CHOO Radio Recollections

An on line scrapbook of images & text for former staff and listeners alike

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NEW YEAR'S 2011 UPDATE

Here's wishing a HAPPY & HEALTHY 2011 to all our "Friends of CHOO" whoever you may be and wherever in the world you may dwell.

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(LEFT & BELOW) Sent in by a reader copied from an unknown website. Of special interest, of course, is the reference to Gary Hooper's work at CHOO in 1969. Does anybody remember Gary or the "hayloft over CHOO"? (Gary - if you're reading this - please get in touch with your memories of CHOO, we'd like to hear them.)

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Ron Marshall Remembers CHOO...

Hi John,

Great work on the site... and reading some of the letters from the other former staff inspired me to pen my own to you.

I joined the CHOO news department in 1992 after vacating the morning host's chair at CKLY in Lindsay. A former P.D. I once had always said that it was never a good idea to work too far from the 401... so with the new CHOO station spitting distance from that stretch of pavement... I found myself doing the morning news with John Nugent and Franca doing the morning show duties. The station and equipment was state of the art at the time and the people were top notch. I loved working with John and Franca... we had a good show and the three of us clicked. I worked with Sean Carmichael and Roxanne Revelor and the infamous Jaaaaaay Mandell in the news department. Although I wasn’t with the station for very long, maybe just over a year, I have fond memories of my time there and still count John Nugent as one of my closest and dearest friends to this day.

I have three memories that stand out that I could share... first - a massive snow storm swept in an buried the GTA. I was living in Toronto and had to drive to the station every morning to be ready to do the news at 6 am. Well, this one morning I left my apartment in my Plymouth tourismo (ground clearance about 6 inches) and plowed a trail up the DVP, down the 401 and into Ajax... amazed I had made it un-scathed and in plenty of time. That storm shut down Ajax and the area for the day. John and I were heroes for getting out the word for bus cancellations and other events that had shut down Durham region.

Memory number two... having to work a Sunday morning shift... behind the announcers mike, playing music instead of the news because the weekend jock never showed up. “The show must go on” never felt more appropriate than it did that morning.

Memory number three - turning 30 years old... looking at my paycheque and deciding that I had reached the climax of my radio career (after 15 years) and decided to take a higher paying job in a (yawn) warehouse... where in the din of the overhead lights and the silence of this vast vacant room I was in (no radio allowed... too distracting the boss told me)... I wept, realizing I had made a tragic mistake in leaving the business I loved so very much. I found some solace in picking up weekend work at the Oshawa station (MAGIC... EDGE... whatever it was then) and then CHUC in Cobourg. But that void of being in radio full time has never ever been re-filled. I have never loved a job (it was never a job to me) or expect to, ever again. I’m 46 now and still frequently and to my delight have “radio dreams”. I’m on-air... doing my bit... back in my happy place. I kind of hate when I wake up from those dreams. Wow... I should have saved all that for my next therapist's appointment!

Cheers, Ron Marshall

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What great memories! Thanks Ron. I still have dreams about my time at CHOO too. They're mostly very happy. But sometimes the record is ending and I can't find the next one and I'm running out of time... I usually wake up in a cold sweat! High anxiety or what? In real life I always had the next record cued up and ready to go. (Yes, kids, Uncle John actually spun vinyl in those days at 97 McMaster.) Does anyone else ever dream about CHOO - dreams that you would dare to share?

(Below) What better way to help combat the mid-winter blahs than happy reminders of summer...

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Memories of the CHOO Summer B-B-Q at Lill's (July 2010)

Top Row: Brian Belfry & friend; Gloria Coles, Gina Taschuk & Gary McMahon; Gord Taschuk. Middle Row: Linda VandeBroek; CHOO sign; Elspeth McCullough. Third Row: Lill Bolton & Doug Kirk; Dave Snodgrass & his wife; Kate & Jim Ashbridge. Apologies to those who attended but we missed out due to space. All photos courtesy Lill Bolton. Thanks, Lill!

UPDATE: Hope to see you at the CHOO lunch later this month. Be sure to RSVP Pat Gonsalves right away if you haven't already done so! Coming up later in 2011: More of your recollections, photos and CHOO memories. Don't forget to write. My e mail address is at the bottom of the first page. If you've been in touch but haven't seen your contribution on the site yet - please be patient. I will use it asap. Many thanks to all who have contributed to this site so far and who have supported it in so many ways. Meanwhile... I always look forward to hearing from you. And now... hang on for a real blast from the CHOO past... click "next page"...