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May 12, 2019 10:54 am  #1


Instant Replay: CHUM Before It Went Top 40

There’s no doubt those four letters were legendary in this city and while the station’s legacy is fading, 1050 CHUM will – for many – be the very first station they listened to and the one that inspired their love of radio.
 
There’s a lot of lore about the Nifty 1050, but there are a few things you may never have known, starting with that infamous first date.
 
The Day The Music Was Born
 
Just about everyone remembers May 27, 1957 as the morning CHUM went Top 40. But there’s another calendar marking that’s lesser known – October 28, 1945, the day CHUM went live for the very first time.
 


 
The station would go on to give away a lot of stuff in its heyday, but this was the very first promotional item ever. Love to have one of these today if any still exist.
 

 
 
The Feeling Was “Mutual”
 
1331 Yonge St. was the address where “the finest announcers in the world” passed through. But it wasn’t the first one. Or the second. CHUM started out at 21 Dundas Square. But it didn’t stay there long.  

 

 
The Latest “News”
 
And you could read all about it on Jan. 1946, long before there was a GO Magazine.

 

 
Not to mention hear special bulletins of big stories.
 

 
Quizzical Looks
 
Early CHUM programming was a far cry from Al Boliska or Jay Nelson spinning the hits. Here’s what they were doing in 1946 to get the audience involved.

 

 
And you can be sure this was riveting radio – or not.
 

 
But at least those shows were in English.
 

  
The Benefits Aren’t In Doubt
 
The station wasn’t an instant hit and certainly didn’t attain its legendary status in the early days. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t doing well enough for the company to begin a reward program that stayed until the Waters family no longer owned it. Pretty progressive for a radio station in 1948.

 

 
Yet not all the unions agreed back in 1947.
 

 
Don’t Say Too Much About This
 
If you thought the format was tight in the Top 40 days, check out what announcers in late 1949 went through if they didn’t get to the point.

 

 
Ready, Willing & Able
 
The story actually started at a different station.

 

 
But they must have liked him because by Oct. 1954, he was out of Guelph and on CHUM’s announcing staff.  
 

 
The early era of CHUM is mostly lost to history. What came afterwards is not. Next week: The Things You Never Knew About CHUM In Its Top 40 Days

 

May 12, 2019 12:18 pm  #2


Re: Instant Replay: CHUM Before It Went Top 40

Great post RA. Thank you!


"Life without echo is really no life at all." - Dan Ingram
 

May 12, 2019 1:01 pm  #3


Re: Instant Replay: CHUM Before It Went Top 40

Cam Langford came to CHUM from CJOY as did Bob McAdorey in 1961.  Cam was long gone by the time I started at CHUM on February 1st, 1965, but got to work with Bob McAdorey on my very first day and for many days and years after that until Bob left in 1968.
 

 

May 12, 2019 3:28 pm  #4


Re: Instant Replay: CHUM Before It Went Top 40

I was very intrigued by the little blurb about how they were trying to shut up the jocks even then, with a $1 fine and a horn that would go off if they went on too long. (I wonder how that sounded on air?) 

But perhaps Doug can answer a true or false about something I've long heard but have never been able to confirm during CHUM's Top 40 days. There's a story going around that management was so insistent that the jocks didn't go on too long between songs that they installed a silent but very strong heat lamp that would turn on over the jock's head if they went past a certain number of seconds - it might have been 30 or so.

It was designed to make sure no one broke format by "shutting up and playing the music," as my old P.D. used to preach.  

Real or apocryphal? I wonder if anyone knows for sure.

     Thread Starter
 

May 12, 2019 5:39 pm  #5


Re: Instant Replay: CHUM Before It Went Top 40

No, the heat lamp was pure fiction.  Allan Slaight would call on the batphone if he thought a CHUM DJ was talking too long (and he called quite a few times on Dave Johnson's show).
In jock meetings, Slaight CONSTANTLY told the CHUM DJ's to be "cute, clever and original in 10 seconds or less".
Slaight would also say in meetings "And don't forget to sock in the hits."
 

Last edited by Doug Thompson (May 12, 2019 5:41 pm)

 

May 12, 2019 7:51 pm  #6


Re: Instant Replay: CHUM Before It Went Top 40

Doug Thompson wrote:

No, the heat lamp was pure fiction.  Allan Slaight would call on the batphone if he thought a CHUM DJ was talking too long (and he called quite a few times on Dave Johnson's show).
In jock meetings, Slaight CONSTANTLY told the CHUM DJ's to be "cute, clever and original in 10 seconds or less".
Slaight would also say in meetings "And don't forget to sock in the hits."
 

Thanks for setting the record straight. This story was just crazy enough to be believable, but since you were there, I'll consider this the definitive word. 

     Thread Starter
 

May 12, 2019 10:36 pm  #7


Re: Instant Replay: CHUM Before It Went Top 40

Thanks for the early CHUM information RA.  I really never knew much about CHUM; before they went top 40.