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| From | "Jaimie Vernon" <bullseyecanada@hotmail.com> |
| Subject | Legendary CHUM DJ Bob McAdorey dies |
| Date | Mon, 07 Feb 2005 11:13:03 -0500 |
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From today's Toronto Star:
Feb. 7, 2005. 01:00 AM
`Mac' led heady days of CHUM rock radio
DJ Bob McAdorey as popular as music
`Bon vivant' later a Global TV fixture
JIM BAWDEN
TV COLUMNIST
Bob McAdorey helped usher in radio's rock `n' roll era and set the musical
agenda for a generation of Toronto teens.
Few today realize the power that DJs like McAdorey exerted over Toronto
popular culture 40 years ago, when radio ruled. It was a cozy time for music
— and then CHUM entered the fray, blew the cobwebs away and ushered in the
crazy days of rock broadcasting.
McAdorey, 69, died Saturday at St. Catharines' Hotel Dieu hospital after a
long illness.
McAdorey grew up in Niagara Falls and attended Stamford Collegiate, also the
alma mater of Titanic director James Cameron. He was in the same graduating
class as Barbara Frum, the legendary CBC-TV interviewer.
As a teen, McAdorey won a province-wide public speaking contest and was the
popular president of his high school fraternity.
He also played ragtime piano.
"Crowds would go around him," said his older brother, Terry McAdorey.
McAdorey's radio career started in 1953 when the Niagara Falls native first
signed on with CHVC near the Falls, introducing listeners to his unique
style of easy-going patter.
"I looked like Buddy Holly back then," McAdorey told the Toronto Star in a
1981 interview. "I weighed about 95 pounds and we played songs like `Que
Sera Sera.' Everything was a lot softer, smoother then."
After additional stops in London, Guelph, Hamilton and Dawson Creek,
McAdorey wound up at Toronto's CHUM, coaxed to climb aboard by resident star
DJ Al Boliska.
"I'd lived with Al above a variety store in London and he kept telling me to
come to CHUM. I asked for $600 a month, after all Gordie Tapp was making
$100 a week, and to my surprise I got the job."
Starting in 1960, McAdorey began a stint that many people consider rock
programming at its finest: brash, spontaneous and pretty wild. And the DJs
were the stars.
CHUM became the rock station to listen to and McAdorey was the man who told
you if a song was going places. The guy who hung out with The Beatles and
The Stones when they were in town (and introduced them from the stage) was
known simply as ``Mac.''
For years, he hosted the all-important 4 to 7 p.m. slot. CHUM's chart of the
week's top records was posted everywhere: in record stores and high school
lockers. Eaton's and Simpson's would only stock those 45s that were on the
CHUM list. When a new record called "The Unicorn" came in, McAdorey liked it
so much he immediately put it on the air and it sold 140,000 copies in
Canada in two weeks and made The Irish Rovers.
Thinking back on those heady days, McAdorey said, "We kept it all clean up
here. There was no payola as in the U.S. and we deliberately helped a lot of
Canadians. It was personality radio. We were promoted like crazy back then.
And the pressures were unbelievable. We dictated what records were going to
go. And what kids would eat, drink.
"I could have written five books about what happened at CHUM. There'd be one
book if I saved my memos. The most frightening thing was the British
invasion. There weren't enough cops to handle the crowds — it was out of
control."
Off the air, he was a bon vivant, said 72-year-old Terry McAdorey.
"We did a lot of drinking. He was a good friend of Ronnie Hawkins."
In 1968, the CHUM deal fizzled. When owner Al Waters brought in American
consultants, McAdorey felt the business was becoming too heavily formatted
and left.
McAdorey headed to CFGM in Richmond Hill, which was trying to invade Toronto
with a country music format. As morning man, he energized the station. He
moved to CFTR in 1970 and after a few years returned to CFGM.
A constant listener was Bill Cunningham, head of Global TV news, and he
asked McAdorey to contribute satirical bits, which eventually became a
full-time job.
Sample segment: during an airline strike McAdorey headed out to Terminal 2
with bowling equipment and pins to demonstrate the building was only of use
as a bowling alley. RCMP officers saw nothing funny in this and whisked him
out as the piece was being filmed.
Another time during a city campaign to get dog owners to scoop up deposits,
McAdorey and a cameraman went out to do field tests, which consisted of
chasing terrified dogs whose owners had failed the test.
By 1980, he was entertainment editor. In 1983, Global tried to fire him when
he disagreed over assignments. Global's Three Guys at noon telecast was a
big hit (the others: Mike Anscombe and John Dawe) and hundreds of daily
phone calls forced management to reconsider. For a time, Global even
outperformed CBC's Midday.
McAdorey later got his own afternoon entertainment show where he'd report
from movie junkets and comment on the entertainment scene.
I last chatted with him in 2000 when he was railing against Global's
retirement-at-65 rule. But he looked frail and had been off for months after
a fainting attack.
McAdorey had a farm at Gormley and a place in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Despite
his TV success he still yearned for the golden days of radio: "I'd walk into
the booth in pyjama tops and jeans and talk one-on-one to people. At least
that's the way I always imagined it."
McAdorey leaves daughter Colleen, her husband Jim Tatti, a Global sports
broadcaster, and four grandchildren.
He was predeceased by his wife Willa, daughter Robin and son Terry.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday at St. Patrick's Church
in Niagara Falls.
With files from Gabe Gonda
Jaimie Vernon,
President, Bullseye Records
"Not Suing Our Customers Since 1985!!"
http://www.bullseyecanada.com
Author, Canadian Pop Music Encyclopedia
http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Pop_Encyclopedia/
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