Chances are it’s because the guest didn’t feel qualified to answer it. Calls, emails and tweets are screened before and during the show to ensure the guest is knowledgeable about the company. If your question was turned-down, it was solely for this reason. Guests are instructed to give the thumbs-down on companies they no longer cover, or don’t feel qualified to provide reasonable commentary. The producer gets in the guest’s earpiece during commercial breaks and the guest responds by pointing a thumbs-up or down into the camera to the company name. If you got the thumbs-up but you didn’t make it on-air, it’s because we simply ran out of time.

It’s my job to monitor the stock market and report the red flags that I see. I’m passionate and highly knowledgeable about technology so I saw red flags. So it’s my job to ask very smart people very scary questions to confirm the red flags I see. The frequency of my reporting on any topic is directly correlated to the importance of the story to the viewer.

The more I talk about RIM, the more it sounds like I’m ganging-up on it. And because for the past five years very important things have been happening to — and around — RIM, lots of red-flag talk can start to feel personal.

I get accused of bashing RIM from time to time, so I thought you might be interested in what I say to people who do. I pasted an email reply to one viewer on Facebook then made it pretty using my fancy new website. Read my reply

I’m using a Bloomberg terminal. The $10k/month service provides me with a remarkable wealth of information. The analyst recommendations are compiled by Bloomberg from their reports and are frequently updated shortly after earnings reports. Because the figures are the consensus, you’ll sometimes hear me instead quote “the top ranked analysts” — those Bloomberg has tracked for the accuracy of their 12 month target prices. That’s because there may be target prices that haven’t been updated in months — or a year — and I don’t think including those figures is an accurate reflection of Bay and/or Wall Street opinion.

I’m not a technical analyst, but you will hear me quote several pertinent figures including 50 and 200 Day Moving Averages to gauge support and resistance levels, Moving Average Convergence-Divergence (MACD) to indicate momentum and trends, and the Relative Strength Index (RSI) that tells us if a stock is “overbought” (read: the herd is moving en-masse to buy) or “oversold” (read: the herd is stampeding to the exits).

No. Although to accommodate special needs of certain guests, BNN will from time to time provide a town car to shuttle them to a camera to ensure their timely appearance on the network.

That depends on the show. The Close is a collaboration between the show producer, the segment producer (often called a “chase” producer because it’s their job to chase-down guests) and me. Usually it starts with a story, and we search for a guest who can best provide insight.

Guests of Market Call are booked, often weeks in advance or based on their availability in Toronto, by the show producer.

Formal newscasts on BNN are put together by a talented team of writers. Introductions to guests are either ad-libbed or written by a segment producer. And the wittiest segments are researched by me and ad-libbed.

All the stories I present on CTV News are researched and written by me.

I graduated with honours from the Humber College radio broadcasting program. My understanding of finance and the stock markets comes from more than 13 years of reading, research, and interviewing some of the world’s biggest financial gurus.

My tailor is Maxwell’s Clothiers of Hong Kong. Twice a year Mr. K. Maxwell’s son Andy comes into town with a legion of staff, rents a hall at the Sheraton, and fills it with fabric swatches and men scurrying about with plastic measuring tapes wrapped around their necks.

I don’t know, but it will happen. While we’re still technically 4:3, everything we shoot is in 16:9 and much of our gear is HD, which will make the inevitable transition easier.

Apparently, yes. But no one in my family seems to be able to tell me exactly how. In 1930 George set an NHL record that still stands. During the playoffs for the Canadiens, he went 270 minutes and 8 seconds without allowing a single goal. He’d be embarassed by me: the last time I saw a puck was in a men’s room urinal.

I always write a “Suggested Anchor Question” for my CTV Toronto report. I think Ken has read it once in all the years we’ve been chatting about the day’s business news. He likes to throw curve balls at me, so if I’ve got a good punch line, I don’t put it in my script — so I can throw a few curve-balls back.

No. The report you see in the 11:30 news is recorded at 5:30 PM. I also say “hello” instead of “good evening” because those reports are often replayed at 5:30 AM the next day by stations that repeat their late night news. I used to just launch into the report because some stations don’t have the anchors introduce me, but they were getting email complaints stating that “that young man who does the business seems so rude when he doesn’t say hello.”

My Six o’clock reports are only two minutes and the late night reports are a minute. Unless the Canadian Dollar is the top story, I try to budget my time to tell you the most interesting news. Also note, the exchange rates quoted are Bay Street rates, so unless you’re buying hundreds of thousands of US dollars, Euros, Pounds or Yen, you’re not going to get the rate on the screen anyway (deduct 3 cents against the greenback as a general rule). The Bank of Canada posts the exchange rates here and Scotiabank has a great collection of foreign exchange rates here. If you can convince CTV News to give me an extra 60 seconds, I’d be sure to spend more time discussing the figures.

Actually, no. Here’s a handy guide to telling us apart.

Believe it or not, they turn to me.

@jdcoles, none. Actually, the boss frequently tells me to take it down a notch. He thinks I slide into “Rodney Radio” with my voice.

After 11 years on the radio, I can understand why he thinks this — but it’s just not true. Viewers regularly tell me, “I didn’t know if it was you until I heard your voice.” So unless I’m ordering my french toast like Ted Baxter, the voice you hear on TV is actually mine. I’m a firm believer in expressing energy and enthusiasm for the stories on-air, so long as it’s controlled energy. If you think I’m talking too fast, please email me because that’s my one big bad habit.

@CantechLetter, this is a misconception. While HAINSWORTH.COM has been serving the Internet for over 75 years, I didn’t invent it, it was some guy named Louis. The inconvenient truth spouted by Mr. Gore, on the other hand, must not stand. This interview between the Vice President of the United States and Wolf “Wolf” Blitzer clearly reflects Gore’s claim, but as the urban legend debunking website Snopes points out, Gore clumsily tried to explain that his legislative work fueled the development of the Internet as we know it today. And while I didn’t invent the Internet, I did invent the Post-It™ Note. And Liquid Paper™.

You’re welcome.

@PTDBD, yes, you’re almost right — it is a lizard secret verbal hand shake, but only one half of the handshake. When you hear a CEO on my show say “going forward” this is clearly code. Now, if you hear me respond — and this is critical — with the words “accretive”, “synergy” or “(x)-fold” I am confirming the lizard code with my half of the verbal handshake.

For example:

Yes, that’s right, Michael. Profit fell 43% due to the acquisition of (company name). But on a go-forward basis, we expect (company name) to double our annual sales, and that will drive the bottom line.

But how long until (company name) is accretive on an EPS basis?

The subsequent code words that are cleverly inserted into everyday business speak pass along information such as planned volcanic eruptions, future World Series® winning team names, and results for upcoming presidential elections.

Let’s get you right-tracked here.

@kylamorgan1, knowing you’re a media studies student, I’ll give you the broadcasting answer. It’s the lead-up to the opening theme to the show. There’s a fury of activity in my earpiece (called an “IFB”) in the seconds before I’m on-air. I generally have three people speaking to me: the producer (“Have a good show, everybody”), the assistant director (“Standby in 5… 4…”) and the director (“Roll 13 sound up. Camera 7. Cue!”). It feels like being shot out of a cannon every single time.

Thanks, Frank! CTV made a great choice in Lisa Laflamme as Lloyd’s successor. As Lloyd admitted himself, the #1 air chair in Canada requires sacrifice. And a jet-set lifestyle of posts in foreign bureaus, covering politics on Parliament Hill, and otherwise not being home to tuck your kids in bed at night are qualifications to even be in the running for the job. Since I’ve done none of those things, I don’t expect to get The Big Call to even fill in for Ms. Laflamme. Now Ken Shaw’s job…

For me the answer is simple: iPhone. But my first question aways is: what do your friends and family have? Getting the same device as the people in your life gives you a built-in tech support department. Do a lot of messaging? Consider a BlackBerry. Want to play games? iPhone. Like to tinker with your toys? Android all the way.

iOS screens are covered with what Apple calls an “oleophobic” coating. It’s basically afraid of fingerprints. While it doesn’t prevent smudges, it greatly reduces them. If you cover your screen with a protector, it may be more scratch-resistant, but it’s less smudge resistant. Plus, no matter how good a protector you get, it still degrades the view of the actual screen. That’s why I don’t use one. Chances are slim your iPad screen is going to come in contact with your car keys, and you’ve probably got a case for it. The only reason to get a screen protector is if you’re the type of person who needs the piece of mind that comes with insurance.

I’ll let Amber handle those. I find the Android Marketplace (aka Google Play) a vast minefield of poorly written apps with dubious intent. The signal-to-noise ratio is just too poor. But mostly I don’t feature Android apps because I’m not a fan of Android devices and I don’t use Google products. Android smartphones are geared towards people who like to tinker. I’m not a tinkerer. And I don’t use Gmail, Google Calendar, or Google+. If you do, Android is the way to go. The integration is fantastic.