by jon » Tue Nov 19, 2013 6:03 pm
The guy I replaced at QM was fired for opening the mic. Oddly though, he was allowed back in the building to visit for at least the next 6 months.
Of course, he had picked the worst possible situation: he didn't have the John Avison/Maurice Foisy voice track cued up at some point during Starlight Concert, 6 classical pieces including a complete Symphony from 9-11pm nightly, simulcast on CHQM AM & FM.
Needless to say, the first thing I was lectured on when I first entered the building was NEVER opening the mic. switch under any circumstances. "Yeah, duh" was my reaction, though I never said it out loud.
Silly to lift records, as then-Librarian Jurgen Gothe would get whatever you wanted for $1.50 an LP. 45s from the discard box were free; not bad when you consider that CHQM got two copies of everything and never kept a 45 once the LP arrived or it was no longer current, whichever came first.
In fact, the only person I ever saw even take LPs home for the weekend was Jack Stark, who owned an 85% share in the station, as he was quick to point out when I first met him one Saturday afternoon. At QM, it was more likely to be the other way around, as Jurgen brought in LPs from his own jazz collection for specific shows. And got very angry at one of the full-time operators who loved jazz, and would do his own listening while eating Finger-Lickin' Good chicken and handling the LP by its grooves.