When CHOM was Home - Skating with The Great One

I was opening up the newsroom mail when I came across an invitation with my name on it from Coca-Cola to attend its Future Stars hockey camp in Val-Belair. According to the invite, I would have an opportunity to skate with Wayne Gretzky and other NHL stars.

Whaaaaat?

Incredulous, dumbfounded and dazed, I slapped my face to regain my senses and hurried to my boss’s office to ask whether I could attend. It was June 17, 1993, and my Program Director, Ian McLean, said, “go for it and get some interviews”!

On June 28, 1993, I hopped into a company vehicle with my hockey equipment and a company tape deck and drove to Val-Belair. We were two entire dressing rooms crammed full of star struck journalists. Organizers gave us a quick speech about being careful not to injure the NHL stars and then we were out on the ice. Granted, ice time was limited because of the large number of journalists, but I got out there four or five times.

Denis Savard, Rob Niedermayer and a pile of fellow journalists were on my team, playing against Wayne Gretzky, Jaromir Jagr and more fellow journalists. After the match, there was a reception where I interviewed Wayne Gretzky and Denis Savard. Jagr told me he did not feel comfortable enough to do an interview in English, but he very kindly signed an autograph for me.

I remember being amazed at how gracious The Great One was in the face of a ludicrous tornado of attention sucking up every second of his time. He was gracious during our interview and while posing with me for a quick photo.

I still have the jersey Coca-Cola gave us for the scrimmage, not to mention the memories and the thrill of meeting Wayne Gretzky. He was the real thing.

Yeah, I played hockey with Wayne Gretzky; that’s just the kind of crazy stuff that would happen when CHOM was home.

Wait for It

Rules in our society, usually, are put in place for the greater good, but too many people could care less about the greater good. They care only about themselves. These are the people I see routinely ignoring social distancing.

During the first days of confinement, police came to a neighbor’s house when several vehicles were spotted outside. Just about every day since then, several vehicles and individuals have been visiting the same residence.

As I walked around the block late one night last week, another neighbor had several people gathered around a campfire on their front lawn. I drive by parks and see groups of people playing soccer.

In grocery stores, some people respect the recommended two metre distancing and others could care less.

Idiots don’t care who they may or may not put at risk.

I have always been infuriated by people who don’t respect the rules that good people follow.

Dogs are supposed to be kept on a leash. Our dogs are always on leashes. We have asked local police to tell delinquent neighbors to keep their dogs on leashes, but the police have done nothing. The rules are in place for the greater good. Stupid people ignore the rules and the police don’t enforce them. Good people pay the price. Now we have to avoid certain streets when we walk our dogs.

I don’t know where the police are during this pandemic.

These ignorant people who break the rules deserve to get sick. The only problem is that their ignorance puts so many other people at risk, including the incredibly selfless individuals who have been risking their lives every day in our health care institutions.

All of us should be doing what we can to reduce the risk of infection facing dedicated doctors, nurses, paramedics and hospital support staff. They should be able to spend more time with their families. They trust us to do our best to respect the rules in order to help reduce the number of cases they have to treat, which, in turn, helps reduce their probability of infection.

In our household, we are doing everything we can to keep ourselves safe, which helps to keep others safe.

Rules are for the good of good people, but bad people ignore the rules, which makes life bad for too many good people.

Victims of crime are a perfect example; victims of crimes have fewer rights than the criminals who commit them.

We went to a hardware store yesterday to buy a mower. There, too, most people are not social distancing. I do a lot of glaring at people who do not keep their distance. While the rest of society works to flatten it, stupid people seem determined to fatten the curve.

I am not the least bit convinced politicians are making the right decisions with regard to public health by re-opening stores, day camps and schools. I understand they have the economy to think about, but one epidemiologist I saw interviewed, pointed out that never in the history of humankind has there been a pandemic that did not have a second wave.

Wait for it.

Stupid and Dangerous

It makes no sense to me.

That elementary schools are reopening in Quebec and the Deux Montagnes commuter train to Montreal is being stopped to build the REM during a pandemic, makes no sense to me.

The government says it doesn’t want gatherings; both of those realities represent gatherings, which represent the very real possibility of bumping up the infection rate.

A child can bring COVID from home, easily give it to classmates, or teachers, who take it home to their parents and siblings, or spouses.  Why risk exposing more people, some of whom will, inevitably, be among the most vulnerable?

On Thursday, Quebec had 944 new cases. Today, Quebec reported the highest single day death total in the province at 163. So far, 2,022 lives have been lost in Quebec due to COVID-19. Why risk any more, why risk even one more?

What is the rush? Why not give social distancing and home confinement more time?

Commuters who can no longer take the Deux-Montagnes train must now take buses, instead. People returning to work will be crowded into buses, just as they are on metros. Why is that suddenly a safe option?

Is it about the economy?

Can someone explain this to me so that it makes sense? 

Right now, two words come to mind – stupid and dangerous – not necessarily in that order.

When CHOM was Home - Some Highs & Lows

Working at CHOM-CKGM for seventeen years was great fun, professionally.

I lived close to the station when I worked there. Every now and then, I would stop in at the Greene Avenue studios late at night and ask the DJ’s who were on-air which records or CD’s I could borrow, and then I would go into the production studio and make cassettes of all my favorite songs.

Big time awesome!

For me, that was one of the many amazing perks that came with working there. I would play the cassettes in my car and crank them! I still have a lot of the cassettes, but I guess they’re of not much practical use now.

As with all jobs, there were plenty of ups and downs - fast times and funks. In 1987, I was demoted, my pay rolled back, with my boss at the time telling me my voice wasn’t deep enough to do news.

I was shocked and staggered, but not for long. Undeterred, or stubbornly, I stuck it out.

By September 1988, I had a new boss in Steve Kowch, who raised my annual salary by 35 percent when he was hired. He made sure I was able to do the things I enjoyed doing with fair compensation. His approach to the newsroom restored my focus and zeal.

Bosses came and went.

I stayed at CHOM-CKGM until I was laid off in February 2002, along the way, garnering two nominations for ACTRA National Radio Awards in the Best Opinion/Commentary category.

What can I say? You do what you love for as long as you can, which is just what I did when CHOM was home.

News Anchor #1

I took the day off work and went to Mel’s film stage in Montreal on October 2, 2017, to shoot my small part as a news anchor in “X Men: Dark Phoenix”.  I went to costume and make-up and then sat in my half-trailer to wait for my scene to be shot. The sign on the door read, "News Anchor #1".

My half trailer

Selfie in costume waiting to go on set

I shot the scene and, knowing there was a chance my part might not make it in the film, I didn't think about it again until, many months later, Steve, a colleague at work, mentioned he had seen me in the movie. I was delighted to hear the filmmakers had managed to salvage something!

My family gave me a DVD of "X Men: Dark Phoenix" for Christmas. You bet I was shocked that I didn't make the cover of the DVD! For weeks, Susan had been pushing me to watch it, so, on Saturday, we finally did. I appear as a news anchor in two small scenes.

All in all, the experience was pretty interesting. I continue to wait for my close-up.

Make It An Even Half Dozen

After graduating from school, I was hired by Jean-Claude Langlois as editor-in-chief of the local newspaper in my community. I worked there for three years and then was laid-off.

Thanks to Jack Curran, I was then hired as overnight radio news anchor at CFCF. I was there for one year before I was laid-off.

I was hired by Lee Hambleton to work at CHOM-CKGM. I worked there for seventeen years and then was laid-off.

I started working at Global Quebec. I worked for five seasons as the morning show reporter before being laid-off.

Two years later, I returned to Global Montreal to work as news anchor and morning show host before being laid-off.

I was hired to work for an international company as a communications specialist and was told on Friday the 13th, we would be working from home. As a result of COVID consequences, on Friday March 20th, I was laid-off.

The reminder that I am disposable has always been acutely troubling. I'm sure you feel the same way. Like so many others, the familiar stress of uncertainty is growing in the pit of my stomach. Yes, like so many others, I have been told this is temporary, but, like so many others, I have been told that "temporary" could mean two weeks, or much longer.

I wish for colleagues, myself, and all of you, a rapid return to our work stations and, above all else, good health.

When CHOM was Home - Hosting R&R News

When I first started working at CHOM in 1985, I told Neil Kushnir how much I enjoyed listening to him on the radio station’s program, “Rock and Roll News”. Every time he spoke, I would learn something new and interesting about the artists I listened to as a music fan.

I would eat that stuff up - and still do.

Neil and Benoit Dufresne used to co-host the show. I considered them cool dudes.

During my 17 years at CHOM, I spent a lot of time hanging out in Neil’s office. We actually went to the same high school at different times. Eventually, Ben left and Neil became CHOM’s Music Director.

With Benoit Dufresne

I worked as a news announcer, reporter, interviewer, editorialist, producer, writer, editor and a lot of other creative and fun jobs at both CHOM and CKGM. I worked many different shifts with so many different colleagues. I sometimes worked mornings, sometimes weekends and sometimes afternoons.

I can’t remember why, but on September 20, 1999, for one and only time, I got to host "Rock & Roll News"! I interviewed singer/songwriter Ben Harper, who was promoting his album Burn to Shine - and I also got to interview bassist John-Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin about his latest musical project.

I absolutely pinched myself!

Hosting Rock & Roll News was just one of the many tremendously fun things I got to do – when CHOM was home.