CKNW Roving Mic

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CKNW Roving Mic

Postby radiofan » Fri Jun 17, 2011 9:02 pm

NW's Roving Mike was a must-listen-to feature with more than 15,000 shows

Image

Bill Fox (left) as ‘Barometer Bill’ with Bill Hughes in 1948
Courtesy Chuck Davis/Top Dog



By Grant Granger - New Westminster News Leader
Published: June 16, 2011 12:00 PM
Updated: June 16, 2011 12:06 PM


For 45 years Bill Hughes did something parents tell their kids not to do. He talked to strangers.

It turns out almost all of them were friendly. Hughes broadcast more than 15,000 Roving Mike shows on CKNW that aired six times a week from 8:45 to 9 a.m. Most frequently he would climb aboard tour buses or those headed out of town and just begin asking questions.

The show was originally started by NW’s first owner, Bill Rea. In 1949, Hughes realized the real money in radio was in sales and not as an announcer so he asked Rea if he could switch. Rea said if Hughes would do Roving Mike he could sell time in the Fraser Valley.

“Little did I know we were transmitting 1,000 watts from Queensborough and we really weren’t being heard in the Fraser Valley. But I went out there and they supported me,” says Hughes.

He did it in many different places, including the bus terminal at the Royal Towers Hotel and ferry terminals.

“It doesn’t work at the airport. They’re in a different mood, they’re tense they’re rushing. But everyone can relate to being on a bus,” says Hughes.

“I was amazed at how oblivious people were to a microphone. They would say things to a microphone that I couldn’t believe.”

At one time, he tried to do it with television but the interviewees froze when the cameras were turned on so the idea was abandoned.

Most of the time the show was a light, breezy way to start people’s day. However, sometimes not everything went smoothly.

One time Hughes talked to a farmer from Saskatchewan. Being the smart aleck that he can be, and since it was harvest time, Hughes asked him, “Shouldn’t you be back home bringing in the sheaves?”

“No, I have 17 kids doing it for me, 14 by my first wife and three by this,” the farmer replied pointing his thumb to the embarrassed woman next to him sinking in her seat.

Hughes then asked him how old he was and the farmer said he was 70.

“So if you’re that old and have 17 kids working on the farm what do you do when you’re at home?”

“Sonny, I just sit around and pull my wire.”

Hughes was mortified. “It killed me.” Of course, back at the station the operator kept the tape and it’s still played at gatherings of NW alumni.

Another time, Hughes got on the bus and asked a passenger, “What’s your name?”

“Bill Hughes,” he replied.

“That’s my name. You’re Bill Hughes, then Bill Hughes where do you live?”

“I live in Vancouver.”

He moved onto the next guy, and surprise, surprise that man says his name is Bill Hughes. Turns out there were three more Bill Hughes aboard. “I was speechless.”

Bill Hughes was their real name, but someone had arranged to get them together to pull a joke on Hughes.

That wasn’t the only time he was a victim of a Roving Mike prank. One Saturday morning, Hughes was teeing it up at the Vancouver Golf Club in Coquitlam and noticed NW talk show host Jack Webster on the balcony with someone, but didn’t think much of it. Two days later he got on a bus and began interviewing a woman with a thick Russian accent who said her name was Svetlana.

She says to Hughes, “What are you doing after the show?” He replies, “I have to go back to the work. What do you do for a living?”

And she’s says, “I’m a prostitute.”

“That’s when the light went on and I recognized her,” says a sheepish Hughes. “Webster had arranged the whole thing. I was really had.”

ggranger@newwestnewsleader.com

http://www.bclocalnews.com/greater_vanc ... 15894.html

Click Here to listen to the 15,000th Roving Mic Show from 1994
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.
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