| Saskatoon, SK – 1986
I wanted to be a radio announcer since I was about 15 years old. I always loved sports and hoped to one day become a play by play announcer. When I turned 19, I decided to go to the Western Academy of Broadcasting College (WABC) in Saskatoon, SK. I sent in a demo and got accepted to the school by Don Scott.
Vernon, BC – 1987-88
Just before graduation in 1987, I landed my first gig at 1050 C-KAL in Vernon, BC. Lee Friesen was the P.D. and hired me on as a 3 month intern. Yep… no pay for 3 months. After my 3 months were up, I was hired to work evenings and all-niters. Imagine… a radio station with live announcers 24 hours a day. I made $800 / month (before taxes were taken off). The station was in a great location on the highway just outside of town. I still remember the big picture window that over-looked beautiful Kal Lake. The morning sunrise over the lake was gorgeous which I got to see during the all-nite shift. We still used 45’s and LP’s. Jack Crane did the morning show, Fred Steele was doing mid-days and Bruce Ritchie did the afternoon drive. Our news announcers were Shawna Kelly, Michelle Stewart while Tom Thompson split time between news and evening announcer. Some of my best memories were going out with people from the station to the O’Keefe Ranch as Hod Faris hosted a live dance and played (I Wish It Could Always Be) 55 by Alabama for me every weekend. After about a year at the station, my position was being eliminated by network radio.
Weyburn, SK – 1988-89
About a month before I was going to lose my job, I got hired doing afternoons / evenings at 1190 CFSL in Weyburn, SK. It was a smaller, older building but I loved being back in Saskatchewan where I was born and raised. Rob Roulston was the P.D. I remember living in a tiny upper suite of a house with angled walls and no cable TV. My wage had moved all the way up to $1100 / month. I started up a CFSL slo-pitch team which I entered into the local league. That was a lot of fun. Rob Roulston was doing mornings, I don’t remember the name of the guy who did mid-days. Greg Lee did some mid-days and afternoons with Tim Filazek handling afternoons / evenings. I just did evenings until Tim left where I then took over his shift. Wayne Ross was our news guy. We played carts instead of 45’s at this station. I still remember interviewing the “Cuban Assasin” from the old “Stampede Wrestling”. It was hilarious thinking back on it now.
Saskatoon, SK – 1989
From there, I moved back to Saskatoon in 1989 to work as a DJ in a Sports Bar called, Bleachers Bar & Grill. I worked 6 nights a week for $8 / hour. I was happy as minimum wage was $6 / hour. I got really good at darts and even finished second in a bar tournament. I lived in a bachelor suite on Main Street in a building called the Green Gable Apartments. The best part of that building was having a satellite dish on it and it was always set to “Showtime”. I remember seeing all of Evander Holyfield’s earlier fights on it. I would decide later that I wanted more excitement in my life so would join the Navy after that.
Victoria, BC – 1993-96
After having the itch to get back in the radio business in the mid 90’s, I decided to volunteer my time at CFUV doing the noon sportscasts and covering different events and games. I can still remember the Victoria Cougars (who were a WHL team at that time) coming to the station wanting our little station to do their radio broadcasts. They said they would take us on the road with them and buy us the broadcast equipment. This (so I thought) was going to be my big break at getting into doing “play by play” hockey. Wes Mundy and I fought for it to happen but management decided that they only wanted to do University sports broadcasts and told the Cougars no. That was devistating. Eventually I would quit my volunteer work so that I could join the Navy again where the money was really good.
Powell River, BC – 2003-04
For some reason, I just couldn’t let radio go. My passion for the business was too strong and I would give up my nearly $60 000 / year job to make peanuts again. In 2003, I did up a demo CD at the University of Victoria radio station and applied for a job in Powell River at 1280 CHQB. I was hired on to do the morning show. That year I decided to make things happen for me in regards to getting into hockey “play by play”. I volunteered as the Public Address announcer for all the Powell River Kings home games. I also started doing interviews and ran hockey programs on the air during my shifts. I met with the Kings Marketing / Promotions Manager Lisa Porter on many occasions as we discussed how we might be able to work together to get radio broadcasts of the games. I went to my boss several times but got turned down each time. Bob McInness was the Station Manager and also did an on air shift from 11:00 am – noon. Our afternoon announcer was Paul Funk and broadcasted out of the Courtenay office through our radio station in Powell River. Our news guys were Marc Mulvaney and Derek Bouchard. We actually played CD’s which at the time seemed pretty advanced.
Courtenay, BC – 2004-05
After a year in Powell River, I got promoted to the head office in Courtenay where I was the afternoon announcer broadcasting through CHQB in Powell River and CFWB in Campbell River. Despite being turned down by the Operations Manager several more times about broadcasting hockey games, I stayed persistent and he gave me the ok to do “play by play” of the road games that were on the Island only as I lived in Courtenay and it didn’t make sense for the station at that time to be sending me on the ferry for the other games. I took that opportunity and ran with it. I drove the station vehicle to the road games and lived out my dream broadcasting on the radio. I kept doing my on air shift. Things were going great until the next hockey season approached. The BCHL made a new rule that all road teams must broadcast all 30 road games plus playoffs on the internet. The Kings now forced my hand telling me they wanted one “play by play” announcer to do all the games. That meant that I would have to quit my job and move back to Powell River if I wanted to continue doing the broadcasts because the radio station couldn’t afford to let me go for a week at a time to broadcast hockey games. This was my first station where we were in the computer age using “Media Touch Systems” for music and “Cool Edit Pro” for production. The morning announcer was Roo Phelps. Marc Mulvaney and Derek Bouchard were still the news announcers. While living in Courtenay, I ended up falling in love with a girl in Powell River and we got engaged. We had argued about who would move where. It made sense for me to move back to Powell River as she had a good job and I could go back to doing hockey broadcasts. So I ended up handing in my notice.
Powell River, BC – 2005-07
After moving to Powell River, I immediately worked out an agreement with CHQB to simulcast all the games on radio and the internet. So despite quitting my job, I ended up staying on the payroll which ended up being a really good thing. I did all the radio and internet broadcasts that year. When Pete Montana was hired as the program director of the 4 radio stations (Powell River, Campbell River, Courtenay and Port Hardy), he hired me back on at CHQB (now known as Magic 1280) to co-host the morning show with John Stevenson for 2 hours, read sports every half hour plus do 2 hours of news gathering. With only about a month before the start of the Allan Cup (which was in Powell River in ’06), my Program Director told me he wanted me to be the host for it every night on the radio. It was very challenging and exciting learning about its history and all the teams involved in the tournament. We had ex-NHLers Mike Ridley and Jamie Leach on our team (Powell River Regals). Every night from the arena I did a live one hour pre-game show, 1st & 2nd period live intermission shows and 30 minute live post-game shows. It was a huge success. Pete quit to take a job in his hometown in the Maritimes so the company hired Joel Lamoureux and I approached him to do a weekly Sports Commentary. I gave him a demo and he loved it. It was heard every Friday at noon on our sister station Jet FM in Courtenay. Ty McInnes did our afternoon shift from our station in Campbell River. I continued to do the morning show with John, news for Marc and “play by play” for all home and away Kings games on the radio & internet including playoffs until I was offered a job I couldn’t turn down.
Melfort, SK – 2007-11
The General Manager (Kevin Gemmell) for 105.1 CJVR & CK750 in Melfort called me one afternoon and offered me the job of Sports Director for both stations as well as “play by play” announcer for 3 different SJHL teams. I jumped at the chance to move back to my home province and do sports as a full-time job. A few days after I started, I was approached to also do “play by play” for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies and of course I jumped at that opportunity despite the fact that I had never called a football game. My first game was a little rough but I loved it anyways. The Huskies beat the Alberta Golden Bears 45-14. Seeing Game 6 of the Canada – Russia Super Series in Saskatoon as well as a couple of Canada’s games (including the Gold Medal final) at the 2010 World Junior Hockey Championships are still some of my highlights since coming to Melfort. I have had the privilege of going to 2 Anavet Cups, 2 Royal Bank Cups and calling an exhibition game for the 2010 World Junior Championships (Slovakia vs. Austria). When I got to the station, our news team consisted of Cam Lee and Justin Blackwell while myself and Kenny Trenton were in the Sports Department. Since then, Justin moved to Regina and was not replaced. Kenny went to Fort McMurray and was replaced by Fraser Rodgers who moved to Penticton and was replaced by Brandon Crowe. Scott Allan was the morning announcer for the AM side while Bill Wood (who is also the Program Director) did mornings on the FM side. The company was great to me and I loved every minute working there. |
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