Canadian radio legend Roger Ashby retiring after 50 years

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Canadian radio legend Roger Ashby retiring after 50 years
Mark Daniell
Published:
October 25, 2018
Updated:
October 25, 2018 4:13 PM EDT
CHUM 104.5 host Roger Ashby is retiring on Dec. 5.
Morning radio in Toronto is about to lose one of its most iconic voices.
After 50 years, Roger Ashby won’t have to hit the snooze button everyday at 5 a.m. The legendary broadcaster has announced he’s retiring from the CHUM 104.5 FM morning show this December.
Ashby’s farewell broadcast is set to air live from the Toronto’s Sheraton Centre on Wednesday, Dec. 5 beginning at 5 a.m.
“It’s easy to get up early every morning when you love your job and the people you work with,” Ashby said in a statement.
“Of course, I couldn’t have done it without the amazing Marilyn Denis. From the first moment we met, I knew she was the right person to spend my mornings with. And our success over the decades would not have happened without the dedication of our longtime listeners.”
“Roger Ashby is quite simply a radio legend, and a luminary of Canada’s music industry,” said Bell Media President Randy Lennox.
“He is a model of excellence and consistency in radio broadcasting, and upholds that gold standard every time he sits behind the mic. We wish him the very best in his retirement, and thank him for 50 incredible years at CHUM.”
Ashby has hosted the morning show alongside Denis for over 30 years. At various points, they’ve been joined by co-hosts including Rick Hodge and Darren B. Lamb.
Jamar McNeil joined the morning team earlier this year.
Denis reacted to the news on Twitter, writing: “With love in my heart I applaud Roger for an incredible career!”
After a stint in Hamilton, Ashby began his career at 1050 CHUM in 1969. He landed the morning show at 104.5 in 1985 and was inducted into the Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame in 2010.
“Marilyn and Jamar will keep entertaining Torontonians every morning on CHUM 104.5, and I look forward to listening,” Ashby said. “I’d also like to thank my wife, Moira, and my family and friends – with whom I will be spending a lot more time, whether they like it or not!”
In the lead-up to Ashby’s farewell on Dec. 5, CHUM 104.5 plans to celebrate his career over the next six weeks.
Twitter: @markhdaniell
mdaniell@postmedia.com
http://torontosun.com/news/local-news/canadian-radio-legend-roger-ashby-retiring-after-50-years
 
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CHUM radio legend Roger Ashby retiring after 50 years with 'mixed emotions'
Jane Stevenson
Published:
December 1, 2018
Updated:
December 1, 2018 5:54 PM EST
Roger Ashby’s retirement from Toronto radio after 50 years was announced in late October.
But now that Ashby’s final CHUM 104.5 show is just days away — it will take place Wednesday before 500 invited guests and contest winners at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Grand Ballroom beginning at 5 a.m. — he’s got “mixed emotions.”
“I’m looking forward to having a flexible schedule and not having the daily responsibility of having a morning show, not having to get up at four o’clock. But on the other hand I’m going to miss it because it’s what I love,” said Ashby, who says he’s been asked by Bell Media to stay on in a part-time capacity to do some work for the iHeartRadio app.
“I have a passion for radio. I really enjoy working with the people I work with. I’ve worked with Marilyn (Denis) and our producer Tom (Jokic) for 32 years. So I’m happy and I’m kind of sad in another way. All I wanted to do is turn the microphone on and talk on the radio ever since I was ten years old. And I grew up listening to CHUM and I was thrilled to death when I worked there. I started three days before my 20th birthday.”
Radio Host Roger Ashby at the CHUM-FM Building ahead of his send-off after 50 years in the radio business on Friday November 30, 2018. (Dave Abel/Toronto Sun/Postmedia Network)
But Ashby says the time was right for him to walk away.
His most recent two-year contract called for him to end his treasured gig in late 2018 at the age of 69. Earlier this year, the CHUM 104.5 morning show also welcomed a new co-host Jamar McNeil.
“Our target audience is people now who could be my children because the target audience hasn’t changed but we’ve all gotten older,” said Ashby. “It just seemed like the right time.”
“The station is going through some changes. Social media is such a big thing right now and that’s not really what I’m into,” he said.
Radio Host Roger Ashby at the CHUM-FM Building ahead of his send-off after 50 years in the radio business on Friday November 30, 2018. (Dave Abel/Toronto Sun/Postmedia Network)
Of all the people Ashby interviewed over the years Mick Jagger in Barbados at Eddy Grant’s studio in 1986 and Tony Bennett rank as his best, and baseball right fielder Reggie Jackson and KISS bassist-singer Gene Simmons as his worst.
“(Jagger) wanted to talk about cricket more than anything else,” said Ashby, who was inducted into the Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame in 2010.
“Tony Bennett came into the studio I think around his 80th birthday and I felt like I’d known him forever. Gene — it was all about him, it was all about the product, it was suggestive comments to the women in the room. He was a good talker but he wasn’t a good listener. He was just rude. Reggie, it was after his career had ended, and he was just totally uncooperative. He was yes and no answers. It was as if he wished he wasn’t there.”
The ones that got away? John Lennon and George Harrison plus Paul Simon.
“I would have liked to have met them,” said Ashby. “I met Paul McCartney briefly backstage at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1976 on the Wings Over America tour and Paul was serving the hors d’oeuvres, he was walking around the room, and Linda was there. And I spoke to Ringo on the phone.”
jstevenson@postmedia.com
http://torontosun.com/news/local-ne...y-retiring-after-50-years-with-mixed-emotions
 
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