The Warren Weeks Show: Recent Episodes
The Warren Weeks Show
Sean Kelly is a Canadian musician living in Toronto. He's played with a long list of bands, including Lee Aaron, Coney Hatch, Nelly Furtado, Helix, Honeymoon Suite and his own band, Crash Kelly, to name just a few. He's also a published author, his most recent book titled, Don't Call it Hair Metal. He's also appeared in several musical productions, including Rock of Ages. Sean also teaches high-school in Toronto. We talked about growing up in northern Ontario, some of the memorable stories from his career, balancing his teaching and music careers and the merits of hard work. Hope you enjoy this episode.
My guest today is Simon Dingley, an accomplished Canadian journalist who told thousands of stories to audiences across the country over 43 years. We talked about memorable moments from his career, the state of journalism today, what makes a great question during an interview, his work on stories including the Montreal Massacre and more. Hope you enjoy this conversation and thanks for listening.
Ted Griffith has more than 40 years of high-level experience in communications and public affairs. He's also a published crime author. His latest book is in the non-fiction realm but is no less scary. It's a deep dive into lies, misinformation and propaganda, why we should fear it and what we can do to protect ourselves.
This week I got to speak with PR industry veteran Bob Pickard. This is his second time on the podcast. We chatted about a long list of topics, including AI's impact on communications, the upcoming US election, the rising importance of China-Western geopolitics and his own experience working in Beijing to name just a few.
Anne Marie Aikins is a long-time communications pro and media relations strategist. She's the kind of communications leader you want to have in your corner both in the good time and the bad. We talked about the state of journalism, media training techniques used by the pros, advice for young people getting into communications and much more.
Grant Ainsley holds the record for appearances on the WW podcast with this, his third visit. We chatted about Bill C-18 and its impact on media in Canada, the state of journalism, the CFL, Twitter/X, UFOs, the US presidential election and more.
Julie Parker is the CEO of Julie Parker Communications, a US-based company that provides media training, communications guidance, public relations and social media strategy for CEOs, government agencies and non-profits.
Ron Tite is a best-selling author, speaker, producer and entrepreneur. He's served as an award-winning advertising writer and creative director for some of the world’s most respected brands, including Air France, Evian, Fidelity, Hershey, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft, Intel, Microsoft, Volvo and many others. He is founder of Church+State, host and executive producer of the hit podcast, “The Coup”, and publisher of This is That Travel Guide to Canada – a best-selling and award-winning satirical book.
If you live in Canada and you've ever watched a hockey game, you know the voice of today's guest. For more than 30 years, Paul Romanuk has worked in the media world, serving as an on-air host, play-by-play announcer, producer and executive producer. He's the author of the popular Hockey Superstars series of children's books and he's the host of an award-winning podcast that explores the music of the Beatles through the eyes and ears of prominent Canadian musicians.
Who knew that in 2023, one of the hottest topics in the news would be groceries? Yet, here we are. And who better to speak with about this wide-ranging topic than a guy who calls himself The Food Professor? Dr. Sylvain Charlebois works in the Agri-Foods Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University. He's also the host of the popular Food Professor Podcast. We talked about the state of grocery prices, avian flu, lab-grown meat and much more.
Chris Rutkowski is a science writer and communicator who has authored 10 books on the subject of UFOs. He's been studying UFO sightings and reports since the mid-1970s and is a wealth of information about the topic. He approaches ufology with a scientific background and through the lens of a skeptic. The result was a great conversation about the history of UFO sightings in Canada. Hope you enjoy this interview.
Carol Levine is the CEO and co-founder of energi PR, one of Canada's best-known public relations agencies with a focus on consumer health, lifestyle and medical science communications.
This is my conversation with veteran corporate communications professional and public relations professor Donna Lindell.
Bill Walker has had an incredibly interesting career in the worlds of journalism, writing, public relations and crisis management. This is his first time on ANY podcast and I have to say he was a natural right out of the gate. In fact, if you like this interview, please send Bill a note and ask him to start a podcast of his own. I know I would be the first person to subscribe. There are lots of great stories and insights here, especially for those of you working in the world of corporate communications. I hope you enjoy it!
Keith Marnoch is a long-time corporate communications professional and is the newly appointed Chief of Communications and Public Affairs at Bluewater Health in Sarnia. We talked about the nuances of crisis management, the state of journalism and much more.
In this episode, I'm pleased to be able to introduce you to the Queen. Queen Ann Hines is an R&B and soul singer based in Memphis. She's been singing for more than 60 years. She's worked with a long list of incredible singers and musicians over the years. And she has entertained countless audiences with her beautiful voice. I hope you enjoy this conversation.
It's rare for people to speak publicly about their eating disorders. Chloë Grande, who has been in eating disorder recovery for more than a decade, made the difficult decision to share her experiences dealing with this deadly illness. She's now combining her skills as a professional communicator with her advocacy work in the mental health space. This was an eye-opening conversation with someone who is doing some potentially life-saving work.
This is Molly's second time on the podcast. We chatted about the PR aspects of the war in Ukraine, using TikTok for PR/communications purposes, we chopped up a few recent stories in the news and more.
Dr. Blair Feltmate is the Head of the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation. This was a frank and eye-opening conversation about the current climate crisis and what can be done, both at the governmental and individual levels, to mitigate it. I hope you enjoy it.
This is Grant's second time on the podcast. We talked about some of our media training road stories, the state of journalism and we riffed about a few crisis management stories from recent headlines. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.
Bruce Croxon is a lifelong entrepreneur, a co-founder of Round 13 Capital, a regular commentator on BNN and a former Dragon on CBC's 'Dragon's Den'.
Lee Aaron is a Canadian music trailblazer whose career spans more than 40 years. Her classic 1989 album Body Rock is nearly triple platinum. She has recorded 15 studio albums covering rock, blues and jazz. In this interview, she talks about her relationship with her alter ego Lee Aaron (her real name is Karen), what it takes to build a successful career in music, the challenges she faced as a woman in the music biz and what she would have changed about her famous Metal Queen video. Hope you enjoy this episode!
Elfi Schlegel was one of the best gymnasts ever to come out of Canada. We chatted about her very successful career as a gymnast, what it meant to miss the 1980 Olympics because of the Canadian government boycott, her work as a TV broadcaster, the gymnastics centre she currently runs with her sister Andrea and more.
Loren Padelford is the Chief Operating Officer of Podium. Previously, he spent seven years as the General Manager of Shopify Plus. We chatted about entrepreneurship, the impact of the pandemic on small businesses, lessons he's learned as a girl dad, his new position with Canadian company Podium, his EDM DJ'ing hobby, gaming, books and more. Hope you enjoy this conversation!
Ally Garber is a communications professional based in Nova Scotia. She's someone I've followed on Twitter for years and but this is the first time we've spoken. We talked about the communications profession, what it's been like operating her own business and the national conversation she started a few years ago about drinking culture and wine mom memes. I hope you enjoy this conversation.
We're wrapping up 2021 with a conversation with Jamie Johnson, the brand ambassador for the best-selling whisky in the world. This episode is 75% chit chat and 25% professionally guided whisky tasting. If you're playing along at home, the four we will be tasting are:
- Glenfiddich 15
- Glenfiddich Project XX
- Glenfiddich Fire & Cane
- The Balvenie 14 Year Caribbean Cask
Jamie is such a fun person to speak with and so knowledgeable about the world of whisky. I'm looking forward to making this an annual episode. Hope you enjoy it!
For the 50th episode, I'm pleased to introduce you to my dad. It's taken a while to convince him to do a podcast episode but once we got rolling, he filled up nearly two hours of stories with ease. And there are still so many stories we didn't get to...so I'm already planning a Part 2 for sometime in 2022. Hope you enjoy this episode!
This week I got to chat with Ken Connors, a longtime radio announcer from Montreal, Canada. We talked about how he got his start in radio, some of his most memorable interviews and much more.
Mohamad Fakih came to Canada from war-torn Lebanon in 1999. He came to the country with next to nothing. More than two decades later, he has built several successful businesses but it's his prolific charitable work that has changed the lives of so many and set an example for even more. We spoke about his early days in Canada, how he responded when his restaurant chain lost 90% of its business overnight when the pandemic hit, his ongoing public battle with hate, what drives his community work and much more.
Jen Hartmann is the Director of Strategic Public Relations and Enterprise Social Media for the iconic John Deere brand. We chatted about her career in communications, the state of media relations, her advice for young communicators, her life-threatening experience with a brain tumour 10 years ago, raising a child with autism and how all of that has shaped her view of work and life.
Erin Davis spent nearly three decades with Toronto radio station CHFI, building an incredibly loyal audience as half of the Erin and Mike Morning Show. We chatted about her career, the devastating loss of her only child Lauren in 2015, what she's up to these days and more.
This is Terry's second appearance on the podcast. We chatted about how government and corporate leaders have fared over the past year from a communications standpoint, the state of journalism, some great stories from his decade working in Memphis and more.
Very pleased to introduce a new podcast I have created with longtime friend and communications expert John Perenack. Each week, we riff about stories in the news that have a reputation management angle to them. We also throw in a little off-topic banter to mix things up a bit. I'm just posting this first episode here, so if you like what you hear, you can subscribe to it wherever you get your podcasts. It's called Reputation Town. Thanks for listening!
Michelle Hoad is the CEO of the Medical Laboratory Professionals' Association of Ontario. We chatted about what it's been like for these key health care workers this past year, the 100+ media interviews Michelle has done in the past 12 months, her recent health scare that ended in some good news and much more.
Noel Mack is the Chief Brand Officer for Gymshark, one of the fastest-growing fitness apparel companies in the world. This is a company whose execs don't really do many podcasts so it was a tremendous honour to be able to speak with him for this one. We talked about how he got into the business, leadership, the value of hard work, some inside stories from the rocket ship of a company he works for and much more.
One minute, Mark Opauszky was a high-flying Toronto tech CEO. Founder of a successful company. Great home life. Perfect Health. The next minute, he was fighting for his life in a New York hospital with an advanced case of flesh-eating disease. This was a great conversation with a man who's very lucky to be alive today. We talked about his brush with death, his long road to recovery and much more.
In 1988, Peter and Chris Neal started making croutons in their parents' kitchen while in university. More than 33 years later, Neal Brothers Foods is a leading manufacturer and distributor of healthy snacks and a range of other foods and, most recently, their own brand of de-alc beer. We had a great conversation about running a business and the highs and lows of his career, including a major mental health crisis in the fall of 2019.
Steve Kee is a Canadian communications icon. He headed communications for the Toronto Stock Exchange for two decades, spent another 10 years heading external comms at the Insurance Bureau of Canada and has been a lecturer, radio announcer and more. We had a great chat that touched on his career journey, some of his regrets, the state of journalism, the implications of the Twitter ban of Donald Trump and much more. Hope you enjoy it.
Jack Butcher was a successful but burnt out co-owner of a small design agency with his wife Celia. The more business he won, the more of a grind it was. He thought there must be a smarter way. Inspired by the famous tweet storm by Naval Ravikant, he set out to transform their service business into a suite of digital products. They're off to a great start. Their business bank balance was $58 at the start of 2020 and was over $1 million by the end of the year. In this conversation, Jack talks about his experiences over the past year or so and provides advice for others looking to turn a service business or deep expertise into products that can earn while they sleep.
Alan Cross is the voice of a generation. Well…to be accurate…by this point, he’s the voice of at least a few generations. Alan has been a broadcaster for 40 years and while he’s done a ton of work throughout his career, he is best known as the host of the syndicated radio series The Ongoing History of New Music, which he started (against his will…more on that in the podcast interview) in early 1993.
Today, he’s approaching 1,000 episodes of that show. They’re also available as podcast episodes and if you’re a music fan (and really…who isn’t?) I highly recommend that you check it out if you’re not already familiar with it. Alan creates shows that are insanely easy to listen to. They’re full of bits of trivia, nostalgia, storytelling and, of course, music. And the thing that brings it all together is that iconic and instantly recognizable voice.
I’m extremely grateful that Cross took the time to speak with me. The fact that he did so in the middle of the holidays says even more about what a solid dude he is. We talked about his start in the radio business, his work ethic, his philosophy of success, which famous musicians make even him a little bit starstruck and a lot more. Hope you enjoy it!
Jay Baer is one of the best marketing minds in North America. He's a bestselling author, a hall of fame keynote speaker, an emcee, podcast host, collector of tequila and much more. I really enjoyed this chat with Jay. I have known of him for years and enjoyed his books but this is the first time we've spoken. In this hour-long chat, we touched on a whole bunch of topics and we got into the motivations and the personality of the man behind the flashy plaid suits. Hope you enjoy it!
Molly McPherson is a veteran communications, media relations and public relations expert from the Boston area. Her wheelhouse is the area of crisis response in the age of digital communications. She's also the host of the Confident Communications Podcast, which should be required listening for anyone interested in the corporate communications profession.
Clint Hill is best known for his role in the presidential motorcade during the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Mr. Hill was a Secret Service agent at the time, in charge of protecting First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. During the assassination on Elm Street in Dallas, while the shots were still ringing out, Agent Hill ran from the follow-up car, leapt onto the presidential limousine and shielded Mrs. Kennedy and President Kennedy with his body while the car sped toward Parkland Memorial Hospital.
Mr. Hill has done many interviews about those six seconds in Dallas. You can find those on YouTube. Instead of duplicating that interview, I wanted to find out more about the man behind the iconic black and white images. Mr. Hill was gracious with his time and with his stories. I hope you enjoy this episode. If you do, please share it with someone else who might enjoy it as well.
Thank you,
Warren
Mike Bullard has had a long career as a comedian and late-night TV talk show host in Canada. We had a conversation about his career, some of his influences, his most memorable guests and more.
Grant Ainsley has spent the majority of his life in and around the media business. From his early days as a reporter in Alberta to becoming one of the top media training coaches in the country, we covered a lot of territory in this conversation. I've known about Grant for quite some time but this is the first time we've spoken and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We talked about his early days in the media business, some tips for doing better media interviews, the state of journalism and much more. I hope you enjoy it.
Lynne is a wellness advocate and author with a massive following on LinkedIn. Her latest book is called: Acts of Friendship: 47 ways to recharge your life, make real connections and deepen your relationships. Some great tips in this podcast for improving your physical and mental health.
Bob Pickard is a public relations and communications pro with more than three decades of experience under his belt. We talked about crisis communications, why so many leaders are poor communicators, advice for young people starting out in the communications business and much more.
Dianne Martin is the CEO of WeRPN, a provincial nursing association in Ontario Canada. We chatted about the handling of the pandemic so far, whether people should wear masks, the state of the economy, challenges facing nurses at this point in the COVID-19 situation and much more.
Dr. Terry Flynn is a veteran communications pro who has worked for many years on the front lines of communications and crisis management and who now has a leadership role teaching others the fine art of communications. We talked about leadership in a time of crisis, communications strategy and a crisis that we both worked on in the year 2000 - the Walkerton E. coli crisis. Lots of great insights here for communicators and leaders alike.
Jay Robb is the Manager of Communications at the faculty of Science at McMaster University. He's also the business book reviewer for the Hamilton Spectator - a role he's had for more than 20 years and 500 books. Jay is also a big fan of walking, logging 20,000 to 25,000 steps a day. We talked about what makes a great business book, thoughts on entrepreneurship in light of the pandemic and how the simple, consistent act of walking can have a profound, positive impact on your physical and mental health.
Gary Direnfeld is a veteran social worker with decades of experience under his belt helping people from all walks of life. He's also been a columnist, author, conference speaker and more. I spoke to Gary about how people can manage the stress or anxiety around the current pandemic as well as how they can help their children better manage anxiety during these trying times.
This episode is for the professionals out there who are tasked with communicating on behalf of their organizations in this time of global crisis. You will hear back-to-back conversations with two veteran communicators and long-time friends of mine - Heather Spidell, the Principal of Heather Spidell Consulting in Halifax and John Perenack, a Principal with StrategyCorp in Toronto. Thanks to both of these consummate professionals for their time and their expertise. Hopefully there are a few ideas you can use to help your organization communicate more effectively in these trying times.
Dr. Roberta Bondar is one of the most accomplished Canadians ever to walk the Earth or the travel above it. She was the first Canadian woman and the first neurologist in space when she flew aboard the Shuttle Discovery in 1992. She's had a fascinating career and we got to chat about her early days in the Soo, the career challenges she faced as a woman, her advice for young people, the important work she's currently doing regarding the study of birds and much more. You can follow and support her work via the Roberta Bondar Foundation.
Dianne Martin is the CEO of WeRPN, a provincial association representing about 50,000 Registered Practical Nurses in the province of Ontario, Canada. We talked about leadership, what CEOs should and shouldn't be tweeting, media relations, the state of healthcare and much more.
Jamie Ross is the Assistant Sports Editor at the Globe and Mail in Toronto. We chatted about a range of topics including the state of sports journalism in Canada. There's also some great career advice for anyone who's trying to break into their dream job but doesn't know where to start or who's thinking of giving up.
Javed Khan is an entrepreneur, keynote speaker and the founder of EMpression, a marketing services company in Aurora, Ontario. In this episode, we chat about his marketing tips for the coming year, advice for anyone who aspires to speak at conferences, how he decided to start his own business and more. We also touched on his 23+ year career in the Canadian Armed Forces. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation and I hope you do as well.
Brad Ross is the Chief Communications Officer for the City of Toronto. But many in the GTA will know him as the face of the Toronto Transit Commission for most of the past decade. Our conversation hit on a lot of different topics, including journalism, crisis management, communications best practices, the Toronto Maple Leafs, his new classic car purchase and much more.
According to my guest today, everything is a negotiation. Fotini is a master negotiator and spends her days advising leaders from corporations around the world how to become better at this invaluable skill. Whether you're looking for a new job, a pay raise, a deal at a retail store or to improve your personal relationships, there are some great tips in this interview.
Dave McLellan is one of the fathers of the Chevrolet Corvette and was the car's second-ever chief engineer. He was largely responsible for the resurgence in popularity of the car, thanks in large part to a focus on design, performance and handling. We talked about his time at GM, his thoughts on electric cars, his take on the new C8 Corvette and much more.
Neil Lumsden is a hall of fame football player with four Grey Cups under his belt (three as a player and one as a GM). He was the director of sports at Brock University, he was on the Amazing Race Canada with his daughter Kristen and his son Jessie was a football player and Olympic bobsledder for Canada.
Liv B is a popular YouTube creator who started posting herself cooking vegan recipes online a little over two years ago. Today, the Halifax-based 24-year-old has more than 630,000 YouTube subscribers and has just published her first cookbook: Vegan on a Budget.
Carly Weeks is a health reporter at the Globe and Mail in Toronto. We talked about how she got her start in journalism, the state of the industry today and health related topics including the opioid crisis and antivaxxers.
André Picard is one of Canada's best-known and most influential health journalists. He's been writing for The Globe and Mail since 1987 and he's the author of five best-selling books.
Ryan Whyte Maloney is a musician and singer based in Las Vegas. To say he's hardworking is an understatement. He played about 420 shows in 2018 alone. But his journey wasn't an easy one. He went from a life of adversity, issues with drugs and even homelessness to a top-five finish on NBC's show The Voice. There are some great insights here for anyone who aspires to make a living out of doing the thing they love.
After suffering two traumatic personal losses, Amy Morin wrote a letter to herself - the 13 things she would need to avoid to get through a very trying period. That letter was read by more than 50 million people. Amy is now a bestselling author and has just published her third book. She has some very valuable insights that anyone can use to improve their mental strength and their lives.
Jason 'The Germ Guy' Tetro is a microbiologist, a best-selling author and the host of the new podcast, the Super Awesome Science Show.
After spending more than two decades in politics, including serving as the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, Tim Hudak is now the CEO of the Ontario Real Estate Association as well as being a talk radio host.
David Bastedo was the man behind the lens, capturing the career of Canada's most beloved band - the Tragically Hip. He also photographed the band's emotional farewell tour a few years back. His iconic images have been seen by millions. In this interview, we talk about his time working with The Hip, his philosophy of hard work, how his work is driven by feelings of self doubt and much more.
Author Annie Duke was once one of the top poker players in the world. In her book, Thinking in Bets, she takes her lessons from nearly two decades at the poker table and uses them to help all of us make better decisions when we don't have all the facts.
Terry O'Reilly is the host of CBC's radio program Under the Influence, which has more than a million listeners per week. His latest book, This I Know, is like a backstage pass to the advertising industry.
A crisis can happen to any organization. But history judges a company and its leaders on how they respond. This week, I had a chance to speak with Melissa Agnes, a leading authority on crisis preparedness, reputation management and brand protection. We talked about why some companies get it so wrong, the keys to managing a crisis and we chatted about her book: Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World.
What happens after we die? Is death the end? Or do we and our loved ones live on in some way? And if we live on, is it possible for us to communicate with those who have crossed over? Today's guest is renowned psychic and medium Barbara Rybicka. We had a great conversation that covered death, what it's like to be a medium, how everyone can develop their intuition and more. I even got her to give us a prediction about the future.
A conversation with entrepreneur, philanthropist, author, speaker, NHL owner and former Dragon Brett Wilson.
My conversation with Samantha Yammine (aka 'Science Sam'), a Toronto-based neuroscientist who is using her sizeable social media following to help make science more fun and approachable while also debunking 'junk science'.