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May 19, 2019 8:37 am  #1


Instant Replay: What You Never Knew About CHUM In Its Top 40 Era

Last week, we looked at CHUM in the days before its historic switch to rock and roll. But when 1050 went Top 40 in May 1957, no one knew what an empire it would become – a place where rock, heavy promotions and great jocks would rule the roost well into the 80s. It was a remarkable run and you might think there’s nothing new to learn about the place.
 
But you’d be wrong. Here’s a look back at some long forgotten or never known history of Toronto’s most legendary rocker.
 
Rock & A Hard Place
 
Allan Waters once recalled that people would come up to him after he changed the format to Top 40, asking him when they were going to ‘get that garbage off the air.’ Luckily, he never did. But even the government wasn’t always happy with the programming and the CRTC called them – and others, including fellow rocker CKEY – on it in March 1959.
 


 The Legendary Line-up
 
When CHUM first debuted as a rock station, it left a lot of the old announcers to try to dish up music they really didn’t like or understand. Slowly but surely, the jocks many of us grew up with came into place. Notice the guy in the middle in this 1958 announcement, who didn’t wind up on CHUM but did write backward years later on CFTO.
 

By the way, Bob Laine, who was there until the last day, was discovered doing announcements over the P.A. at Lawrence Plaza. It must have been very surreal the day he went back there as a big time jock.
 

 There was a lot of hoopla when Jungle Jay Nelson came to the station in 1963, after the abrupt departure of Al Boliska. But almost no one remembers the special greeting that Bob McAdorey received on his first day at 1331 Yonge St.
 

 Promotable Promotions
 
One of the highlights of the station was its promotions, which were both creative and sometimes over the top – anything to get attention, like a famous stunt involving then morning man Al Boliska.
 

 But there are others you may have long forgotten, like this one from August 1959.
 

 Or this in the summer of 1960.
 

 And then there’s the early version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
 

Or something for a good cause.
 

Not to mention helping out James Bond.
 

 Or Connie Francis.
 

 Even a power boost was a cause for publicity.
 

 But this one’s my favourite and I wish I’d won this.
 

 A Matter Of Course
 
As a radio crazed kid, I would gladly have shelled out $10 for this CHUM-backed course, which started in 1960. 


 The Latest News
 
And then there were the stories that made headlines for real.
 


 And a few firsts.
 

 And that was just the beginning. Allan Waters could only dream about success when he switched formats in May 1957. He couldn’t possibly have known what was coming in the future.
 
Next week: CHUM In the 60s and 70s, and the coming of FM

 

May 19, 2019 11:24 am  #2


Re: Instant Replay: What You Never Knew About CHUM In Its Top 40 Era

Another great post RA!

 


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

May 19, 2019 11:33 am  #3


Re: Instant Replay: What You Never Knew About CHUM In Its Top 40 Era

Thanks Dale. They've been fun to put together. I was especially surprised by the Bob McAdorey welcome special, and I can't believe with all those big names involved, there isn't tape of it somewhere. Maybe it will surface one day. 

     Thread Starter
 

May 19, 2019 4:15 pm  #4


Re: Instant Replay: What You Never Knew About CHUM In Its Top 40 Era

Here's Jane Morgan on CHUM from June 14, 1964 (audio from Doug Thompson in the CHUM Archives):

http://rockradioscrapbook.ca/chum-morgan-jun14-61.mp3


 

Last edited by Dale Patterson (May 19, 2019 4:16 pm)


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

May 19, 2019 4:21 pm  #5


Re: Instant Replay: What You Never Knew About CHUM In Its Top 40 Era

And Mitzi Gaynor from the same day (audio and picture from Doug Thompson in the CHUM Archives):
http://rockradioscrapbook.ca/chum-gaynor-jun14-61.mp3



 


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

May 19, 2019 5:44 pm  #6


Re: Instant Replay: What You Never Knew About CHUM In Its Top 40 Era

Amazing stuff Dale. Now if you just had Jim Backus! I know he's not politically correct today, but I loved Mr. Magoo as a kid.  

     Thread Starter
 

May 19, 2019 9:14 pm  #7


Re: Instant Replay: What You Never Knew About CHUM In Its Top 40 Era

I remember when Bob McAdorey arrived at CHUM. The afternoon shift (1 - 4 PM) became open when Pete Nordheimer left. The CHUM jocks  voted among themselves who should get to take over this comfortable afternoon shift and Dave Johnson was selected because of his years doing the evening show. When management informed them that they had scoured North America for the best person to host the afternoon show, they went on strike. Hence - all the guest fill-ins. An agreement was reached whereby the current jocks would evaluate the selected candidate, Bob McAdorey, by having him work with each of them all one day. Of course he won them over. It was quite a promotion to introduce Bob McAdorey to the line up.  

 

May 20, 2019 12:21 am  #8


Re: Instant Replay: What You Never Knew About CHUM In Its Top 40 Era

Sadly, only the Jane Morgan and Mitzi Gaynor shows from 1961 survived.  Never did find the Jim Backus, Bill Dana or Irene Ryan (Granny from the "Beverly Hillbillies" airchecks, but back in the late 1960's, there was a room in the back loading dock area of 1331 Yonge Street that held dozens and dozens of tapes, photos and so much stuff.  Management decided to make offices there and threw out (almost) everything.  I was allowed to save what I could.  Wish I had a bigger apartment back then I could have saved so much more.

Last edited by Doug Thompson (May 20, 2019 12:28 am)

 

May 20, 2019 1:09 am  #9


Re: Instant Replay: What You Never Knew About CHUM In Its Top 40 Era

Doug Thompson wrote:

Sadly, only the Jane Morgan and Mitzi Gaynor shows from 1961 survived.  Never did find the Jim Backus, Bill Dana or Irene Ryan (Granny from the "Beverly Hillbillies" airchecks, but back in the late 1960's, there was a room in the back loading dock area of 1331 Yonge Street that held dozens and dozens of tapes, photos and so much stuff.  Management decided to make offices there and threw out (almost) everything.  I was allowed to save what I could.  Wish I had a bigger apartment back then I could have saved so much more.

Much of what Doug has saved in his role as official CHUM historian is on his CHUM Tribute Site:

http://chumtribute.com


 


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

May 20, 2019 8:13 am  #10


Re: Instant Replay: What You Never Knew About CHUM In Its Top 40 Era

The CHUM Tribute Site is, IMHO, the absolute best museum for the station on the planet. 

But it kills me to think of all the amazing stuff that was lost because people needed more space or they wanted to reuse old tapes. It happened everywhere. I once worked for the old CKEY and on a weekend afternoon when the place was less crowded, went looking for any kind of archive.

There was nothing. Not a single remaining tape or record from the Jack Kent Cooke days, no audio, no promotional items. Nada.  It saddened me then and it saddens me now how stations continually ignore their own history. But hey, I guess I'm just as guilty in some ways. I once worked in the newsroom of one of the big rock stations and could easily have gotten board feeds of some exceptional and now legendary talent which could have been saved for posterity. I didn't.

Why? The demands of the job were incredibly busy and as I often say we were too busy making radio to save any of it. I suppose others before me faced the same dilemma. 

I'm just glad Doug managed to get what he did. 

     Thread Starter
 

May 20, 2019 2:39 pm  #11


Re: Instant Replay: What You Never Knew About CHUM In Its Top 40 Era

Just curious. Does anyone know how long CKEY competed [or tried to] with CHUM? I know CKEY must have flipped to MOR sometime in early 1965. The March 8 CHUM Chart advertises that CHUM is Toronto's only Hit Parade station and has Toronto's only Hit Parade chart.

 

May 20, 2019 3:06 pm  #12


Re: Instant Replay: What You Never Knew About CHUM In Its Top 40 Era

The excellent History of Canadian Broadcast site appears to have some answers. It says CKEY first went Top 40 late in 1957, not long after CHUM's move that May. In 1961, they stopped and decided on an MOR format called "Something For Everybody." 

That lasted until sometime in 1962, when they reverted back to Top 40 again. But even then it wasn't settled. By 1963, the site says 'EY made the always fatal mistake of programming MOR from Midnight-6 PM, then switched to rock from 6PM-12 AM. That's when David (Mickey) Marsden joined.

By sometime in 1964, that experiment ended too, and CKEY went to the format it had for most of its remaining years, again back to MOR.

     Thread Starter
 

May 20, 2019 4:34 pm  #13


Re: Instant Replay: What You Never Knew About CHUM In Its Top 40 Era

Thanks for the info. With CKEY being consistently inconsistent with their music format over the late 50's/early 60's, no wonder they weren't much competition for CHUM. CKFH had a rough early start as competition? for CHUM. Saddled with Leaf games, Religious and Italian programming and a lousy [5000 watt] night signal that seemed to die around Southdown Rd. you never seemed to know when you would get top 40 music. I still have a few FH and EY charts. Some of the rare charts that went from 2-36. I think I have the EY chart advertising the stations move from 580 to 590.

 

May 20, 2019 5:20 pm  #14


Re: Instant Replay: What You Never Knew About CHUM In Its Top 40 Era

Here's an aircheck of the late John Dolan on CKEY from May 3, 1965, after they had fully switched to MOR. Dolan later went to CFRB of course.

http://rockradioscrapbook.ca/ckey-dolan-may3-65.mp3


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

May 20, 2019 5:35 pm  #15


Re: Instant Replay: What You Never Knew About CHUM In Its Top 40 Era

Speaking of CKFH, this is the earliest "Centennial Survey" I have found, from November 12, 1967. I also just happen to have an aircheck from two days earlier, courtesy of the late Tom Fulton: #2 Radio!

http://rockradioscrapbook.ca/ckfh-fulton-nov10-67.mp3








 


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

May 20, 2019 8:37 pm  #16


Re: Instant Replay: What You Never Knew About CHUM In Its Top 40 Era

RadioActive wrote:

The CHUM Tribute Site is, IMHO, the absolute best museum for the station on the planet. 

But it kills me to think of all the amazing stuff that was lost because people needed more space or they wanted to reuse old tapes. It happened everywhere. I once worked for the old CKEY and on a weekend afternoon when the place was less crowded, went looking for any kind of archive.

There was nothing. Not a single remaining tape or record from the Jack Kent Cooke days, no audio, no promotional items. Nada.  It saddened me then and it saddens me now how stations continually ignore their own history. But hey, I guess I'm just as guilty in some ways. I once worked in the newsroom of one of the big rock stations and could easily have gotten board feeds of some exceptional and now legendary talent which could have been saved for posterity. I didn't.

Why? The demands of the job were incredibly busy and as I often say we were too busy making radio to save any of it. I suppose others before me faced the same dilemma. 

I'm just glad Doug managed to get what he did. 

When I joined CKFH as an operator in September 1974, one of the first questions I asked was about the archives. I was told nothing of the sort existed, just the logger tapes of the past month. I couldn't believe that all the great radio 'FH had provided as a Top 40 station was gone. I've been able to acquire a few airchecks from 'FH's early years as a Top 40 station but very little has survived.

The Holy Grail of airchecks for me would be an Al Boliska morning show at CHUM. Nothing has surfaced yet, though there are a couple of airchecks of Boliska's noon-time show which he played straight - no funny stuff. Here's a sample from May 15, 1958, from the Kal Raudoja Collection:

http://rockradioscrapbook.ca/chum-boliska-may15-58.mp3



 


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

May 20, 2019 9:27 pm  #17


Re: Instant Replay: What You Never Knew About CHUM In Its Top 40 Era

It's truly amazing what wasn't kept. I remember the day Richard Sanders, who played Les Nessman on "WKRP In Cincinnati," came into the CFTR newsroom as part of a promotion for the series. If memory serves, he did an actual newscast that morning in character, complete with a Silver Sow Award reference. 

I've asked a number of people who worked there then, back in the rock days, and as far as I can determine, there isn't even a minute of tape of it anywhere. 

How could they not have saved that?

     Thread Starter
 

May 20, 2019 11:12 pm  #18


Re: Instant Replay: What You Never Knew About CHUM In Its Top 40 Era

RadioActive wrote:

It's truly amazing what wasn't kept. I remember the day Richard Sanders, who played Les Nessman on "WKRP In Cincinnati," came into the CFTR newsroom as part of a promotion for the series. If memory serves, he did an actual newscast that morning in character, complete with a Silver Sow Award reference. 

I've asked a number of people who worked there then, back in the rock days, and as far as I can determine, there isn't even a minute of tape of it anywhere. 

How could they not have saved that?

It looks like a recording of it does exist - check out Around the Dial #43: This is Tom Konard's site.

[url]​https://sites.google.com/site/yesterdial/Home/arounjd-the-dial[/url]
 

Last edited by Dale Patterson (May 20, 2019 11:14 pm)


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

May 21, 2019 11:29 am  #19


Re: Instant Replay: What You Never Knew About CHUM In Its Top 40 Era

Dale Patterson wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

It's truly amazing what wasn't kept. I remember the day Richard Sanders, who played Les Nessman on "WKRP In Cincinnati," came into the CFTR newsroom as part of a promotion for the series. If memory serves, he did an actual newscast that morning in character, complete with a Silver Sow Award reference. 

I've asked a number of people who worked there then, back in the rock days, and as far as I can determine, there isn't even a minute of tape of it anywhere. 

How could they not have saved that?

It looks like a recording of it does exist - check out Around the Dial #43: This is Tom Konard's site.

[url]​https://sites.google.com/site/yesterdial/Home/arounjd-the-dial[/url]
 

I have probably been on this site before but did not have a look in detail. His full list of air checks is impressive. He has early 1970's WCMF and WXRT. Chick Azz. on CHEZ. Some David Marsden, WBCN, WNEW and a lot more for the FM fan and lots of top 40 stuff as well..

Dale did you ever get some of his air checks ?
 


Cool Airchecks and More:
http://www.lettheuniverseanswer.com/
 

May 21, 2019 11:29 am  #20


Re: Instant Replay: What You Never Knew About CHUM In Its Top 40 Era

Fitz wrote:

Dale Patterson wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

It's truly amazing what wasn't kept. I remember the day Richard Sanders, who played Les Nessman on "WKRP In Cincinnati," came into the CFTR newsroom as part of a promotion for the series. If memory serves, he did an actual newscast that morning in character, complete with a Silver Sow Award reference. 

I've asked a number of people who worked there then, back in the rock days, and as far as I can determine, there isn't even a minute of tape of it anywhere. 

How could they not have saved that?

It looks like a recording of it does exist - check out Around the Dial #43: This is Tom Konard's site.

[url]​https://sites.google.com/site/yesterdial/Home/arounjd-the-dial[/url]
 

I have probably been on this site before but did not have a look in detail. His full list of air checks is impressive. He has early 1970's WCMF and WXRT. Chuck Azz. on CHEZ. Some David Marsden, WBCN, WNEW and a lot more for the FM fan and lots of top 40 stuff as well..

Dale did you ever get some of his air checks ?
 

 


Cool Airchecks and More:
http://www.lettheuniverseanswer.com/