Blast from the past - getting together again with the CKTB alumni today

A couple of years ago when I unexpectedly departed from my long tenure at CKTB Radio, which at that point had reached a remarkable 32 years, I thought to myself at one point "Well, now I can at least go to the CKTB alumni get-together."  Up until that point, although I had been at the station longer than anyone, I wasn't invited to the shindig.

My first time attending came at the annual Christmas get-together in December 2013.  I was working at Brock Radio, CFBU-FM at the time so had to leave early since I had an interview to record in the afternoon, but I had a great time.  I missed last summer and again last December as it is a lunch meeting and I was working during the day at Meridian Credit Union so couldn't attend.

This summer, though, all that changed with my unexpected departure from Meridian early last month, so I was happy to accept the invitation to attend today as the august group of veteran broadcasters from CKTB's glory days met over lunch once again at Cat's Caboose in the Glenridge Plaza.

Not everyone who was invited was able to attend, but I believe we had ten current and former CKTB employees including myself, plus veteran news photographer Kevin Argue, a long-time friend of many at the station back in the day.  All in all, it read like a who's who of CKTB from many years ago to the present day.

Two present-day employees attended:  Chief Engineer Joe Gurney and his right-hand man, Larry Garrington, both of whom have been at the station for a very long time.  From the past, we had Ian Purdy, long-time member of the Lincoln & Welland Regiment who hosted the Job Shop weekly on CKTB; former newsman Kevin Hodges; former mid-day announcer Wayne MacLure; former news director Al van Alstine; Bill Bird and former newsman Jim Martin both of whom went on to successful careers at CBC; and former program director Bob Johnston.

Bob was at the station from about 1955 to 1986, and he is the one you can blame for hiring me back in 1981.  I still remember when Bob called me at my then-home in Belleville and invited me down for an interview at the station on a cool spring Saturday afternoon in April.  After the interview, which went well, as I recall, I asked to use the washroom before making the long trip back home, and he wisely directed me upstairs and across the building to the more respectable facilities, rather than the still-decrepit main-floor washroom steps away from his office.  I remember thinking at the time, I would never be able to get to the washroom upstairs and back before those blasted three-minute songs we used to play would end.

Yes, back in those days, CKTB was all music, all the time, and the control room comprised a very old and ridiculously small board, two old McCurdy turntables and two old Ampex tape decks, one of which dated from about the 40s and I recall being told don't even think of using it unless you absolutely had to.

Anyway, I got a second call back from legendary General Manager Bob Reinhart, whom I had originally written to, and he invited me back to meet with him on the upper floor in his wood-panelled office.  So the next week I returned and was offered the position of CKTB evening announcer at the tender age of 24, hosting the now-iconic show "Niagara By Night."  I would make a modest income, but it was $5,000 more than I was making at the time at the station in Belleville, so I thought I had won the lottery.

I still remember my move down to St. Catharines, on a rainy Mother's Day in 1981.  Mother and I had come down a couple of weeks previously to find an apartment for me to live in, and Mother's Day we moved whatever hand-me-down treasures we could pack into the family station-wagon for the drive down the QEW.  After moving in to the apartment, we drove the short distance to the Fifth Wheel Restaurant at the Parkway on Ontario Street for dinner, and then they dropped me off at the station so I could sit in with Sunday evening host Bruce Smith to learn the ropes.

But it was the next day, my first official day at CKTB, when I met Wayne MacLure and got my first training on the archaic board.  Wayne recalled today I was so nervous that first day, but I managed to make it work and did my maiden voyage on my own that first night, with the show running from 7 pm to 12 midnight.

Wayne was a radio veteran who used phrases on the air such as "suitcase of sounds" to describe his show that day, and he was one of the main commercial voices on the station at the time.  Some months later, Wayne, then local union president, met me over drinks at the old Henley hotel not far from my apartment to pitch me on joining the union at the station, which I did.

It's funny now, thinking back on those simpler times when we played records, commercials were on little cartridges looking like 8-track tapes, and we made a point of being everywhere in the community whenever possible.  We did a lot with a little, and made it sound big.  It was also the most fun I think I have ever had in radio.

Frank Proctor was the morning man back then, and I was hoping to see him at the lunch today but he wasn't able to make it.  We lost afternoon host Gary Hall and sports director Doug Hobbs a couple of years ago.  Bob Reinhart passed away many years ago and was the man I most looked up to in those early years.  He was an imposing presence in the station with his tall stature, white hair and booming voice.  But he was a gentle giant who took me under his wing and I have always been grateful he did.

There were lots of other people from those days I recall, but you lose touch with many of them over time.  Those we can contact for these semi-annual reunions make the journey worthwhile.

The infamous CKTB Bee apparently sent his regrets as well.

Have a great weekend!

July 10, 2015.