A poll commissioned by the Toronto Star has found that there is a lot of support for limiting donations to political parties by corporations and unions. Should it be abolished altogether or simply restricted? Guest: Stephen LeDrew, Political Commentator; Host, The LeDrew Three Minute Interview; Former President, Liberal Party of Canada - The Two Michaels are set to have their trials heard in the next few days. With a conviction rate of 99.96%, no media allowed, no notes, no talking between defen...
Mar 19, 2021•50 min
Today's edition of Ben's Story of the Day features: 1) Every now and then you can't find where you last parked your car but it's a whole other ball game when the car you can't seem to find is also the car that you left your kid in. 2) Sometimes you might make yourself sound more important on a resume to increase your chance of getting a job. This lady went a bit further by pretending to be a plastic surgeon. What's worse than being operated on by a fake plastic surgeon? How about being operated ...
Mar 18, 2021•8 min
Do you think COVID-19 has brought out the best or the worst in people? Scott looks to tackle this question with the help of another one of 900 CHML's announcers, Bill Kelly. Guest: Bill Kelly, Host, The Bill Kelly Show, Global News Radio 900 CHML - The now-former police officer who knelt on George Floyd's neck is seeing his trial proceedings begin but finding unbiased jurors among other things is proving a challenge. Is he going to receive a fair trial? Does it matter if he does? Guest: Jaime St...
Mar 18, 2021•47 min
Today's edition of Ben's Story of the Day features: 1) Nobody likes paying their taxes but it's an inevitable thing we all must do. When it comes to a barista with an income of around $17,000, you can imagine the surprise when they found out they owed a little over $8 million in income tax. 2) Being the Homecoming Queen is something many girls dream about however this girl and her mom took things to a whole new level. Appealing for votes is one thing but hacking the school computers to input fak...
Mar 17, 2021•9 min
Major news is coming out of the business world with Rogers buying Shaw Media, Walmart closing some of its stores and more. For once in quite a while, this business news has the potential to impact your day-to-day life but how? Guest: Marvin Ryder, Associate Professor of Marketing, DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University - Today marks the 75 anniversary of one of Canada's most enamoring crime stories and it just so happens that the person at the centre of it is a Hamiltonian. Her name is...
Mar 17, 2021•48 min
Today's edition of Ben's Story of the Day features: 1) 2021 is set to be the final year that Ikea publishes their annual catalogue in print form. You might then ask yourself, "How are they going to help customers discover their next piece of furniture?" Through the theatre-of-the-mind extravaganza that is the new Ikea Audio Catalogue! This near 4-hour long podcast features a narrator flipping through the whole catalogue describing everything they see. 2) Vasectomy ads talking about 'Vasectomy Ma...
Mar 16, 2021•9 min
As we set the clocks to 'spring forward' the age-old debate of whether we should continue doing so comes back up. To get some better insight into the numerous biological and societal impacts that moving the clocks has, even by just a single hour, Scott welcomes Dr. Joseph De Koninck. Guest: Dr. Joseph De Koninck, Emeritus Professor, School of Psychology, University of Ottawa & Sleep Researcher for over 50 years - The Toronto Maple Leafs appear to be losing steam at a pretty quick rate. Golf ...
Mar 16, 2021•52 min
This week's edition of The Brightest Conversation in Hamilton features Jen Watson who joins Scott to talk about revenge travel, the Royals' most recent scandal, whether politicians should be the first or last to be vaccinated, if you can be taught to find someone beautiful and more! Guest: Jen Watson, Voice Actor, McQueenVoiceOvers.com & former CHML News Anchor & Reporter
Mar 13, 2021•58 min
Today's edition of Ben's Story of the Day features: 1) Have you ever found yourself checking the outside of your packages before you open them? Chances are you'd want to if you also got shipped some Marine Corps pee samples! 2) Threats come in many styles, lengths & types but occasionally they're super specific in an odd kind of way. After all how else should you respond to being kicked off a plane other than yelling to the flight crew that you hope they all get eaten by alligators? 3) It's ...
Mar 12, 2021•8 min
Cowboy stories are often quite interesting but how would putting a Jewish cowboy named Motl on a quest during the Holocaust work? Author and Hamiltonian Gary Barwin knows how! Scott catches up with Gary to hear more about his new book, Nothing the Same, Everything Haunted: The Ballad of Motl the Cowboy , and Motl's journey to keep his family line going through procreation but first he's got to find his testicles... oi vey. Guest: Gary Barwin, Award-winning author, ' Nothing the Same, Everything ...
Mar 12, 2021•37 min
Today's edition of Ben's Story of the Day features: 1) If you ever find yourself in a car with the windows up, spraying a whole can of air freshener is probably a bad idea. What's an even worse idea is lighting a cigarette right after and a guy from England found out why. 2) 911 is for life-threatening emergencies only and York Regional Police is trying to make that clear after a teen called for what's most certainly not a life-threatening reason. That is, unless you consider getting locked out ...
Mar 11, 2021•8 min
Being told to stay inside and the knowledge that there are cases of COVID-19 at the hospital is causing people to miss and not attend very important cancer appointments with doctors and specialists. Is this an example of one of the many unintended consequences of the lockdowns? Should someone go to the hospital despite COVID-19? Guest: Dr. Barry Lumb, Gastroenterologist; Physician-in-Chief & Executive Lead, Project Odyssey, Hamilton Health Sciences - The CFL has announced that its going to b...
Mar 11, 2021•49 min
Today's edition of Ben's Story of the Day features: 1) ELF is teaming up with the restaurant chain, Chipotle, to create a makeup line inspired by their food but now there's just one question, how does it taste? 2) A video door bell might sound like a good idea but a couple of guys have found a way to mess with them. All it takes is a mask to hide your identity and pants to drop for when the camera starts rolling. 3) Every app on your phone has a little image that gets pressed on to start it up. ...
Mar 10, 2021•9 min
The 2021 RBC Canadian Open has been cancelled and despite the fact that it wasn't set to be held in Hamilton, there are still ways in which the cancellation will impact our city. Guest: Bryan Crawford, Tournament Director, RBC Canadian Open - The Ontario Liberal Party has found a way to dig itself out of its massive debt. If this can be done by its current leader, could a major bite be taken out of the province's current debt that has us spending around $12 billion on the interest alone? Guest: ...
Mar 10, 2021•51 min
If we taught kids about the religions of the world in school, would we have a more civil discourse? Seems pretty straightforward, if you're going to teach people about that, teach them while they are young so they have a better understanding of the diversity in religious thought. Guest: Dr David Haskell, Professor of Religion and Culture at Wilfrid Laurier. Women's sports have not traditionally done well financially or in terms of viewership, so how can we fix that? Guest: Don Robertson, owner o...
Mar 09, 2021•53 min
This week on the Brightest Conversation in Hamilton: A true renaissance man Neil Lumsden joins Scott to talk about two substantial losses in Canadian sports, Dr Seuss books being pulled from circulation, and so much more. Guest: Neil Lumsden, Canadian Football Hall of Famer, Winner of 3 Grey Cups as a player with Edmonton and 1 as GM of the Tiger-Cats. Amazing Race participant, owner of Drive Marketing.
Mar 06, 2021•58 min
That moment of genius you get when you're about to fall asleep or the amazing revelation you had in the shower can be summed up as one word: a showerthought. Together, Scott and Ben explore some of the best showerthoughts the internet has to offer.
Mar 05, 2021•8 min
It seems that the City of Hamilton is being kept out of the conversation surrounding LRT. What's going on here and should Hamilton be a part of the negotiations? Guest: Chad Collins, Ward 5 Councillor, City of Hamilton - If you thought that there's more left-leaning professors than right-leaning professors in universities across Canada then you'd be right. A new poll has found that's exactly the case with 73% of social science and humanities academics self-identifying as sitting on the left-side...
Mar 05, 2021•53 min
Today's edition of Ben's Story of the Day features: 1) It's scary to think that not everyone who appears dead actually is dead. It's even scarier to think that this autopsy was over before it even started. 2) Some Australian guys got on an inflatable mattress and thought they'd take to the ocean for some relaxing in the sun. Too bad the wind had a different idea and took them on a trip out to sea... good thing they had some beer to pass the time! 3) A new species of shark has been discovered and...
Mar 04, 2021•8 min
There's been a surge in the number of companies that are changing their logos and/or products for fear of being perceived as offensive. Is this a risky business move given the millions of dollars spent on marketing, advertising and building brand awareness? Guest: Marvin Ryder, Associate Professor of Marketing, DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University - Are the lockdowns causing unneeded harm? Would keeping restrictions in place while allowing society and business to resume be a better s...
Mar 04, 2021•49 min
Today's edition of Ben's Story of the Day features: 1) Selling a house often involves staging it to look welcoming and appealing to a potential buyer. Whether or not that was the goal of this seller is unclear but what is clear is that the mannequins certainly didn't help. 2) Ice fishing is a pastime enjoyed by many people but floating down a river on your own piece of ice after it broke off is probably enjoyed by far fewer. 3) Why do caterpillars enjoy eating tomatoes? Probably for the same rea...
Mar 03, 2021•8 min
The ability to make anyone do or say anything is here thanks to deepfakes. A video of a politician, celebrity or even you can be made without your consent doing anything from porn to reading a book. Where did this technology come from and how easy is it to use? What kind of real life problems could this cause? Guest: Aviv Ovadya, Founder, Thoughtful Technology Project; Responsible Tech Consultant; Non-Resident Fellow, Alliance for Securing Democracy - Hamilton's housing market is blisteringly ho...
Mar 03, 2021•53 min
Today's edition of Ben's Story of the Day features: 1) Don't tattoo your eyeballs. It's a simple rule to follow and yet some still think it's a good idea. Here's one of the many ways it can go wrong. 2) Cockfighting goes back thousands of years where male chickens, called cocks, are raised with the intent of making them fight to the death. What happens when your cock wins his fight and decides you're next? 3) The Body Mass Index (BMI) helps give an indication as to whether or not you're overweig...
Mar 02, 2021•8 min
We've heard politicians say, "We're all in this together," however the Ontario government's actions are saying the exact opposite. A back-bench Conservative MPP tried to bring forward a motion to give the politicians a pay-cut in solidarity with the private sector but was instead mocked in many ways by the other politicians. This has been voluntarily done by politicians in Alberta, New Zealand and more, so why not Ontario? Guest: Jasmine Moulton, Ontario Director, Canadian Taxpayers Federation -...
Mar 02, 2021•49 min
This week's edition of The Brightest Conversation in Hamilton features Scot Urquhart who joins Scott to talk about the large 150-person party held in Hamilton, China's social credit system, apologizing for your crimes, vaccination passports and more. Guest: Scot Urquhart, Co-Host, The Hamilton Network, Cable 14
Feb 27, 2021•55 min
Today's edition of Ben's Story of the Day features: 1) When you mix calisthenics and sit-ups with giant electrical towers, you're sure to get quite the energetic workout. Unfortunately that also means that a guy in China managed to take down the power grid that supported thousands of homes. 2) It's not always an easy task to find suspects involved with a shooting but when you mix in the fact that all 4 of them have the same name, you can be sure there's more than one confused and frustrated poli...
Feb 26, 2021•8 min
There are talks about the Toronto Raptors trading away one of the players who's lately been pulling a large paycheque but hasn't been putting up the points on the scoreboard. Is there an upside to getting rid of Kyle Lowry? Also, should Kobe Bryant be the new silhouette of the NBA's logo? Guest: Steve Foxcroft, Sports Broadcaster, NFL Chain Gang Member, NBA Court-side Administrator & Vice-President, Fluke Transport - There's a chance those old VHS tapes in your basement could be worth quite ...
Feb 26, 2021•36 min
There are moments in everyone's life where you have an epiphany regarding trivial and small things. As such, Scott & Ben decided to share some of those weird, oddly specific and completely true realizations about the world around us.
Feb 25, 2021•8 min
If you've noticed that you're feeling drained right after an online video meeting there's a chance it's coming from what's being called 'Zoom Fatigue'. What makes staring at a video call so draining and how do we fight it? Guest: Dr. Jeff Hancock, Founding Director, Stanford University Social Media Lab; Professor, Department of Communication, Stanford University - You've likely heard what the experts and politicians have to say regarding whether or not Canada should boycott the Beijing Olympics ...
Feb 25, 2021•47 min
Astrophysicist, Dr Jesse Rogerson PhD, shares his enthusiasm over the Mars Perseverance rover with Scott. A "green" cemetery is opening in Hamilton. But what is a "green" funeral? How does it differ in carbon footprint from a casket burial? Susan Greer, Executive Director at the Natural Burial Association, has more. And do we have any updates on TIger Woods' condition? Adam Stanley, one of the foremost golf experts in Canada, joins Scott.
Feb 24, 2021•47 min
