A Radio Producer's Tribute To The Late Bruce Williams

[radio guy]

Bruce Williams R.I.P.

Last year, on the date of February 22, 2012, I logged onto the website of the all-news radio station
in Vancouver and was shocked to read in one of the headlines that a friend of mine had died.
According to the story, one of the station's longtime traffic reporters, a man named Bruce Williams,
had passed away unexpectedly after battling colon cancer. To most people who knew him, Bruce
Williams was the guy with the velvet voice who did the traffic reports on the ones on CKWX
News1130. But to me he was so much more than that. To me, Bruce Williams was the individual
who helped me achieve my most glorious moments in the radio industry.

I worked as a producer recording spots and shows for radio stations in Vancouver for a few years.
In fact, if you were to ask me what my vocation is I'd tell you I'm a radio producer. I started out
around 1990 working as a board operator at CHQM AM and FM and CFUN, which were all owned
by the same company at the time, and it was at QM that I started working in radio station recording
studios. When QM announcer Brian Brenn decided to leave to become the General Manager at
1040 on the AM dial he offered me the staff producer position at his station, which I accepted
without hesitation.

One of my duties at AM1040 was recording a weekly one-hour oldies show for local big band
leader Dal Richards. Dal had celebrity guests on his show every week who I got to meet, including
in one instance a young Michael Bublé who was a rising sensation in the local club scene. To this
day I'm extremely grateful to Brian Brenn for considering me for the AM1040 job because not only
did it give me invaluable experience in the radio industry, but it also led to my next job which was
even better than that one.

A woman named Jennifer Priest, a DJ at the soft rock station 97 Kiss FM (now Jack FM), was
doing some voice-over work at AM1040 and she mentioned to me that one of the producers at Kiss
was leaving. She told me they were looking for someone to fill his place and she suggested I apply
for the job if I was interested. Of course I was interested. Kiss FM was owned by the mighty
Rogers Communications, a Canadian institution involved in all kinds of different media -- cable,
television, video rentals, cell phones, print, Internet, you name it -- and they also owned a chain of
radio stations that spanned the nation. A job with Rogers would be a monumental leap in my career.
Plus, other than my stint at QM FM, I'd been exclusively doing single-channel mono production for
the AM station I was at, whereas at Kiss FM it would be full-blown two-channel stereo production
which is way more prestigious for a producer and something I desperately wanted to add to my
résumé. You bet I was interested. Extremely interested.

Jennifer gave me the name of the Program Director at Kiss FM, a gentleman named Dale Buote, and
I contacted him and he said he was willing to accept my application for the job. So I put together a
demo tape of a handful of commercials I'd produced and drafted up a résumé and reported to
Rogers' Ash Street broadcast center for an interview. I practically begged Dale for the position, I
simply had to get it, and my enthusiasm paid off. After a couple of nail-biting weeks waiting for
word, I was finally informed that they were going to try me out as a producer at the twin Vancouver
radio stations Kiss FM and News1130.

One of the primary things that defines the coolness of a radio station, be it a music format or a talk
format, is the station's own on-air promotional material, which is referred to internally as promos and
IDs. It's in these “ads” for the radio station where the producer really gets a chance to shine. The
promos and IDs help set the tone of the station and the cooler they sound, the cooler the radio
station sounds.

The announcer who does the voice-overs for the promos and IDs is often one individual who acts
as the singular “voice” of the radio station. When I was hired at Kiss FM and News1130, an
announcer named Bruce Williams, a veteran who'd been soldiering in the trenches of radio for years,
was handling the promos and IDs for both stations. Bruce was doing traffic reports on News1130
every ten minutes, but part of his job also involved voicing commercials. That was how it worked at
all of the radio stations I was employed at. Other than the star jocks and talk show hosts who only
endorsed products or services when paid to, the regular DJs were obligated to voice spots if asked
to and in my experience were always very willing to do so. I assume it was part of their employment
contract. When I had a script that I wanted Bruce to put his voice to I would let him know between
his traffic reports and at the conclusion of his on-air shift he would come to my recording studio
and record the material. It was understood by station management that, other than in rare
exceptions, Bruce was to be used only for station promos.

When I started at Kiss FM, the station was going full tilt with tons of contests and giveaways and in
1998 they upped the ante on their already stellar contests by implementing their biggest contest ever,
a colossally huge promotion called “The Phrase That Pays” in which the station was giving away a
lump sum prize of an astounding $97,000 cash. To win a prize during this “Phrase That Pays”
campaign, when a DJ placed a random call to someone from the phone book the person had to
answer their phone not with “hello” but with the expression “I love Kiss FM!” which had only been
revealed on the air.

This monster of a promotion was the brainchild of legendary radio executive Chuck McCoy who
was the General Manager at Kiss FM and News1130 at the time. If ever there was a star GM, it was
McCoy. He had the Midas touch. There was tangible magic that could be felt within the walls of
Rogers' Ash Street broadcasting complex when I was working there and the reason was solely
because of him. McCoy wasn't one of those invisible GMs who's rarely seen and doesn't take part
in the day-to-day functions of the station. He was totally hands-on, he knew what sounded good,
and he was constantly tweaking the station's sound to improve it. In fact, many of the promo
scripts I produced for his “Phrase That Pays” contest he actually wrote himself and hand-delivered
to me directly in my studio a few times. He was a revered leader who inspired you to give nothing
less than your all and I'll never forget the rousing speeches he gave at the monthly employee
luncheons. Incidentally, McCoy, who always reminded me of the famous Hollywood producer
Richard D. Zanuck (Jaws, The Sting) with his bronze perma-tan and stylish suits, was inducted into
the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame in 2008 in a lavish ceremony hosted by Lawrence Gowan
in recognition of his illustrious contributions to the radio industry throughout his career. And rightly
so. He truly was the Real McCoy.

From what I understand, this $97,000 jackpot was unprecedented in radio, there had never been a
cash prize so large, and it probably still is. However, as ostentatiously showy as it might sound, it
wasn't that unusual a promotion for Rogers who are known for going big with everything they get
involved in. Keep in mind too, this was in the exuberant halcyon days of the '90s when the dot com
craze was sending stock markets to record highs and property values were soaring. Everything was
big, big, big. In the theaters Armageddon, Saving Private Ryan and the Godzilla remake were
rocking the shit out of audiences; Planet Hollywood and Hard Rock Cafes were opening up all over
the place; and massive-sounding Cher, Celine Dion and Aerosmith hits were conquering the
airwaves. The rule at the time was: We don't care what you give us, just as long as it's gigantic.

Accordingly, the prosperity that was going on everywhere was reflected in the exciting stuff being
heard on the radio. And believe me, there was some very exciting stuff on the air in those days. I
love talk radio, to me talk show hosts are like rock stars, and personalities like Howard Stern and
Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Laura were exploding into the mainstream and enjoying the greatest
popularity they'd ever had and ever would have. As well, phenomenal new talk show hosts were
popping up on the dial almost every week. Even at Kiss FM, the famous Vancouver radio team of
Fred and Cathy (Fred Latremouille and Cathy Baldazzi) were doing the morning show and an up-
and-coming talker named Rhona Raskin was doing this ultra-racy sex-talk show in the evening.
Radio was hotter than ever. It was an unbelievable time to be working in the industry.

Since there was so much emphasis on contest promotion at Kiss FM, including this monstrous
“Phrase That Pays” campaign, I wanted to produce material that was, at the very least, on a par with
other stations in the market. I was listening to competing stations very closely to hear what their
producers were doing and in Vancouver, as in all major markets, there's a very high standard to the
quality of radio production.

The centerpiece of the studio I was working out of at Rogers' Ash Street broadcasting headquarters
was this great big eight-track analog recorder, an Ampex if I recall correctly, that used one-inch tape
and sounded superb. It always amazed me how warm and rich things sounded when recorded on
that machine; the sound could not be duplicated anywhere else. Nonetheless, I felt that I should
have the same digital editing capabilities that I suspected all the other stations had. My studio was
almost entirely analog, whereas by this time digital had become the norm. So on my own I went out
and purchased a top-of-the-line Mac-based Pro Tools digital recording system and set up a $30,000
studio at home which gave me the option of doing elaborate audio manipulation if a project called
for it.

As well, in the classified ads in the back of radio trade magazines you could order these cassette
compilations of promos and IDs from radio stations all over the United States so I sent away for a
bunch of those and studied the production techniques in order to emulate the sound in my own
work. Also, I bought a few sound effects CDs that would add some ear candy to the stuff I was
producing too.

So how did all this apply to Bruce? Here's how. When I recorded him, instead of having him read
the scripts all the way through from beginning to end as I did with most other announcers, I had him
record them line by line onto a digital audio tape, starting with the first line and not moving on until
he'd nailed the line with two or three versions I was happy with. Then, once we were done
recording, I'd take the digital audio tape home and load Bruce's takes into my Pro Tools system and
select the choice takes from which I would compile a complete version of the script on the
computer. It did take a little longer to do it this way and I was a bit fanatical about it, but it was well
worth it in terms of what ended up on the radio. And when Bruce sounded good in the promos on
the radio, he made me sound good as a producer, so it was a perfect relationship for both of us. I
was exceedingly fortunate to have had a voice-over announcer as professional and talented as him to
work with at the time. In fact, I had Bruce sounding so slick he even got hired to voice the promos
and IDs for a station in Winnipeg, which I produced for him. Let me tell you, we were definitely on
a roll.

I got to record a few big name announcers on the scene when I was working in the Vancouver radio
market, most notably David Kaye and Jim Conrad, the two mega-hot voice-over guys who did the
IDs for the city's two rock stations, and in my opinion Bruce was right up there with them in terms
of what he was capable of. Bruce had an incredible set of pipes on him. His voice sounded like a
finely-tuned brass instrument. And he was as humble as he was gifted. He was raw talent with zero
ego. And Bruce's humility and lack of ego was great for me as a producer because it made it very
easy to give him direction. Bruce was super-eager to please and would devote as much time as
necessary to getting the takes precisely the way I wanted them right down to the exact inflections,
nuances, articulations, enunciation and energy level of the words he was reading. He was a total
pro. I admit, I was painstakingly exacting in the way I produced him in the studio, but the wonderful
thing about Bruce was, where most announcers would have told me to get lost, Bruce patiently went
along with my recording style without a word of complaint.

Another reason Bruce and I worked so well together was because we were friends. It was always a
pleasure to have him in the studio. I remember he'd run into some difficulties with Revenue Canada
and one time he asked me if he could use the phone in the studio because he had to call the tax
collector he was dealing with. I said sure and as he picked up the receiver he looked at me and said,
“I'll show you how to deal with these guys, take a listen to this.” He then placed the call and I just
sat there with a big grin on my face listening to him sweet-talk the pants off some Revenue Canada
prick like the devil himself with that dulcet, baritone voice of his. Man, it was beautiful!

And Bruce could sing too! Yes sing! I recollect another time he was sitting on the stool in the
recording booth and I slid a Frank Sinatra disc into the CD player and piped My Way into his
headphones and he immediately started crooning along with Frank with that deep, booming voice of
his like he was performing in a nightclub. He sounded absolutely marvelous! And after he'd sung
the song he was in a great mood for recording. I also hung out with Bruce at a few station social
events and he was just as much the gallant gentleman outside of the station as he was inside.

But while Bruce was completely lacking in ego, the same couldn't necessarily be said about me. I
remember I used to get so high listening to the tremendous work Bruce and I were doing on the
radio. I was really into home theater at the time and I'd purchased an elaborate surround sound
system and on Friday nights when my wife was out I used to sit at home in the living room in the
dark with the lights out ego-tripping like a maniac to my work on Kiss FM. Man, I was on cloud
nine. I thought I was Mutt Lange! My Mazda MX-3 had a killer sound system in it as well and I
loved listening to my stuff in the car too. Heady times!

Like Kid Rock sings about “going platinum” in his song Devil Without A Cause, that's exactly what
happened at Kiss FM. Chuck McCoy's “The Phrase That Pays” contest propelled Kiss to the
highest ratings in the station's history. It was an unparalleled period for all involved. Everybody
came through brilliantly. McCoy had a solid team working under him who all functioned in sync to
make remarkable things happen, and a crucial member of that team was Bruce. As the voice
promoting McCoy's “The Phrase That Pays” contest, and all of the other contests on the air, not
only did Bruce make me sound good as a producer, he made the station and those in charge sound
good too.

It was during that period of intensive radio production that I took my skills as a radio producer to
the limit. I experienced so many peak radio moments producing promos at Kiss FM and News1130
in that mid to late '90s period. And Bruce was my star. With his invaluable help I was able to
achieve some of my most momentous moments in radio. That's one of the reasons why his death
hit me so hard. In my heart of hearts I'd always hoped, perhaps unrealistically, that one day there
might be a reunion of all of the players where we would all pick up where we left off and soar to
glorious heights again like we had back then. But, sadly, with Bruce gone that can't happen now.
The reality is, what took place back then was the result of a million different unique circumstances
converging all at once and then suddenly going supernova in a most spectacular way and it can
never be reproduced.

[cart_machine]

A lovely memory of Bruce. He used to belt out Mack the Knife at CHRX Christmas parties.

Bruce cared about his family to the end and his passing was a real shock to the people who had worked with him and known him since the days he was a high schooler who really wanted to break into the radio business.

cArtie.

[hagopian]

Working at KISS-FM and with Bruce - as one of my Traffic wizards, was truly wonderful.

Thanks for the words about a humble, talented friend - who left us bereft at his passing.

I've met a ton of nice people in the business, but Bruce was special. He was always kind and patient and funny...and worked hard.

He was a man that took immense pride in his work and CKWX.