Rock Radio Scrapbook

AIRCHECK OF THE WEEK
For week of July 25, 2010
Weekly issue #590

Subject: TOM RIVERS MONTAGE
Stations: CHUM, CFTR, CJEZ Toronto, KYA San Francisco
Date: Various
Time: 12:13

(Photos courtesy Doug Thompson)

(Description by Doug Thompson)

There’s a very good reason Tom Rivers is a member of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame – and it isn’t because he died way too young either.

It’s simply because he was one of the best. His witty, and often times outrageous record intros and backsells endeared him to millions of listeners, whether it was in Detroit/Windsor, Toronto, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Edmonton, Calgary or Anchorage, Alaska (some of the cities where Tom worked on air). Listeners loved his anti establishment, anti management attitude, even if station executives didn’t. Tom was fired from 1050 CHUM at least 4 times (once on his birthday), but brought back 5. Even his legendary voice tracks (where he’d have conversations several times an hour with CHUM’s afternoon traffic person, Amber Payie) fooled a couple of long time, very savvy broadcasters who thought Tom was actually live in the control room (he wasn’t.)

A native of Newberry, Michigan and one tall son-of-a-gun (6’ 8",) Tom quickly made his mark in radio. In a couple of markets, he was known as Mike Rivers, but it was as Tom Rivers that Toronto came to love the guy who loved wearing his cowboy hat everywhere. 1050 CHUM, Talk 640, EZ Rock, CKFM, CFTR and AM740 were all host to Tom’s on-air antics at one time or another.

This montage, which runs just over 12 minutes, took many hours to create. I had to listen to dozens of Tom’s airchecks and find just the right bit. Hear how Tom handles a 1050 CHUM contest caller who obviously wasn’t paying attention. There’s an "Unfriendly Giant" episode from his CFTR days, a couple of bits from his first day at 680 in January of 1983, and an intro or two from his time in San Francisco, but for the most part, it’s Tom doing what he did best – having fun on the radio.

I first met Tom at CHUM. We remained friends and a few years later, when I was doing a lot of work in LA and Tom was at K100, we’d grab dinner at The Smokehouse in Toluca Lake or go fishing at Big Bear Lake on weekends. Later, when Tom moved to San Francisco, he called me in Toronto and said he’d created a new radio series and would I like to do some voices for it. Hell yah. I flew into San Francisco a bunch of times and we recorded the Star Wars parody Tom called "Omega Flats" in the KFRC production studios. Tom played the Zeta Ranger and I was Crusty, a crusty old gas station attendant on a far away asteroid.

It’s a cliché really, but there’ll never be another Tom Rivers. I just wish the real Tom was still around, defying management as usual and entertaining the hell out of rest of us.

Thanks Tom. Damn, how we miss you.

Enjoy the Tom Rivers montage here.

(The Doug Thompson Collection)

Produced by Doug Thompson

More from Doug Thompson's Production Corner here!

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