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I was thirteen years old in 1962 and an
avid listener of Red Robinson's Platter
Party on CKWX. What I have written here is
based in part on on my memories and
perceptions as a young listener from that
time period, and is not based on any solid
information acquired from within the radio
industry.
If I remember correctly, the date would
have been March 16, 1962, on a Friday
night just a few seconds before midnight.
I was listening at the very moment when
Red spoke his last words as a DJ on WX
saying something like, "This is the
Platter Party signing off . . .
forever."
The Fabulous Forty survey had already been
discontinued two weeks earlier. Red had
continued on, occasionally mentioning on
air that the station no longer had a
survey, although he sometimes referred to
a song's position on one of the national
charts.
With Red's final words CKWX had completed
its gradual exit from the Rock/Pop format
to the Middle-of-Road format. There was no
fanfare or even any acknowledgment of the
change, and one might wonder if anyone
even noticed the passing of Top 40 from
WX. It had begun the previous Fall when
the morning time slot occupied by Woodman
and Rich, was supplanted by Vancouver's
first "open line" or "talk" show with
Barrie Clark (who had previoulsy worked
for WX as a DJ.) Further changes in the
music came early in the new year which
found DJs Buddy Clyde, Del Erickson and
Nick Sands, playing M-O-R music, as was
Cal George--a WX stalwart who had been at
the station for many years prior to the
start of "Top Forty" back in 57, and would
be there for another five years--and who
simply carried on in a format he was
probably more comfortable with anyway. All
this left Red as the only remaining
Rock/Pop DJ on the station, as he first
had been when he came to WX back in
57.
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CKWX hardly seemed to be hurting from all
this. Unconfirmed ratings reports put them
in the number 2 spot,second to CKNW, with
CFUN third. But, while Red's Platter Party
continued to be popular, the younger crowd
had otherwise gone over to C-FUN. The
larger WX, with its more expansive news
coverage and a sports department which
included Mounties baseball games and WHL
Canucks hockey, both of which cut heavily
into Red's broadcast time, along with the
station's larger overall audience base,
perhaps found itself better suited to
M-O-R and that it no longer needed to be
"Top Forty" anymore. Or perhaps management
was miffed at taking number 2 spot to an
M-O-R station. All that, and as Red
Robinson told me recently, the newer
management simply did not understand the
dynamics of Rock and Roll.
Today, when I come across a a brief
history or chronology of CKWX, either on
the internet or elsewhere, I find there is
absolutely no mention of its years as a
"Top Forty" station. And so with that I
say. . .BROADCAST HISTORIANS TAKE NOTE:
From 1957 to early 1962 CKWX was a
"Top Forty" giant in Vancouver radio, and
gave our region's younger listerners the
"Sensational Sixty" and the "Fabulous
Forty" along with slogans such as "stacks
of wax" and "a greater measure of
listening pleasure". And they gave us
personalities which included Red Robinson
and his "Teen Canteen" and "Platter
Party," and whose efforts they backed to
bring Elvis to town in 1957, his first
visit to Canada. And then there was the DJ
with the squeeze-horn at his side--Buddy
Clyde, and Del Erickson who occupied the
late night slot, but who also sang and
recorded local hits like "Two" and
"Rockin' Band" both of which charted high
on the CKWX survey. And one can only
wonder what it would have been like
hearing Norm Grohman, Jim Robson, and
Barrie Clark, spinning Elvis records.
The departure of CKWX from "Top Forty"
left CFUN in total possesion of the reins,
for a few years, at least. But that's
another story.
Jim Bower
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