. Okay.

Ricky Henderson. So Brian liked this part very much. The Hawk. And in game one, the Expos win it 3-2, as Andre Dawson drove home Brian Little in the eighth to win it. We pick up game one in the first inning. Dickie Thon with a leadoff walk and then scores on a single by Ray Knight. The Astros go in front, 1-0. Yeah, he played for the Mets and won a World Series there. 86, I think.

Heaps double, scoring half. But in the bottom half of the seventh, Expos get to Nolan Ryan, Warren Cromartie, Andre Dawson on base, World Series there. 86, I think. Future Blue Jacks. And then it's Gary Carter showing why many say he is the best catcher in baseball. Carter with a double to score Oliver, and it's all tied up 2-2. Then we go to the eighth inning. This is Brian Little. Leads off. Little bunts single. And then moves to second on a sacrifice to Tim Raines. That brings up Andre Dawson.

Comes to the plate. Hits a line drive to shallow center field, scoring Little. The Expos come from behind to win game one, make the final. Montreal 3 and Houston 2. You know, a couple things here. Go, I love it. Well, I had the pleasure then. TSN had a very small contract with the Expos to do Expos in English.

And so I got to do the Expos for, I think, two or three years, which I truly enjoyed. And Vladdy Guerrero, I was there that night, you know, Vladdy Guerrero, dad, this pencil thin bat, which was so long and he could pick the ball off the tops of his shoes. He actually banged it off one of the speakers at exhibitions or at the Big O. But just a quick story about Ricky Henderson. actually banged it off one of the speakers at exhibitions and uh or at uh the big o right but just a quick story about uh ricky henderson i don't know if you remember when ricky did break the record he picked up the bass but that was a career record yeah because you're talking about the season but he was over lou brock remember yes this was the all-time record i remember and he

said lou you was the champion now i am and oh, God, can you not be humble? Please. So not long after, I have to go to London, Ontario. There's a sports celebrities dinner, and Lou Brock is there. And I said to Lou, you know, the difference in the game. And, you know, he said the biggest thing was the money, obviously. And he said back in the day when he got paid, and he was paid well for an athlete, but he said, not enough to today that you're a multimillionaire and you can turn your back on everybody. Because today, the buses pull into the stadium, they get off, they get on, and away they go.

There's no interaction. He said, I had to take every cub dinner, scout dinner, girl guide dinner, whatever it was, for $25, $30. And he said that was the biggest difference. The interaction between the players, the media, the fans was so different. And even to this day, I remember Gordie Howe or Bobby Hull would come out of that Wood Street entrance of Maple Leaf Gardens and they'd stand there for half hour, an hour. You know, they used to call Colleen Howe. They used to have a derogatory name for her

because she was his guardian. And she'd eventually go in because he'd sit there and stand there and sign. And she'd eventually she'd eventually come on gordy we got to go b word b word right you know and colleen was was the person that a lot of people didn't like no you're so right man and ricky i mean i remember ricky uh had no confidence issues let's put it that way no no i am the greatest you were the greatest oh i am the greatest thank you ricky for. Oh, I am the greatest.

Thank you, Ricky, for that. Oh, man, that was fun to hear those names again because that's about when I get into baseball. So the first season I remember vividly was the 83 season.

And I'm just sort of coming in. I think I saw my first game ever in 82. And so hearing those names because they would play a little bit longer and hearing some future Blue Jays,

Lee Mazzilli would be traded with Mookie Wilson, I think. They both came over. And, of course, Al Oliver had a great 85 ALCS, as I recall, until the George Brett happened. But we won't talk about that. But, yeah, just great to hear those names. And you had a cool CBC blazer on in that footage, too. Well, you had to.

Of course, that was the years you had those melon jackets. That was part of it. So I'm let go at CBC in the first week of, what was it? Oh, 85. And now I've still got some stuff that is on tape to be shown during sports weekend with Ernie Afghanis. Okay. on tape to be shown during Sports Weekend with Ernie Afghanis.

Okay. And it so happens that I get hired, thankfully, immediately by TSN, and they need me to do sports centers that same week. My final event on Sports Weekend, I'm in a melon jacket doing rhythmic gymnastics with Laurie Fung, and Laurie Fung won a gold medal. Oh, I can't think now. I'm trying to think what year it would have been. Anyway, 84 maybe?

Anyway, no longer do I say thank you very much. Goodbye from York University. And I'm in my melon jacket, and Ernie Haffigan says, till next week at 6.30 up I pop in my black TSN jacket on the other network doing a sports center. So two networks, same day, within minutes of each other.

In great jackets. And that's a perfect segue to Brian's question for you. So let's hear from Brian. Hey, Toronto Mic listeners. Steve Fall here, guitarist with Acid Test. Just want to put in a good word for my buddy, Brian Gerstein, who is totally helping me out with my own real estate needs. And he is really taking good care of me. You should give Brian a call for Toronto Real Estate done right. Thanks, Steve.

The number to call or text me is 416-873-0292. Vic, I loved how you rocked those vintage TSN jackets back in the day. Do you have any still hanging in your closet? No, they're all gone. But I still do have a patch that I'll put on every once in a while. In fact, that's how Burgundy put it on. He put the patch on, remember that? Right, of course, I told you that last time, yeah.

But you know something? We've all gone to Blazer. We have a sponsor, a clothing sponsor. But honestly, I wish we would go back. I think that would take so much out of it. Black jacket for winter, maybe a navy blue and maybe a light tan one. That's me being a fashionista here.

But I think I would love to go back to it. I think I still see CBS doing it with their big eye on their golf broadcast. And I think maybe ABC still does. But I'd love to see us go back. Well, you'll never go back now that you've monetized the wardrobe. No, no, no. Everybody's out.

And then look, some of the guys have good sense in what to do. But I see some combinations, and I think, whoa, black jacket would be really good right now. You should have held on to at least one of those jackets. It should be hanging in the air in the mothballs or something oh vick uh how's your french you have any ability to speak french no none whatsoever me neither but i wish i had some french and i'm really happy to announce and i announced it uh last episode because this is the second episode of june but uh camp turn of soul has uh upped for June.

So they were going to do three months, March, April, May. But they're going to do June because apparently some parents and some grandparents out there have yet to book their summer camps for their kids. We're running out of time here, Vic. School's over at the end of the year. You've got to get your kids into camp. You should send them to French Camp.

Campt.ca is where you go to see what Camp Ternussel has. They've been in operation since 2001, and they're the largest French camp in Ontario, and they're ideal for your children ages 4 to 14. So go to CampT.ca, and when you do register your child for French Camp, because those are the orders that Toronto Mike is giving you,

please use the promo code Mike. Not only will you save some money, but it lets Camp Ternus know that you heard about them from Toronto Mike. That helps me. So campt.ca put your kid in French Camp. You can thank

me later and you can get some money by using the promo code Mike. Well, that's great. French Immersion Camps. That's terrific. They have the three kinds. They have the French Immersion Camps, which is great if your kid's in French Immersion. They have the

Francophone Camps, which means your kid, I guess, you're better than French Immersion. You're in French school. This is even better. But they also have the, my kid is just learning French, which is good because there's going to be some kids out there that, you know, school, you have to learn French in school in Ontario, but it depends how passionate the French teacher is. Because sometimes I remember we used to use that class as an opportunity to misbehave, as I recall. But the other thing too is, and again, I don't know if it's changed, but the French you learned in school when I did was Parisian French.

It still is. Okay. And the problem is you take that Parisian French to Quebec and you get nothing and they go, forget it, we'll talk English to you. It's funny. The thing too is you don't have to get too far outside of Quebec City or Montreal

into some of the townships. And the French there is not Parisian French. No. That's the problem. It's Quebecois. Right. You're right.

It's all the dialects. You're right. My two oldest kids are in French immersion and we were talking about that on the weekend because, yes, they teach Parisian French

and then you, when you want to get a job in this country and you know, serve as Quebecois, you learn that it's rather different, but at least you have the foundation. You have the base. Yes, you have the base, and now you've got to learn the Anglo-Saxon. Yeah, exactly.

But no, I listen to be able to speak a couple of languages, even more. I've got relatives, and my background is Swiss, I've got relatives that can speak four and five languages. Oh, Switzerland, yeah, they've got the French there, they've got Italian, and they've got relatives, and my background is Swiss. I've got relatives that can speak four and five languages. Oh, Switzerland, yeah. They've got the French there, they've got Italian, and they've got the German, right? And the Romanish, which is an ancient language.

But the language of commerce is English, so they speak that as well. I'm always fascinated when I travel, and you must see this too, when you're in Europe, and you'll be somewhere in Europe, and their English is as good, if not better, than your English. And you're like, wait a minute here. That's pretty good here paytm Vic one thing you and I have in common we have many things in common but one thing is we both have to pay bills so whether it's your cell phone bill or tuition or property taxes or rent we all got to pay bills so with paytm Canada it's an app and it's the only

one in Canada that gives you rewards for your bill payments. And you can choose how you pay. You can pay with your MasterCard, you can pay with your bank account or cash, and then you can just watch your points grow. So here's your call to action. I did this. You get $10 by doing this. So listen up, go to paytm.ca, download the app. And when you make your first bill payment, use the promo code Toronto Mike. Again, this tells Paytm that you learned about it through the show and that helps me,

but you get $10 to do that. So that $10 you can apply towards a future bill. That's free money. So go to Paytm.ca and download the app. They're just a solid citizens to good people at Paytm Canada. They're not going to pay your bills for you. They'll give you $10. If your bill's more than $10, you're on your own a little bit there.

That's the unfortunate. But, Vic, no joke. This is no joke. I like to collect points on my credit card. You do this? Yeah, I do. I play the games. It's a game.

It's a game. You've gamified bill payment. As long as you can pay it off. I mean, let's be honest here. Don't buy something on your credit card that you wouldn't buy with cash. Like if you have some discipline and you were going to buy this anyways, put it on the credit card because that way at least you get the points. And then, yeah, you have to pay it off every month. I just did a major renovation of the house. Everything was on the airline card.

You installed a curling. No, no, no. But everything, you know, of course. But I mean, again, you have to be smart about it, correct? You have to have self-discipline. Sure. You can't go buy things you can't afford. Because then those, you don't want, what you don't want to do is you don't ever want to pay the interest rates that come with a credit card.

No. This is like a money, we could do like, what is it? Gail Van Oxley used to do this. Gail Vaz Oxley. We can do some kind of a. Money show. Right. Yeah.

Senior money show. Come on over. I'm doing Hempsey's on sports, and I'll do Vic on money. Listen, to be honest with you, I've often thought, I'm getting close here to maybe shutting it down, and I thought, what would I want to do? I might want to just do a senior show. Okay.

Because there's lots of things out there with regards to, and with the aging population, oh boy. Listen, I'm almost there myself. But what is this winding down thing? Like, do you have a date by which you want to retire? No, not at this moment. But I mean, listen, I'm 64. So I've started when I was 19 and fortunate enough to do it.

That's a long time. Fortunate enough to work in this particular industry my entire life and have enjoyed a lot of it. Every moment of it, to be honest with you. But I'm looking at the end rather than the beginning. But it's so dramatically different than when I started. That's the other thing.

Is it essentially the streaming and the presence of the internet that's changed the game so dramatically? Was that the big game changer? Yeah, the technology is most of it. You know, when you think back in the day when I would run out and everything's digital now. You know, when you think back in the day when I would run out and everything's digital now. You know, you talked about cassettes

when we used, you know, first videotape. I used to shoot on film, for God's sakes. Gentleman Mort Greenberg just passed away. You may have seen it in the Toronto Star. He was the one that did his Christmas. Here's a gentleman of Jewish persuasion but was out raising money for all three papers their charities

and over the course of I think 25-30 years raised close to a million dollars and there's going to be a celebration of life but we started off shooting film he used to shoot a baseball game on a mag of film or a mag of film, which was 400 feet, 11 minutes. And he would go down below the old exhibition stadium. Remember they had that low camera behind the catcher?

And he'd shoot everyone through the rotation taking swings. And then he'd go upstairs. And then the edit would happen is that. I mean, remarkable what you had to do. Today you can burn tape or just burn megs in a digital... Well, that's the thing. Now there's on a good...

If they get the attendance, you got 45,000 people who can take better quality video in their pocket, right? They got things in their pocket. Off their phone. That's why be careful what you do out there. Somebody's always recording. That's right. That's right. That's right.

All right, Vic, are you ready? I got one last question. This is the most important question you're going to get all day. Are you ready to kick out the jams? Let's do it. Let's go back in time and make some memories. Ah, yes. Here he is.

The legend. Those fingers in my hair That sly come hither stare The chairman of the board That strips my conscience bare It's witchcraft And I've got no defense for it The heat is too intense for it What good would common sense for it do?

Cause it's witchcraft It's the phrasing. Wicked witchcraft So Frank Sinatra, Witchcraft, and why... Was it tough to pick one Sinatra song? No, and it's not Sinatra per se You have to, this was This is what I grew up with

If I'm sitting at the kitchen table now You're my father across that way The wall is here, the tabletop radio on top of it Salt and pepper shaker of course And my mother's sitting over here And that dial was glued to CFRB 1010. Couldn't touch that.

Slap your hand if you do. So, I'm listening to Pauly Crowder, Earl Warren, Bill Deegan, and these are all the people I listen to. I grew up to the great American songbook of Sinatra, Tony Bennett.

Oh gosh, I'm losing my mind at this moment. But all those people, right? Johnny Mathis, Stephen Eadie. So, Mel Torme, the Velvet Fog, of course, who gained notoriety in Night Court. Right. But these are the people that I listen to. So, I had a great, and to this day, I still appreciate this music. I still do.

Do you know, I think there's a Frank Sinatra station on Sirius XM. Yes, there is. Do you have a satellite radio? Yeah, Sirius XM Sinatra. I listen to it all the time. You know, then you've got, you're getting guys like, or people like Elephant's Gerald. Billy Holiday will come through every once in a while. Yeah, I mean, this was the basis for me of my first recollection of music.

And again, 1010 CFRB. So simple. It was all AM at that point in time. Then, of course, my dad goes away one time, and I heard people at school talked about this chum, this 10-50. And the next one, this was the very first song I heard when I was brave enough to move it over to 1050. Funny what stays with you.

This was the first song I heard was on 1050 in 1964. Must have blown your mind. The Beach Boys. Come on. How can you not like this? Well, she got her daddy's car and she cruised through the hamburger stand now. See, she forgot all about the library like she told her old man now. And with the radio blasting, goes cruising just as fast as she can now.

And she'll have fun, fun, fun. Ah, that harmony. To this day. Fun, fun, doing that. It takes a T-Bone. So I became a really big Beach Boys fan, and I always have. I was disappointed because, you know, the group has had it. It's like most groups have had their infighting.

And the Beach Boys still do tour, but it's just most groups have had their infighting and uh the beach boys still do tour but it's just mike loves for the most part um brian wilson was supposed to play at rama about three or four weeks ago but he had to cancel he had some surgery and i think al jardine is with him so you know you do some reading and you you now, of course, 64 is when the Beatles come. And you read that there was this, people say it was a battle, but it was a respect between Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and how they really thought the Beatles were the only group that they were going to compete against. compete against. And their greatest albums, both of them, Pet Sounds

for the Beach Boys, and Revolver was for and from the Beatles. Now, I refuse to truncate these songs. I just need to give you a heads up. You're a little ahead of schedule. The battle between those two

and the Beatles, of course, what they did in, what, eight years, led to some of their greatest music, and that was Revolver. To lead a better life I need my love to be here Here And you listen to the harmonies. Making each day of the year

And this is from Revolver. Because I've read that Sergeant Pepper becomes what it is because they heard Pet Sounds. Yes. Right? Yeah, exactly. I'm glad that there's something there And I thought it was

You know, somebody you could I don't know, have you ever had Paul Roman up here? Yes, I have You know, Paul Roman is an encyclopedia When it comes to the Beatles He is a huge fan I've got to get him back Because you kick out the jams on your second visit

As you know He's had his first, but I will get him back To kick out the jams on your second visit as you know he's had his first but i will get him back to kick out the jams absolutely so he uh he knows everything about the beatles and so much i mean it's the staying power you ask you know you it's again it's a generational thing but you talk about sinatra and witchcraft and the beatles or will we still be listening to these they've stood the test of time now for 40 and 50 years will they in 40 50 years from now the Beatles or will we still be listening to these? They've stood the test of time now for 40 and 50 years. Will they in 40, 50 years from now? Yes.

I think good music is just good music. And with video games and these kids, like my 13-year-old daughter knows all about the Beatles from a rock band, some video game that featured the Beatles music. And she knows it all.

She loves it all. So it's not going anywhere. No, not at all. Scratch? I was going to say, I won't touch that again. I will say this. A lot of people kick out the Beatles, as you can imagine. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

This is the first time this song has been kicked out. So this song is here, there, and everywhere. Everywhere, yeah. This is the first time this song has been kicked out. So this song is here, there, and everywhere. It's everywhere, yeah. And what I liked about this era, because, again, it forces you to go back, and you start then, where was the history of rock and roll? And now I go up to a really,

and I'm with my cousin, and we're cruising around Kuchiching Park, and, you know, he's listening to some of this 50s stuff, and I'm thinking to myself, and then eventually, they pay homage, the Beatles do pay homage, to the 50s and some of their heroes. Here you go. Can you just see him now?

Down on the floor, just popping along. Oh, yeah. That great Chuck Berry, how wonderful is this? And they all covered it. Well, I'm going to write a little letter. I'm going to mail it to my local DJ. Yeah, it's a jumping little record. I want my jockey to play.

Roll over, Beethoven. I got to hear it again today. You know, you think about Barry, Little Richard. Some really classic artists were all covered at some point in time by the likes of the Beach Boys or the Beatles or Rolling Stones. They all realized this is where it all came from. Absolutely. There's a, yeah, the Beatles cover Roll Over Beethoven, of course, early in their career. And even as a solo artist, like John Lennon would make, get a big hit out of having like Stand By Me, for example, or something like that. Absolutely.

Absolutely. And of course, Twist and Shout is an Isley Brothers song, right? Although a lot of people think that's a Beatles song, if you ask around. Yeah, exactly. Run another roll over Beethoven, dig these rhythm and blues. And Chuck Berry's another guy where people my age discover Chuck, although I always liked the Golden Oldies, so I already knew Chuck. Back to the Future.

Back to the Future, yes. Yeah. That's a great scene, too. Yeah, yeah. There's this kid hopping along the floor because he knows what he's seen. So you have to imagine now, I'm listening to this

and again, such a simple time. I had my first little transistor radio and my mom I'm 10, 12, 13, 14 years of age, go to bed and I would take the transistor and I would put it under my pillow.

And so now I hear of a station down in Windsor. Call letters were CKLW. And it was the Big Eight And I hear for the first time This sound called Motown And, well The legendary and well the legendary Marvin Gaye this was also

covered by Gladys Knight and the Pips now I'm putting on my DJ's hat as I try to hit the vocal I heard it through the grapevine you hit the post, Vic Yeah, wow Even CCR, Clearance Clearwater Revival

Many people have covered this one But you have to think now So Motown When it was mostly AM radio Cham and Hamilton used to promote themselves As Ontario's music station chum here in town used to promote themselves as canada's music station but ckl the big eight was north america's number one music station because they were at 50,000 watts, clear channel eight, just beaming everywhere.

And, you know, you think about, well, not over Ontario, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York State. It was the powerhouse. And they had that big news team, right? That's Mark Daly, right? Yeah, well, Mark Daly was from... Dick Smythe? Yeah, Dick Smythe came from there. And, you know, there's Randall Carlisle, if I remember correctly, was the news director.

And he actually lived, if I'm not mistaken, he lived in the Holiday Inn in downtown Detroit to be closer to the news. Now, they also got... That's where all that very flamboyant writing came from, you know. They just pulled another floater from the Detroit River and all that kind of stuff. And my old pal Larry Silver brought that to CFDR when I was there. Oh, Macko was telling Silver stories. Oh, gee. Yeah. Well, Macko was telling Silver stories. Oh, gee. Yeah.

Well, back there was a time when the CRTC called Rogers up for a license renewal. And I forget the name of the CRTC person. But they pulled out a cassette of Larry Silver's

newscast. And they played it in front of Ted Rogers. And the license renewal, I think, was only for two years instead of the usual five. Just too colorful with the language? Oh, yeah. Little Billy won't be going to school today. He was strained through the grill of 65. All that kind of stuff. Very graphic writing.

Very interesting. Rayfield White was one of our newscasters in that time, and he came from CKLW. Yes, I mean, from the Temps to Temptations, the Supremes, oh, my goodness, Smokey Robinson. I loved it all. Still do. Still love it all.

And, in fact, people who know me, the one thing if I could have ever been, I just wanted to be a Pip. Oh, gladdest night in the Pip. I would just once to stand behind her when she's doing Midnight Train to Georgia, and when they go woo-woo to pull on the imaginary... We can still make this dream come true. It's not too late. You never know. You're still glad it's late. Remember on Memorial Day,

she sang between intermissions at the Las Vegas. Still a great voice and a very attractive lady. We've got to make this happen. I'll see what I can do in social media. Make Vic a pip. Make Vic a pip, yeah. We'll get Jay and Dan to help out.

They've got a good social media following. They were all cousins, I think, brothers and cousins. And one of them has passed away since, yeah. But then, of course, now we're into the mid-'70s, and I'm thinking to myself, this to me may have been one of the greatest eras of music when you think about the likes of, you know, the Eagles, but it was the Canadian bands,

and in particular, one from Winnipeg. This to me is two songs in one. This is brilliance. The guest here. ¶¶ Lonely feeling Deep inside Find a corner Where I can hide You know, he is, um, he's 70, I believe, now.

But you can still catch him. He doesn't play. He and Bachman have had the total falling out now. But if you ever get a chance, and I've seen him perform, he's terrific. He actually, although he's recovering and he's okay, but he had a very bad car accident. Car accident. That's correct.

In California, I think. Yeah. But this is exactly, as you said, this is literally, it was two songs, I guess one. Yes. And they put it in the same key and made it one song. So it's No Sugar Tonight, we're hearing now, and then New Mother Nature is the second part. It's excellent. No, it is.

And, you know, you think about the era of those 70s bands and Canada's greatest band. Well, you can argue. But certainly from a top 40 standpoint, I don't think there's any argument. Certainly from a top 40 standpoint, I don't think there's any argument. And I was a top 40 Scott, as I think I mentioned to you earlier, when other stations turned and when FM radio came and they were looking for alternatives, I didn't go the Chum FM route or the Q route. I stayed with top 40.

That's what I was growing up with. Yeah, these guys were hit-laden, as they say. Oh, yeah. And they hit number one on the U.S. Billboard with American Woman. American Woman, yeah. And here we change songs now. Yeah. Yeah, the orchestration. There was so much going on here.

Great bass. Sounds great in the headphones too did you know they cancelled Psychedelic Sunday yes I read that yeah I wonder again it's maybe just they are not seeing the ratings

maybe it's the changing of the demographic. I think that's it. I think they want younger ears. But I have a secret for them. Don't tell them. But the younger ears aren't listening to radio. I get a lot. I get many people who will say to me,

well, some people I work with, actually, one of the higher associate producers, he listens to 60s on 6. And he's going, wow, I didn't realize that. Well, that's where, again, where it all came from, right? It all has a... It all needs a basis and a foundation. So 60s and 70s, that was my...

80s and 90s, I don't know why I found myself... If I can lead you, I found myself, if I can lead you, I found myself getting into country. I don't know what got me to switch over, but I was listening to country music. Not the old twangy stuff. I wasn't into that as much. So would you call this New Country? Remember Kiss 92.5? Is this stuff they would play?

Yeah, this would be the new country of a new generation. So this is an interesting story. Toby Keith. This is a song that you relate to your life. And it was a girl that I wanted to get to know and maybe even have a future with, but she wanted no part of me, didn't like what I did, didn't like the amount of time I was working

and weekends and overnights and evenings. And anyway, this was Toby Keith's anthem to people just like me. And it's called How Do You Like Me Now? Nice fade. Yeah, I was always a crazy one Broke into the stadium And I wrote your number

On the 50-yard line You were always a perfect one And a valedictorian So under your number I wrote calm for a good time I only wanted to get your attention Yeah, where are you now? How do you like me now? How do you like me now? Now that I'm on my way, you still think I'm crazy

standing here today. I couldn't make you love me, but I always dreamed about living in your radio. How do you like me now? Vic, I was waiting for a jam that had to do with a woman. There's always a jam about a lady. Well, there is.

For me, that was this one. When I heard this, I thought, oh, my. That was my first, it may have been my first love. And didn't want me, wanted another life. And I went, okay, so here we are now 40 years, 45 years later. How do you like me now? I bet you the deal breaker was she did not enjoy curling. No, no.

You know what it is? It was like anybody. The amount of hours that you have to invest in whatever profession you are. Something's going to play second fiddle. And relationships often do. This begs the question, so you've chosen a career with lots of travel.

Yeah. It must be tough. Like, how do you... It is difficult in relationships and so you need somebody that totally understands. And I have a wonderful lady

in my life and she understands. Good. Yeah. So how do you like me now? How do you like me now? and I have a wonderful lady in my life and she understands me. Good. So how do you like me now? How do you like me now? So, right, you didn't want me back when we were in high school and first year of university and college. So how do you like me now?

So you said this next little bit for me was a little odd for you. So I ended up working a lot when I was younger. I worked at the old O'Keeffe Center, which is now the Sony Center. And I watched a lot of operas coming through. It was the home of the Canadian Opera Company before the Four Seasons Center. So I'd see these operas, and I went, I know these pieces. So I'd see these operas and I went, I know these pieces. And the reason I knew these pieces was because I was a big Looney Tunes fan.

Right. And I learned all my opera from who else but Bugs Bunny. Now, I need to preface this. I need to preface it, though. So to me, this jumped out at me. So, I'm putting together the... I'm loading these in a soundboard and everything. And, of course, this piece, it's different than the others. Because this is not a standalone piece that was on an album, for example.

No. It's part of a Looney Tunes cartoon. Yes. A famous Looney Tunes cartoon. Right. One of the very best. And I like Looney Tunes because whether Right. One of the very best. And I like Looney Tunes because whether you're your age or my age or younger, Looney Tunes, everybody watched Looney

Tunes as a kid. It transcends the generations or whatever. But I chose to take the audio from the entire cartoon so we can talk about Looney Tunes over this. But it's going to even start with the Warner Brothers stinger at the beginning. So this is everything. All right. So let's jump into this inspired choice by Vic Roeder. There you go. Voices by Mel Blanc.

All of them, right? All of them, right? All of them. Apparently on his deathbed, he was still responding in the voice of Bugs Bunny and Sly. Yeah. I don't know if this one is the rabbit of Seville. It is the rabbit of Seville. It's the entire thing, though, so bear with us, people,

but it's worth it. So everything is in here. I didn't just do the excerpt of the opera. And yeah, Vic, what I would love to hear is any memories of Warner Brothers,

of Bugs Bunny, just anything. Every Saturday morning. Yep. This was the Saturday morning Well, that's what's changed with the generation because that's gone now. Yes.

Now cartoons are 24-7 and there is no Saturday morning cartoons. But my generation, you're exactly right. Saturday morning cartoons. They usually started off, got up really early to watch The Three Stooges. But that was... Yeah, yeah.

Or Little Rascals. Did you have any Little Rascals? Little Rascals, yeah. Those kind of shows, yeah. So now Elmer is chasing Bugs and they are in the opera house. Please be surprised how many... I've seen interviews with operatic stars who got their first taste. Now they're trapped.

The curtain's gone up, and here they are on stage. Come into my shop. Let me cut your mop. Welcome to my shop. Let me cut your mop. Let me shave your crop. Daintily. Daintily.

Now, you have to imagine, I'm hearing this years later. At the O'Keefe Center, I'm going, I remember this. Yes, you're next. You're so next. Into the show. And he's got, he's hacking them. Now we're ready for the scraping. There's no use to try escaping. Yell and scream and rant and rave. It's no use, you need a shave. And he's got... He's hacking them.

Elmer? Might have gone through a machine. Oh, where do I get that wabbit? Mel Blanc was fantastic. What would you want with a wabbit? Can't you see that I'm much sweeter? I'm your little senorita. You are my type of guy. Let me straighten your tie and I shall dance for you. So he's cropping now.

Then eventually he hops up on his head, you remember? And he starts to massage his head with his toes, his rabbit feet. Right. And then he starts to sprinkle tonic and everything on his head. And eventually grows flowers instead of hairs. Right. Here you go. He's up on top.

And he's massaging. He's sprinkling. And he's... Elmer's there. Just take it all. And eventually he looks at the beer and he sees a daisy scropping out of the top of his head. Yeah, so this is where my...

And today, you know, last night, for example, I was watching PBS and watching Andrea Bocelli. And I had a good, you know, Pavarotti, of course, brought opera really, I think, to the masses. He was the first real crossover. And that great concert from the 1990 World Cup in Rome with the three tenors, that was the other one. And I think people sort of, wow, we can watch this and tolerate this. And now the great chase begins.

So this is where my appreciation for opera actually began, I think, for a lot of people with Bugs Bunny and Looney Tunes. Fantastic, man. That's fantastic. And when you said that, a lot of opera stars got their first taste of opera from looney tunes it's like the bell goes off in your head and it's like this

is like the gateway drug right this is yeah you don't even realize you're getting cultured no exactly and they used they used opera as a theme several times do Do you know when Bugs comes in as the conductor? Yes, yes. The great Leopold and the operatic stars there and Bugs holds up his glove and takes his hand out and he has to hold a long note and he's turning 50 shades of purple and actually turns plaid and trying to hold it, yeah.

I mean, it was more than just fun. Actually, you were learning something. Right. Well, I always think, okay, so Warner Brothers is doing this. Meanwhile, the other guys, Disney, they got Fantasia, right? And same kind of sneaky culture. You know, exposing people to something other than just that day's music. Right.

Yeah, it was a... But you know, I don't think today, now you say you have appreciation for it. I certainly do. I think if you took and said to somebody, I'm not sure what time, what age would I have been. So let's say a 10-year-old. Come watch Looney Tunes with me. I don't think they would get the same kind of enjoyment out of it. I think you might be surprised, Vic. Really uh i have a four-year-old we heard him off the top so i've never done that before

he was down here i was setting up stuff for you and then he likes to hear himself in the headphones so he likes to talk i don't so i never record it though but he likes to talk on the mics and i started recording and then i got that and i'm I'm going to play that off the top of the Vic Roeder episode. But I think, I'm thinking, like, an older crowd fell in love with Space Jam, okay? So Space Jam was a big hit. Yes. And took your world of sports and combined it with Looney Tunes, and I think there was a resurgence there. There's still a lot of Looney Tunes.

It's not quite the same episodes you remember, but they've remixed Looney Tunes. I think you'd be surprised. I think Mooney Tunes is still... Bugs is still popular, I think. But they take it right through. I think this is, what, seven minutes? And they go from start to finish

in the big finish. The operatic big finish. And eventually they end up getting married. Marriage of figural. They combine it all. What's up? Next. Brilliant.

There you go. So that's the entire Rabbit of Seville, and that's fantastic. So, I mean, again, even as music evolved and people went other ways and there were the bands, I was always a top 40 kind of guy. And so, you know, you bring it up to today and, you know, we were talking earlier about Brian Wilson and Lennon McCartney. The number of people, I marked down some of them here, Dylan, Lightfoot, for example, Elton John, Neil Diamond, all of them singers, but what were they also? Great songwriters. And this person today I find really talented and a special individual.

I found a love for me Darling, just dive right in And follow my lead Well I found a girl Beautiful and sweet Well I never knew you were The someone waiting for me. Because we were just kids when we fell in love.

Not knowing what it was. I will not give you up this time. Darling, just kiss me slow. Your heart is all I own. And in your eyes, you're holding mine. Baby, I'm dancing in the dark With you between my arms Barefoot on the grass Listening to our favorite song

When you said you looked a mess I whispered underneath my breath But you heard it. Darling, you look perfect tonight. Well, I found a man stronger than anyone I know. Now, he's done this collaboration on this song Also with Andrea Bocelli And the video is

Sheeran flying to Italy To Bocelli's home And then Bocelli does this part In Italian Oh wow Yeah, it's great And there's another version you hear on the radio

Which is, I think, just Ed Sheeran. I think there's a solo version. I just, it's, to think of two, I mean, I just read stories. This is a young man who struggled in school. Dad said, you've got to do something. And his brother's a composer. A little more focused. He had a speech impediment, I read.

But it's the lyric. It's just being able to put that together, and then also to sing it as well as he does. Yeah, he's very special. If you like Top 40, I guess, of course, you realize that Top 40 is dominated these days by hip-hop-influenced music. And what you're listening to now is an exception to that, almost like a throwback, if you will, to some of the other artists that you've played. And they're few and far between on the Top 40 stations that you hear nowadays.

And earlier, before we started recording, you mentioned weddings, and absolutely, this is going to be very popular at weddings. Here's the thing, a wedding song by Paul Stuckey, out of Peter, Paul, and Mary,

not going to be number one anymore, I don't think, yeah. Yeah, it's a beautiful song on top of it. Baby, I'm dancing in the dark With you between my arms Barefoot on the grass

Listening to our favorite song I have faith in what I see Now I know I have met an angel in person. She looks perfect. I don't deserve this. You look perfect tonight. You know, you'll think of a Paul Simon, for example. You know, I mentioned John Denver.

These people could be able to put those words together. So now I bring it up to, and again, the people who know me and around me, I talked earlier about Motown and the influence of Motown. I talked earlier about Motown and the influence of Motown. And I think that my final selection is somebody that could have, and I think was influenced as well by Motown. I think this is a truly talented performer that is, well, he is, and I'm not the only one, the new Michael Jackson. Hey, hey, hey.

I got a condo in Manhattan. Baby girl, what's happening? You and your ass invited. So go on and get to clapping. Go pop a four-pan, pop, pop a four-man. Turn around and drop a four-pan. Drop, drop a four-man. I'll rent a beach house in Miami. Wake up in my jammies.

Ha, ha, ha. Anything you want, just put a smile on it. That Super Bowl performance. One of the best. It's a funny story. Last summer, he was on tour across Canada and the United States. And I was in Winnipeg for three weeks for the Canada Summer Games. And I had to work late doing a basketball game.

And from my window of the hotel, I could look up the street to the MTS Center. There were his buses because he was performing in Winnipeg. And I couldn't get to the show. And some of our production people went. They said they were picking confetti and sprinkles and sparkles out of their hair for weeks because he just puts on a great show. You're right. He's a triple threat or whatever.

He's a great songwriter, great singer, great dancer. But isn't that what they used to say about the likes of a Sinatra? It wouldn't be a surprise to me if he wanted one day to do acting. Yeah. But that triple threat. Write, sing,

dance. Others like that I think of that are modern. Justin Timberlake you could make an argument for. Yeah, it's just a freakishly talented individual. Yeah, not just one-dimensional. Yeah. Now, Frank, though, would never say anything negative about the chairman of the board, but he rarely wrote his own stuff.

Right, that's so... He didn't. But he went into acting. He won an Academy Award, right? Or was he just nominated? Are you here to eternity? Yeah, I think so. I thought he might have had a nomination. Yeah, he may have. But he went into acting. He won a Grammy Award, right? Or was he just nominated? Here to Eternity? Yeah, I think so. I thought he might have had a nomination.

Yeah, he may have. Yeah. Yeah, they say he was a very good actor. But I just, from what I've seen of Bruno Mars, I just, I'm a huge, huge fan. Huge fan. Definite Motown influence, without a doubt. Well, evenly, even his backup singers. Those movements, those choreographed movements,

I mean, they've been around forever, but where was it first started? Well, it goes back to even the 50s. You think about people like, I'm trying to think. You think of the Phil Spector sound? Yeah, that whole idea, right? But the idea of choreographing your moves

behind the lead singer. So there you go. You asked me to pick 10, and I found it really difficult. But this is sort of my life in music. Vic, that was incredible, because sometimes, you know, we play the song, we chat,

but you had like natural segues so they could all bleed into each other. In fact, my only regret is that because some of these older songs are so short, right? So back in the day, these songs were like two minutes long. We got less Vic than I would have liked

only because they strung together and then, hey, sometimes people would come today, pick a Led Zeppelin song that's like eight minutes long, but you know what I but that was fantastic my first when i there you go another little story my first time on the air doing a newscast and i had to talk up in a gata devita by iron butterfly and it was a 33 second talk up you know what i hit it that's just tell me if i'm wrong in the top 40 stations if you had if you needed a bathroom break or a smoke break,

you threw on Indigado de Vida because you got 17 minutes or whatever. Absolutely. Right. Of course. Or if you were trying to, always an instrumental leading to news because you could fade it out at any time. That's amazing. Vic, I know this is your second visit, but maybe at some point I can twist your arm and get you back a third time

I'd love to, this is fun for me I truly enjoy this, thank you and that brings us to the end of our 343rd show congratulations to you maybe you'll come back for number 400 how about that

you can follow me on Twitter I'm at Toronto Mike. Vic is at TSN Vic Router. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Property in the 6.com is at Raptors Devotee. PayTM is at PayTM Canada and Camp

Ternasol is at Camp Ternasol. I'd say see you all next week but the next gentleman kicking out the jams later this week is Stephen Brunt. Wow. Tough, but he's got to follow you, so I feel badly for Stephen.

Hope we can hang in there. Say hello for me. Thank you.