Jack Haney, a veteran newspaper reporter, was CHOW's first news director. He eventually moved on to several radio stations, including Cornwall, Saint John and Hamilton. He eventually moved to Toronto for a job with Canadian Press in the early 70s. His wife Sheila, a war bride who met Jack when he was a sergeant with the Canadian forces in England in the 1940s. was an actress who often worked at the Stradford Festival and the Shaw Festival in Niagara on the Lake. Their daughter Mary was known for her lead performances at Shaw Festival for more than 28 seasons. His Welland-born son, the late Chris Haney also worked in radio and advertising but became famous as the co-inventor of the popular board game Trivial Pursuit Jack Haney died of a stroke during Christmas in 1972 at the age of 53.
Maurice Stasyk was a Welland Tribune newspaper reporter before he discovered radio.
Bob Carr was born in Chatham, Ontario, but got his high school education in Welland. He became the most productive local news reporter at C-HOW. He came to C-HOW from Niagara Falls (CHVC and CJRN). In Welland, he helped Bud Riley revamp the system for gathering local news which required each newsreader to leave the newsroom to do in- person coverage of all public meetings across the Niagara Peninsula (city council, boards of education, etc). It required eliminating some newscasts and lengthening the major newscasts to make up the difference. Bob later moved on to CHIC in Brampton and a wide-ranging freelance career. He founded his own news company out of Queen's Park called "Newsroom-2" which operated for about 20 years before he was forced to give it up for health reasons. Short and balding for most of his adult life, he was affectionately known as "The Queen's Park Gnome" though he called himself "a tall leprechaun". (See more under CHUM and CKFH) (Bob died May 13, 2007 of a heart attack at his home in east Toronto.) Bob Carr Remembered.
Click here for more on Bob Carr
Copywriter Joan Blanchard, an excellent golfer, Port Colborne Club Champion and the daughter of a 1930s Ontario amateur champion Edward McNulty. Joan did a weekly golf report on C-HOW in the 1960s and was the head copywriter for 25 years before moving on to run Aids Niagara and also worked for the Niagara Health System before her retirement. Joan died on Sept. 2, 2019.
Jack Kingston, a yodeling country singer/musician, hosted a country music show nightly and Saturday on C-HOW. In the United States Jack was known as known as The Canadian Playboy and was the first Canadian signed to record on Capitol Records. His son Bobby Kingston now carries on the country singing tradition with his own band and is is a respected performer in Canada and the U.S. (more on Bobby Kingston) Jack died in 1996. He will soon be inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.
In the early 60s, polka band leader Walter Ostenak performed a half-hour polka music show recorded and aired at the C-HOW radio studios in Welland with Bud Riley as his announcer. This multi-Grammy winner has made St. Catharines, Ontario, his home for more than 60 years and in that time he was nominated 21 times and won three Grammys, many gold records and has recorded 80 albums. His Polka Time TV show taped in Hamilton, Ontario, was seen across Canada and the U.S. Today, he still performs on cable four times a week on Access TV in Regina, Sask. Walter is in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and is a member of the Order of Canada. "The King of Polka" owned and operated a music store in St. Catharines which he sold to Long and McQuade which is now managed by his son. Walter continues to make public appearances and always delights his polka fans. http://walterostanekband.com/
Dave Mickey (a.k.a. Dave Marsden), a young and already famous rock-jock, was hired by Bud in the summer of 1965 as a two-week summer fill-in for a vacationing staffer. Dave was a former CKEY personality who gained fame by giving market-leading CHUM a run for its money. When he left CKEY he did an American Bandstand style TV show from Toronto. His memorable sign-off was "Let a smile be your umbrella and you'll get a mouthful of rain." Since then, he has earned a well-deserved reputation as a programmer at a number of Southern Ontario radio stations. Dave also has a shelf crammed with trophies and honors from the music and broadcasting industry. More on Dave Marsden
C-HOW REUNION 2003.
Front: Joan Blanchard, Terry Davies, Jim Blanchard, Jim Cassidy.
Photo by Bob Carr.
Gordon Burnett In 1956-57, after many years managing radio stations for the Roy Thompson media organization, Northern Broadcasting in Ontario, Burnett was hired by the Guardian Newspaper to establish a radio station in Trinidad-Tobago. While managing his highly successful creation, Radio Guardian, the application for his own radio licence was approved in Canada. He returned immediately to open C-HOW in Welland. In 1962, he purchased C-FUN in Vancouver. In the 1970s, he re-programmed C-HOW into a leading country music station. In 1975, Gordon was instrumental in creating the Canadian Country Music Awards and in 1992 he was himself inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame as a founder. Gordon died at the age of 95 on April 25, 2015.
See Gordon at the CCM Hall of Fame induction Gordon Burnett Obituary
Doug Manning
Station manager and C-HOW Sales Manager. His career continued in radio sales in Peterborough, Ontario.
Vice President of C-HOW. He was hired and trained by Gordon Burnett as a salesman for Northern Broadcasting, Roy Thompson's Ontario radio chain. He became owner of CHSC St. Catharines, Ontario, when Burnett wrote the winning license application for him. Later he owned stations in Toronto and Calgary. click here for Broadcast News item announcing Redmond's license to create CJEZ-FM in Toronto Robert Redmond died on May 7, 2005.
Click here for more on Bob Redmond
Original Forkes Rd. C-HOW cement block building
Refurbished C-HOW building (1980s) on Forkes Rd .
Main control 601 and cart rack
News room on-air setup
Wayne Burnett, as a teen in 1960, aired a daily morning marine weather from the C-HOW power boat. After graduating from Western University, he had success as a theatre actor in London, Ontario. He continued his acting career in Toronto starting in 1977. In 1989 he created, produced and directed the "Seniors Jubilee", a showcase for 50+ performers which ran at Roy Thompson Hall for 20 years. He is also founder, board member and Artistic Director of the Canadian Organization of Senior Artists and Performers.
Barry Sharpe started his media career as a feature and sports reporter at Canadian Press in Toronto from 1958-1962. He did news and sports at C-HOW in 1964. He was himself an athlete, a hockey goalie and had an excellent knowledge of all sports. After four months, he left Welland and drove his new Corvair Monza Spyder to CFCO in Chatham. After only four months there, he jumped ship to CKLW in Windsor/Detroit. A year later finds him at CKKW-TV in Kitchener. In 1967, CKOC Hamilton had him for a short period but he left there to sign on as a news and sports reporter at CHSC in St. Catharines. Next, he jumped to CJRN in Niagara Falls to do colour commentary for Rick Jeanneret's play-by-play hockey broadcasts of Jr. A. Niagara Falls Flyers games. Rick called the home games but Barry went on the road for the away broadcasts. On December 30, 1969, he left Niagara Falls and buzzed around Toronto golfing for a season and then drove to Vancouver. Barry was an audio/visual consultant from 1972-78, but returned to radio as sports reporter at CKNW from 1978 to 1980. He did a TV golf show "West Coast Golf" on CKVU-TV in 1980, and a syndicated radio version at CHQM-AM and FM from 1981 to 1992. He retired from broadcasting in 1992 to begin a new career as president and editor of BC Golf News.
Barry died in March, 2020
The following is an e-mail from January, 2017
The BC Golf News website was www.bcgolfnews.com and was first established in 2003 to be BC’s authoritative source for golfers in this province, providing news and audio interviews with BC players and Canadians playing internationally. For over 10 years BCGN averaged 81,000 visits per month untirry
Then later that same year Bill Wilms and I established www.thechristianathletemystory.com , the first program of that nature on the internet, where Christian athletes share their stories for why and when they chose to believe in Jesus Christ as their Saviour. At this time TCAMS is a radio program supported by an internet website. And instead of directing our programming via strictly Christian radio stations we have elected to go for a much larger, secular audience.
Unlike BCGN, which was strictly internet, TCAMS is a radio broadcast supported by internet, but if our supporting financial base continues to grow we’d very much like to put our interviews on Facebook. Bill and I have often talked about encouraging some of guests, particularly those who are active today in the NHL and NFL, to helping to support us. When you consider the salaries paid today are in the two-to-five million dollar range per season for rookies it’s not hard to imagine just how far 10, 15 or 20-thousand dollars would go toward spreading the good news. We’ve not asked any of guests for a dime, yet. Somehow it seems awkward to ask them to share this intimate news and then ask them to pay us money so we can put their story on the air. We haven’t made a nickel for doing the show but we’ve asked others to help us share expenses. But that must change if we hope to continue to grow.
Barry
Barb Kopinac (Bedek) was an enthusiastic member of the mid-sixties support staff, and was an excellent copywriter.
Russ Burnett, Gordon's brother, came down from North Bay as a salesman. Before long, he became C-HOW sales manager. Working under him were salesmen Bud Armstrong and Bill Campbell, Ken McFarland, Andy laughland, and John Garbutt. In the late 60s, Russ left radio sales and became a jail custodian, a position he held until his retirement. Russ died of complications due to diabetes at age 82.
John Garbutt, came to C-HOW from Fort William/Port Arthur where he was a salesman for CJLX. Lorraine Garbett met John when she was a 19 year-old student picking fruit for the summer (1948) in St. Davids near Niagara Falls. When she returned to her home town, Kirkland Lake, to finish high school, 29 year-old John followed her on his motorcycle. He landed a job at CJKL radio which was managed by Gordon Burnett who recognized that John was a natural-born salesman. John did a short stint at CJLX Fort William before Burnett brought him back to Welland. An accomplished musician, john built his own music studio in the basement of their home. John Garbutt died in Welland in 2005.
click here to hear John in his music room.
Photo of early 60s C-HOW sales department.
Production control room
Bruce Sage started his radio career in Fort William/Port Arthur, Ontario, (now Thunder Bay) at CKPR and fitted in very well at Welland but left radio after only a few years at C-HOW.
Tommy Shannon on WKBW in Buffalo was major competition for C-HOW'S 7-12 pm rock shift but when he was leaving for CKLW in Windsor, Bud hired him for a one night phone-in gig to say goodbye to his Niagara fans.
Daryl Wells called the Ontario Jockey Club races on C-HOW throughout the 1960s, 70s and 80s.Wells, who was the voice of thoroughbred racing at Woodbine and Fort Erie for 30 years, began his career at the Ontario Jockey Club in 1956. Born in Victoria in 1922, Wells entered the broadcast business as a disc jockey at the age of 15. He later moved to Ontario where he worked in the sports department at CHML radio in Hamilton and then as a sports director for CHCH-TV. In the late 50s, he had been host of a "bandstand" style show on CHCH-TV and also did hockey play-by-play and announced the CFL Tiger Cat games. Daryl died in Niagara Falls on Dec.12, 2003. His son, Daryl Jr. took over his father's spot and became Communications Director from 1976-2010. Daryle Jr. died in October, 2016. Read Daryle Wells Jr. obituary
Newsman Bob Hooper did not stay long at C-HOW but made a noticeable impression around the peninsula driving his brand new Edsel. Hoop left for CHML in Hamilton where he continued to report news, hosted a talk show and eventually became the programme director and Vice President of CHML. Later he was part of the radio sports team doing play-by-play CFL Tiger Cat football games. He was the colour commentator from 1993 to 1995 and did play-by-play from 1997 to 2001. Hooper was a member of Football Reporters of Canada and a member of the selection committee for the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. Bob eventually served as CHML media relations director until he retired in 2004. He died suddenly on Oct. 17, 2018.
Daryl Wells Jr.
Cameron "Cam" Bell arrived from Vancouver's C-FUN in 1962 to be a temporary news director at C-HOW when both stations were owned by Gord Burnett. Cam reorganized the news room before returning to Vancouver after three months. Cameron started his radio career in 1959 before joining CFUN in 1962. In 1966 he switched to CKWX and a year later he was hired on at Top Dog CKNW New Westminster. He then went on camera at CHAN-TV (BCTV) Vancouver in 1968 as a reporter/anchor/news director. Cam was let go in 1989. He received the Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999. He then founded Cameron Bell Consultancy Ltd. In April 2006, he was back on the air hosting a Sunday morning talk show on CKNW.
Rev. Msgn. Ray Montague, the assistant pastor of St. Kevin's R.C. Church in Welland, delivered a 90 second daily sign-on, "Above All Else" from 1965 to 1967 on C-HOW. The St. Catharines-born Priest also began a similar morning feature "Thought For The Day" on CHSC Radio in his home town. He served as priest to 10 Niagara parishes and spent three years (1974-1977) as a missionary in the Philippines. Monsignor Ray retired from parish work after 58 years in 2008 and began living at the Mount Carmel facility in St. Catharines where he celebrated daily mass for the Carmelite sisters. He was also a chaplain for the Hotel Dieu Hospital. Father Ray died on June 2, 2018 in St. Catharines.
Young Wayne Burnett the accomplished stage actor in London, Ontario.
Gerry Van Amelsvoort was
C-HOW's Dutch-born chief engineer. Jerry left after three years to join the engineering staff at CKBB radio and CKVR TV in Barrie, Ontario. After that, Len Whalley, a local technician and radio repair store operator, handled all of C-HOW's technical requirements on a part-time basis.
Larry Boccoleti was the C-HOW photographer who did all of the staff photos for newspaper ads and articles. His company was Rainbow Studios in Welland. A scuba diver, he also worked for the local Hydro Electric Utility inspecting underwater power lines (sometimes under the winter ice) in the Welland Canal. Years later he spent five years teaching photography at a the New York Institute of Photography. On his return to Toronto, he taught at Centennial College and worked full-time as the corporate photographer at De Havilland Air Craft. On his retirement, Larry rented out items from his extensive collection of antique cameras and photo equipment to TV and Film productions. Larry's side interest had always been involvement in barber shop quartet competitions and was a big influence in the genre's success with several groups in Scarborough, Ontario.
Shirley Luska was C-HOW's receptionist and traffic coordinator.
Bermuda Shorts Month promotion showing the knees of Jay Jackson, Dave McCleary, Tom White, Bob Carr, Bud Riley and Dave Critchton.
Allan Pietz, C-HOW's farm reporter and the mayor of Welland (1965 - 1978), a dairy owner (Sunny Side Dairy), and the station's farm reporter. Allan was a CHOW neighbor whose home was near the station on Forks Rd. His comprehensive agriculture report was heard each day following the noon newscast. Allan sought election as the Conservative candidate for Parliament several times and eventually took his seat in the House of Commons (1984-1988). He continued in local politics as a counselor until his retirement in 1994. Allan died at 96 on April 23, 2021. (more on Allan Pietz )
C-HOW RADIO Continued
NEXT: go to CKPR Thunder Bay
Video and Audio clips from www.rockradioscrapbook.com and private collections of Doug Thompson, CHUM Archives, Charlie Ritenberg, Bill Dulmage, Bud Riley, Westlyn Mather, Dave Ross, Don Shuttleworth, Mike Cleaver and others.
CFOR Orillia 1957-1958 CKAR Huntsville 1959 C-HOW Welland 1959-67
CKPR Thunder Bay 1963-1964 CJRN Niagara Falls 1967-69 CHUM 1968-1969
CKFH Toronto 1969-1974 CJRT - FM Toronto 1974-1985 Freelance 1985-2000.
C-HOW's news booth RCA mic which was also used for remotes
New main control room
Main board.
Original master control
This is the RCA mic in the main control room which was hung from the ceiling.
David McCleary was also at CFRB and CFOS (1981) No other details are known.
Marine weather cruiser operated by Wayne in 1960, seen here the following year with newsman John McKay
Bud Armstrong was born and raised in BC and started his business life as a bank teller. At C-HOW he blossomed as radio salesman. He left C-HOW to join Standard Broadcast Sales (CFRB) in Toronto. He was followed to Standard by another C-HOW salesman, Andy Laughland. Bud was a walking, talking encyclopedia of jokes and one liners.
Armstrong later joined another company, placing radio ads for his clients. He died in hospital from a brain tumor in Toronto 1984. A long-time member of the Toronto Ad & Sales Club, his will accommodated the cost of a piss-up wake which started with a New Orlean's-style parade down Yonge Street to the Ad & Sales Club led by Toronto Sun newspaper columnist Paul Rimstead and his band.
Click here for APEX HISTORY
Ken Lane, aka Hugh Ledoux, (now known as Craig Edwards) came to Welland from CKBB, Barrie, Ontario. Ken was easily the most controversial and brash of any personality in Canadian radio. He left
C-HOW to work in Richmond Hill, migrated to Thunder Bay as news director of the now defunct CJLX. While there, he was often involved in controversial issues. On one occasion, he was forced to publicly apologize to a local union official over something he said in one of hs commentaries. Details about his later career were sketchy until April of 2017 when he found this web site and added more details. He had changed his on-air name to Craig Edwards. After a stint at CKLG in Vancouver as News Director he landed at KISN in Portland, Oregon, but was hired away to Seattle (KJR), who posted him to WUBE Cincinnati. From there to WIP and WOHO in Philadelphia followed by stints in Cleveland (WIXY), Toledo (WOHO), Buffalo (WGR), and Denver (KHOW). From there he spent 10 years in Los Angeles where he became Regional Vice President of Westwood One broadcasting and finished his career as Programme Director of KRLA. In 2008, he retired to Portland Oregon with his wife Sherry. In retirement, Craig has reinvented him self as a wildlife photographer. (see samples below)
The son of an Canadian air force officer (now retired General Hugh Charles Ledoux) Ken (Craig) grew up on various military bases. At 11 years-old, he took his first flying lesson and eventually served as flying instructor at a noted flying school, wrote a syllabus outline for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Contact:
bgoreilly@rogers.com
What happened to C-HOW-FM?
In 2004, CHOW FM morphed into "The Giant" when it was sold to David Holgate with new call letters CIXL.
The history of CHOW from Day 1
In July 2014, CIXL added an all country music sister station to their broadcasting family in Welland.
Connie Chicorli was an experienced copy writer who started her broadcast career in Vancouver with the CBC working as a secretary for Chief Announcer Ray Mackness. A short time later, she moved back to her home town of Fort William as a copy editor for CJLX. When station salesman John Garbutt moved to CHOW, he suggested Connie would be an asset as a copy writer. It was there, on her first day on the new job, she met newsman Steve Halinda and vowed she would marry him. When Steve moved to CKPR Port Arthur she followed him and worked as a copy writer for CKPR TV. Steve and Connie married in 1964. She and Steve moved on to Winnipeg and later TV in Edmonton. In 2000 they retired and moved to Langley, B.C. where Steve died in 2019 at the age of 84.
Photo of Bruce Sage at CKPR at Fort William Thunder Bay)
Leo Bruzzese was CHOW's accountant for many years. He eventually became a partner with Robert Redmond and opened CHSC radio in St. Catharines, Ontario, and became the station's CFO. CHSC was the brain-child of Gordon Burnett who spend a year researching and writing the proposal to successfully obtain the license from the CRTC.
Leo died on April 5, 2016. Obituary
Mary Haney.
Chris Haney
One of Larry's gag photos with Moe Stasik, Ronn Grimster, Bill Moyer, Bud Riley and Ken Lane
Mary Haney on stage at the Shaw Festival
More on Burmuda Shorts promotion:
Back Row: Andy Laughlan, Tom White, Bob Carr, David Chrichton, Jay Jackson, Bud Riley, Dave McCleary, Russ Burnett, Bill Campbell, Peter Borbely Ken McFarland,
Front Row: Gladys Marchand, Joan Blanchard, Barb Kopinac, Welland Mayor Alan Pietz, 2 unidentified sales office assistants.
Top Row: Sandra Laughland, Mrs. Ronn Grimster, (unknown), Ronn Grimster, unknown, Dorrie Burnett, Bruce Sage, unknown, Lorraine and John Garbutt, unknown.
Bottom Row: Gladys Marchand (sales secretary) Andy Laughland, Gordon Burnett, unknown (possibly Bill Campbell)
Mayor Allan Pietz helping pick a promotion winner on Bud Riley's morning show.
Comments and suggestions:
Tony Stranges, a local musician, fronted his quintet playing the vibraphone on his own weekly music variety programme on C-HOW. His brother John Stranges played several instruments. Eddie Neal, a car salesman by day, was a talented, versatile percussionist, Larry Becevel played alto sax, and Ron Podio played bass. Bud Riley was the show's announcer. Tony was a high school teacher during the day. Tony left Canada in 1969 to teach in the U.S. Since 1977 he has been teaching at Texas A&M University at College Station, Texas. Tony and John are the only survivors of the group
Dorie Burnett, the wife of station owner Gordon Burnett, was the most loved by the staff. She was the bookkeeper who faithfully made sure everybody got their paycheck on time every two weeks. She was born in North Bay and it was there that she met Gordon in the choir of the First Baptist Church. Later with a young family in tow, she went with Gordon to Trinidad when he was hired set up Radio Trinidad for the Guardian Newspaper. She set up the bookkeeping system for that operation. Dorie died on July 17, 1977
Lynne Sorbie was another Ryerson classmate of Bud Riley who was already at CHOW when he arrived in 1959. Lynne working as a copy writer but later she was located at CFRB in Toronto as a news writer/reporter.
Gladys Marchand was a sales secretary/receptionist at the Forkes Rd. studios. Her first job out of high school was at Atlas Steel Co. before moving on to CHOW. When she left radio she worked as a secretary at Port Colborne Hydro. After a few years she trained as a nurse and for 25 years she worked at Northland Manor in Port Colborne. Gladys died of heart and kidney disease on November 17, 2020 in St. Catharines, Ontario.
Sylvia O'Brien was a copy writer who arrived at CHOW in 1962 from her first job at CJLX in her home town of Fort William (now Thunder Bay). In 1964 she returned home to become Mrs. Peter Coslett and relocated at Kingston, Jamaica to begin a family. From there they moved to Miami, Florida. She died of cancer sometime in the late 1990s.
Ken McFarland was a young salesman who began is radio career at CFUN in Vancouver. He was seconded to CHOW in the mid 1960s, along with programme director Andy Laughland and newsman Cameron "Cam" Bell. After a couple of years Ken and Cam returned to BC.
Bill Campbell, a salesman from Niagara Falls, became CHOW's top salesman during the mid 1960s.
This is an undated script for one of Tony's radio programmes on CHOW in Welland.
In the mid 60s, Gord Burnett purchased C-FUN in Vancouver. There was an exchange of personnel with VP Bob Redmond going to C-FUN as manager and Ronn Grimster going as afternoon DJ. C-FUN sent Andy Laughlan (P.D), Cam Bell (news) and Ken McFarland (sales) to C-HOW.
Dorothy Cadwel was another copy writer who joined the staff in 1963. She had been working at CHVC in Niagara Falls but sought new employment when the station changed management and became CJRN.
