Big night tonight for my old pal Roger Ashby. He's being inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. Really? He can't sing, I've heard him. He can't dance, I've seen him try. So, what's a guy with no rythm and and who's tone deaf doing going into a music hall of fame.
Well, Roger is all about music. His oldies shows are legandary and he's made a point of keeping up with anything new in the industry. He's a student of music and a walking encyclopedia.
I've know Roger for a lot of years. His friends call him Reggie because he looks a little like Reggie from the Archie comics. In my years at Chum I worked with 3, what I would consider great disc jockeys. First there was Pete Griffin who had great patience with me while I got my feet wet in the industry. One of the problems with radio morning shows is that everyone wants to get in the last line. Pete wasn't like that. It was the laugh that counted not who got it.
The seconed was John Rode, quite possibly the smartest jock I've ever worked with. Infact he may be one of the smartest people I've ever worked with. We did a morning soap opera called "They Came From Magnetawan" and John was responsible for the script which of course he never had written. 30 seconds to air time he he'd look at us and say "follow me". We had no choice. We did and it worked.
And then there's Roger. The best traffic cop I've ever worked with. He knows how to bring people into the coversation and how to take advantage of the skill of his sidekicks. I always felt comfortable with Roger running the show. Like Pete Griffin it was all about the show not about him.
Roger worked both side of the fence at Chum. The AM side for alot of years and then he flipped over to FM. I was thinking about this the other day. Outside of Allan Waters the founder of Chum, Roger is Chum. I have memories of him from his AM days and his FM days. He really is one of the true giants of the industry. I know he had several opprotunities to leave but he stayed put. I respect him for that.
Roger and I don't have alot in common except our aversion to water. One day when we were in Barbados we were sitting by the pool and I said to him "you know in all the years we've been here I have never been in the water" he said "me either". 'Course we were well into our afternoon Banks beer, we looked at each other and said...."ya wanna?" We did. Now between his legs and my stomach we managed to drive away every one else in the pool. We had it all to ourselves although we didn't what to do with it.
Like I said, he can't sing a note and he can't dance a stop but Roger deserves a spot in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. I'm just glad I'm here to see it happen.
Hi Rick, i have gotten some great advice from roger about getting into radio. so I've been waiting to ask you. I'm only 15 and want to get into radio do you have advice? Also what was it like when you first started working with roger?
Good for Roger, he has always been a fav of mine over the years. Yea, he may not be controversial or opinionated, but his style has obviously meshed with his many listeners over the year.
Cheers Roger!
Hi Rick,
I'm so glad that I finally found you!!! I'd rather hear your voice, but it's good enough to read your thoughts on different topics. I have been listening to Chum-FM probably for the last 10 years or so (didn't live in the Toronto area to know about the radio station until then) and then when you left Chum (a sad day), I waited patiently to see where you would end up and when you arrived on CFRB/97.3 I switched over immediately. It was another sad day to see that you were missing from 97.3 as I didn't know what would happen to you after that...so every so often I would Google your name for any updates and today I've come across your blog and I'm very happy to read it and hopefully I will catch it daily...I lead a busy life - working on my Masters' degree, have a full-time teaching job and raising 15-month old twin daughters. I enjoy hearing and reading about any stories of your cats!!! I absolutely love cats, in the past I had sent you emails about cats and/or cat pictures, but I didn't want to send too many as I didn't want to bother you - but I definitely share your passion of cats. I can't have any right now as my husband is allergic to them, but I like to read about them...so if you have any funny stories to share, please do so!!! Thank you very much for blogging, I appreciate it!!
P.S. Congrats to Roger for making it into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame!
hprechner 22: Sounds like you have a very busy life. I could write about cats every day but not everyone is in that. I may do a cat of day or week with a picture. Every one of them has its own personality. I've also just joined facebook for the first time and I have no idea what I'm getting into but my computer guru torontomike is walking me through it. Thanks for writing. I really do appreciate it and It was great to be there when Roger made it into the Music Hall Of Fame. A real thrill for me.