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From | "John L. Micek" <jlmicek@comcast.net> |
Subject | Re: Legendary CHUM DJ Bob McAdorey dies |
Date | Mon, 7 Feb 2005 11:25:51 -0500 |
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Wow. I wasn't familiar with him. But he sounds like quite a character, and
it's quite a loss.
john.
http://www.milkshakejones.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jaimie Vernon" <bullseyecanada@hotmail.com>
To: <audities@smoe.org>
Sent: Monday, February 07, 2005 11:13 AM
Subject: Legendary CHUM DJ Bob McAdorey dies
> 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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