In 1976 when I was in college in Kitchener, I was an operator weekends at CHYM AM.   Even then, Saturday and Sunday evenings were not live and no announcer.   The station had a six hour block program called The Saturday Night Special, from 6pm to midnight.  One of the programs featured every week was Dr. Demento, which was two hours. 

CHYM ran Dr. Demento for about a year, maybe a bit longer, and then it was cancelled.  Apparently it lagged in the ratings compared to the two hours of top 40 music, and Daddy Cool's Blues Show which came on at 10pm. 

The first week Dr. Demento wasn't on the air, a lot of people phoned in, and some quite upset.   The next two weeks, the calls continued, with a few of them long distance, well outside of the K/W area.  I had been passing along the messages to the higher ups that the program had a loyal audience and everyone calling in wanted Dr. Demento back on CHYM.

To no avail, after one year Dr. Demento was toast.  The calls stopped and CHYM's Saturday Night Special continued, with less laughter and much less quirky odd-ball humour and song...    

I used to listen to Dr. Demento when I visited my cousins when I was a kid. They lived in Montreal and I was in Ottawa. Ottawa's radio landscape wasn't big enough to air a show like the good doctor did.

Also, of note this is the show that broke Weird Al Yankovic too. 

Here is the link to They're coming to take me away...it was crazy song...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e13YjTPb_0

I wonder with the focus on mental health if this song would cut it in this day and age.




We would listen to CKGM Sunday mornings. We would listen in on Sunday mornings. I had not heard songs like "They're coming to take me away, or Shaving Cream". Dr. Demento had quite a career, and it is amazing, because his show was such a niche back then and the years that followed.

CKGM was also home to Ralph "How's your bird" Lockwood, Don Burns, Marc "Mes Oui" Denis, it was truly a powerhouse hit radio station and rivaled 1050 Chum here in Toronto.

That is when radio was great.

 

Last edited by Muffaraw Joe (December 22, 2024 10:14 pm)

I remember the first time I heard CKGM was back in the 70's while visiting Montreal.  This was when some of their announcers would break into french from time to time and the station even played the odd hit french song.  I think it was CKGM that broke Toulouse's It Always Happens This Way on english radio.  Within a few months the song was heard all over Canada, french lyrics and all. 

Even though CHUM and CKGM didn't have common ownership back then, the two stations did have some announcers and news people that worked in both markets.  I believe Mike Cooper worked at CKGM for a time after leaving CHUM.  

On April 1, 1963, CKGM listeners woke up to Al Boliska and the CHUM morning crew, and in Toronto CHUM's audience were tuning into the CKGM morning show live from Toronto.  This was at a time when the Leafs and Canadiens rivalry was at it's peak and Montreal was Canada's biggest and most influencial city with Toronto bubbling under at #2.