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May 27, 1957: What Were Those First CHUM Rock Days Like?
This article probably comes as close to describing what those first few hours and days of CHUM turning Top 40 sounded like as any you'll ever see. It recounts what happened at the station on the day it officially changed to rock, boosted its power to 2,500 watts, its stated philosophy and the crazy promotions that were part of the launch - including a woman living in a furniture store window and a contest to name the station's new cat mascot. (It was eventually called Clementine.)
And then there's this, which is something many of us who grew up with CHUM might have trouble imagining: the DJs were instructed only to speak when they actually had something to say. That's not the 1050 I remember!
"Disc jockey chatter is kept to a minimum. And here's a real innovation: If a deejay has nothing to say, he doesn't say it. He just signals his operator who then slips on one of the station's self promotion tapes."
It was 67 years ago Monday that switch was made. And for those of us who grew up in Toronto, the rest, as they say, is radio history. 
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Re: May 27, 1957: What Were Those First CHUM Rock Days Like?
The first chart, courtesy Doug Thompson's CHUM Tribute Site.
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Thread Starter- mace
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Re: May 27, 1957: What Were Those First CHUM Rock Days Like?
When CHUM switched to a Top 40 format, starting kindergarten was still a year away for me, so listening to music was of no interest to me. However, there must be a few SOWNY members who remember what CHUM sounded like before May 27 and after. Would love to hear your thoughts and memories.
- paterson1
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Re: May 27, 1957: What Were Those First CHUM Rock Days Like?
Interesting that on day one of the rock and roll format, the announcers had operators at CHUM. Both CHUM and CFTR had operators supposedly long after other top 40 giants got rid of them. Does anyone know if that is true? I toured CHUM around 1983 and Bob McGee had an op. early afternoon. Video of CFTR evening jocks with operators around 1990 on Youtube.
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Re: May 27, 1957: What Were Those First CHUM Rock Days Like?
CFTR definitely had board ops on all shifts in the early 80s when I was there. They were young but real pros and the place couldn't have sounded more tight.
Oddly enough, when I was at CKEY in the late 70s, they also had operators - until one day late in around 1979 or so, they cut back on them and forced the announcers on most shifts to self-op. I was friends with the late John Woodbridge, who did the overnight show back then. He hadn't been near a board for decades and everybody kept bugging him with "are you nervous?" questions as the date for his first self-op show approached.
It went on and on until the night he finally had to go solo. I was in the control room watching him when he went on the air, cued up and started the first record (an album cut in those days) and deliberately faded the song down and then brought it back up on air.
"There!" he declared as I watched in amazement. "I've got my first and only mistake out of the way!"
Nobody asked him the question ever again after that!
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Thread Starter- Storm
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Re: May 27, 1957: What Were Those First CHUM Rock Days Like?
I was 15 in May 27, 1957. I had never heard of CHUM so I have no idea what it was like before that day. In fact it was early in June on a Saturday afternoon that discovered CHUM. I was going up and down the radio dial trying to find some of the music that I liked - that new stuff that wasn't just draggy ballads that my parents listened to. We used to listen to a couple of Top 10 hit parade shows, both on Hamilton radio stations - CHML and CKOC - every week and some pretty cool songs were finding their way into the Top 10. But hearing them once a week was not satisfactory. I landed on 1050 and it was playing one of those cool songs. When the song ended, the announcer said what it was and that it was # something - I forget the number but it was in the teens or 20s. Wow! That was different. I didn't realize there were songs with numbers below10. Then they played another cool song and I eventually found out they were playing the Top 50 - could you believe that??? - the TOP FIFTY!!!!! and they were playing them all the time. (actually not really all the time). I was in teenage heaven! I don't remember a whole lot about what the jocks said but I don't recall they talked a whole lot between songs. They had good dee jays. I particularly liked Phil Stone. Loved his voice and his humour.
- Radiowiz
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Re: May 27, 1957: What Were Those First CHUM Rock Days Like?
This is all before my time.
I look forward to seeing whether or not Bell does anything special in 2027 (for 70 years on the air)...that is, if Bell still owns 1050 at that time.
RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person.
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.
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Re: May 27, 1957: What Were Those First CHUM Rock Days Like?
I can guarantee 99.9% that in 2027 Bell will do absolutely NOTHING. Besides it's a TSN sports station now, not music and CHUM officially went on the air in 1945...so technically next year would be CHUM's 80th anniversary.
Last edited by Doug Thompson (May 27, 2024 7:17 pm)
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- Paul Jeffries
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Re: May 27, 1957: What Were Those First CHUM Rock Days Like?
Radiowiz wrote:
I look forward to seeing whether or not Bell does anything special in 2027 (for 70 years on the air)...that is, if Bell still owns 1050 at that time.
Probably no on both counts. I don't recall them doing anything special for CHUM's 60th anniversary. As far as Bell is concerned, it would appear as though 1050 CHUM never even existed in the first place. They didn't even do anything special for CHUM-FM's 50th anniversary of playing pop/rock music in 2018.
I suspect 1050 will probably be either sold off or shut down three years from now.
PJ
ClassicHitsOnline.com...The place where all the cool tunes hang out!
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Re: May 27, 1957: What Were Those First CHUM Rock Days Like?
Ever wonder what CHUM sounded like BEFORE the switch to Top 40 (50?) This is from 1953, so it may have changed over the years, but yikes! I can't imagine listening to this!
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Thread Starter- newsguy1
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Re: May 27, 1957: What Were Those First CHUM Rock Days Like?
When I worked for CFTR in the early 80s we had board ops and they were great.
I was also fortunate enough to have board ops in my early days in radio news at CKDA/CFMS in Victoria, and at CJOR in Vancouver.
For me the days of the board op luxury ended by the later 1980s.
After that radio reporters and anchors were expected to do it all.