Phil Thompson returns to radio
Veteran broadcaster joins Glace Bay-based The Coast
Phil Thompson still remembers that sense of nervous anticipation that came over him just before he opened the microphone for the first time in 1976 as an announcer for CJCB radio in Sydney.
Many years later, that sense of excitement has returned as he welcomes a new opportunity in broadcasting with The Coast radio.
“I have to say it was the same feeling I got when I first started in radio because again this is an exciting new beginning and a new challenge,” Thompson said.
After 40 years as a fixture on local radio, he chose to leave the industry late last year to pursue other professional and volunteer opportunities that can come with retirement.
The Age Advantage Plus program through the Cape Breton Partnership was one of the methods he chose to upgrade his skills leading into retirement.
He said the 10-week program for those 55-plus opened his eyes to many opportunities outside of radio that he was looking forward to pursuing.
However, as he was wrapping up the program a phone call from Bill MacNeil, the general manager of The Coast, would lead him back to the broadcasting industry.
“I was looking for someone who had plenty of programming experience, knew the market really well and had the right mindset to deal with both the on-air side and the operational side,” said MacNeil.
“If you take all of Phil’s experience and you couple that with his professionalism and his demeanour, he seemed to be the perfect fit for the person that could come in to be a huge help to me.”
Besides Age Advantage, MacNeil was able to add Thompson to his staff through the Employment Nova Scotia Start program — an employer funding initiative.
A stipulation of the latter program is for the employee to learn a new skill, which for Thompson, will be in the form of program director and operations manager.
“He didn’t have the opportunity to be a program director and to lead an on-air staff and to influence some of that programming,” said MacNeil.
“It’s just a natural fit. I’m very, very excited and pleased to have him join our team.”
Over the past week, Thompson has been getting acquainted with his new surroundings and learning a little about some new roles.
Going from commercial radio to a community-based, non-profit, he has found, is very different from what he’s known, but he is enjoying it.
“What I like about this is that it is all hands on,” said Thompson. “It’s local, it’s live and there are not many doing that now. This is a different kind of radio, much like radio was back a few years ago. It is much more focused on the community.”
With some nervous anticipation, he’ll open the microphone for the first time as a Coast announcer on Monday during his familiar afternoon shift.
“It’s amazing how things can happen and the timing of things. Everything just kind of came together and right now I couldn’t be happier. It’s a new challenge.”