Denise Donlon joined CHUM in 1985 as a host/producer for MuchMusic. She moved up the ranks to the role of VP and GM of Much in 1997, and helped launch MuchMoreMusic the following year. She left in 2000 for the post of president of Sony Music Canada, which she recently departed after Sony’s merger with BMG Canada.

Two things really stand out for me from my time at CHUM. One was its inclusiveness. The line ‘Everyone’s welcome, everyone belongs’ was not something simply for print (or CRTC hearings) – it was the way the place simply worked.

Diversity was very much encouraged, enabled and ultimately woven into the very fabric of the place: women in nontraditional roles, people with hyphenated names on camera, physically challenged persons maneuvering the halls and exotic accents reading the news.

I remember the first time we at MuchMusic entered a float in the Toronto Gay Pride Parade. We were the first-ever broadcaster to do so. I was personally targeted with death threats, but CHUM stood behind me and helped me be brave. It was a celebration of the human rainbow, and we believed, heart and soul, that our community was an inclusive one.

There are so many examples of that idea in action – Ron Waters was one of the first corporate leaders I’m aware of in Canada that endorsed same-sex benefits in our health package.

The other thing that stood out at CHUM was media literacy. Our early attempts to demystify the media – from not hiding the cables on air to the no studio/no bums in seats approach at the MuchMusic Video Awards – was all very much about tearing down the wall between the broadcaster and the viewer.

From my own involvement with Too Much for Much and the Intimate and Interactive specials to Father John Pungente’s analysis of movies, and many other examples in between, I think the CHUM group has been a pioneer in helping viewers see the wizard behind the curtain and encouraging the audience to challenge, engage and, hopefully, demand transparency from their media.

My time there was a ‘fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants,’ ‘produce-it-on-a-dime,’ ‘harness-the-energy,’ ‘damn-the-torpedoes’ kind of experience that I doubt I would ever have found in any other broadcast environment.

Long may CHUM shine.