Tuesday marks our first anniversary on Kick-FM. My deepest appreciation is expressed to:
Station manager Rick Baverstock for giving me the opportunity to return to the local airwaves and do it my way.
John Pura of RRC has gone way beyond the call of duty to solve computer and operating board emergencies and make sure we never missed an episode.
People in the Control Room over the past year such as senior producer Captain Audio, Shannah-Lee, Gavin, Josh, Deniz ( back to visit in December!) , Matt, Rudy, Dave, and Spirited Kenny, without whom the show would never be heard. They do what I cannot, handle the technical aspects. Their on-air contributions are also a big part of the success the show has enjoyed.
Kenny in particular handled our live remote from Victoria after the Dragons Den appearance expertly, and his CanAlert series is a seriously great story about public safety. And we became involved with promoting the Brewnos through our ops, and I can't wait till the next event on April 5. When we hope to release our new calendar, "The Girls of Humber College."
Regular guests like CTV's Kelly Dehn, The Sun's Tom Brodbeck, CTV's Stacey Ashley, CTF director Adrienne Batra, PCW's Andrew Shallcross, MPI's Brian Smiley, and Professor Levinski, brought important credibility and insight to our coverage of local news. Politicians like Sam Katz, Harvey Smith, Mike Pagktakhan, Hugh McFadyen, Dr. Jon Gerrard, Ron Schuler, Anita Neville, Joy Smith, Stephen Fletcher, House speaker George Hickes, even good ol' Harry Lazarenko, were willing to face tough questions and in so doing allow us to advance and break important stories.
Yoram and Ron East of CanadaSheli.com gave us perspectives on Middle Eastern affairs and the rise of Anti-Semitism; Catherine Edwards told us the ins and outs of cable TV's lobbying the CRTC; Dan Kroffat told how the economic boom in Alberta was leading to the erosion of affordable housing and the middle class.
The combination of newsmakers and news reporters and analysts, set our program apart in Winnipeg as a must-hear drive-time habit.
Music, sports and entertainment is also part of our formula. Whether it was local music with Kelly Fairchild and Brian Cook, sports books with authors Greg Oliver and Chris Jericho, or yesteryear stars such as Jumpin' Jim Brunzell, Baron Von Raschke, 70's CFL-er Bob Lueck and former Winnipeg Jet Jimmy Mann, a unique approach to the non-news part of the agenda has been an important part of keeping the listeners engaged.
The number of people listening and responding has been amazing.
I appreciate each and every listener, each and every email you send; there is widespread support for our premise that elected and appointed officials must be held accountable for the state of our city and province, and the media's role must be carefully scrutinized to help news consumers evaluate the true facts of a story.
We can have a vigourous dialogue and disagree on important issues, but still together we make sure nothing is swept under the rug by the established interests, or by the neglect of reporters and editors.
I want to thank listeners who follow the show via the Sunday replays and those who listen through our streaming signal, and especially all of you who take the effort from thousands of miles away and despite time zone changes, to catch our offerings, including the men and women in our Military in Afghanistan and overseas..
The support of sponsors like Unicity Taxi, Focal Point Optician, Ameixa Deli, Atlantic Pizza, Canadasheli.com, has kept The Great Canadian Talk Show on the air. That is the plain truth. Please support them as often as possible and perhaps consider advertising on the show as well.
And Frank the Italian Barber too, what a great friend he has become.
One thing doing this show taught me the past year, is that no matter how good the leak, how heated the rant, how many callers I had, the show I just finished was never as important as I thought.
When I would rush home, help to get dinner fixed, unpack my gear, immediately my evening priority was answering important questions from 3 little kids, like "Uncle can you build me a train track pleeease?', "Martin I have a school project, do you have time for a makeover?", and "Marty did you tell Jericho he sucks??".
THAT was important. The times after the show when I spent time with my family and listened to them and helped them with their lives, do homework and play kids games and sports and get pummeled-- the kids made me change gears, stay off the computer, and relax and think how complex it is to raise a family in Winnipeg, which I had not done in over 20 years...
So if you became a regular listener in the last 365 days and want to know who deserves the credit for the show being something you wanted to listen to, it's in no small degree because of a supportive family that I can never thank enough for sacrificing having my undivided time and attention, and taught me a few things along the way about life in the modern world.
