Radio pioneer dead at 84

TORONTO — Allan Waters, the Canadian broadcasting pioneer who founded CHUM Ltd., died this weekend. He was 84.

Waters was Toronto-based CHUM’s president and chairman until late 2002. His sons, Jim Waters and Ron Waters, succeeded him as chairman and vicechairman, respectively.

Waters retired from the company’s board in October, ending a decadeslong career in broadcasting, and was named an honorary director.

“First of all, he was a wonderful dad. And secondly, he was obviously my mentor. I think he taught my brother and I about treating the people well and that they were the most important asset that we had at CHUM and he never wavered on that,” Jim Waters said Sunday.

Waters’ involvement in the industry was hardly limited to the corporation he founded — he also served as president of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, president of Central Canada Broadcasters Association, founding chairman of the Radio Sales Bureau and director of CTV Television Network.

He also received a series of honours recognizing his contribution, including the Ted Rogers Sr.- Velma Rogers Graham Award, the Radio- Television News Directors’ Association’s President’s Award and the CAB’s Gold Ribbon Award for Broadcast Excellence.

Waters, who died in Toronto, was also the first broadcaster to be honoured with the Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award for contributions to the Canadian music industry, and was inducted into the CAB Broadcast Hall of Fame, the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame.

He also fostered philanthropy within the company, with the founding of the CHUM Charitable Foundation, which provides funding to various charities and social-services agencies.

Waters laid the groundwork for taking CHUM from a small company to a nationwide media group with radio and television stations across the country.

The company got its start in 1954, when it purchased Toronto radio station CHUM- AM, known as 1050 Chum. The station was originally launched in 1945. About three years after it purchased the station, it was reformatted and made it into Canada’s first Top 40, 24-hour rock station, according to the company’s website.

“I think switching it to Top 40 was a milestone in Canadian radio, certainly,” Jim Waters said Sunday, adding his father “believed that there was something here and he stuck with it and it worked.”

As acquisitions continued, CHUM became a publicly traded company on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 1967. With access to public capital markets, CHUM continued buying radio and television stations.

The company’s prominence continued to grow in the late 1970s and early 1980s — the period during which it purchased Citytv and launched MuchMusic, Canada’s first 24-hour music specialty station.

Today, CHUM is one of the country’s leading media companies, with about 3,000 employees. It owns and operates 33 radio stations, 12 local television stations and 21 specialty channels, including Bravo!, CablePulse24 and Space. Through international licences and program sales, CHUM’s content is seen in more than 130 countries around the world.

Waters was born Aug. 11, 1921, served in the Second World War as a radar mechanic and worked in the pharmaceutical industry before buying his first radio station.

In recalling what he learned from his father, Jim Waters also said “he taught me to be a gentleman, he taught me to care about my family, because that was No. 1 for him always, and you know what? If someone can leave you with a few things like that, then that’s pretty special.”

Waters is survived by his wife, Marjorie, two sons and a daughter, Sherry Bourne.

A private funeral service will be held for the family and a public memorial will be held on Wednesday in Toronto.

CanWest News Service