Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Steve Ryan: Toronto Mike'd #1206
Episode Date: February 19, 2023In this 1206th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with CP24's Steve Ryan about his decades of service with the Toronto Police and his transition into media as CP24's Crime Specialist. Toronto Mike'...d is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Canna Cabana, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.
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Welcome to episode 1206 of Toronto Mic'd.
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Joining me today, making his Toronto Mike debut,
is CP24's Steve Ryan.
Welcome to the show, Steve.
Thanks for having me, Mike.
And this is your neck of the woods, right?
You're a Mimico guy.
What neighborhood do you call home these days?
Mimico I call home, and I grew up in the area for the first early years of my life,
and then I came back with my folks, and I'm back again.
You're back again because this is the happening place to be in the GTA, right?
It's cooler by the lake, as we say.
My favorite part of the city always has been.
You know Biff Naked?
I feel like she could be your neighbor.
You ever bump into Biff Naked when you're taking a walk by, I don't know,
Humber Bay Shores or something like that?
Can't say.
That's on your bucket list, right?
I can make that happen, okay? My wife
bumped into her at Costco the other day. So she's out and about in the neighborhood. Okay, so Steve,
this is really awesome. I'm glad you're here. Thanks for making the trek.
I can't wait to talk to you because you had a career and then you transitioned to a new career.
So you're in our living rooms, our coffee shops, our pizza shops. You're all over the place now
on CP24.
But before we dive in,
do you know Peter Gross?
Do you know this name at least?
I know Peter Gross's name very well.
How well do you know Peter Gross?
I feel like,
was he,
like I'm just curious.
You know him because
he was on City TV and CP20,
no sorry,
680?
Or how do you know Peter Gross?
Yeah, I just grew up listening to him and watching him for years,
especially when I was in high school.
I thought maybe you knew him from Woodbine, maybe.
You ever bet on the horses?
Never.
Never.
Okay, well, let's keep that going.
Okay, so real quick background.
The FOTMs listening know this, but just a little background.
I got a note from a guy named Sid and Sid sent in this
clip. What did Sid write? He goes, Hey Mike, I found the TV episode that Peter Gross auditioned
for in your basement and I downloaded it. It was excellent. Peter was perfectly cast. I know I'm
crazy, but I just had to make clips of it. First is the audio from the audition in your basement.
And then the second is the same clip as it appeared in the TV show. So this is called Fear Thy Neighbor, season eight, episode nine. The
episode's called Blood on the Lawn. Peter Gross was in my basement. We were chatting. Then he got
a text from his agent and he said, why aren't you on this audition Zoom? And Peter looks at me like,
oh my God, I messed up the dates. So we did it live, like on the recording. So Peter Gross auditions for this thing live.
Here's how Peter sounded when he auditioned live
while he was on Toronto Mic'd.
You need to replace my mower.
How do you expect me to cut my grass?
Look, Ed, the mower was fine when I dropped it off.
I mean, what is your problem?
What's my problem?
You're my problem.
You need to get me a new mower.
You need to back off.
I didn't do anything to your mower. And if there's damage, need to get me a new mower. You need to back off. I didn't do
anything to your mower. And if there's damage, it probably happened when Helen was using it.
So that's like the audition. We're on Zoom. That guy is playing the other role,
but Peter Gross's audition. He books that gig. He books that gig. I didn't get my 15%,
by the way, but he books the gig. This is how it sounded when it aired on television.
I believe that there might've been something wrong with Lawnmower, but he
wasn't the one who did it. You need to
get me a new mower. Dude, you need to back
off. They're both getting angry, and
the situation is not calming down. I didn't
do anything to your mower, and if there's any damage to it,
it probably happened when Helen was using it.
So there you go. Okay, Steve,
we get to hear how it kind of came together
on my show, and then how it ended
up in reality. But there's a fun fact about peter gross very recognizable voice hey you recognize that
voice anywhere did you know when you were you know in high school seeing peter gross on city tv that
one day you would be on television was this at all like in the back of your mind when you were a young
man no nope not at all just Just policing is all I wanted to do
since the time I was a little kid.
So I just watched the Simpsons episode
where they do these aptitude tests
and all the kids,
and I think this is the one
where Martin wants to be a systems analyst,
and he ends up,
it says you should be a system analyst.
And the crux of this episode
is that Lisa Simpson,
who has all this ambition,
is supposed to be a homemaker.
This was while the test comes back.
But Bart was supposed to be a police officer
and said, oh, you'd make a great police officer.
And it kind of sets him on the right path or whatever.
So did you know in high school even
that you wanted to go into law enforcement?
Yes, it was something I wanted to do since then.
I write in my book that I wanted to do
since I was eight years old.
So I just followed through with that the whole way.
And luckily for me, it turned out
because what I would have done had that not worked out,
God only knows.
Well, we'll never know.
We have to go through that sliding door
and find out what happens to Steve Ryan
if he doesn't become a cop.
But you spent, I mean, I'm looking at you now,
like I'm doing the math in my head
because how long have you been on CP24 now?
Five years.
Okay, five years.
Okay, because you spent three decades
as a Toronto police officer.
I did.
So I started when the Toronto police had a cadet program.
I was 17, so I came right out of high school.
Wow, okay.
Now, I don't know how much you're willing to chat about,
but I have some general questions,
and then we'll see how much you want to say.
But one question I have is,
when you were with the Toronto Police Services,
were you friendly with the voice, Mark Daly?
Yes, Mark always had a special place in the hearts of many police officers, including myself.
So we famously on this program, especially when Mr. Retro Ontario, Ed Conroy drops by.
He's an FOTM Hall of Famer, Steve.
Maybe one day you will be too.
But, you know, we talk about Mark's relationship with police
and how he'd often get tips
and it really helped him do his job
and there was a mutual love in
and it improved the reporting on City News.
I guess it was called City Pulse at the time.
But this is no fallacy.
Mark Daly and the cops had a mutual respect
and love for one another. That is true. That is true. And Mark Mark Daly and the cops had a mutual respect and love for one another.
That is true.
That is true.
And Mark was always open and honest
about things that he reported on,
and he was really a straight shooter
in the eyes of many,
so he was well-respected.
Somebody referenced,
I know you're at CP24,
but this is, of course,
back when, yeah,
I guess originally CP24
was like an offshoot of City TV back before it was picked up and then moved to as a Bell Media station.
But Mark Daly remains on the City News website.
He'll be like the only former reporter who will stay on the website for all of eternity.
Mark Daly is not leaving the City News website.
So nice little tribute to him.
All right.
What can you share with me?
I mean, I was reading up, you know, you mentioned your book.
Maybe shout out your book again, since that's where all the detail will be.
What's the name of your book?
So the book is called The Ghosts That Haunt Me,
and I discuss six of the most impactful homicide cases that I was involved with.
Approximately how many homicide cases were you involved with with the Toronto Police Services?
150 in total. Wow okay does that I mean I'm not going to pry too deep here but
do you take that home with you like what is it like investigating 150 murders?
100% take it home with me and this is this is one of the reasons why I wrote the book
was because
when you're in that,
and I'll call it a mess,
but that lifestyle
of investigating homicides,
everything becomes so normal.
And then when you step away from it,
like when I left the job,
you realize just how unnormal
that type of work,
important work,
noble work,
but man,
it takes its toll on you,
that's for sure.
So how are you doing?
I mean,
at some point in this conversation,
we're going to get into the transition
and why you transition into media.
But I feel like I can answer that myself.
I mean, that's, you know,
150 murders over like a 30-year career.
Man, like that's got to be tough for you psychologically.
So it was 150 murders in 13 years in homicide.
So I did 100.
Wow.
Yeah, so averaging.
And that's not anything special.
You talk to any homicide investigator,
particularly in a city the size of Toronto,
they will themselves be involved in 10 to 15 homicides per year,
in charge of, not to mention the ones that you would help other detectives out with.
But as your own cases go, you'd have 10 to 15 per year.
Wow.
So just before you showed up at my side door,
there was a news breaking that detective,
the actor Richard Belzer,
who played Detective Munch.
And I mean, I know Munch
because he appeared on all these shows,
like Law and Order Special Victims Unit,
Homicide Life on the Street.
He'd make a cameo on The Wire
and stuff. Did you ever watch
these police detective
dramas
and either say,
hey, that's pretty close or, oh, this is
nothing like it really is? I'm just curious.
Did you ever watch these shows
and think it was even a reasonable
facsimile of the actual job?
The only show that I found close to real police work
would be The Wire, which was on HBO.
But as far as the other policing shows go,
I kind of stayed away from them.
Because you're involved in that so often,
every day of your life,
it's something you don't want to go home and watch as well.
But I did come across The Wire,
and I would say that would be the most realistic.
Okay, I love hearing that
because it's my favorite show of all time.
I just whipped out the DVD box set
for those listening on the podcast.
Yeah, and Bunk and McNulty.
So yeah, this is the closest
the Hollywood machine has come to
mimicking the real thing.
Absolutely, 100%.
See, when I look back, I mean mean these murders that you covered and this is
all in your book and everything but there's there's one disappearance i wouldn't mind chatting
with you just a little bit about because i am of an age where there was two actually there was a
couple of uh missing children reports that really like i would say mildly traumatized me because of the age I was and it made the city
seem very, very scary. But Nicole
Moran, like, so this
is before your time at the TPS
if I do the math? Yeah, it's before my
time, but I am very familiar with the case.
Can we just
maybe briefly chat because
still unsolved, right? This is a
cold case. Yes,
she disappeared back in the mid-80s, I believe,
on her way down to a swimming pool from her mom's apartment.
And this is an atopical story, too.
So if you're growing up in Alderwood, this is really close.
Yep, yep.
West Mall and Rathburn, I believe it was.
Yeah.
And, I don't know, do you have any insight into
how can a case like that, you know, such a prominent case like that go unsolved? Because there's another name I'm going to drop on you of another case where it took a little time, a long time actually, but then there was a break in the case. But is there any hope that we ever find out what happened in Nicole?
Is there any hope that we ever find out what happened in Nicole?
Oh, I'd say, and I always said this,
there's always hope that a case will be solved.
And all it requires sometimes is the most minor piece of information being provided to the cops.
And sometimes that's what you're waiting for.
That case is still actively being worked on, by the way.
So what does that mean?
They're still obviously collecting, I guess, all unsolved cases.
You'll always collect tips.
But what does that mean to actively work a case from the mid-80s?
Well, you follow up on all tips.
And there's always tips that come in.
They're not always credible tips, but every tip is required to be followed up on.
And then you review what's already been reviewed, and you review that again,
and you review it over and over again with a fresh set of eyes
until somebody may come across something that has been overlooked or missed.
But oftentimes in a case that's cold for that long,
it just means that there's just no new evidence.
So Nicole Moran, that was, like we said, mid-80s.
So I'm 10 years old.
That was really scary to me to hear that,
oh, you could just disappear one day.
This is how it felt as a 10-year-old anyway.
But the other one that always stuck with me
uh allison perot now this well you maybe will hear from you here but this is a case where
similarly was cold for a long time if you will i don't know if that's the right terminology you
tell me but then there was a break there was a dna break that's right i was a young uniform
constable when the news broke that there was an arrest in her murder.
And it was, I believe, the first time that DNA was used, if I'm correct, to identify a suspect and arrest the guy that they believed killed her.
Okay.
But there's more recently than that.
We had, there was news around Alison Perrault's disappearance, right?
Like more recent history?
With regards to what?
Yeah, I feel like, again,
I should probably be Googling this right now,
but Kings Mill Park, maybe, near Old Mill.
And it could be conflating even stories here.
But the bottom line is that the DNA evidence,
we did find out who killed Alison Perrault.
That's right.
And he's been convicted in a serving life sentence
for that murder.
Her body was found in a park off the old mill.
Yeah, I think that Kings Mill Park,
and I bike it all the time,
and I think about her often
because, again, I was of a certain age
when she went disappearing.
So obviously you've got a book,
and we're not going to spend too much time
on the TPS segment of your career
because we've got to get you transitioned into CP24,
your new role there, which, by the way,
you're on TV all the time.
Like, what's it like when you go for a coffee at Tim Hortons?
Do people go, I know you?
It happens all the time,
and it shows you just how popular CP24 is
and just how many locations it's played in
because we're recognized, not just me,
but everybody that's on that station, wherever they go.
It's because people watch it all the time.
I mean, heck, you're on there
almost as often as my friend Dana
Levinson, who does the CapitalDirect.ca
ads, and I feel like she's
on there every half an hour,
but shout out to Dana Levinson.
What are you willing to share with us about a case
or two that haunts you to this day?
I mean, obviously, whatever you're comfortable sharing here.
But you spent 29 years in law enforcement.
And then you wrote the book, The Ghosts That Haunt Me.
Also a great Crash Test Dummies album, by the way.
Shout out to Crash Test Dummies.
But what can you share with me about any cases that have stuck with you?
I can only imagine they'd all stick with you to some regard,
but what are the ones that you wrote about in the book?
Maybe one or two, if you don't mind.
Well, you talk about cases that paralyzed the city,
and Holly Jones was one.
Now, to be clear, this was not my case.
I was a young detective.
I worked with two seasoned detective sergeants,
and I learned a lot from them.
And when she went missing, I was part of that investigation,
and that case really stunned the entire city
because kids weren't allowed to go anywhere.
Parents were fearful that their child was going to be the next one abducted.
And, yes, I remember the Holly Jones.
Can you remind me, what neighborhood was this?
The Junction.
The Junction, right.
Is this the one where it was someone down the street
like literally pulled her off the street?
Again, I sometimes conflate
these missing cases
but is that the one?
That's the one.
She was walking,
she was 10 years old
and she was walking her girlfriend
home from her place
for the very first time by herself
and this guy, Michael Breer,
decided that was the day
that he was going to abduct and sexually assault a child,
and she happened to be the one that came across his path.
Well, no wonder parents didn't want their kids walking.
You know what I mean?
No one wants you.
That's just, I'm the father of four here,
and I'm just, that's just, oh my God, how horrific for a family.
Well, normally when kids are abducted, they're abducted by a parent.
They're normally familial.
So when you have a confirmed stranger-on-stranger abduction,
that is what frightens people to death,
and that's what makes people change their daily life patterns
because you make special trips to pick up your kid from school
because there's a monster out there,
and everybody's looking for that monster.
Wow, Holly Jones. Now, is there another one
that has never left you? Well, there's six in the book
total that haven't left me. Well, let me say this. All
homicides never leave you. These are just six of the most
senseless, sort of, like just pure innocence.
Children, women who were just killed for
divorcing their husband for for instance uh dr uh alana shek she was murdered by her husband
muhammad shamji he was a neurosurgeon and she was murdered because she was leaving him
and the way that transpired to actually that was my last case that I investigated
before I decided that was enough.
I was going to leave the job.
So how much of a role did that specific case play
in your decision to move on
from the Toronto Police Service Homicide Unit?
Well, I would say that was the final nail in the coffin.
I'll give you a bit of a background.
I was in court with a cold case that my team and I solved
with another young child that was murdered.
It was a cold case.
She was murdered in the mid-90s
and put in a suitcase
and burned up in York Region.
And her body remained unidentified
for years and years.
So we just finished a trial
whereby I spent almost three months in court
talking about a body in a suitcase.
I go back on call
and my team and I get this call and there's another body in a suitcase. I go back on call, and my team and I get this call,
and there's another body in a suitcase, and that was enough for me.
I just couldn't see anymore.
About 150 cases.
I mean, is there support offered by TPS for people in your position?
I mean, it's very private.
You can pass on this, but people you talk to throughout?
Well, I'll say this, that there is mandatory counseling, if you will, that people in homicide,
people in the child pornography units, the emergency task force, those type of things,
there is training, excuse me, not training, there is counseling there for them.
I believe it's still there.
So you had reached this, I guess, this epiphany of sorts,
maybe death by a thousand cuts, bad pun there.
But how did this media opportunity,
like how does the CP24 job as a crime analyst present itself?
So I was quite familiar with many of the media outlets
just because of the nature of the job that I did.
And we were always holding press conferences.
And Cam Woolley, familiar.
Cam Woolley, on his last day at CP24, before he went up north,
he dropped by here and did what I called his exit interview,
and we did a deep dive with him.
So yeah, Cam Woolley's been here.
Yeah, huge respect for him.
So he was the crime guy, the traffic guy with CP24.
And during this last investigation I did, I was back up at the crime scene.
And he was up there covering it.
And he said to me one day, how are you doing?
And I said, I'm done.
I'm done with this job.
He picked up the phone, called his boss.
His boss got on the phone with me.
And that was it.
I had a job.
So I have huge respect for him because Cam
was the sheriff in town and he brought in a deputy, which was me. Most guys are not going to do that.
They're going to say like, find your own, find your own job. I'm the guy. And he was confident,
secure enough in himself that he brought somebody else along. And I have a lot of respect for him
and a lot of gratitude for him giving me the opportunity. In fact, there was great speculation at the time, I remember, when we were chatting that
potentially he'd go into politics, but so far he's withheld the urge to go into politics,
but who knows what the future holds for Cam. But did you notice, Steve, on a lighter note,
that Cam Woolley's intro to the media world was,
I don't know, were you a fan of Degrassi at all?
Did you ever watch Degrassi Junior High?
No, I never did.
No? Okay, well, Degrassi had a movie which was to wrap everything up,
which was called Schools Out.
I mean, if you look in the Toronto Mic'd Archives,
I know that Cam Gordon, a different Cam,
Cam Gordon and I did a very deep dive into Schools Out,
but in schools
out it takes place i guess up north and there's a opp cars used in the shooting and cam woolley
saw these opp cars that weren't i guess they weren't real cars but they were like this was
something that needed to be investigated and he found out it was for this shoot and he ended up
getting in like the uh the vehicle leasing business like
if a production a television or a movie production needs like you know cop cars basically uh cam
moly was involved in that so it's all because he stumbled upon the schools out filming on uh
on just while doing one of his uh while working for the ontario provincial police so he was quite
the entrepreneur for for sure.
And he's a guy that everybody just loves.
You can feel his presence.
He's just got this certain shtick about him.
And yeah, he's a great guy.
He does look a little huggable, right?
Like you look at Cam and you want to give him a hug.
Well said.
Yeah. You want to give him a hug.
Although I gave him this big hug.
He's like, can you let go of me, Mike?
Enough is enough.
Okay.
So that's interesting.
So Cam Woolley, so why do you think Cam Woolley tapped you on the shoulder and said you were
the heir apparent at CP24?
Yeah, good question.
I don't know why he would have been comfortable enough to introduce me to his boss.
And it's a chance he took too because, I mean, look, they did their own due diligence, of
course, but Cam opened that door for me.
And for whatever reason, I don't know, but as I said, I'm forever grateful.
Because you and Cam, now that I've met you and I've spent a good whole, you know, 20 minutes with you, you're different styles, right?
Because Cam is like more of a folksy thing, and you're more of like, I guess, please tell me if this term offends you.
You know, I've offended guests before but hard-boiled.
You ever heard this term
for like a detective?
A hard-boiled detective.
Like when I'm casting,
my Steve Ryan
is my hard-boiled detective
in that film noir thing
I'm filming.
But Cam Wooley
is more of like
a sheriff maybe
in that,
you know,
that Dukes of Hazzard
spinoff or something like that.
You know,
like different styles.
Different personalities.
Different personalities for sure.
Yeah, I would agree with that.
So he goes to these, I guess the CP,
I guess we're purposely,
do you want to name this person?
Like it won't get you in trouble, will it?
It's up to you if you want to name the person.
But somebody at CP24 has to make this decision.
Cam Woolley vouches for Steve Ryan,
the man with two first names.
And you get a phone call?
We go through a series of interviews,
and then it's decided that they'll offer me a job.
I'd accept that job,
and then I tendered my resignation with the Toronto Police.
Okay, there you go.
I mean, this is a career you started at the age of 18.
Is that right?
I didn't even know.
I guess, okay.
And you've seen some, pardon my French,
you've seen some shit because you were a detective sex crimes unit
and advocating for victims' rights while investigating serious sexual crimes
and solving high-profile cases,
and then including the York University rape investigation,
and then you spent the 13 years with the toronto police service homicide unit
so i guess you uh you you give your resignation and you're gonna be uh in front of the camera so
maybe we can chat a little bit uh unless you got more to add in that transition but like what's
that transition like it's not like you just turn a page and all of that baggage from 150 homicide
cases are just like fall off you and you go become like a TV star, right?
Like what's that transition like?
Well, the transition from policing into what I'm doing now, I mean, just being in front of the cameras and speaking live on television constantly was a big change. But as far as speaking about crime, that's something that comes naturally to me
because it was all of my years,
30 years of policing,
where I'm able to look at a crime scene
and analyze a crime scene
because I've seen them all.
I've said this many times,
you can only kill somebody so many ways.
The only thing that changes
is the face and the location.
That's it.
The reasons, there's only so many reasons,
there's only so much evidence,
and there's only so many ways
you can try to escape.
Nothing changes. It's all the same and uh you were there so you have this unique perspective that uh you know shout out to fotm jamie goodfriend he's not going to have that
perspective but you were there for almost three decades and uh that makes you the uh the expert
that makes me comfortable i would say comfortable in in telling our viewers what it is that I'm looking at because I'm quite confident in what I'm seeing because I've done it.
Do you still have contacts on the inside that could keep you abreast of developments that would aid you as a crime analyst on CP24?
Yeah, I'm going to say no, I don't.
Smart Daily did.
Well, sure, and a lot of them do, but the reason
I don't, it's done intentionally because I
don't want to put any of those officers
in a position whereby if something comes out
and I have it, they're going to look at you
and say, you gave it to Steve, which doesn't
happen. I don't ask them for it, and they don't
provide it to me. It's straight up.
Okay, gotcha, gotcha.
Okay, interesting.
Now,
you don't just cover crimes
because I see you, for example, there was
a, I was going to say CP24,
quick aside and then we'll get back to it, but
you know, City Hall
was chaotic for a few years
because of the Rob Ford as
mayor, that tenure, it was. That tenure was a constant chaos.
It became a new normal.
I can still see like Katie Simpson
running down the hallway at City Hall.
And then we got,
as David Ryder told me on Saturday morning,
no story Tory came in
and he promised an end to the circus.
And for many, many years,
things were rather calm and typical
and as boring as a city hall is supposed to be, right?
Because it's supposed to be, you know, pretty boring.
Now, this all changed last, well, I guess a little over a week ago
on that Friday when Toronto Star broke a story
about John Tory and a city hall staffer having an inappropriate relationship.
And then
about an hour later, after the Star published that story, John Tory had a press conference and said
he's resigning. And now he has officially resigned. And there's, you know, we got to figure out what
happens next. But there must be like, not that you would ever root for chaos. Nobody's rooting
for chaos. But see, this is something that makes CP24's viewership rise.
Like Toronto needs to know what's going on in our city.
And suddenly it's not a boring, no-story Tory tenure at City Hall.
Suddenly there's excitement.
So I saw you covering this.
So you're not just covering the crimes.
They'll also send you to City Hall and cover this kind of story.
That's what makes CP24 so unique is that
we are boots on the ground if you will and we chase those stories we chase those breaking stories and
i do other stories as a other than just crime crime is my main go-to but i do other stories
when they're required and i had the um i wouldn't say fortunate or unfortunate timing to be there when this happened to the mayor.
So how often, I'm curious about the nuts and bolts of all this. So you're the crime analyst
at CP24. Is that like, are you on the air X number of days a week? Like, how does it work?
Is it just when a crime goes down, your, I was going to say your pager goes off, but I bet you
you don't carry a pager anymore. Like how is it, how does it work at CP24 and you?
I work five days a week, just like anybody else.
My hours may rotate and I will cover the story of the day at that time.
And if something major breaks and I'm off, I could come in for it or I could do it from home.
So if there's something, a huge story that needs attention right away, I'll do it from wherever I am.
I normally just work a regular five day a week.
Okay, just a regular five day. Okay. Just a regular five, five days a week. Now, five years in, any regrets?
Oh, no, no. I can't say enough about Bell Media, the company that I work for right now,
and the Toronto Police Service as well. But that is not a job that I miss. That is something that
I'm glad I did for the amount of time that I did, but it was time to go.
And it's important to recognize when you're doing that type of work in policing
when it's time to exit.
So, no, I'm very happy.
No regrets.
And how long would you do this for?
Is there a plan to eventually retire?
What is the goal here, to do it for X number of years and then enjoy retirement?
I'm not trying to retire you, Steve.
I appreciate that.
You look younger than me, okay.
There's no plan on retiring.
I mean, it's a job that I enjoy doing.
And as long as the people in the city are interested in what I have to say,
I'll stay as long as I can.
Would you mind, and I realize a lot of your tenure actually is during the pandemic,
so it's a bit unique,
but do you want to name check anybody you work with at CP24?
I just dropped, what did I drop the name?
Jamie Goodfriend, because he's been over a few times, but I know Kayla Williams is back.
I think she might have even changed her name.
I believe we have changed our name actually.
Kayla Tracy, I want to say, but bottom line, she's back from her maternity leave.
Do you want to name check any of the good people that work with you at CP24?
Well, my good friend, Nick Dixon, I can't say enough about his ability, his professionalism as a news anchor, and I would add Nathan Downer as well, two of the finest anchors that I
would say are in the city of Toronto here for sure.
Okay, and Dixon came from CHCH, I believe.
Yeah, he did.
He came from Channel 11, yep.
Channel 11.
That's a whole separate crime that took place.
No, just kidding.
But I didn't like how they declared bankruptcy
and then suddenly a numbered company rose from the ashes
and rehired the same people.
Never smelled right for me,
but that's for another department to investigate there.
But Nick Dixon did do a great job there and he's doing a great job on CP24.
Nick always reminds me of a guy that could easily do the national news,
whether here in Canada or down in the United States.
He's just one of those, he's just got that charisma, he's got that delivery,
and I just got the hugest respect for him.
You know who was on this show fairly recently?
Lloyd Robertson.
Another one.
There you go.
Speaking of guys who could do the CTV National News,
shout out to... And, you know, speaking of excitement in the media,
there was a...
You know, Omar's got the gig now, of course,
but there was the Lisa Laflamme story.
And I won't ask for your opinion on that
because I know you're a happy Bell Media employee,
but it's got to be interesting when you're on the inside
and the big story in the country is a personnel change
at sort of a sister station, if you will.
Yeah, and my motto, something like that,
just keep my head down and do my work.
That's all I do.
I offer no opinion either way on that.
Well, that's good.
That'll serve you well
in your new media career here.
Alright, a couple of gifts for you making
this trek. And then I want to get to know Steve Ryan.
I called you the hard-boiled detective.
We're going to crack that egg and then
get to know you a little bit more personally.
But you mentioned to me
that you grew up in Alderwood
and now you're living in Mimico
and you're pretty much
in the Great Lakes Brewery backyard.
So great sponsors of this program
is Great Lakes Brewery
and they're down the street from the Costco
where my wife bumped into Biff Naked the other day.
And I just want to shout them out
and let you know, Steve,
that I've got some fresh craft beer
you can take home with you today
courtesy of Great Lakes Brewery.
Appreciate that.
Thanks.
Do you enjoy Italian food as well?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Can't say that I don't.
Well, good, because I'm giving you a lasagna.
Somebody in the family will enjoy it, right?
So I, and everybody loves lasagna.
So I do have a frozen lasagna from Palma Pasta for you, Steve,
for making the trek.
It'll be a nice evening tonight.
Beer and pasta. Yeah, tonight. Beer and pasta.
Yeah, seriously. Beer and pasta. I feel like I would like to be a guest on my own show.
Why I want these goodies to go home with me
here. Oh, and to keep you safe,
this is a
flashlight courtesy of Ridley Funeral
Home, which have been pillars of
this community since 1921. They're in
New Toronto here.
Mimico's neighbor.
Yeah, Ridley's have been around since
when my folks first came here from down east.
They lived just off the lake shore.
And I remember Ridley's being a toddler,
going by there with my mom.
So yeah, they've been a staple in this community
for forever.
Absolutely.
And the owner and funeral director there now,
Brad Jones, actually, I co-host a podcast with him called Life's Undertaking and lots of great conversation about life and death and the community and supporting small business. with Brad Jones from Ridley Funeral Home. It's amazing you've been around so long that during your tenure as a police officer,
cannabis went from being against the law to,
do you know cannabis is legal now, Steve?
Yeah, I was made well aware of that just a little while ago.
That's right.
So if you consume cannabis, which is legal,
you won't find a better place to buy it than Canna Cabana.
They won't be undersold on cannabis or cannabis accessories.
A great retail outlet in this fine province of Ontario.
So thank you, Canna Cabana, for your support.
And last but not least, if anyone listening has any antiquated,
end-of-life electronics, don't go throwing that in the garbage.
There's a lot of chemicals and parts
that should not be in the landfill.
And if you go to recyclemyelectronics.ca,
you just put in your poster code where you are.
You can find out the places
where you can drop off your old tech
to be safely and properly recycled.
So thank you to EPRA for that.
All right, Steve, a couple of things.
So I couldn't help but notice, I don't want you to think I've been checking
you out, but you are a fit guy.
Like I'm curious
how do you keep yourself
in such good shape? Well I
work out when I can. Not as much
now as I did back when I was younger
but I still try to maintain some sort of
level of fitness and I always found that it was
always important for my mental health as well, coming off of a hard day at work in homicide,
that you do a good workout, a good run, something I always tried to maintain. So thanks for noticing,
Mike. Yeah, look, I'm here. I've seen you on the CP24. Once in a while, you'll show it off,
right? You're like, I'm going to wear like tight uh t-shirt and make sure make sure people know
i'm keeping myself fit i wouldn't say they were tight t-shirts i would say they just fit me
okay they just fit you and let's just say i i don't i i try to wear my t-shirts just a titch
uh looser than that just for the same reasons okay so you're keeping yourself fit uh do you
participate in any sports i do i play golf and uh up until a short time ago i played baseball
as well,
and I used to play hockey with the Toronto Police Hockey League for years and years and years.
I played junior hockey as well, growing up as a kid.
Okay, so when you're playing with police officers, is there a lot of chirping going on on the ice?
Are the elbows up?
The most competitive group of hockey players you could ever imagine.
And there are some superstar hockey players that are in that league,
when I played anyways.
Wow, okay.
And what position did you play?
I was a defenseman, believe it or not, at my size.
I believe it.
So this morning my boy played at Mimico Arena, and he's only eight.
But he was playing defense for part of the game.
And it's funny because he's just figured out how to skate backwards.
But he's still a bit of a pylon.
Anyway, bless his heart.
He got a goal today.
So shout out to my boy Jarvis who did score.
Scored a big goal in a 6-6 draw at Mimico Arena.
But he's still working on his defensive skills there.
That's where I learned to play hockey. It was at Mimico Arena. Yeah he's still working on his defensive skills there. That's where I learned to play hockey was at Mimico Arena. I was
five or six years old when I first started
playing at Mimico. Somebody told
me it's one of the coldest rinks in
the GTA, but I only have been to
so many rinks that I don't have a good frame of reference
except I spent many, many years at George
Bell Arena because my oldest played
there, and without a doubt, Mimico Arena
is much colder than George Bell Arena was.
Mimico Arena has always been very, very cold.
And it's funny, I was talking this morning to somebody.
We used to do our, back in the day as kids, our outdoor practices at Park Lawn Arena.
And that was cold.
We practiced at six o'clock in the morning.
That's in a bubble now.
Oh, I didn't know that.
Yeah.
We did practices there too during the part of the pandemic.
And yeah, there's a bubble there.
It's still cold though, but it's no longer outdoors.
I played at, so I kind of grew up near Jane and Dundas
and I would play my house league hockey at Rennie Park,
the Swansea Hockey Association, which I believe was,
and I don't know if it still is,
but it was the largest outdoor house league in
the world. I heard that.
Yeah, I think you're right.
Whether that's true or not, we're going to go with it and make up
those tight t-shirts.
That's the rumor. Get a tight t-shirt
to my man Steve Ryan. I'm going to bring you one of my
t-shirts actually. Well, I need a couple
of months to get ready for that t-shirt.
I feel a lot of pressure. I have put on, I think,
although I do bike every single day. i'm trying to stay fit too but uh i'm just like maybe i'm
indulging with too much too much palma pasta and great lakes beer because i i think i need a couple
of months before i put on your t-shirt but i will give me two months okay how's that give me two
months and then i'll put on your t-shirt i'll bring you in all right there you go we have a
deal all right so we got you know you're playing All right, there you go. We have a deal. All right, so we got, you know,
you're playing hockey, you're golfing.
I find golf ruins a good walk.
I don't know.
I think I just had the wrong mentality on it.
Maybe I just was afraid to golf
with people who knew how to golf.
I don't know.
But you golf, you play hockey.
I'm curious about music.
Okay, I have a little song loaded up here
and everything here.
By any chance, to people who work for the police, listen to the police.
I happen to like the police.
I can only speak for myself, but they're one of my favorites.
Okay, look.
Okay, so when you were growing up in alderwood bring down uh bring down gordon
sumner here when you were growing up in alderwood what would be your radio your go-to radio station
of choice chum fm okay can you help me out here this is before it was uh top 40 yeah yeah it was
104.5 still is i think i'd like in, I'm just, to get the years are important
because in like 86 or so,
they go from like
being like the rock station
with QN07
to becoming like
a top 40 station.
Well,
they had a,
they had 1050 chum as well.
So most of my listening
was done on,
on the AM radio.
Okay,
1050.
Now,
do you have any favorite jocks
from 1050?
No.
So you can't shout out like a Jim Van Horn?
No.
No, okay.
I'm thinking of Chum.
Who would be there?
Was Lee Eckley there?
Do you remember any of the jocks that you would listen to on AM or FM, Chum?
No, I don't remember.
That's okay.
I'm obsessed with the details.
I'll bring another place.
So tell me, give me a little idea.
Like when you were making, I don't know,
a mixtape in high school,
give me a taste of what bands or artists
or what genres you were really into.
All right, you ready for this?
I'm ready.
Journey.
Air Supply.
Really?
Yeah.
I am a little surprised.
I thought it'd be more aggro.
No, no.
Those slow, romantic love song music is my thing.
Even when I'm working out, that's what I listen to.
Really?
Yeah.
I don't know.
I'm a little shocked here.
I thought you would be.
Yeah, because, I don't know, maybe there's a stereotype,
but I just figured it'd be a more aggressive sound.
But no, you need to go the
other way maybe because your work is so aggressive and you know you need to kind of go the other way
with your music so you can reset yourself yeah it could be but i do enjoy that slow
i was at the gym the other day and i was listening to air supply the whole time so i finished my run
listening to uh making love Out of Nothing at All.
It was the last song I listened to.
Which is it?
Jim Steinman wrote that,
and he's the guy who worked with Meatloaf
on Bat Out of Hell.
That's right.
Yeah, that's right.
Wow.
Okay.
Can you name drop any other jams that you like?
By the way, often guests return
to kick out the jams of me.
Like, this is something we can consider
for the future.
But maybe give me a,
maybe a shout out other artists or songs that appear on your playlist.
Lionel Richie.
Another guy.
And this is a Sunday morning.
So we could be singing easy like Sunday morning.
Easy like Sunday morning.
Yeah.
Oh,
Lionel Richie.
Okay.
Okay. Dancing on the ceiling.
What else you got there, Steve?
I like a lot of country music as well.
Tim McGraw.
I like to listen to a lot of his stuff.
Kenny Chesney.
All the slow stuff that they play, I like.
Do you ever go to concerts?
Yeah.
My son and I just went to Blue Rodeo.
It's another band that I like.
So we saw them at Ontario Place this past summer
I was there
is this
was Alan Doyle the lead
or maybe that was two summers ago actually
I might have missed him this summer but I do see Blue Rodeo often
and I will tell you you're in some exclusive company here
because Jim Cuddy is an FOTM
that means Friend of Toronto Mic'd
you're now an FOTM Steve Ryan
Friend of Toronto Mic'd, welcome to now an FOTM, Steve Ryan, Friend of Toronto Mic'd.
Welcome to the club.
Thank you.
I'm honored.
Jim Cuddy has been on.
There's a deep dive with him and the keyboardist, Mike Boguski,
who, by the way, is also an Etobicoke guy.
And Mike Boguski's brother, Mark,
went to, I was in my high school class
at Michael Power.
So shout out to Mike Boguski,
who now plays keyboards with
Blue Rodeo, and of course,
Jim Cuddy, founding member and
voice of Blue Rodeo. That's right, went to high school, by the way,
was Michael Power. Really?
Do you know Bill Brio?
I'm trying to get agey. He's a bit older
than you, so you probably miss Bill Brio. I think you're
right between me and Bill, but
okay, Michael Power. Who's the most famous
person who went to high school with you?
Brendan Shannon.
That's an easy one.
Yeah.
Miracle Boy, yeah.
Absolutely.
What about, oh, she's older than you too,
but Cynthia Dale, did you,
I guess you might've missed Cynthia Dale,
but Brendan Shannon is the answer
to that question for sure.
Yeah.
And, you know, to this day,
I ran into Brendan not too long ago. He is
the, despite the fact that he is a hockey legend, superstar legend, he is the most down to earth
individual that you will ever, ever come across. Even today in his role as lead of the MLSC,
he is just a remarkable human being. I'm a big fan, big fan. I did once reach out to MLSE to see if Brendan would pop over,
and I assured them, I was very clear to them.
I said, I have no interest in talking about the Leafs.
I want to talk about Mimico.
I just want to talk about Mimico and growing up and Michael Power and everything.
And they said, politely said no, actually, to my request.
But if Brendan's listening out there,
I still would love to have you over to talk about Mimico and the Blue Goose.
What's the name of the Mimico?
It's Blue Goose, right?
Blue Goose Tavern.
Right.
Okay.
Where I think Dave Boland,
Dave Boland's brother might have worked there.
I'm getting my Mimico boys correct.
But Brendan Shanahan went to power.
I've dropped that fun fact many, many times.
And you knew him, right?
I did.
I played hockey with him.
He was always a lot better than I was, mind you. Shocking. Yeah, no kidding. did. I played hockey with him. He was always a lot better than I was, mind you.
Shocking.
Yeah, no kidding.
Yeah, I played hockey with him.
You a Leafs fan?
I am.
More of a Jays fan than a Leafs fan,
but yeah, Leafs fan.
What's the next,
what is the next Toronto professional team?
X, let's move the Argos out of this one
because there's only eight teams in the CFL.
Let's put Argos aside.
What's the next professional Toronto team
to win a championship in your guesstimation here,
as you guess?
Blue Jays.
Okay.
Maybe this year.
Maybe this year.
Okay, I'm excited.
Now, about the Leafs here,
we just made a big trade.
We got Ryan O'Reilly,
and we shored up.
I'm curious,
do you think we might actually win a round
for the first time since 2004?
I think that the Leafs have as good a chance as ever
to win that first round,
given the trade that they've made just recently, for sure.
Now that means, because it's probably going to be
Tampa Bay in the first round,
and although we've come close, I mean, you know, game seven,
but haven't been able to, you know, game seven, but haven't been able to climb that mountain. So
Leafs should be able to
beat the
Lightning in the first round.
I think they're in as good a position as they'll ever be
to do it. I think it's going to depend on their goaltending.
If their goaltending is strong, or
even close to strong, I think
they might have a good shot.
Well, actually, that's what concerns me. I mean,
Ryan O'Reilly, who I would have loved Ryan O'Reilly
maybe if we got like Ryan O'Reilly from like three or four years ago,
but that's another story.
I feel like my worry is the goaltending,
and I feel like showing up the D-line would have better served this team
for a playoff run, but at least we're adding parts and going for it here.
This window is not going to be open forever.
And I think for Dubas,
I don't know how Shanahan will survive,
but I feel for Dubas,
I feel like a first round out,
if we go out in the first round this year,
I don't know how he keeps his job.
That's going to be tough for sure.
And he's trying.
I mean, he's doing the best he can.
This deal he pulled off is a go for all or nothing
sort of deal in my opinion.
And as you said,
what type of player that they traded for
are they going to get?
Are they going to get the guy from a couple of years ago,
or are they going to get the new guy?
Yeah, we don't want the new guy.
We looked good last night, but we played a very bad Montreal team here.
Okay.
Wow, I didn't know you went to power.
That's kind of exciting.
So we have that in common, which is cool.
So I'm the last graduating class
from that original location
because the very next year
they move it to
near Centennial Park there.
Okay.
Yep.
So I did my five years
up on Bloor Street there.
And then they split,
the school split,
went to Father Redmond,
which was over in,
down on Valormo
and Alderwood.
But I happened to stay up
at the North Campus.
Okay.
I know that campus well.
It's funny,
when I talk about that campus, because, you know, it's gone, because it's condos now. So it's like, we're in that step up, we can't go Okay, I know that campus well. It's funny when I talk about that camp
because, you know, it's gone
because it's condos now.
So it's like we're in that step up.
We can't go back and take a look at stuff.
But when I describe it,
because it's funny because like,
okay, I'm like, yeah, there was Michael Power.
There's St. Joe's, okay?
And then you had Centre Portable
and you had North Portable
and you had a gym in a portable.
And there was also a gym at Michael Power.
It was a campus.
Like, I went to U of T after Michael Power,
and I feel like I was, like, prepared for the campus living
because I went to Power.
It was, like, wild.
And then you had the little house with the chaplains.
The chapel, yeah.
That was the most overwhelming day of my life,
was going to high school in grade 9 for the very first day
because that place was
you know as a young teenager it appeared huge and very very confusing
absolutely and i actually remember that feeling because uh i didn't have like an older brother
or sister to give me a heads up on what was going on so yeah you go from your primary school where
i went like near jane and blue i went to primary school and then you're going to this this crazy campus and you're like oh I got a class and I got like this geography class in
North Portable and just trying to map it all out it was just insane in that campus here's how
how confused I was back then I can tell you that I had a Walkman on walking through Center Portable
first day listening to David Bowie's Modern Love and I I was thinking to myself, I am completely lost here.
Where am I going? But I remember that exact moment,
because I just felt like I'm completely out of
my norm, and I had no idea
where I was or what I was doing.
I have memories of the same
feeling, and I had my Walkman on,
but I think at grade 9, I
really was obsessed, even though
it was new to me, even though the album came out in late
79, I think, but London Calling by The Clash. I was obsessed with this it was new to me even though the album came out in late 79 i think but uh london calling by the clash like i was obsessed with this cassette and i would just kind
of go over it over over again until uh until until i switched it up for some public enemy but uh
i remember this very very well in fact okay so i was uh one of my best friends in junior
kindergarten i went to a different school for jksk in grade one. And my best friend there was a guy named Joe.
And then we drifted apart because I switched schools.
And then we drifted apart.
And then grade nine, I think I had a gym class
and I'm lined up.
And then right beside me is this guy.
And he goes to me, he goes, do you remember me?
And I look at him and he looks familiar to me.
He goes, it's Joe from St. Cecilia's.
And it's like, hey, Joe, we've been friends ever since.
In fact, I was at lunch with a client on Friday,
and coincidentally, Joe's wife was there.
And I took a quick snapshot with Joe's wife.
And Joe, coincidentally, because this was not planned,
also now lives in New Toronto.
So there you go, Steve.
Everything comes full circle.
You know, being on television too,
what that gives me the opportunity to do
is meet people that I hadn't seen in years and years and years
because they will recognize you.
And I ran into an old baseball coach
that taught me when I was seven years old,
honked his horn one day when I was on the street.
Shout out to Bill Peel, that's his name.
And I would never have got that opportunity
to come across him again had I not been on TV. So I across a lot of people in the over over the years that i that i've known
and like i said you're on tv a lot like i mentioned to my mom i said uh steve ryan is coming over and
my mom said like he's in you know you know what it's like when you you're selective memory or
whatever but she's like he's on tv all the time. Oh, she's right.
You're working hard here.
You sure you're only working five days a week?
Just five days a week.
Yeah, it might seem a lot more perhaps,
but nope, just five days a week, nine hours a day.
Okay, okay.
Quickly here, because now that we got to know you a little better with the finding out you went to power
and finding out what kind of music you're into,
Air Supply, I would have lost a lot of money on a bet
if somebody said that Steve Ryan's listening to, when he works out, he's into. Air Supply, I would have lost a lot of money on a bet if somebody said that Steve Ryan's listening to
when he works out, he's listening to Air Supply.
Do you have
a favorite movie?
Not a big movie guy,
but Fried Green Tomatoes comes to
mind. Really? Yeah. I lost another
bet, Steve. Yeah, Meet Joe Black,
I think with Brad Pitt. Wow!
You're the guy. Full of surprises, man.
Honest to God.
Hard-boiled detective listening to Air Supply and watching Meet Joe Black.
And the Lighthouse, I think.
Oh.
Willem Dafoe.
No, no.
Boathouse.
The Boathouse.
Okay.
The Boathouse. All those love stories, they attract me.
What about the Notebook?
Notebook's another one.
Thank you for all of those see that's
the big one so when i started dating so um when i started i'm just gonna be 10 years soon i think
in june actually i know in june in june i'm 10 years married this is my second marriage though
but when i started dating my wife uh like that was a movie she had on v i think it was maybe
it's a dvd but she's like we let's watch The Notebook. I avoided it like the plague.
I'm like, I just could tell by,
I could tell this was going to be some kind of,
you know, romance movie that I'd have no interest in.
But of course, you know, I said, of course,
let's watch this notebook that you like so much.
I got to say, pretty good.
You know, don't judge these books by its cover.
Notebook's pretty good.
That was James Garner, right?
Yep, yep, yep.
And they are the type of movies that I can actually
just find myself completely emerged and watch them.
Another one that comes to mind that's real life,
not so much a love story,
My Life with Michael Keaton.
Very, very sad.
He's dying and he's teaching his son
how to be a good man as he's dying.
And it's a tearjerker for sure.
And that's the type of movie that I like.
Now, I'm not going to be your armchair psychiatrist here,
but is it possible with this music that you're listening to,
Air Supply, and these movies that you're describing,
that basically you're using these as an outlet
because, you know again
i said it earlier but you've seen some shit and you need to channel that into like a healthy manner
like uh like a like a valve almost like the steam has to escape or it's going to blow and you can do
it through the music and the movies you know i never thought of that but now that you mention it
there has to be some reason why i am pulled in that direction towards love songs and love stories.
I'm sure of it because, you know, when you see,
I mean, I can only imagine what you've seen in your job.
I had, who did I have?
Obviously, I won't use his real name
because he doesn't want it used on the air,
but he was known as Bob Callahan, the Callahan man.
This was a radio guy who went into the police
and did some very difficult work like you did.
And after we record, I'll tell you his real name.
But Bob Callahan, the Callahan man, you know, similar story.
I mean, what you're witness to in your job,
because you're not a sociopath,
you do need a healthy way to release that
because otherwise you could never have done 13 years.
You sure couldn't have done 29 years at the police services.
And the fact that you found, you could never have done 13 years. You sure couldn't have done 29 years at the police services. And the fact that you found, you know, you can work out to air supply and watch the notebook.
Like you basically found a healthy release for something that you can't do on the job.
Yeah, I think it's important because when you do that type of work, and I'm only speaking for myself, of course,
but I'm sure if you talk to any homicide or sex crimes investigator, for that matter,
it plays on you and it gives you,
you almost feel like the world has just gone to hell in a handbasket
and you're always working on trying to find something
that is good in this world,
whether that is the sunset,
whether that is birds chirping in the trees.
It's a constant, I wouldn't say battle,
but it's a constant struggle to appreciate that stuff because you're surrounded just by crap all the time.
So perhaps, you know, maybe you solved my problem there.
Maybe that's why I'm listening to ear supplies often.
Yeah, no, I'm certain.
And I'm an accredited armchair psychiatrist.
Okay.
And that is my diagnosis of you.
Yeah.
And thank you for your service, though, because doing that for 29 years, like I said, it's 150 homicide cases that you worked.
Wow, okay, and now you're on the other side.
They're working for the media, but you're still covering some of our – you're not out there covering like, oh, this woman turned 100 and there was a big celebration.
You don't get the happy-go-lucky stories.
Well, I think part of my shtick is, as you said, I'm that serious.
Hard-boiled, I said, Steve.
Hard-boiled.
Okay, hard-boiled.
Not an insult, by the way.
I believe you.
Thanks for that.
I can get those stories at times, but they don't come up often for me.
I usually go the other way.
Absolutely.
Yeah, well, if you're a crime specialist
with that experience,
he's not going to be the guy you send
to the big celebration party thing, I think.
But okay.
All right, my friend.
You've just made your Toronto Mike debut.
You are going to get some gifts
for making this appearance.
I am now curious how this was for you. Did
you have any idea what Toronto Mic'd was or what the heck happens over here?
I didn't. I have to be honest. I started to research you once you reached out to me and
I was quite impressed with the list of people that have come in here to talk to you. And
I thought, what a great way to promote this community as well because i know you
speak highly of uh this south etobicoke community love it yeah i could tell and it's it's important
because it is a very i think it's a big part of the city that i think it's untapped as well i
think there's a lot down here whether it's real estate or business opportunity just my opinion
i think there's a lot of uh room for growth here in south adobo
i agree 100 with everything you just said uh one of my and again we're not too far from sam
colonel samuel smith park which i you know i love love going there with the kids and also we're
basically right on the waterfront trail here which i think is one of the gems i mean if i want to go
right now to i don't, who will I pick on?
Sugar Beach, okay?
I'm like, let's go to Sugar Beach.
I got a path basically from my home to Sugar Beach, and I never have to deal with, you know, the, you know, 18 wheelers or whatever and all that.
You know, I don't even have to ride alongside cars.
Like, we have a great bike route here that can take you east or west.
I always compared Lakeshore Boulevard West to Queen Street East and the beaches.
It's very similar in a lot of ways.
It just hasn't caught on, hasn't got that spark that the beaches has.
But I think it's coming.
Well, they did.
Somebody told me that when the coffee time left, that was the sign of change to come. And the coffee time
did leave several years ago. But I will say, I enjoy
the character of Lakeshore. I kind of
like the way it is. It's got a little
bit of that Parkdale character
that I remember from my youth
or whatever, and interesting people.
I just had my hair cut
by Andy at Your Neighborhood
Barbershop, which
is right there in New Toronto on Lakeshore.
And shout out to Andy.
He's a good guy.
And I dig the hood here, man.
And I love the parkland nearby,
and I love going to Mimico just in case I can spot FOTM Biff naked.
You never know when she's going to be out walking her dog.
Never, ever know.
I enjoy walking the Lakeshore myself,
just randomly walking because it's got
this vibe to it and it's hard to describe
unless you've either been here a lot of years
or you grew up here. It's got this, it's got a
unique vibe to it in and of itself and you feel
it, I feel it and it's a great spot for me
to just go for a walk.
Amazing.
Anytime you want to go for a walk, get a
get a coffee or something, you let me
know, Steve. We're buddies now and I could be in your neighborhood in probably a five-minute bike ride.
I appreciate that.
And you should come back and kick out the jams, because I would dig kicking out some air supply with you.
It would be great fun.
Maybe one day you come back and we just play music and talk about music.
Let's do that.
You just committed to it, Steve. I recorded that.
music and talk about music.
Let's do that.
You just committed to it, Steve.
I recorded that.
And that brings us to the end of our 1,206th show.
You can follow me on Twitter.
I'm at Toronto Mike.
Steve, is it at Steve Ryan CP24? It is.
Okay, good.
Follow Steve on Twitter.
Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery
are at Great Lakes Beer.
Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta.
Recycle My Electronics are at
EPRA underscore Canada.
Ridley Funeral Home are at Ridley FH.
And Canna Cabana are at
Canna Cabana underscore.
See you next week.
Checking the calendar to see who's next.
John Scholes,
formerly of Q107.
He's kicking out the jams.
Speaking of kicking out the jams.
Then I have Rob Proust from The Spoons
with Bob Ouellette for an episode of Toast.
And then we have...
Who do we got after that?
Mark Saltzman makes his Toronto
Mike debut.
See you then.
I've been under my skin for more than
eight years. It more than eight years
It's been eight years of laughter and eight years of tears
And I don't know what the future can hold or do for me and you
But I'm a much better man for having known you
Oh, you know that's true because
everything is coming
up rosy and
gray. Yeah,
the wind is cold, but the smell
of snow won't speed
a day. And
your smile is fine, and it's just
like mine, and it won't go
away. Cause
everything is
rosy and green
Well I've been told
that there's a sucker born
every day
but I wonder who
yeah I
wonder who
maybe the one who doesn't realize
there's a thousand shades of gray
Cause I know that's true
Yes I do
I know it's true
Yeah
I know it's true
How about you?
Are they picking up trash
And then putting down ropes?
And they're brokering stocks
The class struggle explodes
And I'll play this guitar
Just the best that I can
Maybe I'm not
And maybe I am
But who gives a damn
Because everything is coming up rosy and gray.
Yeah, the wind is cold, but the smell of snow warms me today.
And your smile is fine, and it's just like mine, and it won't go away.
Because everything is rosy and gray.
Well, I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in Spain And I've kissed you in places I better not name
And I've seen the sun go down on Chaclacour
But I like it much better going down on Chaclacour But I like it much better
going down on you
Yeah, you know that's true
Because everything
is coming up
rosy and green
Yeah, the wind is cold
but the smell of snow
warms us today
And your smile is fine
and it's just like mine
and it won't go away
cause everything is
rosy now
everything is rosy
yeah everything is
rosy and great
yeah guitar solo