Freddie P's Blog

Yesterday I wrote about MRI's and how professional athletes in Canada get quicker access to them than the average Joe does.

How is it that some nobody with a bad shoulder has to wait upwards of six months for an MRI, while somebody like Ian White of the Maple Leafs got one the next day after injuring his shoulder on Tuesday night?

I called my buddy Chicken Shwarma who's producer of Leafs Lunch to ask him if he could run the question by Bill Watters. Watters as you know was assistant general manager of the Leafs for several years.

Yesterday on the show, host Jeff Marek not only asked the question of Watters, he also gave freddiep.ca a nice plug. Have a listen.

Thanks boys.

Category: Endorsements | Radio

I spent a very enjoyable afternoon yesterday. My son Danny and I had lunch with two old CFNY buddies at Wayne Gretzky's.

Several weeks ago I wrote about Kevin O'Leary who used to produce the Pete and Geets Show back in the 80's. Kevin is heavily involved with Amp'd Mobile, an exciting new cell phone company that's coming to Canada in the next couple of months. Amp'd Mobile is building new facilities in the old Indian Motorcycle building at King and Peter.

Also at the table yesterday was Ivar Hamilton. Ivar "was" the music department at CFNY is the golden era and eventually left to join Universal records. It was a good move, because now he's a vice-president. He's also a myspace guy.

I mention this get together because a lot of old CFNY people have started to visit freddiep.ca on a frequent basis. It's just to let you know that both guys are doing very well.

As a matter of fact Kevin just got engaged to his girlfriend Rene, and for those of you who know Kevin this is comparable to hell freezing over. But he's very happy and admits this could actually lead to marriage.

And one further note. Kevin just returned from a vacation in Nicaragua where he was stung by a stingray on a secluded beach. It got him on the heel and he endured a few tense hours before some Nicaraguan natives held his foot over hot coals in order to get the venom out. It's a fascinating story with a much better ending than the Steve Irwin tragedy.

Anyway, both boys are doing well and the attached picture is a Christmas card they sent me when they were Brampton room-mates way back in the early 80s.

Category: Friends | Radio

No doubt about it, Peter Gross is great inspiration for former broadcasters who think they might be washed up.

Peter has returned to 680 News where he'll do the Monday-Friday sports run during the morning show.

He replaces Rich Ralph who moves to the Fan, where he replaces Larry Silver who's working with the morning show on Jack.

I love Peter. I loved him in the early days of City-tv sports and I loved working with him at CFNY in the early 90's.

As a matter of fact, Peter helped shape me as a sportscaster. He would fill in for me while I was on holidays, and I'd listen from afar and marvel at this ability to say so much with so few words.

I decided to work on that aspect of my delivery and it really helped considering the evolution of FM radio that called for less and less formal information.

Peter's a great guy, a great writer and definitely a great survivor.

Category: Radio

Congratulations to Bill Carroll at CFRB. He becomes the morning man on Monday, January 8th.

Even though CFRB isn't nearly the powerhouse it once was, this is still a significant job in Toronto because it carries a lot of history and heritage.

Growing up our house was a 1050 CHUM house, but CFRB's Wally Crouter was the ruler of the radio world in those days. As a Toronto boy Carroll has quite the feather in his cap.

It's a big job… I know I'd give my left nut to have it.

Category: Radio

Another guy who checked in with some kind words this week was Jim Richards .

He does the evening show at CFRB. Have you heard it? If you're one of those people who thinks you're too young for ‘RB, think again. Listen to CFRB after 8pm.

Jim does a show that's very un-CFRB. Very funny, very irreverent. As a matter of fact, Jim's show would fit nicely into am drive on an FM station.

Not in Canada of course. In Canada we're somewhat behind the times, but in the States most morning shows, regardless of the format, don't play music in the morning. They've come to the conclusion that people don't really need their radios for music any more so they let their talent talk.

Jim Richards would be perfect for such a format.

Have you got a green card Jim?

Category: Endorsements | Radio

Speaking of Christmas, I caught Dick Smythe doing his guest shot on 640 Toronto last night and it was great to hear the old bugger.

Dick Smyth brings back a lot of memories for me. Memories of getting ready for high school and hearing Dick "boom" the news on 1050 CHUM.

I especially enjoyed the years of "Tom, Dick and Henny." Tom Rivers was the jock, while my "hero" Brian Henderson did sports. Henny is one of the main reasons I decided to get into the business. What a superb writer.

Anyway, I heard Smyth last night and the subject was "is Christmas under attack"? This was on the heels of that clucked out judge bitch who yanked the Christmas tree out of the lobby of the court room on Jarvis Street.

The general consensus was that yes, Christmas was under attack - but one caller hit the nail on the head.

It's not minorities or other religions are new Canadians who are attacking Christmas, most of them couldn't give a shit about a Christmas tree.

Christmas is under attack by white Canadian politically correct arsholes who choose to make decisions for everyone else. They "think" Christmas bothers non-Christians. They "think" it's unfair to display Christian beliefs.

They "think" they're doing the right thing, but all they're doing is creating a problem where there wasn't one.

Category: Radio

I got up this morning to hear that Ted Woloshyn had "resigned" his position at CFRB.

This wasn't one of those there one day and gone the next departures that are so common to radio, this was obviously a planned event which allowed Ted to reminisce and say goodbye to his listeners.

It reminds me of what has proved to be one of the most regrettable days of my life - the day Humble and I left CFNY/The Edge. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but it's like the old saying goes, you don't know what you've got till it's gone.

When the Humble and Fred Show left the Edge we were allowed to tell people and have a final show and say goodbye to those who cared. It was a special day, but also turned into an emotional day. I imagine that's what Ted is going through today.

One thing Ted won't miss is getting up in the middle of the night - it's an extremely unhealthy thing and you don't realize it until you have a few months of not doing it.

Like a lot of the radio people in Toronto, I go back a long way with Wolo. Shortly after I started at CFNY in 1979 Ted joined the group doing various things including an interesting afternoon show with David Marsden.

He's a good guy.

Category: Radio

As an unemployed man I've made it my job to monitor Jack-fm over the past couple of days to see how it's going with the "re-population" of the station.

Yesterday afternoon I discovered something different. Juice on Jack.

A two woman afternoon drive show. Ground breaking really - I honestly can't remember a show hosted by two females.

Samantha Stevens is the one baby come on! And "Lori Supremo" (at least that what it sounded like) is the other baby come on!

This may sound a little sexist - but hey, let's be honest - when you're targeting 25-54 year old men, having two chickabooms do the afternoon show is part of the strategy.

The question - will it be enough for people to forget about patio lanterns?

And one more question - don't you think it's time Jack de-populated itself of
the "Jack guy?"

Category: Radio

Nice piece about Michael Landsberg in the Sunday Star. Chris Zelkovich did one of those "Unplugged" features on Michael.

Hey man, don't get me wrong, Michael's a nice guy and you can't argue with the "success" of "Off The Record", but I've always been amused by the attention television gets over radio.

Especially when you look at the numbers. The average daily audience that "Off The Record" attracts across the country would get a Toronto radio morning man fired.

And don't I know it.

Category: Radio | Television

Excellent. This is exactly what satellite radio needed.

It's no secret that satellite radio has struggled in Canada since it's inception last year, but XM radio went a long way in remedying that yesterday.

They announced that Mike Bullard has been hired to launch the first original morning show on Canadian satellite radio. It begins October 26th.

A brilliant move. There's no time to waste, so XM couldn't piddle around with experienced radio personalities - no they went right to the front of the line and hired a well known Canadian TV personality with virtually no radio experience.

But that's OK. In Canada TV means everything. Hell, if Mike can do TV there's no question he can do radio. Who can argue with that?

After all, given the success and loyal following of his smash-hit TV show, how can he miss on radio? He may have been off the air for the past couple of years, but that won't matter either. Without a doubt, the millions of Canadians who tuned into his TV show nightly will rush right out and by XM receivers.

Think about it. Think of all those Canadian 20-somethings who thought it was so cool to watch the Bullard show. They'd go to college and university the next day and talk about what Bullard said. Hell, there's been a void since he's been away.

But now, thanks to a brilliant move by XM radio - the type of move that really is exclusive to Canada, we all have the Miker back.

As the XM press release said on Wednesday. "American shock jocks beware."

Category: Radio