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Something John Landecker Refused To Do At CFTR Is Back On Air
I remember when Jim Brady left and John “Records” Landecker was brought in from Chicago to host the CFTR morning show in the early 80s. I was always a fan of the guy but when he got to Toronto, I found him standoffish and more than a little bit of a jerk. That may be one of the reasons he didn’t last all that long.
I only talked to him once – the day he came into the building on the 13th floor of 25 Adelaide St. E. He walked in like he owned the place and was looking down on everyone else. At the time, TR was #1 in the ratings.
I remember asking him, “Are you going to do Boogie Check here?” “Boogie Check” was a schtick piece he used to do on WLS, where he would take random phone calls from listeners and make funny or smart-ass remarks in reply to their questions. It was a regular feature every night.
After I asked the question, he looked at me like I had three heads, sneered at me and said, “Now why would I want to do that?” Because, I thought, you’d done it every night for years on the Big 89 and it was a signature piece.
If I recall correctly, I never spoke to him again, nor did I want to. His ego was out of control.
I bring all this up because Landecker – now back in the Windy City and employed by WGN - has indeed brought the feature back there after all these years, only this time using pre-recorded calls and not taking any of them live.
Now why would he want to do that?
He was a prick to me but there’s no doubt he’s a very talented guy on air.
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- Paul Jeffries
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Re: Something John Landecker Refused To Do At CFTR Is Back On Air
If memory serves, CFTR didn't stay #1 for too long, because after Landecker left in the fall of '83, Tom Rivers took over the morning slot and 'TR revamped their format to take on 1050 CHUM. A battle they won, with a former CHUM alum, no less.
John Landecker's stint in Toronto seemed to be a classic case of someone that was a big deal in another city, but somehow their popularity didn't translate to a new city where they were relatively unknown.
PJ
Last edited by Paul Jeffries (May 1, 2026 8:05 am)
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Re: Something John Landecker Refused To Do At CFTR Is Back On Air
Paul Jeffries wrote:
John Landecker's stint in Toronto seemed to be a classic case of someone that was a big deal in another city, but somehow their popularity didn't translate to a new city where they were relatively unknown.
PJ
As someone who was there, my analysis of this was he strutted in with extreme arrogance, like he was the cock-of-the-walk, for some reason believing all the things that made him such a success in Chicago, he simply didn't have to do in Toronto.
We all found out he was wrong. His big thing was a bit called: "TTC: Trudeau Talks Cute," in which he took clips of then-P.M. Pierre Trudeau and posed questions that would make the answers sound ridiculous. It was OK, but nothing to build a morning show on.
I never understood why he abandoned everything that worked in Chicago. He could have even reused successful old material because no one in Toronto would have ever heard it. But for some reason, he never did.
And it wasn't like Rogers didn't try to promote him heavily, with billboards, T-shirts and more. I still have one of their promotables.
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Re: Something John Landecker Refused To Do At CFTR Is Back On Air
I assumed the answer to this question was going to be 'get ratings'.
He was another in the long line of insecure jocks who were always ready to step on someone else so that they would appear taller. The true irony is that if they'd just had some belief in themselves, they would have been nicer, and thus had people willing to have their back rather than waiting to see someone stab it.
Maybe he relaxed in his old age; my experience was the same as RA's. An insecure (very talented) child.
Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change.
- Paul Jeffries
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Re: Something John Landecker Refused To Do At CFTR Is Back On Air
As someone who was there, my analysis of this was he strutted in with extreme arrogance, like he was the cock-of-the-walk, for some reason believing all the things that made him such a success in Chicago, he simply didn't have to do in Toronto.
I never understood why he abandoned everything that worked in Chicago. He could have even reused successful old material because no one in Toronto would have ever heard it. But for some reason, he never did.
CFTR presumably paid big bucks to woo Landecker to Toronto, which most likely stoked his ego even more. He probably figured he could zoom into town and coast on his reputation. But I'm guessing by 'TR's ratings, that reputation wasn't worth a hill of beans to Toronto radio listeners.
I wasn't listening to CFTR regularly at the time, but I did catch his show (or bits of it, at least) on a few occasions. I personally didn't think he was any big deal. On the other hand, I was overjoyed when I heard that Tom Rivers was taking over the morning show, having done weekends at the station after being unceremoniously fired by 1050 CHUM about a year earlier. (Perhaps the stupidest decision that station ever made. Yes, almost 44 years down the line, I still haven't forgiven them for that...lol).
PJ
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Re: Something John Landecker Refused To Do At CFTR Is Back On Air
[ – the day he came into the building on the 13th floor of 25 Adelaide St. E. ]
This seemed to be in every record store around town.
- paterson1
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Re: Something John Landecker Refused To Do At CFTR Is Back On Air
Landecker probably wanted to make a break from what he was doing at WLS. His general style from the evening show on WLS wouldn't always translate well in a morning show. That's why he came to Toronto (and the money of course) to do something different. I really enjoyed his show at CFTR and thought it was as good if not better than what he did at WLS.
Maybe in person he wasn't the friendliest but didn't he do a few shows from the Eaton Centre, so he must have been in contact with the public somewhat. His chemistry with newspeople, Eddie Luther/Daryl Dohmer with traffic was very good. I always liked his breaks with the traffic team the the handoffs with news.
In terms of popularity and ratings, the issue was likely that he was not known in Toronto. Most people in Southern Ontario were not listening to Chicago radio at night or DXing in the evening and his longer comedy bits may also have been a factor. Not sure about Tom Rivers, but the rumour around radio circles back then was that Roger Ashby on 1050 CHUM was leading Landecker in the morning ratings battle, and that was one reason why he left.
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Re: Something John Landecker Refused To Do At CFTR Is Back On Air
Interesting to see these recollections.
Here's a vintage Toronto Star article dated September 1, 1983:
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Re: Something John Landecker Refused To Do At CFTR Is Back On Air
Landecker probably wanted to make a break from what he was doing at WLS. His general style from the evening show on WLS wouldn't always translate well in a morning show. That's why he came to Toronto (and the money of course) to do something different. I really enjoyed his show at CFTR and thought it was as good if not better than what he did at WLS.
Maybe in person he wasn't the friendliest but didn't he do a few shows from the Eaton Centre, so he must have been in contact with the public somewhat. His chemistry with newspeople, Eddie Luther/Daryl Dohmer with traffic was very good. I always liked his breaks with the traffic team the the handoffs with news.
In terms of popularity and ratings, the issue was likely that he was not known in Toronto. Most people in Southern Ontario were not listening to Chicago radio at night or DXing in the evening and his longer comedy bits may also have been a factor. Not sure about Tom Rivers, but the rumour around radio circles back then was that Roger Ashby on 1050 CHUM was leading Landecker in the morning ratings battle, and that was one reason why he left.
I was there so on this, at least, I can speak with some authority. You're not wrong that the morning show is different from the one he did at night on WLS. But he deliberately slowed everything down and the pace was completely altered. The things that made his so great on the Big 89 were gone and I think Toronto audiences mostly found him rather dull after years of Jim Brady. They never warmed up to him and he never gave them any reason to.
And yes, most Toronto listeners had no idea who he was, but that should have been an advantage because he came with no expectations. He simply could not or more likely would not bring that talent and energy to T.O., although I have no idea why. I worked there and I found it hard to listen to him. And I was a fan of his work in Chi Town.
I admit to a bit of prejudice on this story, because he was such a jerk to so many inside the station right from the start that it influenced my opinion of his on-air work here. Such a shame because there's no arguing he is a great talent. To me, he didn't show it here. And I'll never quite be able to figure out why.
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Thread Starter- Doug Thompson
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Re: Something John Landecker Refused To Do At CFTR Is Back On Air
I had a totally different relationship with Landecker RA. My pal, Dan Plouffe was CFTR Marketing Director at the time and I ended up writing and producing the year end Countdown shows from 78 to 80 as well as a few other projects.
One of those projects was working with John Landecker on a couple of parody songs. He also did these at WLS, so he did keep at least one of his Chicago features. The first one we recorded was "Constitution". Pierre Trudeau had recently repatriated Canada's constitution and Landecker wrote a cute parody... it was to the tune of The Beatles "Revolution".
We recorded the "Constitution" parody at Eastern Sound on Yorkville Avenue (that location is now The Four Seasons Hotel). You might remember how John built up the promotion for many days.
Then he played it. Got great listener reaction. But The Beatles publishing representatives in Toronto also heard it and had a cease-and-desist letter at Adelaide Street before Landecker was off the air.
So it only aired once. The Beatles did not allow parodies of their songs, but nobody checked beforehand.
The second song Landecker and I did together (he wrote, I produced), was "Hey E.T.". It wasn't a parody, it was an original, but it wasn't all that great either. That ran a bunch of times, then was retired.
Throughout the sessions, John was fabulous to me, very friendly. To the "Hey E.T." session, he even brought along his young daughter Amy, who's now a successful actress in Hollywood married to "The West Wings" Bradley Whitford. In subsequent meetings over the years, John still remembered me by name and recalled at least some of his Toronto days with fondness.
I still have my copy of "Hey E.T." (and I know exactly where it is), but my copy of "Constitution" is in a box somewhere in my storage unit and there's at least a hundred boxes of archives.
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Re: Something John Landecker Refused To Do At CFTR Is Back On Air
Glad to hear about the other side of the man. I wonder why he polarized so many at TR during his brief stay there. I always wanted to believe he was a good guy. I just never got the chance to see that. Thanks for adding this.
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Thread Starter- mace
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Re: Something John Landecker Refused To Do At CFTR Is Back On Air
I never really listened to Landecker. He started at WLS in 1972. That was my first year at McMaster. In the evenings I was at the University doing readings and working on class assignments. That was also the year I got my first AM/FM stereo with small but detachable speakers, so I began experementing with FM for the first time. When I did listen to AM at night it was usually WCFL. In Hamilton, no splatter from 1010, but CHML gave WLS a lot of grief.