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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 my memories and
perceptions as a young
listener from that time
period, although I did
have a smidgeon of inside
information as well, the
source of which I prefer
not to specify.
It
was Friday, March 16,
1962, the day before St.
Patrick's Day, and just a
few seconds before
midnight. I was listening
at the very moment when
Red signed off with his
last words as a DJ on
CKWX. He had been
taking calls from loyal
listeners all evening but
told them he could not say
where he would be
going. (It would be
C-FUN as we were to
learn.)
The
Fabulous Forty survey had
already been discontinued
two weeks earlier. Red had
continued on, occasionally
lamenting 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.
But let us go back to a
year earlier, March
1961. As a much
heralded event Red had
returned to CKWX from his
stint in the U.S.A.
At this time, from this
listener's point of view,
things looked rosier than
ever for WX as a Top 40
station. Red was
back in the lineup,
joining WX's two other
young DJs, Buddy Clyde and
Del Erickson and this
young trio had locked up
the afternoon, evening and
overnight time
slots. (Veteran Cal
George remained in the
housewive's slot and the
morning slot was occupied
by the duo of Steve
Woodman and Keith Rich.)
With this young blood CKWX
seemed to be hitting its
stride as a Top 40 station
and was able, for the
first time, to go
head-to-head with the
young DJs at C-FUN, at
last shedding its image as
the "old man's" Top 40
station. They even
sponsored the local
Saturday afternoon Dance
Party TV show on CHAN-TV.
with Red as the show's
first guest. (Buddy
Clyde was the second a
week later.) The station
continued riding this high
streak right through the
summer of '61. That
year Vancouver actually
had two great Top 40
stations.
Unfortunately the momentum
that C-FUN had gained
could not be
reversed. Red
himself acknowledged in
later years that "the
action was with
C-FUN." Even my
friends said they listened
to C-FUN and I couldn't
persuade them otherwise.
Changes
came gradually. In
the Fall of '61 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
previously worked for WX as
a DJ.)
(continued
above right)
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Further changes
came by years' end 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
58, 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 had been when
he first joined WX back in
57. And
then Red resigned in early
March 1962.
Returning to
that final night in 1962,
with Red's sign-off 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 had even noticed
this passing.
Compared to its rival
C-FUN, CKWX was a
larger operation, with
its more expansive news
and sports departments,
the latter which
included Mounties
baseball games and WHL
Canucks hockey, both of
which cut heavily into
Red's broadcast time. So
perhaps CKWX was better
suited to the M-O-R
format anyway.
Furthermore, as Red
Robinson once told me,
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
little mention of its
years as a "Top 40"
station. To that I
say, BROADCAST
HISTORIANS TAKE NOTE:
From 1957 to early 1962
CKWX was a "Top 40"
giant in Vancouver
radio, and gave our
region's younger
listeners 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 40" left CFUN in
total possession of
the reins, for a few
years, at least. But
that's another story.
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