CHOO Radio Recollections

An on line scrapbook of images & text for former staff and listeners alike

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CHOO FREAKS OUT - PART ONE - 1969/70

Part of CHOO History B. C. - Before Country

In Which ex-Teen DJ Dave Deeley Describes A Very Different CHOO

Hi CHOO Radio Recollections,

For a few months in 1969 or 1970 I was part of a teen alternative show on Saturday afternoons on CHOO called "Interphase". I still have an old sweatshirt with the call letters and name of the program, the only evidence I was there. (SEE ABOVE)

The PD was Don Sanderson. I recall only two teens from the show - Andy Pilshka, who operated, and Gord Sibbery, another host. They were both from Oshawa. I lived near Bowmanville. I think we were on-air from 2 until 6 p.m., sandwiched between religious, or paid programming of some kind, and a foreign language program on Saturday evening. Uncle Benny was the week-day evening announcer and the only other name I remember was Peter Lemon. I think he was a swing announcer as we'd see him around the station on Saturdays. We did a remote from a car wash once, where I interviewed a band from Vancouver, Cross Town Bus. We taped interviews with a few local bands as well.

From the time I saw a CKLB DJ on remote at an Oshawa car show I was fascinated by radio and wanted to be part of it. I fell asleep many nights with a little transistor under my pillow wondering how to get a foot in the door.

A friend of my mother's told her about "Interphase". After listening to it one Saturday, and hearing an invitation for other teens to be on the program, I picked up the phone. The following Saturday I was on the air. I wish I could find the cassette of my first show. I spent all week planning what records I'd play and what I'd say about them.

I desperately wanted a career in radio. At the time the only school offering a radio course was Ryerson. I repeated Grade 13 to improve my marks but still wasn't accepted. Thinking it wasn't meant to be I moved on, going to Trent University - just as the community colleges were coming onstream. I left Trent after a year opting for Radio at Humber College and found a fulltime job after just one year of the three year program.

The punch line after this very long preamble: I was out of radio less than two years later. A new MD cleaned house. But as one door closed another opened and the sequence of events that launched me on a 25 year career in the music industry, first with United Artists then with CBS/Sony, began in the studios of 97 McMaster Avenue.

Regards,

Dave Deeley

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Wow! Thank you Dave Deeley for sharing your memories of a very different kind of CHOO Radio with us. It's all a part of CHOO's history that we are slowly digging out on this site. Fascinating stuff.

LEFT is a photo from that evocative era, circa 1969, courtesy of the Ajax Public Library Digital Archives. If anyone can identify the individuals in it, please let us know.

In it, the DJs are broadcasting live on CHOO as part of an event called INDEX '69 which was held (we presume) in Ajax. If anyone knows anything about it, please get in touch.

Coming up, more recollections of way way out CHOO Radio B. C. - Before Country!