Ted Bird Gone from CHOM (Updated)

Ted Bird’s departure from CHOM is hard for a variety of reasons. The most important reason is that despite his often grumpy disposition on the air, Ted Bird was a really good guy off the air. CHOM’s annual visit to John Abbott College to do their morning show for a charity fundraiser was always a big event. Both Terry DiMonte and Ted Bird were both very enthusiastic and kind every time they did their show at the school. Ted never said no, always seemed genuinely happy to help, and was always willing to give friendly advice to people looking to enter the radio business.

There was a year where the CHOM morning show came to John Abbott and I spent a good part of the time around their makeshift studio and talked with Ted quite a bit. At the time, I was running the student radio station. I had been working on a couple of projects that would not only raise awareness for the station but also would raise money for charity. Unfortunately for one reason or another, the projects never made into beyond the drawing board. However, Ted was more than happy to try and give me some solutions to the problems that I was facing and also gave me his contact information for help. It was the last time I spoke to Ted since the projects never became more than pipe dreams and I’ve long since graduated from John Abbott.

When Terry DiMonte left CHOM a couple of years ago, I was probably one of the few people that wasn’t too overly concerned with the future of the morning show or the station in general. While Terry had done a fantastic job growing into the position of being the voice English (and quite a number of French) Montrealers woke up to in the morning, CHOM itself had developed a strong following because of its musical selection. It was the only classic rock station in Montreal and could be heard everywhere from bus drivers’ radios to the crappy speakers at the corner greasy spoon. The morning show’s ratings numbers, while still very good and better than most, had fallen since the station relaunch. So when Terry’s contract negotiations fell apart and it was announced that he was leaving the station, there were some concerns. The trio of Terry, Ted, and Kim had become a staple of Montreal mornings. Would listeners flock towards the other English outlets like Mix 96 or Q92 or maybe even switch to some of the French stations? Who would they get to fill Terry DiMonte’s shoes and how long would they last?

Rob Kemp took over the helm of the morning show, and to his credit, he did a fantastic job. The ratings didn’t plunge (which many people thought would happen) and he complimented the team nicely. I think one of the issues with Terry and Ted as a team was that often they would get upset and testy over the same thing with Kim trying to be the calm voice in the rantfest. Rob wasn’t as bitter as either Terry or Ted and it worked really well. Rob would say something, Ted would complain about it and Kim would tell him to shut up. The trio each had their own role and it worked really well. They each had their own personality.

I became worried when it was announced that Pete Marier would take over for Rob Kemp (who was moved to the afternoon slot). Pete, while not as crabby as Ted, wasn’t mild-mannered like Rob; his nickname is Bad Pete after all. The show also has taken a more edgier tone as there are more advertisements and more promotions geared towards adult males and less kid friendly. The dynamic of the morning show trio had changed and wasn’t as fluid. While Pete is a great radio host, the pairing with him, Ted, and Kim felt off.

Kim Rossi left the show in December when she moved back to Ontario and was replaced by Chantal Desjardins this past Monday. It was weird though that they decided to schedule her first day while Ted was still away on vacation. You would think that they would have relaunched the new team with all members present at the same time. You could argue that it would have been weird if it was just Pete Marier on the air Monday without another member of the team but they could have had a co-host fill in for the week. It wouldn’t have been unprecedented as the CHOM morning show has had on several occasions only one member of the trio with fill-in talent running the show for an entire week due to vacations. Although if Ted had given notice or had been fired on Monday, the station didn’t let on to it. Throughout the morning show, Pete and Chantal were hyping a contest to have a listener rename the morning show to win a vacation trip. Ted’s name was constantly being mentioned and that he was returning after his vacation.

That tone has changed since Monday. On the air today, Pete has told the audience that Ted resigned from the show. Fagstein has been following the story since yesterday and had originally written that Ted had been fired but has since changed it to him resigning. However, Fagstein appears to seem suspicious and I’m not entirely convinced it’s as clear cut as that. CHOM and Astral media have gone through a lot of work to erase Ted Bird’s name from CHOM’s site. New banner ads are up with his picture edited out. There are pictures of Pete and Chantal that are identical to those of previous banner ads with their bodies repositioned and Ted’s has been erase altogether (although there was a banner ad up on their site as of 7:30 AM with Ted still on it). His blog is gone and a video of him on the radio station’s YouTube page has been removed. Common sense would dictate that if he had resigned from the show on good terms that CHOM wouldn’t try to erase him from everyone’s minds. Although common sense would also say that he wouldn’t be leaving so abruptly if he had simply quit.

More news will break about this story and I’m guessing it’s going to be more interesting than Astral Media is going to want it to be. It’s too bad because I enjoyed listening to Ted Bird and it helped that he was on a radio station that I enjoyed listening to. Ted Bird was one of the few reasons I still listened to the station. Their musical selection has changed since their relaunch a couple of years back as a classic rock station. There’s too much “new” music now. Before, you’d rarely hear a song from the 90s. Now a good portion of the songs are from the 90s through to the present.

Which reminds me of an argument I had with the music director (whose name I can’t remember) the same day I spoke to Ted Bird at John Abbott. Radio has changed considerable since the days of WKRP in Cincinnati (yeah, it’s a fictional reference but for the most part, it was close to how radio stations were run back in the day). It used to be that the DJs would choose their music to play on air. Now the music is chosen for them and they’re given a list that tells them when the music will play and which song will be playing. I was shown one of CHOM’s playlists at the time and was immediately disappointed. I looked at the entire list of songs and promptly called shenanigans. My problem was that the set list was almost identical to a series of songs I had heard on the station the day before during one of the afternoon shows. I asked the director if the any of the hosts could change the playlist and he told me that Terry DiMonte was the only one (out of any radio host during the week) who had limited power to fiddle with the playlist. This was the day my inner Dr. Johnny Fever died.

I got pretty upset with the guy and I’m sure he wasn’t exactly happy with me. I asked how come I never hear any Pearl Jam on the station. He said that he didn’t like Pearl Jam. I countered with most musical journalists believe that Pearl Jam was one of the best, if not the best musical act from the 90s. He didn’t care and said it was up to him to decide what played on the station. That set me off because I told him that I know I heard that some people weren’t happy with the then-latest BBM ratings numbers and a good director would know when to modify the format and change the rotation of music to keep things fresh (at least as fresh as a classic rock station could be). I wasn’t talking about turning CHOM into a grunge station but playing one Pearl Jam song for every fifty Rolling Stones, The Who, and Supertramp songs would have freshened up the setlist a little. He brushed me off; probably rightfully so because I was just some kid who was studying to be a teacher and only moonlighted as a college radio station manager while he was getting paid to see his professional station fall in the ratings. For the record, Pearl Jam managed to find regular playtime on the station’s rotation but that’s because the guy is no longer the music director.

Like Peter Anthony Holder before him, Ted Bird’s departure from CHOM is a huge blow to his following because they both had a dedicated audience. Although I doubt it would happen since Ted has a family and they have rooted themselves here, I would be thrilled if Ted joined Terry in Calgary. I’d probably listen when I could through the magic of the internet.

UPDATED @ Jan 6, 7:01PM: It’s been confirmed on Fagstein’s blog that Ted Bird did resign his position. Ted did send a message to Fagstein alluding to some of the reasons why he left and also left an e-mail address for those who’d like to send him a message. I wasn’t surprised to hear why Ted left the station and it’s sad that he wasn’t happy doing the job anymore since years ago it seemed to me he was very happy doing what he was doing. Even though it’s upsetting that he’s gone, it’s probably the best for Ted, Although, some of us are going to naturally go through Ted Bird withdrawal so myself, along with many, will wait in anticipation for the next new Reno-Depot commercial.

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Montreal News

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Canada News

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Sports News

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