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May 27, 2022 9:19 am  #1


CHUM Rocked The Airwaves And Toronto 65 Years Ago Today

It was on May 27, 1957 that 1050 CHUM became Canada's first Top 40 Rock and Roll radio station and one of a few in North America.  Here is an interesting article from the Toronto Star, when CHUM was celebrating their 50th Anniversary.  Lots of interesting material in the article...https://web.archive.org/web/20070929122604/http://www.thestar.com/article/217451

 

May 27, 2022 9:31 am  #2


Re: CHUM Rocked The Airwaves And Toronto 65 Years Ago Today

The very first chart from that day. How many of these songs ever get played today on any oldies station?

(Courtesy CHUM Tribute Site.)

 

May 27, 2022 10:18 am  #3


Re: CHUM Rocked The Airwaves And Toronto 65 Years Ago Today

Just a few months after the seismic shift to rock, CHUM placed this ad to potential clients in RPM Magazine. Notice the woman in the bathing suit and the cat mode. In its early rock days, it was known as "Radio That Purrs."

 

May 27, 2022 1:35 pm  #4


Re: CHUM Rocked The Airwaves And Toronto 65 Years Ago Today

Note only 4 of the Top 10 are real Rock songs. The balance are MOR ( Pat Boone, Andy Williams, Perry Como etc.) and 1 country title from Marty Robbins. Hardly Rock and Roll.

 

May 27, 2022 4:57 pm  #5


Re: CHUM Rocked The Airwaves And Toronto 65 Years Ago Today

Rock and roll was still pretty new in May 1957 and the top 40 or top 50 format played all types of music. This was part of the attraction, and the songs were played various times per day.  People like Pat Boone and Andy Williams were teen idols of sort, and both of their songs listed on the chart appealed to young listeners. 

Elvis was also thought of as a country artist initially was well as a pioneer in rock and roll.  In the Star article a reference is made about the difference in the crowd for the Elvis concert at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1957 and The Beatles in 1964.  The Elvis concert had a lot of country music fans attending.  Marty Robbins White Sport Coat was a Top 40 hit as well as a hit country song. 

     Thread Starter
 

May 28, 2022 12:01 pm  #6


Re: CHUM Rocked The Airwaves And Toronto 65 Years Ago Today

paterson1 wrote:

It was on May 27, 1957 that 1050 CHUM became Canada's first Top 40 Rock and Roll radio station and one of a few in North America.  Here is an interesting article from the Toronto Star, when CHUM was celebrating their 50th Anniversary.  Lots of interesting material in the article...https://web.archive.org/web/20070929122604/http://www.thestar.com/article/217451

I remember that day like it was yesterday.  I was seven years old, two months before my eighth birthday and along with my parents were gathered around the radio waiting for the sign-on.  The song that started it all off was the number one song on the chart that RA posted, Elvis Presley's All Shook Up. From then on the radio pretty much never left that frequency.  Things came full circle for me later in life when CHUM purchased CITY TV where at the time I was a news camera operator.  We would cover corporate events involving CHUM often.  One event I covered was the launch of Team 1050.  I was assigned to document the opening from the studios at 1331 Yonge St.  Personally, I had mixed feelings about the change.  Sad that what was a rock and roll institution was being sacrificed for a niche audience that seemed to be well served by the existing sports station.  The full circle I mentioned happened when the plug was pulled on Team 1050.  I was assigned to cover the announcement of the  relaunch of 1050 CHUM.   I believe it took place at the Sheraton Center.  After shooting various speeches and "B" roll footage I was invited to have lunch at CHUM corporate table.  At the table were two of my childhood idols, Duff Roman and Bob Laine.  They were not complete strangers to me as I had met them at various times shooting Dick Smyth (another idol of mine) commentaries at 1331.  Duff and Bob were like kids on Christmas eve with the excitement of CHUM going back to it's roots.  They mentioned a contest for the listeners they were planning whereby they would win by guessing the first song that would be played.  They asked me if I had any idea what it would be.  I thought about all the great songs that could possibly be chosen and then thought about that day my parents and I were in the dining room gathered around the radio.  I said "would it be Elvis Presley's All Shook Up?"
Both their jaws dropped in unison as they looked at one another and jokingly said, "you can't enter the contest!"
For me, the circle was complete.     

Last edited by Citypulse News 15 (May 28, 2022 8:32 pm)

 

June 12, 2022 3:25 pm  #7


Re: CHUM Rocked The Airwaves And Toronto 65 Years Ago Today

And it was nearly three decades later this month that the Top 40 format - and the CHUM Chart - both came to a halt. 1050 would never be the same and it isn't to this day. 

From June 1986:



What is about the swoon in June? That was the same month a few years later that CFTR would also shelve the rock and make news of its own. It was June, 1993:





It's hard to remember now what a seismic shift both of these changes made in the Toronto radio market. But as the article notes, the drumbeat of rock gave way to the drumbeat of time, as music on AM finally ceded its airplay almost solely to FM. And it remains that way to this day. 

 

June 12, 2022 3:28 pm  #8


Re: CHUM Rocked The Airwaves And Toronto 65 Years Ago Today

Oh, and speaking of June 1993, who could forget this infamous case of "You snooze, you lose?"

 

June 12, 2022 6:19 pm  #9


Re: CHUM Rocked The Airwaves And Toronto 65 Years Ago Today

RadioActive wrote:

Oh, and speaking of June 1993, who could forget this infamous case of "You snooze, you lose?"



And then there's this...

AM 640 was known as "The new beat of Toronto" back in 1993, playing the hit music of that time.
Their plan was to switch over to "The NEWSbeat of Toronto", but thanks to 680, that never happened...




 

Last edited by Radiowiz (June 12, 2022 6:22 pm)


RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person. 
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.

 
 

June 13, 2022 8:58 am  #10


Re: CHUM Rocked The Airwaves And Toronto 65 Years Ago Today

What were CHUM's numbers like before they pulled the plug on top 40?

 

June 13, 2022 9:54 am  #11


Re: CHUM Rocked The Airwaves And Toronto 65 Years Ago Today

CHUM was still strong in 1986 but CFTR had been beating them in the ratings for about two years.  I can't find them but I remember seeing ratings around that time and TR was beating CHUM by less than 100,000 listeners.  And more important, CFTR was also leading CHUM in the mornings and had been for a while.  Although Roger Ashby had bested John Landecker in the early 80's after Jim Brady left CFTR. 

CHUM should have stayed with top 40 longer in my opinion but a new program director comes in and the first thing they often do is change things and this is what happened.  CHUM's format after dropping top 40, the a/c sounding, Hits from Yesterday and Today initially wasn't a complete disaster, but the ratings continued to slide and if anything CFTR was sounding even better.  TR would eventually be the number one station in the city for a time. 

     Thread Starter
 

June 14, 2022 10:36 am  #12


Re: CHUM Rocked The Airwaves And Toronto 65 Years Ago Today

CHUM should have gone oldies in 1986. The "Yesterday and Today" format was pretty close to what we were already hearing on CHFI and CKFM, so they already were at a disadvantage. Glad they went to oldies in 1989, thought they should have used the great PAMS jingles from the past instead of the modern ones they used. But that's another topic.


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

June 14, 2022 12:31 pm  #13


Re: CHUM Rocked The Airwaves And Toronto 65 Years Ago Today

Dale Patterson wrote:

CHUM should have gone oldies in 1986. The "Yesterday and Today" format was pretty close to what we were already hearing on CHFI and CKFM, so they already were at a disadvantage. Glad they went to oldies in 1989, thought they should have used the great PAMS jingles from the past instead of the modern ones they used. But that's another topic.

When they went to their second oldies era in 2002 they did bring in all of their old jingles.  CHUM had a lot and they would even match up the song era to the jingle they played at the time.  Great jingles from PAMS, TM, Pepper-Tanner, JAM and many many others that CHUM used over the years.  CHUM even had jingles for many of the high schools in Toronto.  Can't think of another radio station anywhere that had that. 

     Thread Starter