CFNY, MuchMusic, Ballard: Here Come the Docs!
I'm not a documentary filmmaker, but sometimes when alone with my thoughts on a bike ride, I fantasize that I am one. I love the way someone like FOTM Alan Zweig can bring a story to the screen. There are so many great stories to share, and perhaps that's why I'm about to record episode 1200 of my podcast Toronto Mike'd.
Heck, a few of those 1200 episode are Mikeumentaries, which are essentiall audio documentaries. There's one on Q107, Joe Carter's HR in '93, Dave Hodge's pen flip, 1050 The Team Toronto, and Harold Ballard. That Harold Ballard Mikeumentary dropped in March 2021. In June 2021, Jason Priestley announced he was directing a documentary on Harold Ballard.
Alan Cross was my guest on Toronto Mike'd last week, and he gave us a thorough update on a CFNY documentary that's currently in development. It's not financed by Corus, but the project has been blessed by Corus. The doc will focus on the origin of CFNY until 1992 or so.
For episode 1021 of Toronto Mike'd, I invited people like Alan Cross and David Marsden for a long chat about the station, from day one to the current day. I dropped this episode in March 2022.
The CFNY documentary is coming, but it seems a MuchMusic documentary is already here. The Generation X docs for us GTA dwellers are coming in droves! " "299 Queen Street West" is directed by Sean Menard and will premiere at SXSW. Prepare yourself for "the story of a scrappy Canadian television upstart from the perspective of the VJs who at the time had no prior TV hosting experience, received no direction, no scripts and broadcasted live across the country". While we wait to see it, here are MuchMusic VJs who have appeared on Toronto Mike'd: