This happened sometime around 1977 and while it's not especially amusing, it was very painful. I was behind the controls at NewsRadio, a news service that subscribed to CBS News. I've never entirely been sure what happened here, but anchor Susan Spencer was obviously expecting to come on right after the intro stinger.

That never happened. My guess, all these years later, is her mic failed and she was forced to scurry into another studio as quickly as possible to deliver her newscast. Unfortunately, it just happened to be going across the country, the so-called hourly update, and it ran this way on hundreds and hundreds of affiliates. That void you hear is 16 secs. of dead air. It may not be a long time, but when you're on - or rather, off the air - especially on a national broadcast - it feels like an eternity.

CBS Radio News Blooper: The Sounds Of Silence

Here's something that doesn't get through a syndicated pre-produced show very often -a swear word. As he replays his interview with an artist in the 60s, radio veteran Roger Ashby is so impressed by a relatively unknown factoid, that he swears in surprise. It happens at the very end of the clip and while I don't judge him for using the language - because who hasn't? - I can't quite figure out how it got by everyone and wound up on air on dozens of radio stations. It would have been easy to simply edit it out. 

I'm sure once those in charge heard it, they're repeating the exact same phrase!

Did This Swear Word Really Get Through On A Syndicated Radio Show?

At 8 AM Friday, June 18th, 2021, CKPC in Brantford, Ont. rebranded the station from Jewel 92 to Lite 92. Here's how it sounded.

Jewel92 Goes Lite

This PSA aired on CHUM Toronto for several years. It was voiced by the late, great Peter Dickens, and was enormously effective. Dickens sadly passed away in Jan. 2022 and is terribly missed. 

Thanks to CHUM great Doug Thompson for the clip, which he wanted to serve as a tribute to his friend as a final sign-off.

Peter Dickens CHUM PSA

Remember when Pay TV was launched in Canada? It was a while after it was present in the U.S. and there were real questions about what form it would take and how it would affect over the air broadcasters north of the border.

In this documentary feature from CFTR's "Sunday Sunday" program in 1981 , veteran newsmen Clint Nickerson and John Wilson preview what was supposed to be coming. Did it live up to the hype? Here's what we once believed it would be. 

Includes interviews with a host of industry bigwigs including the founder of HBO and City TV Toronto's eccentric owner Moses Znaimer, who once hoped to have his own pay channel called Premiere - but it never quite happened.

Sunday Sunday

Pay TV I&II, Sep. 13, 1981

On the Nov. 22,  2020 edition of The Rogers Ashby Oldies Show, syndicated by Orbyt Media, there was a tribute in music to the JFK assassination. Unfortunately, the first attempt at marking the occasion didn't quite work, since they played the wrong version of the song Ashby intros. It was supposed to be by Dion. Instead, it turned out to be Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. 

How an error like that happens on a pre-produced show remains unexplained.

Roger Ashby Oldies Show Plays The Wrong Song

I was looking for a Christmas jingle from CHUM Toronto to celebrate the season but couldn't find one. Thankfully, the great Doug Thompson, the ace producer from the Top 40 great, read my plea and sent this one along. Thanks Mr. Thompson. You always come through. And Merry Christmas!

1050 CHUM Christmas Jingle

Another great find from the equally great Doug Thompson. It's a New Year's jingle from the old 1050 CHUM and one I've never heard before - done to the tune of Auld Lang Syne. It dates from the early 60s. Thanks. Doug and Happy New Year to you - and all who listen to it!

CHUM New Year's Jingle

In Dec. 2020, veteran CKLW 20/20 newsman Grant Hudson passed away at 76. He was one of the many greats in a legendary newsroom that created a unique genre of hyped up radio reports on current affairs. 

This blooper, from around 1975 or 76, doesn't feature Hudson at all. Instead, I believe this is Dick Smyth trying repeatedly to call up a Hudson report on a plane crash. Unfortunately, it doesn't go too well. 

I'm not sure why, but this is one of my favorite radio bloopers, if only because I've been there, done that.

Dick Smyth's Grant Hudson Blooper, CKLW Windsor 1970s

What happens when a radio listener wins a big prize but doesn't believe it really happened? In this promo from the Top 40 giant 1050 CHUM Toronto, legendary morning man Jay Nelson phones a man who clearly doesn't believe he is who he says he is - or that he won $1,000 by answering his phone "I Listen To Chum." 

It was part of a famous contest the station ran for years with the advisory, "Don't Say Hello, Say 'I Listen To CHUM.'" They'd phone listeners at random and if they answered with the phrase that pays, they won an easy grand. This is what happens when a clearly skeptical winner thinks it might be a prank. 

CHUM competitor CFTR tried to blunt the promotion for a while with a contest of its own - anyone who answered their phone "Hello," would win $25 in cash. But it wasn't nearly as successful.

Jay Nelson CHUM Contest

It's the mid-1970s, and Terry Steele is making the latest phone call in the "Don't Say Hello, Say I Listen To CHUM" contest. He reaches a listener, but in the days before call display, she forgets the phrase that pays and winds up completely speechless.

Roger Ashby Oldies Show Plays The Wrong Song

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