1 of 1- Fitz
- Member
Offline 
Things Were Tightening on CHUM FM in 1975 but
During the spring/summer of 1975 CHUM FM instituted a playlist whereby they would play some hit content every hour. David Marsden was gone and David Pritchard had moved from the experimental all night shift to the daytime. I was upset and started keeping a log of what they were playing to maybe reassure myself that things were not that bad. I look at those fading logs now with my teen spelling and compare them to what we get now and it was a veritable oasis compared to the radio desert now:
Cool Airchecks and More:
- Fitz
- Member
Offline
Re: Things Were Tightening on CHUM FM in 1975 but
grilled.cheese wrote:
No days are as good as the old days.
There is one current news outlet on the radio that I quite like and that's NPR. Unfortunately with the HD sideband issue, the signal for WBFO has been killed in Toronto. I would occasionally tune into local talk radio but those panels with people like Blatchford turned me off. The Progressive Talk stations out of Buffalo were a nice change but they are all gone.
I have the old air checks and chicken scrawl to keep the memory of FM music radio alive.
Last edited by Fitz (March 12, 2020 5:02 pm)
Cool Airchecks and More:
- •
Thread Starter- markow202
- Member
Offline
Re: Things Were Tightening on CHUM FM in 1975 but
I wish CHUM still had their old playlist of a few years back whcih included what it is today and they thru in some 80s to the mix...however that would be too similar at this point to CHFI so I understand.
- Fitz
- Member
Offline
Re: Things Were Tightening on CHUM FM in 1975 but
I'm jumping from 1975 to 1980 for these scans.
This set shows the CFNYzation of 1050 CHUM and the last chart is the best of CFNY from 1980 and though it is mostly modern rock artists there's others as well and the thing I loved about CFNY at the time is that they were not bound to "modern rock. Quite cool to see XTC at number 1 and the Ramones on a top 40 chart. I wish I has not marked up the CHUM charts back in 1980:
Cool Airchecks and More:
- •
Thread Starter- paterson1
- Member
Offline
Re: Things Were Tightening on CHUM FM in 1975 but
That was a renaissance period for 1050 CHUM, fall of 1979 to early 1984 when they really embraced new wave and new music. No other top 40 AM station in North America sounded like them, and many others were actually dropping top 40 with less rock and more adult music. CHUM to their credit went the opposite way and played a lot of new unheard of bands, many of them Canadian. They did influence other AM stations in Southern Ontario. When living in London, in 1980 both CJBK and especially CKSL picked up on what CHUM was doing and began playing a lot of new wave. During this period CHUM was still beating CFTR in the ratings and to me it was a risk for Toronto's most popular contemporary radio station to make a big shift in this direction and in a way try to compete with FM musically.
Between CFNY and CHUM AM it was a great time for new music, and to me radio sounded good and vital again.
- pinto
- Member
Offline
Re: Things Were Tightening on CHUM FM in 1975 but
Yep, I played some new wave while on the air at 'SL
- paterson1
- Member
Offline
Re: Things Were Tightening on CHUM FM in 1975 but
Hey pinto. When you were playing the good music on CKSL, I was on FM 96 "Rockin' Easy." I was only in London for about 8 months, but I thought 'SL was the best sounding station in the market. And London was a pretty good radio town. Really enjoyed Peter Garland in the morning, funny man. CFPL liked him too, since they eventually were able to lure him away. CKSL had great music, super on air talent, and solid news. I always remember their billboards around London. The group of bananas with one banana all by itself to the side, and the slogan..
CKSL 141 London...Best of the Bunch.
- Fitz
- Member
Offline
Re: Things Were Tightening on CHUM FM in 1975 but
Some interesting facts and at times obscure trivia about that CFNY chart.
Split Enz ( # 21) started pre-new wave and and later evolved into Crowded House.
Joy Division ( # 21) lost their lead singer due to suicide and become New Order
The Monks ( # 44) were at best pseudo new wave and had their origins in the Strawbs and Hudson/Ford
Russ Ballard ( #67) was with The Unit Four Plus Two who had a hit in 1965 with Concrete and Clay and with Argent in the 1970's.
The Korgis ( #68) had evolved from an early 1970's art/prog band called Stackridge
U2's first album ( # 72) is listed as a CFNY Exclusive. I guess that's where it all started for the band in Toronto
The group Wire (#79) is listed incorrectly as Wire 154. 154 was the name of the album
Last edited by Fitz (March 14, 2020 10:32 am)
Cool Airchecks and More:
- •
Thread Starter- Chrisphen
- Member
Offline
Re: Things Were Tightening on CHUM FM in 1975 but
The group Wire (#79) is listed incorrectly as Wire 154. 154 was the name of the album
As chance would have it, I was listening to this one yesterday. Superb album.
- Norman peters
- Member
Offline
Re: Things Were Tightening on CHUM FM in 1975 but
No. 10 on the list of the worst albums. Van Helen. Woman and Children (first).Van HELEN? Someone REALLY hated the band it seems.
- Fitz
- Member
Offline
Re: Things Were Tightening on CHUM FM in 1975 but
The group Wire (#79) is listed incorrectly as Wire 154. 154 was the name of the album
As chance would have it, I was listening to this one yesterday. Superb album.
That one is not for everyone. Somewhat experimental post punk with touches of psychedelia. I bought the album after hearing a track on CFNY. Should dig it out at some point.
This Korgis track from Dumb Waiters ( on the best of list) actually made it to the Top 40 on Billboard.
Cool Airchecks and More:
- •
Thread Starter- Fitz
- Member
Offline
Re: Things Were Tightening on CHUM FM in 1975 but
No. 10 on the list of the worst albums. Van Helen. Woman and Children (first).Van HELEN? Someone REALLY hated the band it seems.
That was clearly a part of setting them apart from the regular AOR at the time Even groups they had championed in the past like The Cars, Genesis, The Stones and Gary Numan made the list. When playing snippets from the worst they used to say "CHUMQ very much" and I have to say that I very much enjoyed the early Genesis , for example but not so much the mega hit period.
Last edited by Fitz (March 14, 2020 2:02 pm)
Cool Airchecks and More:
- •
Thread Starter- Chrisphen
- Member
Offline
Re: Things Were Tightening on CHUM FM in 1975 but
Nothing terribly wrong with Women and Children First. It holds up nicely, considering it's a copy of a copy of their first record. Just not CFNY's then-hipster bag, it seems.
Gary Numan also on the worst list? Strange. Cute that they rated Genesis alums Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett on their 'Best' list to spite Genesis' Duke. That's something I would have done.
- Saul
- Member
Offline
Re: Things Were Tightening on CHUM FM in 1975 but
The group Wire (#79) is listed incorrectly as Wire 154. 154 was the name of the album
As chance would have it, I was listening to this one yesterday. Superb album.
Nice album indeed. One back at you: Plastic People of the Universe...
- Fitz
- Member
Offline
Re: Things Were Tightening on CHUM FM in 1975 but
Nothing terribly wrong with Women and Children First. It holds up nicely, considering it's a copy of a copy of their first record. Just not CFNY's then-hipster bag, it seems.
Gary Numan also on the worst list? Strange. Cute that they rated Genesis alums Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett on their 'Best' list to spite Genesis' Duke. That's something I would have done.
I think Gary Numan on the worst list was more than hipster distancing. He was a almost two hit wonder.
One more piece of trivia about the list. Peter Green at number 78.was the leader and guitarist for the original Fleetwood Mac and he wrote and sang on the original version of Black Magic Woman. He left the group due to mental problems. The Mac had at least 4 distinct line-ups before the successful Buckingham/Nicks era and a few members were casualties acid and other-wise.
Cool Airchecks and More:
- •
Thread Starter