1 of 1- Big8Newsie
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Gord Hume dead at 76
Gord was GM at CKSL/CIQM-FM in the 80s. He went on to serve on London City Council and was an accomplished author and speaker on municipal matters. Plus he had taken up writing fiction. R.I.P., Gord.
- darcyh
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Re: Gord Hume dead at 76
Mr. Hume was well respected in the community. I don't know for sure, but I believe Gord was behind CKSL's efforts to establish a new FM station at 103.1 or perhaps 103.9. The station's call was CIQM with QM meaning quality music. They started with relatively low power under 10 KW from a transmitter in downtown London. CIQM eventually snagged 97.5 after the demise of CKO radio and became a 50 kilowatt full power station. The FM survived its parent and is Virgin radio today. Also I think Gord helped to revitalize CKSL 1410 by improving the format and production. In its heyday it sounded much like CFTR 680 during its top 40 era. CKSL and CJBK 1290 were fierce competitors. Like many things, I did not appreciate how good both stations were until they were gone. It was a great 15 or so years in London radio.
Ironically CKSL and CJBK became part of the same ownership under Bell Media. CKSL was shut down and went silent August 2016. At the time it was formatted as 24 hour a day comedy and had the lowest rating of the commercial stations in London. About 8 years later CJBK suffered the same fate under the same ownership. I wonder if things would have turned out different had the stations remained locally owned.
- pinto
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Re: Gord Hume dead at 76
I was there when Gord was 100% behind CIQM. I remember getting off the air on the CHR and Jerry Stevens the PD called me saying the Op for QM couldn't make it, can I stay?? This was during testing and it involved sitting in the studio watching reel to reel tape go 'round. Billy Ocean Caribbean Queen came on, hot line flashed... it was Gord. Get that song off the air now!! It's on tape Gord, be over in a minute.. he said.. right ok, chuckled a bit an hung up. He cared about radio. As an an announcer on CKSL he never really had much to say to me but he was a very good guy, supported his staff and worked his ass off to make the stations successful and an integral part of the city.