The Seventh Very Terry Christmas

It's that time of year again. Chestnuts are roasting on open fires, homes are lit up like the Las Vegas strip, presents are under trees, and I'm sitting down with my good friend Terry DiMonte for the 7th annual Very Terry Christmas.

It's our favourite tradition, especially since we no longer live close enough to go out for drinks together. Although, if I'm honest, the theme of this episode is less Christmassy and more grumpy. What begins as nostalgia for the good old days- Christmas in Montreal, great food, great friends, and great radio- slowly turns into wondering what happened to all that great stuff. I don't know if age turns everyone into a Scrooge, but I think it's starting to have that effect on Terry and I. Especially when it comes to the food. We talk a lot about food. We even spend a bit of time talking about the weather. I know.

But don't get the wrong idea, because there are still some incredibly funny and interesting stories tucked away in here. Guys with Terry's experience in broadcasting have no shortage of those. That's why I bring him back every year- well, that and the fact that he's one of the best friends I've got. And clearly age hasn't slowed him down too much, because he's still doing his annual discussions with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which you can listen to here:

I hope you enjoy the seventh edition of A Very Terry Christmas, and from everyone here at the Soundoff Podcast Network, we hope you have a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

---

Transcript:

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:00:13

Every year, Terry DiMonte and I get together for some Christmas cheer and a podcast episode. You see, Terry loves Christmas, and our get-togethers are filled with fun, Christmas drink, and innocuous frolic and chatter. This year we can't get together in person, so this podcast will represent the frolic and chatter. While we are recording this from our homes in Winnipeg and the Fraser Valley of British Columbia, Montreal is our home, and we always speak passionately about it. So prepare yourself for discussion about that, and food, the weather radio, our lives, the people in our lives, and everything else that was top of mind for us when we recorded this. A small word to the wise that our language gets a little un-Christmaslike. So if you're just firing up a new device that you got under the Christmas tree, make sure the AirPods are connected, and that the ears of the young cannot hear the 7th installment of A Very Terry Christmas.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:01:10

Every year I drive my wife crazy. I go to Walmart and I see what the latest goofy Christmas kitschy animated thing is. And this year it's Snoopy. He dances, his ears flap. And I just figured because we were doing the Christmas Day thing- and when my wife Jess listens to this podcast, she's going to say, oh, for Christ's sake. Hi, Matt.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:01:50

Where is Jess?

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:01:52

She's at work. She's gone to the Death Star. She's gotta go to the office. I think it's twice a week, three times a week, something like that.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:01:59

In past episodes, we would always make Star Wars references to refer to going to work at a radio station, but here we are. Now, we've continued that, but now we're talking about other people reporting to the Death Star.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:02:10

Yeah, I have to say, I was talking with a buddy of mine a couple of weeks ago. I sure don't miss all of the bullshit that comes with it. I must admit- somebody asked me about doing a radio show. I must admit I do miss it. And because I was pushed out, I didn't think much of it. And I said that's enough. I'm old enough, tired of getting out of bed. And that's true, all of that. I don't miss getting out of bed, and I don't miss, you know, the politics and the yelling and the corporate nonsense, and you and I are both on the same page. I don't want to spend the whole podcast talking about what a mess the corporations have made of the broadcast industry in this country, but what a mess the corporations have made of the broadcast industry in this country. Jesus Christ. I moved to British Columbia and I live in the lower mainland, and I was kind of excited because we- I remember when, you know, in what I considered the heyday, like in the 80's and the 90's, if you drove from, say, Montreal, to Toronto. You know, you'd get to Brockville and you'd think, oh, let's listen to what they're doing. And get to Kingston and you think, let's listen to what they're doing. Or if you drove from Winnipeg to Kenora, when you got to Kenora, you got the little radio station in Kenora that was on AM and on FM, and it was all local, and it played some cool records that other people didn't play. When you drove the other direction from Winnipeg and you ended up in Moose Jaw, you could catch CHAB and hear all the young broadcasters coming up, all of that old reminiscing radio guy stuff. That's all gone. I mean, it's all gone. And I thought when I got to Vancouver, I thought, this is a big radio market. This will be interesting. It is not. As a matter of fact, one of the stations, and I feel bad for them, 1130 News, I think they're owned by Rogers. It's just staffed with children from the local college. And "The war in the Ukraine continues in Kiev," it's really- anyway, all that to say, I miss having a connection with an audience and I missed doing a radio show. The podcast that Ted and I do helps with that a little bit. And I don't know why I got on this tact, but we started to talk about something and a buddy of mine said, do you miss it? And I said, yeah, I do. I actually missed the whole idea of putting together a radio program and connecting with an audience and having a platform to do some good things.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:04:34

Well, you're doing it right now with the podcast. But what I would say is that when you went into a radio station, there were people in the station, but the B-part of that is the audience. You were creating a shared experience between like six and nine every morning. That would be a shared experience. And when you do it in podcast form, people will just listen to it whenever, and you don't get any feedback, and there's no blinking phone lights, and there's-

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:04:57

What's missing is, and people who are on the radio will understand this, it's the magic of the medium. There's a magic. I know I sound like a lunatic, but there is, there's a magic to when your finger touches the mic button and you know the curtain has gone up, and whatever you say carries out over the airwaves. There's a magic and an excitement to that that podcasts certainly don't replace. But I've been having an awful lot of fun with the podcast, and I was surprised that you wanted to do another one of these. Does anybody care about this anymore?

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:05:30

This particular show?

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:05:32

Yes, this particular show. The Christmas podcast with old, washed up Terry DiMonte.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:05:39

Actually, this could very well be the show now, but when you do something long enough and, you know, sometimes it's about showing up and being consistent. And if we didn't do this episode, we would get a note from Eli Curry who was in Sweden last year. He may or may not still be there. He's the first one to download this thing when it goes out, and he looks forward to this on Christmas morning.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:06:03

That's nice. I like that. Merry Christmas, Eli.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:06:06

And a lot of people don't want to do podcasts over Christmas, because they figure no one's listening, or they want to stop their workflow, and all that's fine, but why not? There's new devices that are being opened and started up this morning. So why can't we be their very first podcast listen?

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:06:22

Well, I know you're king of the podcast now, and you're immersed deeply in it. And your take on the releasing of podcasts on Christmas Day is?

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:06:22

Do it.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:06:22

Do it.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:06:33

Look what we started. This is the 7th one we've done, and there are people out there who rely on this on Christmas morning who, if we didn't do it, we would hear from people. It's like my grandmother with the drink. Oh, no, it was a present. You got her a present and she said, you didn't need to get me a present. And then you didn't get her a present one year. And she says, I never got a present from you.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:06:58

Oh, God bless your grandmother. Oh, boy, you guys must miss her, because I do.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:07:02

Oh, yeah. Every day, 06:00, with the two things of water and two ice cubes.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:07:09

It's funny because she is still with us, because I think about her often and I think about her- in the new place in BC we got an old Hollywood style booze cart, the kind of thing that Carrie Grant would reach for the selzer bottle. One of those. And we have one of those in the house. And every time I walk by it, I think about it. And what we're talking about is, I became friends with Matt's grandmother over the last years of her life, and would always pop by around Christmas time and other times, too. Sometimes I would get invited over just for a cocktail before dinner, and your grandmother had one of those carts. So whenever I walk by the cart, I think of her, and I often think of what she would say and what she would do. And I often think, when Jess and I are considering having a drink, and I'll say to Jess, we're not farmers.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:08:04

Yeah, I think once you wanted to start at 5:58 and pour the drinks, she wouldn't let you start till six.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:08:11

I think I wanted to come over, you know, because I was visiting. I think I was visiting from Calgary one year, and I had a pretty busy day of visits. And I said, Is it okay if I drop by around 05:00? And I think she said five? We're not farmers.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:08:27

What are you doing for Christmas this year?

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:08:29

Well, this year on Christmas, it's a little different. And by design, as a lot of people who have relatives in other cities will understand. When my wife and I go home for Christmas, her family is in the Laurentians. My family is all now in Arnprior, Ontario, and we have to fly to Montreal or Toronto, rent a car and then split up because we don't have the time. So she goes to her family, I go to my family. It gets a little complicated, and as Jess pointed out to me, probably in the middle of the summer, she said, we've never spent Christmas together, which is true, and between pandemic and snowstorms and whatever, she's been with her family or- one year was awful. I can't remember exactly what happened, but she was in the apartment in Griffintown and I was with my family in Cornwall and she ended up spending most of Christmas alone. Anyway. She said, this year, you know what, I want a Christmas for us, just for us. And I said, yeah, you're right. And also, we weren't crazy about the travel. The travel at this time of the year. Boy, oh boy. You have to deal with what's happening with airlines and airports and everything else in these last couple of years. Anyway, long story short, we decided it was just Christmas with us, so it's just going to be my wife and me today, as you're listening to this, and there'll be FaceTimes with the family, and we're going to open presents and do our own Christmas this year. And it'll be different and it'll be tough on our families. But we thought, having been together for over five years now, it was time we had a Christmas together.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:10:13

I will be in Montreal, and I will let you know how the airlines made out, and the Uber and the construction of Montreal and everything else.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:10:20

Will you be with your mum this year?

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:10:23

Yes. I called her and I asked if I was invited and I got shrieked back at, you're always invited.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:10:28

Let me ask you something. I haven't spoken to your mum in a number of years and that's shame on me, and I owe her a letter. Is she becoming more and more like your grandmother as she gets older?

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:10:40

Yeah. I mean, it was inevitable, right?

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:10:42

Oh, yeah. That must be fantastic, though.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:10:45

Yeah. But I got to watch my mum react when my grandmother got a little older and my mother would come to me and say, that never used to be like that. And now I'm going to tell my kids, that never used to be like that. She turned 75 this year.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:11:01

I was just about to say, God love her, didn't she just turn 75?

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:11:05

So we all went in on October 20-something, to have a little get together, and she was none too happy to see us. It was, I think a week before, it was Jackie. And Jackie is a longtime family, you know, friend, used to work with us as a nanny for Henry and Willie, for anybody who this is going to be tough to explain. My mum had me at 22. I'm the oldest. I was born in 1970. There were three of us, and then there's this little gap and then these two other kids show up a little bit later. So here I am, I'm 17 years older than William, who is the youngest. So my mum had a baby at 22 and then she had another one later at 39, but people thought she was crazy for having it at 39, but I think she's nuts for having one at 22.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:11:53

Times were different back then that's, you know, it's like my mum and dad, they were they were married at 20 and had me at 21. It's, you know, largely unthinkable today and I- you know, there's a real richness to that story, I think, about your family and Jackie coming along to help with, you know, the two younger arrivals.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:12:12

Right around the same time that I'm off to university.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:12:15

Yeah. And sort of becoming a member of the family. And for people who don't know, your mum is not one for celebrations and fusses. She doesn't like to be the center of attention.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:12:26

So Jackie announced that she was coming a week before and then I got an email and we all got an email saying, when are you coming to surprise me? So worst surprise party ever.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:12:40

So no one yelled Surprise, I guess.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:12:42

That's right. Jackie, by the way, was coming from Scotland, and that's where she lives. And the rest of us came from across the country, except for my brother, who lives in Montreal, and my sister came up from Costa Rica and we all got together in October, and I guess most of us will be back for Christmas.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:12:58

You know, there's a little bit of jealousy on my part when I think about the house, because you go back to the house that basically you grew up in, and this is rare, especially in English Montreal, this is very rare, that your family is still in the home you grew up in. So the rooms are all familiar. The Christmas tree is in the same place, in the same part of the living room. There's no hockey equipment scattered at the door. But when you walk into that house, it's awash in memories of your childhood. And even for me, there's a lot of memories for me in that house over the course of the years of my friendship with you and the rest of your siblings. Is that a thing for you when you go back? I know you're not a sentimental guy, but are you watching memories when you open that big wooden door and it creaks and you walk in the house?

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:13:53

Or don't forget the three dogs that will bark at you the minute you open up the door.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:13:57

Well, as soon as you step on the landing, I think.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:14:01

Yeah, so when you describe it like that. I just realized I don't really know any other Christmas and I've done that. I have spent Christmas away. Did one in Winnipeg, and I did one memorable Christmas in 1997 in Edmonton when there were where there was no snow. It was strange. It was like 17 degrees on Christmas Day and I was hitting golf balls, just so I could say I hit golf balls in 1997 at 17 degrees in Edmonton. But I'll even take that one step further about that house. And so we had a cocktail party for my mom for her birthday, invited a number of her friends, which included Stephen Molson. That house has only had two owners, and the original owner was Stephen Molson's family, or father, who had it. And so they've got stories of the house and we shared stories of the house, and he was back in the house telling us stories.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:14:50

That's really cool. Like I said, especially for people who know the politics of Montreal, a lot of English families left over the years. So it would be really cool if my family could gather at our old house on Granger Street in Pierrefall. But my you know, my parents left in in the 70s right after Levec took office. And there are a lot of families in Calgary and BC and other parts of Alberta and Winnipeg, all across the country who aren't in the same house. And I am a sentimental guy. I'm a weepy italian. And I think there's something special about sitting in that living room at your mom's house with that tree in the same place that it's always been with siblings and now for her grandchildren and stuff. It must be pretty cool.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:15:35

Yeah, it is. I think for me, though, I look at the friends and places where we have drinks, where's Terry living. Can we go and get our Christmas drink?

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:15:44

Yeah, I missed that because that was a bit of a tradition, too, where you and the boys and Avery would drop by the house in NDG before you headed back to your mom's house. And I missed that. And that's a consequence of me moving. There are a lot of good things about moving, a lot of bad things about moving. And we're working through that now that we've been out here for a year and a half. There are some things we love and some things we don't love very much, and there's a lot of things we miss.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:16:11

I kind of feel like you haven't left Montreal, though, with the podcast that you're doing. You've got a radio show that does reach in Montreal once a week with Ted. I feel as though you're still in the market and still a part of Montreal in the fabric. Your picture still sits on the side of the Montreal General Hospital.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:16:30

Is it still up there? Yeah, I think it's because it's too expensive to take down.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:16:36

But yeah, even though you've left I mean, it's not like when you left in 2008 and you moved to Calgary, and the only way to get you back to Montreal was to have you co host or host a noontime show on Q 92, which was voice tracked in.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:16:52

Yeah, it's funny you mentioned that because my wife and I were having a discussion about this after I was, quote, unquote, retired, and I think we may have talked about this last year. It takes a while to unwind from that and to find your way and get your feet under you after you've been doing something for as long as I did. And to be sort of, in a celebratory way, escorted out. It was a celebration, but it was also, your services won't be required anymore. It took a while for me to find my feet under me. What do I do? And at one point I said to Jess, no one's going to give a shit. There's no point in doing any of this. I'm gone. I'm off the air. And she said, terror. It's 2022 with social media and a podcast. You're never gone. You're never really gone. She said, Maybe not as big a force as you were with a morning radio chair, but she said, even that platform is diminishing in stature. And she said, between Twitter and Facebook and podcasts and some fun with Ted on a Saturday morning, you haven't gone anywhere. And it took a while for that to dawn on me. That's very true.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:18:05

How would you like to have that on your permanent record? Terry's gone nowhere. Hasn't gone anywhere.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:18:13

Yeah, I guess that's not a great I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. And a couple of friends have razzed me about moving, saying you should have never left the city. Misses you, miss aspects of the city, blah, blah, blah. But I'm not looking to go back to work full time. But you're absolutely right. Ted and I have some fun at the little radio station in Hudson. We've got some businesses who are still loyal to us after all of these years. The folks from Sun Youth have asked me to be part of their fundraising campaign in the new Year. And then there's the podcast, which I like to fly in and sit across from Ted to do those podcasts. But you know this. It's like every other Montreal, or all the Montreal ex Montrealis who live across the country. They're a pain in the ass because all they do is talk about Montreal. Yeah. Smoke meat bagels. Yeah, I know. Shut up. I've heard all the little stories before. It's one of those things when you live in that city, it's such a giant pain in the ass on so many levels. And when you leave that city and you're out of that city, you realize all of the good that's there and all of the things that you left.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:19:22

Behind when Avery and I go to Montreal. She insists on making stops at St. Vidar bagel to pick up four dozen bagels. And then eventually we realized we don't even get through the four dozen bagels and we get back to Winnipeg. So we stop, we cut back, we just get like one dozen now.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:19:39

Yeah, it's part of the ritual. Friend of mine, this is how long I've known my buddy Doug Moore. We were friends in Cub Scouts when we were, I think, eight years old. And he lives in the United States now, and he's bringing his two almost grown daughters to Montreal at Christmas time, and I can't be there to squire them around or point them in the right direction. And he asked me for a little bit of a guidance for a tour, you know, like he wanted to take them to walk down St. Denis. And I think St. Denis is over. It's been screwed by construction and everything else in a lot of places of clothes, so I'm going to steer him away from that. And then when I started to put together what I thought should be a good itinerary for him, I realized after making the list, I realized it was like, well, you want to go to Chalet Barbecue and you want to go to Gemma Pizza and you want to take the girls to Bonkeys for puts in. I realized, like every Montreal or, I was building the tour around food, but those are classics. To your point about you and Avery, when you go to Montreal, you think, okay, I'm going to bring home some maple syrup. I got to stop and get some bagels. I'll get the guys at Snowden Deli to vacuum pack some smoked meat for me because I don't give a shit what anybody says. There's places out here who sell Montreal smoked meat, spotamate shows, and all of those things that have become, you know, staples of ex Montreal or visits are cliches because they're true. Like all other cliches, they're things that are very true. But to your point, you also realize you don't need 48 bagels for the plane ride home. Probably a dozen will do, but you get carried away because you know you're not going to get another St vietnam bagel once you get back to Winnipeg.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:21:22

So Avery and I, we have our stops in Montreal. Places will go for lunch. Lexpress is still one of the faves. And by the way, you're right about Saint Denis. I want to think it's coming back, but it looked a little better. But I don't know.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:21:36

Boy, they screwed that street up, man. In my opinion, they screwed that street up. That used to be one of my favorite streets, but now a lot of the business is bolted. I mean, I've been gone over a year, so maybe it's coming back, but a lot of the business is bolted. There's nowhere to park. Things have changed on St, and either way, things have changed on Santoro, I'd be more inclined now to send Doug and his family down to morale. From the corner where beauty is all the way down that street, it's a little more funky and fun. And when it's not a pedestrian mall like it is in the summer, you can actually park on the street if you can find a spot.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:22:12

I noticed that Pine was closed for like, a long time and I see it's reopening and it looks pretty nice, I got to say. We'll see how it works out.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:22:20

But.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:22:20

You're right about Mo Royale. It looks great.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:22:23

Yeah. And I think it's kind of an example of when you don't close the street for two years, what can happen, and when you don't become obsessed with removing all the parking from everywhere, it shows that everybody this is one thing, and I don't want to get on this because it's such a pain in the ass. The people that are anti car and pro bike are so vociferous and so anti car, it's hard to understand. But in a lot of places like Westmount, in Westmount on Green Avenue, which your grandmother used to refer to as not quite downtown, wasn't it where Hampstead thinks they're going? Downtown? That's right. Anyway, if you've been down Green Avenue, which used to be quite a commercial thoroughfare and had a lot of legendary places on it, they made it so there was a bike lane, a really decent sidewalk, picnic tables to sit at and parking. Everybody gets along. You want to take your car because you got a bad knee, take your car. You want to take the bus and go for a walk, sit at the picnic table and go for a walk. Why can't everybody sort of make room for everybody else? But that's not the way the world works.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:23:35

Shout out to Christina Smith, the Mayor of Westmount.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:23:38

Yes, I was really taken with it. I used to be on Green Avenue a lot and park your car, go into the bank, go into Nick's and have some of their famous food. That place has been there 100 years. And find parking in the lot. Find parking on the street. Ride your bike if you like, walk on the wide sidewalk if you like. There's room for everybody. And in a big city, that's what I think it should be. But I'm not running the city, so what do I know?

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:24:08

We should have a disclaimer person come on and mention that the mayor of Westmont is my sister in law.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:24:13

By the way, how do you get into Lexpress? Apparently they've cut back their hours and staff and it's hard to get in there.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:24:20

It is very hard to get in there. However, here's what I did. Started walking at eleven in the morning. We were going to go shopping on St Denny, see what was there, and called them at 11:00 and said, do you have a table for four. And they said, yes, we do. I've got one for you. And I think one of the things of the pandemic that my restaurant friends are telling me is that a lot of people just cancel. They book and they have no bones about canceling things an hour before, 2 hours before. So a couple of hours before there's opportunity.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:24:53

One of the things that we don't like about Vancouver is we think the food is terrible. By and large, mostly chain restaurants. If you like to go to Cactus Club or Earls, you're in for a good time. And if you think the Olive Garden is Italian food, you got to be prepared to get in a lineup for it. So we really haven't found any great restaurant that we've really enjoyed except for one. And when we organized with a couple of new friends here to go to this restaurant, run by Quebec's, by the way, and just picked up a Michelin star, when you go to this restaurant, you have to get online and make reservations when they open up the tables. And when you make your reservation, you got to pay upfront. You have to pay $125 upfront for two people and then wine and tip and whatever else will be added the night you arrive. And because the restaurant is so small and because its menu is geared to the amount of people that sit at those tables every night, they don't want you canceling and they want you to make sure that you're going to arrive. And initially I was kind of horrified by it, but now I'm understanding it more. Restauranters are struggling with people who are just out and out assholes who make reservations and don't bother calling back. My wife and I two weeks ago made a reservation at Highs Steakhouse, downtown Vancouver, and at the last, at the last minute, about a half an hour beforehand, we realized we weren't we were going to be unable to go. And we called the restaurant to cancel. And the woman said, oh, my God, thank you so much for calling. Of course we made a reservation. We wanted to make sure that you knew we weren't coming. And she said, you wouldn't believe how many people don't bother and screw up our rhythm of service every night. So you make a restaurant reservation. Don't be a dick.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:26:50

You see there? I told you that was going to happen.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:26:54

We were going to talk about food.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:26:55

And that the language might veer off Christmas. By the way, we're not done talking about food. We might even transition to the weather. I know it's riveting. One thing we have not touched on in this episode is Terry's annual talk with the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. Well, that did take place, and you can access that on our web page@soundoffpodcast.com.

Mary Anne Ivison (VO) 00:27:24

This podcast supports podcasting 2.0. If you like this show or getting value from it, hit the boost button now. If you don't have. A boost button. You can get one now at new podcast apps.com.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:27:37

So I wanted to bring this up about the rest of Canada and food because my first day in Edmonton, 90, 94, eric Samuels, who grew up in Montreal or whose dad actually I didn't know this was quite predominant on Radio Canada as a performer. But anyhow, Eric in Edmonton took me to lunch and we went to Earls and he said, okay, so here's your warning. The food is not good here. And what you're eating now at Earls is considered fine dining locally. And I think he mentioned it so that I wouldn't complain about it a week later. But to your point about the Olive Garden always being full, the same stuff goes on here in Winnipeg. This is what Canadians do when they dine.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:28:18

You know what? It's got to be a Quebec thing because if you're born and raised in Quebec, you're born and raised in a culture that has such a passion for much like mostly a European based culture, such a passion for food and the way food is prepared and expanded palates and interest in other cultures and blah, blah, blah. I always say that if in Quebec, whether you're going to Mazhome Buddh at the Ritz or you're going to Joe Beef or Liverpool or you're going to Lafleurs. Or your favorite steamed hot dog place, the people that are making you a steamed hot dog want you to have the best steamed hot dog that they could possibly prepare. And they prepare it with pride. And if they don't, they don't stay in business. So you become accustomed to places whether, like I said, whether or not you're going to pick any one of the amazing restaurants like Imposto or Gemma Pizza, or any of the highly regarded restaurants like Job B for Liverpool. Or if you're going for schwarma or souvlaki, as it's called in Quebec, or you're going to carry hot dog, or you're going to snowden deli. Those things are family run and run with such great pride. And chains don't have that. Chains just don't have that. And when I was in Winnipeg, my favorite restaurants were restaurants that I think are gone now. I know Colechus is gone. That was a Greek family that did shirt. They did burgers and fries. But Jesus Christ, no matter what you had at Colechus was prepared with unbelievable pride. There was always a family member hovering around where the food was being prepared. Alicia's Ukrainian Kitchen was another favorite of mine. Oscar's Deli was another favorite of mine. But. Now I guess it's Earls and Cactus Club. And Joey's. Joey's, there's another one. Joey's is big brown. Social house is another one out here. And they're all owned by the same chain. And I guess if that's what you grow up around, that's what you get used to and that's what you think is good again.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:30:29

Yeah. So all that's lost on me because you ever seen. The bill like $17 glasses of crappy wine, $24 plates of nothing. And I'm telling you, I'm more versed in eating in Barcelona than I am in Winnipeg or Calgary or Vancouver. People say, well, I'm going to Barcelona. I said, Well, I'll talk about the restaurants in that city, or Madrid, the same way we would talk about them in Montreal. Unique places, great prices, and something to talk about afterwards.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:31:01

You have found a couple of places in Winnipeg, though, haven't you?

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:31:04

Yeah, you know, I guess one of the things is they come and they go. I found that, well, you know, this Winnipeg had the best restaurants, but I think it really petered out in 2015.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:31:14

Yeah, I don't know what happened, because when I know what happened, what happened skipped the dishes. Okay?

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:31:21

So I think a lot of the food delivery services that popped up, whether it was uber eats or skipped the dishes, really began to suck the innovation out of the market. And so you created a culture of people who would sit inside and eat from styrofoam plates and whatnot. And I think it cut in on the margins, but it cut in on the innovation. And so I know listen, I know the city has some excellent chefs that I see what they need to do to stay in business. And often we will see very popular and smart chefs, not only in Winnipeg, but they'll default to pizza because the margins are super strong. Or they'll default the hamburgers because the margins are super strong. And I look at the menu and I go, this is what you're offering up? And that's not again, I'm not taking a dig at some of the people who have opened up restaurants because retail space is expensive, taxes are expensive. All of it is expensive. But, yeah, the innovation, I feel, sort of has dropped out of the market. Some places are not even open for lunch in Winnipeg. I mean, the Pandemic really put the boots to that. And again, even Tony Romas up on St. James street not open for lunch because they can't get staff.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:32:27

Well, this is another thing that we're trying to figure out, is somebody told me that's what happened to Lexpress, I think, was Leslie Chesterman told me this, that they had to back off their hours and close one of the days a week. And a lot of it is because of staff. They can't find staff. And yet this restaurant in Vancouver that I was trying to remember the name of, that I was telling you about, that's run by QuebecA, it's called St. Lawrence Restaurant. They found a staff, and every one of the staff speaks French. And I was like, Where did you guys all come from? Because it's so hard to find staff. I guess in a smaller restaurant, it makes a difference. But I've heard this staffing thing everywhere, like all over the place where I take my truck to get serviced. Airlines, restaurants, we can't find anybody to work. But what's everybody doing? I don't know. I mean, I'm retired, so I've got nothing to say about it. But Jesus. Where'd everybody go? And what's everybody doing?

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:33:28

I've thought about this a lot. Where is everyone? I think a lot of people learn to work from home. I think that's a big deal. I think a lot of people manage to learn new things and realize that they don't need to work for minimum wage or tips at certain times. So again, you can curse and say, goddamn Internet, which would be appropriate. But when I go to hire and I'm interviewing people, I feel as though that these people are looking at me. They could easily be going and working the front desk at Deloitte, and I feel that they could do that for $40,000 a year, or they could work from home in their jammies and produce podcasts with me for $40,000 a year. And I think there's been this incredible leveling of the labor market when it comes to making choices. So I know some radio people, they'll open up a post, come work at our radio station. You'll work the midday show or the drive show or whatever, and they'll get a handful of applications. But if they put it out to work on a podcast and you can work from anywhere, they'll get ten times the number of applications.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:34:29

And by the way, I jokingly curse the Internet. You and I wouldn't be able to be doing this if there was no Internet. I couldn't do the radio show with Ted. If there was no internet. I couldn't do the podcast this season round without an Internet. And I get it. But sometimes Jess and I look at each other and say, goddamn social media ruined everything. That's because I have memories of when you needed a dime for a phone call or a quarter for a phone call. And I'm not suggesting that it was easier, but it certainly was simpler. It was a simpler time, for sure.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:35:04

Yeah. I just see the restaurant people are the ones who really struggle trying to get people to come in and work.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:35:11

Yeah. And it's sad because restaurants, I guess, because we're Montrealis, and there's people in other cultures, too, it's not just unique to Montreal, but restaurants were always really cool, you know, finding a new one, finding a favorite one. Those were fun. You know, you'd find a family who had a thing and they opened a small thing and they did things a certain way. And it's a big part of the Greek culture in Montreal. A lot of people don't know this. Greeks make the best pizzas in Montreal, and those places are all family run for me anyway. You know, like when when I ordered a pizza, I ordered a pizza from a place called B and M Pizza in NDG, which was at the top of the street where you went to school, royal Avenue. Yeah. And that's a Greek family run restaurant that just makes for me the best Montreal style pizza. It's not the kind of pizza you would get in Naples. Those kinds of places, those kinds of discoveries were always really fun and different neighborhoods would say no, our pizza is better because Pandelis does it better than BNM does or to Veris would do it better on the West Island in another place. And I never thought of skipped the dishes. And you're probably right, they probably skip the dishes. And these kitchens that they're setting up, that can be owl's burger joint is in a basement kitchen somewhere and shipping via the internet, that's not as much fun as going to Cosmos and having Tony yell at you while he makes a burger with a cigarette dangling over the grill. I found that more interesting.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:36:44

Well, no. What about the day it was a son, hey Terry, I cut my finger while he's baking the potatoes.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:36:53

I want to get a bandaid on that before you dive into my food. Best burger and home fries ever in the history of the world, though.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:37:01

We should start a podcast. It's called former Montreal or is bitching about Montreal.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:37:05

Well, I worry about that because my wife does that at her office in downtown Vancouver. She's working for a big corporation in downtown Vancouver that's in the broadcast industry and she's always complaining about the food here and stuff and talking about Montreal. And I said, one day someone's going to say to you, well, why don't you just fucking move back then? But those are our experiences, right? That's our bar. Our bar was set at a certain level because of where we grew up.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:37:38

It's tough to explain this to people, especially the time we had a PD from Ontario come in, so shout out to Bob Harris. And when it came time to going out for lunch with the record reps, I had to explain a bunch of things such as the lunch is going to be 3 hours, we're going to have a couple of bottles of wine and we're not going to talk about business. And the look on his face was I don't think I can do this or go you're going to have to handle all the record company lunches. And I did and it was great.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:38:06

Yeah, that too. That, too, was a culture that, if I'm not mistaken, I don't know, because I wasn't, you know, I wasn't around in the 50s, but I think it really caught on after expo 67, that there was a culture of we'll be back at two ish when you went out the front door for lunch, and two ish often was. Three often was we're not coming back to the office today. And that was in those were the days before cell phones. And there's some legendary stories not only about bars inside general manager's offices but one particular general manager had a phone installed at a bar downtown on Crescent Street where, you know, if he wasn't in the office at 786-4742, you could reach him at 786-4795. And that was the phone that rang at Sir Winston Churchill in the middle of the afternoon. That's a wacky culture, but it's cool.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:39:03

Well, my dad told me about stockbrokers at lunchtime at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, smoking, and generally four or five drinks at lunchtime, and then people would wander back to work to complete their day of trading before the market closed.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:39:17

I was lucky enough to have lunch a number of times with the legendary Gord Sinclair, and he loved and had been going to the same restaurant. And I wish I could remember the name at the top of my head. It was the restaurant in the Shadow Champlain. The Shadow Champlain Hotel was right in downtown with those half moon windows. If you've ever seen the skyline. Big sort of skyscraper, but it has half moon windows just by the bell center. Yeah. And in that hotel was a famous restaurant whose name is escaping me. And he got the old Mr. Sinclair. Hello. Bonjour. Suboptim mr. Sinclair. And he would sit down, and before he could get his ass in the chair, there'd be a cocktail at the table, and he would sit and he would bark back, like, three or four of those. And I had been up since, like, four, and he had been up since four and driven in from Hudson, and it's like 130, ten to two. And I finally got to know him well enough where I had to say at one point, gordon, I got to go home or I'm going to fall over. And he'd say, all right, let's go. And he would get in the car and I'd think, Jesus Christ, not only are you 100, but you've had, like, four side cars or whatever this is you're drinking, but that's what people did. Like, you were explaining to Bob, this is the way it goes. That's what you got to do. Yeah.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:40:38

Avery and I get a rush out of that when we go to Montreal, whether we go to Express or to any one of those restaurants where the service is different, just like, do that thing again when Mr. BoJo, Mr. Sinclair, BoJo, Mr. Conde, your usual place?

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:40:53

Yeah, it's the best. I always found a real comfort in that. I had that at a restaurant called Le Mondes Olivier. And Le Mondez Olivier was a classic. Where it was during lunch rush, there were captains of industry from French businesses, captains of industry from English industries, the editor of La Presse, the editor of the Gazette, Brian Mulroney. It was one of those places. And it was owned by a guy named Jacques Mueller, who was your classic sort of bit of a belly on him with a striped apron. And he would greet you at the door. Cuts to the point where I was there every Friday night and sometimes Friday and Saturday night. And I got the same kind of after you become a regular, you're like, Mr. Gibbonte, behave. New behavior. What? Dab is over here. And same thing. My giant martini was on the table before I could even pull my chair in. And it's a wonderful feeling. It's a really nice feeling. And it's a lot different than waiting in the lounge at a chain restaurant and having the waitress, or the, you know, the hostess seat you and say, now remember, you've only got the table for 2 hours. Fuck off.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:42:08

Oh, no. You can also tell you're in the wrong place when two minutes after you get your food, how are the first few bites? And I'm eating. I would just feel like just spinning it out at this point.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:42:20

But it's my own fault for being.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:42:22

In the wrong place.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:42:25

That reminds me of another great story that I'm sure I've told on this podcast before. I wasn't there. I can't confirm it. It could be hearsay. Ted Blackman at a lunch table ordered a bottle of red wine and they poured the wine for him to taste. And he tilted his head back and took a big swig of the wine and went and spit it out and looked up at the waiter and said, That'll be fine.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:42:54

You brought back such great memories of that restaurant. It was on Crescent Street, right?

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:42:58

Lamades Oliviere on Bishop Street. Another street that's been ruined, by the.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:43:03

Way, by that one is definitely yeah.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:43:05

That street is over. That's been ruined by condos. Nothing but condos. And I think a four year construction project.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:43:12

Yeah, way to fuck that up.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:43:14

And jock who owned Le Martin Levie was smart enough to get out before the end came. And I think there's one good restaurant still hanging in there called DA Vinci's, which has been there for a very long time. But yeah, Le Mondes oliviere that was the night. It got to the point where, you know, I would make reservations for 730 or eight, and at 1111 15 I'd say, well, anybody want to go to Ziggy's? You know, we'd sit. Dinner would be the event of the evening. I love nothing more than that. You know, this. I love nothing more than that. You know. I have a long lingering dinner like that. But now a lot of places will tell you upfront, you can only have the table for 2 hours.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:43:51

I'm like, what time do you close? We close at eleven. I said, Well, I'll take a table at nine. Honestly, I do that because I can't be told to hurry up. It's not going to happen.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:44:00

I didn't mean we've gone down the food alley and I don't think it's very Christmas evodcast this year.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:44:05

Matt well, I'll take a note for next year that we probably should not record the episode just before lunch.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:44:13

Yeah, there's another thing that has taken some getting used to is living in the Pacific time zone is really weird.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:44:20

I wanted to tell you about the Mabez. Olivier, Josh, my brother, has a birthday that's on the 23 December. And of course, we all feel sorry for Josh for many reasons, including when his birthday lands. But one year we went there for his birthday and out came the two giant baguettes on the table. But I was sitting across from Henry and we pulled them out like lightsabers and started dueling at the table. And if you can imagine this wonderful upscale restaurant with these two Westmount Hillbillies duking it out with baguettes.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:44:50

Who were the adults at the table who were horrified?

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:44:53

All my family, actually. No, it was just my mother. It was just my mother.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:44:57

Your poor mom. That was another thing that I liked about lemon, was I never went in there without a collared shirt on. But it wasn't stuffy. There was linen tablecloths and linen napkins, and the waiters were all old pros with black vests on. But it wasn't stuffy. It wasn't like that. They wanted you to have fun. It was like going to your uncle's house.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:45:22

Do you want to mention the time you went to Le Pari?

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:45:28

Your family introduced me to Le Pari. Why were we there that day? It was classic spot on St. Catherine street that had been there since the had never been. I don't remember how old I was, but I don't think I had been going to restaurants, you know, nice restaurants, for very long, and I thought, Stick for it. That's the way to go. And I made the mistake of asking for ketchup. And I don't think anybody warned me that you couldn't ask for ketchup at Le Parry for the fries. I got such a dressing down with the eyes. It was such a disdain of, how dare you put that shit on our French fries. He didn't say that, but he meant that.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:46:08

So I would like you to know that this has evolved because Avery and I went to Sheila Vac and said, Woolley, will you catch up?

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:46:16

OOH.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:46:17

I said, Mayonnaise. I said, Ah, we miss you. Du ketchup blonde. Where is this place now? He's just making fun of us, saying yes.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:46:25

Where is this place now? What is this?

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:46:27

Yeah, shayla VEC is a brasserie, and it's actually across the street from another great restaurant called Lemiac up on Lore. So sometimes I'll badger the mayor of Westmount by saying, check out Lori. Is Green Avenue. Keeping up gentle, Chiding? I'm not. Try not to be too mean, but I will say that after a couple.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:46:45

Of drinks, last time I was there, Green Avenue was struggling, tony's was gone, and Tony's Shoes was I know a shoe store doesn't sound like a big deal, but it was a real kind of like an anchor tenant of that street. And a few of the other shops have since closed, too. I haven't walked down Green Avenue in months, so I don't know if it's on the rebound or not.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:47:07

I'm glad you mentioned it, because it was described to me that Tony's was an anchor tenant of the street. And by the way, if people are wondering why we talk about Green Avenue, I grew up three blocks from Green Avenue and we worked on Shom. And if you worked at CKGM, this is where these radio stations were located for many, many years. And so, inevitably, we're going to walk up and down Green Avenue and notice, you know, the big changes and the differences with it. But, you know, for instance, the bank on the corner, the Scotia Bank, think back to the got a paycheck, you had to run it up the street to the bank to cash it. So that's why we knew these places. There was a Lulu Lemon up there on the corner, but it's been vacant for five years.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:47:46

And it's one of those old classics that were built in probably 1910, 1920. And that bank was when I started working at Showman 1984. That was the bank. That was the bank that show me. So that was the bank where I opened an account. 40 years later, I'm still a Scotia Bank customer. Not that that's breaking news or anything, but it's amazing how those things happen. Yeah.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:48:10

And by the way, just a little bit to Green Avenue because you mentioned a little bit about putting the tables out where parking used to be.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:48:16

Well, parking is still there. That's the thing. They managed to keep the parking and put the tables and include a bike lane and have a sidewalk.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:48:25

I've been trying to convince people in Winnipeg to look at that space as instead of having parking stalls in some spots, why not open it up for restaurants? On the sidewalk or on the street, you'll get way more revenue than you will doing like a dollar 95 an hour or whatever it is that you charge for parking. But I mean, you can, you can imagine how swift they are in Winnipeg to for progress.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:48:47

I'm sympathetic because I lived in Winnipeg, and one of the things that has not changed in Winnipeg is public transit. Public transit is shit in Winnipeg. Unless you're jumping on the bus from St. James and going downtown, that's an easy fix. But if you live in Charles Wood and you work downtown, or you live in Kildonan and you work downtown, or, you know, you live out St. Patel way up by the Mint, you know, where our old friend, the master of the morning lives, I wouldn't want to have to take the four buses downtown from there. Or if your aunt lives in St. James and you want to get to St. Patel, I understand why people go to their cars.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:49:25

Winnipeg is unique because it does have an eight lane highway that runs all the way through the center of town to meet another eight lane highway called Main Street.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:49:33

Yeah, well, there was a time before the Perimeter Highway. If you were driving across the country, you had to drive down Portage and you got on Portage and that's how you got to Brandon. So you had to drive through, make the corner of Portage in Maine and head west and keep driving past St. James and on past the racetrack, and then you're on your way to Brandon and there was no highway to drive on. So I understand how that happened. And what was that Italian place you took me to when I was there a couple of summers ago? Remember? We went to the Italian grocery store. Who the hell would want to take.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:50:08

The bus out there? Oh, DeLucas, which is located down south landing off McGillvary.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:50:14

Yeah. When I lived in Winnipeg, none of that was there. All of that was just open field.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:50:19

I think someone got a tax break, someone's getting something for something. And I can assure you there's no bus out there. But when we're talking about some of the buildings in Winnipeg where radio stations are housed, it's like you get a choice of four or five. And I know this because now Evanoff has moved into that building where Chorus was. When you're looking for places in Winnipeg to house your radio station, most of the places are off the map because there's no bus service. So you can't really have a place in the middle of nowhere with no bus service. Your employees can't get there.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:50:51

One of the things that you know, this, I still have a fondness for Winnipeg that never went away. And I wish I could get out there more, and I will, hopefully in the New Year, because I've always loved the Winnipeg that always have a special place in my heart. One of the things about it that has always been fascinating to me is the population never changes. It goes up 20,000 or down 20,000, but it's always around the same mark. And I guess that's why there's not enough money for an LRT.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:51:19

But they can sure find a way to build houses all the way to the far perimeter, which means more roads, which means more fire departments, which means more infrastructure that the city can't afford. Winnipeg, by the way, we'll go broke within the next twelve years, and I want to wish whoever is going to be living here at that time, I need to get out of here in the next two or three years, by the way, before the whole place goes broke.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:51:39

Matt's got a beautiful home in Tuxedo, by the way, if you're looking for a good buy in the next couple.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:51:44

Of years, I'll take $925,000 for it. There's a swimming pool.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:51:50

Yeah, it's a beautiful pool in the backyard. It's actually a really nice backyard, by the way. Did they ever finish building the house next door.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:51:58

They barely did and but the the construction workers are still showing up and they work out of the garage. It looks like one of these houses they're just going to work on forever. This building to the property line thing is okay, I guess people don't want backyards anymore. Terry, I wanted to ask you, though, about the Pacific Time zone, because we've had the time zone discussion for years. I still think the best time zone is the Mountain Time Zone. You can watch all the sports and still get to bed at a decent hour. Central time zone is pretty good. But how are you coping with the Pacific?

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:52:30

Well, the Pacific takes some getting used to. It's interesting. My wife says it feels like we're stealing time because all our family and most of our friends are east of here. So if it's Patty in Calgary, it's an hour, and if it's you in Central Time Zone, it's two. But most of our friends and family are in Ontario and Quebec, so it's three. So we'll look at our watches at 07:00 and say, Chris, is 10:00 already back east? And it feels weird. And it takes a little if you grew up in the Eastern time zone, when you're watching a football game on a Sunday afternoon, you think, oh, Chris, it must be near 04:00. And you realize, no, football came on at 10:00 this morning. And somebody will text me, one of my buddies will text me from home and say, are you watching the Habs? And I'll think, no, I'm not watching the Habs. It's 04:00 in the app. Oh, wait a minute. Yeah, the habs are on. So that's weird. And I think if I was in my 30s, it would be great because you can watch the hockey, for example, on a Saturday. And hockey by and large for us, anyway, if you want to watch the Canadians, it's done by 630. You can go out and have dinner and get on with your life and go to bars or do whatever. So for me, it's interesting and it's weird and we kind of like it. It just takes some getting used to, that's all.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:53:52

Well, sometimes I'll think, oh, I'll call Terry. Oh, no, he's not up.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:53:58

Yeah, that's the other thing. I have to make sure my phone is away from the bed because a lot of even when I put my phone on mute, it'll be ten to five. And I'll hear and I'll think, Jesus Christ, it's ten to five in the morning. But at home it's 08:00 and somebody's like, oh, yeah, I got to tell Terry this. And it's hard to remember. It's like mountain, central, eastern. It doesn't matter. It just it just takes some getting used to. But I think Pacific and the Pacific Northwest is a little bit extreme.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:54:29

One of the things that's stopping me from moving to Halifax is the start times of the. NFL football games, like starting at two in the afternoon and then the Sunday night game. What would that start? Like 930, 1030 at night.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:54:40

That and 135 snow that had put me off.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:54:46

And the hurricanes, there's more hurricanes than ever that are blowing through there.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:54:50

We live we can see Mount Baker from where we live in the valley. Mount Baker is a volcano. And my wife is always doing the lava math, which way does the lava flow? And I said, It's not going to sleep. It hasn't gone off for hundreds of years. She always says, yeah, that means it's due. And then there's earthquakes, and then out here there's tsunamis. You see the tsunami roots. I mean, we're in the valley, so tsunami is not going to get us, but it doesn't really matter where you go. And I thought I was escaping the goddamn winter. Last year we had a ton of snow, and this year we've already had 20 as. You and I are recording this. Apparently there's another 20 CM coming this weekend and quote, record cold next week.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:55:35

So what constitutes record cold in that part of the world?

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:55:39

Well, like minus ten when you get used to people are wearing shorts out here all year long. I wouldn't wear shorts right now. It's like today here it's five degrees. I don't think that's short weather, but could be, I suppose, if you're a hearty Canadian. But when it's five, six degrees, seven degrees, that's usually the norm in the winter. And it usually rains all the time. A lot of weather has been clear and cold recently. And when you get used to plus five, plus six when it's minus ten, you feel it. And I I know. I lived in Winnipeg, and I lived in Calgary. And I lived in Montreal. I should know better what's cold is -35 with you know a wind chill of -42 that's cold not minus ten.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:56:22

We had that one day last week.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:56:23

Yeah. And that's a special kind of cold. I tell people that all the time. I used to say to people in Winnipeg, I'll be fine here in the winter. I grew up in Montreal and they all kind of went, yeah, that's not winter in Montreal, you'll see. And I remember the first November that I was there, I thought, I have never experienced anything like this, or I've never experienced anything like this because your nostrils freeze shot Christmas. Now we're talking about the weather.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:56:57

Again. You were given warning that we would be talking about that. But don't give up on us. We'll find a way to wrap this up and make it nice and tidy and cute like a Christmas present. However, if you're tired of our voices and need a break from us, you can read the rest of this because I posted a transcript of this episode that you can download for your legal files now@soundoffpodcast.com.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:57:22

Transcription the the Sound Off podcast powered by potent. Your podcast is an SEO goldmine. We help you to dig out, start your free trial now at poten dot IO the the the Sound Off podcast.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:57:35

Kundal someone you and I both know, chris Sinclair, he was the program director at 990 Hits plug his book.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:57:42

I was I got a copy of the book and I was looking at it the other night, and I haven't had a chance to sit and read it, but I read the introduction. It looks really fascinating. It is.

Matt Cundill (Host) 00:57:51

And I had a chance to go through it. And who would have thought that when we were in that building on Green Avenue that he was going to amount to 25 years of weather and a book at the end of it? So congratulations, Chris. It's a great book. And I had him on the podcast and we talked about climate change, but he didn't want to talk about it as being some sort of big political thing. But he goes, there's enough evidence out there to know that things are changing, and it is different. This isn't your usual sort of change, but I can't remember what they called. You were going to get a ton of rain in the Fraser Valley. And I can't remember if they were going to call it some sort of rainy river bed from hell, atmospheric river.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 00:58:33

You've touched on something that really is beginning to burn my ass. I was watching CBS News. I don't watch the news as much as I used to, but Jess was making dinner and I dialed into CBS News and there were two stories in the intro to CBS News. They talked about something that was happening in Washington trump taxes. Something something the war in Ukraine and a missile attack by Russians and horrific weather in the Midwestern part of the United States. So let's go to that breaking news. We have high winds and snow in North Dakota. Oh, do you now? It's fucking December. That's called winter in North Dakota. It's not breaking news. It's not the end of the world. A truck went off the road. You don't say. The things they do now with the weather. Did you see CTV News tweeted the other day that cold weather can create heart problems in people? Like, it's so ridiculous. The weather maps on TV now are like they're made fire engine red. When there's summer and when it's going to rain a lot, it's now an atmospheric river when there's going to be a cold front, it's now a polar vortex. There's like this whole element of how do we get people to watch the news? And let's see if we can scare the shit out of them. Anybody who's been to Fargo, North Dakota, in December knows that winter can create some pretty horrific conditions. I'm not suggesting the climate isn't changing. I know it is. But fuck off with your atmospheric rivers and your polar Death Star and your oh, yeah, the heat dome. It's a heat dome. Don't forget to find shelter.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:00:29

It's July.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:00:31

Go to the pool, you idiots. Put on the sunscreen. Stop it with this. Honest to Christ. And, you know, and now the networks are pushing, like, what is real news aside to tell you that winters arrives in Fargo, North Dakota. Oh, has it?

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:00:49

It's December, by the way. It did arrive, and we're getting it today in Winnipeg.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:00:54

Well, there you go. And here's a surprise for you. It's cold in Manitoba in the winter, and if you're on the perimeter highway during a windy snowstorm, you're going to have something called a white out, and you're not going to be able to see because it's on the prairies. Usually happens sometime between October and March. And it's not the end of the world, and it's not breaking news. It's a snowstorm in Manitoba.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:01:19

I would love to go on about how terrible the radio content is that we listen to on our radios, but it's only usurped by News, which is run by I don't know who is putting together these stories, but I do know that I'm sick of them asking for more money, pleading poverty, offering nothing in return, and not covering the Ukraine, which I think is is the worst. I learned more about what's going on in the Ukraine by David Letterman, who traveled there and did a show and interviewed President Zelinsky than I have been offered on any network in the last nine months.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:01:57

Well, it's especially egregious here in Canada because, as you know, the radio companies have decimated and emptied all of their newsrooms of reporters. So there's no people there. There's no journalists training young journalists. It's either social justice warriors coming right out of college. Nobody's talking to them of a pronunciation or editorial control or any of the things that used to matter in journalism. And it's really rich that places like CTV News are trying to bolster Internet hits or viewership with this kind of crazy sensationalism. And they're trying to bolster their news divisions with sensationalism because they let all their people go. CTV famously got rid of makeup people and lighting people. We've talked about this before in the podcast. Kind of like to me, you open a restaurant and say, well, we don't need plates or forks. It's the same thing with television. Television doesn't need sound people and light people. Well, actually, it kind of does. And if you're going to run a NewsHour, you should have people there to find news for you, as opposed to surfing the Internet and trying to create sensationalist weather forecasts and whatnot. It's really in a sorry state. And what's interesting is in America, there's a little bit of that, but at least in America, they've kept most of their bureaus open and they have experienced people and experienced reporters for the most part. It's not uncommon to turn on an American news package or an American news show and see anchors and reporters who've been there for 2030, 40 years. Well, maybe not 40 years, but experienced people still in the job in their fifty s and sixty s. And I'm exposed to Seattle, which is a big American market here. And there are four or five different supperhour newscasts, all of them well staffed with lots of reporters, lots of local news. So I think the Americans are probably ten years ahead of us. And who knows, maybe it'll come back when these corporations get bored of running media companies. I don't know, it could be very wrong. But for me, who understands how broadcasting to me should be local and targeted at local people and create local excitement? It's been hard to watch and to listen to. And I have to admit, Matt, I drive my wife to the station, to the Sky Train twice a week, three times a week, and I make sure I never leave the house with a podcast on my phone. There's nothing for me to listen to.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:04:36

I was going to mention it's nice that the King Five News still matters.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:04:39

There you go, coma. News king Five. News It's interesting that you and I know what those brands are because they've serviced those brands and really done well with it. And there are some people here on the radio. There's the Jeff O'Neill Show on Seafox. It's probably the best and most well put together morning show that I've heard in a very long time. I listen to that once in a while. Willie Percy does an old school morning show. That's it. And to your newspoint, if you're in the radio business and you watch ratings, CBC are the now the most popular news talk stations all across the country. Without exception, I think without exception, all of the private radio stations have fallen off the radar because and it's not surprising, CJAD CFRB, CJOB 770 News in Calgary, I forget what's in Edmonton, you'll know, that was it CHED. CHED CKNW in Vancouver does fairly well, but they're also chased by CBC because listeners know, I mean, the CBC is a little bit too ideological for me, but at least people know when they go to CBC they're going to get, by and large, broadcast, seasoned people and not seven minute commercial breaks. And I think that's why CBC has done so well across the country. Also.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:05:59

A number of those CBC channels, though, are on FM and all those other stations are on Am. However, that would be on the radio business to have gone to the CRTC to fix that. And I know we did try that in 2007 and eight, but you got to go back and you got to ask. And the CRTC and these corporations didn't talk to each other because the corporations didn't want to deal with the headache of radio because it's expensive to have lawyers and people going through the compliance and everything that you need to do to make these businesses work. So the corporations checked out and we're left with what we have. And if you read, by the way, what the CRTC has decided to do with radio visa vis policy, it turns out to be next to nothing. I called it a nothing burger, an absolute joke. Now it feels like radio is circling the drain.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:06:48

Yeah, it does. I I really think that I think, you know, if you talk to anybody under 20, they don't even know what you're talking about.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:06:56

I want to play a clip from your podcast. Do I have to call legal to do this or how do I hang.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:07:01

On, let me check with legal. Yeah, it's all clear. You're good to go.

Tommy Schnumacher Clip 01:07:09

Now, what's changed since is to me, absolutely stunning. This absolutely stunning. One day I was listening to a certain A m. Radio station yes. In in Montreal that should be nameless on the 09:00 news. The three items of news at 09:00 a.m. Terry, where a car went off the the highway and had a little crash in the West Island. They were culling deer on the south shore, and people who went to the San Diego zoo got a very big surprise because the giraffe gave birth to a baby giraffe. That was it for the 09:00 A.m. News. I said, it can't be. Maybe somebody died in the chair. Can you believe that? This was in the middle of chaos in the US. COVID, like, everything like 150 news things, right? And that so that to me, I was stunned at about that. That came to me as a huge shock that that was acceptable. That wouldn't be acceptable in a high school radio station. On the first day that you did it, I was looking at my friend Harold. Did you just hear that? That's it. Now they're talking about the traffic. That's all there is. That was it. That's the whole use of them in Montreal and Quebec and Canada. The baby giraffe musseltoff. I mean, if that doesn't sum up what's going on in these places and what is considered to be newsworthy content.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:08:57

Today, it's really sad. And this isn't just nostalgia. This was a big radio station that served a really big purpose in the city of Montreal and was described to me by the man who owned it. Gary Slate told me when we talked about me doing the morning show there, he told me it was one of his father's favorite radio stations. He said he referred to it as one of our jewels in the crown. They were very, very proud of it and very, very proud of what it did. During the ice storm in Montreal, during the Decari flood in Montreal, during the riots, the referendum, people tuned to that radio station, they stopped what they were doing. And even with big stories like the Challenger, you made sure you stopped what you were doing and you dialed into CJAD. Because that's how reliable they were. That's how good they were. And it was a place like you would see in an old movie, where Gordon Sinclair would yell at the reporters the morning of the decarry flood. He just would stand in the newsroom and yell, everybody out. Meaning go out and get the story. And I know that's expensive. I understand it. It's expensive to do. It's labor intensive. It costs money. But the slates made money doing it. Why can't the corporations make money doing it? I think they can, but I don't run a corporation and I'm not serving shareholders. But I also think that there is and this is one of the things the CRTC miss. There's a responsibility to owning a signal like that. You should be held to a certain level of responsibility to the community if you want to own that license. That's the way it used to work. But that's fallen by the wayside now, too, because Tommy and me and Ted talking about that, with very few exceptions, that place is now an embarrassment as far as I'm concerned. It's an embarrassment.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:10:57

I found the policy that the CRTC everything had to do with music. And we're in an era that people aren't coming to radio for music. You can get music anywhere. It's ubiquitous.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:11:08

Yeah. And people do people make their own choices for music. I'm more interested in it could be a function of my age, but I'm more interested in interesting content. That's why I don't leave the house without choosing three or four podcasts to make sure those are on the phone so that I can plug them in and make sure that I have podcasts that are engaging in either teaching me something or stirring up my brain. But to dial into a radio station and hear text us at 1422 and tell us whether or not you fell on the ice yet this year, fuck off. Like, talk to me like an adult.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:11:46

You already listed your choices. It's a podcast. Or it's Jeff O'Neill or Willie And by the way, two of those offer a little bit of a combo of content and music and then the podcasts have the talk.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:11:58

Yeah, Jeff O'Neill does a really polished, authentic they sound like good folks who are plugged into the city. And Willie has been on the air here a long time. Longtime friend of his dad. There's broadcast jeans in that family. But the rest of it is it's either being one of the radio stations has a morning show piped in from Calgary. No, thanks. Vancouver is if it's not the third largest market in the country, some people would argue it's the second largest, certainly the second largest English market in the country when you compare it to Montreal. Montreal has got more people, but the size of the English audience vancouver is number two. Piping. It in from Calgary. Come on, you can't do better than that. And there's another show that on the air. It's I don't know. The two hosts sound like two weasels in a bag, and they're always talking about themselves. And I do that thing that everybody does click, click. Well, it doesn't click anymore because it's a touch screen, but you know what I mean? You go across the dial, and I always go, God, yes. What happened? What happened in this rich used to be a rich, creative landscape where you would come and you would listen to Doc Harris and Raccoon Carney. And again, it's not nostalgia. It's the content and the quality of the people. Bill Good and Tony Parsons and these guys were big, big broadcasters, and you had to go work in Brandon or Musja or Prince Rupert for a few years before you got to get on the all night show at the local radio station. And now it sounds to me like they're standing in front of BCIT going, hey, what are you doing this afternoon? That's a long fall for a profession I was very proud of.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:13:50

Listen, telling stories is hard to have Valerie Geller in your corner when we worked in radio, to come up and to teach us about storytelling is one of the greatest things. And I look at your podcast, and my favorite episodes are the ones where the stories get told. So my favorite episode from last year is the one with Ziggy Ziggy I Can Bomb on Crescent Street, who has the bar, but I never knew about the story. When he had, like, Drake come into the bar, I knew about a number of those other ones. But the reason why that episode is my favorite is the stories that are told, and we don't tell enough stories on the radio. And by the way, you can tell a story quite easily in 60 seconds, and you'll probably do very well for yourself if you did, but you can't even get 60 seconds out of what's your favorite flavor of chips in Texas? Now, that's not a story to me.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:14:36

That's just so lazy. There's a format now that's all the rage across the country, and it's here, too. Be part of the conversation. What are you talking about? I forget what the slogan is. That's the slogan. Be part of the conversation.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:14:50

It's Join the conversation.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:14:51

Join the conversation. And what is it?

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:14:54

Move now.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:14:56

Now. There you go. What does that mean?

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:15:00

Well, it did well in Edmonton when it launched in 2010, and I think it was listen, it was perfect for the times. Edmonton radio had gotten soft and lazy, and in came this format, and it worked. It worked really, really well. And I think the industry waited too long to put those into other markets. And I asked a few people I asked Steve Jones, said, Why is this not rolled out across the company that he was working with at the time? And he said, I just can't justify 75% of the marketing budget across the country to stick it into one market, because you do need to market a station like that a lot. So corporately it didn't seem to work. And now they're trying to put it on the radio in 2022 and it's too late. They put one on in Winnipeg. Terry, our blood alcohol level is higher right now than the ratings of that radio station.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:15:51

And I honestly thought, I thought the format would work.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:15:53

It would be fantastic in Winnipeg, but that was in 2013. I thought it would be great. In fact, when we put Fresh on the air, I kind of asked chorus, I said, maybe we should be doing this, Terry. Can you imagine the tens of dollars they would have had to spend on that station? And by the way, I know you mentioned we don't run corporations, but I just checked, I do run a corporation, actually.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:16:11

You are a corporate master. That's right. I keep forgetting about that. That's right.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:16:17

The the the soundoff media company creating raises of tens of dollars for people.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:16:24

I just remember in the era that I got hired yeah, a long time ago, but I think the premise would still work when City FM and Winnipeg hit the airwaves and changed format to Rock gary Obi Magic as he was called, and Steve Young and the guys that ran that place, they went looking for interesting characters. Interesting characters who could tell stories and become authentic people, who could become people that listeners thought were their friends. And that therein lies to me the essence of the magic of radio and the importance of communication. All the places that I've worked, the successful people who worked at those places, listeners felt like they knew those people. One of the highest compliments I ever got while I was on the radio is people would say, I hope you don't mind me stopping in saying hello, because I feel like I know you. That's gone now. That's been replaced by hurry up, get on, get off. See if he can get the text line going. And don't forget to post on Facebook. We're trying to get our Facebook numbers up. And you know, this things get posted on Twitter all the time, where people are telling a story or confessing something, or talking about a child who passed or a parent who passed, or something very, very personal always gets some kind of attention. That's because that's the magic of radio. When people say, I remember the morning you were on the air when Gord Downey died, you got all choked up. Those are the moments. That's what radio does. Radio reaches through the speaker and grabs the listener. That's not being taught. That doesn't happen anymore. And I know nobody asks me or anybody from my era, I haven't had a discussion about radio with anybody in radio since I've been out of radio. No one's asked my opinion or nobody's asked what I think. And maybe that's because what we're saying sounds outdated, but I don't think it is.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:18:37

I think what's going on is that they would like to ask your opinion, but there's nothing in that opinion that they would be able to change, I.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:18:45

Think, to your point, storytelling, communicating. I hear things on the radio that, when I do listen, that are so frustrating. I hear people talking to people and being so afraid of the clock or so busy trying to get a Facebook post out of it or a text out of it. They miss trying to make the connection with the people who are actually listening to the show that morning or that afternoon. And I think staffing a radio station with some characters, a morning guy, a midday person and an afternoon person who are good storytellers and characters and are passionate about music and can tell stories. Like, to me, that now would stand out, that would be unique in a marketplace. It doesn't exist anymore. And I still think that that's part of what made City FM was a great example of that. None of us had any experience. We were all young, we were all nuts, we couldn't believe our good luck, but we were all characters, we all told great stories. We were out every night in the street shaking hands and meeting people, and people made fun of us. People thought it was a stupid idea. And in two or three years it became a powerhouse, that station. And I think, if I'm not mistaken, I don't know what they're doing today, but I think in the ratings that I looked at this week, city FM did well again with men 25 to 54. So that was a legacy that was started because in 1978 it was a classical music station and its beginning was people who said, hey, let's put some interesting and creative people on the radio and see where it goes. 40 years later, it's still going.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:20:29

So I asked myself while you were saying that, where are all the people who are young and nuts? And all I could think of was, they're at Joey's.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:20:40

You're probably right.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:20:42

I know my kids go there.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:20:44

By the way, how are your kids? And your kids are at the age now where I text with them all once in a while. I talk politics with Dan. I don't hear much from Jake. I know he's very, very busy. And I was just giving Andrew shit the other day on text. And they're at that age where, like, what do you do at Christmas? Do you buy them things?

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:21:05

Their Christmas lists were largely incomplete. That's what my mother said. So Andrew and Jacob, twins, they just wanted, like, some sweaties and a hoodie and maybe some headphones. And Daniel had a nice extensive list. He plays the bass, so he wants all sorts of equipment, like a $600 direct input that plays Motown, Barry Gordy, something or other. Motown, Detroit, Motown, stop in the name of love. Do you like eggnog at Christmas?

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:21:32

I can have one. Eggnog is one of those things. They're like White Russians. The first couple of sips are really, really good and tastes like Christmas. And then it's like, oh, my God, I want a martini now.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:21:45

Because Avery was like, why doesn't your family have eggnog at Christmas? And I went gross.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:21:50

Nobody likes to drink anything with the word nog in it.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:21:54

Or egg.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:21:55

Or egg. Yeah. You know what? My mum and dad always had one in the fridge, and it's certainly well enhanced by a good dose of rum.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:22:05

Yes.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:22:06

And that tastes like Christmas. But it's like, okay, I've had my one rum and eggnog. That's fine. And what usually happens is you usually end up pouring it out of the carton and down the sink at the end of the holidays.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:22:19

Avery is like, we should have some eggnog.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:22:21

And I'm like, aren't we trying to.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:22:22

Cut back or get rid of dairy? We're going the wrong way.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:22:27

Yeah, but it's Christmas. You use that excuse too, eh? It's Christmas. Doesn't matter.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:22:32

In 2023. I can't believe we're talking about that year. What are you looking forward to?

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:22:37

Well, I'm looking forward to travel. I'll talk about this more in the new year. I've been unable to travel the last couple of months for personal reasons that I'll talk about, like I said, in the new year. But I really want to get busy traveling. I turned 65 in January, which I cannot fucking believe. I got a thing in the mail about my old age pension. And it's true what they say. You just it's unfathomable to me that I'm going to be 65 and that the government wants to send me my old age pension, which I will take, by the way. But I don't feel it. I don't feel it in my legs. I don't feel it in my head. I can't skate or run like I used to, but good God, I just can't believe he's 65.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:23:21

Anyway, I might suggest that's the company.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:23:23

You keep yeah, there you go. Matt is referencing that I have a much younger wife who you're right, has kept me young and in shape.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:23:33

Oh, my God, the stress of trying to keep up yeah.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:23:37

And is the greatest thing that's ever happened to me. Literally. She saved my life. But what I do know and what she knows and she knew going in 6566, 676-869-7071, nothing is guaranteed. And we've all already lost friends at far too young an age. You lost a good friend at a ridiculous young age. So it's pitter patter. Let's get at her. So Jess and I have talked about doing things. She has absolutely caught a passion for cooking. So there's an Italy trip that we would like to take that would be longer than corporate holidays will allowed. We'll see how we structure that. And also, she's an Anglophile and has turned. Me into a Premier League soccer fan, and we want to spend some time in England close to Christmas, so maybe this time next year, we'll find time to do a couple of weeks in England. So travel and experiences. She's going to see Springsteen. There are a couple of concerts that I want to go to. I've seen more shows, I think, in the last year and a half because of her love of live music. So there'll be more of that in the new year when we come through the other side of the holidays.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:24:51

Manchester United is going into that stadium, old Trafford. It is a sea of alcohol, Terry.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:24:58

Okay. I'm willing to try to see if I could keep up.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:25:02

What do you mean? You're going to fit right in.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:25:04

Yeah. Jess has been to Old Trafford and taken the tour when the team has been playing. And she went one year, and she described it. Manchester United, I'm learning, is to Premier League. Kind of like what the Canadians are to hockey. There's a presence.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:25:21

It's revered.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:25:22

Yeah, it's revered. And she said she felt that way when she was at Old Trafford.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:25:26

I always think that your first sports experience in that space is kind of the team that you're going to stick with. And I think of my first trip to see an NFL game was the Buffalo Bills. And here I am every Sunday, suffering from high blood pressure.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:25:44

But lots to cheer about now these days. Matt, with the Buffalo Bills.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:25:48

Well, it took a long time. It took 17 years for them to turn that thing around. And by the way, it was from the top. It was corporate culture. It was the former owner, Mr. Wilson, was getting old and passing on and then left it to three daughters who pretty much let the inmates run the asylum. And then when the Pughas took over sports family who had run the you talked about George Gillette. In fact, on the episode with Ziggy, you talked about that ownership of the Montreal Canadians, who I didn't even know that Jeff Olsen had had a conversation with George Gillette about buying the Montreal Canadians, and it took place at Ziggy's. And you know how far back Jeff and I go.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:26:27

Yeah. Foster Gillette, who was his dad's representative in Montreal, was at Ziggy's after every game. And I can't recall an era of any sports team where you could have a beer with the owner of the local big club. I mean, having a beer with the owner of the Canadiens. I mean, I've spoken to Jeff about this, and I can't imagine being Jeff Molson, because you can't go anywhere without one of the 5 million coaches of the Montreal Canadians telling you what you're doing wrong. The Gillette family, they knew going in that they were not well versed in hockey and they wanted to listen to everybody. And they didn't make a trade because somebody told them in Ziggies to trade them. But they engaged with the fans. And it's like anything else, whether you're running a radio company or a podcast company or a bar or a sports team. You're absolutely right. It starts at the top and dribbles down through the organization.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:27:24

So that's how the Buffalo Bills repaired themselves. Everything does come down to ownership. There's a reason why the Washington Redskins in 1983 had a season ticket waiting list of about 70 years, and that dickhead of an owner is in there, and he's soon going to be out. But they're a joke. And meanwhile, just up the coast is Baltimore with Lamar Jackson, and every kid has a purple jersey now, instead of whatever the Washington football team or whatever they're called now, the Commanders or the Zoolanders or ownership matters.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:27:58

Yeah, the franchise is a joke because the owner is a joke.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:28:02

Where are you going to travel? Do you have actual destinations aside from England? Where? In Italy.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:28:06

Would you look at what we want to do? And this is just a pencil sketch. My favorite city in Italy is Florence. And Jess has never been to the Tuscan region. She's never been to Tuscany. So what we would like to do, and what we're going to begin looking out for in the new year, is we'd like to rent a house in the Tuscan hills not too far from maybe Cortona, or maybe Florence driving distance, if we want. But what we'd like to do is we would like to spend time in a house with a pool not too far from a town where we can pop into a market. And Jess wants to talk to the locals about what they cook, how they cook and do cooking in Italy with Italian ingredients. And anybody who's been to Italy knows a peach, a pear, a tomato tastes different in Italy. When you bite into a pear in Italy, you can't believe what's happening. Lemons are the size of your head. And nobody, well, almost nobody, eats box pasta. Everything is fresh. So it's just a different experience, not only eating at restaurants, but cooking. And Jess wants to experience that, and we'd like to. She's still working in a corporate culture where they think a week or two is a lot of holidays, and I'm not working anymore. If I had my way, we'd spend the whole summer in Italy. But while my wife is working, we have to squeeze in what we can, and I think she can get away for three weeks. So the pencil sketch is somewhere in Tuscany. My picks are close to Cortona, because I've rented a house not far from Cortona before, and it was a wonderful experience. And or close to Florence, I've also rented a house close to there. I've rented places in Florence, and it's such a spectacular way to spend time. And like I said, Tommy Schnormacher told me this. Speaking of Tommy Schnormacher, two years before I was shown the door before my contract expired. He said to me, why aren't you retired? Why aren't you retired? And I said, well, you know, I'm not ready and my contract isn't over. And Tommy Siri was, listen, retire while you're still mobile and agile and you don't need a walker to get around. And don't worry about money because when you're in your eighty S, you can eat cat food because it won't matter anymore. Spend the money now while you can still get around. And I've got a younger wife, so she'll be around longer than I will be. Those words ring in my ears while I'm agile and still, you know, healthy and able to get around. I want to make the most of those years. And you know, those years should be over the next six to eight, hopefully 1012 years. And I'd like to see more of the planet.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:30:58

So same thing for me. I'm just going to do Spain instead. I'm going to Malaga for a little bit just to see what life is like in the wintertime. And I know you well, especially you have griped about winter for long enough. And I'm at the point where I don't need to drive to hockey with kids anymore. We're having 20 snow today. I don't feel like participating. And a place like Malaga in the wintertime with the food that you mentioned seems like a good idea.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:31:27

Listen, I get winter. We're Canadians, we know how to handle it. But I don't snowmobile, I don't cross country ski, I don't downhill ski, I don't snowboard. I'm not interested in taking up whatever, snowball fighting, whatever, if you don't do any of those things. To me, snow is pretty on Christmas Eve and snow is pretty on Christmas Day. And after that it's a giant pain in the ass. It blocks roads and causes people to fall and car crashes and it freezes your face and your ear lobes want to fall off. I know there's people who really, really love winter. I'm not one of those people. I would prefer to have an evening's breeze on the patio blowing in off the ocean as we prepare for another day of 81 degrees and sunny. To me that's a lot easier, right? You don't need parkas, you don't need boots, you don't need mitts. You need some shorts and a T shirt or ten and it's just a little easier to handle. So my fervent hope is you sell your home in Winnipeg and buy something in Spain and that you make sure I have your address and phone number so we can come and visit. And preferably not far from the water, if you wouldn't mind.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:32:52

No, there will be water involved.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:32:54

I live 2 hours from Whistler. Beautiful. Absolutely stunning. Wonderful skiers come from all over the planet. It's not my thing, but I do.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:33:03

Know you love Christmas.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:33:04

I love Christmas. I do.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:33:06

Well, you know what? This took the place of our Christmas drink. But we didn't even get to drink.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:33:11

Yeah, well, there you go.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:33:12

Merry Christmas to you Terry.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:33:13

I hope somebody listens to this. Matt. Well, Eli is going to listen to it. So merry Christmas, Eli. And Merry Christmas to you and the boys. And please, please give my love to your mom and your siblings who may remember. Merry Christmas, Avery.

Matt Cundill (Host) 01:33:29

Merry Christmas, Terry. And Merry Christmas to Jess.

Terry DiMonte (Guest) 01:33:31

Thank you, Matt. Right back at the whole Cundill Clan

Tara Sands (VO) 01:33:31

The the Sound Off podcast written and.Hosted by Matt Cundill. Produced by Evan Surminski social Media by Courtney Krebsbach.Another great creation from the Soundoff media company. There's always more@soundoffpodcast.com.