Broadcasting Pet Peeves
I hope you’ll add to this list. Some of these things are a little “inside” but some are recognizable to radio listeners who have no knowledge of what goes on behind the scenes. …
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radio
A DJ’s Spin
I first met Dick Williams when I was working at 1039 FM here in London. His son, DJ, was the station’s Sales Manager and Dad had dropped by before joining him for lunch. Dick is a broadcasting legend in this city and he’s finally releasing to the public the stories that have entertained his friends for so many years. …
Throwback Thursday: Scott Shannon, Still Tops
There aren’t too many people to look up to in broadcasting anymore. Thousands who thought Jian Ghomeshi was all that sure got a slap upside the head in the past year or so. And the business is less stable than ever. Even some of the well-liked, long running hosts find themselves at the wrong end of a pink slip. Take Jennifer Valentyne. She was let go from CITY-TV after 17 years simply because they found a cheaper way to do what she does. …
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Throwback Thursday – The Extinction of Carts
Like music played on wax cylinders, records, 8-tracks, cassettes and CDs, audio for radio has gone through an evolution over the years. When I started my career, we still used reel-to-reel tapes and carts. Music, commercials and show segments were recorded onto carts. They look like 8-tracks but they’re not the same thing. …
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Getting to Know Mike
My on-air partner, Mike Stubbs, has long been the voice of the London Knights. He’s known far and wide as one of the nicest guys in broadcasting and after working with him for seven months now, I can vouch for that. …
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Throwback Thursday: Retirement, So Far
When the crew at Blackburn Radio/Free FM took me to lunch on my last day, one of the sales guys convinced our server that I was retiring! It’s been six months, and retirement’s been pretty good, so far. Â …
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Throwback Thursday – The Greatest Hits
Sometimes I get wistful about radio stations past. I miss the 680 News team, but they’re not even the same team anymore. People move on. Lives and careers change. …
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Throwback Thursday – My First Blackburn Job
Although it was (gulp) almost three decades ago that I worked at CKNX in Wingham, I’m happy to say that many of the people I knew best in those days are still my friends or, at least, we’re still in touch. And I’m married to one of them. …
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Throwback Thursday – Days of Free
We had some good times on the Free-FM morning show, The Big Show with Botten, Blair and Brandt. It only lasted a couple of years, but we worked our tails off and had big fun. …
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Throwback Thursday – One Day at a Time
“Always remember, and please never forget…” With those words, Duane Schneider on the sitcom One Day at a Time would leave the room with some parting wisdom. …
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Freddie’s Message
As a rock radio-obsessed teen, I must have spent hundreds of hours analyzing song lyrics. Back then, what we now call classic rock was new music, and my friends and I would pore over the album liner notes for everything from Aerosmith’s Dream On to Come Sail Away by Styx to Supertramp’s Even in the Quietest Moments. Those songs had more depth and meaning to us than the required reading that teachers assigned us in English lit. …
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Jose Bautista for Prime Minister
The radio station I work for, News/Talk 1290 CJBK, is breaking with tradition tonight. Instead of presenting wall-to-wall election coverage, like we’re expected to do, we’re going to air the Blue Jays/Royals game. …
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Throwback Thursday – I Guess I Met Joan Jett
When I worked at MIX 999 it wasn’t unusual to run into a celebrity you didn’t even know was in the building. Movie-star magnet Brian Linehan was working at CFRB down the hall so you might bump into Lauren Bacall in the coffee room or pass Michael J. Fox on his way to the men’s room. Loads of rock stars came in for interviews with those of us at the MIX, mainly Maureen Holloway, who hosted an evening interview show. …
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Throwback Thursday – All Hit Music Me
When I was a kid, it was the height of cool to drop by a record store and pick up the CKOC street sheet to see that week’s top 40 songs. CKOC was Hamilton’s all-hit radio. If you were in Toronto, it was CFTR. Any top 40 radio station worth its 45s was putting out a little top 40 chart every week.
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Our London Article About First Thing
Last week, Sean Meyer of Our London dropped into CJBK to interview Mike and me about our new morning show. I’ve known Sean’s work for years, but this was the first time we met face to face. And he obviously tuned right into the easy, fun way that Mike and I communicate. For a guy I never really met until we were paired up, I have to say I totally lucked out with Mr. Stubbs. …
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Throwback Thursday – Nasty Soup!
Imagine radio in the 1980s, if you will. There was no Internet. We didn’t have email or cellphones, let alone smartphones. I saw my first laptop in the hands of CKSL afternoon drive announcer Dick Joseph. It never occured to me that it was anything I would use, much less own, one day. …
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An Attitude of Gratitude
There was some confusion about my two-week vacation that ended yesterday. I think it’s because I posted on social media this photo of a receipt from my goodbye lunch with colleagues from Free FM on July 17. …
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My Next Radio Adventure
Beginning August 4th, I’ll be part of a new morning show on London News-Talk 1290 CJBK. Â …
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