Sorry it's taken so long to get this thing up and running. Other than doing it at work, which I'm out of right now, I haven't done much of this.
First off I want to thank Mike Boon for helping me get this together. Mike and I didn't get off to a good start. He got me pretty good on his Toronto Mike Blog a while back just after I left Astral Media. Here's what happened. I had set up a comedy bit by Jimmy Fallon about 80's music. What I wanted to do was set up Colleen Rusholme who was starting an 80's show on EZ Rock the following weekend. I was new to all of this and what I didn't know was that all cuts had to be limited to 30 seconds. For the bit to work it had to run 90 seconds.
When the producer cut it at 30 the entire piece just died. I asked what the story was and when I was told I yelled that that was B-S and walked out of the studio. Honestly in my time at Astral that was the only time I lost my temper. Mike just happened to be there when it happened. I have to thank Humble Howard, Ian Grant and Bill Carroll for coming to my defence. I understand why Mike felt and wrote what he did and I don't blame him. I've been called a lot of things during my career but never a Diva. Compared to some folks I've worked with over the years I'm still in pre-school when it comes to meltdowns.
Now, I don't want to turn this blog into a bitch seson about not being with Astral or with Chum anymore. I actually get asked about leaving Chum quite a bit. It's long and complicated but it's something that, at the time, I thought I needed to do.
I still consider the people I worked with at Chum to be friends. I count Marilyn Dennis, Roger Ashby and Jeff Howatt as consumate professionals and some of the finest people I have ever worked with. I'm honoured that I've been asked to attend an awards ceremony for Roger in a couple of weeks.
Since I've been off there have been some great stories that I've been dying to talk about and to get a back and forth going with anyone who reads this. Tiger Woods, Maple Leaf trades etc. In the mean time it's me and my cats. As I'm writing this one of them is trying to lay across my keyboard. Another is sitting on my shoulder and "Leon" just stuck his head into my armpit.
I really need to get a life!
Hi Hodgie ...
I loved listening to you on CHUM and was absolutely crushed when they announced that you left. You made sports interesting to listen to. I can still hear Roger and Marilyn being so awkward that day. I felt they were so unfair to you. It was a change that i'm still not used to as they have not been able to recreate that chemistry on that show. I followed you to 1010 radio. But it just was not the same any more. I'm really happy you are starting a blog. I can almost hear your voice as I'm reading through !! I hope you find the right arena for yourself. You'd be an asset to any show.
Lorin
Pretty insightful post. Never thought that it was this simple after all. I had spent a good deal of my time looking for someone to explain this subject clearly and you’re the only one that ever did that. Kudos to you! Keep it up
Yeah. It's a shame what has happened to Tiger however you nevertheless have to have a high regard for him as a sports man. Just because he is a impressive athlete doesn't mean you have to be keen on him as a human being! There are tons of individuals who I respect for their work but wouldn't want to meet them!