Scott welcomes Bob Cowan to the show for this week's edition of The Brightest Conversation in Hamilton. Receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, March Break, interviewing celebrities and more gets covered along with the worst way you could announce "Mighty Ducks 4" while on the air. Guest: Bob Cowan, Co-host, Morning Live, CHCH-TV

Today's edition of Ben's Story of the Day features: 1) The driver who was pulled over and had officers discover that he chose to don his SCUBA gear before getting behind the wheel. 2) People can get verified on Twitter as actually being the people they are claiming to be so a prankster set up a fake business that said it would display that verified status on the exterior of your home. 3) The Ottawa Senators are now sponsored by Manscaped, a company for men's below-the-belt grooming (imagine the marketing opportunities here!). Which one will be crowned Ben's Story of the Day? Which one is your story of the day?

Once the pandemic is over, people spending money at restaurants, stores & more should restart our economy but they can't do it alone. The world market presents numerous opportunities for Canadian businesses to thrive. In the meantime, shouldn't we start investing in our businesses to ensure they're ready? Apparently the opposite is happening, we're falling behind! Guest: Bill Robson, CEO, C.D. Howe Institute - March Break is getting closer and closer with every day but the question as to whether or not it'll be cancelled this year. Turns out Scott's next guest has a third option in mind. What is it and how could it make better use of March Break? Guest: Dr. Paul Bennett, Founding Director & Lead Consultant, Schoolhouse Consulting and Author, "The State of the System" & Educhatter blog - A fund has been set up by some of the richest countries to help get vaccines in the hands of some of the poorest... and Canada is going to be taking back its donation to the fund. Scott opens the phone lines to hear what you think of this decision.

Today's edition of Ben's Story of the Day features: 1) A zoo's Valentine's Day feature where you can pay $5 for them to name a cockroach after your ex and watch them feed said cockroach to one of their animals. 2) Some Czech guys who decided after a few drinks that their bulletproof vest hasn't been tested yet. 3) A Florida lawyer who tried making some... adult material featuring a sex worker and his client while said client was still in jail. Which one will be crowned Ben's Story of the Day? Which one is your story of the day?

Politics has really changed throughout the pandemic. Now we're seeing politicians who seem to be giving a message along the lines of 'don't listen to the other person'. Is our COVID-19 response more about why the other person is wrong and shouldn't be listened to instead of 'this is what we're doing and we're going to get it done'? Guest: Stephen LeDrew, Host, The LeDrew Three Minute Interview; Former President, Liberal Party of Canada - You might not like it but Scott has a football player on his mind who he's deemed the most overrated player ever. Is his performance in the upcoming Superbowl going to prove him wrong? Guest: Steve Foxcroft, Sports Broadcaster, NFL Chain Gang Member, NBA Court-side Administrator & Vice-President, Fluke Transport - Now that the announcement about kids returning to school has been made, what will Hamilton's public board do in preparation for the kids' returns? Guest: Dawn Danko, Chair, Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board

The Brightest Conversation in Hamilton welcomes Annette Hamm back to the show to debate the new travel restrictions that will be going in to place, vaccinations, an upcoming TV anniversary, the abandoned Hamilton home on sale for $500k and more. Guest: Annette Hamm, Co-host, Morning Live, CHCH-TV

A student found out something surprising about the professor teaching their online university class. Another student went by 'Reconnecting' during their online class. Kraft-Heinz will be making a limited run of Candy Kraft Dinner for Valentine's Day with the colour to match! Which story will be crowned Ben's Story of the Day? Which one is your story of the day?

Now that Biden has reinforced the 'Buy American' bill, where are things going to go from here for Canada? Can we negotiate an exception for Canadian businesses? Should we make a 'Buy Canadian' in retaliation? Guest: Tracy Gray, MP, Kelowna-Lake Country; Shadow Minister, Export Promotion & International Trade - Every human is going to die at some point or another however we still aren't 100% sure of when in the dying process we are definitively dead. The Death Prediction and Physiology after Removal of Therapy Study (DePPaRT Study) looked into finding an answer to this. How will this study help inform those considering organ donation? Guest: Dr. Sonny Dhanani, Chief, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario; Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Ottawa

Today's edition of Ben's Story of the Day features a mistake on Facebook's part that caused any post about the Plymouth Hoe being removed for being offensive, a guy who's dog began walking like him after he suffered an ankle injury and the Toronto woman who won the lottery thanks to a dream her husband. Which story will be crowned as Ben's Story of the Day? Which one is your story of the day?

The idea of working from home took the world by storm as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic however there are signs that it might be losing its shine. Could we be seeing the downside of working from home starting to take its hold? Guest: Dr. John Trougakos, Associate Professor of Organizational Behaviour & HR Management, Department of Management, University of Toronto Scarborough - In a world where traveling around the world for pleasure has shutdown almost entirely, it's a weird position travel agents are finding themselves in. Are people still trying to travel despite the numerous restrictions in place? Are there perks to booking a cruise now instead of waiting for later? Guest: Shawna Curtin-Weatherill, Franchise Owner, Expedia Cruises Waterdown - The Baseball Hall of Fame has announced that it's not going to have a class this year. The closest to being voted in was Curt Schilling however due to his political views, some of the people who held his ticket to the Hall of Fame said they couldn't vote for him. Should politics impact whether or not a player gets inducted into their respective sport's hall of fame? Guest: Bubba O'Neil, Sports Anchor, CHCH-TV

Today's edition Ben's Story of the Day features another 3 bizarre stories from around the world. Which story will be crowned Ben's Story of the Day? 1) A major tourist destination is now saying that if you get caught not wearing a mask you have two options: Pay the fine or do 50 pushups. 2) North Korean hackers have reached out to hackers around the world to lure them to their website about hacking with the intentions of hacking the hackers. That's right, hackers made a hacking website so those hackers can hack hackers. 3) A man in Britain has made it his life-long goal of looking like an all-black alien. Complete with tattoos, piercings, implants and more, he's realizing that removing parts of his body might be a step too far...

What does President Biden's strengthening of the 'Buy American' bill mean for Canada? As one of their top trading partners, will that relationship see some tension or is there a chance we'll have an exception be made for us? Guest: Marvin Ryder, Associate Professor of Marketing, DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University - The COVID-19 pandemic has taken away our ability to do many things. Regardless of it's seeing friends & family, going out to the movies or being able to travel around the world once again, everyone has something they can't wait to do again. Scott opens the phone lines to find out what you look forward to doing after the pandemic comes to an end. - COVID-19 has put the Tokyo Olympics in jeopardy but does that mean it'll be as easy as saying the games aren't happening? Guest: Dr. Michael Naraine, Assistant Professor of Sports Business, Brock University

Ben's Story of the Day has the unique ability to take three completely unrelated stories and pit them against each other for weirdness, cleverness or sometimes outright stupidity. This week's helping features a cargo-ship that tipped a little too far in one direction, a tribute band's response to a cease & desist and the case of a wife who stabbed her husband because of a picture of him 'cheating'. Which one will be crowned Ben's Story of the Day? Which one is your story of the day?

The numbers are in and they're not looking good for small businesses all across Canada. As many as 180,000 businesses may turn off their lights for the last time but is there anything that can be done to lighten their load and help upwards of 2.4 million Canadians employed? Guest: Julie Kwiecinski, Director of Provincial Affairs, Canadian Federation of Independent Business - If Scott's next guest gets his way, paid sick leave will be just one of the many things many of Ontario's most important workers will have access to. Steven Del Duca joins the show to help shed light on what he wants to accomplish and how he wants to get it done. Guest: Steven Del Duca, Leader, Ontario Liberal Party - We now have a better idea as to if Tom Brady carried Bill Belichik to the Superbowl or if it was the other way around. Also, how does a bad call from a coach impact a player at the top of their game? Don Robertson joins Scott to talk about all of this and more in Sports Talk with Don Robertson. Guest: Don Robertson, Head Coach & Owner, Dundas Real McCoys & Broker of Record, ComChoice Realty

This week's edition of The Brightest Conversation in Hamilton Radio sees Scott welcome Jeff Mahoney to the show to talk about vaccination, consuming lab-grown meat, the Governor General's resignation and more. Guest: Jeff Mahoney, Reporter & Columnist, The Hamilton Spectator

When Ben's wearing a shirt featuring space-faring cat faces on burritos & tacos, you know it's going to be a good set of stories for Ben's Story of the Day. Which story will be crowned Ben's Story of the Day, the worst first words to hear after waking up from a 7 month coma, a lawyer's weird use of a scene from the movie Psycho in court or perhaps a BC grocer's surprising shipment of bananas?

Canada's now-former Governor General Julie Payette has resigned from her position following a scathing report about how she ran Rideau Hall. Is this a big deal or is it just another case of a badly behaved politician? Guest: Nathan Tidridge, History & Civics Teacher, Waterdown District High School; Multiple Award-winning Author; Board of Directors Member, Ontario Heritage Trust - Would you eat meat that was grown in a lab? It exists and we're now closer to making it accessible thanks to the works of some researchers at McMaster University. How do you make it and does it actually taste like real meat? Guest: Dr. Ravi Selvagapathy, Biomedical Engineer, McMaster University - Billy Van was a major driving force behind the show "The Hilarious House of Frightenstein" which was made at the CHCH studios and shown all over Canada and parts of the US for 25 years. Scott talks with one of the authors of a tell-all book that has been written about him. Guest: Stacey Case, Co-author, "Who's the Man? Billy Van!"

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.

A poll found that a large percentage of Canadians are alright with the government picking and choosing what they can censor on social media networks. Is this something that could backfire if a bill was passed? Guest: Joanna Baron, Executive Director, Canadian Constitution Foundation - The Houston Astros' sign stealing scandal will forever be a mark that's made beside the players and staff and now that Toronto has paid a hefty sum for one of them, some Jays fans aren't sure whether they should cheer or boo. Guest: Rick Zamperin, Senior Sports Director, Global News Radio 900 CHML

Back by popular demand is Scott and Ben delving into the unfortunate, funny and technically true headlines that have graced news outlets from over the years.

Hamilton's housing market has been on the rise for a very long time with very few signs of stopping anytime soon. To get a better look on where things currently stand, Scott turns to one of the best known local real estate agents. Guest: Judy Marsales, Broker of Record, Judy Marsales Real Estate Ltd. - Cryptocurrency as a means of investment is still widely misunderstood by many people and with the price of one Bitcoin being just shy of $50,000, should more people get into trading it? How does it work? Where does its value come from? Guest: Don Fox, Principal, IG Private Wealth Management & Co-host, Planning Your Financial Future on Global News Radio 900 CHML - You've heard of JFK, Elvis Presley, Martin Luther King Jr., JonBenét Ramsey and OJ Simpson before but you might not be as familiar with a doctor who's been involved with all of their court cases and more. What role has Dr. Cyril Wecht played in these cases and does he believe the mainstream story is what actually happened? Guest: Dr. Cyril Wecht, Forensic Pathologist, Attorney & Medical-legal Consultant; Author, 'The Life and Deaths of Cyril Wecht: Memoirs of America's Most Controversial Forensic Pathologist'

Joe Biden announced he will cancel the permit for Keystone XL pipeline. What are the ramifications and implications when it comes to us? Especially to Alberta? Guest: Marvin Ryder - Degroote School of Business, McMaster University  Don Robertson joins, as he does every Monday, to discuss a few big things. Not least of all is: Should superstars be protected more?