Movers & Shakers: In Conversation with Jay "MadDog" Michaels

Few radio personalities have spent as much time on the move as Jay "MadDog" Michaels. Over the course of a broadcasting career that has taken him from Alberta to Nova Scotia, Ontario, and eventually Montreal, Jay has built a reputation for connecting with audiences through authenticity, humour, and a distinctly Maritime perspective. Today, he hosts mornings on CHOM 97.7, but his journey to Montreal involved long-haul truck rides, family road trips, career-defining moves, and more than a few lessons about what really matters.

TSM: You've moved around a lot. Where did it all begin?

Jay Michaels:

"My parents were divorced, so I would go back and forth between Red Deer and Edmonton a lot."

The moving started early.

"I lived in Edmonton right up until literally a week after high school graduation. Then we moved to Nova Scotia."

That wouldn't be the last relocation.

"I lived in Nova Scotia for about a year. Then I went to school in Belleville, Ontario. Then I went from Belleville back to Nova Scotia. Then we moved from Nova Scotia to Toronto in '99. I was in Toronto for 22 years before I came to Montreal."

TSM: What was the first place you ever lived on your own?

Jay Michaels:

"In Pictou County, Nova Scotia, where I got my first radio job."

The circumstances were sudden.

"My dad came home one night and said, 'Hey, listen, your mother and I are getting a divorce and you need a place to live.'"

Fortunately, a connection through his father's band helped him land a roommate.

"My dad's a musician. The keyboard player and singer in his band was about to manage a bar and I was working at the radio station, so he and I got an apartment together."

Jay still remembers it fondly.

"That was my first real big-boy place."

TSM: What was that first living experience like?

Jay Michaels:

"It was great."

The reality of adulthood arrived quickly.

"It was literally that thing where it's your first time paying your own bills."

Then came the inevitable lesson.

"'Oh shit, I don't have enough money for my rent,' and then spending the rest of the month scrambling to figure it out."

TSM: Who was the worst roommate you ever had?

Jay Michaels:

"The worst roommate I ever had was the same guy that I moved into the first place with."

The friendship didn't survive living together.

"He became a terrible roommate over time."

The details are probably better left out of a family-friendly moving blog, but let's just say a romantic complication involving Jay's roommate's former girlfriend created some tension.

"It did not go over well."

Like many bad roommate stories, it became much funnier years later.

TSM: Is there anything you've kept through all your moves?

Jay Michaels:

"Not really."

The reality of a radio career is that you're often moving quickly.

But there is one thing he'd never part with.

TSM: If you had ten minutes to pack one box that represented your whole life, what's going in it?

Jay Michaels:

"A family portrait."

Jay immediately knew his answer.

"We had it professionally done. It's my wife and my two boys."

The photo captures a moment in time that he treasures.

"My boys were ten and five at the time."

He can still picture every detail.

"We've all got spiky hair and I've got a soul patch."

When he looks at it today, he feels a mix of nostalgia and gratitude.

"Every time I look at it, I think, 'That's when I peaked. I was never better.'"

TSM: Is there anything you've left behind in a move that you regret?

Jay Michaels:

"By virtue of being in radio and going up and down the country, I have left enough furniture behind on moves to furnish entire homes."

Years of career moves meant making difficult choices.

"There are still houses I go to with my family where they still have the TV I gave them. They still have the Lazy Boy. They still have the couch."

Sometimes there simply wasn't room.

"When I moved to Montreal, it ended up being fast and the winter weather was bad."

As a result, plenty of things got left behind.

"Gardening equipment, tools, shovels. I couldn't fit it all in the moving truck and we couldn't fit it all in the car."

TSM: Did you ever move because of a relationship?

Jay Michaels:

"No."

Career opportunities drove most of his relocations.

When he moved from Halifax to Toronto, however, the company offered to fly the whole family.

Jay had a different idea.

"I remember saying to them, like a true Maritimer, 'Can I cash in the tickets and take the cash?'"

The company agreed.

"So literally we just sent the moving truck ahead of us and had a family road trip."

The boys were thrilled.

"We bought the kids Game Boys."

TSM: Did you ever have a move from hell?

Jay Michaels:

"You know what? I've been really lucky with moves."

One unexpected perk of working in radio was access to local businesses.

"I'd always mention on the show that I was moving."

Often, moving companies would reach out.

"'Hey, listen, we'll throw you a solid deal if you mention us on the air.'"

Jay always tried to return the favour.

"At the end of the move, waiting for the guys at the house would be a big feed and a couple cases of beer."

The tradition became part of every move.

"We'd all sit and have a beer and a bite to eat."

He believes those small gestures mattered.

"I always found the guys really appreciated that."

TSM: What place has felt most like home?

Jay Michaels:

"This is going to sound strange, but honestly, probably my cottage."

Although he's lived in numerous cities, one place stands above the rest.

"I've had it for almost twenty years."

Every summer, he returns.

"I'm there four weeks a year. I'm going there next week."

Unlike many of the cities he lived in for work, the cottage remained constant.

"That's the closest thing I've had to a real home."

TSM: What was it like moving to Montreal?

Jay Michaels:

"When I moved to Montreal to replace Terry DiMonte, everybody told me I was walking into an ambush."

People warned him the audience wouldn't accept a radio host arriving from Toronto.

"They said it would be a nightmare and that I was crazy to move here."

Jay decided there was only one approach that made sense.

"I remember saying to anybody that would listen, 'I'm only ever going to try and be myself.'"

His secret weapon turned out to be his roots.

"People would say, 'I heard you're here from Toronto.'"

His response?

"'Actually, I worked in Toronto, but I'm from the Maritimes.'"

The reaction was immediate.

"They changed their tune. All of a sudden you're okay."

The connection with listeners developed quickly.

"The show listeners are pretty loyal and pretty enthusiastic, to say the least."

TSM: Is there a city you ran away from?

Jay Michaels:

"No."

Unlike many people who relocate frequently, Jay doesn't view any of his moves as escapes.

"My career has always been moves up."

Each relocation represented an opportunity.

"Leaving Halifax to go to Toronto was a huge career jump."

The same was true when Montreal came calling.

TSM: What does home mean to you now compared to when you were twenty?

Jay Michaels:

"It's wherever my family is."

These days, life looks very different than it did during his early radio years.

"My wife and I got married when she was nineteen and I was twenty-two."

Today, one son lives in Montreal and the other lives in Toronto.

The boys are grown, and the house is quieter than it once was.

"It's just my wife and I now."

But the definition of home has never been clearer.

"Wherever my family is, that's where I feel most at home."

Jay "MadDog" Michaels can be heard weekday mornings from 5:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. on CHOM 97.7 in Montreal. After decades in radio and countless moves across Canada, he says he's doing the best radio of his career — and judging by the loyalty of his listeners, Montreal agrees.