1050 CHUM HISTORIC FAN SITE
FROM I Listen To Chum - 50Plus Discussion Forums
'CHUM is celebrating its 50th anniversary this week by playing a lot of music from the 50s and 60s. Does anyone remember answering the phone by saying "I listen to CHUM?" ...'
'Chum and Al Boliska where a big part of my life in the fifties. Al Boliska was the MC at a prom I went to at Thornhill High School and that was a major event. WKBW and the "Sound of the Hound" was also another favorite DJ. I saw him al Loews Uptown Theatre in 1956 when he brought his rock....'
'CHUM is celebrating its 50th anniversary this week by playing a lot of music from the 50s and 60s. Does anyone remember answering the phone by saying "I listen to CHUM?" There were Al Boliska and Jungle Jay Nelson and others I've forgotten...'
Early history and Top 40 format DJs
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 and 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, John Majhor, Mike Cooper, Daryl B, Terry Steele and Roger Ashby. Among their later night-time hosts was J. D. Roberts, who joined CHUM in 1977, went on to co-host CTV's Canada AM in the early 1990s, and would eventually become known across North America as White House correspondent for CBS-TV and today hosts CNN's morning program American Morning.