[DoghouseCharlie]

Welcome!

"when used in folk and bluegrass music, the instrument can also be referred to as an upright bass, standup bass, bass fiddle, ...doghouse bass, dog-house, ...or bunkhouse bass." (Wikipedia)

My father, Charlie, played the bass in a Canadian band in the 1950s hence the name!

Radio

I am reorganizing the website. You can check out the tribute to the late Jim Paulson at the new page. Click here.

Memories of FM 108 can be found here .

The Grand Ole Opry material has been moved to a sub-page of the Canadian Ranch Boys page.

As part of the re-organization, I’m grouping similar themed items on this page together.

Some photos of CJRN in 2000.

Some days its just a joy to open my inbox. Thanks so much to my friend Russ Horton who passed on these neat photographs from Rockin’ Robin McMillan. Russ and Robin are alumni of FM 108, perhaps the best station I have ever heard. Someone much smarter than me once said “Radio was the soundtrack of my life”. I discovered CING, FM108 in 1979 and was glued to it for years afterward. It WAS the soundtrack of my life for many years. It wasn’t just the music, but the people who presented it, who made the station. I’ve never felt the same loyalty to a station since, although…AM 740 comes awfully close (see below).

CHFI Studio in 1961

CHWO Studio 1960

CKEY News Studio 1961

CKFH News 1961

Frank Taylor CHWO 1960-61

Jim_Junkin_(OP)_in_1960-61.jpg

Jim Junkin, CHWO Operator 1960

Norm Perry, CKEY 1961

The Brady Line Studio

Mike Filey is looking for information about this photo. Any clues out there? Click to enlarge (Photo via Brian Smith)

CKTB 2.jpg

CKTB 11.jpg

A couple of shots of the front of the CKTB (610) building in St. Catharines. It also houses 97.7 HTZ-FM.

Craig Smith

Craig, I am pleased to say, is a friend of mine. He recently attended the 1050 CHUM open house in Toronto, where this photo was taken. Craig is a wealth of information on music and radio in Southern Ontario. Check out his website here.

Bob “Sparky” SherwinJuly 7th 1954 - May 16th 2007

All of us here at CKNS, along with his many friends in Hamilton radio are deeply saddened to report the passing of our morning show host, Bob “Sparky” Sherwin. Bob passed away peacefully 3:00 p.m. today (May 16th, 2007) at the Hamilton General Hospital, where he had been in “intensive care” since suffering a very severe heart attack last Sunday.

Bob Sherwin has been a fixture on Hamilton radio since the early 1970s. He began his career in British Columbia in the early 70s, and then, after a stop in St Catharines, he returned home to Hamilton and joined the staff of CKOC and stayed with that station for a quarter-century. From CKOC, Bob moved to CHML, and most recently to our station. He was our morning host on CKNS since we went on the air one year ago.

Those who knew Bob Sherwin know of the two great passions of his life (aside from his family of course). They were baseball (especially the Detroit Tigers) and oldies. Bob was always an enthusiastic participant in countless fun baseball games, always for the benefit of the community. Anytime you happen to hear a song from “way back when” on CKNS, you’re hearing it on our station because of Bob Sherwin.

In addition to his legions of listeners and personal friends, Bob leaves behind his wife Dawn, their young daughter Lauren, son Chris and daughter Pamela, and both his mother and his father.

Bob Sherwin was only 52 years old.

***

Cool photo taken outside Clarksville, TN (Best viewed while listening to The Monkees singing “Last Train to Clarksville”).

Hamilton, Ontario (Wartime?) CKOC 1150 was there. But what was going on? A plant seems to be falling over noticed by the guy standing on the left and one of the military guys in the background. (Click to enlarge)

Harold Sellers, Listening In Managing Editor, one of the founders and longtime board member of the Ontario DX Association, and more importantly, friend.