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R.I.P. Alan Waters
- Thread starter Yeziknoradio
- Start date
A
agreenbe
Guest
here is a news report from City TV regarding the passing of Alan Waters.
Dec 4/2005
He was an unassuming man, the type you might pass on the street and mistake for an accountant or a salesman.
But Allan Waters knew better than anyone how looks – along with sound – could be deceiving.
The man who changed the history of broadcasting in North America is gone. The founder of CHUM Limited, the owner of Citytv, CP24, Pulse24.com, MuchMusic and so many more channels and radio stations, passed away in his sleep early Saturday. He was 84.
Waters didn’t start out in life with the so-called silver spoon in his mouth. He earned it all and more. After graduating from Eastern Commerce High School, and a stint at his father’s haberdashery business and an ad agency, he went to work for an insurance company, a job he found incredibly dull.
The moment that changed Waters’ life came in the mid-50s, when he found a new position with a patent medicine salesman with the unlikely name of Jack Q’Part. One of his boss’ businesses was a rundown little radio station with great call letters and no audience, called CHUM, located at 225 Mutual St.
“I was selling patent medicines,” he recalled. “And making them, too. And this gentleman had difficulties. And he said, well we’re going to have to do a few things with the companies. What do you want to do?
“I said I want to own something, and he said, well, which company would you like to own, because I had a little bit of them all. And I said the patent medicine business. That's the one I know.
“And he says, oh no, that one stays with me. And he said, what else would you like? I said, what else are you prepared to deal with me on? And he said the radio station.”
That’s how the man who would pioneer the sound of Top 40 radio in Canada found the first piece of what would soon become an incredible broadcasting empire.
The date was December 11, 1954, and Waters was now the full owner of a radio station he knew nothing about running.
The story of how CHUM went from staid to made is legendary – it includes tales of Waters looking for a way to make his property stand out, and hearing a Miami station that played rock music while on vacation in Florida.
While he wasn’t crazy about the format, he knew the outlet, an AM station called WQAM, was making money. So he decided CHUM would follow suit.
The rest of the story has become the stuff of legend and even if it’s apocryphal, it’s too good not to repeat - how Waters went into his headquarters, now located on Adelaide St., and threw out all the Perry Como and Bing Crosby tunes, so his shocked and skeptical disc jockeys would be forced to play just the hits on the station’s old, wide turntables.
And on May 27, 1957, they did, making CHUM the first in Canada to go Top 40. It would not be the last. But no one ever did it any better.
“It was a terrifying experience,” he once admitted. “Because all my so-called friends, neighbours, you name it, they all said, you're absolutely crazy. Nobody wants to listen to this … People you meet on the street, they’d say, Oh God, you have to get that off. And I can tell you straight that I came close a few times to taking it right off the air, but I never gave in. I figured keep at it and at it.”
Still, the nifty 1050 was not an instant success. But as the audiences grew, so did the revenues.
And Waters would augment what he didn’t know about broadcasting with a simple rule – always hire the best, and don’t get in their way.
Over the years, many people asked Waters if he didn’t consider himself lucky that his brave programming choice was such a hit. But he always insisted luck had nothing to do with it.
“I have a favourite saying,” he noted in “The CHUM Story”, a book about the history of the station, published by Stoddart. “I don’t think there’s such a thing as luck. One way to make your own breaks is to do things fairly and properly.”
They became words to live by and years later, even employees who had left the company would be singing his praises.
Duke Roberts, a former D.J. at the station in the 70s, noted in an interview earlier this year that CHUM management was the best he’d ever worked for – and the man’s resume reads like a phone book of other call letters and other owners.
Loyalty was what Waters knew best. And it endeared him to his workers and his audience.
“It’s always been his belief that CHUM is only as great as the people that work with the company,” his son, Jim Waters, explained. “I think he believed we were as great as the people who worked there so he treated them all with the utmost respect and he loved them all.”
Still, despite being a busy executive in an industry that was suddenly booming, Waters always made time for his family.
“He always had lots on the go, but he was always there to take me to my early morning hockey practices, he never missed one of my hockey games,” his son recalls proudly. “I have two daughters and I’ve never missed a school concert, or a dance concert, and that’s just something that he taught me.”
CHUM-AM was just the start, of course. It became the focal point of many baby boomer memories – from the CHUM Chart to CHUM checks from the Ex, to the Beatles at Maple Leaf Gardens, and the “Don’t Say Hello, Say I Listen To Chum” contest that many still recall with nostalgic fondness.
It was also the engine that fueled so many other wonderful projects. Waters expanded his holdings slowly, buying stations in other cities. Eventually, he would turn his sights to television, and grab Citytv, another little station that could, in 1978.
“Moses (Znaimer) asked me if CHUM would be interested in acquiring Citytv,” he remembered years later. “I said yes, we shook hands and really the deal was made then.”
Helped by the fresh investment of cash, the TV acquisition quickly became an integral part of the company, launching spin-offs in other cities and cable channels on the regular and digital dial.
In all, CHUM Limited now owns 33 radio stations, 12 local TV stations and 21 specialty channels.
And it all goes back to that first one at 1050 on the AM dial and the good business sense of a man who wanted to make something special his own.
Even in his later years, Waters would always show up at the office wearing his traditional suit and tie, in an atmosphere more commonly given to jeans and T-shirts.
But age would take its toll, and though he remained a member of the Board of Directors of the company he built to such great heights, he was forced to step down as chairman and president three years ago, allowing Jim to succeed him.
Over the course of his career, Waters was honoured many times for his contributions to the broadcasting industry, including the Ted Rogers Sr. – Velma Rogers Graham Award, the Radio-Television News Directors’ Association’s President’s Award and the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ Gold Ribbon Award for Broadcast Excellence.
He also served as president of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (C.A.B.) and the Central Canada Broadcasters Association.
Another major honour came when the CHUM chief was given the Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award for contributions to the Canadian music industry - the first broadcaster ever to receive the accolade.
He was also inducted into the C.A.B. Broadcast Hall of Fame, the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame.
And he was insistent that he share the success he’d achieved, and the Chum Charitable Foundation begat the ChumCity Christmas Wish, which is now 39 years old – and still giving thousands of needy kids a gift for the holidays.
But the biggest love of his life wasn’t radio or the success it brought – it was his wife of more than 50 years, Marjorie, who stood by his side as the man she married went from insurance salesman to army Corporal to broadcasting mogul – all without ever changing the character of the person she’d fallen in love with so many years earlier.
And in an era where so little is lasting, it was to be a lifelong love affair. “I saw her on the streetcar one day,” he recalled. “We were going to school. I saw her, she saw me. I'm not quite sure which.”
“You have to put up with quite a bit,” she laughed in reply. “You have to love a lot, and it's wonderful.”
Marjorie survives him, along with their three children, Jim, Ron and Sherry, and seven grandchildren.
A private service will be held for the family on Wednesday, followed by a public memorial from 2-4pm at the Westin Harbour Castle Conference Centre's Metropolitan Ballroom.
But his best legacy remains a dial turn away, at any one of the more than 60 channels that proudly bear the CHUM name.
“I think that he would just want to be remembered for -- he took good care of the people that worked with him and with CHUM,” Jim Waters summarizes. “I think that is most important to him. People first.
"That was what he always believed in, and I think if everybody thinks of it that way, he’d be real happy about that.”
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the CHUM Charitable Foundation c/o The CHUM Building, 299 Queen Street West, Toronto, M5V 2Z5.
December 4, 2005
Dec 4/2005
He was an unassuming man, the type you might pass on the street and mistake for an accountant or a salesman.
But Allan Waters knew better than anyone how looks – along with sound – could be deceiving.
The man who changed the history of broadcasting in North America is gone. The founder of CHUM Limited, the owner of Citytv, CP24, Pulse24.com, MuchMusic and so many more channels and radio stations, passed away in his sleep early Saturday. He was 84.
Waters didn’t start out in life with the so-called silver spoon in his mouth. He earned it all and more. After graduating from Eastern Commerce High School, and a stint at his father’s haberdashery business and an ad agency, he went to work for an insurance company, a job he found incredibly dull.
The moment that changed Waters’ life came in the mid-50s, when he found a new position with a patent medicine salesman with the unlikely name of Jack Q’Part. One of his boss’ businesses was a rundown little radio station with great call letters and no audience, called CHUM, located at 225 Mutual St.
“I was selling patent medicines,” he recalled. “And making them, too. And this gentleman had difficulties. And he said, well we’re going to have to do a few things with the companies. What do you want to do?
“I said I want to own something, and he said, well, which company would you like to own, because I had a little bit of them all. And I said the patent medicine business. That's the one I know.
“And he says, oh no, that one stays with me. And he said, what else would you like? I said, what else are you prepared to deal with me on? And he said the radio station.”
That’s how the man who would pioneer the sound of Top 40 radio in Canada found the first piece of what would soon become an incredible broadcasting empire.
The date was December 11, 1954, and Waters was now the full owner of a radio station he knew nothing about running.
The story of how CHUM went from staid to made is legendary – it includes tales of Waters looking for a way to make his property stand out, and hearing a Miami station that played rock music while on vacation in Florida.
While he wasn’t crazy about the format, he knew the outlet, an AM station called WQAM, was making money. So he decided CHUM would follow suit.
The rest of the story has become the stuff of legend and even if it’s apocryphal, it’s too good not to repeat - how Waters went into his headquarters, now located on Adelaide St., and threw out all the Perry Como and Bing Crosby tunes, so his shocked and skeptical disc jockeys would be forced to play just the hits on the station’s old, wide turntables.
And on May 27, 1957, they did, making CHUM the first in Canada to go Top 40. It would not be the last. But no one ever did it any better.
“It was a terrifying experience,” he once admitted. “Because all my so-called friends, neighbours, you name it, they all said, you're absolutely crazy. Nobody wants to listen to this … People you meet on the street, they’d say, Oh God, you have to get that off. And I can tell you straight that I came close a few times to taking it right off the air, but I never gave in. I figured keep at it and at it.”
Still, the nifty 1050 was not an instant success. But as the audiences grew, so did the revenues.
And Waters would augment what he didn’t know about broadcasting with a simple rule – always hire the best, and don’t get in their way.
Over the years, many people asked Waters if he didn’t consider himself lucky that his brave programming choice was such a hit. But he always insisted luck had nothing to do with it.
“I have a favourite saying,” he noted in “The CHUM Story”, a book about the history of the station, published by Stoddart. “I don’t think there’s such a thing as luck. One way to make your own breaks is to do things fairly and properly.”
They became words to live by and years later, even employees who had left the company would be singing his praises.
Duke Roberts, a former D.J. at the station in the 70s, noted in an interview earlier this year that CHUM management was the best he’d ever worked for – and the man’s resume reads like a phone book of other call letters and other owners.
Loyalty was what Waters knew best. And it endeared him to his workers and his audience.
“It’s always been his belief that CHUM is only as great as the people that work with the company,” his son, Jim Waters, explained. “I think he believed we were as great as the people who worked there so he treated them all with the utmost respect and he loved them all.”
Still, despite being a busy executive in an industry that was suddenly booming, Waters always made time for his family.
“He always had lots on the go, but he was always there to take me to my early morning hockey practices, he never missed one of my hockey games,” his son recalls proudly. “I have two daughters and I’ve never missed a school concert, or a dance concert, and that’s just something that he taught me.”
CHUM-AM was just the start, of course. It became the focal point of many baby boomer memories – from the CHUM Chart to CHUM checks from the Ex, to the Beatles at Maple Leaf Gardens, and the “Don’t Say Hello, Say I Listen To Chum” contest that many still recall with nostalgic fondness.
It was also the engine that fueled so many other wonderful projects. Waters expanded his holdings slowly, buying stations in other cities. Eventually, he would turn his sights to television, and grab Citytv, another little station that could, in 1978.
“Moses (Znaimer) asked me if CHUM would be interested in acquiring Citytv,” he remembered years later. “I said yes, we shook hands and really the deal was made then.”
Helped by the fresh investment of cash, the TV acquisition quickly became an integral part of the company, launching spin-offs in other cities and cable channels on the regular and digital dial.
In all, CHUM Limited now owns 33 radio stations, 12 local TV stations and 21 specialty channels.
And it all goes back to that first one at 1050 on the AM dial and the good business sense of a man who wanted to make something special his own.
Even in his later years, Waters would always show up at the office wearing his traditional suit and tie, in an atmosphere more commonly given to jeans and T-shirts.
But age would take its toll, and though he remained a member of the Board of Directors of the company he built to such great heights, he was forced to step down as chairman and president three years ago, allowing Jim to succeed him.
Over the course of his career, Waters was honoured many times for his contributions to the broadcasting industry, including the Ted Rogers Sr. – Velma Rogers Graham Award, the Radio-Television News Directors’ Association’s President’s Award and the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ Gold Ribbon Award for Broadcast Excellence.
He also served as president of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (C.A.B.) and the Central Canada Broadcasters Association.
Another major honour came when the CHUM chief was given the Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award for contributions to the Canadian music industry - the first broadcaster ever to receive the accolade.
He was also inducted into the C.A.B. Broadcast Hall of Fame, the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame.
And he was insistent that he share the success he’d achieved, and the Chum Charitable Foundation begat the ChumCity Christmas Wish, which is now 39 years old – and still giving thousands of needy kids a gift for the holidays.
But the biggest love of his life wasn’t radio or the success it brought – it was his wife of more than 50 years, Marjorie, who stood by his side as the man she married went from insurance salesman to army Corporal to broadcasting mogul – all without ever changing the character of the person she’d fallen in love with so many years earlier.
And in an era where so little is lasting, it was to be a lifelong love affair. “I saw her on the streetcar one day,” he recalled. “We were going to school. I saw her, she saw me. I'm not quite sure which.”
“You have to put up with quite a bit,” she laughed in reply. “You have to love a lot, and it's wonderful.”
Marjorie survives him, along with their three children, Jim, Ron and Sherry, and seven grandchildren.
A private service will be held for the family on Wednesday, followed by a public memorial from 2-4pm at the Westin Harbour Castle Conference Centre's Metropolitan Ballroom.
But his best legacy remains a dial turn away, at any one of the more than 60 channels that proudly bear the CHUM name.
“I think that he would just want to be remembered for -- he took good care of the people that worked with him and with CHUM,” Jim Waters summarizes. “I think that is most important to him. People first.
"That was what he always believed in, and I think if everybody thinks of it that way, he’d be real happy about that.”
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the CHUM Charitable Foundation c/o The CHUM Building, 299 Queen Street West, Toronto, M5V 2Z5.
December 4, 2005
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