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CHOO Radio Recollections An on line scrapbook of images & text for former staff and listeners alike ================================================================= | |||||||||||||||||||||||
We Get More E Mails!
John: I worked at CHOO from 1976 to 1979. John Saunders and I walked into the station during spring break looking for work and we were hired on a part time basis. Saunders worked there until '78 when he went north to Espanola, then Sudbury, then tv sports in North Bay, then Halifax, City TV, Baltimore, ESPN and now ABC sports... and it all started at a "5000 watt radio station" as Ted Baxter would say. Paul Scott was my first PD and Gord Taschuk was my news director when I went into news after graduating from journalism at Ryerson in 1977. Stan Hooper was the station manager and Elmer Hildebrand had just taken over ownership. All pleasant memories of the people who worked there - especially receptionist extraordinaire Judy Bull and our dedicated sports guy, the late Bill Morrison. Bill worked a split shift and often times he'd be in a grumpy mood after a mid day nap. So John and I would try to find ways to get him in a cheery mood. We used to announce headlines out loud in the newsroom to get ourselves up for the news and the day Bing Crosby died, about a month after Elvis, we said out loud "first the King, now the Bing!". Bill laughed so hard at that, we knew he was back to his cheery self. My brother John also worked at the station. He graduated from high school at the age of 16 in '76 and landed the all night job. I moved on to cfgm in 79 and stayed there until 86 when I became a full time stand up comic. A few years ago I put the stand up career on the back burner and found work here at kx-96 as a copywriter. Jim McAleese/94.9 The Rock, KX-96,1580 CKDO ............................................................................................................................... | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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PHOTO (LEFT) COURTESY JIM McALEESE This is one of the photos Jim sent. Jim writes, [Here's] a picture of me in a hockey pose wearing a CHOO t-shirt at Art Thompson arena. I was promoting a summer league in the Ajax Advertiser. Thanks Jim! I can remember Jim delighting audiences at Toronto's Yuk-Yuks comedy club all those years ago. Jim still performs on TV commercials today and is in one running at the moment. ......................................................................................... | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Hi John, Knowing that I had worked at CHOO back in the 70's, a colleague just sent me the link to your web-site. What a great idea.what fun to see the picture of the old studio. And, oh yes, I remember the shag rug on the walls. Lots of great memories. I particularly enjoyed the music clock... ahh, if it was still so simple. I worked there in 1979 doing the evening shift from 6pm-midnight. My name then was Andy Dickson... makes me cringe to type that... but that's how they knew me. One particular story I recall was one time when Cathy Coughlin and I had ordered a pizza at the station one Monday night that happened to be the first day of a two week holiday for the morning announcer, Brian Belfry. There was a piece of pizza left over and we knew that Brian really enjoyed pizza (I think it was Hawaiian) soooo...we put the piece of pizza in an envelope and put it in his mail bunk in the announcer area. To say the least, it was rather ripe by the time Brian got back and I had to remind Brian that it was really the thought that counts. The name of the Program Director when I was there was someone by the name of Pat Gonsalves (sp???). He also did announcing at the race car track nearby. Anyway, I look forward to seeing updates on your site and I will go back into my files to see if I have any memorabilia from that time. All the best, Andrew Dickson/Vice-President - myFM Radio Group ........................................................................................................................................... Thank you Andrew. And we will look forward to further anecdotes from you. Andrew probably won't remember but he very kindly "mentored" me during the first few minutes of my very first, very rocky, very terrifying midnight-6am shift back in early 1979. Cathy returned to Winnipeg - we had brief contact a few years ago when she was still at CJOB but since then she's left and now teaches communications at a college out there. I've not been able to recontact her yet. Cathy, if you read this, please get in touch. ............................................................................................................................................ | |||||||||||||||||||||||
 | (LEFT) From several years ago here is the on-line write up about Cathy Hanson (ne Coughlin) when she worked at CJOB Winnipeg. While at CHOO Cathy had two "lives" - first, as Cathy Coughlin, she was the warm and wonderful overnight DJ. Later, she returned to join the newsroom - and as Cathy Hanson was a valued addition to the CHOO news staff. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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