I was a CKFH fan since day one. However, in its first year or two it was fighting CHUM with one arm tied behind its back. With CHUM you were guaranteed top 40 music almost 24 hours a day, minus Larry Solway's Speak Your Mind. CKFH was saddled with  1. early morning religious programming. 2. a great deal of weekend foreign language [mostly Italian] 3. Leaf games and 4. an inferior signal. 10K day 5K night vs CHUM's 50K. Granted, the station couldn't do much about this until the various contracts were completed. Growing up in Oakville, FH'S night signal barely made it past Erin Mills Parkway, so my night listening was WABC/WOWO/WLS/WCFL and sometimes CKLW. In my opinion, all superior to CHUM.

mace wrote:

I was a CKFH fan since day one. However, in its first year or two it was fighting CHUM with one arm tied behind its back. With CHUM you were guaranteed top 40 music almost 24 hours a day, minus Larry Solway's Speak Your Mind. CKFH was saddled with  1. early morning religious programming. 2. a great deal of weekend foreign language [mostly Italian] 3. Leaf games and 4. an inferior signal. 10K day 5K night vs CHUM's 50K. Granted, the station couldn't do much about this until the various contracts were completed. Growing up in Oakville, FH'S night signal barely made it past Erin Mills Parkway, so my night listening was WABC/WOWO/WLS/WCFL and sometimes CKLW. In my opinion, all superior to CHUM.

My only memories of listening to CKFH early on is the day I discovered them and they were playing Nashville Cats. Also remember Chickenman and I believe they used to run horse racing segments with Daryl Wells. 

I started to listen more around 69/70. They used to play singles that CHUM did not such as the Move and Mountain tracks on the charts below and they had the Open Lid and I remember hearing the Firesign Theatre for the first time there.



 

mace wrote:

I was a CKFH fan since day one. However, in its first year or two it was fighting CHUM with one arm tied behind its back. With CHUM you were guaranteed top 40 music almost 24 hours a day, minus Larry Solway's Speak Your Mind. CKFH was saddled with  1. early morning religious programming. 2. a great deal of weekend foreign language [mostly Italian] 3. Leaf games and 4. an inferior signal. 10K day 5K night vs CHUM's 50K. Granted, the station couldn't do much about this until the various contracts were completed. Growing up in Oakville, FH'S night signal barely made it past Erin Mills Parkway, so my night listening was WABC/WOWO/WLS/WCFL and sometimes CKLW. In my opinion, all superior to CHUM.

As Scott Young pointed out in his bio of ‘FH’s owner, Foster Hewitt, the station’s programmers developed a format they called “Radio for Grownups” that would have seen the elimination of the paid religious and ethnic programming. However, Foster, being the miser he was, couldn’t or wouldn’t get rid of the paid programming, arguing that he didn’t care about ratings as long as the money kept coming in.

A funny anecdote that Young also shared in the book involved a big meeting involving the ‘FH sales and programmers which was interrupted by a fire alarm, followed by the arrival of numerous fire trucks and firemen scrambling up ladders on the building’s outer walls. In the midst of all this commotion, one of the salesmen yelled out: “Quick, somebody call CHUM and find out what’s going on!” Everybody in the room burst out laughing, while Foster sat there scowling.

Jack Armstrong and I were good friends. I loved his approach to radio. He was amazing to watch do his show. At the time of his hiring, CHUM had board operators for all shifts except the all night show. Jack worked with an op the first night, then convinced Program DIrector Bob Wood to let him operate himself.

Fitz, you are correct that Jack left CHUM because he despised the Drake style format. He kept telling everyone "I beat Drake in Boston". He even held a secret meeting with all the CHUM jocks to be a united force against that format. Nobody sided with him. So, for what became his last show, he slowed down his on air delivery to a snail's pace and followed the format to a T. Halfway through his show, J. Robert Wood came in (he lived behind the station on Jackes Avenue then) and fired him. Hal Weaver took over.

A radio Venn Diagram:

I worked for Ted Randal at CHFI as PD and GM, and he was a great guy to work for.   I don't have many nice things (if any) to say about the occupant of that office after he left.  Her main quest was trying to undo everything and anything Ted had ever done.   Happiest memory was John Dolan walking into her office and throwing (yes, throwing hard) a BBM ratings book at her and saying "you might want to learn how to read one of these fucking things before you pretend to know what you're doing".   God love him!

ig.

Doug Thompson wrote:

Did CKFH play 'edgier' music more than CHUM.

YES! CHUM was quite conservative in it's music selection. Bob McAdorey was music director until 1968 when he left. 

I was at CHUM as Production Manager when CKFH took their run at us. CHUM didn't panic, but owner Allan Waters did make two smart moves. He hired LA consultant Ted Randal as well as a new Program Director, J. Robert Wood from CHLO in St. Thomas, Ontario. Both Randal and Wood cut the CHUM clutter down considerably and took the station more in a Drake format way.

In 1966, Program Director Allan Slaight, the man who initially made CHUM a huge success, left and Mr. Waters created 'the committee' made up of Larry Solway (who ran CHUM AM), Garry Ferrier (CHUM FM PD), Bob McAdorey (Music Director), John Spragge (Public Service Director) and Lyn Rice (Marketing & Promotion). CHUM AM did not do well under committee and grew rather stale until 1968 when Ted Randal and Jr. Robert Wood were hired.   

Bob Wood had sent letters to both CHUM and CKFH listing their positives and negatives and offering his services. CKFH turned him down flat. CHUM hired him. Bob Wood then took CHUM's ratings into the stratosphere during the 1970's.

The other reason CKFH didn't last that long as a Top 40 station was owner Foster Hewitt.  He wouldn't spend the kind of money he needed to spend to fight 1050 CHUM (Ted Randal came up with the musical logo for that as well). He wasn't prepeared to fight it out all the way to the bitter end. CHUM's Allan Waters was.

CKFH had great on-air talent - Big G Walters, Kenny Wells, Chuck McCoy, Gary Duke, John Rode, Keith Hampshire, Tom Fulton, John Donabie, Mike Williams and others. CHUM grabbed three - Chuck McCoy, John Rode and Gary Duke (who later became Duke Roberts). John Donabie would later join CHUM FM. 

CKEY eventually gave up Top 40 in the mid 1960s (despite stealing CHUM morning man Al Boliska) and adding Dave Mickie to the air staff. CKFH eventually threw in the towel as well. The other factor in CHUM's favour was in '68, CHUM FM went 'underground' playing far edgier songs than any AM station could play (The Fugs, Frank Zappa, MC5 etc). 


Only CFTR (with the mighty Rogers money behind them and sharp Program Directors like George Johns, Reg Johns, Chuck Camroux and Bill Gable) was able to best 1050 CHUM in the ratings (at different times, they had former CHUM DJs Bob McAdorey, Tom Rivers and Mike Cooper on air as well as former CHUM News Director Dick Smyth).  
 

ig wrote:

I worked for Ted Randal at CHFI as PD and GM, and he was a great guy to work for. 
 

I've heard about Ted Randal for many years but I never met him. But he did have a big effect on some of the work I did downstairs at CFTR. I heard from someone at CHFI that Randal had brought with him a series of dozens - if not hundreds - of reel-to-reel tapes featuring some of the biggest hits of the 60s and 70s. In essence, the guy carried with him his own record library to every job he took. 

While the CFTR library had an incredible amount of stuff, the fact they didn't go Top 40 until the early 70s meant there was a ton of stuff missing. I found where those tapes were kept, and used to sneak upstairs to 'FI and borrow them, making a copy of the missing songs we didn't have so we could use them on some of the stuff I produced. I would then return them in the same condition I found them. 

I later learned Randal was not entirely happy with this poaching, but I figured we were all on the same team - me on AM, he on FM, and I didn't think I was doing anything untoward. So thanks to Mr. Randal, wherever he is. He not only helped make CHFI better in those days, but CFTR, too! Even if he didn't know it at the time!

Actually Radioactive, you were pilfering songs from tapes I recorded. In 1970, Ted Randal hired me from CHUM to work for him in Hollywood. Besides my day job dealing with clients and writing record reviews for Ted's tipsheet, at night, Ted set me up in a tiny studio downstairs in Chuck Blore's studio.

I started on February 1st, 1970 and for most of the rest of that year, I was dubbing songs onto tape from Ted's massive record collection. He'd been a DJ starting in the 1950s before he became a consultant. I usually created one full 10" reel of oldies each night, so there were at least a hundred tapes. I had to physically edit out any clicks in the songs (and many came from radio stations, so there were quite a few clicks and pops). That took up most of the time. 

Ted took those tapes with him to every station he worked out. He closed down his consultantancy at the end of '70. I went back to CHUM and Ted moved to Canada, where he continued his successful career.

I used to have lunch with Ted every couple of months when he lived in Oakville. Like Iain, I learned a lot from him.  Then he moved to BC. He came back to TO a couple of times for business and a bunch of us old CHUMmers  - J. Robert Wood, Warren Cosford and I would have dinner with Ted at a Greek restaurant in Thornhill.  

Last edited by Doug Thompson (Yesterday 6:36 pm)

I have no idea if Ted still had the tapes when he passed in 2021. Hopefully, they were digitized at some point. Not many places can accomodate reel-to-reel tapes anymore.