CKFH-AM, TORONTO, ONTARIO.
A former CHUM newsman, Marshall Armstrong, had become news director at the radio station owned by hockey legend Foster Hewitt. In 1969, he convinced Bud to join him there. Bud, newly married, dug into the job of presenting a lively, entertaining brand of news reporting. He also began writing jokes for the staff disc-jockeys, particularly morning man, Mike Williams. He convinced Williams to re-cycle the one-liners to the Toronto Sun newspaper as a publicity vehicle for CKFH and his morning programme. Bud's jokes, credited to Williams, appeared several times a week in the popular Susan Ford column. While working his usual 40-hour week, Bud enrolled into a full-time academic programme at the University of Toronto to study Anthropology and Archaeology. In 1974, Bud graduated from the University with a B.A. in Anthropology, obtaining a Masters Degree in Archaeology two years later while working for CJRT-FM.
Click here for Bud's CKFH Big 30 Chart Click here for CKFH Big 30 Charts
CKFH owner, Foster Hewitt (1902-1985), made his first hockey broadcast on Feb. 16, 1922, over the Toronto Star newspaper's radio station CFCA.. (note: the first hockey broadcast on Feb. 8, 1923, was done by Norman Albert, a sports writer for the Star) For the next 50 years, Foster, the son of the Star's sports editor, was the leading figure in hockey broadcasting. He invented many of the terms used in describing action in the game such as "icing the puck" and of course, the iconic "He shoots, he scores!" He opened CKFH in 1951.
Barry Nesbitt had a long career as an announcer, performer, writer and broadcast executive. He studied music at the Regina Conservatory of Music - University of Saskatchewan, and theatre at the Banff School of Fine Arts. At the age of fifteen, he literally fell into broadcasting and continued in this career for close to fifty years. His first announcing job was at CHAB in Moose Jaw, Sask in June of 1944. He came to CKFH in 1951 and hosted several "teen" shows. He gave The Crew Cuts their first radio exposure--they were "Canadaires" in those days. He also hosted a country music programme. By 1957, Barry was programme and production manager and in 1965 he was assistant manager of the station. He was also the writer for the popular CBC's "Country Hoedown" and later was a consultant for "The Tommy Hunter Show." In recent years he was co-producer and artistic director of Deer Park Very Little Theatre. He is now retired to Vancouver and has written a book about his five decades in media, "What's on the Air Tonight." Barry's recording of "A Pub with No Beer." reached #7 on the CHUM chart. Barry died at 85 in Victoria, B.C. on Oct. 8, 2011.
Tom Fulton first went on the air in BC but he very quickly found himself at CJCA Edmonton in 1964. A year later he was in Toronto at CKFH where he spent the next six years where he was known as The Big Kahoona. When he took a leave of absence from radio in 1973, he spent a half a year in Italy but returned when money ran low. He invested for a short time in a rooming house and sold that for a small profit. In 1975 he worked at temporary jobs and got some radio work in Burlington. Bud Riley, by now the news and public affairs director at CJRT-FM Toronto, hired Tom in 1976 for the morning news shift. (Also see another entry for Tom under CJRT-FM) Tom eventually found work as the morning man at CHWO 740. He died of a heart attack on Dec. 9, 2002.
Keith Hampshire was a lead singer with a succession of teen bands in Calgary when he landed a job at CFCN. The music format was not to his liking so in 1966 he took off for Britain where he auditioned for the pirate radio station, Radio Caroline South, a ship off the coast of England. He hosted Keefer's Commotions and a morning show, Keefer's Uprising. When the authorities closed it down in 1967 (Marine Offences Act) he returned to Canada and a night time deejay job at CKFH. After two years, he was back in the recording studio, first with RCA and then with A&M. He recorded two Canadian hits, "Day Time, Night Time" and a #1 hit, "The First Cut is the Deepest". He was also the star of the TV variety show Music Machine and was a regular comic actor on the Wayne and Shuster TV Show. In 2005, he was located at CHAY radio in Barrie, Ontario, near his summer residence. Today, he divides his time between his place in Florida and his home in Barrie. Click for Pirate Radio #1
Pirate Radio Hall of Fame click for London (UK) radio
Mike Williams (real name Ken Clarke) came to CKFH from Edmonton's CJED to do mid-mornings. Mike took over the morning show when John Rode left in 1970. He was at 'FH for five years before moving on to Montreal in 1973. For the next 12 years he worked at CFOX, CKGM AND CJAD and a spot at CJSB in Ottawa. Mike died in a car crash on December 30, 1985, while driving between Montreal and Ottawa in a snow storm. At CKFH, Mike had his own personal joke writer in newsman Bud Riley who produced a joke sheet for him almost daily. Some jokes were re-cycled to the Toronto Sun's Susan Ford column.
Click for a sample of Mike Williams One-Liners.
Click here for Mike's Big 30 Chart
Duff Roman (aka Dave Mostoway) began his career at CHAT, Medicine Hat but a few months later he was at Swift Current before jumping to CHED, Edmonton and then to CKEY in Toronto in 1959. Duff came to CKFH in the late 60s. After a couple years he left for Winnipeg. When Gary Palant returned to the US, Duff was back as programme director. He was an avid supporter of Canadian talent and he wanted to do more than play Canadian performers so he created two recording companies of his own: the Red Leaf Label and Roman Records. Among the performers he nurtured and recorded were David Clayton Thomas and The Paupers. He was named to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
Mal Faris got his radio start at CHAB in Moosejaw, Sask. Like most radio nomads he moved from city to city gathering experience at stations including CKXL Calgary, CKRC Winnipeg, CKOM Saskatoon, CKRM Regina and CKGM Montreal. Mal left Montreal in 1967 and landed at CKFH in Toronto. His final stop was back in Regina at KHIT, an Internet station. Mal died in 2010 shortly after sending me the CKFH photo (on the left) taken at CKFH in 1972.
Big Don Biefer had been at CKLB, Oshawa, Ontario since June 1968, but in Feb. 1969, he left for CJSS in Cornwall. After a year he relocated to CHIC in Brampton for a couple of months.Then, after a short stay at CKLC Kingston as promotion director, he arrived at CKFH in 1971 to do overnights. His time at 'FH was interrupted twice in 1973, once as a morning man at WOLF in Syracuse, N.Y. and a short-lived morning stint at CHSJ in St. John, N.B. He left CKFH for good in 1974 heading for CHAM in Hamilton, ON. For the rest of the 70s he worked at two stations, CFTR Toronto (1975-1978), and CING-FM Burlington, Ontario, (1978 -1988). However, he is most often associated with CKFH. Today he owns and operates ProDJ, a disc jockey service in Brampton. On the air and off, Don was the most liked of any announcer in the country. Big Don died on March 29, 2024, in Brampton, Ont.
John Rode arrived at CKFH in 1969 after early successes at Louisville,(WIBG) Cincinnati and Boston (WRKO). He took over the morning show vacated by Don Daynard but after a year moved over to CHUM. In 1987 he was at CKEY. In the 1990s returned to CHUM. Still in media today, John is vice-president of Media Stats Inc. in Toronto. John is also in the wine business, principal of the solar powered winery, Harwood EstateVineyards in Hillier, Ontario in Prince Edward County.
John Donabie started his radio career in Oshawa at CKLB in 1965. He signed on to CKFH in 1967 and from that point he was a typical broadcast nomad racking up experience at more than ten stations across the country. He left 'FH for CHUM-FM in 1971. Later he would move to CJFM in Montreal. Two years later in 1977, John returned to Toronto to put Q-107 on the air. In the summer of 1979 he switched to CBC-TV to host an interview programme, "Afternoon Delight". In the fall of that year, he again went on-air at CHUM-FM but three years later moved over to CFGM Richmond Hill (1983-85), followed by CFRB (1985-87), crossed the hall to CKFM (1987-89), and then went on to CKEY until 1992. He then helped to put CISS-FM (new country) on the air. In 1995 he was back at CFRB to do a talk show which lasted for 15 years. In 2010, John re-located at JAZZ-FM91 in Toronto where he did the morning show until he retired to write a book about his broadcasting career.
In October 2012, John was inducted into the Canadian Broadcasting Hall of Fame.
On March 19, 2016, John returned to radio with a show on the University of Toronto community FM station CIUT. Check out a Conversation with John Donabie
Keith Elshaw started as an operator at CFOR Orillia, while he attended high school just across the street from the station Then he did six weeks at C-HOW in Welland, Ontario, on the way to St. Thomas where he worked for Robert Wood. He came to CKFH in 1970 as host of "Open Lid", a show created by American jock Gene Thayer in 1968. In the Fall of 1969 Terry David Mulligan took it over but in early 1970, Keith came in and really opened the lid on this alternative music production. In 1972, he took his ideas to CFTR which had changed to a rock format where, as assistant p.d. and music director, he helped usher in a new era in Toronto rock radio. In 1978, while working for CFNY in Brampton, The Toronto Star named him FM disk jockey of the year. Just after that, he was laid off. It was around that time that he created his own recording company, Airwave Records. Keith is now located in Montreal and has become a promoter of the romantic latin dance--The Tango!
Keith Elshaw: What he did and what he does
Terry David Mulligan hosted "Open Lid" on CKFH for only a few months in 1969, replacing Gene Bill Thayer. Mulligan enjoyed a 20-year career in radio before switching full-time to TV and film from his home base in Vancouver. ;Movie credits include The Accused, McCabe and Mrs. Miller and The X-Files; His western radio credits include CKRD Red Deer, CFAC Calgary, CJME Regina, CFUN Vancouver, CKLG and CKVN and CFOX-FM Vancouver. At CBC he hosted the Great Canadian Gold Rush from 1975 to 1980. Terry syndicates a food and wine radio show.
More on Gene Thayer and Open Lid
CKFH morning man, Don Daynard, began his radio career in Owen Sound in 1953. Four years later he re-located at CHEX-TV in Peterborough, ON., and stayed until he was hired by CKCR, Kitchener. He gave up radio for a move to Hollywood where he worked for a costume company. In 1962 he returned to Canada and took an announcing job at CJET, Smith Falls, ON. He stopped for a short while at Richmond Hill's CFGM before he landed the morning spot on CKFH in 1967. CFRB was his next stop from 1969 to 1975. when he asked for a switch to FM. He was at CKFM from 1975 to 1987. CHFI wanted him for their morning show and offered him a deal he could not refuse. He co-hosted with Erin Davis on CHFI and the couple became the most popular duo in Toronto radio until they finally split. Don was a master of movie trivia, especially westerns and could list off even the minor players in most movies of that genre. At Bud's suggestion, Jack Budgell, the producer/director of the afternoon TV show "Juliette and Friends", booked him for a regular guest spot. Then came the point when Don decided to retire.Don died at the age of 88 on April 20, 2023.
Steve O'Brien came to CKFH from WFIL in Philadelphia in 1969. He was one of the most entertaining jocks in Toronto in those days. His friend, Gene Taylor, who freelanced jokes to Bob Hope and emceed the shows at Toronto's Victory Burlesque, provided Steve with local, topical one liners at least once a week. When Steve left 'FH he became a well-know celebrity in N.Y. City at WABC (see photo left), WPLT, and WCBS-FM. He was also at WPOP in Hartford and WKNR in Detroit. A multimedia guy, he combined acting and television with radio. He was a TV news anchor at WNYW and sports reporter on WNBC-TV. He was the studio announcer on the $50,000 Pyramidfor Dick Clark and has been seen with David Letterman on both his NBC and CBS shows. Steve even portrayed Dragnet’s Jack Webb in an AT&T commercial!. Click here for Steve's Jan. 8, 1970 CKFH chart
Dick Joseph came to CKFH from CHAM in Hamilton in 1972. Dick started his career at the age of 19 when he graduated from Career Academy’s Broadcast College in 1969.His first job was at CJNR, Blind River, Ontario. A few months later in April of 1970 it was off to CKJD Sarnia to join PD Chuck Camroux. When Camroux moved to develop 1280 CHAM Hamilton into a Boss Radio format during the summer of 1970, Dick went with him. In 1972, CKFH Toronto PD Duff Roman called him to do afternoon drive and Dick jumped at the chance to return home to Toronto. Then in 1974 when Chuck Camroux moved from CHAM to reconstruct 680 CFTR Toronto Dick became part of the Rogers team doing noon to 3 pm with good friends Jim Brady, Red Knight and Paul Godfrey. He resigned from 680 CFTR in 1978 when Keith Dancy and Chuck Camroux split from Rogers and found jobs at CFNY Toronto and CJJD Hamilton. In the early 80‘s Dick briefly returned to Metro 1430 (formerly CKFH.) His next move was to CKSL London in July of 1982 to do PM drive and ‘Dicker Q and The Afternoon Zoo‘ along with the irreverent 4:30 pm feature ‘Desperate and Dateless’. In 1987 after five years in London he moved to Los Angeles, remaining there until 2010. In the late 80’s, while living in Hollywood, Dick founded Westwood Personalities, an exclusive ‘DJ’ talent agency and represented some of the best on-air talent in North America. In 2000 he created and pitched a news television show and, when accepted, became anchor, head writer and executive producer of the program which ran for ten years and was syndicated on over 200 stations.
In 2010, shortly after moving back home from LA to Toronto, he began work on the feature film, ‘Bossjock’ (aka Q 92) a tell-all movie script about 1970‘s rock radio. Full of backstabbing, payola, suicide, drugs and groupies, Bossjock features many of the ‘jocks and news guys’ Dick worked with over the years. Only the names have been changed to protect the ‘guilty’.
Gary Hart came to CKFH in April of 1971 from Winnipeg's CKRC where he had been since 1968. Hart stayed at FH until late Fall of 1972, when he joined the staff at CFGM in Richmond Hill as Dan Ryan. He stayed there until 1982.
Skip Dewling was at CKFH in 1972, but in 1973, he joined Dick Joseph in re-locating at 1280 CHAM in Hamilton where he hosted the morning show until he left in 1975. In 1997, his name appears in the cast of a documentary "Mark Of The Beast" and in 1998 he appeared as an actor in the film "Apocalypse".
Dick Beddoes a popular Toronto newspaper man hosted the 'FH sports talk show each evening in the 1970s. The flamboyant Beddoes attributed his ability to write to a love affair with books. As a boy in Alberta, he would walk many miles each week to his uncle's farm to raid his well-stocked living room library. Reading was the major form of entertainment in the region in those days. He began his university study in agriculture, until he discovered the campus library. After that, he broadened his studies to include literature.After university, Dick got his start at The Edmonton Bulletin. In 1954 he moved to theVancouver Sun as a sports columnist. In 1963, he was courted and won by the Toronto Globe and Mail. He freelanced at CHFi in the 1960s and hosted a sports phone-in talk show at CKFH in the early 70s, but 1980 found him on CHCH-TV as sports director. He switched to CFRB in 1986 to host the Sunday evening sports talk show. Beddoes authored several sports books, including "Greatest Sports Stories" and "Hal", an in-depth story about Maple Leaf Gardens president, Harold Ballard. Bud Riley remembers walking with him up Yonge Street and found themselves stopped several times by fans who recognized the hat. They were surrounded by more than a dozen Beddoes fans before they had walked a block from Dundas to Gerard Street. Dick passed away August 24, 1991.
Read the Dick Beddoes radio obituary written by his friend Fred Napoli.
Robert E. McIntyre started his radio career in 1966 at CFJR in Brockville, Ontario, but soon moved to CHAM in Hamilton. He joined CKFH as a newsman in 1970 and assumed the post of news director when Marshall Armstrong left for Winnipeg. Two years later he switched to TV news at CKVR in Barrie, Ontario. After a short stint in management at CKCO-TV in Kitchener. He returned to CKVR to became the station's weather specialist in 1983. He is a world traveller with a pilot's license he flies several planes including his favorite, an open cockpit Tiger Moth. In 2010, Bob was appointed Honorary Colonel of the Air Command Academy at 16 Wing Borden, Ontario. He continues his activities as weather specialist on A News (CTV -3) in Barrie despite a continuing health battle which was documented by an award winning feature, "Bob's Story, a Life with Cancer." A few months after retiring, Bob died on March 10, 2016.
News director Marshall Armstrong (aka David Collison), a self-taught, high school dropout with a masterful command of the English language and a no-nonsense approach to news reporting. He came to CHUM in Toronto from CKLW in Windsor, moved on to Richmond Hill two years later but within a year he was hired to run the news department at CKFH. After two years, he returned to his home town of Winnipeg and made a reputation for himself as an investigative reporter at CKY. His radio reports on the poor state of the Winnipeg ambulance service were responsible for the instigation of a province-wide state-of -the-art paramedic emergency service. (Click for More on this.) When Marshall left broadcasting he founded a resume writing business. He collapsed over his computer keyboard and died in April 2009. Click here for Marshall's obituary.
Clive Hobson, a York University student, joined CKFH in 1962 to report on Ontario ski conditions but was retained for a variety of other assignments when the winter season closed. Clive covered skiing, sailing, auto racing and golf. He was eventually appointed editor of Ski Canada magazine. He also wrote a popular guide to Canadian Skiing. In 1988 he joined Fodor's writing ski guides. He changed careers in the early 1990s moving into public relations at Tee-Comm Electronics, the company that founded Express Vu (Bell TV) and introduced direct-to-home satellite TV in Canada. He later went on to direct public relations for Bell Sympatico, CanWest Media, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, Yahoo Canada and Innovative Composites. Clive died August 3, 2011.
Click here for More on Clive Hobson
Jack Allen (aka TV director Jack Budgell). Jack handled a great many CBC radio assignments including managing the corporation's Canadian music collection and directing the annual Old-Time Fiddlers competition. For CKFH he took news shifts when he was needed and whenever he could fit them into his busy schedule. He became a CBC TV producer and director. Notable show was the Juliette afternoon programme from Toronto. As a freelance director, his claim to fame was the John Byner comedy,"Bizarre" which he spun off to another syndicated hit, "Super Dave Osborne".
Part-time newsman Robert Payne was a thoughtful writer with a voice that exuded authority. Bob began his career in Quebec while he was studying at Laval University but found his way to Niagara Falls (CJRN) in 1966 and the following year moved to CJOE in London, Ontario. After a period as a Toronto freelancer beginning in 1969 taking assignments from CHUM and CKFH, he became an important news voice on CKEY. His colleagues called him "the conductor" because of the way he rhythmically flung his arms about while he read the news. For several years he wrote a column for the Toronto Sun newspaper. In 1989 he was appointed Chair of the Ontario Board of Censors, a post he held until 1992. Four years later he founded his own communications company, Citizen Payne Publishing,which performs various services such as media monitoring and speech writing. (also see CJRN, Niagara Falls)
Ron Hewat, fresh out of University, started his radio life at CKFH in 1958 doing weekend shifts. Before long he was made the radio colour commentator on the Toronto Maple Leaf games, a spot he held for 16 years. By the time Bud Riley joined the station in 1959, Ron was already the sales manager. In 1977, he was made president and CEO of 'FH. In 1988 he became sales manager of CFRB. He made the first broadcast on the new Canadian sports network TSN. While sports was his forte, he was flexible enough to do hundreds of national radio and TV commercials and even portrayed a former sports announcer/Alzheimer's patient in the highly acclaimed Canadian film "Away From Her" staring Gordon Pinsent and Julie Christie. Ron retired from CFRB in December 2009.
Newsman Barrie Bailey became famous across Canada as a leading radio and TV commercial voice. He started his career in the early 60s at CJOR in Vancouver before switching to C-FUN in the late 60s. He migrated to CFGM, Richmond Hill, CHUM and CKFH in the 1970s. He became known when he signed on as the big voice of the Leon's Warehouse Furniture chain. Today he runs his own voice-service company out of Windsor and Toronto and boasts a long lineup of regional and national companies who regularly use his powerful voice on their commercials and other media projects. http://www.barriebailey.com/
Mike Byford was named CKFH music director in 1970. He was a friend to everyone he worked with and occasionally lined up important interviews with top celebrities in the music recording industry such as Dianna Ross and the Supremes and many others. In late 1974 he left radio to work for Wardair Airline creating, editing and published an exclusive in-flight magazine.He created his own production company Mike and Mack Productions in Toronto.
(photo: Mike Byford in background. Production director Roman Ziambra in foreground.)
Jack Lowe was the assistant engineer and he was man most responsible for keeping CKFH on the air, day in and day out. If there was a problem with a piece of equipment, Jack could fix it in a jiffy and he jokingly once said that some mechanical and electronic problems can often be solved with a spit and a kick but with his encyclopedic technical knowledge it was a strategy he would never have to use. He became chief engineer when Gerry Wilson died. Jack oversaw the changes from CKFH to The Fan and stayed with the new owners until his retirement in 2005. During his long radio career, Jack was the most loved and admired by a legion of friends in and out of the business
. Jack immigrated to Canada from Barbados when he was in his teens, graduating from Toronto’s Central Tech High School. He started working as an engineer for . CKFH in 1959 where he spent many a hockey game lugging 1940s equipment up to the ‘gondula’ in Maple Leaf Gardens to broadcast Leafs games with Foster Hewitt. He remained with the station through three ownership changes and one frequency change, moving into semi-retirement in 2002.Jack Lowe, 82, passed away on Jan. 2, 2017.
Perry Lansing joined the CKFH sales department in 1961 and stayed until 1981 when CHUM lured him to their sales department. Before very long, the CHUM jocks were drafting him to perform on-air skits utilizing a collection of characters he had created for their off-air amusement. Among these humorous entities was Cheff Boy-oh-Boy, Larry the Loon, Hughie the Newfoundland security guard and Jimmy the Janitor. Perry left radio in 1992. Today he is retired to the Parry Sound area of Ontario but for a time, he took work as a pro shop manager. While at CKFH he was a salesman and rarely was heard on the air, but was a regularly featured character when he joined the sales staff at rival CHUM. His "Larry The Loon" was a popular phone in guest on several CHUM shows.
Click here for more Perry Lansing characters on CHUM
Holger Enge was an extraordinary creative writer, producer and photographer. He was responsible for CKFH's commercial output for six years. A quick wit himself, he shared his jokes with Don Rickles and Phyllis Diller among others. Holger traveled all over Canada and the US creating and producing media and advertising projects. His fascination with unique, expensive, pocket knives led him to editing a magazine dedicated to that field. Holger died in October 2008 from complications from his battle with Cushing's Syndrome. http://www.endocrine.niddk.nih.gov/pubs/cushings/cushings.aspx#what
Video and Audio clips from www.rockradioscrapbook.com and private collections of Doug Thompson, CHUM Archives, Charlie Ritenberg, Bud Riley, Westlyn Mather, Don Shuttleworth, Bill Dulmage and others.
Bill Hewitt started his broadcasting career sitting beside his father in the gondola learning the play-by-play technique. His first attempt was at the age of 6 at Maple Leaf Stadium. As a teen he landed a summer job at CJBL in Kenora and the following summer did sports on CKBB in Barrie, Ontario. When Foster opened CKFH in 1951, Bill joined the staff as a sportscaster. He took over the Toronto Maple Leaf games on radio when Foster moved to TV. In the 1970s, they switched places. Bill died in 1996 in Port Perry, Ontario.
Dick at the former CKFH address on Grenville Street Toronto.
Bud says, "When I was a teenager, I began to listen to a new radio station in Toronto, CKFH, especially the evening disc jockey, George Wilson. Occasionally he would open his phone line and speak to his listeners and report on the air what the going conversation was all about. I called often and was encouraged by Wilson's friendly demeanor. I was a radio addict to begin with but dreamed that I could be a radio announcer like George. Five years later, I had that dream come true as I started my first radio job in Orillia. Many years later, in 1969, I walked into the CKFH newsroom and was shocked to learn that I was the new replacement for my radio hero, George Wilson." (see more on George on his bio further down on this page)
Bud was not the only announcer to be influenced to make radio a career by listening to CKFH. Click here to see how CKFH influenced other radio people.
When Bud arrived at CKFH in July of 1969, the station was producing three newscasts per hour, in the 20-20 format. Within a year CKFH reverted to news on the hour and half hour.
Cal Gardner, aka Calvin Pearly "Ginger, Red, Torchy" Gardner, former NHL hockey player joined the CKFH staff in the early 70s. and helped broadcast the Leaf games. A native of Transcona, Manitoba, he played for the New York Rangers from 1945 to 1948, the Toronto Maple Leafs from 1948 to 1952, the Chicago Blackhawks from 1952 to 1953, and the Boston Bruins from 1954 to 1957. He retired to look after his family including sons Dave and Paul, who later would also play professional hockey. Cal passed away in Toronto on October 10, 2001. More on Gardner.
Ann Pospischil was the traffic manager (1969-1974) She left to work at 680 News (1974-1989) Her next stop was Standard Broadcasting (1991-1995) and closed out her radio career at Classical 96.3 and 103.1 FM. (1998-2016)
Steve Herringer - DJ on overnights and then middays CKFH Toronto 1973-74; DJ Afternoon Drive CKY-AM Winnipeg 1974-75; DJ late evenings CFGO Ottawa 1975. That led to a miday shift on CHUM-FM in Toronto where he stayed until 1977. Steve then moved west to Edmonton at the afternoon drive on CFRN from 1978 to 1981. From there he hit the coast radio at CFUN Vancouver 1981-85. His final DJ gig was afternoon drive at CFMI-FM Vancouver until 1986. Steve founded his own company, Profile Communications, a voiceover service that covers Canada, U.S., Europe and Asia. Steve is also the host of the Natural Health Show on 650-AM radio in Vancouver (debuting in Toronto in Sept.) He currently resides at White Rock, B.C.
George Wilson, a graduate of the Lorne Greene School of Broadcasting, was one of the original staff announcers at CKFH. His reputation was made when he made a yearly safari to Hollywood to produce well-researched, insightful celebrity interviews. George's tenure at 'FH was interrupted by a move to overnights at CHML and an afternoon show on CHCH-TV in Hamilton. After that, he returned to CKFH. While doing the night time shift he would often take calls from listeners and comment on their conversations on the air. A regular caller was a teenaged Bud Riley, who would, more than two decades later, in August 1969, be shocked to discover that he would be replacing his radio hero in the news department at CKFH. In 1970 George became host of the prestigious, long-running Starlight Serenade on CFRB. From 1970 to 1974 he hosted the Canadian music JUNO Awards. His last move was to CJEZ-FM in Toronto in 1989. Next to Barry Nesbitt, George had the second longest employment as a CKFH announcer.(photo: George (left) with Gordie Tapp at Lorne Greene's School )
Gary Palant came to 'FH as programme director after two years as p.d. at CJRN Niagara Falls. He had a wealth of experience in radio including Tucson Ariz., (his home town), Honolulu, Los Angeles, Cal., Augusta, Ga., New Mexico, and Charleston and W. Va.Stations worked at: KTKT, KAIR, KIKX Tucson, Ariz., KPOI, KORL Honolulu, KDAY Los Angeles, WBBQ Augusta, Ga., KQOE Albuquerque, N.M., WKAZ Charleston W.Va., CKFH Toronto, WNEW-FM New York. He left CKFH in 1972 to take over programming at WNEW New York. After 17 years in radio he returned to Tuscon, Arizona to work in the family real estate business. Gary died at Tucson in October, 2002 at the age of 61. More on Gary Palant
CFOR Orillia 1957-1958 CKAR Huntsville 1959 C-HOW Welland 1959-1967
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
CKFH-AM
Next Go To CJRT-FM
The CKFH Newsroom RCA console
Dawn Draper joined the CKFH news staff as the mid-day news announcer in 1972-73. She was hired at the suggestion of Barrie Bailey who had known her from his days at CJOR in Vancouver. Dawn was a special assistant to Jim Pattison, the well known business magnet, philanthropist and media owner. Earlier in her career she was a noted square dance caller for the Promenaders Club in B.C. Her last known radio assignment was at CKO-FM 4 in Vancouver part of the all news radio network as host of "Bookshelf", a programme of book reviews. She retired to a home on an island in the Pacific near Seattle, WA., where she died.
CKFH produced many station promotion items including ball-point pens and the items pictured here: a key fob, staple remover and paper weight
Tom with staffer Ann Popishel at a radio reunion
Andy Martens joined CKFH in early 1974 as a student to assist sports reporter Dick Beddoes with his Hockey Hotline talk show. In 1978 he was a summer student at CFTR as a musc searcher. Meanwhile on University of Windsor campus radio CJAM he was a host interviewer. In 1977 he was a volunteer sports announcer for Rogers TV. He joined the Blue Jays Network as a producer/coordinator for CJCL from 1982-1984 and at the same time was a producer for CKQT radio. His next stop was in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, in 2009 where he was a show host on KNOW radio. Also from 2009 to 2013, he hosted a panel show "Counterpoint" for Local2.ca in Sault St. Marie, Ontario. Today he is the creator/producer of Salute To Canadian Legends, a 90 minute cross-Canada satellite radio talk show on Sirius XM.
See and hear Foster Hewitt on hockey, including
the famous Paul Henderson goal against the Russians in 1972
On TV : Terry David Mulligan
Mac Lipson's interview with Elvis on CKOY, Ottawa.
Barry Bailey recalls a report he filed to
Dawn Draper's morning newscast
Radio Caroline History of the Trawler
Hear Mac Lipson reporting on the unveiling of the Sir Robert Borden Statue on Parliament Hill 1957.
Bob Baker (Ray Collins) was CKFH's overnight jock from 1969 to 1970. At various times in his career he was known by several names including Terry Talbot (CJOE London 1968), Jack Houston (CFGO 1972), Mark Edwards (CKGM Monreal 1973) and Wild Bill Edwards CFTR Toronto 1974-1981). The rest of his radio career he was known by his real name, Ray Collins. A typical radio nomad, Ray got his start in his home town at CFCO Chatham in 1967 and continuing on to 24 stations across Canada until 1995. Along the way, he touched down at CFUN Vancouver, CFGO Ottawa, CHUM, CKEY and CFTR in Toronto, CHML Hamilton, and KISS Vancouver 1990-1993. He also worked as a sound instructor for the Vancouver Film School from 1996-1998 and freelanced as a sound recordist for TV, Film and Commercials 1996-2014. Today, Bob Baker/Ray Collins and his wife Dianne (a former radio executive) are retired and living in Wallaceburg, Ontario.
More Bob Baker charts
This little white plastic desk item was a staple remover.
Comments and suggestions:
Gerry Wilson was the long-time chief engineer at CKFH about 30 years. A native of Hamilton, Gerry Allen Wilson joined the staff in its first year 1951 as an operator but replaced chief engineer Bill McGregor in 1965. He was one of those rare seat-of-your pants-get-things-done kind of station engineer. As part of his duties for CKFH and its 1981 successor CJCL, he produced the Toronto Maple Leaf and Toronto Blue Jay games. Gerry had his own company, Wilson Sports Productions. Gerry died of cancer on June 27, 1998.
(Photo at the right shows Gerry (standing) with operator Gary Ferrier taken sometime in the 1960s.)
More on Gerry Wilson's life and career
