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April 14, 2024 3:40 pm  #1


A CHUM Chart Question For Doug Thompson

If anyone would know, it's the talented Mr. Thompson. 

I'm curious about who came up with the weekly covers for the CHUM Charts back in the station's glory days. I suppose it was easy to figure out when there was a special event coming up - like the Beatles at MLG. But what about most weeks when they had to figure out what to put there? I imagine it was easy at first but by about the second year, there had to be some days where they would wonder, "What in the world are we going to put on the cover this time?"

Were there problems coming up with a fresh idea week after week? Any resistance from the jocks, who often had to dress up in weird gear or costumes for that cover (like the one below, as an example?) Where were those pics taken? And who printed and distributed them? How much lead time did you get?

It sounds like a lot of work. But as a former kid and a former listener who still has his collection of them, it was definitely worth it!

 

April 14, 2024 5:33 pm  #2


Re: A CHUM Chart Question For Doug Thompson

RadioActive: From 1958 to 1967, that would have been Promotion Director Allen Farrell, often in conjunction with Program Director Allan Slaight or Marketing Director Lyn Salloum (later known as Lyn Rice) if there was a sponsored promotion. From the beginning until 1967, the CHUM chart was designed and created weekly by the amazingly talented artist Ben Wilson, who also created the many brochures and pamphlets that CHUM sales used and the ones that were handed out to the public at the CNE or Sportsmen Shows. Slaight left CHUM in 1966. Farrell and Wilson left in 1967 to start their own company called Creative Sight & Sound. When J. Robert Wood came in as Program Director, he, in conjunction with the Promotion person at the time would have decided who to put on the cover, unless it was a sales promotion.  

Last edited by Doug Thompson (April 14, 2024 5:34 pm)

 

April 14, 2024 6:30 pm  #3


Re: A CHUM Chart Question For Doug Thompson

Thanks for the answer Doug. You always come through. 

You would think all the years - at 52 weeks each - they had to do it, they might have run out of ideas. But the chart was always colourful, creative and interesting. I notice it changed a lot when they went to the Top 30, which was mostly just pics of the jocks and not as much in the way of creative costuming etc. 

But I'm not sure if I would have been able to come up with so many scenarios for so many years. I have tons of other music surveys from stations across the U.S. and Canada. I can honestly say none of them were as consistently creative as the ones turned out from 1331 Yonge St. 

Appreciate your answer.

     Thread Starter
 

April 14, 2024 10:03 pm  #4


Re: A CHUM Chart Question For Doug Thompson

Doug, any way we can get you to clean up your malfunctioning board signature? Over the years I've pointed it out a few times in threads. You've got parallel sets of IMG tags which is the first problem, but the actual URL is invalid so nothing renders. It just takes up display space and is broken, sadly.

 

April 14, 2024 10:26 pm  #5


Re: A CHUM Chart Question For Doug Thompson

To be fair, Doug has written to me about this issue in the past, and I've tried - even with Boardhost's help - to get rid of that code, but no matter what I do, I can't seem to get access to it and delete it. I've actually been looking at this issue for some time, so if I can't get to it as an Admin., there's no way he can. 

I have no idea why it's not delete-able, even in his original sign-in protocol, but anyone with any suggestions is welcome to contact me offboard and I'll give them a try. 

     Thread Starter
 

April 14, 2024 10:36 pm  #6


Re: A CHUM Chart Question For Doug Thompson

Interesting and odd. I assume "My Options --> Avatar & Signature", then potentially "Source" toggle, does nothing for him? It's not unusual on board platforms for one's own customized signature to not be editable by an Admin, who can control other aspects of an account or general board options - but can differ per platform. A ticket with Boardhost might help - if it's been tried before, maybe a fresh support agent will help.

 

April 16, 2024 3:34 pm  #7


Re: A CHUM Chart Question For Doug Thompson

Would it make sense for me to delete my profile entirely and then launch a new one?
 

 

April 16, 2024 4:12 pm  #8


Re: A CHUM Chart Question For Doug Thompson

AspectRatio wrote:

Interesting and odd. I assume "My Options --> Avatar & Signature", then potentially "Source" toggle, does nothing for him? It's not unusual on board platforms for one's own customized signature to not be editable by an Admin, who can control other aspects of an account or general board options - but can differ per platform. A ticket with Boardhost might help - if it's been tried before, maybe a fresh support agent will help.

Something odd happened to Boardhost about a year or so ago. All attempts to contact them through their help desk have gone unanswered. I have no idea why, but they never reply, although they used to. 

Doug Thompson wrote:

Would it make sense for me to delete my profile entirely and then launch a new one? 

I suppose you can try that, although you may have to use a slightly different name, like "Doug Thompson 1" if you reapply, because sometimes it won't let the same name be used. That's how paterson1 became paterson1!

     Thread Starter
 

April 16, 2024 4:26 pm  #9


Re: A CHUM Chart Question For Doug Thompson

Doug Thompson wrote:

Would it make sense for me to delete my profile entirely and then launch a new one?
 

That possibility crossed my mind, but as someone who occasionally likes to look up something that was said in the past I would personally prefer that it wouldn't come to this (for instance, a while back I was looking at old threads relating to the Roger Ashby Oldies Show, and saw a post from you that was interesting to see again). I'm actually wondering if RA could rename your current one before you set up a new one -- I tried doing that with a spare admin account I have on the oldies board and I was able to do this, whereas that isn't an option I have for my own account here.

 

April 16, 2024 4:34 pm  #10


Re: A CHUM Chart Question For Doug Thompson

Also, after changing the name of the spare account, I just found that I was able to reuse the original name for a new account. So RA, if you were to rename Doug's current account, that might allow him to set up a new account as Doug Thompson. 

 

April 16, 2024 4:44 pm  #11


Re: A CHUM Chart Question For Doug Thompson

Thanks for the suggestion. We could try it, but I would need to coordinate with Doug first, to make sure he can still sign in under the new name, while we fix the old one. 

     Thread Starter
 

April 16, 2024 4:47 pm  #12


Re: A CHUM Chart Question For Doug Thompson

Have you tried putting a few characters (random word, famous quote, etc.) into the "My Options --> Avatar & Signature" option? Even if you're seeing nothing in that section currently, placing a new one in there might reset/overwrite the mysterious ghost old one that's there but seemingly not see-able/changeable.

 

April 16, 2024 4:53 pm  #13


Re: A CHUM Chart Question For Doug Thompson

RadioActive wrote:

Thanks for the suggestion. We could try it, but I would need to coordinate with Doug first, to make sure he can still sign in under the new name, while we fix the old one. 

Completely agree. I just wanted to quickly post my thoughts on this, in case this was worth a try rather than us losing all of Doug's old posts. One of the things I really appreciate about Boardhost is how many years of archived posts they will retain ... even though I'm using the free version for the oldies board, I've yet to run into any limit on this.