RIP Burt Decaire

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RIP Burt Decaire

Postby mccrady » Thu Apr 27, 2017 9:03 am

It's a little late, but I received a phone call yesterday from Roy Lavalley advising me of the passing on March 24th of Burt Decaire, who got his start as a high schooler at CJAT in Trail back in the 60s, subsequently worked there as an announcer full-time and later became the sports director at CKEK in Cranbrook. He was one of those guys who never worked in a major market but certainly made his mark where he was.

Newspage coverage can be found at: http://www.cranbrooktownsman.com/our-to ... oadcaster/

His obituary is on line at: http://www.mcphersonfh.com/obituaries/Burton-Decaire/
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Re: RIP Burt Decaire

Postby jon » Thu May 04, 2017 8:18 am

Here is his Sign-Off in Broadcast Dialogue this morning:
Burt Decaire, 76, Mar. 24 in Cranbrook. Decaire’s radio career began at CJAT-AM Trail in the 1960s. He joined the staff at EK Radio in Cranbrook in the early 1970s as sports director. While Decaire did a regular DJ shift, hundreds of on-location broadcasts and voiced thousands of commercials, he’s best remembered as a long-time voice for the Western International Hockey League, doing play-by-play and colour for hundreds of games for the Cranbrook Royals and Kimberley Dynamiters, as well as the KIJHL’s Cranbrook Colts. In the 1970s, Burt was also the author of a popular sports column in the Kootenay Advertiser entitled “Dak’s Diggings,” a nickname used by his close friends. His passion for sports led him to form and manage the Media Maulers fastball team, originally a combination of radio and newspaper employees, who played in the Cranbrook Men’s Bush League. Decaire retired from radio in 2002.
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Re: RIP Burt Decaire

Postby jon » Thu May 04, 2017 12:22 pm

Burt was gone by the time that I arrived at CJAT at the beginning of May 1972.

I was never told any exact dates, but it sounded to me like CJAT-AM had been completely re-worked within the year preceding my arrival. Dave Glover, and as much CBC programming as possible, were moved to CJAT-FM, and CJAT-AM became a full-time Top 40 station, with the exception of the remaining blocks of CBC programming, and one or two paid religious programs on the weekend.

Only thing missing was an all night show, but both the AM and FM stayed on the air until 1:00 a.m., and signed on 5:30 (or perhaps 5:00) a.m. each morning. FM was simulcast from midnight until mid-afternoon.

Despite making good money selling spots on AM, there were no commercials after 6:00 p.m. on either station. Dave Glover sold spots on FM for $1.50 each.
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