Welcome to this week's Open Mike. I'm Mike and I'll be your master of ceremonies for the day. Feel free to use this space to vent, rant, share a story and/or ask a question of the hivemind.
December 15, 2025
In this 165th episode, Mike chats with broadcaster Ron MacLean about his years hosting Hockey Night in Canada, working with Don Cherry on Coach's Corner, his fallout with Gary Bettman and so much more. This episode is exactly 1:21:45. You can listen to this episode in a variety
Fewer and fewer kids are playing hockey these days. It's a fairly expensive game and there are plenty of other, often safer, options. Neither of my nephews play hockey. It's no longer a surety that a Canadian kid will strap on the skates each week and chase a puck. I
Patty Duke was 69. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at age 16 for her role in The Miracle Worker before starring in The Patty Duke Show.
Wally Crouter was 92. He was the morning man at CFRB 1010 for 50 years, from November 1, 1946 until November 1, 1996.
I will be sitting down later this week with Ron MacLean, long-time sportscaster and former host of Hockey Night in Canada. He'll be dropping by next week to record an episode of my podcast Toronto Mike'd, and I get an entire hour to ask him anything I want. I know
Welcome to this week's Open Mike. I'm Mike and I'll be your master of ceremonies for the day. Feel free to use this space to vent, rant, share a story and/or ask a question of the hivemind.
Garry Shandling was 66. He was the stand-up comic best known for “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show” and “The Larry Sanders Show.”
I was catching up on some work last night when I saw this tweet from TSN1050 host Mike Richards. Watching a Leaf "Classic" game from 1989. I think Damphousse has just finished a 7 minute shift..#WTF? @TSN1050Radio pic.twitter.com/w9Ig5o43xl— Mike Richards (@MikeRichardsTSN) March 24, 2016Immediately, I knew
Joe Garagiola, Sr. was 90. He played for nine seasons in the major leagues and was part of the 1946 St. Louis Cardinals team that won the World Series. He went on to become the play-by-play voice of baseball for NBC for nearly 30 years.
Phife Dawg was 45. He was a founding member of A Tribe Called Quest whose 1991's The Low End Theory and 1993's Midnight Marauders are staples of my personal playlist.
Rob Ford was 46. He was Mayor of Toronto from 2010 until 2014.
I'm not an Abercrombie & Fitch kind of guy. That's partially because I'm old, and partially because I lack style. My idea of dressing up is blue jeans and a clean tee shirt. I don't even like the idea of wearing a shirt with the company's name emblazoned on the
The CBC recently launched a new podcast in the vein of Serial entitled Someone Knows Something. We're four episodes deep, and here are my early thoughts. I also listen to a CBC podcast called The Doc Project. Each week, The Doc Project airs an hour-long radio documentary. They're usually pretty
Welcome to this week's Open Mike. I'm Mike and I'll be your master of ceremonies for the day. Feel free to use this space to vent, rant, share a story and/or ask a question of the hivemind.
In this 164th episode, Mike chats with CBC anchor Mike Wise about his work at the CBC, the future of the public broadcaster and our many digital distractions. This episode is exactly 1:15:20. You can listen to this episode in a variety of ways: Subscribe in iTunesListen via
This morning, at 6:34am, Morgan Sophia arrived. She was 7lb 11oz and perfectly healthy. Mom was awesome and is doing great. James and Michelle met their little sister today and Jarvis gets the honour tomorrow.
I remember watching Goose Gossage play. You simply don't forget a moustache like that. And as a kid, I thought Goose was a pretty fun nickname. Goose went off on Joey Bats Thursday. "Bautista is a fucking disgrace to the game," he told ESPN. "He's embarrassing to all the Latin
In this 163rd episode, Mike chats with 102.1 the Edge broadcaster Kid Craig about the origin of his name, his work at The Wolf, CHFI and Virgin 999 and how things are going at the Edge. This episode is exactly 57:16. You can listen to this episode in
Welcome to this week's Open Mike. I'm Mike and I'll be your master of ceremonies for the day. Feel free to use this space to vent, rant, share a story and/or ask a question of the hivemind.
I just read that Queen Video is closing its historic Queen Street location. Danier Leather is also winding down, and will shutter all locations before you know it. The more things change... One southwest Toronto store seems to defy the laws of economics and still stands at the corner of
As learned from TSM, Rogers axed a number of people at Sportsnet yesterday. The vast majority of those fired worked behind the scenes, and have names you won't recognize, but at least three on-air people you're familiar with are part of these cuts. They are: Hugh BurrillJames CybulskiJamie ThomasHi everybody.
George Martin was 90. He was "the Fifth Beatle" who produced 13 albums and 22 singles for the band between 1962 and 1970.
Twelve years ago, I sang the praises of Hammy Hamster. I remember fondly being mesmerized by Hammy Hamster. Hammy Hamster was the lead character in a television show entitled Hammy Hamster and he was indeed a hamster. Not a cartoon hamster, but an actual hamster. His best friend was G.
