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Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman are back as The Guess Who and are on their first major Canadian tour since a lawsuit over the use of the group's name was settled. In an interview on CBC Radio, they remembered their roots and what led to them getting together as young teens in the first place.
One of those things was the radio they listened to in Winnipeg.
“That's why we heard so much music growing up,” Burton says. “They had different formats. Three stations, all competing for 400,000 people. And there was nowhere else in Canada like that. Winnipeg was rockin' and rollin'. We were hearing stuff from Australia, Germany and England.”
It was this exposure to music that fueled their immense talent and fed into their unbreakable bond, despite the well-documented battles of the band through the years."
I wonder especially which stations they were referring to. At first I thought CFRW, but I'm not sure when they went full Top 40. One source indicates it may be as early as 1966, which would fit the timeline. CHUM bought them in 1974 and they were definitely a rock station at the time. But by then, The Guess Who were already well established.
Maybe CKY? They had a rock format around the time. But I'm not familiar enough with Winnipeg's radio back then to know what the other two might be, except that they were probably on AM. Any guesses?
The reunited Guess Who's two most important members will hit Niagara Falls at the end of this month, Toronto on May 30th, Hamilton on June 1st and the next day in London. But the June 5th concert promises to perhaps be the most memorable. That's when Cummings and Bachman hit their old hometown in Winnipeg. And I'm betting that gig will be the most memorable of all.
Guess Who's back? Bachman and Cummings are back together again
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Found a Facebook post from Burton Cummings where he starts by saying: "About a hundred lifetimes ago (when Winnipeg still had THREE radio stations playing rock 'n' roll, CJOB, CKRC, and CKY) I knew a girl named Barbara from school…she lived on Matheson Ave. right next to the Rosh Pina Synagogue…her Dad had worked for CJOB for a while, and for some reason she had a huge box of 45's that he'd brought home from the station."
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Sounds like the trio he was referring to. Shame there was no Internet streaming back then. I would have loved to hear those stations in their Top 40 prime.
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In Sept 2023 Burton paid tribute to Rosalie Trombley and CKLW for contributing to the band’s success. It was in Windsor at the unveiling of Rosalie’s statue. I captured the event here:
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Big8Newsie wrote:
In Sept 2023 Burton paid tribute to Rosalie Trombley and CKLW for contributing to the band’s success. It was in Windsor at the unveiling of Rosalie’s statue. I captured the event here:
During the CBC interview, Randy also mentioned how influential Rosalie was. He said BTO went as far as giving her their albums before they were released and asking her advice on which songs to put out as singles.
Here's a link to the interview.
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What was Winnipeg's version of CFRB?