The final stand of Edmonton’s remaining late-night radio...

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The final stand of Edmonton’s remaining late-night radio...

Postby radiofan » Wed Mar 09, 2022 6:57 pm

The final stand of Edmonton’s remaining late-night radio hosts
Author of the article:Chad Huculak Publishing date:Mar 09, 2022 •


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Pam Kirby, left, and Raj Dhami are the last two late-night radio DJs Edmonton listeners can interact with. PHOTO BY GREG SOUTHAM /Postmedia

It’s Friday night and the last human face Raj Dhami saw at work was the janitor who slipped through hours earlier.

Alone in the Now Radio building, Dhami claps his hands in glee. Minutes after pulling the mic close and asking Edmontonians for gross stories, texts and calls begin pouring in.

Dhami isn’t the only human voice you can hear broadcasting over Edmonton’s airwaves in the late evening, but he’s likely the only one asking to hear your embarrassing stories.

The days of late-night radio DJs being able to cue up “Stairway to Heaven” and run outside to enjoy a smoke have gone the way of the turntable; scan the radio dial and you’ll hear continuous music, but it’s far rarer to hear a radio host discussing a live hockey game or stirring up conversations after 7 p.m. Radio stations across Canada have increasingly relied on pre-recorded content or syndicated shows to fill the broadcast day, and Edmonton is no exception.

Now Radio is one of the last Edmonton stations, if not the only one, to have live, local hosts on the air at night. Dhami is one of them, having spent the past five years holding down the evening shift, Wednesday-Friday, 6 p.m. to midnight, with an earlier slot on the weekends.

“If you’re coming in to chill or expecting to chill, you’re at the wrong station,” says Dhami about his Now Radio show, which involves heavy amounts of listener interaction, be it through phone calls, texts or the station’s own app.

Where the famous got their start

Edmonton’s late-night radio scene was at one time a lively affair, with rival stations duelling for listeners in the hours before midnight. Back in the ‘60s and ‘70s when 630 CHED was Edmonton’s hit music radio station, its night shift DJs had legions of fans.

Former DJ “Daddy” Don Kay recalls Edmonton police foot patrol constables stopping by the studio’s downtown location during that time to warm up from frigid temperatures and chat with the night staff. Listeners were also keeping the phone lines lit up, eager to connect with the on-air personalities and express appreciation for the deeper album cuts staff were able to play late at night, eschewing the station’s Top-40 format.

Late-night radio was also seen as the training ground for aspiring hosts. Talk to practically any veteran and they’ll tell you how they cut their teeth on the graveyard shift, which has been eliminated from local airwaves for at least 10 years.

The Bear’s Yukon Jack fondly recalls his time manning the evening hours for the station in the early 2000s.

“It was the best place to learn the craft, how to be conversational,” says Yukon. “There’s a romance about (the late night), an intimacy. You were looking to chat, had time to kill and listeners and callers knew that.”

Park Warden, known to radio listeners across Alberta, relished his time hosting the off-hours.

“(It’s) freedom to do whatever you want. It was the shift to experiment, find your style, find your personality. Almost no rules,” says Warden. “You were talking on the air like you were the only person awake in the city. King of the nighttime world.”

Queen of the late-night

Late-night radio rules are a little more relaxed and allow for different conversations and music to be heard, says Pamela Kirby, who is CRUZ FM’s new late-night host as of March 8 after spending several years hosting nights at The Bear.

“You could elevate the show beyond PG-13 at certain hours,” says Kirby, who successfully pushed the program director to allow heavier music such as Pantera to be played on her show due to the number of requests from listeners. “Fun fact: Lots of listeners call in to request a song but don’t know what to request. I’d ask, ‘What do you wanna hear?’ More often than not they reply, ‘Uhhh, surprise me. You pick something out for me.’ Always made me laugh.”

From February 2016 to November 2021, Kirby held down The Bear’s 7 p.m.-midnight weekday slot. The Bear’s late-evening hosts you hear now are local, but voice-tracked: prerecorded at an earlier time. Voice-tracked programs fill the majority of Edmonton’s airwaves past 7 p.m., in addition to syndicated programs. For instance, on CBC Music Edmonton, Odario Williams holds down the late-night slot despite being based in Toronto. From out of Red Deer, Travis Currah’s nightly show is heard on Edmonton’s K-97, Stacey Thompson has a syndicated show broadcast on The Breeze and B.C.-based Ben O’Hara-Byrne hosts a nightly talk show on 630 CHED.

Read the full story at: https://edmontonjournal.com/entertainme ... 3cLK0s1iv8
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.
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