The End is the Beginning

CKLC used to be the coolest thing in Kingston.

I arrived here just as 1380 CKLC was starting to make its move on the big station in town, 960 CKWS. Jim Waters had just taken over the station , and was reshaping it to sound like a BIG radio station in a small city.

We were an eclectic mix of individuals. Some, like me, still weren't of legal drinking age. We had come here to prove that we knew everything about everything. Most of us planned to spend about six months at CKLC, where we'd be recognized for our genius and talent, then whisked off to a major market, where we rightfully belonged.

It took me five minutes to learn that things may not quite go that way. Just before airtime my new boss sat me down with the ground rules (and there were many). I was so nervous upon opening the microphone switch for the first time that I literally screamed out the first ten second intro. And the second. And the next one... In the blink of an eye, my personality was defined. I was not the slick, well-paced announcer from CHLO St. Thomas, who could professionally introduce and backsell songs with list upon list of relevant, hard to find information about the artists.

No...I was now "Screamin' Jim Elyot." My parents would be so proud. Some (until now) hidden facet of my personality exploded onto the air every night. I was loud, rude, and lascivious. Mostly loud.

It took years of, well, ageing for my style to tone down. Five more years of being on the best Top 40 station in Canada, 680 CFTR squeezed even more style into my shows.

A lot is said about how great radio used to be. People bring up names from the past. Mostly djs who weren't known so much for what they said, but "how" they said it. Great big voices with far-too-easy-to-say names, who could punch out ten second intro after ten second intro.

Most of them are gone now.

Some of us managed to stay at it. I left Toronto for the more family-friendly environment of Kingston, where I had to learn very fast how to be a morning host. Eventually, the lure of management pulled me in another direction, which thankfully was ended before I became a complete *#&hole.

And here I am. Working a great show on an awesome station, and preparing for the end of another. 1380 CKLC will flip to FM at the end of this month. It's no longer the coolest thing in Kingston...unless you're one of the 60+ aged people in the main audience.

Some of the retirees I talk to now on CKLC, were in their prime when I started. I was probably that "screaming Jim Idiot" who they couldn't stand listening to, day after day after day.

Perhaps I still am.