A Coffee with Shane Blakely, Edmonton's Eye In The Sky!

Join us for a coffee and chat with Shane Blakely, Edmonton’s "Eye in the Sky."

Shane’s career was deeply influenced by his father, the original "Flying Tiger," who pioneered the city's aerial traffic reporting. Growing up in cockpits, Shane developed a passion for both aviation and photography. Although he spent thirty years in the photography industry with Jostens and his own studio in Acheson, he eventually returned to his roots, taking over the helicopter reporting role his father had established.

Shane began his on-air journey at twenty-one, filling in for his father during vacations before becoming a staple of Edmonton media. By the 2000s, he was the primary voice guiding commuters through the Whitemud and Yellowhead traffic, while also capturing breaking news like fires, police chases, and Klondike Days parades. He famously recounts his father’s daring flight behind the 1987 tornado, a story that highlights the unique family legacy of documenting Edmonton from above.

An accomplished author, Shane has written four books that chronicle the city’s history and architecture, including deep dives into landmarks like the Hotel Macdonald and personal "stories from the sky" that never made it to the airwaves. Today, Shane remains driven by the adrenaline of being the first on the scene and a tireless passion for uncovering Edmonton’s forgotten history.

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Transcript

0:01

Hi, I'm Shane Blakely and you're listening to Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam. Jennifer, this is an exciting time of year. It's football season for you, Cam. This is so exciting. I spent my whole weekend just watching football. I know you do. I know, fantastic. Like your week is leading up to the weekend for football. And last night was the big college game. That was phenomenal. And now this weekend is a big one for me. So for folks that don't know, Cam is a huge Seattle Seahawks fan. Seattle Seahawks, that's right. My team, they're going to do it. If they win this weekend, we go on to the Super Bowl. It's big, exciting news. It is, it's exciting. Anyway, that's why I'm excited. And you? Well, you know what I'm a little concerned about? No. OK, so in Alberta, I know we always talk about the weather on this show. Yes, that's right. We do. Yep. It is a skating rink on sidewalks, in parking lots. And now we had a little bit of snow. I know. That's it. Somebody's taking a tumble. Walking over from our offices, I almost took a header. Did you penguin walk? I didn't, I should have been penguin walking. I wasn't. That's why I almost took a header. I know. Be careful out there, people. It brought me over to, we are here at the coffee shop this morning, the Wall Coffee Roasters in the heart of beautiful downtown Acheson. That's right. So if you hear any noise in the background, people talking, coffee machines whirring, kids screaming, oh yeah, there are some kids in here today. And it's busy in here today. Yeah, but the kids are the quiet ones. It's usually the adults that are screaming. So anyways, hey, listen, that's where we are. We're live from the coffee shop. And again, if you've never been to the coffee shop, you need to come, because this is a good place to hang out on a cold day. It's a great spot to hang out. Great coffee, great tea. Now serving breakfast sandwiches. That's right, they now serve breakfast. That's unbelievable. They open at 7 a.m. in the morning. That's right. And they close at 4. I don't know if we've ever said that, actually. They open and they close at 4 p.m. So hey, if you're in the neighborhood, beautiful downtown Acheson or somewhere around there, drop in to the Wall Coffee Roasters, home of Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam. And Jennifer, we also have to say we want to give a shout out to some of our amazing sponsors, Wing Snob. Wing Snob, where the wings are fresh, never frozen. 16 flavors, 4 rubs. Unbelievable. If you are a wings aficionado, and even if you're not, you need to go to Wing Snob, the best wings I've ever had in the city of Edmonton. Listen, if you're watching the football game this weekend, get wings! I have a pre-game meal like the players do. You plan it out during the week. I always tell you what my pre-game meal is. So this Sunday, I'm doing wings from Wing Snob. Yeah, that's good. So hey, listen, folks, you got to check Wing Snob out. It's an amazing place. They have parmesan fries, they have cornbread, they have 10 locations. In and around the city of Edmonton, one in Calgary and expansion on the way. That's right. And so if you want to know about Wing Snob, go to www.wingsnob.ca and check out Wing Snob. Amazing wings. You're going to love them. We also want to thank Mprint. Let's get that right. M as in the letter M, not Im. Print. Amazing printers here in Acheson. Do an awesome job for your printing needs, whatever you need. That's right. From business cards to brochures to engraving on water bottles, as I'm looking at Cam's Coffee In The Park water bottle. My Coffee In The Park water bottle. The greatest Christmas gift. Awesome. Unbelievable. They even wrap vehicles. That's right. And in lieu of today, well this is timely. They wrapped a helicopter once. They did wrap a helicopter once. I've never seen it. I want to see it. I've seen pictures. Have you? Is it cool? It is. So hey, whatever you need, if you need a helicopter wrapped or an airplane wrapped or a boat wrapped or if you need business cards, if you need brochures, if you need booklets, whatever you need, these people are amazing. Don and Jan are incredible. Mprint www.Mprint.ca. All your printing needs. And you don't have to be here in Acheson. No, they work with you from anywhere. That's right. So check them out. Thank you for sponsoring Coffee In The Park. I'm very excited about today's guest. Oh, so am I. This is going to be cool. I think it's going to be cool. Well, I've watched this particular gentleman for a very long time. Yes. And so let's kick it off. Let's get going. Known as the eye in the sky. That's right. It is none other than Mr. Shane Blakely. Welcome, Shane. Welcome, Shane. Thank you for having me. Good to have you. This is incredible. The eye in the sky. We're going to get into that in a few minutes. But let's start with the question we ask every guest first of all. Shane, where did you grow up? Are you an Edmontonian? Are you a transplant? No, I'm born and bred here, right in northeast Edmonton. And I grew up there until 25 years ago, before I moved a little further west. Yeah, right on. What school did you go to? High school did you go to? M.E. LaZerte. The Voyager. Yeah, see, I didn't even have to ask. I know. Because I went to Ross Shep. That's where I went. T-Birds. Thunderbirds, yeah, see? And so yeah, most people we ask, but you just gave us that information. You nailed it. Kind of cool. High school, right on. And three of the best years of your life, high school, probably. Or three and a half. Yeah, I was going to say. I forget the count. For me, I would say it was the four best years of my life. Yeah, it was really good. So that's kind of cool. So tell us about growing up. What did your parents do? Well, actually, the main reason why I got into this business is because my dad was actually in media as well. He started off at CFRN TV when he moved here from Saskatchewan. And he did some radio and TV there. And then he moved over to CJCA radio, 930 on the dial. Yeah. They were one of the powerhouses. I was going to say, the Bill and Bill Show, the CJCA was the station. Well, even previous to that, because they are Alberta's oldest radio station. They started back in 1922. Really? So, yeah, when my dad started there in the early 60s, it was already a well established radio station. They were big time. Yeah, they were big time. And yeah, he flew from helicopters, actually one of the first to actually fly over the city, talk about traffic problems. Really? Is that right, eh? And how did he get into that? Did they, were they looking for someone? Did he have a helicopter's pilot license? What, how did he get into that? Well, at that time, yeah, they did have a helicopter and they were needing someone to do it. My dad was a licensed fixed wing pilot. He got that back in Regina back in the early 50s anyway. Yeah. And so, yeah, that just obviously made him a natural to go up in the radio station helicopter because he was already comfortable in the air. Right. I think, I think, because I grew up in Edmonton, I would have listened to that probably many times. The Flying Tiger. Yeah, the Flying Tiger. That's right. That's right. The Flying Tiger. That just like, boom, that just hit me. The Flying Tiger. That's right. That's incredible. Oh, man, memories, flashbacks, what? It was amazing. All right. That's kind of cool. Sorry. It was a moment because when Shane said that, you have to be a true Edmontonian to know that. That's like the Flying Tiger, CJCA. Every morning, every night, every afternoon. Yeah. Got it. Pretty cool. And so growing up then, did you get the opportunity to fly with your dad often? I did. Yeah. So obviously, a helicopter costs a lot more than an airplane to operate. So then he moved to a four-seat airplane. Right. A couple of extra seats. So he gave me some opportunities to go flying as a kid. Cool. I was like five years old probably. Yeah. I was so comfortable up in the air. I used to fall asleep. Some parents put their kids in a car seat and drive around. Shane's dad put him in an airplane and flew him around and he'd fall asleep. I don't think we needed seatbelts in the plane back then, such a different time, you know? That's right. No seatbelts. I love it. That's pretty cool. So after high school, what did you do? Well, I always had an interest in photography. Again, it was looking at old pictures that I was intrigued with. So it was actually my mom that actually said one time, well, if you take pictures today, someday they'll be old like those ones. All right. So when I went flying with my dad, take a camera along, what a neat perspective to see the city and the world. So just taking pictures of various things around the city. West Edmonton Mall, when it first opened up in 1981. By scale of what it is today, just this tiny little thing, but knowing it's going to be the world's largest mall someday, I just kept taking pictures over the years as it kept growing, right to the point of what the mall looks like today. That's pretty cool. It's always intrigued me just to be airborne with the camera. Because places like the mall, because I lived here when the mall opened, places like when the mall, when they built the mall, that was the outskirts, not just the outskirts of town, right? That was it. I've actually seen a picture where 170th Street wasn't there. The city ended at the Misericordia Hospital. And everybody thought the mall was sort of being built on the outskirts of town. And now look at it, I mean, it's like the center of town. It's great. You were really up there capturing the archival footage for Edmonton. Watching it grow. Because it grew exponentially for a period of time. Edmonton grew quite quickly. Late 70s was a peak time. Of course, the 80s kind of slowed down a little bit. 90s a little bit more growth, but ever since 2016, since they announced Roger's Place downtown, this downtown has exploded. So now you're a photographer. You're taking aerial pictures. Are you doing other kinds of photography or portraits or stills or anything else? Are you? Yeah, I work with Jostens for about 20 years. Jostens, yes. Doing school pictures. Oh boy, there's got to be some stories there. I always, I got to be honest, I always felt bad for the school photographers when they came into our class. Oh, you're one of those students, were you? No, I was good. It was the rest of them. Yeah, no, right. But yeah, I always felt really bad for you guys, to be honest. But you always did a great job, and everybody always wanted the pictures. So it was pretty cool. Yeah, that's cool. So I did that for 30 some years. Wow. Yeah. And then, well, of course, they were sold, so I ended up starting my own company as well. And actually work right from Acheson here as well. So I had my studio set up here. Okay. And I did that for a number of years. And when the opportunity for flying in the helicopter came by, I had to jump on it. Cool. I love that we have an Achesonite, a former Achesonite here. I know. He's a true Achesonite. That's pretty cool. Okay. So tell us, how did you morph from doing that to being in the helicopter? That your dad was doing that. Now, how did you morph into that? So over the years when my dad was flying, he also worked at another radio station, CHQT. Yes. And then, so there he was the Skyhawk. Okay. Because that was essentially the model of the plane that he flew from. So he just morphed that into the name of what the reports were. And so same thing. I was going for a ride with him for umpteen years anyway. Yeah. And it got to the point that when he went on holidays, no one else at the radio station wanted to fly. Okay. They're a little scared to go up in the plane. Yeah. So because I was so comfortable and just went with them all the time, they approached me of saying, hey, do you want to do this? Right. Okay. So it was basically just set up as I would find the traffic problems, relay back to the newsroom, and then they would put it on air. Okay. Quick, easy, simple. Right. And then that lasted for about a week. And then Ed Mason that used to be the news director at CHQT. Great voice, great person. So just before the 8 o'clock news, about 7.57, very vivid. He comes to me and says, okay, what do you got for traffic? I give him the list. He goes, great, you're doing that live on air at 8.04. Oh. Okay. Wow. So now you become a radio personality. Yeah. I did do some promotional stuff for them before, voice and commercials, some on the street kind of stuff before, but nothing to that extent. All right. So yeah, that's quite a quick wake up call. So how old were you when you first started doing this? Actually on air, I was probably 21. Okay. Yeah. Now, did you get a helicopter license or an airplane license? Were you actually flying or you just were doing on air? At that time, it was just on air. Okay. But again, over the course of time, I had to get my license. So I do have my fixed wing license. Oh great. So does she. Jennifer has that. Used to. Used to have that. I'm trying to convince her to get it again. But yeah, that's what she used to. You could have been one of him. You could have been what Shane's doing. You're right. That's pretty cool. All right. So yeah, for years, my dad and I always joked and said, okay, you know, I'm going to get my license. I'll fly you around as you're doing the traffic reports. Yeah, that's really great. Awesome. That's cool. And so when did the TV station come knocking? When did you switch from just doing radio to television? So yeah, throughout the 90s, this is here and there filling kind of thing. It's like, okay, well, it's pretty much what it is because there wasn't any other station around the city that had air traffic. Back in the 90s, many stations wanted to save money, so they just relied on people phoning in with the popularity of cell phones coming in. Phones with your problems, we'll put it on it. I love that, yeah. So back probably early 2000s is when stations took it a little bit more serious. Like, let's get the real story. Let's get someone up in the air. So there's a couple of different independent companies that contracted the stations that would do that. Right. So the whole helicopter part of it came about 2007. So we did a number of radio stations starting off with the core stations with 630 Ched. Okay, okay. Or iNews 880, Kissin Country, and back then I think it was Joe FM, which is now Chuck, and 925. And then so that's what we primarily did. So you were doing a number of stations. You were up there flying around, and you would do a number of stations. At that time, we had two different reporters. So one would do the two AM stations, the other would do the FM stations along with global TV. Oh, did you ever get confused? Like that's, hi, you CJC, oops, we're on TV. Sorry about that. No, I mean. Come close, a couple times. Come close, yeah, because that's a lot. That's a lot to be handling, yeah. And the interesting thing here's for me is how you've seen traffic increase in Edmonton. Oh, it's nuts. Yeah. Nuts. Like when you first started, was it, I mean, there was traffic, obviously, no Henday yet, or was it? No, not yet. No, not yet. Yeah, it's about 2010 is when that first leg was completed anyway. So yeah, no, we're, so the city was much smaller. We didn't have to fly as far to find things. So in those days, what was the hotspot in Edm..., traffic hotspot in Edmonton? Good question. Yeah. Like what was the most problematic you mean? Yeah. Yeah. Well, Whitemud, Yellowhead. Oh, Whitemud. Yeah. Makes sense. That's right. At least that was a bit more of a free flowing road. So it didn't really have as much, but again, a lot of volume. Right. But of course, the Yellowhead was the biggest issue with regards to the number of traffic lights. Right. Wow. And what was downtown like in those days traffic wise? Like now everybody says there aren't that many people downtown. I'm sure that I've been down there. There's still traffic. But in those days, downtown was a hub. Oh, absolutely. Again, back then, pretty much everyone worked downtown. Yes. So again, to see Rush Hour going in of it in the morning, coming out of in the afternoon, it was mayhem most days. But it wasn't only traffic. I mean, that was what you reported on. But Shane, there had to have been events in Edmonton's history, major events or situations that you witnessed from the air. Share with us maybe some of those stories and the ones that really stick out for you. So of course, the main purpose of the helicopter in the beginning was to report on traffic. Yeah. But again, there's always things that would happen when we're up there, whether if it's a fire or some major police incidents, then we're covering that as well. Again, it wasn't really thought of that at the beginning, but as time evolved and we saw this, then we're also talking about it because many times some of these events would also hinder traffic. Yes. That's right. So like, okay, this is happening there, avoid it, use different road type of thing is what initially what it started off as. But again, we're also covering other events, such as back in the day when there's the Klondike Day Parades. We're doing. Okay. Can I just say, the Klondike Day Parade was the greatest. As a kid, I was always at the, and the other thing, did you ever cover the raft races in the North Saskatchewan? Oh, Sourdough Raft Racing. Yes. Remember that? I mean, come on. They got to bring that back. Last summer, well, it's still going. Oh, is it still going? Not in the grand scale that it once was. Yeah. But it's still going in July. Do you remember, Shane, when everyone dressed up Klondike? Remember that? I have pictures as a kid. My parents dressed me up like that. You see, Edmonton, if you're new to Edmonton or have been, you don't understand. Yeah, it's all changed. Klondike Days was a big deal. A lot of people. The promenades. Promenade, yes. It happened as well. And you were covering all that from the air. That's pretty cool. Wow. So what's the biggest fire you ever covered from the air? I'm trying to think. I mean, I was gone for 30 years, so I there probably was bit. But what was there's been many, but this past summer, yeah, we saw a bunch of black smoke in the industrial area. Yeah. Side of city. And so lots of thick black smoke. So again, when we see black smoke or any smoke for that matter to us, that's like the bat signal. It's telling us that's where we're going next. I love it. Does the phone light up? Commissioner Gordon's not phoning us. Station manager, news manager. That's pretty cool. Yeah, this summer we had, yeah. So this particular fire, like, yeah, we arrived there pretty much at the same time fire crews were. Right. And it was in a metal recycling facility. And whatever ignited it, this thing burned for almost three days. Wow. It took that long for them to get this under control and put it out. So again, this happened on a Saturday morning. So we covered it in the evening, Sunday into the next day. And finally it extinguished on Monday. That's pretty cool. It was it was quite quite an episode to see the number of fire crews. And of course, they gotta keep getting switched out as the time goes on. And then there's another fire not far from there, probably about 12 blocks, a lumber yard went up in flames. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. The north side of Edmonton fire crews, also from Strathcona County, they're probably stretched to the max dealing with these two fires. Sure. And you have, what a vantage point. Yeah, what a vantage point to see all this. Well, that's a nice thing when major events like this happen, obviously, lots of road closures, police block it off. You can't get in there. Yeah. We can. Got to let people know. Get right over top of it and see what's actually going on and report that live back on TV. So cool. What about major weather events that have happened around the city? Like I know it's, you know, there's a threshold where you can't fly. Yep. But tornado, right? I'm thinking of the tornado. That's what I'm thinking, too. Were you able to fly? There is no bigger weather event than the 1987 tornado. And I remember I was working at a place out in the West End. My dad was flying at that time. And then, of course, when that weather system moved in that afternoon, that the city was gridlocked. Yes. No, barely anything was moving. And then you're hearing this is going on. And my dad was actually able to get up and fly behind one of the twisters. Really? So, as you think, as turbulent as the air is in front of it, behind it, the weather and the air is almost as still as this room. It's very calm. Yeah, yeah. And so he was able to get up and report firsthand on what he was seeing and what was going on. Because you think back then, cell phones were relatively new. Oh, yes. Not many people have. Still the bricks. They were the bricks. Exactly. Everyone had one of those if you had a cell phone. Yeah. Or it was in your car. Or in your car. Yeah, yeah. And then people are hearing that a tornado is moving through Edmonton. Unheard of. Yeah. So what everyone would do if you're trying to phone someone, you're either getting a busy signal or it just wasn't working. Because everyone was using the phone. And so people turn on the radio to see, is this true? Is there really a tornado moving through Edmonton? Yeah. And like I said, my dad was up behind one of the twisters reporting on what just happened. Yeah. And for me, that's the excitement of being in the chopper, the breaking news aspect of it. You're first there to see and explain what is going on. I mean, that's pretty incredible because number one, Edmonton wasn't really known for tornadoes. Northern Alberta? Absolutely not. It wasn't a big deal. No. But this was a big deal. And what was, was it an F4, an F5? It was almost an F5, that tornado. Almost an F5, I think. Yeah, you're right. So yeah, it was almost the strongest tornado ever reported. I had friends, I had two friends, one was severely injured in the tornado and one picked up his car, literally picked it up and threw it into a field. He was in his truck, picked it up and threw it into a field. It was crazy. It was. And what you say is true, Edmontonians, is this real? Like, is this really happening? Come on. Is it April 1st? Yeah, yeah, we don't have those here. Exactly. So that's cool that your dad got to actually, and then see that and report that first hand. And of course, hearing about it, then I had to get up there to get some pictures of it, to see what is, what's really going on. It's like unbelievable seeing how pinpoint the destruction was. I can't imagine even. There's this one photo I have of a Claireview, when it's hit on the east side of it. One side of the street is totally flattened and destroyed. Yes. You turn around and look at the other side of the street. A few shingles were missing off the house. A couple of eaves troughs were ripped, that's about it. That's right, because the friend that I talked about lived in Claireview, in a trailer park. Mount Evergreen, that was a whole different. Yes. She was picked up and thrown, I mean, unbelievably, and broke her back and a whole bunch of them. Terrible, like just terrible. And I remember seeing pictures, that trailer park was decimated, absolutely decimated. And you saw all that from the air. Took the pictures of it. So they were actually published in a book back then as well, because of course, you remember the Edmonton Sun had that big spread about Black Friday. And of course, everyone that was around here, you say Black Friday, you knew exactly what they were talking about. Where nowadays you say Black Friday. People think shopping. Pre-Christmas holiday sale. That's right, it's the mall event, that's right, which is a tornado in itself. Black Friday is totally a different conversation from the 80s. But this is interesting and kind of takes us down another bit of a road with you in that you have all these photos and you've compiled these and put them into a number of books about the history of Edmonton. And we have one of your books, we ordered it and was reading through it. I was fascinated because all three of my schools that I went to, West Glen Elementary, Westmount Junior High and Ross Shep are in your book. Like incredible. And this is fascinating for Edmontonians, even if you're not an Edmontonian. This is fascinating. You've done amazing work on the history of Edmonton. And again, it's one of those things that you didn't even realize what you're doing, much earlier in when i was flying. I didn't realize it was actually learning the city and that you're going to be a future job. It was just something fun to do. And that's what I've always thought. It's like, you have to do something that you enjoy. It has to be fun, especially for work. You don't want to get up and go to a job you hate every day. You got to make sure something's fun. Being up in the air, being in that helicopter, that was fun. There's not a day that it felt like. I can't imagine. That'd be cool. I know. I want to do that. No, not really. I love flying, but that is really cool. Get yourself a helicopter, I'll be your tour guide. Yeah, we'll go do it. How many books, Shane, published? Four now. The first one is in 2016, and again, that's when I realized, hey, I've got all these pictures. I should do something with it. Does anyone have an interest. So I actually put together a full colored photo book of the city. Right. 104 pages of various things, of things you may have forgot about. Yeah. The rat hole. The rat hole. If you're from Edmonton, you know what the rat hole is. And yeah, it's not there anymore. It's gone. Whatever they did, filled it in or whatever they did to it. The rat hole for anyone that doesn't know about it. It was a tunnel that used to go under the train yard, going into downtown on 109th Street. That's right. And I remember as a kid, in my mom's old Pontiac, going through the rat hole. And it was like going through the Batcave. And there you go. That's what it was. And what did you always do when you went through the rat hole? You honked the horn. Everybody honked the horn in the rat hole. Why? That's right. Because you just did that in the rat hole. You just did that and it bugged everybody else in the rat hole. And that was like, everybody's honking their horn. That's, oh, this is just so mind blowing. Plus it was close to the Lingnan. It was just a block away from the Lingnan restaurant. So if you went to the Lingnan, you went through the rat hole to get home. Yeah, so that was kind of cool. Yeah. So that was my first book. Second one I did in 2022. Of course, COVID, I got bored and need to do something. So then all those pictures that I had kind of went through a different angle of it. And I thought of it back then and now perspective. Yeah. So in and above Edmonton, then and now basically is pictures of what the spot was at one time to what it looks like now. So just in comparison of what has changed over the last probably 60 years in the city, because I also found a whole whack of pictures of my dad as well when he was flying and used some of those to do the comparison of what it looks like nowadays. Right. That's cool. And then your third book. This is the one that we have now. So background on that is this all came about because of COVID. Right. So when I was flying around the city, mostly talked about what was happening on the streets, events. It must have been so eerie flying during that time. What was happening? Tell us about that. That's where this came about because it's like when everyone's told to stay home, businesses were closed, no one's out there. It's like a ghost town. You're like, now what do I talk about? Yeah. Like even walking out to the helicopter in the morning at the airport, you look around, it's like there's nothing moving. Nothing going on. A bustling international airport. Yeah. We're the only ones moving out of there. It must have made traffic reporting easy because not a lot of people moving around. And awfully boring. Yeah, I was going to say. And then boring. And then so surreal. Yeah. And challenging to figure out, okay, what do I talk about? Yeah. So that's what this book came about. So this one here that we have, this is, this is buildings. Eye in the sky. Yeah, Eye in the Sky. A lot of buildings, older buildings, that kind of stuff. Right. So the way that happened was like, okay, you know, to make something happen to be interesting from the air. Anyway, like, let's talk about historical buildings in the city. Right. Various places that people probably drive by and know nothing about, but it's always there on the road to work or whatever. So then I just started doing some stories with regards to old buildings, not the Alberta Hotel or the Hotel Macdonald or anything that's been around here for a long time. And then just kind of evolved into more and more. And so then I was also doing some public speaking engagements with Bob Layton. Yes. That used to be at. 630 Chad as the news director. And so as we're doing these after COVID, people come up and say, hey, I love your history stories. Got them in a book? No. Got them in a book? No. But someone finally said, well, why not? So then I thought, okay, well, obviously, there's an interest here, so why not? Let's put them in a book. Yeah. So this book actually has over 250 stories that have aired on global TV of what we're doing from the helicopter over a number of years. I mean, you said something that kind of hit it on the head is, you drive by these buildings all the time and you don't think much of them. And me, again, being from Edmonton and growing up in Edmonton, I recognized probably 80 percent in the book. Some I didn't really recognize, but I thought I've driven by that building a hundred million times and never thought about what that building was. Well, for that matter, you went to Ross Shepherd High School. Yes. But before you read that, did you know who Ross Shepherd was? Well, sort of, but not that I'm saying that. I knew he was my principal, and I knew I saw his office once or twice just for conversation. But did you know he was an Olympic athlete? Well, I didn't know that until you said, and man, but the one thing that did hit me in that was the totem pole out front. The totem pole was iconic. Exactly. Why is there a totem pole in front of a high school? It's been there forever. That's right. I told Jennifer, I used to sit under that totem pole with a particular girl, who I thought was pretty cool. And we would sit under the totem pole. And so it was like, whoa, nostalgia. But then, okay, so we'll get into it. So then you talked about my junior high school. Yep. Okay. And then it says in there, and I knew this, I knew this. I was telling Jennifer that there's a rumor that my junior high school was haunted. And what did you do there? Well, it wasn't, no, it wasn't me. And I'll tell you what the story was when I went to that school, was that a student had hung themself in the bell tower, and that student would come back and haunt the school. Now, I never saw it. I never saw the student rocking around. I'm just saying, apparently you had to be there late at night. But you put that in the book about- No, it was a different ghost story. Oh, it was a different ghost story. But it was haunted. A different place is haunted on the campus. Yeah, so anyway, this was so deja vu for me. This was so amazing for me. Well, your junior high school, that's only one of two schools built in Edmonton during the Second World War. Okay. So like- And my elementary school was iconic because it started out as a high school, and then junior high, and then an elementary school. And I went there when it was elementary school. I mean, sorry folks, I don't know. That's probably boring you. But for me, this is just like unbelievable. But you have so many buildings in there. Edmonton's an old city. It really is. Like an old city. I don't think people realize how long it's been around. Well, essentially dated back to 1802 when the Hudson Bay Company and the Northwest Company put up competing forts right here. But again, it didn't really take off until the railroad moved here, essentially Strathcona. But still, Edmonton by today's standards anyway. And it was the gateway to the Klondike, hence Klondike Days. And then it became the capital of Alberta, which again, just helped it grow there again, because now we're the capital city of Alberta. Well, in those early days, like I said, the first railway showed up here about 1891. Yeah. Edmonton became a town in 1904, and of course, the capital one year later. Yes, 1905. So yeah, it did evolve very quickly. Okay, so third book, fourth book? Fourth one is? King Of The Clouds. King Of The Clouds. And that was as we're flying around, right? Lisa McGregor, they used to anchor the news at Global. She'd always just come up with some cute little names to introduce me. Yeah. And then one day her and Kevin O'Connell, were joking that I'm the King Of The Clouds. King Of The Clouds. And that just seemed to stick. So I was like, what a great name for a book. I love it. That's great. So then that covers just some of my other adventures in flying. There's still some history stories in there that were on air. There's a bunch of stories in there that didn't make it on air. But things that we saw. And also some of the other adventures I've done. It's like flying over an active volcano. And also the wildest ride I ever went on was going aerial dogfighting in Florida. What? There's no roller coaster that's better. Tell us about that. I gotta know about this. So how did this come up? Like you got detoured in traffic and ended up in Florida or what happened here? The wind blew me there. The wind blew you, yeah. No, I was down there, but I had a trip planned. And prior to going, then I found this company that offered airplane rides. Yeah. And you're going aerial dogfighting. Well, this is neat. I gotta check this out. So I end up going there. So you're in a plane with an experienced pilot. Yeah. There's another person in a plane with an experienced pilot. And basically your mission is to go and try and shoot each other down. Top gun. This is amazing. Absolutely. I want to do this. So then so each plane has some sensors on the back of the canopy. So you're trying to get in position behind the other person. So essentially, you're just doing the spiral all the way down as you're trying to get in behind the other person. He's doing the same. It is top gun. And so you're trying to get in position because when you pull this, push the button on the stick, it shoots out this invisible laser. If it hits the sensors on the back of the plane. Right. The plane actually smokes to confirm you killed them. Oh, come on. Isn't this amazing? This is the greatest. This is so cool. So that was the wildest ride I've ever been on. Wow. You're pulling four or five Gs, and I actually started graying out. Like I felt my vision closing in like this. So are you flying the plane? Yes. You are. So then there's the pilot that's sitting beside you, and he's telling you what to do and how to do it to try and get in position. So if you ever had trouble, again, he would take over immediately, so there's no safety risk in it. Yeah, but 5 Gs, that's... It was incredible. Intense. Because what I think the most of us humans ever experience is like 1 G, like maybe on a roller coaster or something like that. 5 Gs. It was wild. And the best part is they have cameras on this to actually capture your adventure. So it's all filmed. Oh, come on. That's it. I know where I'm going for my next vacation. That's the coolest thing. Wow. So then coming home, that kind of like, commercial plane coming home. This is boring. Shane Blakely's dog fighting over Edmonton right now. That's kind of cool. And so where was the active volcano that you flew over? So back in 2018 in Hawaii, there's that major eruption that happened in May. And it's one of those, I don't know if you want to call it once in a lifetime type of eruptions, but it was a major one where the the cauldron actually collapsed in on itself. So of course, where is this pressure and all this magma going once popping out? So all these fissures open up in a residential neighborhood, 24 of them on a line, lava is just perking out. But fissure number eight was the massive one where this actually created a lava river, eight miles long down towards the coast before it got into the ocean. And there's so much steam and melt, or so much steam that basically came off this once it hit the ocean, that this was actually creating its own weather system over the big island. And this went on for months. From, I think it started easing up around September, October that year. So this thing went for four months. So it's like, okay, after hearing about this day after day in the news, like, I gotta go over there, I gotta fly over this. So I got some incredible pictures looking straight down in this. And they're saying this magma is coming from 18,000 feet below sea level, perking up and down to the coast. That is incredible. And it was, like, you look at the landscape, that's all burnt. It used to be a residential neighborhood. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's like a landscape you've never seen before. Maybe it's the moon. Well, okay. But it was bizarre just to see this. Wow. And it was just hard to put in the words of what this really was. That's incredible. And I think you can only see something like that from an aerial perspective. Oh, absolutely. The whole area is closed off by the ground. Wow. Man, wow. This is incredible. Put me in the air. That's where I'm happy. That's where you're happy. Yeah, it's in the air. So anybody who's looking for somebody. Do you still any aerial photography? Do people hire you out to do any aerial photography? Are you doing that still? Or yeah, no. Call me. Call me. That's right. Wow. This is incredible. I mean, you could probably just tell stories. You go around and you talk to folks, don't you? They can book you to do that, to come talk to them and that kind of stuff. So yeah, like I said, I do this by myself. I also team up with Bob Layton. Yeah. We put a show together. And then we've been to any place from Camrose up to Slave Lake, all points in between if anyone that wants some entertainment for your group. And it's all documented by some of the videos and the pictures as well that I've taken. What stories? I know. It's incredible. It's absolutely phenomenal. This is incredible. Took you down memory lane, didn't it? Well, it took me down. It did. It really did. The book took me down memory lane, for sure. Hearing these stories, Shane, you have. And when you grow up in a place, and then I left for quite a few years, and have come back, but it's just like, bam! I remember as a kid. I remember that as a kid. I remember doing that. These were all really important places, and they were big time. Oh, absolutely. The city of Edmonton, and I'm so glad, I am, and I say this sincerely, I'm so glad someone like yourself came along and recorded all this, and has done this. Because these are things we shouldn't forget. These are important things. To the history of our city, the history of Edmonton, for all you youngins out there, is not about the Oilers winning five Stanley Cups. It's way, way, I mean, okay, that's cool. I gotta admit, but it's way more than that. Walking down Jasper Avenue, that was the place to be, but it was also different because it was all calm, everyone's well behaved, everyone's just having some fun, celebrating the wins. I've said that, we've talked about that. When I was a kid, it was okay for me to go down to Jasper Avenue by myself, and walk, it was good. And there was lots happening and people were, they were, like you say, it was safe, it was cordial, it was everything. My mom used to put me on a bus when I was like 10 years old, my single mom, and send me to Klondike Days by myself, with $10 in my pocket, which in those days was like, but... Not anymore. Not anymore. How things have changed. And that's why I wish people, they need to read your books and see this, because they'd understand, and I'm not one of these people, oh, for the good old days, no. But they would understand how, like, even the downtown core was so different, like vibrant. Yep, it's just capturing that because, you know, you don't know where you're going, unless you know where you came from kind of thing, right? So capture the images of the past. And again, like I said, it wasn't even doing that on purpose. It's like something neat and fun to do at the time. But then when you look at the whole package that you have of what I do with these pictures, if I have an interest in it, hopefully others do as well. Absolutely. I can't believe we're at the final question already. This is amazing. This has flown by. Pardon the pun. This has flown by. That's incredible. Sorry. Just had to get that in there. Gene would be proud. Gene would be proud. Gene Principe, that was for you. Gene, if you're listening, it was a good one. Speaking of flying, and again, some of the fun that we've had up in the helicopter. There's one thing that we always did on a windy day when, like, okay, let's see how fast we can go on this helicopter. So from the air, we'd always start at West Edmonton Mall. So if we got these strong westerly winds, it always helped blow us a little faster. So from the air, West Edmonton Mall, straight down 82 Avenue would be Bonnie Doon Mall. Yes, right. So from the air, it's pretty much a straight line. Okay. So with those, let's see how fast we can go today with this wind. So the best we're able to do from West Edmonton Mall, and again, that's for those that don't know, pretty much almost across the city. Yes. Yes. Our best time was two minutes and 11 seconds. Oh my goodness. Two minutes. That's incredible. Because by car, even today, that's going to take you 25, 30, maybe more, more to get across the city. That's two minutes. So yeah, we're pretty much hitting 200 miles an hour all the way. Oh my goodness. It's the case for flying cars right there. The case for flying cars is being built right here. But that's pretty cool. Wow. I mean, in my mind right now, I'm thinking of the distance and that is incredible. That's unbelievable. Okay. Okay. So final question. Last question. Shane, what is the best piece of advice you've been given either personally or professionally that you still carry with you to this day? Years ago, my dad always said, be nice to those on your way up the corporate ladder because you can easily pass them on the way down. Good advice. So you never know who you're going to come across that can change your tragectory either for the good or for the bad. So just be kind to everybody. That's fantastic advice. And yeah, we need to... Yeah, that's good. That's really good. Shane, if people want to book you to speak or to find your books, where can they go? Well, there are two of the books, King of Clouds and The Eye in the Sky Edmonton's History are available on Amazon. So look up by my name will simply be the easiest for both of them to come up. I also have them for sale at the speaking engagements that we do. Right. And also we can get them either way. If they want to book us or myself individually anyway to do it, I just have to reach out email wise or Facebook. I have a Facebook site In and Above Edmonton. So you can message me on that as well to book. Yeah. Listen folks, I'm telling you, I think this would be a great event to be with Shane. And I'm sure when Bob comes along, we'd love to have Bob Layton on the podcast. That would be phenomenal too. We have two legends. This would be two legends. He's got the legendary stories. Well, but so do you, so do you. Well, he's got 50 years of radio. I know, I know. And the best stories are, you know, those days once upon a time before human resources. Yeah, yeah, those are the best stories. That's right. There's been many times he's shared me this, my mouth just dropped with regards to, really, that happened? But listen, I think if you're, folks, if you're listening and, excuse me, you're wanting some, if you want Shane to come, this would be fascinating. And I don't think you'd be disappointed at all, especially if you're from Edmonton or around Edmonton or that kind of stuff. So get in touch with them, bring them out, have them guest speak at an event or something like that. Bring Bob along and he can, they can, you guys sing or anything like that? Or do you? No, but we dance really well. You dance really well. That's really cool. And this has been fascinating. I have to say this has been fascinating. It was a great podcast. For me anyway, I'm enjoying this one. Absolutely. So this is really cool. Thank you, Shane. Yes, thank you. Thanks for all your years of what you did, because it was really important and is really important to the city of Edmonton. And people don't realize that, I think. But now that you've told some of these stories, you realize, I'm glad we had somebody up there. I'm glad we did. And so, and your books and all of that. So folks, check it out. Thanks for listening. Again, want to mention Wing Snob. Don't know what you're doing for dinner tonight. Check out a Wing Snob. www.wingsnob.ca. Or if you're looking for something to get printed, give Mprint a call. And hey, listen, this is really important, Jennifer. This is really important. Yes. We need you to subscribe, subscribe, subscribe, subscribe. This is the podcast buzzword. It is. Subscribe. Yes. And if you subscribe, the beauty of it is you don't have to do anything. All of a sudden, boom, there it'll be Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam. It's free, Cam. We don't make you pay. No, just subscribe. It's fabulous. 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