CHUM Ltd. is not about to change hands despite the death last month of its founder and majority shareholder Allan Waters, according to company president and CEO Jay Switzer.

‘The Waters family has communicated to each and every person [at CHUM], either in person or writing, their commitment that we carry on building this great company and that we do so in his memory and honor,’ Switzer tells Playback. ‘[Waters’ passing] doesn’t change anything.’

Talk of CHUM being acquired, perhaps by a rival such as Astral Media or Corus Entertainment, picked up after Waters died and, also last month, after BCE sold its stake in Bell Globemedia, leading pundits to wonder if a wave of media takeovers was coming. Waters was reportedly opposed to selling.

At the time of his death, Waters owned 87% of CHUM’s voting shares, which will likely be divided among his family, according to a spokesperson, including his sons and company execs Jim and Ron Waters.

Allan Waters died of natural causes at the age of 84 on Dec. 3.

Before building his radio and television empire, Waters served with the Royal Canadian Air Force as a wireless radar mechanic in the Second World War, and worked as an insurance clerk for a time. It wasn’t until 1954 that he founded CHUM Ltd., with his acquisition of a Toronto radio station, turning 1050 CHUM into the country’s first Top-40 24-hour music channel.

The success of the AM station led to the purchase of other radio and, eventually, television entities. CHUM entered the TV market by becoming the majority shareholder of CBC affiliate CKVR-TV Barrie in 1968, a year after going public on the TSE.

In 1981, Waters purchased Toronto UHF station Citytv from Phyllis Switzer (mother of Jay Switzer), Moses Znaimer and others. Two years later, Jay, the future president, was hired as a City program director. Waters made an immediate impression on Switzer.

‘I used to say that when I grow up I want to have half the common sense that Allan Waters has,’ says Switzer. ‘If he couldn’t distill an idea down to a couple of key paragraphs on a piece of paper, it was too complicated. It had to make intuitive sense.’

Waters kept life simple, and was known to leave work every day at 5:30 p.m. sharp, but pioneered round-the-clock and round-the-world programming, first with low-cost but internationally popular shows such as FashionTelevision and The New Music, and later in the nascent market for specialty services with channels such as MuchMusic and Bravo! CHUM Ltd. is worth nearly $1 billion.

Waters served as president and two-time chair of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, receiving its Gold Ribbon for lifetime achievement in broadcasting in 1993.

‘His success will be measured not only in the exceptional success of his broadcast enterprises, but also for the work he did in his communities, and in the number of people in our industry for whom he has provided enduring insight and guidance over his 50-plus-year career,’ said current CAB president and CEO Glenn O’Farrell in a statement.

Waters earned his place in Canadian broadcast history through calculated risk, and balked at the idea that chance played a role.

‘Business is funny,’ Waters said in the book The CHUM Story: From the Charts to Your Hearts by Allen Farrell. ‘People say, ‘Oh, you were lucky.’ Well, I have a favorite saying: I don’t think there’s such a thing as luck. One way to make your own breaks is to do things fairly and properly.’

Waters’ funeral was held on Dec. 7 in Toronto. He is survived by his wife of more than 50 years, Marjorie, his children Jim, Ron and Sherry, and their families.