Today is WORLD RADIO DAY!  We want to celebrate along with you and share some of our stories from our Country 107.1 announcers on why they love radio!

 

I remember sitting in the kitchen at home where my Mom always had the radio on.  Back then, it was CHFI AM in Toronto.  Earl Mann was my favourite announcer. I’d picture the artists all lined up ready to play their songs, and if they ran out of time for, say, Andy Williams, well, he’d just have to come back to the station the next day.  Then, one day, we went to the CNE and CHFI was broadcasting live.  It was Earl Mann!!  He saw me watching his every move with the focus and intensity of a chess master.  He said, on mic, “think you want to be on the radio one day”?

I was hooked.

To say this career has been life enriching would be a massive understatement.  The doors it has opened, the experiences it has afforded, the artists I’ve been able to hang with, all beyond incredible.

But the biggest gift?  The privilege of talking to, and with you, the listener, every day.  I’ve learned, I’ve laughed, I’ve cried, I’ve forged life – long relationships.  There hasn’t been a day where I haven’t felt fortunate and blessed to do this job.  And there would be no job to do, without you.

I’m about to enter my 39th year on the air.  It’s gone by breathtakingly fast.  And I wouldn’t have changed it for the world.

I still remember the day I decided that I wanted to have a career in radio. I would use a cassette tape to record my favorite countdown shows on my favorite station so I could listen back. I thought to myself how COOOL would it be to talk for a living about your favorite songs and artists? I went to radio school when I was 18 and dropped out after only one year (why? well..that’s a very long story lol). Fast forward a bunch of years after that and working a regular 9-5 job that I hated….I thought to myself what the heck am I doing? So I went back to radio school got a job right away and started to live my dream. Almost 10 years since that and here I am at a station 20 minutes from my hometown that I grew up listening to. I have had the chance to do some awesome things along this journey that I am super thankful for. I still can’t believe we get to do this for a living and make great connections with our listeners in an amazing community! Thanks for allowing us to be a part of your day each week!

Why do I love radio? It’s really simple, for all the negativity that is shown across social media in the world; Radio gives us a chance to have an escape. A chance to hear a story that can make you laugh, or smile, or even maybe you learn something brand new. To be able to just enjoy yourself for a bit of time every day is so important and that’s what radio truly gives us.

I was 8 years old at when I family friend asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up. I responded I really liked sports. Aunty Betty looked at this chubby and uncoordinated kid and asked if I’d ever thought about being a sports broadcaster. At this point the light bulb went off and that’s what I was going to be. The radio was always on in my house , Mom and Dad had the giant 70’s stereo system locked on CKWX and I grew up listening to guys like Red Robinson, Elmer Tippe and Jim Fraser. This was around the time WKRP was on TV too and who didn’t want to be Dr Johnny Fever ? As I got into my teens music became an even bigger part of my life than sports and my focus changed to being a radio announcer over a play by play guy. My voice changed almost overnight and thankfully I went from sounding like Mickey Mouse to pretty much how I sound now. At this point I started looking for anything that might help me make this crazy dream come true. In high School I took theatre class, creative writing and anything else I thought might get me on the air. Took a couple years off after high school and met a beautiful women who inspired me to go to BCIT for the Radio Broadcast course and the rest is history. This year marks my 20th year in radio, it’s still just as big of a thrill now to play these great songs and talk to you every afternoon as it was the first time I cracked a mic.