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CHOO Radio Recollections An on line scrapbook of images & text for former staff and listeners alike ================================================================= | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
We Celebrate Our 2nd Anniversary - January 2011 Following another post on the SOWNY Board we've gained some new readers - welcome! ... The 2011 CHOO Reunion Lunch was held on Jan. 14th and enjoyed by all who attended. Thanks to Pat Gonsalves (along with Dave Hughes) for arranging it... Meantime, enjoy the latest! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
............................................................................................... RICK FLEMING @ CHOO Hello John: I found your site link via the SOWNY radio board, excellent job on the CHOO history! I did two tours of duty at 1390 CHOO - the first in the summer of 1988 as a weekend/swing/evening announcer, and left for 9 months for a full-time gig at CHYR radio in Leamington. I returned in 1989 as swing announcer and full-time producer/copywriter when Gary McMahon departed and worked there until taking a gig at 640 CFGM in 1990... just before their format switch from country to a 'Rock-40' outfit known as 640 CHOG "The Hog." During my first run at CHOO I was "Dane Richards" on-air, but when I returned I started using my real name, Rick Fleming. Both times I was at CHOO were amazing! Joe Frechette (Conrad) was a great PD who was good at guiding "the rookie" when I was first hired. Dave Hughes was always easy to talk with as "The Big Man" (General Manager). Morning host Brian Belfry was amazingly funny and such a voice talent. John Nugent in mid-days ran a great request show. Mike Leaver was in afternoon drive and a great music director who also produced and performed on a Can-con single... does anyone remember the name of that one, it was on a record label called "Rare Rabbit" I believe... I know we played it on CHOO. Steve Kassay, evenings at the time during my first stint, trained me on how to operate the board and that most of the religious programming was always sent to us on reel-to-reel tape... tails-out... We didn't want to end up playing the preacher backwards! We shared many a pizza in the evening. "Cowboy" Cam Tilbury always showed up for his shift complete with cowboy hat and spurs on his cowboy boots. I recall Paul Taalman in sales, along with Dave's brother, Peter Hughes; Gloria Coles in traffic (commercial scheduling); and Gord Taschuk in the newsroom. Lill Bolton was always helpful when I had to pull my hair out due to a last-minute request by a client to get their commercial on the air ASAP! Effective Monday, January 31st, I will become the Morning News Anchor (M-F, every half hour) on 105.7 Ez Rock in St. Catharines, while also providing commuter updates for 610 CKTB and 97.7 CHTZ-FM morning shows. I also do a Sunday morning music show, voice-tracked. It's on 105.7 Ez-Rock from 6am - 9am. Imagine doing that with open-reel tape or carts back in the 80s! Best regards, Rick Fleming http://www.1057ezrock.com/shows/rickfleming.aspx PS I'm also on Facebook as Rick Fleming (Saint Catharines, Ontario). You have to type in "Saint" as the abbreviation "St." doesn't seem to work. Good to hear from you Rick... and congratulations on your new morning gig! I actually do remember several weekend voice tracked shows at CHOO in the early 1980s - first as an operator, later as a host - that used carts and discs. Hosting was fine but op'ing with a ton of carts and discs like that...? Ugh! A nightmare!
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(ABOVE) Rick Fleming today. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
...................................... NORM LONG SAYS... What a great site! John, I remember listening to 1390 when I was a child in the early 70's. I love all kinds of music, but CHOO was essential to my learning about C&W. If I've got the timeline right, The Double-O Ranch would hit the air twice daily. I can't recall the host's name, but he billed himself as Uncle somebody. Artists coming through town would stop by to talk. I also believe that Reverend Carl D. MacIntyre's 20th Century Reformation Hour would be on around 6 or 7 at night. It was pretty strange to listen to. Again, I'm taking a wild guess, but I remember CHOO doing a lot of church broadcasts on Sunday. It saddens me to see the loss of great AM's like CHOO and CKWS in Kingston, CKBB & CB of Barrie/Collingwood. I once visited the now gone but legendary Montgomery, Alabama C&W, WHHY. The DJ in the booth had been to Canada several times and knew about CHOO Country! Thanks for sharing this information. NORM LONG - AFTERNOON NEWS ANCHOR - 88.5 THE JEWEL Thanks Norm for your memories and kind words. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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(ABOVE) The 2011 CHOO Reunion Lunch. L - R "Country" Brad Donner. Bill Johnson, Paul Taalman, Pat Gonsalves, "John Richards", Linda VandeBroek, Jim Ashbridge, Dave Hughes, Cheryl Andrews, Gloria Coles, Tracy Roulston, Jay Mandell. (Photo courtesy Brad Donner.) ................................................................................................................................................................ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Does Anyone Else Remember "Uncle Benny" on CHOO? Hello John: I came across your site when I started Googling memories of growing up in Oshawa. My older brother had his radio tuned exclusively to CHOO. As a kid, I remember that everyone waited for Uncle Benny's Country Jamboree (I think that is what it was called) to come on. I am not sure, but I think that Uncle Benny's surname was Wilson. His theme song had a chorus that repeated "Y'all Come". He told the corniest jokes. There was another DJ there named Don someone or other, and Benny would joke that the doctor that delivered Don used a garbage truck. At one time, as a kid, I once phoned in CHOO for a contest and won a Jerry Wallace album. Do you have any information or biography on Uncle Benny, or the DJ's from the early 1970's? Thanks for a trip down memory lane... Ken Bodnar Thanks Ken! I've heard various stories about this early (by now legendary) CHOO announcer, Uncle Benny. I hope to have something more definitive about him in future updates. Meanwhile - a note to all CHOO alumni and listeners... what can you tell us about him? E mail me - my address is at the bottom of page one. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks to Bill Johnson for remembering the names of the contest winners in David Webster's photo on Page 27.... Great to see everyone again at the recent CHOO lunch. Especially fun to see Brad Donner again. Brad was usually on the air 10 am to 2 pm on Saturdays ahead of my 2 pm to 6 pm shift back in the day. He was also the very first e mail contributor to this site and really got the ball rolling, two years ago. That's right, this site has just celebrated two years on line (Jan. 16th). Where has the time gone? No idea. Oh well... Happy birthday to us! .... Until our next update... All the very best from your friendly neighbourhood web guy, John.
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