19 July 1999

That Radio Thing - THE COMMENTARY

By Joseph Planta

I had been extremely critical of the management at radio station CKNW, during their axing spree a while back, where they axed several popular radio personalities. Among those sadly cut were Fanny Keifer, Joy Metcalfe, and Jack Cullen. I have been a fan of Jack Cullen’s Owl Prowl, which has been a fixture at that station for 53 years. Cullen did a radio nostalgia program that has been praised by many. I was personally at a loss, because Cullen’s program introduced me to many aspects of show business, for which I have become fans of. Gutting Cullen left CKNW robbed of a great personality and a great source of history, the history of that very station CKNW. I had registered my anger at these firings, taking it as far as their website’s guestbook.

The firings aside, I took great offense when in Jack’s weekend timeslot they inserted Rich Elwood. Elwood is a hack comic who did the weekend latenight show for about 2 years called The Weekend Thing. I didn’t like him then, and I can’t stand him now. He’s the most annoying, ill-informed and utterly un-funny host, something most puzzling because he claims to be a comic. The Weekend Thing is painful to listen to. In the weekend evening slot, he’s heard to drone on about the most un-interesting topics, topics ripped straight from the headlines. He tries to fill in the lack of callers by trying tacky comedy bits or going on about stuff that he’s most interested by trying to force feed us into liking what he likes, hating what he hates. Elwood, is most boring and the worst person to have occupy the ‘NW schedule. To let the expertise of Fanny Keifer, the popularity of Sterling Faux, the charm of Joy Metcalfe, and the all-around know-how of Jack Cullen, go and have a hack radio host like Rich Elwood on the air, is abhorrent to the great legacy and history of CKNW. Why he’s on and they’re not, is simple, he’s far far more cheaper than any of them. Putting him on, no matter how dismal his ratings are is, because on weekend evenings, ‘NW doesn’t care who they’ve got on, because no one’s there anyways to listen. And with Elwood on, there shouldn’t be anyone listening at all.

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