ADVERTISEMENT


EULOGY

Born: October 28, 1945, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

After a few reincarnations 1050 CHUM quietly passed away on March 26, 2009

1050 CHUM was a legendary Top 40 powerhouse from the late 1950s through to the early 1980s.

The station had a formula no other station has been able to duplicate.

Through the formative ‘50s, the unforgettable ‘60s and the interesting ‘70s, 1050 CHUM played a major role in shaping the radio landscape in Toronto. Recording acts from Elvis Presley, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Guess Who, Elton John, The Eagles, The Doobie Brothers and Bob Seger not only graced the airwaves but walked the halls of 1050 CHUM.

The radio station was famous for the CHUM Chart. From 1957 to 1986, 1,512 consecutive weekly charts were published, making it the longest-running chart of its kind in the world.

Also, 1050 CHUM was noteworthy for hosting many famous rock concerts including, among others, visits to Maple Leaf Gardens by Elvis Presley (1957) and The Beatles (1964, '65, and '66).

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

RECENT POSTS

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Brian (Henny) Henderson - Brian Henderson Commentary - 65th Birthday Video




----------------------------

BRIAN HENDERSON AIRCHECK AND CHUM STORY:

(The CHUM Archives/Bob Laine and Doug Thompson)

No one tells it like it is quite like Brian Henderson.

http://rockradioscrapbook.ca/cka-oct24.html

----------------------------

From: Flash Back #2 - The Hodge Blog

'Henderson is one of those larger than life characters you run into now and again. I had the good fortune, although some would say misfortune of spending as much time with him as I did with my family. He's the only person I've met who you could have a drinking with after work at 5 pm and then get a phone call for him at 3 am the next morning saying "Hodgie, can you cover for me this morning, I'm in Florida. Don't think I'll make it back".

Henny's strongest asset was his story telling ability. He didn't always get the details correct but it always sounded good. If you've ever listended to Tony Kornhieser do radio you know what I mean. Kornhieser has that ability to paint pictures. Henderson could do it too.

It was sad to see the erosion of 1050. Henny stuck it out almost to the end. Sports caster, newsman, commentator, morning show host and he even took a spin at sports talk when 1050 morphed into The Team.

He fought a lot of personal demons and surived some serious illness. I could never figure out why no one, especially talk radio, picked him up after he recovered. He was a natural. One of the best broadcasters I have ever met and certainly of the most unique people I have ever come across.'


----------------------------

'Brian Henderson has long read the CHUM-AM 7:00 a.m. news, which he has for years followed with an editorial commentary. In his commentary at approximately 7:10 a.m. on September 14, 1995, Brian Henderson took aim at the legal community and legal aid problems in Ontario. In so doing, he used terms which several complainants found offensive. The pertinent parts of his Commentary are as follows: '


FOR YEARS, BRIAN HENDERSON'S COMMENTARY WAS A STAPLE ON CHUM. WE HAVE SEARCHED FOR THE COMMENTARIES; HOWEVER THEY TOO HAVE BEEN LOCKED AWAY BY THE 'POWERS THAT BE'.

ONE OF BRIAN'S COMMENTARIES STIRRED UP SOME TROUBLE. THIS PROVES THAT BRIAN NEVER PULLED ANY PUNCHES.




CBSC Decision | CHUM-AM re Brian Henderson Commentary

SOURCE LINK: http://www.ccnr.ca/english/decisions/1995/950914.php
CANADIAN BROADCAST STANDARDS COUNCIL

ONTARIO REGIONAL COUNCIL

CHUM-AM re Brian Henderson Commentary

(CBSC Decision 95/96-0008)

Decided March 26, 1996

A. MacKay (Vice-Chair), R. Cohen, P. Fockler, T. Gupta, R. Stanbury, M. Ziniak

THE FACTS
The chronology of events in the present matter is rather more complicated than is customarily the case. Moreover, both the broadcast in question and that which gave rise to the Council's decision in CFTR-AM re Dick Smyth (CBSC Decision 95/06-0062, March 26, 1996) are substantively linked, further complicating the chronology.
In the circumstances, the facts may be best understood by dividing them into two phases, the first associated with the broadcast itself and the initial reaction of CHUM-AM and the second associated with the steps taken by the broadcaster and Jewish community representatives thereafter.


The First Phase
Brian Henderson has long read the CHUM-AM 7:00 a.m. news, which he has for years followed with an editorial commentary. In his commentary at approximately 7:10 a.m. on September 14, 1995, Brian Henderson took aim at the legal community and legal aid problems in Ontario. In so doing, he used terms which several complainants found offensive. The pertinent parts of his Commentary are as follows:

Provincial Attorney General Charles Harnick may not realize it but the root cause of the crisis in the Legal Aid system is Jewish mothers. I don't ever recall my parents suggesting a career choice for me but, rightly or wrongly, Jewish mothers are infamous for advising their offspring to become doctors or dentists or lawyers, or marry a doctor or dentist or lawyer, and the result is we have too many of all three in this province ... most especially lawyers.
And even a bad lawyer can make a good living through Legal Aid. ...

We also have too many laws, which may actually be the real problem but for now it's more convenient to just blame the lawyers.

There's a Jewish proverb about two farmers who both claim to own the same cow. And so there they were: one farmer pulling the cow's head, the other man yanking the cow's tail, with a lawyer right in the middle milking the cow for all he's worth.

Something like legal aid.

I'm Brian Henderson.

The outcry was immediate. It appears that there were numerous calls to the station and that a tape of the Commentary was played on CHUM's public access telephone line for a period following the broadcast. The Director of Community Relations of the Ontario Region of the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) spoke with a CHUM representative and a letter was forwarded by the CJC to Allan Waters, the President of CHUM, Inc. The CJC's legal advisors forwarded a letter to the CRTC and numerous other individual complainants also wrote the Commission. In all, the CBSC received 40 letters complaining about the commentary, more than in the case of any previous program. All such letters were forwarded by the CRTC to the CBSC, although not all the initial complainants ultimately requested that the Council proceed to an adjudication. Jim Waters, President of CHUM Group Radio, issued a written apology later that day. Excerpts of some of the foregoing letters or statements follow. .... 


READ MORE
RELATED LINKS:

Rock Radio Scrapbook CHUM LINEUPS

I Almost Worked With Rick Hodge | Canadian Thinker by Freddie P. - Twenty five years after my decision, Brian Henderson was still at CHUM am

Avery Haines Controversy - Jeff Ansell & Associates - Or think about Toronto's Brian Henderson (CHUM AM) and Dick Smyth (680 News). Four years ago, they denigrated Jewish mothers on air. After the swell died ...

Radio Broadcasting History, Radio People, Favorite Radio Stories (Cs)

CHUM 1050 - Cabbagetown Regent Park Museum

Old Professor: 1050 Chum Toronto Jocks - CHUM (2002) (After switch back to oldies) 6-10 a.m. - BRIAN HENDERSON 10 a.m.-3 p.m

ALLAN WATERS...C.H.U.M - 50Plus Discussion Forums - I just loved listening to Brian Henderson in the mornings. ...

The 1050 CHUM Morning Show in 1987 | Toronto Mike's Blog

Flash Back #2 - The Hodge Blog


----------------------------------



----------------------------------

1 comment:

Bill C. - Whitby said...

It was great to see this clip. Since Brian left the station year ago I have often wondered if he had truly beaten his cancer; I'm thrilled that he did and I'm glad to know that he's enjoying his retirement.
Thanks for all the great years and all the laughs and memories, Brian. Thanks to the internet, "The Great Hendini" will forever be alive and well.

CHUM HISTORY

"1050 CHUM" was a legendary Top 40 powerhouse during the late 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s.

Early history and Top 40 format

CHUM AM was launched as a dawn-to-dusk radio station on October 28, 1945 by Jack Q'Part, an entrepreneur in the business of patent medicines. The station, then operating from studios in the Mutual Street Arena, was taken over in December 1954 by Allan Waters, a salesman from Q'Parts' patent medicine business. Waters' first major move was to secure a license for 24-hour-a-day broadcasting for CHUM, along with a power increase to 5,000 watts. Less than three years after Waters acquired the station, and soon after bringing the new fulltime transmitter online, a major programming change was made. On May 27 1957, Waters switched to a "Top 50" format that had proven itself popular in some U.S. cities; Elvis Presley's "All Shook Up" was the first song played. "1050 CHUM" pioneered rock and roll radio in Toronto, and was noteworthy for hosting many noteworthy rock concerts including, among others, visits to Maple Leaf Gardens by Elvis Presley (1957) and The Beatles (1964, '65, and '66). While the station was rising to the top of the popularity ratings in Toronto in the early 1960s, it also built yet another new transmitter in Mississauga, Ontario (a few miles west of the current Toronto city line) along the Lake Ontario shoreline, and raised its power once again to its current 50,000 watts around the clock.

CHUM DJs of the 1960s were zany morning man Al Boliska, who quit in late 1963 to go 'across the street' to CKEY.He was replaced by WKBW, Buffalo radio & TV personality Jay Nelson, popularly known as "Jungle Jay" from his role as host of a children's show on Buffalo's Channel 7 which was also popular among Toronto youngsters. He would be followed by housewives' jock John Spragge; singer/DJ Mike Darow; Pete Nordheimer, replaced in 1961 by witty Bob McAdorey; teen DJ Dave Johnson; and all night maven Bob Laine. Later additions to the CHUM DJ lineup included Duff Roman and Brian Skinner, both of whom came over from CKEY (then owned by Jack Kent Cooke). In the late 1960s, early 1970s, CHUM DJ's included Duke Roberts (also known as Gary Duke for a time), Johnny Mitchell (better known today as Sonny Fox), J. Michael Wilson, Tom Rivers, Scott Carpenter, Jim Van Horne, John Rode, Don Reagan, Terry Steele and Roger Ashby. Among their later mighttime hosts was John D. Roberts, who joined CHUM in 1977 and would eventually become known across North America as White House correspondent for CBS-TV and host of CNN's morning program "American Morning."

CHUM was also well known for its contests, like the 1970s' "I Listen to CHUM" promotion, in which DJs would dial phone numbers at random and award $1,000 to anyone who answered the phone with that phrase.

From gold-based to oldies

By the mid-1980s, CHUM had lost ground in the Toronto ratings to competitor Top 40 station CFTR and FM-based music stations. On June 6, 1986, CHUM dropped its Top 40 format for a heavily gold-based adult contemporary format ("Favourites of Yesterday and Today"). By 1989, CHUM adopted an oldies format, drawing heavily on its previous Top 40 reputation to cater to the fans of that era's music.

Chart #1 - Monday, May 27, 1957 - TOP 50

CHART NUMBER 1

Monday, May 27, 1957

Chart Number: 1
This
Week
Last
Week
ArtistTrackTotal
Weeks
10Presley, ElvisAll Shook Up0
20Boone, PatLove Letters In The Sand0
30Williams, AndyI Like Your Kind Of Love0
40Everly Brothers, TheBye Bye Love0
50Mineo, SalStart Movin' (In My Direction)0
60Storm, GaleDark Moon0
70Robbins, MartyA White Sport Coat (And A Pink Carnation)0
80Gracie, CharlieFabulous0
90Como, PerryGirl With The Golden Braids, The0
100Ray, JohnnieYes Tonight, Josephine0
110Diamonds, TheLittle Darlin'0
120Dell-Vikings, TheCome Go With Me0
130Boone, PatWhy Baby Why0
140Husky, FerlinGone0
150Como, PerryRound And Round0
160Berry, ChuckSchool Day0
170Knox, BuddyParty Doll0
170Lawrence, SteveParty Doll0
180Dorsey Orchestra, JimmySo Rare0
190Domino, FatsI'm Walkin'0
190Nelson, RickyI'm Walkin'0
200Gracie, CharlieButterfly0
200Williams, AndyButterfly0
210Belafonte, HarryMama Look At Bubu0
220Lowe, JimFour Walls0
220Reeves, JimFour Walls0
230Dee, JohnnySittin' In The Balcony0
230Cornell, DonSittin' In The Balcony0
230Cochran, EddieSittin' In The Balcony0
240Mathis, JohnnyWonderful! Wonderful!0
250Mello-Tones, TheRosie Lee0
250Tune Drops, TheRosie Lee0
260Coasters, TheYoung Blood0
270Domino, FatsValley Of Tears0
280Draper, RustyFreight Train0
290Gilkyson, Terry & The Easy RidersMarianne0
290Hilltoppers, TheMarianne0
300Bowen, JimmyI'm Stickin' With You0
310Laine, FrankieLove Is A Golden Ring0
320Platters, TheI'm Sorry0
330Hunter, Ivory JoeEmpty Arms0
330Brewer, TeresaEmpty Arms0
340Sands, TommyTeen-Age Crush0
350Little RichardLucille0
360Sands, TommyMy Love Song0
370Starr, KayJamie Boy0
380Starr, RandyAfter School0
390Johnson, BettyLittle White Lies0
400Bennett, TonyOne For My Baby (And One More For The Road)0
410Knox, BuddyRock Your Little Baby To Sleep0
420Clooney, RosemaryMangos0
430Cornell, DonMama Guitar0
440Belloc, DanFlip Top0
450Baker, LavernJim Dandy Got Married0
460Boone, PatBernardine0
470Copeland, KenPledge Of Love0
470Torok, MitchellPledge Of Love0
480Four Lads, TheI Just Don't Know0
490Armenian Jazz SextetHarem Dance0
500Williams, BillyI'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter0

John Gilbert "No Charge"

Mike Cooper's April Fools Joke





80's PROMO





Bob Sam Robbie - 1050 CHUM Morning Show - 1992




Tom Rivers 1982


John Majhor CHUM 1050 Morning show 1986





1050 CHUM Card 1983