NOW and NEXT

This week on NOW and NEXT

Our C.A.S.T. (Comms and Strategy Team) is here!

We go deep on the grassroots ground game that's grooming the political landscape at Toronto City Hall. Was Anthony Furey a victim of a voter suppression campaign or did he just lose the Don Valley West byelection to a well oiled Orange Machine?

Donald Trump's photo op with RFK eating a Big Mac says all you need to know about the president-elect's next administration.

Who's on Bluesky Social? 

And who considers a banana taped to the wall as ART? And who's going to pay 7 figures for it?

LEAVE US A VOICE MESSAGE ABOUT THE SHOW!

Let us know what you think. Comment on the discussion. What would you like us to talk about.

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Meet the NOW and NEXT C.A.S.T!

Brad Ross has made a career leading the communications strategies for the City of Toronto and the Toronto Transit Commission.

Lindsay Broadhead brings her comms experience and insights base on her time leading teams at the Toronto Region Board of Trade and, most recently, the Chief Communications Officer at the City of Toronto.

Bob Reid applies his earned experience as a major market journalist and a Senior Advisor to the Premier of Ontario to his analysis of the communications "Touchdowns and Fumbles".

Anne Marie Aikins is a "media relations maven", a sought after pundit and speaker, and a strategic comms adviser specializing in public transit in Ontario.

Dave Trafford is a “Podcast Journalist”, the Chief Executive Producer at Story Studio Network, and a Recovering News Director, (having led the news operations at Global News Toronto, Newstalk 1010 and AM640 radio in Toronto) with more than forty years of experience in Canadian media.

This week on NOW and NEXT:

First, a passion project. 
I'm producing a benefit concert for St. Clare Inn - transitional housing for homeless women in Toronto who have mental heath challenges.

The performance dates are Dec. 20 and 21. Three shows. It's music I wrote for a youth choir over a fifteen year period.

Buy tickets or make a donation. http://www.stclareinn.com/events/ Help us make room at the Inn this Christmas.

ALSO this week...

Retired RCAF Major General Scott Clancy weighs in on Trump's next term in the White House. 

A Trump Presidency means:

• NORAD is at risk.
• A potential quick end to the war in Ukraine and that may well mean the end of Ukraine.
• Putin has no reason to negotiate a peace. He has no reason to think he's losing.
• The world is a more dangerous place.

LEAVE US A VOICE MESSAGE ABOUT THE SHOW! Let us know what you think. Comment on the discussion. What would you like us to talk about.

Use this LINK https://www.speakpipe.com/NOWandNEXT and LEAVE YOUR MESSAGE!

This week on NOW and NEXT:

First, a passion project. 
I'm producing a benefit concert for St. Clare Inn - transitional housing for homeless women in Toronto who have mental heath challenges.

The performance dates are Dec. 20 and 21. Three shows. It's music I wrote for a youth choir over a fifteen year period.

Buy tickets or make a donation. http://www.stclareinn.com/events/ Help us make room at the Inn this Christmas.

ALSO this week!

Daily Bread Food Bank released its annual Who's Hungry Report and the numbers are not only alarming, they're being wilfully ignored by all levels of government.

CEO Neil Hetherington says the current course at the Food Bank is not sustainable.

LEAVE US A VOICE MESSAGE ABOUT THE SHOW! Let us know what you think. Comment on the discussion. What would you like us to talk about. Use this LINK https://www.speakpipe.com/NOWandNEXT and LEAVE YOUR MESSAGE!

The NOW and NEXT C.A.S.T. (our Comms and Strategy Team), weighs in on the historic election win by Donald Trump.

The Democrats were too busy trying to "connect" the WRONG dots for voters while Trump played to the concerns that resonated with more than 70 million American voters.

Get ready for the MAGA CARTA, (Project 2025). The election result not only gives Trump a strong mandate, it gives the MAGA movement permission to do what it wants.

YOU CAN NOW LEAVE US A VOICE MESSAGE ABOUT THE SHOW! Let us know what you think. Comment on the discussion. What would you like us to talk about.

Use this LINK  https://www.speakpipe.com/NOWandNEXT and LEAVE YOUR MESSAGE!
 
YOU CAN ALSO WATCH THE SHOW ON YOUTUBE
 
Meet the NOW and NEXT C.A.S.T!
 
Brad Ross has made a career leading the communications strategies for the City of Toronto and the Toronto Transit Commission.
 
Lindsay Broadhead brings her comms experience and insights base on her time leading teams at the Toronto Region Board of Trade and, most recently, the Chief Communications Officer at the City of Toronto.
 
Bob Reid applies his earned experience as a major market journalist and a Senior Advisor to the Premier of Ontario to his analysis of the communications "Touchdowns and Fumbles".
 
Anne Marie Aikins is a "media relations maven", a sought after pundit and speaker, and a strategic comms adviser specializing in public transit in Ontario.
 
Dave Trafford   is a “Podcast Journalist”, the Chief Executive Producer at Story Studio Network, and a Recovering News Director, (having led the news operations at Global News Toronto, Newstalk 1010 and AM640 radio in Toronto) with more than forty years of experience in Canadian media.

This week on NOW and NEXT:

Catherine Tait makes a scorched Earth retreat from her third and final appearance before the parliamentary Heritage Committee in Ottawa. The outgoing CBC President and CEO accused the committee, (mostly the Conservatives at the table), of attempting to "villify" her and the CBC.

Our NOW and NEXT C.A.S.T., (Comms And Strategy Team), says Tait not only failer herself with that performance, she failed the CBC and Canadians.

• We also weigh in on Robert Fife's reporting in the Globe and Mail this week, suggesting high level government officials "leaked" intelligence information about India to the Washington Post, just before the RCMP said there is evidence Indian government agents "have been linked to homicides, extortions and other violent criminal activities in Canada."
• We may still be in recovery mode after COVID, but did we learn anything?
• And Pierre Poilevre's getting top marks from the C.A.S.T. for his approach to provincial disability support programs. (Anti-poverty advocates even admit the Conservative Leader's on the right track!)

YOU CAN NOW LEAVE US A VOICE MESSAGE ABOUT THE SHOW!

Let us know what you think. Comment on the discussion. What would you like us to talk about.
Use this LINK and LEAVE YOUR MESSAGE!
 
YOU CAN ALSO WATCH THE SHOW ON YOUTUBE
 
Meet the NOW and NEXT C.A.S.T!
 
Brad Ross has made a career leading the communications strategies for the City of Toronto and the Toronto Transit Commission. 
Lindsay Broadhead brings her comms experience and insights base on her time leading teams at the Toronto Region Board of Trade and, most recently, the Chief Communications Officer at the City of Toronto.
Bob Reid applies his earned experience as a major market journalist and a Senior Advisor to the Premier of Ontario to his analysis of the communications "Touchdowns and Fumbles".
Anne Marie Aikins is a "media relations maven", a sought after pundit and speaker, and a strategic comms adviser specializing in public transit in Ontario.
Dave Trafford is a “Podcast Journalist”, the Chief Executive Producer at Story Studio Network, and a Recovering News Director, (having led the news operations at Global News Toronto, Newstalk 1010 and AM640 radio in Toronto) with more than forty years of experience in Canadian media.

This week on NOW and NEXT:

Great to have Barb DiGuilio and Kym Geddes return to the N&N podcast!

• Barb and Kym riff on the state of NEW media post secondary education programs. Are there any jobs for grads coming out of the broadcast and journalism streams? You might be surprised.
• Taylor Swift descends on Toronto in a few weeks. She's not just a force of nature in the entertainment and music industry, her presence has forced a major infrastructure upgrade in downtown Toronto!
• META has fired a numnber of employees, some making healthy six-figure salaries, because they misused $20 or $25 food coupons.
• Will the cult of Justin Trudeau lead to an extinction event for federal Liberals in the soon-to-come national general election?
• Catholic school board trustees offer a mea culpa after spending $145k on a trip to Italy to buy religious art for a new school. Is saying sorry "enough" or should the "penance" be tougher?
• And heading into the final days of the US Presidential campaign, Harris goes head to head at FOX while Trump takes the opportunity to tell profane jokes at a major Catholic charity event in New York City.

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This week on NOW and NEXT:

We make the final turn in the Race for the White House and VP Kamala Harris does a 60 Minutes sit down on CBS but causes more of a buzz by appearing on the Call Her Daddy podcast with Alex Cooper.

At least, it excited her base. At best, it added to the base on the margins. And in a race that will come down to a hand full of votes in a hand full of counties in a hand full of states - margins matter.

Justin Trudeau was on a similar media march this past week - making stops on The Late Show and a podcast sit down with Nate Erskine-Smith, (who happens to sit in the back benches of Trudeau's government).

But it's not at all clear that Trudeau gained any traction with his base. He's struggling to hold his caucus together never mind beefing up his approval rating among voters.

So, we've assembled the C.A.S.T (Comms and Strategy Team!) to pick over the pixels of attention. Is
the media still the message for Harris and Trudeau?

YOU CAN ALSO WATCH THE SHOW ON YOUTUBE

Meet the C.A.S.T!

Brad Ross has made a career leading the communications strategies for the City of Toronto and the Toronto Transit Commission.  

Lindsay Broadhead brings her comms experience and insights base on her time leading teams at the Toronto Region Board of Trade and, most recently, the Chief Communications Officer at the City of Toronto.

Bob Reid applies his earned experience as a major market journalist and a Senior Advisor to the Premier of Ontario to his analysis of the communications "Touchdowns and Fumbles".

Anne Marie Aikins is a "media relations maven", a sought after pundit and speaker, and a strategic comms adviser specializing in public transit in Ontario.

This week on NOW and NEXT:

By accident or design I stumbled across an old mp3 file. It's a recording of the final episode of Toronto at Noon - a radio show I hosted and co-produced on 1010 AM CFRB in Toronto at - you guessed it - Noon!

That show aired fifteen years ago this week, (as we post this edition of NOW and NEXT). And it reminded me of just how energetic and connected the show, (and the statiion for that matter) was to the community and the audience.

We broadcast the finale from the Keg Steakhouse Mansion at the corner of Jarvis and Wellington Streets. The Mansion was the site of CFRB's very first broadcast studios. RB is Toronto's oldest English-language broadcaster and it all started in February, 1927. The original frequency was 1030 kHZ. It moved to 1010 in 1948 - 2 years after a young fellow named Wally Crouter joined the station.

Our Toronto at Noon audience voted and decided we'd do the final show from the old mansion.

And what a show. What a line-up.

You'll hear "the regulars", including Christie Blatchford, Fred Ketchen, Rose Reisman, Jeff Marek, Rick Hodge and Robert Turner. But we also has special guests and friends to the show - Teri Hart, Blair Packham, and Bob Reid. 

And we hear from the crack production team that kep the show on the air and on the road! Jeff Moss, (it was his last day at the station), Eileen Berardini, Paul Gatt and Nick Maiorano.

And all in 46 minutes, during the noon hour of Friday, October 2, 2009. It was RADIO RIGHT WHERE YOU LIVE.

Hope you enjoy it.

Today on NOW and NEXT:

We are joined by (Ret) RCAF Major-General and former NORAD Director of Operations  Scott Clancy and Phil Gurski, President and CEO Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting and former Strategic Analyst at C-SIS.

As we record this episode, it is the deadliest day of bombardment in Lebannon in nearly thirty years as Israel and Hezbollah trade missile fire. The heavy fire exchange comes less than a week after thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members exploded. At least 20 were killed and as many as 450 were injured. Israel's being blamed for the attack, Israel hasn't confirmed nor denied responsibility.

The regional war only seems to be escalating. What will it mean in the Middle East? What role will the U.S. and the Saudis play in resolving the crisis? And what effect could the Hamas-Israel-Hezbollah war have on the U.S. Presidential Election?

The U.N. special coordinator in Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasscharet, said in a post on X that "with the region on the brink of an imminent catastrophe, it cannot be overstated enough: there is NO military solution that will make either side safer".

This week on NOW and NEXT

It has been a Summer of Discontent for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his federanl Liberals. Now that NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has ripped up their "Supply and Confidence" deal, are the Liberals facing a Fall of Despair?

Our INSIGHTS team is a gathered around the table to sift through the political entrails and the four major federal parties jockey for position anticipating a national election.

Meet the team!

Brad Ross has made a career leading the communications strategies for the City of Toronto and the Toronto Transit Commission. 

Lindsay Broadhead brings her comms experience and insights base on her time leading teams at the Toronto Region Board of Trade and, most recently, the Chief Communications Officer at the City of Toronto.

Bob Reid applies his earned experience as a major market journalist and a Senior Advisor to the Premier of Ontario to his analysis of the communications "Touchdowns and Fumbles".

Anne Marie Aikins is a "media relations maven", a sought after pundit and speaker, and a strategic comms adviser specializing in public transit in Ontario.