A few days ago, Tom finally got to speak with Canadian guitar legend Rik Emmett of Triumph.  Rik was a bucket list guest for Tom, who could hardly contain himself!

There’s a very special reason why Rik was talking to us. 

          On Monday, May 5, 2025 Coalition for Music Education will celebrate Music Monday with a cross-country sing-along to raise awareness for music education. The annual event celebrates the unifying power of music as thousands of Canadians join in singing and performing the Music Monday anthem at their schools and other community events. Hold On the uplifting, inspirational song by classic Canadian hard rock power trio, Triumph has been chosen as the 2025 Music Monday anthem. 

 

          Rik tells us about the creation of “Hold On” 46 years ago and how it marked a change in his artistic growth as well as the fortunes of the band.

          He also discusses the importance of music education, a cause that is deeply personal to him.

          You can see Rik perform in person at a special “Intimate Evening with Rik Emmett” – Friday, March 21 at Black Bellows in Collingwood Ontario.  It’s an interactive evening of performances and storytelling, hosted by Brent Jensen of the “No Sleep Til Sudbury” podcast.

          Rik’s excellent memoir, “Lay It On The Line”, is now available. 

This special bonus episode of Famous Lost Words is brought to you by Storyphora.  Storyphora is a media company that offers communications solutions, recently expanding to include digital content like promotional video clips, video podcast production, social media design, and much more. Go to Storyphora dot com for details.   

This episode of Famous Lost Words is dedicated to legendary Canadian broadcaster John Donabie, who passed away a few days ago.  John’s interviews have been prominently featured on Famous Lost Words and he also joined us on a couple of occasions to share his incredible stories.  And great broadcaster and a wonderful man, John Donabie will be missed.

For this, the last episode of season 10, we have quite a collection of artists.  First up is a rather feisty 1988 interview with Canadian legend Gordon Lightfoot.  We already have lots of Lightfoot content in the archives, which we put together for our tribute to him upon his passing in 2023 – one of our most listened to episodes.  But we came across this 1988 interview just a few days ago – and it’s a good one.  Gord is looking back on his career as he approaches his 50th birthday.  But Lightfoot is pretty spirited in this chat with Gord James. 

          Next up is a fascinating chat with Todd Rundgren.  We’re date stamping these clips at about 1979 as Todd talks about his solo music, his work with the band Utopia and his fascination with new technology, including the early days of music videos.  This guy’s mind never stops.

          Then we have an early ‘80s chat with Pat Benatar as she chats with broadcaster Ingrid Schumacher about life on the road and the price of fame.  Plus, we have a special bonus cut as Pat ponders her long-term influence on other aspiring musicians. 

          And we finish up with some Cool Song Facts, and we run the gamut here – with information spanning centuries, from Beethoven to Paul Simon to Earth Wind & Fire.

Famous Lost Words, hosted by Christopher Ward and Tom Jokic, is heard in more than 100 countries worldwide and on radio stations across Canada, including Newstalk 1010 Toronto, CJAD 800 Montreal, 580 CFRA Ottawa, AM 800 CKLW Windsor, 610 CKTB St Catharines, CFAX Victoria, AM1150 Kelowna and 91x in Belleville.  It is in the Top 20% of worldwide podcasts based on the number of listeners in the first week.

This week, a real cross section of artists, which speaks to the depth and diversity of our interview archive. 

          First up is Pink Floyd.  We have a short but interesting chat with David Gilmour from 1984 and he promotes his solo work, but also wrestles with the past and future of Pink Floyd.  Then we have an awesome 1979 chat with legendary Canadian producer Bob Ezrin as he talks about Pink Floyd’s The Wall – and as many fans know, Bob was instrumental in the creation of that album – and he has lots to say about it – from the development of the theme, to Roger Waters’ LACK of musical imagination (at least at the outset) to the planning of the ambitious tour that was to follow.  Fascinating stuff from a guy who’s NOT afraid to share his opinions.

          Then we have a chat with Chad Kroeger and the guys from Nickelback from 2014.  This was around the time that the whole backlash against them was just starting to heat up.  They address it head on – and do a very good job too!

          Then we travel back to 2004 with Gwen Stefani, upon the release of her first solo album.  Gwen is a bundle of energy who cannot be contained – and you can hear the passion, emotion and even insecurity that drives her. 

          We also have a short but fun segment with the Black Eyed Peas from 2005 – a boy did THEY ever own the charts in that decade. 

          We also remember the classic ‘60s Girl Groups, with cool facts from the amazing book “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” Our favourite story is about the vocal group that you’ve likely heard thousands of times over the years, but never knew by name. 

Famous Lost Words, hosted by Christopher Ward and Tom Jokic, is heard in more than 100 countries worldwide and on radio stations across Canada, including Newstalk 1010 Toronto, CJAD 800 Montreal, 580 CFRA Ottawa, AM 800 CKLW Windsor, 610 CKTB St Catharines, CFAX Victoria, AM1150 Kelowna and 91x in Belleville.  It is in the Top 20% of worldwide podcasts based on the number of listeners in the first week.

2024 marked the 40th anniversary of MuchMusic – which, for our non-Canadian listeners, was essentially Canada’s version of MTV.  And while MTV had a profound impact on the music industry, MuchMusic arguably had a massive impact on Canadian culture.

          So, we’re going to spend a bit of time talking about MuchMusic – and since Christopher is the original Much veejay, it’s kind of a no brainer. 

          In fact, most of Tom’s “in-depth” research for this episode came from Christopher’s excellent book, “Is This Live: Inside The Wild Early Years of MuchMusic, The Nation’s Music Station”.  So in other words, Christopher did ALL of the heavy lifting for this episode!

 

 To help us tell the Much story is one of our favourite people – and a MuchMusic veejay from the early years – Laurie Brown!  Laurie explains about the freedom accorded to her and the other veejays in creating compelling content (while staying within the confines of a miniscule budget) and the camaraderie of the Much family.

 

Other highlights:

-        Laurie talks about interviewing music legends like David Bowie

-        Christopher tells a story about an unknown big-haired band that made their first Canadian TV appearance on his show City Limits.  That band was Bon Jovi.

-        Audio from Duran Duran, who couldn’t believe their luck as they flew to exotic locations to film the videos for the Rio album. 

-        We’ll talk to one British band that looked back on some of the early videos… and cringed!

-        Laurie and Christopher discuss dealing with the absolute mayhem of the legendary and chaotic “Intimate & Interactive” interviews.

-        Peter Gabriel and David Bowie, who themselves released game-changing videos, discuss the promise of music videos as an art form.

-        Former MUCH veejay Bill Welychka talks about the responsibility and pressure of interviewing major artists – especially to the fans of those artists.

-        Christopher & Laurie explain why they had to stop playing the most popular video on the station.

-        We discuss how MUCH provided the connective tissue between Canadians, their culture, and the musicians that benefitted from exposure on MuchMusic.

All in all, it’s a MUCH-needed deep dive into the early days of The Nation’s Music Station!

 

Famous Lost Words, hosted by Christopher Ward and Tom Jokic, is heard in more than 100 countries worldwide and on radio stations across Canada, including Newstalk 1010 Toronto, CJAD 800 Montreal, 580 CFRA Ottawa, AM 800 CKLW Windsor, 610 CKTB St Catharines, CFAX Victoria, AM1150 Kelowna and 91x in Belleville.  It is in the Top 20% of worldwide podcasts based on the number of listeners in the first week.

Today, we’re celebrating what would have been the 90th birthday of Elvis Presley.  There’s been a lot written and said about The King over the years, but in this episode, we’re going to let Elvis do a lot of the talking.  We have some amazing audio from the early years.  Most of these clips are from the mid to late ‘50s – and they capture a lot of the excitement – and the freshness of Elvis

Plus we have clips from the people who were there…

-        his label mate Carl Perkins talks about touring with Elvis and Johnny Cash before any of them were well known. 

-        Dick Clark describes how Elvis was seen as a sort of villain compared to the likes of Pat Boone

-        Ed Sullivan explains why Elvis could only be shown from the waist up on his third visit to his show.

-        His collaborators in the late ‘60s explain the stories behind his comeback hits.

All of these clips are from around the time that these events happened – so they capture history as history was being made. Plus, we’ll hear from some of the people who worked with Elvis over the years who will tell the stories behind some of his biggest songs.

     Also, Tom asks Christopher to explain how a trip to Graceland in 1987 with a bunch of Elvis fans led to the creation of “Black Velvet”, which of course was a massive worldwide hit for his musical partner and friend Alannah Myles. 

     And best of all, we hear from the two people who knew Elvis best – his daughter Lisa Marie (in a 2005 chat) and his widow Priscilla (from 2006).

 

Famous Lost Words, hosted by Christopher Ward and Tom Jokic, is heard in more than 100 countries worldwide and on radio stations across Canada, including Newstalk 1010 Toronto, CJAD 800 Montreal, 580 CFRA Ottawa, AM 800 CKLW Windsor, 610 CKTB St Catharines, CFAX Victoria, AM1150 Kelowna and 91x in Belleville.  It is in the Top 20% of worldwide podcasts based on the number of listeners in the first week.

This week, part three of our celebration of ‘70s rock!

Our previous two episodes consisted of interviews that, for the most part, had not been heard on our show before.  But we realized that there were also a number of artists that people were asking about… like Aerosmith, Heart, April Wine… and to the chagrin of Christopher and the joy of Tom… KISS!

What we’re going to do is take highlights from those previous episodes and play the best parts. And we’ll tell you where you can find the original interviews.  It’s a continuation of the ‘70s rock series but almost like a greatest hits package.

Included in this episode is the brutal rivalry between Aersomith and KISS, which at times got pretty ugly.  Plus we have Steve Miller from his heyday and Tom Petty from around the time of his breakout album, Damn The Torpedoes.

Lost Words, hosted by Christopher Ward and Tom Jokic, is heard in more than 100 countries worldwide and on radio stations across Canada, including Newstalk 1010 Toronto, CJAD 800 Montreal, 580 CFRA Ottawa, AM 800 CKLW Windsor, 610 CKTB St Catharines, CFAX Victoria, AM1150 Kelowna and 91x in Belleville.  It is in the Top 20% of worldwide podcasts based on the number of listeners in the first week.

          We start this episode with Tom telling the story of how he almost got fired from his job – and how it almost meant the end of Famous Lost Words before it even started!

Then we continue with our series on ‘70s Rock.  Last week we featured Boston, The Doobie Brothers, Jethro Tull, BTO and others. 

This week, more from that era, including a great series of interview clips with Mick Jones and Lou Gramm of Foreigner, with the latter taking a big swing at the former’s dictatorial ways.

          Then a very interesting interview with Journey, right from the time when they are about to take off – but haven’t yet had a major hit.

          We also have another early career interview with ELO – and the struggle to marry classical and rock and make it work in a live setting.

          Plus, Dennis DeYoung from Styx explains how a Chicago disc jockey changed the fortunes of that band.

          Then, in a clip from the mid ‘70s, Steve Priest of Sweet tells us how they changed their image before they hit North America – and explains the story behind Ballroom Blitz.

          And for Canadian rock fans, we have Prism and Trooper telling us about ambitious plans, their biggest hits, and the toughest Canadian audience to play for.

Lost Words, hosted by Christopher Ward and Tom Jokic, is heard in more than 100 countries worldwide and on radio stations across Canada, including Newstalk 1010 Toronto, CJAD 800 Montreal, 580 CFRA Ottawa, AM 800 CKLW Windsor, 610 CKTB St Catharines, CFAX Victoria, AM1150 Kelowna and 91x in Belleville.  It is in the Top 20% of worldwide podcasts based on the number of listeners in the first week.

We’ve been doing this show for almost 7 years and we’re finally doing series of episodes on that much maligned and much beloved genre… ‘70s rock!

This week, we have classic interviews with the likes of Brad Delp, the phenomenal lead singer of Boston, who we lost far too soon.  Delp talks about his humble beginnings as well as the obsessive leader of the group, Tom Scholz.

We also have some great clips from the Doobie Brothers.  One is from their mid-‘70s heyday, one is with Michael McDonald – and then we have Tom’s 2018 conversation with guitarist Patrick Simmons.  And there’s a very good reason you haven’t heard this interview sooner… but it’s an embarrassing one (for Tom)!

Also, Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull talks about the very funny origin of the band’s name and the story behind their first hit

And we take care of business with one of the most popular bands in Canadian history - BTO!

And Christopher talks about one of the greatest musical experiences of his life – and it happened just a few weeks ago! 

Lost Words, hosted by Christopher Ward and Tom Jokic, is heard in more than 100 countries worldwide and on radio stations across Canada, including Newstalk 1010 Toronto, CJAD 800 Montreal, 580 CFRA Ottawa, AM 800 CKLW Windsor, 610 CKTB St Catharines, CFAX Victoria, AM1150 Kelowna and 91x in Belleville.  It is in the Top 20% of worldwide podcasts based on the number of listeners in the first week.

This week, an excellent 2005 interview with Roger Hodgson, as he reflects on the glory days of Supertramp, his post-breakup years and his relationship with his former bandmates.  Roger also tells the very entertaining stories behind two of Supertramp’s biggest hits.
            We also have Tom’s chat with the wonderful Natasha Bedingfield from the early 2000s.  Natasha is a very good singer and songwriter – and we do a pretty deep dive in a very short time.  And at least once per show, we usually mention how likeable an artist is – and Natasha is this week’s MLA – Most Likeable Artist.
            Last season, we did a couple of in-depth episodes about Soul & R&B music – and they were a lot of fun.  Since then, we have discovered another half-dozen soul artists that had massive hits in the ‘70s – and so we’ve put a bit of a highlight reel together to put the spotlight on these artists that no longer get the attention they deserve.
            And finally… what was it like to live in the shadow of a Beatle?  We have two fascinating interviews – one with Yoko Ono – talking specifically about the haunting song that she and John Lennon were working on the night of his death.  And we have Julian Lennon talking about the complicated relationship he had with his dad, and how he and Yoko finally managed to make peace.  These are short clips, but very revealing.

 

Famous Lost Words, hosted by Christopher Ward and Tom Jokic, is heard in more than 100 countries worldwide and on radio stations across Canada, including Newstalk 1010 Toronto, CJAD 800 Montreal, 580 CFRA Ottawa, AM 800 CKLW Windsor, 610 CKTB St Catharines, CFAX Victoria, AM1150 Kelowna and 91x in Belleville.  It is in the Top 20% of worldwide podcasts based on the number of listeners in the first week.

First up this week is an extraordinary 1992 interview with Lindsey Buckingham.  Lindsey recently turned 75 and is still creating music, but it’s so interesting to hear him more than 30 years ago. Although the interview was ostensibly to promote his solo work, Lindsey talks a lot about Fleetwood Mac – from the early days all the way through to Tango In The Night.  And we even have a bonus clip of Stevie Nicks talking about her frustration with Lindsey when he spent two years working on the Tusk album.

            We also have the incredible story of the making of a hit.  In this case, the hit is “Beth” by KISS – The story is incredible because the star is an eleven year old girl – and even though she’s a little older now, her tale of how she helped make Beth a hit is very entertaining.

            Plus, we talk about one of the most influential women in music.  She not only had a couple of hits herself, she’s also responsible for three of the most important and influential hip hop singles ever made.  Her name is Sylvia Robinson, and we’ll hear a classic clip from her and we'll discuss her legacy!

            And finally, we close out the show with an interview with Eric Carmen, who passed away in May of this year.  Eric was the lead singer of the Raspberries and then had a very successful solo career.  Eric was very strongly opinionated – and you can hear his drive and determination in the clips that we found. 

 

Famous Lost Words, hosted by Christopher Ward and Tom Jokic, is heard in more than 100 countries worldwide and on radio stations across Canada, including Newstalk 1010 Toronto, CJAD 800 Montreal, 580 CFRA Ottawa, AM 800 CKLW Windsor, 610 CKTB St Catharines, CFAX Victoria, AM1150 Kelowna and 91x in Belleville.  It is in the Top 20% of worldwide podcasts based on the number of listeners in the first week.