Boiled. Fried. Baked.

  I worked for Newcap Radio from 2008 to 2018. The company was a major player in Canadian media with over 100 radio stations from Newfoundland to British Columbia, making it the second-largest radio conglomerate in Canada behind Bell Media.  The company was founded in 1986 by Harold R. Steele as Newfoundland Capital Corporation. Although it was traded on the TSX, the majority of shares (over 80%) were held by the Steele family. The company was acquired by Stingray Media in 2018 for 530 million dollars.  Rob Steele, Harry Steele's oldest son  was the CEO during the ten years I worked for Newcap. I met Rob a few times during my tenure at Newcap's Cape Breton stations. In addition to talking radio, we chatted about airplanes, not cars.  Rob has his pilots license and has owned a few aircraft, including one of my favorites, a King Air.  I did not realize during those brief chats, that Rob has an all consuming love of cars.  Rob's company Steele Auto Group now boasts of 29 brand

Gord ...  Good morning. Thanks for the email.  No I did not go to, or take in, any of the Calgary Stampede events. Why? Well, I don't like crowds. And many of the events are standing, no sitting. And my legs aren't that great. But the real reason? I have overdosed on concerts and other crowd based events. I know it sounds like a cop-out but due to radio commitments during my broadcast career, I attended or emceed so many (too many) hence my term - overdosed.  I've been to three concerts in the three years I've lived here in the west: two were at the Saddledome, one was at a high end acoustically perfect theatre.  The Chris Stapleton concert at the Saddledome was a family affair; my son Zach, daughter in law Emily, me and Emily's dad who was visiting Calgary.  The John Fogarty concert at the Saddledome was a no brainer. A great artist. And I played every CCR hit during my years on air.  The Herb Alpert concert at the Bella Concert Hall at Mount Royal University was t

According to Edison Research, "for every hour that Americans listened to podcasts in 2021, they listened to 6 and a 1/2 hours of AM/FM radio". This does not surprise me. You have to search for a podcast. You simply turn on radio. Instant gratification. A podcast is one subject stretched out.  Radio is variety. Radio can be a background form of audio. When we hear something interesting, we pay attention and turn up the volume. Suddenly passive becomes active. If you lose attention listening to a podcast, you have to rewind or start over. Radio is more in tune with our fast paced society. Short, interesting material ... when done right. 

My Dad was a Flight Instructor for the RCAF during the war. He was stationed at three different locations, Uplands in Ottawa, St Hubert near Montreal and Whitby east of Toronto; all part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP). Dad didn't talk much about the war. It reminded him of the pilots he trained that were killed overseas. But he talked openly about flying and the aircraft he flew during instruction with the BCATP. He loved the Harvard. He  was fascinated by the history and the experience of flying the Tiger Moth, the older, ever forgiving biplane. And he was impressed by the manoeuvrability of the much larger twin engine Avro Anson. My oldest brother was able to coax more information from him than I could. He admitted he was one of the the RCAF flying instructors at Whitby that was tasked with teaching some of the 'Camp X' crew how to how to fly single and multi engine aircraft for their spy missions in occupied Europe.   From my oldest brother, Ken:

Do I have the attention span of a gnat?  Or the roving curiosity of an international explorer? Or something in between, based on the day of the week or the time of day? Case in point. I started reading John Steinbeck's: Travels With Charley. This is what happened:   A few pages in, he refers to Sag Harbor. So I jump on Google maps and discover it's a community on Long Island; part of the Hampton's. Now I am aware that the Hampton's are an expensive place to live (maybe not so in the early sixties when the book was written). So now I check real estate listings for Sag Harbor, dreaming of living next to the beach in that Long Island community. But now I'm thinking "Isn't there a Long Island in the Bahamas?" And that reminds me of my bucket list: my long term desire to vacation on St. Lucia. So I check out accommodations on that island.  Now my Kindle has gone to sleep. And it's time for lunch. Back to Steinbeck and Charley later. 

AFTER spending most of my adult life on the east coast, you can only imagine my reaction to Calgary weather. It's the sunniest city in Canada. And it's dry. Not drink dry lol. Humidity dry. You can be hot in the sun. And very cool in the shade. Unlike Maritime weather where the higher humidity carries the heat into all crevices. This pic is from Tuesday afternoon around 4:00. It's only the 6th or 7th time I've spotted "dark" rain clouds in the sky during the last eight months. Oh yes, it's rained. But the clouds are usually light grey not dark or ominous. JB 

ADULTING is all about making good decisions. In my case. I'm at the grocery store and the spicy dill pickle chips are on sale. Two bags for five bucks. Or one bag for 2.99. I take two bags then put one back. As an adult I know if I take home two bags I'll eat both in one day. One bag in one day is enough. Right?