All kinds of music require volume. It has to be listened to loud. But how loud and for how long? Here’s a quick guide.

• If you listen to music for long periods of time, 85 dB is about the maximum. You can listen for up to eight hours with no damage to your hearing.
• But turn things up to 88 dB, and the tolerance drops to around four hours.
• At 91 dB, two hours, max. If you’re at 94 dB, you’d better stop after an hour. Beyond that, things can get dangerous.
• If sound pressure levels are at 100 dB, you may suffer hearing damage in as little as 15 minutes.
• And if things are at 110 dB or beyond, damage starts within a few minutes. If you’re near the speakers, problems start within seconds.

© 2026 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

If you have a stereo set-up at home, you’ll know that there’s a special input for your turntable labelled “phono.”  You can’t just plug it into, say, an auxiliary input. If you can use an aux input for everything else, why not your turntable?

Because in order to play back vinyl correctly, it has to go through something called a “phono stage.” Vinyl has limitations when it comes to storing very low frequencies and very high ones. To counteract that, records are pressed with the bass turned down and the treble turned up per something called the RIAA equalization curve. Upon playback, the phono stage reverses that curve, boosting the bass by a specific amount and reducing the treble, thereby achieving the tonal balance of the original recording.

The RIAA curve may help explain why it feels better to listen to vinyl than a digital recording.

© 2026 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

A vinyl record features a continuous groove that begins on the outer edge and spirals in toward the label. How long is that groove? It depends on how much music is on the side of a record, but a general length is somewhere around 500 metres.

How wide is that groove? Anywhere from 40 to 80 microns, which can also be expressed as 4 one-hundredths to 8 one-hundredths of a millimetre. That’s about the width of a human hair.

There are a couple of oddball exceptions to this. For example, in 1973, Monty Python released an album called Matching Tie and Handkerchief. One side of the record secretly had two spiral grooves side by side. Depending on when you dropped the needle, it caught one groove or the other, resulting in completely different audio. Imagine trying to figure out why that side of your record was different when you went to play it.

© 2026 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

I know this has happened to you. There’s something in the news. An odd fact grabs your attention. A friend mentions something. It’s strange, upsetting. It might even make you mad. It’s one of those things that can’t be just a random act of the universe. It has to be the result of organized, malevolent forces working to destabilize, conquer, and destroy. Lee Harvey Oswald couldn’t have acted alone in the JFK assassination. 9/11 had to be an inside job. Those aren’t trails of condensed water vapour behind airplanes in the sky—they’re chemtrails. The Earth is flat. The Moon landing never happened. There are UFOs and aliens stored at Area 51. All of these beliefs stem from wanting to make sense of senseless things. We feel powerless when something bad happens, so finding a “reason” might help us regain control and a feeling of safety. Or maybe, by connecting all the dots, we reveal a truth that no one else sees, making us feel unique and superior. And if we find others who believe the same thing, we’re no longer alone with our fears. Conspiracy theories have always been out there as we attempt to understand “why,” to restore order, and to reclaim clarity. The more complex the world becomes, and the more people can connect online, the more conspiracies appear. Wake up, sheeple. Can’t you see what’s really going on? This is Episode 68 of Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry. We’re about to embark on a journey through music’s greatest conspiracies. And let me tell you something: have I got some wild stories to tell you. In addition to the  podcasts, you can hear Uncharted on these Corus radio stations (all times local):

• • Toronto: AM 640 (4-5am)

• • London: 980 CFPL (4-5am)

• • Vancouver: 730 CKNW (1-2am)

• • Edmonton: 630 CHED (1-2am)

• • Calgary: QR77 (770 AM) (1-2am)

• • Winnipeg: 680 CJOB (1-2am)

© 2026 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Last time, I talked about how the weight of a vinyl doesn’t necessarily impact the quality of how it sounds. Okay, so what about rotational speed?

Some people swear that 45 RPM records sound better than those that rotate at 33 1/3. This is true if you’re talking about 12-inch records. Because the record spins faster, the stylus travels through more grooves per second. This means that the wiggles the stylus makes are more spread out, meaning that they’re easier to track.

Think of it in terms of the resolution of an audio file. Something that is encoded at 320 kilobytes per second will sound better than the same song located at 128. This explains why bands like Radiohead have released albums as two slabs of 45 RPM vinyl instead of just one that spins at 33 1/3.

More next time.

© 2026 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The Toronto Raptors are hosting a morning news conference with a “special guest” for what the team is calling a “milestone announcement.”

General manager and executive vice-president Bobby Webster will join the unidentified guest at the event, with the team’s cryptic announcement prompting speculation about who could appear.

The Raptors have agreed to a blockbuster trade to bring 2019 NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard back to Toronto from the Los Angeles Clippers, although the deal has not yet been announced.

Longtime Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry has also been considering retirement after 20 NBA seasons and has often said he wants to retire as a member of the franchise.

Lowry spent nine seasons in Toronto, helping the Raptors win their first NBA championship in 2019 while earning all six of his all-star selections with the club.

The team has not disclosed the identity of the special guest or provided further details about the announcement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 7, 2026.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Renata Ford, the wife of former Toronto mayor Rob Ford and sister-in-law to Premier Doug Ford, has died.

The premier confirmed the news Monday in a brief statement.

He says the whole family is hurting for Renata Ford’s children and that they’re asking for privacy.

Renata Ford ran as a candidate in Toronto for the People’s Party of Canada in the 2019 federal election, finishing in fourth place.

The run came during her lawsuit against the premier alleging that he mishandled the estate of his brother Rob after his death in 2016.

Renata Ford accused Doug Ford of causing financial harm to her and her two children, a claim the premier has denied.

“My heart breaks for Stephanie and Dougie. They’ve been through so much at such young ages, and losing their mom is incredibly painful,” the premier said in the statement.

“Our whole family is hurting for them. We ask that people respect their privacy during this very difficult time.”

© 2026 The Canadian Press

One person is dead and another has been injured following a shooting in Scarborough on Monday afternoon, police say.

Toronto police said officers were called to the area of Victoria Park Avenue and Highway 401 at about 3:20 p.m. after reports of a shooting.

Police said two people were found suffering from gunshot wounds. One victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

A second victim was located near Victoria Park Avenue and Sheppard Avenue East and was taken to hospital by emergency run, police said.

Investigators have not released information about the victims or possible suspects.

The homicide unit has been notified and the investigation is ongoing.

Police are asking anyone with information to contact investigators.

 

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

A swimmer is missing after being swept away by the current in Stamp River Provincial Park on Vancouver Island.

Port Alberni, B.C. RCMP said they were called on July 5 at approximately 5:30 p.m. for reports that a female swimmer had gone missing.

Emergency services and police immediately conducted a search, but the woman has not been found, police said.

On Monday, the Port Alberni RCMP, Alberni Valley Rescue Squad, and Arrowsmith Search and Rescue were in the provincial park searching for the missing swimmer.

While the provincial park remains open to the public, the section of trail nearest the falls is currently closed to allow search crews to conduct their operations safely and effectively, police said in a release.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The budget for the project to replace the George Massey Tunnel has more than doubled to $8.5 billion.

The original price tag was $4.15 billion

The completion date for the project has also been pushed back from December 2030 to September 2031.

However, construction is still projected to start next year.

B.C.’s Minister of Transportation and Transit, Mike Farnworth, announced the news on Monday, saying that the federal government will contribute up to $3 billion in capital costs toward construction of the new toll-free, eight-lane tunnel.

“The original estimate was done in the business case period of 2021 and obviously an estimate gets refined as you work on the design process,” Farnworth said.

“When we arrived where we are now with the price of 8.5, we consulted with both experts in terms of the design-build construction area, marine construction, validated by a third party outside of what the cost should be.”

In June, the province said it was unable to reach an agreement with its original contractor, ‘Cross Fraser Partnership,’ and separated the project into different components for local companies to bid on.

Despite a change in the procurement model, Farnworth claims construction work hasn’t slowed down and the tunnel’s design remains unchanged.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.