Roger Ashby signs off
After 50 years on air, his last show will be a star-studded affair
After 50 years on Toronto’s airwaves, Roger Ashby is ready to sleep in. The broadcaster is retiring from the CHUM 104.5 FM morning show.
The announcement came at 8:15 a.m. Thursday, with a collection of clips of Ashby from the past and then he shared the news. The show has included his name for decades — currently it’s Roger + Marilyn with Jamar, shared with co-hosts Marilyn Denis and Jamar McNeil.
“Well, where have the years gone? I’m here to tell you that I am retiring from the CHUM morning show.”
He thanked his wife and his long-time partner Denis, saying, “I couldn’t have done this without you.” The cast tried to keep it light, but Denis did get emotional. “You have been a great partner, I’m not saying goodbye right now, you are an amazing man,” Denis said, breaking up. “Please don’t cry,” Ashby responded and she quipped there will likely be more tears shed particularly at his final broadcast.
Ashby’s last show will be Dec. 5. It’s planned to be a star-studded affair with a live audience broadcast from the Sheraton Centre. The Star spoke exclusively with Ashby on Wednesday afternoon as he prepared to make the announcement.
“How am I feeling? I have mixed emotions. I really enjoy what I do. I’ll miss the people, but on the other hand, I am not fully retiring, I’ll be doing other things and hopefully it will bring me into the station a couple of days a week,” he said. “But I don’t have to get up at 4 o’clock in the morning. That’s kind of the big thing.”
He is probably best known as the anchor of the Roger, Rick and Marilyn show, which ran for more than 20 years. He played the hits for 16 years, and then was given the morning slot in 1985, a place he’s been ever since.
Winner of numerous broadcasting awards, Ashby was inducted into the Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame in 2010. He started his career in Hamilton, made his way to
Toronto in 1969 and has been one of most easily recognizable broadcasters in this city ever since. He started in Hamilton and worked there for a year before he made the leap to Toronto, which was a dream come true, he said.
“I was really quite amazed, because I had grown up listening to CHUM, and always wanted to work there,” Ashby said. “From the time I was 10, I used to listen to CHUM, I grew up in Brantford and Kitchener, and I was always within earshot of CHUM. I could always hear it. “
His life in radio got in the way of going to school, but things turned out pretty well.
“It feels fantastic to have achieved this, but mostly because I can’t imagine what else I’d be doing other than this, because I’m really not qualified to do anything,” he said with a laugh. “I never did go to university because the summer between high school and university, I was offered the job at Hamilton. So my parents, who had always been supportive because they knew I wanted to do this, said go ahead and do this and if it doesn’t work out you can always go back to school. I never looked back.”
He said it’s incredibly hard to sum up a career, but when asked what sticks out, he said he has a few indelible memories.
“Well, I knew you were going to ask me that, and I don’t know where to begin. What sticks out in my mind is the first time I turned the microphone on at 1050 CHUM when I started.
“My parents, who had always been supportive because they knew I wanted to do this, said go ahead and do this and if it doesn’t work out you can always go back to school. I never looked back.” ROGER ASHBY
That’s certainly a very vivid memory for me,” he said.
“I met so many people over the years. I remember working with Wolfman Jack, when CHUM would bring him up to do shows. It was my job to pick up Wolfman Jack at the airport. He was a great guy, he was so much fun. When the Rolling Stones came to the El Mocambo in 1977, I was very much a part of organizing that. So things like that.”
It’s Ashby’s easygoing nature that will probably be his trademark. He said he always loved what he did and a big part of it was the people.
“That’s another thing you can’t fake, the camaraderie. You never know who you end up working with in any business, but if you don’t get along with them, it makes it difficult for everybody.”
His on-air partnership with Denis is one that has been special since they first met.
“We were searching for a female voice to add to the show, and we interviewed a hundred different women, who primarily were actresses, because there weren’t a lot of (women) in radio in the mid 80s. And the actresses could act, but they couldn’t be real. When we auditioned them, there was no connection,” he said. “We kind of gave up, and Marilyn came into town and my boss said, ‘Well, let’s try one more audition.’ And I tell you, I instantly knew. As soon as we sat down, we just started talking and I knew that this was the one. I’ve said it a number of times, she is like the sister I never had, and I’m like the brother she never had. We clicked right away. So she came in ’86 and we’ve been together 32 years,” he said.
As for how the listeners will react, Ashby plays a little coy. “Well, I don’t know, I hope they wish me well,” he said.
“I think some people have kind of anticipated it, with the arrival of Jamar, who works with us. I think some people have seen it as an evolution. You know, I have been around for a long time, so I don’t think a lot of people will be surprised,” he said. “But, yes, it’s amazing, it’s incredible, the time has flown by so quickly. If somebody had told me 50 years ago that I’d still be doing it, I’d have told them they were crazy.”