I know I’ve thrown back to this before. I can’t help it. It was such a spontaneous and wonderful moment. Five years ago, it looked like I wasn’t going to be able to meet one of my rock heroes, Tommy Shaw. Free-FM was presenting the band as part of a great line-up at Rock the Park, but no meet-and-greet was planned. The band had things to do. We got to meet and get photos with Toto and Grand Funk but Styx couldn’t make it happen. …
Looking for something different to do last Friday, my pal Jenn suggested we check out the new broadcasting exhibit at Museum London. At the time, we didn’t realize it was the second anniversary of the death of our then-patriarch at Free-FM, Richard Costley-White. Fitting that we had stood in front of his photo at the Museum and remembered what a good guy he was. …
It’s been a year since I started at CJBK. And we’re already launching the second morning show of my career stop there.Â
…
If you’re lucky enough to work at a good place, you develop a sort of short-hand with your colleagues based on your experiences. You might also get involved in some silly things, that make sense to you but look ridiculous to someone else. …
When the crew at Blackburn Radio/Free FM took me to lunch on my last day, one of the sales guys convinced our server that I was retiring! It’s been six months, and retirement’s been pretty good, so far. Â …
We had some good times on the Free-FM morning show, The Big Show with Botten, Blair and Brandt. It only lasted a couple of years, but we worked our tails off and had big fun. …
There was some confusion about my two-week vacation that ended yesterday. I think it’s because I posted on social media this photo of a receipt from my goodbye lunch with colleagues from Free FM on July 17. …
I read an advisory from the Ontario government that just got my goat. Â Earlier this week, the province released its new Strategy to End Homelessness. They’ve said this before and whenever a government says they’re going to end something complex you know it’s just a whole lot of hope and a bunch of money. Â So I randted. Â …
I am officially off duty this week and as such, I leave you with a gallery of photos from Rock the Park. Nothing will match the 2013 version when I met and had a lovely chat with Tommy Shaw of Styx, but it was big  fun nonetheless. …
A bright light in my workday is going to shine somewhere else soon. My colleague Avery Moore has resigned to move on to a new job and eventually a new city with her new husband. …
I try very hard not to crab and whine when it’s hot and sticky but I can’t help but celebrate this stretch of weather that everybody else seems to be complaining about! …
The news releases we get from OPP detachments fascinate me. Many times they have no relevance to our audience and the issues they concern are so small, they’re not newsworthy.  But once in a while one comes in that’s so unusual, it bears some sort of mention. …
As I write this, I wonder how I’ll ever talk on the radio this week! My throat is shot, my neck is killing me, my feet are swollen and I’m grinning like an idiot. Rock the Park 11 was a huge success as one of London’s most-beloved annual events and a fundraiser for an important charity founded by two of the most wonderful people I’ve ever been lucky enough to meet.
…
This is Rock the Park weekend here in London. For those of us on The Big Show on Free-FM it means a five-hour live broadcast from Harris Park followed by band intros, meets and greets and such.  We have appointment with Huey Lewis & the News, Burton Cummings and the band whose big win in our contest got them the right to open the day, Highway Jones. …
Our city’s former Mayor is either a terrific actor or a broken man. In my kindest thoughts, I assume the latter, because his life was built around being the big-talking man with a swagger whom everybody wanted to talk to when he entered a room. Â Not so much anymore. Â On Tuesday he was sentenced to four months’ house arrest and 18 months of probation for doctoring an invoice and taking the money after submitting it to the government as an expense. Â So I randt. Â …
The 1,000,000th photo of a kid with ice cream all over their face sent me over the edge! I love kids. Kids are messy. Stuff happens. But it’s not adorable, like many parents think. So I randt. …
Thursday was one of the weirdest work days I’ve ever had, and that’s saying something! Â …
I’ll surf the web on my smartphone, read a book on my Kobo, pay my bills on my desktop but there’s one technological advancement I won’t accept. I’m drawing the line! And so I randt. …