That was just a silly pic, but you know, there is some truth to it, depending on when you were working in radio. 

I remember news meetings in a conference room at CFTR on the days before they banned smoking in federal workplaces, including broadcasting. We would sit behind closed doors for over an hour. Every single one of those people in there smoked, some like chimneys.

Everyone, that is, except me. 

When we emerged from that cramped space, the air was literally blue from so much smoke, which I was forced to take in secondhand style for most of the time I worked there. To this day, I have no idea how much damage may have been done to my lungs. But there wasn't much I could do about it. The windows at 25 Adelaide St. E. didn't open at all, so fresh air wasn't an option. 

The same was true when I was at CKEY, where I remember the evening newscaster, the great Bob Crabbe, would sit there and smoke endlessly from the start of his shift until he left at midnight, at which point he was replaced by another prolific puffer - Fred Cripps. 

They were great people, but it's amazing looking back now that some of them lived as long as they did. 

I recall when they passed the legislation banning smoking that I didn't really think it would work in most radio stations. Almost everyone there, from the jocks to the news people, were inveterate tobacco addicts and I was sure they'd just ignore the law. At the beginning, some did. But management laid down that law and it gradually stopped. 

Today, it's unthinkable to see a lit cigarette in a newsroom. But back then, it was unthinkable not to see one.  

In one newsroom I worked in one newscaster would smoke a whole pack of cigs per shift.
By the time he was through his ashtray would literally be a mound of butts.
And as RA mentioned he was not the only one smoking.
Full disclosure in those days I smoked too.
But I might go though two or three cigs per shift.
Also in those days some people would go into the stairwell and smoke weed.
Only in hours where managers were not around, but then some of our managers were also dope smokers..
Oh, and I forgot to mention that on special occasions, like Christmas, people would bring bottles of booze in with the full  knowledge of management.
eventually this was nixed, but only because the company did not want to be liable if someone drank too much and then got into trouble on the way home.
 

Last edited by newsguy1 (May 20, 2023 1:07 pm)

newsguy1 wrote:

     some of our managers were also dope smokers . . . on special occasions, like Christmas, people would bring bottles of booze in with the full  knowledge of management   

Naked women were reported to be partying in the control room after you left the station.    Its a good thing you weren't exposed to such shocking activity
 

I won't mention the station to protect the not-so-innocent, but you'll know it was small when I say that I was one of four guys working in the newsroom, and the only non-smoker.  One guy chain smoked unfiltered Camels (I can speculate which byproduct of the camel was rolled in cigarette paper). He would read a noon newscast in the news booth, then do a 15-minute interview show at 12:30.  I had to do the 1:00pm newscast and would damned near suffocate on the smoke.  After the first couple times, I would prop open the door between the newsroom and the booth, and the one into the hallway, then point the floor fan into the booth to literally clear the air before I had to go in.  It worked best when I actually turned the fan on. 
 

Back in the day songs were a lot shorter also, so it was tough to catch a smoke break when this law came into effect, right?
There was no digital storage to allow music to keep running while off on a smoke break, unlike today...heck one could possibly VT one break, go outside, smoke, then come back and be live for as long as one can go without another cigarette... unlike the past.