For the last couple of years – this program strives to be about one thing – and one thing only. You. We are everything thunder bay, a part of the community and we try our best to deliver things that matter to you. It’s that simple.
With that – It’s my job to bring you information, and give you something to think about, something to make your day better, something to talk about at work – but it’s really about you. It’s rarely about me. It’s why I refer to my wife as management and my kids as dependents. We’re just a regular family – like yours.
Now, because I have this microphone and you have a radio to listen – our conversation is sometimes one sided – unless of course you send a text or comment on our page or send an email. We get a lot of feedback – and It’s really helpful to us because it lets us know you’re listening and have opinions about what we’re talking about each morning….. I have opinions too – and because im the one in this conversation with the microphone – my opinions are just like yours but they’re a little louder because of where i’m sitting – but certainly not more important than yours. They’re just opinions.
My opinions mostly come out on this show where our city is involved. I love it here – I’ve spent almost all of my life here – I care about what happens here – I pay attention to the struggles we have and have a genuine loyalty to the city to a fault. I get offended by people putting it down and never lifting a finger to help – I get proud when we do things for each other or those that can’t help themselves. I love how our community constantly steps up to help when It’s needed.
With that comes a responsibility to pay attention to what happens with our city leadership – what we do with our tax dollars, how we spend our money – yours and mine – and to keep elected officials accountable. My job is to give you that information – for you to make your own decisions. What you think matters – so my job is to give you the facts.
Earlier this month, city councilor Shelby Ch’ng was a guest on a local podcast. The podcast is very local, and really well done. The host is a great conversationalist and has a genuine care for the city and for people. Throughout the podcast – which was close to 3 hours long…. the councilor spoke quite personally about her life that I won’t comment on and her focus in the community – she also had some opinions about local media. That part got my attention…
That’s her opinion – and i’m perfectly ok with it….
Except for the vacuum part….. there isn’t a vacuum in local media…there are a bunch of other radio stations with hard working people that are paying attention to what’s happening in our city. Some have opinions – some don’t…. but they all love their city. They’ll talk about things that are relevant and that matter…and sometimes it’s not all rainbows and butterflies. We have some struggles… and those struggles people are talking about….
Then there was this part of what she said – so i’ll play it again…
Now, there’s no confirmation of who she might be talking about – she did say “he” – and there are a few guys on the radio in this city…. but I think we all have a guess of who she’s talking about……so lets just pretend It’s me – and this show. Just for fun.
First…. sometimes i’m negative – especially about what happens in council chambers. Ask my friends – im historically cheap. Im not rich – money scares me – and when we spend a lot of money on things it makes me nervous. Case in point – your city council last year spent just over 2 million dollars outside of the budget it passed… thats a lot….. we have a council that is really good at writing cheques and sometimes that money could be better spent elsewhere…just my opinion…. for example – we wrote a cheque for 50k to a ski team with 13 members – but I’m thinking that 50k would have been better spent on the underground gym… so if that makes me negative for pointing that out – so be it.
There are a TON of things i’m positive about too – I love the marina – I live there half the year…. I love our parks….I love downtowns….I love our little Burroughs of small shops and business….I love our history… I can go on and on. But one thing i’ll strongly dispute is the accusation that there has been anything derogatory on this show. Have I poked fun at Councillors and created Councillor’s greatest hits?? Absolutely. It’s fun – but never derogatory – ever. Perhaps the Councillor should tune in from time to time. We play good music – we have fun – and we bring the facts of what is happening at council. We have guests, we ask questions and we start conversations so that YOU can make your own opinions. That’s my favourite part of doing this show. Derogatory – we are not. Negative – sometimes – but with the amount of time the councilor spends on social media – she would know i’m not the only one with concerns.
So – onward and upward… let’s continue the conversation – let’s continue to keep tabs on what’s happening in our city and do what we can to make it better. Let’s make sure we all share our opinions and keep Councillors accountable. If anything the one thing this show might do is make people pay a little more attention to what’s happening at city hall – and has probably encourage a few more people to watch council meetings – especially now that they’re in colour. That’s what the show is all about – you might say it’s the legacy of the show… like the city has legacy projects…. like a sign…at the marina…during a pandemic.
That’s just my two cents – join the conversation anytime and give us yours.
~John
