This year the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum asked a few deejays to gift them with material from their radio careers. Looking back, the most exciting time for me was working at C-FUN.

Those were the great days of Top 40. Dave McCormick created a rock and roll dynamo, but decided in late 1961 to take a job offer from the U.S. leaving the  station with a big blank spot on the air and an opening for a Program Director. I took both duties on after being hired by station manager Douglas Greig.

C-FUN was to Vancouver what CHUM was to Toronto and KJR was to Seattle.  We were the home of the C-FUN Good Guys: Frosty Forst, Dave McCormick, Al Jordan, Buzz Leboe, Jerry  Landa, Brian Lord, Tom Peacock, Cameron Bell, Daryl “B”, Terry David Mulligan, Ron Grimster, John Tanner, Fred Latremouille, Mad Mel, Roff Johannson, Ed Kargl, Andy Hall, Don Richards and the list goes on.

Dave McCormick came up with Good Guys for a satirical piece they created called The Corruptibles, a take-off on the popular TV series The Untouchables. From that novelty  disc came  the beginnings of the use of Good Guys to describe the on-air staff. The idea was copied all over North America and Chrysler picked up the slogan to describe their dealers. It was a most creative time in radio when ideas were welcome and every hour was “live”.

Most deejays had their sights on C-FUN as one of the ultimate places to work. It is an interesting story how the rock and roll C-FUN came into being. Dave McCormick was a  deejay on the station and had a show sponsored by Coca-Cola titled The Hi Fi Club. The ratings were so good he convinced management at the time to let him convert the radio station to a 24-hour rocker and take on the rather bland CKWX which had been the only Top 40 up to that time.

CKWX was old style with mature announcers who did not understand the audience they were going after. I know because when I returned from KGW/Portland I went back to CKWX only to discover they wanted to move in a different direction. They never implemented the changes while I was there and I could see the ratings moving from Burrard Street where CKWX was located across the bridge to West 4th Avenue and C-FUN.

In my hour of despair, Dave decided to leave to work with Top 40 radio innovators Bill Drake and Ron Jacobs, giving me the opportunity of a lifetime to be on the air and be program director of a winning station.

Dave had a successful career in California and then later in Seattle. Dave has been part of the broadcast scene in both countries and his contributions to the industry are legend. He returned to Vancouver in the Seventies  and took up regular on-air duties at CFMI and his creative mind put together a most memorable series titled Discumentary, a weekly show that highlighted the musical genius of the day. In recent times Dave has worked at JR Country, the former 600AM and most recently CISL.

Some of the C-FUN memorabilia I selected to go on display at the Rock Hall:

What a great honor to be a part of rock and roll history and to be featured in the museum this way.

Postscript: Dave McCormick leaves CISL

Yesterday Dave got his pink slip from CISL management. Radio sure the hell ain’t what it used to be. Dave has been a performer all his life and this is not the way to treat someone who has contributed so much. Then again the powers at corporate headquarters only look upon him as a number on a piece of paper. The rest of us thank you Dave, for great entertainment and for being a great guy.

Follow continuing comments on Dave McCormick at Vancouver radio discussion boards Radio West and Puget Sound Radio

More on C-FUN and Vancouver Top 40 radio at Jim Bower‘s fantastic site vancouvertop40radio.com