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P.D. J. Robert Wood Recalls The Superstar Jock He Didn't Hire At CHUM
In this terrific insider article from Sept. 2007, the legendary J. Robert Wood remembers arriving at CHUM in 1968 and it may surprise you to learn that, despite the station's incredible ratings success, he wasn't a fan of what he heard.
"I always found the station to be very hokey sounding," he wrote. "With a poor technical sound, weak format execution, and a number of jocks whose sound was not suited to Top 40."
He then details how he went about fixing what he thought was wrong, including hiring Jackson Armstrong from the U.S., Dick Smyth from CKLW, changed the station's promotional voices, praised the production work of SOWNY member Doug Thompson and helped institute what may be the most famous radio contest in Toronto history, "Don't Say Hello."
It's a remarkable article and includes this incredible nugget I'm betting most of us never knew, about a would-be CHUM jock from Detroit who failed the audition.
"He simply did not have the personality or sense of humour or presence that our guys had. So when he called back a week later, we had to tell him we did not feel his sound was right for us.
His name was Howard Stern."
Imagine if they'd said yes...
- Paul Jeffries
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Re: P.D. J. Robert Wood Recalls The Superstar Jock He Didn't Hire At CHUM
RadioActive wrote:
It's a remarkable article and includes this incredible nugget I'm betting most of us never knew, about a would-be CHUM jock from Detroit who failed the audition.
"He simply did not have the personality or sense of humour or presence that our guys had. So when he called back a week later, we had to tell him we did not feel his sound was right for us.
His name was Howard Stern."
Imagine if they'd said yes...
Interesting. According to Wikipedia, Stern turned them down. I wonder which story is correct?
PJ
ClassicHitsOnline.com...The place where all the cool tunes hang out!
- paterson1
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Re: P.D. J. Robert Wood Recalls The Superstar Jock He Didn't Hire At CHUM
Stern did seem to have a bit of a chip on his shoulder about radio here. When his morning radio show played in Toronto and Montreal for a time, he mentioned on the very first show that Canadian radio was terrible, and that our flag was ugly!
- Doug Thompson
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Re: P.D. J. Robert Wood Recalls The Superstar Jock He Didn't Hire At CHUM
In another post, there's talk about mentors. Bob was an inspiration and mentor to many of us at CHUM at the time. After PD & GM Allan Slaight left in 1966, CHUM hired an U.S. Program Director who all the DJ's couldn't stand. It was a 'his way or the highway' scene. En masse, all the jocks went to Mr. Waters and said "either he goes or we all go". Mr. Waters was ALWAYS loyal to his staff...so the new PD went. Then CHUM foundered for a year under 'a committee' until J. Robert Wood and consultant Ted Randal arrived in 1968 and turned CHUM around to be even bigger and better than before. '68 was also the year CHUM FM flipped from a classical format to 'underground radio, man'. Oh what fun we had back then.
Last edited by Doug Thompson (September 26, 2024 10:45 pm)
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- paterson1
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Re: P.D. J. Robert Wood Recalls The Superstar Jock He Didn't Hire At CHUM
I always thought it was brilliant that CHUM sort of made the Drake format their own. J. Robert Wood and the station adopted most elements of the new tighter format but not all. Where strict Drake stations like KHJ and CKLW limited jingles to just a couple that were played over and over all day, CHUM always used a much larger variety of jingles.
CHUM was smart to make their newscasts contemporary but also straightforward and solid without the hype and cartoonish tabloid style of CKLW. That type of news reporting likely wouldn't have gone over well in Toronto, and CHUM's credibility as a news outlet would have been ruined. Both CFTR and CHUM had reliable newscasts and reporting for top 40 stations.
- mace
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Re: P.D. J. Robert Wood Recalls The Superstar Jock He Didn't Hire At CHUM
In another post, there's talk about mentors. Bob was an inspiration and mentor to many of us at CHUM at the time. After PD & GM Allan Slaight left in 1966, CHUM hired an U.S. Program Director who all the DJ's couldn't stand. It was a 'his way or the highway' scene. En masse, all the jocks went to Mr. Waters and said "either he goes or we all go". Mr. Waters was ALWAYS loyal to his staff...so the new PD went. Then CHUM foundered for a year under 'a committee' until J. Robert Wood and consultant Ted Randal arrived in 1968 and turned CHUM around to be even bigger and better than before. '68 was also the year CHUM FM flipped from a classical format to 'underground radio, man'. Oh what fun we had back then.
Doug. you would probably know the reason CHUM FM flipped from Classical to Progressive Rock. I have heard that CKFH was starting to get some traction and notice with their late night underground Open Lid show. Not wanting to underestimate their competition, CHUM flipped formats on FM. Now you could hear underground music but in crystal clear stereo. FH had no FM station so CHUM beats its competition again. Any truth to that?
- mace
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Re: P.D. J. Robert Wood Recalls The Superstar Jock He Didn't Hire At CHUM
I always thought it was brilliant that CHUM sort of made the Drake format their own. J. Robert Wood and the station adopted most elements of the new tighter format but not all. Where strict Drake stations like KHJ and CKLW limited jingles to just a couple that were played over and over all day, CHUM always used a much larger variety of jingles.
CHUM was smart to make their newscasts contemporary but also straightforward and solid without the hype and cartoonish tabloid style of CKLW. That type of news reporting likely wouldn't have gone over well in Toronto, and CHUM's credibility as a news outlet would have been ruined. Both CFTR and CHUM had reliable newscasts and reporting for top 40 stations.
Perhaps CKLW's tabloid style 20/20 news is one of the reasons Dick Smythe left the BIG8 for CHUM.
- RadioActive
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Re: P.D. J. Robert Wood Recalls The Superstar Jock He Didn't Hire At CHUM
In another post, there's talk about mentors. Bob was an inspiration and mentor to many of us at CHUM at the time. After PD & GM Allan Slaight left in 1966, CHUM hired an U.S. Program Director who all the DJ's couldn't stand. It was a 'his way or the highway' scene. En masse, all the jocks went to Mr. Waters and said "either he goes or we all go". Mr. Waters was ALWAYS loyal to his staff...so the new PD went. Then CHUM foundered for a year under 'a committee' until J. Robert Wood and consultant Ted Randal arrived in 1968 and turned CHUM around to be even bigger and better than before. '68 was also the year CHUM FM flipped from a classical format to 'underground radio, man'. Oh what fun we had back then.
Doug. you would probably know the reason CHUM FM flipped from Classical to Progressive Rock. I have heard that CKFH was starting to get some traction and notice with their late night underground Open Lid show. Not wanting to underestimate their competition, CHUM flipped formats on FM. Now you could hear underground music but in crystal clear stereo. FH had no FM station so CHUM beats its competition again. Any truth to that?
July 1968:
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Thread Starter- RadioActive
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Re: P.D. J. Robert Wood Recalls The Superstar Jock He Didn't Hire At CHUM
Stern did seem to have a bit of a chip on his shoulder about radio here. When his morning radio show played in Toronto and Montreal for a time, he mentioned on the very first show that Canadian radio was terrible, and that our flag was ugly!
This might not have been because of his CHUM experience. You might remember that Q107 and other Canadian stations that took his show would broadcast it on a delay, so they could censor anything that violated this country's broadcasting rules. I'm pretty sure that was the source of his unhappiness. And of course, Canadian stations later dropped his shows entirely, so no wonder he doesn't look on us fondly. I was never a fan, but there's no doubt he's quite a broadcasting phenom.
I always thought it was brilliant that CHUM sort of made the Drake format their own. J. Robert Wood and the station adopted most elements of the new tighter format but not all. Where strict Drake stations like KHJ and CKLW limited jingles to just a couple that were played over and over all day, CHUM always used a much larger variety of jingles.
CHUM was smart to make their newscasts contemporary but also straightforward and solid without the hype and cartoonish tabloid style of CKLW. That type of news reporting likely wouldn't have gone over well in Toronto, and CHUM's credibility as a news outlet would have been ruined. Both CFTR and CHUM had reliable newscasts and reporting for top 40 stations.
I don't disagree with you about the news, but it's just a matter of preference over Drake. I grew up listening to CHUM but tuned them out when they adopted the Drake format. Yes, it was very successful, but I missed the personality radio that made them so great before that. That's when CKFH became my go-to station.
That didn't last long, of course. So I tried a ton of alternatives that were popping up at the time, including CHAM in Hamilton back when it was Top 40 on 1280. When CFTR came along in 1972, that became my new "don't touch that dial" place. Don't get me wrong - Drake was amazingly successful. But I wanted more than just the hits.
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Thread Starter- paterson1
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Re: P.D. J. Robert Wood Recalls The Superstar Jock He Didn't Hire At CHUM
"This might not have been because of his CHUM experience. You might remember that Q107 and other Canadian stations that took his show would broadcast it on a delay, so they could censor anything that violated this country's broadcasting rules. I'm pretty sure that was the source of his unhappiness. And of course, Canadian stations later dropped his shows entirely, so no wonder he doesn't look on us fondly."
The timing is off on your thesis. Like I said in my post Stern made the comment on Canadian radio being terrible on his very first show on Q and CHOM FM. This was long before there was any supposed tape delay or editing. So this is why it could have been because of him not working at CHUM FM, either because they didn't want him or he turned them down.
Last edited by paterson1 (September 27, 2024 12:43 pm)
- Binson Echorec
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Re: P.D. J. Robert Wood Recalls The Superstar Jock He Didn't Hire At CHUM
This was long before there was any supposed tape delay or editing.
Wasn't the delay for Stern on Q and CHOM in place on Day 1? Mainly because of the hate-listen mentality: "I dislike him but I want to hear what he says next."
Last edited by Binson Echorec (September 27, 2024 1:23 pm)
- paterson1
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Re: P.D. J. Robert Wood Recalls The Superstar Jock He Didn't Hire At CHUM
This was long before there was any supposed tape delay or editing.
Wasn't the delay for Stern on Q and CHOM in place on Day 1? Mainly because of the hate-listen mentality: "I dislike him but I want to hear what he says next."
No, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council and the two stations had received thousands of complaints about the show weeks and months after it began. CHOM dropped the show after about a year and Q cancelled it in 2001 after about 4 years.
- Binson Echorec
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Oh, I'm aware of the complaints. I'd bet they started before Howard even got on the air in Canada.
- RadioActive
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Oh, I'm aware of the complaints. I'd bet they started before Howard even got on the air in Canada.
That is my memory of what happened, as well. But this letter in the Toronto Star seems to indicate otherwise.
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Thread Starter- mace
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I listened to Stern out of curiosity. Never offended by anything he said. His show aired on WBUF back when its signal was clearly received pretty much anywhere in the GTA. As I recall the delay was easily 20 minutes, maybe more.
- BowmanvilleBob
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Oh, I'm aware of the complaints. I'd bet they started before Howard even got on the air in Canada.
That is my memory of what happened, as well. But this letter in the Toronto Star seems to indicate otherwise.
Meh...
I've always felt that Howard's departure had less to do with "political correctness" (whatever your definition of the term was) rather than his lack of relevance to local audiences in Canada. On a typical morning, your favourite T.O. morning show might have been talking about last night's Leafs/Jays game, a concert that had or was about to take place, the local weather/traffic, etc. But if you tuned into Q, Howard was talking about the latest NYC celebrity news, some restaurant he'd gone to the night before or interviewing some B-level starlet from a show that didn't get picked up in Canada. The few times I'd listened, I never heard anything particularly outrageous, but what I did hear was mostly dull.
- paterson1
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Re: P.D. J. Robert Wood Recalls The Superstar Jock He Didn't Hire At CHUM
By year four his ratings had dropped 50% on Q and his show was at or near the bottom of the top 10 morning shows in Toronto. Stern's show was expensive and the audience in Toronto apparently hated the very long commercial/news/traffic breaks. I never liked his show whenever I listened and he came across as a mouthy guy with opinions and not much more. He has seasoned with age and is much more mature and listenable to my ears now. I can see why he never really clicked in the GTA years ago.
- Binson Echorec
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Re: P.D. J. Robert Wood Recalls The Superstar Jock He Didn't Hire At CHUM
Howard on Q did what Q needed him to do, and put them back on the map (remember when they had the Leaf rights?). They probably could have dumped him sooner - I do like the fact that John Hayes (The Incubus) fired Howard from WNBC in New York and then fired him again from Corus.
- Doug Thompson
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RA wrote: Doug. you would probably know the reason CHUM FM flipped from Classical to Progressive Rock. I have heard that CKFH was starting to get some traction and notice with their late night underground Open Lid show. Not wanting to underestimate their competition, CHUM flipped formats on FM. Now you could hear underground music but in crystal clear stereo. FH had no FM station so CHUM beats its competition again. Any truth to that?
As Mr. Waters had done with CHUM AM in late 1956, he saw what was happening in the U.S. especially in FM radio in San Francisco. At this point, CHUM FM had only been classical for 5 years and was doing pretty well with the high end sponsors, not so much with ratings.
FH's programming didn't enter it to it as much, but there was a concern CKFH was comin' on, but Mr. Waters also knew that 'FH's owner Foster Hewitt wouldn't spend the kind of money needed to fight CHUM. Larry Solway who was CHUM AM PD and a Director of CHUM Ltd made a deal with Murray the K and the Young & Rubicam agency in New York for Murray and his team to come to Toronto to try out his new concept for an 'underground' format. Ironically, Murray's board operator and 'minder' was David Pritchard, who when Murray left after a month or two, got his own overnight shift. CHUM writer Garry Ferrier then became the CHUM FM Program Director and the station became what it became.
Last edited by Doug Thompson (September 28, 2024 6:06 pm)
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