A Coffee with Ryan Jespersen, Host of Real Talk!

Join us for a coffee and chat with Ryan Jespersen, host of Real Talk! Ryan shares his compelling journey from a busy Calgary upbringing, where he got his first job cleaning his father's medical offices, to becoming one of Alberta's most recognizable voices in media.

We discuss how an early introduction to journalism led him to drop his plans for health sciences, which he quickly realized weren't for him, and how he got his start in broadcast news in Red Deer. Hear the hilarious story of how he met his wife while working for a competing radio station—and how they had to keep their relationship on the down low!

This is the story of a career built on seizing opportunities: the key moment a simple fill-in job launched him from swing host to Breakfast Television host, and the shift in his on-air commentary that ultimately led him to the world of political analysis and his current, successful platform hosting Real Talk.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments and leave us a review!

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Transcript

Speaker: 0:01

Hi, I'm Ryan Jespersen and you're listening to Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam. So, Blue Jays lost last night, a little disappointed about that. I can't believe it. They were winning, but then they lost. Can you believe that? I had to stop watching. I had to stop watching. I think I went and got a snack and never came back. My blood pressure was getting a little too high. I know, so for anybody who's listening to us, because there's people that listen to us all around the world, we're talking about the Toronto Blue Jays, who are in playoff baseball. Yes. And doing good against the New York Yankees. The Yankees. And anyway, they lost last night, but they'll win tonight, so that's pretty cool, I think. It is. Jennifer, fall has arrived. I'm wearing short sleeves. I should be wearing long sleeves. That's all I've got to say about that. But hey, everybody, thanks for listening to another edition of Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam. And we are coming to you live from the Wall Coffee Roasters in the heart of beautiful downtown Acheson. That's right. So if you hear some noises in the background, coffee whirring, people screaming, well, not people, not people. Usually I say kids screaming. Usually kids screaming. Yeah, not people. No, the coffee is good. They're not screaming. But it's because we do this live in the coffee shop. But it's a little quiet today. Well, it was really busy in here. It was busy, but it's a little quiet right now. But anyway, that's where we are. So hey, if you've never been to the Wall Coffee Shop, you need to come by. And they got some specials going on. What are their specials? Apple something. Apple Spice Latte. Apple Spice Latte. And the Maple London Fog. Maple London Fog. I've tried both. They're worth trying. So hey, come on by and grab an Apple Spice Latte or a Maple London Fog and you'll enjoy it. And we need to tell you that this episode of Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam is brought to you by? Our friends at Wing Snob. That's right. And home of fresh, never frozen wings from traditional to boneless. They're amazing. What's your favorite flavor, Cam? My favorite flavor is Parmesan. Parmesan. Yeah, Parmesan. And yours? It is the Snobby Q. Snobby Q. So, hey, listen, and tonight would be a great night if you need some wings or want some wings or craving some wings. They have 16 different flavors and four rubs. And if you can't decide, you get 50-50. Well, Cam, some of these, some of those. It's opening night of the Oilers tonight. That's right! So why not order on Skip The Dishes? I think they got a special thing on there. They do. They have an Oilers pack. On their website, you'll need to check it out. 10 locations in the city of Edmonton and some of the best wings you'll ever have. Check them out at www.wingsnob.ca. Amazing wings. Yes, and Cam, we also want to give a shout out to our friends over at Mprint, Sign and Print Solutions right here in Acheson. That's right. They do a lot of printing for us at Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam. And they do business cards, brochures, and they do wide format. Wide format. Cam, did you know they wrapped a helicopter? I didn't know that. Did they really? A whole helicopter? Motorhomes, vehicles, whatever you need. Well, okay, that's pretty cool. And so you'll find them on www.mprint.ca, some of the best printers you'll ever find. And we mean that honestly. They really are amazing. So you'll want to check them out. And they are, like we said, the preferred printer of Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam. So check them out for all your printing needs. That's right. Awesome. I'm excited about our guest. Cam, are you ready to get into this? No, I'm excited about it. I'm just going to say it right off the top because he's like a professional. Like we're amateurs. Like you and me, we're like, let's be honest. Cam, he's a podcast professional. He's a podcast professional. Listen, this is the first time we've had a podcast professional. We've never had a professional podcast professional. Can you say that three times in a row? No. No, just like unique New York. Can you say that ten times in a row? We're not going to retry that. I asked you the other day. Anyway, we're getting off. But this is so exciting because I want to learn today. And so this is going to be really great. So, why don't you introduce him? Our guest today is none other than Ryan Jespersen. Welcome, Ryan. Well, thank you. And I have a bone to pick with each of you. Here we go. I walk into this stunning location, this beautiful coffee shop, and neither of you think to mention to me that I could get an apple spiced latte or a maple London fog. This Americano is fabulous. And then, because I arrive on an empty stomach, then you go on to start talking about Wing Snob. Oh, man. And I'm just sitting here, listening to this incredibly effective advertising that you're doing on your podcast, while my stomach grumbles, and I hope that the mic didn't pick it up. Well, listen, we'll send you home with apple spiced latte and maple, what's the other one? The maple London fog The last thing the world needs is an overcaffeinated me. That's right. And we'll give Mike Chadi a call. And we'll deliver some wings. And then you can send them over in that helicopter that was just wrapped. Ryan's coming by. How's that? Get him the chopper, get him some wings. Look at you high rollers here at Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam. I'll tell you, it's, man, unbelievable. Anyways, sorry about that. But next time, we'll... You know what? It gives you a reason to come back to The Wall Coffee Roasters. Well, I'm not going to need to be convinced to come back to The Wall Coffee Roasters. This place is beautiful. Oh, yeah. Michael is amazing. Everybody who works here is amazing. It's a great place. Well, thank you for joining us today. For those who don't know, Ryan is the host of Real Talk. It's a podcast about news, politics, pop culture. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, we call it a... You know, people have been, I think, trying to pin us down or figure out exactly what we are. Right. And so people say, well, are you a podcast or are you a YouTube show? What are you? And so we say that we are a modern talk show. Modern. I like that. I like it. Modern.

We live stream weekdays at 8: 5:52

30 Mountain Time, and people can watch that on our YouTube channel. Every weekday. Or they can catch us on seven different social media platforms. So we stream live. But you know, if you're working, you can watch us on LinkedIn, you can watch us on TikTok. And then our heavy lifter, our prize thoroughbred is our podcast, which is where people catch us most frequently. And every day. Well, I mean, you know, I mean, unless I'm taking days off, I work for myself now. And we'll get into that! Ryan, we do this once a week and it's a lot of work. It's heavy lifting, but I feel like- Do you have staff? We do have staff. We have a team. We're a professional outfit. I want a team. We're coming up on our fifth birthday. Are you really? November 23rd will be five years. How do you get a team in podcast? Well, you know what? Again, don't get ahead of yourself because we're going to talk about that. Yeah, we are. So let's, the story behind the story. Nice hook. Keep people in, later in the episode. This is her job. Her job is to keep Cam. Otherwise, no offense Cam, but I've already figured that out. See? He's a professional. I'm telling you. I'm telling you right now. He's a professional. Anyway. Let's take it back to the beginning. So Ryan, where did you grow up? Where were you born? I'm a proud Calgary kid. I was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, in the beautiful neighborhoods of Woodlands, Parkland, and Mackenzie Lakes. So people will know that I emigrated from Calgary's southwest to the southeast, all the way up until I graduated high school. I went to college for a year in England. I went to university for four years in Langley, BC, and then I came back to Calgary for two years at SAIT. And then I started my career in Calgary then to Red Deer and then here in Edmonton where I've been for 20 years. Langley, Trinity Western. Is that where you went? That's right. I'm a graduate of their communications department. I have a BA in communications and I was editor in chief of their student newspaper, The Mars Hill out there, which is really kind of what lit my fire, to be honest. Yeah. Okay, I lived in Langley for four years. That city has exploded. I know. I lived there a long time ago. I think Langley, I don't know if you've been back recently. I don't know if you'd recognize it. I don't think I would. Langley is, I mean, it's always been a, let's say a bedroom community in Vancouver, but it's huge in its own right. It was great while I lived there. It was really awesome and I enjoyed every minute. Then we moved to California, but yeah, it was really cool. It was good. Amazing. That was a nice little humble brag that he moved to California. Well, you know, but he moved back. I moved back. Long story. Or another day. Another day. That's right. So Ryan, what did your parents do growing up? What was your background in Calgary? Yeah. My dad was a physician, a family physician for 40 years. Retired about seven years ago, in fact. Retired a little bit early due to a Parkinson's diagnosis, but my dad just proudly served his patients for a long time and has a real passion for health care and for people. My mom is a teacher by trade. Oh, okay. Yeah. But my mom is remarkable. They're both great. My mom actually retired from teaching, stepped away to be a mom, but never lost her passion for education. And so as I was a kid coming up, she chaired the curriculum committee at our school and was always involved. Her dad, my grandpa, was chair of the Calgary Catholic School for a number of years. And her two sisters are teachers as well. So I grew up in a house that greatly prioritized health care and education, which I think set me up even before I realized it. I was going to say, that's a... Man oh man, you can't ask for any better than that for what you do now. I mean, that's fantastic. Yeah, I feel like I've seen it. I'm immersed in politics, eyeballs deep now, but I've definitely seen firsthand what public health professionals do. My dad used to pick me up from school when my mom wasn't able to, four kids in the family, so we were always busy. And my dad would pick me up and oftentimes take me on his rounds. So he would leave seeing his patients at the office. He'd come pick me up at school, and then he'd take me to the hospital. And then he'd leave me at the nurses station while he went and saw his patients. And so I got to see what it was like for nurses firsthand as well. And so I had that lived experience even through a child's eyes of understanding what they go through and what they give. I think that's fascinating. Did you like it? Did you like hanging out there? Well, I mean, the nurses were always very gracious to me. I don't know if they loved that I was there all the time. I don't know if they loved it or not. Here watch my son. But I think the trade-off would have been that I probably shouldn't be in the room while my dad was talking to his patients. Oh, but they're always very gracious. And you observe as a child. And then more so, I think, in my dad's practice, I started young, a family business. And I think that this is the case. And I think it set me up to be an entrepreneur as well, to be honest with you. As soon as I was old enough to work and interested enough in having a little bit of income, I never really had an allowance. More so I was afforded opportunities to work. And so I started by cleaning my dad's office. So I'd be in there two or three times a week, vacuuming and wiping surfaces. First jobs. I was always trained to stay away from the biohazardous medical waste. That was not my job. Don't play with the needles. So my parents gave me an opportunity to put a few bucks in my pocket and also understand the value of earning a living. And then I graduated, I guess, from that into doing some billing and bookkeeping for the practice. So I'd come in after hours and file all the charts away. This is when it was still on paper. I'm pretty good with a staple remover and I'm pretty good in stacking up papers and files. And I can alphabetize charts like nobody else you've ever met. That's an important job. You can't mess that up. You can't mix charts or anything. You can't. That could cause you to lose. I mean, this is just... And then I helped in a minor role. But as charts were moving to digital and electronic, which would have been late 90s, I helped with that, which was a huge transition, about 7,000 patient charts that had to be scanned and moved over. And a big job that I was up for, but it meant that I was in one of the back rooms working while the practice was open. And so I saw it in real life, something that my dad was really proud of, which was affluent patients and patients that were down on their luck. People that were living with mental illness, people living with disabilities. This is the real life, and I had a real clear understanding, not just of what medical practitioners do, but also the population that they serve. Who they serve, and what they do. I also did my dad's billings, which means I would submit the billings to Alberta Health Services. And that gave me, I was instructed very early on, don't ask me any questions about what the billings looked like or how much they were making. But I learned very quickly, and I was oftentimes shocked. And obviously I'm biased, everybody's biased, but I was shocked at, quite frankly, and this is my opinion to this day, at how very little these small business owners, we call family doctors, are actually making at the end of the day when it comes to their overhead and the services they provide. Everybody forgets the overhead. I remember hearing a patient, and I understand that money's tight for people, but a patient was taking big issue with the fact that my dad charged his patients $20 for a doctor's note. And I remember seeing my dad after hours when the practice's doors were locked, and when we were waiting for him at home or dinner was ready, there was my dad writing the doctor's notes, doing the paperwork, and wondering why people thought that he should work for free, especially when he was paying his nurses. He was paying his office manager, who was my mom. You know, so this was a real family business. And that stuff from my earliest awareness shaped my opinions to this day on what people should be worth and what healthcare and education is worth to a society and how we gauge that return on investment. I think when you see stuff like that firsthand, you have a whole new appreciation. Well, you're walking miles in people's shoes. Exactly, yeah. And it's easy for us to be armchair quarterbacks and say, well, a doctor makes this or a doctor, but we don't know. Well, because everybody knows. And you know, you hear things about like, this didn't take long for us to get into the real thing. No, I know. And we'll get away from this in a second. We'll do a Wing Snob thing for you. We're really sinking in our teeth. The guy who was choking on the chicken bone. Nobody chokes on a Wing Snob chicken bone. No, no, no. Nobody does that. But it was true. And I'm really grateful for my upbringing because it allowed me, I think, a little bit more credibility than maybe some media commentators that really have no real world experience in some of the things that they have strong opinions on. So you finished high school. Barely. Nice segue, eh? You barely, barely. Barely. I like that. Barely. You went to? I went to the same high school as Pierre Poilievre. Did you really? I did. Did you know him? I didn't know him. My brother knew of him. My brother is two years younger. Okay. That's another podcast. We can talk about the high school Pierre Poilievre. Okay. But I do have a question. So you have... Jeff Poilievre in high school, by the way. There's a little tidbit for your listeners. Okay. Oh boy. I want to go there. Go there. I didn't know him, so I don't have a lot to say about it, but yeah. Is it Jeff Pierre or Pierre Jeff? I'm not sure. I don't know. Oh, that's it. I'm asking him. The day he's on the podcast. Yeah, in the yearbook it's Jeff. Yeah, that's right. Okay. So with, you know, you were really immersed and you saw what your parents did. Did you ever have an inkling or a desire to go down the road your parents went down, either education or physician? Not education, and that's no slight. I think teachers are answering a calling. And I think that, you know, and especially, I mean, this will timestamp this episode a little bit. But as we see 51,000 teachers striking, 740,000 students out of classrooms, all of Alberta right now is at a reckoning moment of how we value teachers and what that needs to look like while balancing fiscal responsibilities. But I just didn't, if I'm being honest with you, feel called to be a teacher. I was very intrigued by a career in health services. I was aware at an early age that I was not going to have the marks to get into medical school, if I'm being honest. Because I like how you said that. Health services. A doctor, right? I was really good at cleaning offices. The orderly job is available if you need it. But I really liked the idea of helping people, and I admired my dad, and I saw how my dad would connect with patients. I always felt as a young kid like I was the son of a celebrity. Because we'd be out at restaurants in the front foyer after church services, and people would come up to my dad. People would recognize my dad in public. And I always just was so proud of him for that. I'm getting a little verklempt talking about it right now. But yeah, at the end of the day, I actually, when I started university, my first semester was sciences, and I hadn't ruled out the idea. I was actually intrigued by a career in chiropractics. Which is interesting. It is. You have your followers and listeners that know there's not always been alignment in perspective. No pun intended. That was actually a great chiropractor joke. Well done. I love that. Well done joke there. But there's not, they've not always, and I'm not trying to start fights where there's none. Right. But chiropractors and family physicians don't always see eye to eye, but my uncle is a chiropractor and has a remarkable career, Shiloh Chiropractic in Stony Plain, Alberta. Oh, okay. And I always admired him, still do. Clark Mills is his name. And so I always kind of thought, gosh, I'd like to be a chiropractor. But I'll tell you, actually, at the end of the day, I realized very quickly first semester in university, it was not for me. Sciences were not for you. I was in the lab. And I was already struggling to keep up. And this was semester one of year one. Yes. Yeah, it's a long road all the way. But I'll tell you two things real quick. Number one, growing up in Calgary, I was 10 years old when the 88 Olympics were in Calgary, and we were in a USSR versus Sweden hockey game. And on the concourse of that game, my dad nudges me as we're in line for popcorn. He says, do you know who that is? I said, I don't know. He says, that's Peter Jennings. He says, Peter Jennings is a Canadian that anchors ABC World News tonight. And my dad used me as a pawn to talk to Peter Jennings. Kids work every time, Ryan. So Peter Jennings was there with his son, and we started chatting in the line. And in my mind, it was 30 minutes, it was probably four, but we had a chance to talk to Peter Jennings. Nobody had camera phones, nobody had no camera phones invented. So I never had a photo, but from that day, from 10 years on, I would tune in from time to time to ABC World News, or when I would see his picture, is that the life changing epiphany of I met him? And that was my earliest, at 10 years old, my earliest introduction to the art of storytelling. I paid attention, I mourned when Peter Jennings died of lung cancer. I mourned the loss. That was when it was first on my radar, if I rewind it all the way back. Second story that fits in, on a dare as a freshman, as a first year student, I was talking big, talking smack to my fellow residents. I lived in residence, I had to move from Calgary to Langley, and the Student Association elections were underway. And I opened my big mouth, not the first time, not the last. And I bet one of my roommates that I could run and win that student election to be freshman class president. And he said, well, I would love to be your campaign manager. And the next thing you know, the next thing you know, we were making posters, making leaflets. And long story short, I won that election and earned a spot on student government at Trinity Western University, much to my chagrin actually, because I realized now I actually have to take it seriously and deliver. But for some reason, I'm like a lot of politicians, I thought, well, I gotta keep my campaign promises. And so I built a team and I didn't like, I didn't appreciate how the student newspaper was covering our council proceedings and our council decisions. And I wrote a letter to the editor of the student newspaper. He subsequently, and to this day, as a matter of fact, he's a lawyer now. He reached out to me and he offered me a job as a news reporter, as a journalist with the paper. Now this is, if you think about it, a huge conflict of interest. You can't have an elected official being a journalist. But I did. But what elected official wouldn't want that today? I was the version of that. But I decided quickly. I served my term. I completed the year. We had some great events. I was grateful for it. But that really planted the seed for me. So year two of university, I was the news editor. Year three, I was the editor in chief. So Peter Jennings. Peter Jennings. Milestone moment. Student government. Student government. Milestone moment. And then that led to my first job at the Calgary Herald. Really? Yeah, that was my first job. So what year did you work at the Calgary Herald then? I worked at the Calgary Herald in 1999. I worked there right up until the strike. And what did you do? I was an editorial assistant and a contributing writer. So it was interesting. I was outside of the Union. It was an entry-level job. I was doing like layout. You know, I was responsible. I always thought I had the hot inside scoop because I was responsible for the layout, placing where the Calgary police would announce that the photo radar locations would be the next day. And so I could call all my buddies. I was going to say your friends must have loved you. I could say, take it easy on the Deerfoot. Take it easy on Memorial Drive. Oh, I love it. And then ultimately when that strike went down, it was the largest strike in Canadian media history. I was a non-union job and I wasn't striking, obviously. And I wasn't going to cross a picket line, especially kicking off my career, but not ever. And so unfortunately I left. And that's why, you know, I went back to SAIT after that. I was doing some other things. I traveled South America. I was bartending. But I knew that I wanted to get back into the game. And so I went back to SAIT. I was trying to get a job in broadcasting with the BA in communications, having done zero career investigation along the way. You'll find that my story involves a lot of bouncing around. I was going to say, just trying it out. See what works, what doesn't work, just go after it. You know that Price Is Right game Plinko? Yeah, that's right. My career has been a big game of Plinko. But that's where it all began. Okay, so you went to SAIT, got a BA in Broadcasting. It was called at the time, I don't know what it is now, but it was CTSR, which was Cinema, Television, Stage, and Radio. So I got the diploma in Broadcast News. And you graduated and went to? Graduated. And then after a really in earnest job search, it was tough. I sent out 70, and I know because I was paying for the printing, and I was sending out at that time VHS tapes of my demo. I'm that old school. So I think it was probably my 70th or 71st application I sent out. I was offered a job at Big 105 and 106.7 The Drive in Red Deer, Patterson Broadcasting into the exact very same first job that Ron McLean had. Come on. When he was at Big 105 in Red Deer. Then that's where I started. Then I opened the City TV Bureau in Red Deer for City TV Edmonton, and then I came up from there. Wow. Did you feel filling in for or coming after Ron McLean? This is a good omen? Well, You were going to be the next? I knew. I mean, I'll give you the serious answer is that I was a mature student going back to SAIT, and I graduated SAIT in 04. I'm a 77 born, so I was like 26, 27 when I graduated, which is Panic City if you're mid to late 20s, and you don't have a career kicked off yet. And so what I knew as I moved to Red Deer to make in 2004, $19,000 a year that I was going to have to move quick. So I was going to have to make an impression. And so that's what I set off to do. Yeah. So kids wanting to go into radio, it's not like, I have a real, we get in touch, we're contacted by young people all the time. I bet. And they want to pick our brains, they want to sit in on a recording of Real Talk. They want to ask me, they're doing the career investigation. I should have done if I had have a brain. Right. And to be candid with you, I have mixed feelings because number one, storytellers and journalism is so important. And we need the best of the best. And at the same time, it's a really tough industry. Yeah, absolutely. And I almost don't wish it on the brightest young talent. And I hope it never becomes, and I feel it has a little bit, becoming a bit of a dying art. Yeah. And I don't like that. What I like is that I can show these young people right now that what we're doing, which is the modern talk show, is doable, it's profitable, and it's important. Yeah, it is important. I don't think we should ever lose that. We need that in our society. Okay, so you were there in Red Deer, you quit there, you went to... Well, so I got a job, so I was working in radio, and I mean, I say this with a smile on my face, I don't blame them at the time because they had tough budgets, but this is how pathetic it was. So I'm making $19,000 a year, so I think my paychecks were like $740. Either my rent was $690 and my paycheck was $740, or my paycheck was $740. Either way, it was tight. It was tight. And by the way, at the time, I still had not given up my flame season tickets. So explain that. Those were on the credit card. Those were on the credit card. And of course, we'll have to talk about how I went from a flame season ticket holder to the game host. That's right. That's maybe another story. But I knew that I was bleeding money and I needed to move fast. And I remember times were so tight that I had approached my boss, and she was absolutely wonderful. But I approached her and I asked for a $100 a month raise, and they said no. What? And at that time, I thought, well, my time here is done. And at the same time, CityTV Edmonton was opening their Red Deer Bureau. Okay. And I'm okay to tell you now, the first time I'm publicly admitting, that I called in sick to my radio job, and I drove up to Edmonton. You heard it here, folks. I got in touch with the station GM. His name was Chris Duncan. At the time, at CityTV Edmonton, and I said, I'd like to apply for this Edmonton Bureau, or this Red Deer Bureau chief. Yeah. And he said, well, you can send in your resume here. I said, no. I said, I'm driving it up. And I said, I'd like to meet you in person. And I walked into his office that day, and I sat down, and he said, well, let's take a look at your demo. And I said, please, let's not, because it was terrible, because all I had was from what I had done at SAIT. I wasn't on TV when I was at the radio station, but I was applying for a TV job. And I said, I'll tell you what, I said, why don't we not look at my demo? And I said, but I'll tell you something, Chris. And I can't believe I said this to this day. I said, you can tell. I said, I will work harder for you than anybody in your newsroom right now. And you can tell them I said that. Wow. And I drove back to Red Deer Park, Edmonton with butterflies in my stomach. And he called me when I was about 45 minutes into the drive, and he offered me the job. And he said, now I apologize, but we can only offer you $29,000 to start. And I thought internally, that sounds like a 50% pay raise to me. No kidding. Oh, I thought I'm rich. Yeah, outside you're playing it cool. I'm playing cool. I said, well, I'll take it under advisement. No, I said I accept. I'll talk to my manager, my agent. I said I accept. He said, when can you start? And I said, I'm driving straight to the station to hand in my resignation. I said, give me two weeks. And that's how it advanced from there. And now you were on TV. So I was on TV. From radio to TV. Well, it was funny. I mean, if we have time for story time, the funniest part about this is, this is a fledgling operation. So they were hiring me not just to staff the Red Deer Bureau, for people that may not know. So I'm filing stories to Edmonton for a Central and Northern Alberta audience. So my job was to monitor the news in Central Alberta. Not just Red Deer. I mean, I was out in Eckville talking to Melissa Hollingsworth, who is the Canada's Olympic darling in Luge. And I was telling all these interesting stories on the price of canola and all kinds of cool stuff. Canola. Canola's up. But it was also my job to find an appropriate office and to negotiate, at entry level terms, to negotiate the lease and then get the TV's installed and all this kind of stuff. And about three weeks into it, I get a call from my assignment editor, another wonderful guy who really impacted my career named Randy McDonald, a real blunt to the point kind of a guy, right? And he says, hey, Ryan, as soon as I answer the phone, he says, I've been trying to send you a fax for three hours and it keeps bouncing back. He goes, what the hell is the problem? And I go, Randy, I don't have a fax machine. What are you saying? You're taking his fax. Some guys get all these faxes. And so it was literally, I mean, for people that understand these big ENG cameras, these 40 pound cameras, I was pulling tape. I was grabbing my clips for the evening news by pressing fast forward and rewind on the camera, looking through the viewfinder. We had very limited equipment, but I'll tell you what, I was so hungry. I had my PHD, right? This is poor, hungry and driven. I was poor, hungry and driven, and I was motivated to make an impression on them. And I was there for 10 months until I got tapped on the shoulder and called up to Edmonton. Wow, that's fantastic. I love the story. That is a great story. It's a great story. And I hope that young people, regardless of the career that they're pursuing, recognize that you have to show that out of the gates. Everybody talks about it. I'm a Gen X, I know there's Millennials, there's Gen Z and whatever's coming after them. But I know that people talk about a lot of the kids these days have this sense of entitlement, whatever. I'm not sure I buy into that. I see a lot of motivated young people. But I will say this, that there is no substitute for hard work. And employers are always going to be looking for the young person that's eager to make an impression in their workplace. Sell yourself, but then live up to it. But sell yourself. You better deliver. You'll be out as soon as you're in. They'll sniff you out quickly if you're not delivering. That's just great. Okay, wait, because I don't know if this happened in Red Deer or if this is when you were in Edmonton, but you have to tell me the story about meeting your wonderful wife, Carrie. Ah, yeah. So this happened in Red Deer. This was on my first shift. So we were at the TV station. First shift at the radio station? No, the radio station. My very first shift. Yeah. And thank goodness I wore decent clothes and had a haircut, right? And so my wife Kari, Kari Skelton, she's a well-known content creator. You can find her on Instagram. She was a hard-nosed, cut-throat news reporter at the time. She's got news chops even though she doesn't. That's not her jam these days, but she was an established professional and a reporter at the competing radio station in Red Deer. So she was at Z99 in KG country. And that's an institution in Red Deer. And so I remember I was assigned to, I think it was a school board meeting or something like that. And then I was doubly assigned to go, the Minister of Municipal Affairs at that time, the Honorable Rob Renner, was in Red Deer at the Black Night Inn, holding a media availability in the lobby of the hotel. So I go to my first assignment, whatever it was, and then I travel. I couldn't believe I was driving a news station vehicle. I mean, the luxuries that I had at the time, a Nissan Xterra, I couldn't believe it. And I pull up to the Black Night Inn, butterflies, because I'm walking in, and this was where I see the media scrum, and this is where I realized, this is my soft introduction to Red Deer's media scene, which at the time, 2004, this would have been actually, yeah, 2004, right around, it was healthy and vibrant and actually incredibly competitive. And they had RDTV at the TV station, they had the Red Deer Advocate, they had the Red Deer Express newspaper, they had all these radio stations, they had the CBC, so I mean, it was jammed. Big deal. And a cabinet minister down there talking, and so I walk in, and I can see everyone kind of looking over, like who's this guy? By the way, strolling in like 10 minutes late. But I was on another assignment, it's like, Kari loves the story, because she goes, he's late for absolutely everything, including his very first assignment. But I know Peter Jennings, so it's okay. You may have heard of him, right? Yeah, that's right. So I walk in, and the scrum's already under way, and keep in mind also, backstory, I'd worked at the Calgary Herald already. Right. And I've always had a bit of a self-confidence, you might say. And so I walk in, and the minute I walk up, boom, I ask a question. And I saw her make eyes with me, like who does this guy think he is? I love it, that's great. It kickstarted what's been an incredible, I mean now obviously, partnership. We have two kids together, but she loves telling that story. We had to keep, and the relationship didn't blossom right away. Yeah, did you ask her out, or did she ask you out? Well, she invited me out to sort of as part of Red Deer's media social scene. Right, right. She was dating someone at the time, and I was fresh out of a bad relationship. Right, right. And, no offense. And, you know who you are. She's in California too, by the way. And anyway, so that wasn't on either of our radar. I was obviously attracted to her, but that just wasn't in the cards at the time. And then, you know, as time would go, about a year in, we started, I guess, kind of in a way considering maybe the opportunity to share our feelings with one another. But what we realized was- That in itself is two reporters sharing their feelings with one another. That's got to be interesting right there. That's right. And who goes first? To ask a follow-up question. But our jobs required us to act as though we were pursuing the demise of the other radio station. Oh, it's a ratings thing. So we had to keep our relationship on the down low. So now, when it comes to- I'm coming back from my interview with Chris Duncan and Edmonton with City TV, and I come down to let my boss at the time know that I'm leaving. And I pull her in to an audio booth to deliver the news. She says, listen, she says, you've been great. She says, I wish you well. And she says, by the way, I know you're dating Kari Skelton. There's no secret. That is the best. So as soon as I join forces with City TV, we can make our relationship public. And there it is. Yeah. So obviously, she came here. So we distance dated for a while. I moved up to Edmonton. She was still doing her thing in Red Deer for about a year. And then when she was able to secure employment with a morning show, her first job was with Rob & Audie. I mean, yeah. So that was where it was actually, so it was a country station called Big Earl. It was 96.3. And when they rebranded to become Capital FM, it was Rob & Audie with Kari Skelton in the morning. So that was what brought her to Edmonton. All right. Wow, that's just great. I love that story. Yeah, life comes at you fast. Okay, so now you're on TV, full time in Edmonton. Yeah, I mean, a junior, cool. They didn't call me a junior reporter, but that's what I was. So I was a videographer, which is now par for the course. Nobody really aside from maybe the CBC has shooters and editors. Everyone's doing it themselves. But I would shoot my own stuff. I'd bring it back. I was lucky enough to work with an editor because that's not my strong suit. It's just editing is its own special skill. And yeah, but I would work weekends. I would fill in. I remember I got to host the 11 p.m. sports on the Saturday night when they used to have that. What a thrill for me. And I know Gene Principe has been on your podcast. This is one of my favorite stories to tell. This guy has been pure class from the very first moment. One of my very first assignments when I came to Edmonton was to go to Rexall Place and to interview Sean Horcoff who was on his way to the NHL All-Star Game. And I came in and I was shooting for myself, these big cameras, I had a microphone in one hand and I was trying to get in and now you're talking National League Reporter, TSN, Sportsnet, and the Journal, everybody's there. And I'm lying if I say I wasn't intimidated. And I'm trying to get the shot, I'm trying to get into the scrum and all the cameras are there. And you know what, I feel this hand and Gene Principe takes my mic for me and puts it in the scrum so I can use both hands to run my camera. And I love telling that story because Gene Principe has been pure class from the minute I moved to Edmonton. He is a class. I love that guy. I love that guy. He was so willing to come on the podcast and we're just this little podcast and he was like right here. He's just an overall great human being. Great human being. Yeah, he is. And his wife's wonderful and she's gonna win in the riding and so it's gonna be great. You know what I'll say, it's like, Gene didn't know that 20 years later, somebody was gonna be telling this story on a podcast. Absolutely. He just did it. Because he saw a young or, I wasn't young, but that was part of the problem. I was 30. But he saw someone that he didn't even recognize, somebody that was obviously new, struggling. He knew that I was either gonna have poor audio or poor video based on how I was trying to juggle it and he helped me out. Wow, that's fantastic. Okay, so you're there now? Yeah. Where you go from there? So I'm a journalist, I'm doing the VJ thing, I'm covering stories that are important, but they weren't leading the show, they weren't leading the broadcast. Paul Menier, Jennifer Martin were our anchors at the time. I remember anytime I'd get in the first block, in the first 11 minutes, that was a real win for me. But it was rare. And then I've been there, I guess, for a year and a half, two years, and just happy to be there. But obviously you start thinking about your, again, I'm 31 probably at the time, and I'm starting to think about like, where's my career going and what's next? And as a broadcaster in particular at that time, but still to this day, I'm thinking, am I going to move to Vancouver? And I can move back to Calgary? Am I going to move to the States? Which I hadn't ruled out. I always wanted to anchor on KTLA in Los Angeles. That was always a goal of mine. Probably still is a goal today, it would be unreal. And as chance would have it, one of the hosts on Breakfast Television was away on like a two week vacation. And they needed somebody to fill in remotely for the legend Bridgette Ryan. Bridgette, she was our live on location. She was live on location. She was filling in, in studio for the host that was on vacation. And so Paul Menier comes out, our Six O'clock anchor and boss. And there was kind of like what you want to call it, like the pit, we'd call it, where all of the TV reporters had their desks. There's about six of us. And all of these reporters have gone on to great things. Asha Tomlinson, who's an investigative reporter for CBC. Suda Krishnan, who does reporting out of Quebec. So Paul comes up and he says, Suda, I need you to fill in for Bridgette on location tomorrow. Can't, I've got an interview at the legislature. Asha, I need you to fill in for Bridgette. Can't, I'm doing this. And I'm facing my backs to him. And I'm facing, my eyes are out on Jasper Avenue. And I'm typing away and I'm working. And the universe taps me on the shoulder and says, say something. And I turn around in my chair and I go, I'll do it. And he smirks. And then I go, I'll do it. And he goes, you're in. And he goes, tomorrow morning, Bellrose Composite high school, it's the bike-a-thon. And you're filling in seven live hits, four minutes apiece. I said, I'll be there. Wow. And then I soiled myself. Four minutes live times seven. What? And so I showed up, adrenaline coursing through my veins and had a lot of fun. And that was the first time. I mean, it's a totally different gig. You're not president of city council or whatever. You're having fun. You're the personality. You're the live on location guy. You're the life of the party. And I guess he saw, I mean, I was green, but he saw something in me. That was a Thursday. He said, you want to do Friday? I said, I want to do Friday. I did the Friday show live on location. And then that opened the door. They promoted me to what was called a swing host, which meant that when Breakfast Television personalities would go on vacation, I jump in and co-host. And otherwise I would revert back to being a VJ, a video journalist. And six months after swing host, they offered me the big chair and I was host to Breakfast Television from 2008 to 2014. That's awesome. Yeah. I mean, I got lucky. That's a long time. But when the universe taps you on the shoulder, you better be ready. Absolutely. Yeah. Say yes. Here I am. Take me. That's cool. So beginning of December of 2014, leading up to what nobody knew was coming, which was the orange wave, Rachel Notley beating Jim Prentice, Justin Trudeau beating Stephen Harper. Total political shift in Canada and the province. Massive. Massive. Like a generational political shift. And I was feeling it, and I was feeling the energy. And although I was doing, and I mean no disrespect because I loved my job at Breakfast Television, I was doing cooking segments, I was interviewing comedians. But I always felt, like I said, education, health care, politics. I always felt like there was something there for me. And I started doing these little bits of commentary on BT, right? And I would start really giving hot political takes. And I was getting subtle reminders from management. Like you weren't the political director. This is not your job. This is not your assignment. But it caught the attention of 630 Ched. And they reached out to me as time would have it. I mean, sometimes you just have dumb luck. And it just so happened that my contract was up for renewal in 21 days on the 31st of December in 2014. And I had not yet been offered a renewal. It would come, by the way. But I had no... For your nerds that understand broadcasting, I had zero non-compete language in my contract, which is a big deal. That's huge. And Ched reached out to me on the 10th of December, my sister's birthday, and offered me a job. They asked me what my non-compete was. I said nothing. They said, when can you start? I said January 5th, and I signed. Wow! And for people, again, like we have listeners all over the place, 630 Ched in Edmonton was the station. It really was. Like, it was back in the day. Back in the day, absolutely. And not just the station, but the nine to noon time slot. That's the flagship time slot. You go back to when I was pulling the staples out of the charts in the medical practice, my dad's practice. I was the only 15-year-old in the province of Alberta religiously listening to Dave Rutherford. And the fact that I was being offered the Rutherford time slot blew my mind. And Dave Rutherford was an icon. He was an institution. He was everybody, well, every adult. I mean, he had that job in 25 years. He was amazing. And now you have this job. Now I have this job. Incredible. Well, and you think that I was nervous when I had seven times four minutes segments at Bellrose Composite high school. Now I've got, not filling in. Well, I'm making over. That's what I mean. But now it's three hours. And now you're taking phone calls. And now everybody's listening at that time anyway. And boy, oh boy, was that a level up for me. That was when I felt, I mean, I could not have been more thrilled. Right. Did you feel you'd reached the pinnacle? Was that it? I did. I mean, not from the salary stand point. There's still some work to be done there. That's the reality of radio these days. But absolutely. And how long have you been married now? You're married. Well, I took the job January 5th, 2015, and March 22nd, 209 was my wedding. So I've been married for six years. Five, six years. So this is pretty cool. This is going great. This is cool. This is happening. And we can buy a house now. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. We can start talking about having a kid. Yeah, yeah. All that kind of stuff. That's awesome. Okay. So how long were you there? I was there right up until the day I was fired, which was September 25th of 2020. Yeah. So I was there for about six years, five, six years. And that was a big deal. Me getting fired? Yeah. Yeah, you're telling me. No, for you. Yeah. I'm sure for you, it was the bigger deal. In the media world in Edmonton, that was huge. It was huge news. Yeah. It was huge. It was on the front page of the paper. It was huge. That's really difficult as an individual, as a human, especially because, I mean, if you want, I'll speak frankly, it was very political. Yeah. I think that it was spun in certain ways, depending on who you're listening to. I had had a, do you want the real story? Do Coffee In The Park listeners want the real story? Yeah. What's particularly strange about this for me is that Jason Kenny, when he was a young elected MP, was my parents' choice and I lived in Jason Kenny's riding in South Calgary. Okay. And so we didn't have a lawn sign on our front lawn. We had a four by six Jason Kenny sign on our lawn. My parents would host fundraisers in our home for Jason Kenny. Everybody knew who you were voting for. When I got accepted into SAIT, I sent Jason Kenny an e-mail in my early 20s to let him know that I had been accepted and maybe one day I'd be interviewing him and he responded. So I want people to know that there was history there. Of course. Again, so Jason Kenny was a prominent member of parliament for many years. Until he became the premier of Alberta. He was the cabinet minister. He was Stephen Harper's right-hand man. That's right. He was the guy. When it came time to where the political climate was at in 2015, everything got turned upside down. Rachel Motley wins, Justin Trudeau wins. What would be wins for any talk radio host, for example, getting the prime minister of Canada in his studio like I did. Yes. Having an exclusive interview with the- three weeks ago. Well, yeah, but I mean the first time. Okay, way back. So we bring in Justin Trudeau into the 630 Ched studio for an exclusive. That's a big deal. Yes, we get the prime minister. Rachel Notley's first interview as Premier of Alberta. That's a big deal. Huge. How do you think that lands with the conservative audience at 630 Ched? So they think I'm a left-wing plant. They think I'm an operative because I'm not hurling insults and calling them names. I'm doing objective interviews. Right. And it was a very interesting time. I'm a progressive conservative. That's how I describe myself to people. People always try to pin me down on the political spectrum. I say I'm a small P, a small C, progressive conservative, and I conducted myself accordingly. But that's it. If I have to go back and identify kind of where it all began at Ched, it almost started at the very beginning off on the wrong foot, which is crazy because we quadrupled our audience share when I was there. The show was sold out, but the conservatives in Alberta didn't necessarily like me because I was not actively opposing the government every single day. Right? And so that's kind of where it all began. But again, as a journalist, that's not your job. It's to tell the objective story. I know. We talk about that a lot. We talk about it a lot. Cam and I do talk about that a lot. We've gotten away from that you were doing your job. And you know what would be so funny is like, to not interview an NDP premier, to not interview a NDP premier. Of course it would. And so this culminates and builds to the point where... By the way, we're starting a new party. We just want you to know that. It's called the Realist Party. There's no fee to join. There's no... Just be a realist. Because that's what you were being, was a realist. I'll make that. I'm one for one in elections, as you know. I'm a freshman class president. So maybe we can... A little conflict of interest. But we won't talk about that. So I won't get too much into my new show, but I will say this. There were hard feelings behind the scenes. And what became particularly interesting is I had forged a friendship and a professional relationship with one of my idols to this day, a huge influence in my career. And that is now Senator Charles Adler, who was the host of Charles Adler tonight. He's an RTDNA lifetime achievement award winner. This guy was talk radio in Canada for three years. Again, for those listening, not in Canada, Charles Adler was the guy. He was, and nationally. He was Rush Limbaugh in Canada. What a great way to put it, because he was national. And in those days, there weren't many national people in Canada, and he was national. So everybody listened to him. So here's the true story of what happened. So Adler taps me on the shoulder, I think it was the 4th of April in 2019. There was a candidate in Drayton Valley that was running for the Conservatives, for the United Conservatives, and they're working to get rid of what they were calling the accidental Rachel Notley government. This Conservative candidate was not caught on Camera, did it himself, but in delivering an address to his church, he said, gay love is not real love. And so Adler's producer calls me and says, Adler wants to do a live hit tonight nationally to talk about this, which I was thrilled to do. And so I go on and I make no bones about my position, which is that the Conservatives are building a big tent party. And if they're serious about it, they're going to win this. I said this. I said, they're going to win this election. I said, but they can't do it with this candidate in Drayton Valley. They have to send a message that that's an unacceptable perspective. So cut to election night. I'm walking into the big four building down in Calgary to be on the global broadcast that night on a panel with Danielle Smith, by the way, my colleague in radio for a lot of years. As I'm walking up the stairs to go in, the man who I've known well, who would go on to become Jason Kenney's Director of Communications, walks up beside me and says, you will never get an interview with the Premier. I walked in that night realizing that the stakes had changed, and that culminated over the course of the next number of months. That was April 2019. I was fired September 2020. So I was able to last it for about 18 months because our ratings were so strong, but it ultimately got to the point where I got into a bit of a bickering bit with an Edmonton City Councilor who had lit a fire. With his fellow Councilors, Mike Nichol had a sanctioning hearing with his fellow Councilors because of his conduct on social media. And I made an off-the-cuff comment that this guy's got these chimpanzees typing out these idiotic tweets, and I'll get serious for a quick second because I don't think there's anything funny about the allegation, but his office argued that I had racialized the matter. Obviously, that's not a racial comment. Again, politicized, behind the scenes. Everybody can picture the chimpanzee with a cigarette in his mouth, typing at the typewriter, but that was very difficult because then ultimately, when I was fired and there was blood and I received word. I mean, this is the inside scoop for your listeners. I received word from a friend who works in Crisis Comms, and she says, I can tell you that the Chorus Executive Board has been contacted by the Premier's Office, and she said, you're gone. And that was it. I was fired on September 25th of 2020, and Real Talk was born on November 23rd. So, okay, at this point, Ryan, are you, I mean, did you have any inkling that this was ever going to happen to you in your career? Getting fired or starting something new? Well, no, the whole getting fired piece. You thought you were safe. I had a 20 year plan. Yeah. I mean, I was, you know, the only reason I thought that I would leave 630 Ched was to go host a national show. Right, yeah. And Adler had hosted his national show out of Winnipeg for years. Yes, he had. So, as a matter of fact, because I was also the Oilers' in-game host, I was the Jumbotron guy for seven seasons, while six plus COVID interrupted. Yeah. You know, I didn't see any reason for us to leave Edmonton. I've always been very proud to be from Alberta, but I did have an aspiration of a national show, which I guess I now have. But getting fired was not on my bingo card. You have more than a national show, you have a global show, really, now. 37 countries last month. Yeah. See? It's amazing. So you're fired, and then you start... Yeah. I mean, what else was I going to do? Had you ever been thinking about going that route? Well, my wife likes to take credit, and she deserves it, because she'd been in my ear for a while. I'm being a little more candid here than I expected to be. I'll give you another little tidbit. So about 18 months before I was fired, this would have been the end of 2017, so going into 2018, I was renegotiating my contract. My contract was up for renewal, and we had a very different view on what I was worth. Right. And I still wanted to be paid like Terry Evans, and I still wanted to be paid like Garner Andrews, and all these guys. And I love those guys, by the way. And obviously, there was a different reality that was not coming. It was already there. And the fiscal reality meant that nobody was getting rich in talk radio anymore. And so it was a really difficult renegotiation where I realized that the writing was on the wall, and I was never really going to be able to achieve what I wanted to career-wise. And I'm just being real with you guys. And so I had said to my wife, I don't think I've ever said this out loud, I said to my wife that I signed a three-year extension, and I said this will be the last contract that I signed with them. But you know, they talk about pro athletes that go to arbitration with the teams. And when you go to arbitration, the team's job is to try to clamp down as much as they can. And so they talk about everything that you do poorly. And they often talk in sports about how some relationships never recover from arbitration, because the athlete fears the team will blow up. And when I look back on it, although I still showed up like a pro, I realized that there had been damage done in that renegotiation. And so our plan was to have a three-year runway to figure out my next move. And I got halfway through, and got canned. But my wife had always said to me, you've got to start a podcast. She says, like, respectfully, nobody's listening to AM Radio anymore, and everybody's listening to podcasts. But I thought, well, it's easy to say when you have a six-figure salary, and you're good. And it's still a hit show. And it's still a hit show. Yeah, of course it is. You know, and I'm getting all the, you know, and it made no sense to me. I had a car provided, all these kinds of things. And it didn't make sense to blow it all up and leave. But I'll tell you, it makes no sense to blow it up and leave with no controversy. But when you are on the front page of the newspaper and when you're loyal, following the leafs, we were the only AM talk show in Canada that was rated top five in the major market. So we were top five rated in Edmonton. Nobody was doing that in Montreal. Nobody was doing that in Vancouver. Nobody was doing that in Toronto. So it didn't necessarily make sense to leave. But when I got fired, the outpouring, and actually, can I say guys, it actually does mean a lot to me. When you say that that was a big deal for you, and when you say that was a, I did you say tectonic shift, or you said something? Yeah, it was. When I was canned, because we were flooded with messages from people that were saying, wherever you go and whatever you do, we've got you. And I have a sponsor right now. I want to recognize them right now. Mercedes-Benz Edmonton West. They reached out to me. I had one of their cars. I knew I was gonna have to give it back. And the owner, they sponsor our Feature Reviews To This Day on Real Talk. The owner of that dealership called me the day I was fired, and he said, is it true? And I said, it's true. And he said, the first thing I want you to know is that you've got 30 more days with that car. He said, the last thing I need you to do is worry about how you're gonna get your family around. And he said, and whatever you're doing next, we want to be a part of it. And Freson Brothers did the same thing, and other sponsors of mine have done the same thing. So we started with an unfair advantage, which was name recognition, existing audience, existing sponsorship, right? And a sense that there had been an injustice. That's right, controversy. Controversy. And so when I posted confirmation on my Twitter, I'll never forget, I was down at my parents' house in Calgary and I released a statement that I'd been fired. And my tweet had 9,000 likes. And I thought, we might be on to something here. And good for you, because some people would have just faded into the woodwork. And hung their head and walked away. So good on you. Thank you for saying that. I will also say I was petrified. Yeah, I'm sure. I was so nervous. I was mostly nervous. Let's say somebody sinks three quarters of a million dollars into a new restaurant, and then nobody shows up on opening night. But if I can just say I kind of get the sense with you that being nervous or petrified is what drives you. It's one of my best. It's when you do your best. It's when you thrive. Which is a great trait, a great characteristic. It's okay to be nervous. It's okay to be fearful. Turn it into positive. A hundred percent. Yeah, I love that. So if we get cut, if we get canceled, hopefully Wing Snob will still give us 30 days of wings. That's all I'm saying. Because we heard it in the program. Are you listening, Mike Chadi? You're gonna keep giving us wings. That's right. We want 30 days of wings. You know what the beauty of what you guys are doing and the beauty of what I'm doing now is that, I mean, aside from obvious fiscal realities, only you can cancel your own show. Yeah. Right? There's not, there's not, and I have many, many friends still at radio stations and TV stations. Some of them were just laid off last week. Yes, there was another round of layoffs. I hate to see it. But I will say this, even if you have a successful show, even if your show is sold out and profitable, you're always looking over your shoulder, wondering when the guillotine is going to drop on you. Yeah, exactly. And I, that, yeah, I mean, yeah, we're all lucky. We can say what we want. There's nobody really gonna, I mean, people either like us or don't like us. They either like you or they don't like you. More like you than don't like you. So they're gonna watch. I love the hate listens too. Yeah, exactly. We'll take anybody. Hate downloads are some of my favorite downloads. That's right. We don't get a lot of hate mail, but then, just wait till this episode comes out. Ours is coming in a couple of weeks when we interview the trainer of the seal and the penguin at the mall. That is gonna be ugly on a day. But anyway, that's what there's gonna be. We're gonna be picking out of the Wall here. We interviewed the penguin. Make sure you loop in some Lucy the Elephant stuff. That was gonna be our next interview. We want that one too. Wow, this is fascinating. This is just, man, I just appreciate this. This is amazing. Okay, we're at 59 minutes. We've never done a podcast and I could go for another 59 minutes. This is incredible. Well, I mean, I would just say what's taken us to this point, and we haven't even talked about Real Talk, which is fine. People can check out ryanjespersen.com and talk about it. We just had Prime Minister Mark Carney in the studio. He did. Danielle Smith two years after that. We're doing Mayoral Debates Edmonton last Friday on the 3rd of October. Calgary's is coming up on the 10th. We have a passionate audience. We're one of Canada's most downloaded daily news talk shows. I'm grateful for the opportunity every single day. We are Alberta's talk show of record. We would not be that without our audience, but we're still learning. We have a beautiful studio in Mercer Warehouse downtown, which we're really proud of, but it is still a grind every single day. But I'll tell you one thing, the format may change, the platforms may change, but people still need reputable, objective talk shows where they feel like their views can be represented, and that's what we're committed to delivering. Let's just be real. Stay on the realist party, man. Stay there. Well, that's co-branding opportunities. All I want to say is, I can sue you if you get too close to us around the town. All I want to say here is, A, just all we ask is one mention on your show. And secondly, 30 dyas of wings! Do I get to record a one-liner for wings? We'll talk to Mike Chadi. One other thing, and I'm only half-joking, because you're always closing, right? And that's been an evolution for me as well, is we always joke in broadcasting that we're the teeth and the hair, and I was always surrounded. I've tried to throw some names out here in this episode to really recognize people that showed faith in me and that have really supported me, including when I was fired. But I never was producing my own show, I was never selling my own show, I was never promoting my own show aside from the obvious. And now taking all of that on as a small business owner and an entrepreneur has woken me up to that reality. It's a huge challenge, everything requires a separate skill set. And so this is really pushing me. I'm 48 now, I'm almost 50. I mean, this is going to be what I do, this will be my life's work. Well, you know what, that was going to be my next question. What's next for Ryan Jespersen? Yeah, well, our parent company, which I own, we're not owned by anyone, but it's called Relay. And we're learning and we're growing and we're producing other shows. We've released five different podcasts nationally. We've released a sports podcast, we've released a women in politics podcast, and we're really proud of that work that we're doing. And I believe, like I said, that the future is wide open and we'll continue to expand those offerings. And I do so with those same butterflies. And let me tell you, there's always room for the story behind the story podcast. I'm just saying. No shame here, let me tell you. But I love it because this is, I said to Jennifer earlier, this is why I wanted you on the show, because I wanted to learn. And today I've been to school. I've been to school today. Seriously, I've been to school. Because we're this little fish, and you're in a bigger pond. And we're learning, we want to get there. This is just been, this is unbelievable. I could go another hour. I want to tell your audience something. From the minute that I walked in here, these are the warmest handshakes I've received. Your eyes are bright, your smiles are huge. And you're bouncing in your chairs. We're doing it in a coffee shop, man. How many coffees do you have before I got here? But I will say, it's obvious that you guys are passionate. Not just about Acheson, and not just about Parkland County, not just where you are here in this beautiful province that we call home, but also about what you're doing and why you're doing it. And if you understand your why, and if you have the passion, and if you understand sort of what means a successful venture, how do you define a successful venture? Then I think that you guys are absolutely killing it. That's great. We gotta finish here, because we've never gone over an hour, but I don't really care. I don't care if you had to go pee or whatever, come back. You had to know what you were getting into. Exactly, when you invited me here. Okay, so you have two kids. Wyatt and Noah. Wyatt and Noah. All right, and they're in school. Well not right now. Exactly. Yeah, Wyatt's 10 and he's in grade 5 and he's just loving it. Loves playing hockey, loves playing basketball, loves snowboarding. And Noah's 3. And so we have this wonderful adventure. We've talked about our fertility journey. Our family is just a beautiful family and with the older brother, younger brother dynamic and I'm thrilled. They're the lights of my life. Fantastic. That's fantastic. Final question, Cam? Yeah, final question. That we ask all of our guests. Jennifer asks every guest this question. It's really important to us. It is. Ryan, what is the best piece of advice you've been given in your career or in your personal life that you carry with you to this day? This is from my buddy. Sorry, I don't know why. Sorry. It's good. You're trying to make me cry. Gretzky cried. Yes, he did. My buddy John Rabby in Vancouver gave me this piece of advice. And that is that a person should always wear a coat with two pockets. And in one pocket, a note that says, I am nothing but dust and ash. And in the other pocket, a note that says, the world was created for me. Wow. Come on. Mic drop. What a way to end it. One day, one, and we are, one day we're going to, I mean, we've done 71, 72 episodes. We're going to, we ask that to every guest, and we're going to write a book with all those quotes. I think that's an incredible idea. And that one will be, that's good. That's just good. That's just good. Ryan, where can they find Real Talk? Yeah. Thank you for asking. Go to ryanjespersen.com, three Es, no Os. You can find us on every social media platform at Real Talk RJ, and of course, wherever you get your podcasts. Wow. There it is, folks. I mean, come on. That was it today. That was the best. Wing Snob, thanks for all you do. Thanks, Mike. Tonight, if you... I'm literally driving there now. I was going to say, the parmesean wings. That's right. When you're... I don't even think I'm joking. The day you listen to this podcast, well, Ryan will go tonight. The day you listen to this podcast, go get wings. Go get wings. And Mprint, thanks for everything you do for us. Thank you, everybody. How do we thank you? Make sure you tell everybody about Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam. Tell your friends, tell your neighbors, tell your enemies. If you don't have a friend, make ones just so you can tell them about the podcast. And that's it. That's great. It's awesome. I don't know how to quit this one. I just want to keep going. It's awesome. Maybe we'll have part two. Maybe we will. I hope. I hope. I hope one day we could do that. That would be really great. Thanks, everybody. And thank you, Ryan. Thanks, guys. This means a lot.