About the site
Welcome to the "Official CHUM Tribute site." This is the site dedicated to all things 1050 CHUM. There may be other CHUM tribute/memorial sites on the web, but not like this one as chumtribute.com is built and maintained with love and care from people who actually worked at CHUM.
The late Bob Laine and I began working on the CHUM Archives in 2003 when Bob retired from day-to-day duties at CHUM after 45 years with the company first, as a DJ for 10 years, then later as an Executive. We went around the building at 1331 Yonge and gathered up audio tapes, photos, memos, brochures and anything we could find to tell the history of 1050 CHUM. Little did I know I’d still be working on those archives 14+ years later.
We launched the official CHUM Tribute website around 2005 with the financial assistance of Jim Waters and the Waters family and I kept adding to it after Bob Laine passed away, but after a few years, it finally faded into the sunset.
So for six months - from November 2016 to May 2017 - Dale Patterson of rockradioscrapbook.ca and I have been working on a new site, with even more CHUM material. Over the years, I have given Dale many of the 1050 CHUM airchecks he has on his site.
There are nearly 500 photos of CHUM DJ’s, events etc from the 1950’s right up to the 1990’s with more being added from time to time.
ALL of the personal CHUM charts are here, in pristine condition, thanks to Ron Hall's magnificent restoration efforts.
CHUM memorabilia and memos (many never seen before) are here, so listeners can see some of the inner workings of CHUM.
Bios of all of the CHUM DJ’s from 1957 to the final days of oldies. Don’t fret if your fav DJ’s bio isn’t up yet, we’re working on it and it will be there.
CHUM DJ Hall of Fame – one classic DJ intro or promo with a full song will be changed every Monday with the older ones being archived for your listening and dancing pleasure.
This site is a work in progress. Many former CHUM staffers will be contributing their memories and stories.
We invite you back to visit often.
CHUM Archives
I was quite thrilled when Doug Thompson brought me into this project in September 2016. But it seemed like a daunting task. My first task was to design it. That took some time, and I've tweaked it many times. Then every personal CHUM Chart from the first on May 27, 1957 to the last on April 26, 1975 had to be downloaded to the server and linked to the page. Not just the chart, but the cover too. And I wanted the date of the chart to match the colour of the chart, another time-consuming exercise but to me an important detail. We also had some 500 photos and memorabilia to add to the site, all organized by decade. So Doug and I set up an assembly line where he sent me the photos, memorabilia and then the charts, which were sent in chronological order. What I thought would take several months only took a few weeks. My thanks to Doug for supplying everything in such orderly and speedy fashion.
I discovered CHUM in April 1966 when a friend recommended it. Up to then, I had little interest in radio or pop music - I was more into television - but that all changed as I started listening to Jay Nelson, John Spragge, Dick Hayes, Bob McAdorey, Brian "The Prez" Skinner, Bob Laine, Duff Roman and others. The jocks, the jingles, the music, heck even the commercials were great. My life changed overnight, suddenly I was a radio geek. And while I would inevitably discover many other stations along the way, CHUM has remained in my heart ever since.
While I never worked at CHUM - most of my career was spent as an editor-reporter at The Canadian Press/Broadcast News - I've always been a huge fan of Canada's original full-time rock 'n' roll station with great interest in its history. This site is meant to honour CHUM's more than half-century (1957-2009) of playing the great hits of the '50s through the '80s. Enjoy the memories!
Dale Patterson, Rock Radio Scrapbook
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