I met Ross Davies briefly on two occasions. Once in Montreal in the 90's and a second time in the 2000's again in Montreal. It was little more than a "Hi! How Are You?' but there was work to be done and the radio stories were going to have to come later. Fast forward to 2018 and we finally got to have that chat. Ross spent a good chunk of his career working for CHUM in the programming, operations and senior management positions. We went back to the beginning where he started his career with Moffatt Communications. He moved to Toronto in 1979 has worked with Standard Radio, Canadian Satellite Radio, Astral Media Radio and (as mentioned) CHUM Ltd. More recently, Ross served as Director of Member Engagement / Radio for Numeris, the leading provider ratings to broadcasters and advertisers. Ross was also part of the executive team at XM Satellite radio that launched Canada’s first satellite radio service in 2005. (The merger with Sirius came much later) We also dug into him co-creating the original Jack/Bob variety hits format with the launch of Bob-FM in Winnipeg in the spring of 2002. Ross is putting together some of the radio panels at Canadian Music Week this year and provided some intel into what we can expect May 20-22 when it all takes place. He also welcomes your feedback so shoot him an e-mail - but only after you listen to what he has shared. (It's towards the end of the podcast by the way)

Don Kollins is kind of an ideal guest for this podcast. He is a Canadian living in California. He has worked in radio on both sides of the border. And he is innovative enough to use his experience to see a path to the future for radio. When he was the program director of Toronto's pre-eminent sports radio leader, the Fan 590, he found himself having to juggle a radio show on TV - which later became a TV show on radio, in the Bob McCown show. He sees an opportunity for every radio personality to have a digital relationship with Twitch. Once solely a gamers medium, radio personalities like Bubba the Love Sponge, Humble & Fred and The Milkman John Mielke have embraced the platform and build out their brands using Twitch. During the show, mention was made about the blog Fred Jacobs wrote about President Donald Trump using Twitch. You can read that here. We spoke to Don about his early days at Rawlco and Rogers, his move to Sports Radio and later to The Game 95.7 in San Francisco. I got to ask all about sports radio from the program director who succeeded Jason Barrett at that station. (Yes we will be having on a few more Sports Radio PD's over the next few months as the format is at the forefront of digital integration with radio) If you would like to get in touch with Don and know more about using Twitch for your radio station, please contact him here via LinkedIN.

V.O. North is a voiceover conference that has taken place in Toronto for the last two years. I have been fortunate to attend both. The first was held in May 2018 and was a one day event. The following was a two day gathering at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto, featuring some of the top voiceover talent from around the world. In short, you missed out. Dervla Trainor along with Tanya Buchanan from TaDa! Voiceworks are the architects behind the event. Just click here to have a look at what you missed. Putting together a conference is a massive undertaking, but once you get to meet Dervla on our podcast episode, you will love her energy and be impressed with her ability to multi-task and get the job done. I pointed out during our chat that the mark of anything happens on the third lap around the track. Next year, VO North will become one of the premiere voiceover conferences in North America; and hopefully you can attend as this thing comes of age in 2020. Other mentions in the show included Uncle Roy's BBQ which features Roy Yokelson cooking up a storm. Here is a blog post from Nethervoice who wrote about the 2016 event. NEW! Dervla has also opened up an online store full of V.O. North items. Finally, Dervla and I remembered that we met via David Tyler and his monthly coaching gathering. David Tyler appeared on our podcast way back when, and if you are starting out in voiceover, I would highly recommend looking into his online teaching courses or one day workshops at My Voiceover Coach.

Melz on the MIC is the Assistant Program Director and midday host (12p-3p) at 103.1 Kiss FM in Killeen, Texas. Melz posted a picture of a newspaper article with the headline, "Local Man Gives Up Career to Pursue Job as a Radio DJ". After doing some listening, it was apparent that Melz had a lot more going on than just a local radio show. It is a multi-platform engagement online and on-air deployment in the community. There's a whole lot more to the story including a tour in Iraq in 2003. His path to radio is unlike any other and I decided I couldn't wait to have this conversation over cocktails next week at the Conclave Summer Learning Conference. I wanted to get to know him now. In this episode you will find out that you can make a mark being hyper local and hyper social, provided you that you are engaging. It's just not enough to post and hope people like it. And that as a personality, you're always on and you should have something recording. This episode is powered by nLogic

Justin Dove is really good at radio imaging. (He also admits he is an audio nerd) He started in his home province of Newfoundland and worked his way across Canada for companies both big and small. Then he started his own company, Core Image Studios. We may have used the term "radio imaging" to describe his work, but it goes a lot further than that; as Justin calls it Sound design. In this episode I asked him to define it and share some of his secrets in imaging that have landed him some top notch imaging contracts at radio stations like WEEI in Boston and Sirius XM. (We may have provided some examples too) Core Image Studios has been a supporter of the show for the last few years and we had the chance to meet for the first time at Canadian Music Week last May. Justin will be making a few appearances over the next few months including at the Ontario Association of Broadcasters this month, and the Barrett Sports Media summit in New York in February. Here is some more information about the Survival Kit that Justin put together along with voiceover pro Steve Stone.

Sean Ross really knows music and radio. He's had a front row seat to how music has been consumed by radio listeners over the years. It's easy to see how Sean became so knowledgeable on the subjects of radio formats and music genres; his speaks of his affinity for CKLW, and also of a cross country bus ride which took him to Toronto in the summer of 1981. It's one thing to know formats in one country - but Sean understands the Canadian intricacies of music radio, and continues to schedule music in a few markets. In this episode, you'll hear about Top 40's highs and lows through the decades, the early days of Alternative when it was going mainstream, Rock radio's fragmentation and Sean also provides some tips on some of the planet's great radio stations you can listen to right now! Sign up for Sean's Newsletter "Ross on Radio" A few of the articles Sean has written over the years that I have made reference to: Reconsidering Radio’s Worst Summer (Of The Early ‘80s) Ten Songs That Legendary Radio Station CKLW Helped Break The 90's Format Enters It's Second Decade Great Second Helpings From One-Hit Wonders Radio Stations Sean Suggested: KISS Dallas KISS Milwaukee WTIX New Orleans WAKY Louisville WMMX Atlanta The New Bull - KILT Houston 93Q Houston Magic 102 Houston Hot FM Zambia

Charles Adler joined me from his home in Vancouver for an hour to talk radio and political therapy. The Canadian election is on the way and it is all to be Trump Trump Trump on CNN and Fox News. So what's a media guy to do? We catch up with the wily Corus Radio News Talk host and discuss the early moments of the Federal Election. Yes we geek out a bit over it, but it not like any of the conversations we used to have over a cup of coffee when we worked together at CJOB in Winnipeg. Other subjects we touch on include the lack of UBER in our fair cities, and the possible return of the Montreal Expos. Podcasts Charles is currently listening to: Wait There's More (Corus Curiouscast) The Daily (New York Times) Post Reports (Washington Post) The Bulwark Podcast When Life Gives You Parkinsons (Curiouscast) Of course, you don't need to hear Charles live on the radio. Some of the best is sent to your phone too.

Kolter Bouchard was on the list to be on this podcast last summer. He had an interesting tale to tell about going from Dawson Creek to Dubai, and his program director Blair Bartrem was excited to get this talent on the air a Q107. Fast forward a few months and Corus renovates their airwaves and Kolter is now co-hosting the afternoon drive show on Edge 102 with Meredith Geddes. The story of how that show came to fruition is as every bit compelling as his journey from Dawson Creek to Dubai with his wife Dominque. It is also difficult to discuss Dubai without bringing up the late Tim Klassen who worked at Channel 4 in Dubai and became a fixture there. That favourite song of his was Joe Walsh's "The Confessor". (I neglected to mention that in the podcast) If you really enjoy the conversation, check out Kolter's blog which is full of great life advice, including more information on coping with job loss and life between gigs, to toxic relationships. And speaking about life between gigs, here's the video that got Kolter fired in Dubai: #theedge #corus #toronto #dubai #radio

Matty Staudt is someone I have been trying to get on the podcast for about a year. His busy work schedule at iHeart made scheduling difficult. However, a change in direction for Matty created the necessary time to have him on. Matty is starting a new venture called Jam Street Media. He had straddled both podcast and broadcast successfully for over a decade. From working as a producer for G. Gordon Liddy, to working at Stitcher, Matty has a good sense where the intersection of podcast and broadcast is located. In this episode, you'll hear all about Matty's podcast philosophies - which come with great tips on how to make your podcast better, or if you should be doing one at all. Matty was also the subject of AllAccess.com's Ten Questions. If you are going to Podcast Movement, Matty will be apart of the Broadcasters Meet Podcasters mentorship session where you can ask questions to some of the greatest minds in the podcast industry including Rob Greenlee, Dave Jackson (School of Broadcasting), Elsie Escobar, Sunny Gault, Ed Ryan, Amanda Valentine and myself. By the way - Matty also appeared on the ASK WIN podcast, which I also appeared on last year. You can check that out here, and give Win's podcast a listen. I am a big fan of Win and the work she does in the podcast space.

Back in 2015 when I was mulling doing a podcast, I came across Drew Dalby's Off Mic podcast which featured other radio personalities talking about their careers. The show was in the process of starting it's permanent hiatus once I decided to get the ball rolling on this. Drew Dalby is an excellent interviewer, drive host, football prognosticator and dad. He's also a good Twitter follow. Drew spoke to me about growing up in Canada's North and talking about life in Hay River, and early days in Inuvik. Then his progression from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology to Edmonton's 100.3 The Bear, Smithers, BC, Lloydminster and eventually Regina. Also in this episode, Drew touched on having worked with Devon Zelmer who passed away almost 5 years ago. Devon would do his daily Biased Sports Report. His videos are still posted on YouTube. Below is the last one he recorded.