Poor Nathan. However, if you don’t have a few days like that behind you, you’ve never really been in radio. A few years ago, I finished show prep which included notes etc. for early aft shift on 640. At show change, I logged out, went into Master Control sat down and logged in…but the computer would not accept my login. My password had expired precisely between shifts. Took the techs about 20 or 30 minutes to get to me so I flew blind. Some people would have had a panic attack…that, to me, is verboten. Fortunately, when I read and make notes, the material finds its way into my addled mind and I doubt the listeners had any clue I was on the high wire without a net. These things don’t happen much anymore but back in the day, they happened a lot…and that built character.

I have been an Aislin fan for many decades and I’m proud to own an original of his. Unfortunately, he is (in this cartoon) misinforming Gazette readers. It’s true we, in Toronto, have no shortage of assholes (check out the mayoralty race) but what ails Postmedia is a) it's controlled from the USA, and; b) it fails to market a product of our times. Traditional radio, TV, and print are being replaced by social media, podcasting, streaming, digital online and, generally, one should say ‘congrats, you got your hundred years…now go away’. Nobody reading this board needs me to tell them that very few people under age 45 pay any attention to traditional media…that’s what is sinking the ship. Aislin’s next piece on this phenomenon might seek to address that!

This ‘thank you’ post may seem a bit late but some of you were still assisting our friend Mike Stafford up to last week. Without sounding too ‘cap in hand’ or embarrassing Mike (He feels bad enough), I’d like to thank everyone who helped. I also want to tell you that Mike is having to fight his own private war and has to eat and feed a family at the same time. If you have thought about helping him, please do it. I have handled the donations by accepting your Interac gifts and turning them around so Mike gets them immediately. To aid in this, please address what you can to me via Interac at pshurman@gmail.com — I know how grateful he is!

I am doing what I can and sure, Twitter is fine if it helps. But I am being careful to make sure he’s cool with this. Thanks Randy.

I thought I’d give this a shot first but thanks, good idea.

Episode 32 of SHURMAN UNLIMITED is now on line for those who wish to listen or follow... available on all podcast platforms or here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJ3Da7Ne6PM&t=18s

Those numbers are 25-54...there's not much audience left in that space for anyone. A little for music FM, all news, the CBC. They're never coming back...pity. 

Episode (31) SHURMAN UNLIMITED is online on all podcast platforms. Pierre Poilievre won the Conservative Party leadership in a walk -- 68% of the vote. Brilliant speech, amazing hidden asset in his wife. Can he win? Peter thinks so. No eulogizing...we can't compete. But Former British PM Boris Johnson hit it out of the park in speaking of Her Late Majesty in the British Parliament. And we record the passing of the last leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev. Any podcast platform OR:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA0ELL6Lpgo

That is kind of you ‘mic’em’….the incident is lost in the annals of history now (except for radio aficionados). With radio in its present state, I seldom listen except for a bit of Moore and Oakley and (basically) nothing else. You really should check out podcasts….there are hundreds of thousands of them and on any subject imaginable. They download automatically and alert you. And if your car has Apple CarPlay or the Android equivalent, all the info comes on screen and you play it using your car’s controls…the sound is spectacular. Podcasts have become my choice, notably for lengthy drives.

Good day to all of you SOWNY people. Centreline posted a YouTube link here for my podcast yesterday. Not much activity on the post other than Paterson1 complimenting it. However, downloads in the first 24 hours online were at record levels…the podcast is much like what those who know me recall from radio. I talk about current news, comment on it, and there are no restrictions as would apply to broadcast material so it’s more genuinely me. I appreciate the downloads as it helps me grow and hopefully entertains. You can sign up for auto-downloads on any platform…the podcast name to search for is SHURMAN UNLIMITED. As the outro says ‘if you like it tell a friend, if you REALLY like it, tell 3 friends, and if you don’t like it, tell 3 enemies’. Best to everyone! /ps

To those wondering why CFRB always seems to win, regardless of what it or any competitor does…as a one time General Manager back in the days of 16 shares, I can affirm that the answer remains as it always has been..it’s just CFRB! THAT’s the answer. And as long as they run a slick morning format with John Moore at the mic, his show creates the wide top of the funnel and feeds big listener volumes down the spout from the top. Those folks trickle down through the day and tend to swell again end of workday. Back then, we had more talk stations in town and still won the day. Now there are fewer but so many more and different options. Taking any station from the bottom to the top is a task that gets so close to impossible that it may well be.

Jay (who was Mad Dog last time I met him) looks like a nice guy to me. Me?? -- that shot was from the political wars. If anyone's wondering, I keep busy....episode 1 of 'SHURMAN - UNLIMITED' drops about December 15...watch!
                         

I hope that the Board Moderator and all of the regulars will indulge me. This is a personal recollection and an obit in praise of the amazing Allan Slaight. This seemed like a good place for it.

I was Radio Division President when Allan Slaight bought Standard Broadcasting from the Black Brothers and public shareholders. We got along quite well for awhile...and then not so much. The common industry gossip was that, after 22 years, I'd wind up out at some point because Allan had a son, Gary, who was pretty damn good at radio. That was prophetic and on the day we came to a mutual conclusion to part company, I hated him.

As time went on, however, I came to understand what a brilliant businessman and radio entrepreneur Allan was...in a class by himself, actually. He didn't have bags of money like Astral's Greenberg Family or Ted Rogers...Allan earned his way into the top echelon of broadcasting by being plugged in and  incredibly adept at seeing and seizing opportunity. About 3 or 4 years after I left, I had difficulty in a business I'd started and I needed advice. I thought of only one person who'd be able to offer it and that was Allan. I called him and he immediately invited me up to his office. He told me a story of mortgaging his suburban house to invest in CFGM Richmond Hill and it resonated and made me go back to work and drive that little business along, ultimately becoming a big business which I eventually sold.

I was reincarnated at CFRB by Steve Kowch but based directly on Gary Slaight's approval...but I wasn't senior management anymore...I again became "on air talent", a talk show host, still am. It's been over 50 years since I first pressed the microphone on button at a 50kW radio station and I still love it. A lot of that was the product of mentoring by the late and amazing H.T. "Mac" McCurdy but much of it was through simply watching Allan Slaight be Allan Slaight. He will always stand as one-of-a-kind in Canadian radio and a giant in the rough-and-tu

A kind, fair, experienced, and intelligent man I have the pleasure of knowing. And one of the people who just keeps on keeping on! I’d love to read the new chapters to your story in 5 or 10 years.

Steve, I am glad you could post such a poignant message about our friend Nils. I could have posted one of my own or tacked this on to the main thread about his passing...or I could have just posted in Facebook but I try not to...about anything! I chose to share some thoughts here because you, Steve Kowch, introduced me to Mark Elliott in 2004. I had sold my business and was looking for something productive to do and I’d run into Gary Slaight and had a great chat over lunch where we put away some old rivalries and re-established mutual respect.

You phoned and said “you and Gary are talking again...when do we meet to discuss getting you on air?” Well, we did meet and my concern was how today’s brand of talk radio worked and where to find the controls. So, you told me to go spend the night with your overnight guy Mark Elliott...I’d never met him. He was a big lumbering guy; easygoing; loved to head downstairs during breaks so he could smoke outside the 2 St. Clair front door. I accompanied him every trip. It was there that he gave me his compacted talk radio wisdom. ‘Listen Peter, it’s music radio but the songs are your th\oughts on topics and interactions with listeners...you’ll love it’. He was correct and my ability to update my talk style from the 70s and 80s was largely vested in that advice.

The thing is that, once you got to know him, Mark never left you. Or Nils never did...I recall his decision to get his friends to adopt hIs real name, which I did. We rarely saw each other but we chatted a lot. I looked up the most recent conversation and it foretold what was to come...it was in November. He wrote this:

Sad news last week as I had heart attacks 3 & 4.
I know you'd want to know. Jarrett is taking great care of me so there's nothing to worry about there. But, I am concerned for him with all he has to go through dealing with me and my recklessness.
Haven't I always been a heartbreaking little shit?
Talk soon! Love to you always!
Nils

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