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A Milestone Week In The History Of The CHUM Chart
The week of August 10-17 is a significant one for fans of the old 1050 CHUM. August 10th marks the week that CHUM officially introduced one of its biggest changes in decades - the end of the Top 50 chart and the beginning of the Top 30, that would last until the station stopped publishing them.
Here's that infamous first 30 from 1968: (Notice there is no ranking for "last week.")
But that wasn't the only August milestone. Even though the chart above was listed as "Collector's Issue #1," at some point the station went back to the beginning and took a second look at the numbering. By 1976, they celebrated the 1,000th edition, stretching all the way back to the first one in 1957. But by this time, you could only get it in the Toronto Sun, which took special notice of the "grand" occasion of what was now called the "CHUM 30" on August 11th.
- Dale Patterson
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Re: A Milestone Week In The History Of The CHUM Chart
Ron Hall, who did the CHUM Chart book, says the actual number of charts was five behind the published number and it remained that way until the final chart. So chart #1000 was actually #995.
"Life without echo is really no life at all." - Dan Ingram
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Re: A Milestone Week In The History Of The CHUM Chart
In that case, I think the Toronto Sun should publish a retraction!
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Thread Starter- RadioActive
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Re: A Milestone Week In The History Of The CHUM Chart
It turns out Roger Ashby is also celebrating an "August" anniversary with CHUM. This is from that month in 1969. No one could have suspected then the longevity he would have with the station.
But "Beever?" Really? Who knew?
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Thread Starter- mace
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Re: A Milestone Week In The History Of The CHUM Chart
The last top 50 chart was the week of "Monday" July 29. The chart had always been dated on a Monday going back to 1957. The first top 30 chart was dated "Saturday" August 10 and would remain a Saturday until the chart ended in June 1986. Any idea why the day was changed?
- Doug Thompson
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Re: A Milestone Week In The History Of The CHUM Chart
I started listening to CHUM as a teenager in 1959. That was 6 years before I got to work there. On Saturday afternoons from noon until 6PM in the early '60s, CHUM presenting "The Saturday Afternoon Parade of Hits" which previewed the CHUM chart for the following week. The theme music they used was a song called "Tornado", by Bobby Vinton's big band (this was before he started singing about Roses and all things blue). When I got to CHUM in 1965, they had stopped doing that Saturday feature and were throwing out the Bobby Vinton 45 on Epic Records. I asked if I could have it and they said 'sure'. When I interviewed Bobby Vinton a few years ago at Casino Rama, I brought the 45 copy of "Tornado" with me and told him the story. He said he didn't even have a copy of it. So after the interview, but before his show, I drove back to Toronto and burned a CD copy and gave it to him after his show. Bobby was and is a great guy. Bobby and his band used to back all the performers on the Dick Clark "Caravan of Stars" tours before Vinton made it big. 
Last edited by Doug Thompson (August 17, 2022 2:52 pm)
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Re: A Milestone Week In The History Of The CHUM Chart
In case you're curious what this sounds like.
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Thread Starter- Doug Thompson
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Re: A Milestone Week In The History Of The CHUM Chart
I used Bobby Vinton's "Tornado" in a CHUM promo in 2007 for the 50th anniversary. Several listeners called in and said they remembered that as the theme for "Saturday Afternoon Parade of Hits" and wondered what it was called. CHUM switchboard called me and I told her to tell them it was Bobby Vinton before he knew how to sing.
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