And you may ask yourself, "Well... how did I get here?"
Coming from where I came from, I was not particularly encouraged to think of the future in terms of planning a career or anything like that. It was living day to day and very normal in a kind of lower middle class way. I had AM radio as a constant keeping me in touch with the "hit parade" as it was called. Never would I imagine that I would make a living inside this media machine. I completed the requisite schooling taking with me the most important part that has sustained my life and dreams. I had no idea the most beautiful girl I have ever known would still be riding shotgun with me on this adventure many decades later. When Colleen left high school, she started University whereas I waffled. I wasn't sure what life had waiting for me. An uncle with connections got me a good job at the LCBO. While this never felt like a forever thing, it was decent pay and kinda ok. I was pushed by Colleen to take a few University courses including commercial law where I met a young man much like myself. Neil and I became fast friends and he introduced me to his world. He was a volunteer at Carleton University's campus radio station which had just launched at 93.1 FM in Ottawa. It was a mind blowing experience for me. It was way outside of who I was then and where I'd been. Radio was always important to me, but this.... My introduction was fast since I came into it just as many of the originals were moving to the new commercial Rock station in town, CHEZ-FM.
There was a time in radio when knowing and caring about the music you played really mattered, especially at campus radio. We felt a responsibility to the audience. In radio that tenuous connection was dissolved slowly by the forces of the marketplace. Not many noticed the gradual devolution but I did. Back in 76 at CKCU, we were drowning in music and attitude. The thrill of radio is most sweet
when you do things for the first time. It’s chilling, and it’s raw because the chance of "public" failure is
so outrageously high. I got used to the failure bits since I was having so much fun trying stuff out. It was trial and error in service of being a better communicator and getting to know the gear. The cost of volunteerism. That's my excuse and I am sticking with it. After a few years of this type of thrill riding and a few CKCU-FM On Air awards, it was time for me to ditch my real job. At the time I was a sad clerk at a liquor store afraid to let go of his first serious job. But one day I got a call. It was a monday, the day we received our liquor shipments. We were piling up the Smirnoff 40's near the conveyor belt in the basement. "Mister Giunta, line 2 " blasted across the warehouse PA. It was THE out of town major Rock Radio station on the line wanting to talk to me! CHOM FM! Actually it was Rob, another CKCU
renegade. Rob and I crossed over a few times when he was mornings and I was overnight at 93.1 FM.
He asked after a little awkward chit chat if I wanted to work in big league radio (for about half the salary I was then earning at the liquor store.) Alas, some aspects of radio never change.
Anyway, it was the sign I had been waiting for. I said no thanks to the low ball wage but my heart shouted a life changing YES! Thanks for that call Rob. It changed my life....
- Back to school days
I quit my job and went back to school. Algonquin College was an important transitional experience as it threw me headlong into something I had only flirted with at campus radio. It was 1980 and I was back in school studying Radio & Television.
Norm Wright who was a tough old piece of broadcast gristle and one of the profs then. He sensed that my 4 years at CKCU had obviated my need to spend time in first year radio and suggested I help him with the other students on the radio side. My first contra deal! An A grade in radio was arranged. Fair trade I thought so I focused my energy on the Television component and helped out as best I could on the radio side. Funny how life is sometimes… I produced the Central Canada TV Broadcasting award winning show that second year at college and had a part time tech job working at what was known as Skyline Cablevision on weekends. I hyper focused on the television component. A group of us used to videotape and interview the latest bands too as I kept my involvement in campus radio on simmer… bands like XTC, the Jam, Stranglers and many more kept us hopping and editing. MTV and MuchMusic still didn’t exist. Nearing the end of second year I applied for a director job at Global television. I was a shoe in I thought. but Don, a good friend from my grad year got the gig. It was decision time. I was graduated without job prospects. Fortunately a collection of CKCU mates had started a creative production agency and they needed a sound engineer. They were willing to hire me even though they knew of my desire to get into TV. The best way to describe our group is to say we were an alternative ad agency; no white shoes or shiny suits. Sound Venture Productions was a great testing ground for me. Once in a while, usually when John, the main voice was off, I would step behind the microphone. My voices started getting noticed. I produced an ad that won a Clio award which was a big deal at the time. As intense as this time was, it was obvious when it was time to move on up.
Back around this time I was beginning to feel the urge for going. It was hard to know what my next move should be. Paying the rent and keeping your University girlfriend happy was job one. I got a phone call from a voice I knew. CKCU friend Steve Colwill was calling from a few floors up at 126 York (AKA as the CHEZ building). Steve asked if I would join the team at CHEZ. If you can believe it, my initial reaction was no. I was concerned with "selling out". CKCU brain said don't be a sellout! Steve assured me that the jocks played what they liked and the feeling at CHEZ was that I would fit in nicely. I made the move upstairs at 126 York and never regretted it. The nicest place I would ever land. I got into the groove of great radio. I had no idea of course that this was the golden age. It just felt right in every way. Almost like I planned it somehow.
Back then I would start my afternoons with some new vinyl which gave me about 3 minutes to find and cue up the next song. And on it went song to song… it was my own seat of the pants party and it worked (mostly!) It was the kind of flow you could never imagine in most jobs. I had it going on slipping from song to guest interviews, to live news, to spot clusters to live promos…and on it went for a decade. I got comfortable in the afternoons and CHEZ-FM was the right thing at the right time for Ottawa and for me. About 5 years in, I began hosting a television music show with the local CTV affiliate for a few seasons and did many interviews with acts coming through town both live on radio and for television…sometimes at the same time. The list of people I got to speak to was a who’s who of 80’s and 90’s bands : SR Vaughan ,Tears for Fears , Bryan Adams , R.E.M. , U2 , Midnight Oil and all manner of up and coming acts. I remember one schizo time where I interviewed live Kajagoogoo and Dee from Twisted Sister on the same day!
-Huey and Me
CHEZ gradually caved to the pressure of a competitive market and decided we would reduce ourselves to a smaller part of the music sandbox called Classic Rock. With the passing of time I can appreciate how this made perfect business sense but to someone who still loved discovering and supporting new music it was tough to get fully behind this decision. All at once my incredible passion was more like just a decent job. I was still busy voicing more than my share of ads for the radio station and at this point I was popular enough as a voice artist that the top voice agency in the city found me. I started working with all kinds of different creative people outside of my radio gig. One of the best parts of radio then was the diversity of the day to day. I was kept very busy representing the radio station in the 15 years I was on air.
Public speaking and making conversation became second nature. One night, introducing Ozzy Osbourne at the Civic Center and the next morning part of a grade 8 classroom discussion at career day. I knew how lucky I was where iwas. Many peers back then moved around a lot to hold onto their low paying radio gigs and now most college programs that feed the radio/tv talent pool are simply closing down. I was one of the lucky ones to have landed at CHEZ-FM when I did. All things must pass though and pass they did, The family foundation and feel of CHEZ, forged over 2 decades gave way to market forces. Consolidation came as a relief for me in the form of Rogers Inc. Truth was, I was bored with what we had become. By this point another opportunity had made itself known. I was creatively rescued by a small group at the CBC where music discovery was to be valued and my love affair with music could be rekindled. Galaxie was just an idea when I joined them. It was an embryonic concept that our tiny team developed into 30 channels of music. It was to be sold to carriers like Bell, Videotron and Shaw cable. Galaxie was well outside the traditional media silos at CBC and became part of "business affairs". In hindsight, what a lucky stroke that was. We would have been crushed by the rigidity and power dynamics of CBC Radio. Galaxie had a year’s grace to conceive, then test, then grow a team to support the ability to build a catalogue of music of many genres and the protocols to program all this correctly for our customers. When I think back, it was my good fortune that CHEZ turned “corporate” when it did. It forced me to get very good at "automated music scheduling" through software called Selector. I was initially very resistant. In fact, the more I resisted, the more the GM at CHEZ, Chuck Azzarello pushed me to get better at it. He was right. It was the future and I ended up being a bilingual consultant for Selector years later. Selector became a key component of the success of Galaxie. Personally, it's an example of how opportunity lies inside every moment. Adversity can be your teacher. Embrace it. For the next 15 years, Galaxie gave me the freedom to love music and work with like minded people across the country from my home studio. It also afforded me the flexibility to delve deeper into voicework. All this predated streaming music.
-Mike the builder
-Mike the listener
The most fulfilling things I did while I worked in radio was to design and project manage the building of the CHEZ Radio group complex. We had grown to 5 stations when we were forced to relocate by a greedy landlord from the long standing 126 York Street in the colourful Byward Market here in Ottawa. I have always loved architecture and I am also a reasonable handy man so I was taken off the air and entrusted with the responsibility of design and project management of the new facility. To this day I am proud to say we built the most comprehensive broadcast facility in the country on time and on budget. It was a crowning achievement for me. But, within 3 years CHEZ Inc. was purchased by Rogers Inc. who then decided to sell the property to a condo developer. I remember watching the wrecking ball tear down my beautiful building. It was a type of karmic closure for me...the end of my radio adventure. I have the love and trust of Chuck Azzerello and Harvey Glatt to thank for my great CHEZ adventures and for giving me the chance to create an incredible media campus. Even though our building did not survive the Rogers accountants, it gave me the courage to build our own family home soon after. Colleen and I thought about it for a long time and after a few false starts, we were able to find the right lot and come up with a design we could both love. By the time this home project began I was a few years into Galaxie. It was a hugely busy time in my career as I also got to be the live OnCam announcer for the 2003 Juno Awards with Shania Twain, which turned out to be my audition to be Arena Announcer for the Ottawa Senators.
Go Sens Go !
Aerie studio
the Aerie Studio today
Mike @ RPC
Mike is MC
In spite of the busyness, I made room for family and community although if I am honest Colleen carried a lot of that responsibility. Career will gobble up all your time if you let it. I do have some fond memories that I will always treasure of our beautiful 3 kids as they flashed through their childhood, into their teens and beyond... I did have a life outside of career, and was part of many charitable institutions in the city. I am Past President for ABLE2 in Ottawa. I still support many charities locally and internationally including SOS Children’s Villages, Can GO Afar, UNHCR and the local United Way. Family and so many good friends provided the balance to a busy work life.
the Galaxie Team
-The Galaxie Fond Farewell
After radio, Galaxie was part 2 of Mike's Music Adventure, The steady growth and solid team of people at Galaxie led by Alain Pineau made that possible, The overwhelming success of Galaxie led to its purchase from the CBC by Stingray in Montreal. I joined Stingray as VP of Content. I had great hopes for the next iteration of this amazing music enterprise we had built. In any case, enthusiasm got ahead of the reality I came to live through.
After 18 months of intense transitional work and forward thinking technical development with a great group of programmers at Stingray, it became obvious my version of product quality was not a shared at the ownership level. so it was time for me to move on. It was 2012 and time for something new. I did have a second shot with CBC Toronto. This time as the Executive Director of Music for the CBC. Sounds fancy and all and I was super keen, but I'll admit embarking on this adventure was my greatest single error in judgement. The reprise was mercifully short. Be Careful What You Ask For!
Since graduating from Algonquin, I had had the time of my life, and now, I had time in my life. That was a new vibe and initially it caused anxiety for me and the people I love. But, I came to realize at some point that free time was a luxury I had earned. I got over myself eventually. I saw how lucky I was and settled right down. I could now help a friend negotiate her home building project (which I did). I might get to a nagging reno at home or swing a hammer for family and friends (did that too!). Maybe I would cycle to the Gatineau Park lookout if the weather looked promising or listen to music I loved instead of music I should listen to because of the incessant need to stay on top of what's hot. I started reading books in the middle of a sunny day with Satie or Eno bubbling in the background or taking a long paddle on a wild river with good friends. I also studied, certified and then joined the Canadian Ski Patrol for a few years which brought me in contact with a great group of people. I got involved in many things that my former life would never have condoned for simple lack of time. Between the cross country skiing regimen and the cycling with my new and old friends I am probably more active now than ever. After a few years of doing it on my own, I completed the Canadian Ski Marathon with my son Cal in 2013 and then with my daughter Marley in 2016. Marley is super busy now juggling motherhood and her entrepreneurial and creative spirit. Our eldest daughter Wallis followed her passion for singing and is now working the opera and recital stages worldwide. We love to see her do her thing and it's a great excuse to travel! Macallan has jumped from camp councilor into a busy life post University as a geomatics wiz for our federal government and as an excited new dad. So yes, Colleen and me have done our most important job.
My love, Colleen and I continue our life adventure together post parenting.. We two are one in so many ways. She leads yoga retreats so we travel wherever her many and varied retreats take us. So far she has organized group trips with fascinating people to Bali, Scotland, Italy, Spain, the Caribbean, India, Ireland, the Azores, Croatia and other exotic locales.
Today, my main purpose is to discover what is next for me and also to serve others, which may include carrying a yoga mat or reading a story to one of our 6 grandchildren! It could also be to tell your story or communicate your message...I've gotten real good at that.
As Ian Anderson said on the first Jethro Tull album, "Life's a long song, but the tune ends too soon for us all".... so get out there, ça va tellement vite !
- The adventure continues....