It’s hard to think of CHUM Limited as being as old as 50. The company simply breathes youth. Many of its stations and shows speak primarily to the young, and the company has long been one of Canadian broadcasting’s quickest adopters of cutting-edge technology and approach.

‘Take a look at the Rolling Stones – how old are they now?’ says John Roberts, CHUM radio and television alum, comparing the broadcaster to the ‘world’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll band,’ which continues to bound across stages, time on their side, in front of bigger audiences than ever.

Roberts, former cohost of the Citytv program The NewMusic and today CBS News’ chief Washington correspondent (see story, p. 21), is one of many on-air personalities who have achieved celebrity through their work for CHUM. Some have remained within the organization, while others have reached impressive heights elsewhere.

The list also includes: NewMusic cohosts Denise Donlon, who has since served as president of Sony Music Canada (see p. 14), and George Stroumboulopoulos, who recently joined CBC Newsworld to host a new show; MuchMusic VJs Christopher Ward, Erica Ehm, Steve Anthony, Lance Chilton and Monika Deol; the late City Lights host Brian Linehan (see p. 18); CityPulse news anchors Gord Martineau and Anne Mroczkowski and reporter Jojo Chintoh; Star! At the Movies host Liz West; and insult artist Ed the Sock.

Roberts’ Stones metaphor is also apt because the rise of CHUM from a 1,000-watt AM radio station that couldn’t transmit beyond Toronto to a broadcast player reaching 85% of Canadian TV viewers and selling programs and format licences internationally, has everything to do with rock ‘n’ roll.

CHUM-AM (1050 chum) first went to air in 1945, serving primarily as a marketing tool for the pharmaceutical business of owner Jack Q’Part. Part had an ambitious staffer in his drug firm in Allan Waters, a young man bent on owning an enterprise of his own. Waters asked to buy the pharmaceutical company; when Part refused, he sold Waters the radio station instead. That was in 1954, marking the birth of CHUM Limited as we now know it (see story, p. 13).

Humble beginnings

That Waters, today in his 80s and still a member of the CHUM board, would grow his business to the point where CHUM would own 32 radio stations on the AM and FM dials across Canada, along with 12 conventional TV stations, 10 specialties and 11 digital channels (including coventures), seems highly unlikely given his outfit’s humble beginnings. 1050 chum struggled in its first three years under Waters’ guidance, before he reformatted the station based on a growing model from south of the border: Top 40 rock ‘n’ roll.

The older crowd in ‘Toronto the Good’ scoffed at CHUM-AM’s new playlist of Elvis Presley and his brethren, but the music had an unstoppable connection with younger listeners, and Waters was on his way. By 1962, CHUM would be in a position to acquire other stations, starting with CKPT-AM (1420 Memories) in Peterborough, ON. It was the start of an aggressive acquisition strategy that would see CHUM eventually owning radio outposts from coast to coast.

That entrepreneurial spirit continues to mark the CHUM of 2004, illustrated when the company recently purchased struggling Craig Media, giving the broadcaster a long-sought-after television presence in the Prairies.

By 1963, CHUM had branched out to the FM radio dial with classical station CHUM-FM, which inevitably changed over to a progressive rock format in 1969.

But today it is television that is entrenched as CHUM’s primary focus. Its 2004 annual report shows TV bringing in 76% of revenues, compared to 22% for radio. The pivotal event in the evolution of CHUM’s TV business was its 1978 purchase of a controlling interest in Toronto station Citytv (see story, p. 6).

Launched by principals Phyllis Switzer, Moses Znaimer, Jerry Grafstein and Edgar Cowan six years earlier, the channel brought an exciting brand of informal localism to the small screen. Over the years, audiences have watched City news anchors deliver newscasts standing in an unadorned studio and reporters manning their own video cameras. Most importantly, the station set about to reflect the community it served better than its competitors. On-air personalities included many women, visible minorities and the physically challenged. This brand of diversity would continue on through CHUM’s expansion into the specialty market.

The NewMusic, which seriously explored pop music, was one of City’s most successful programs – unsurprising given the broadcaster’s past success with rock ‘n’ roll. When CHUM moved into specialties 20 years ago, it was no surprise that the channel they banked on was MuchMusic (see story, p. 15).

Everybody who is anybody in international music has passed through the doors of the CHUMCity Building on Toronto’s grungy/trendy Queen Street West for an interview or performance on Much or one of its four specialty or digi spin-offs. Viewers are no longer surprised when the MuchMusic Video Awards feature the likes of Lenny Kravitz or the Beastie Boys – they now expect CHUM to provide stars of that caliber.

And many acts have achieved stardom thanks in large part to CHUM. Pop band Barenaked Ladies got a critical early boost from an appearance on City’s Speakers Corner (see p. 16), and innumerable other Canadian musical acts owe much to Much for early promotional pushes, Avril Lavigne being a recent notable example. Heck, even funnyman Mike Myers first tried out his ‘Wayne from Scarborough’ hoser schtick on Much.

So now that CHUM has thrived and continues to grow in AM and FM radio, conventional television, specialties and digis, where is there left to go?

The answer comes from the digital domain. Unsurprisingly, CHUM was into new media early on, launching CHUM Television Interactive back in 1994. The kind of interactivity the Web offers is an ideal fit for a broadcaster with an open-door policy toward its viewers. CHUM offers websites for all its various TV channels, but its online initiatives extend beyond cross-promotional tie-ins with its TV properties. HabboHotel.ca, for example, is a new chat room for teenagers in an online space designed to look like a real environment.

And CHUM has embraced the next step in interactivity – wireless – with the recent launch of its MuchMusic Edition Pay-As-You-Go Phone, which allows users to vote in polls, send messages to the station, communicate with other users, and download MuchMusic video clips.

‘We see wireless as an exciting new distribution channel that adds many layers,’ says Roma Khanna, VP CHUM Interactive. ‘It is specifically designed for an audience that’s spending a lot of time on the move. We believe that youth will be the first demographic to embrace this form of entertainment, as they are tech-savvy, explorative and love to personalize their mobile phones.’

Sounds like the same line of thinking that crossed Allan Waters’ mind when he brought rock ‘n’ roll to the Toronto airwaves nearly 50 years ago.

-www.chumlimited.com