HomeMy WebLinkAboutVillage Squire, 1980-01, Page 6His interest lead him to go to Fanshawe College in London
where he studied broadcasting for two years. Well almost two
years. He was part way through his second year when he was
offered a full time job at CKNX and took it.
Where once stations like CKNX trained nearly all their own
staff today nearly everyone who comes to work at a station has
been to a college to learn the basics of the business. The most
important thing taught at Fanshawe, Gary says, was the attitude
of professionalism.
He describes the Fanshawe course as a "hands on" course.
The first day the students were lead into a room with a radio
console and told to cue up a record. There was no instruction
unless a student asked for help. Assignments were handed out
and the students were given the necessary equipment and it was
up to the students to do the rest. The aim was for them to master
the equipment so well they could operate it in the dark.
During those days Gary did a good deal of writing for radio,
deciding on an idea then choosing music and writing the material
to bridge the gaps between. The students in his first year
operated an A.M. radio set up through the services of a local
cable television system but the CRTC killed that. The second
year saw a system set up for broadcast through monitors within
the college. Today that monitor system is used for first year
students while advanced students have an FM broadcasting
station to operate.
It was in February of 1974, his last year at Fanshawe that he
and another student were offered positions writing advertising
for CKNX. Arrangements were made with the college for the
students to take the jobs and still complete major essay
assignments that would allow them to graduate.
By the time the graduation actually took place Gary was on his
way up in his new job. A major turnover of staff in the
advertising writing department saw him become head of
commercial writing after only three months on the job. His
decision to work at CKNX, based to a large extent because he
wanted to start out somewhere where he was familiar with the
audience, certainly seemed to have been the right one.
Writing commercials for a station like CKNX is no easy task.
While Targe stations in the cities may rely on "national"
advertising, advertising that is prepared by advertising agencies
and comes in on tapes for such large companies as auto makers
and breweries, stations like CKNX depend heavily on local
advertisers and must prepare their own advertisements for their
customers. In the days when he joined the station there were
three commercial writers. Today there are five, but they must
now provide commercials for two stations (the AM and FM)
instead of just one. Each writer may have to turn out 20-30
commercials a day which doesn't leave a lot of time for creativity.
It isn't unheard of, Gary says. for the staff to write and produce
150 commercials on a Friday during a busy season.
Hectic as all that seemed Gary found time on the side to
indulge his other interests in radio: producing recordings of live
shows in particular. His first program heard on CKNX carne
while he was still in college. He did a tape of a concert by the
Ontario Youth Choir which contained many members from
Listowel. The tape was for a school project but he took it to
CKNX and because of the Listowel connection the station played
it on air. Then after joining the station in advertising he
produced another concert recording in his first few months.
This interest in community programing didn't go unnoticed
when the CKNX management began to look for people to oversee
the operation of the new FM outlet which was schedpled to go on
air in April of 1977. He was appointed program co-ordinator for
the station only three years out of college.
He defines the roles of the sister stations by comparing then
to the publishing field. AM, he says, is like a daily newspaper:
filled with bits and pieces of news and information and comment,
as much as can be squeezed in. FM is like a weekend
supplement, somewhere where more time can be given to
subjects, where a whole evening can be given over to country
music or a whole Sunday afternoon to a hockey broadcast from a
local arena. Instead of going to a community concert and
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