Original CHED Building demolished

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Original CHED Building demolished

Postby freqfreak2 » Sat Apr 27, 2019 2:36 pm

For those moving up in the business back in the day, working at Edmonton's CHED likely seemed to be a greener pasture.

Now the land where the original CHED building used to be is going to be a green space.

Alberta Blue Cross owns the land the building sits on, and some accountant probably figured it was cheaper to pay for simple lawn care than maintain an aging structure that was as empty as its future.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-blue-cross-edmonton-1.5113531

Note that the CBC article mourns the passing of a restaurant, and the fact that it was the custom-built home of a radio station that once owned a 40 per cent (some say 60) market share seems to have been forgotten.

But that's the trouble with history. There's no one around to remember it ... with the possible exception of Bob Layton and Bryan Hall who each have had a radio career at CHED that lasted longer than the building on 107th Street.

One would wonder if a plaque or something should be installed.

Here's my suggestion:

March 1954 to April 2019.

On this site once stood the legendary radio station 630 CHED, where Bob Layton redefined the pronunciation of the word "murrrrrrrder," where Bryan Hall first met his weather guy, where Eddie Keen warned listeners twice-daily that the story he was about to tell would make them sick, where Russ Campbell bashed fellow jock Len Theusen on the back of the head with a telephone receiver, where Rob Christie got charged by police after airing the sounds of gunshots followed by screams on April Fool's Day, and where Wes Montgomery and Chuck Chandler used to go to work in the mornings after partying all night.


Now that's history worth remembering.
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Re: Original CHED Building demolished

Postby paterson » Sat Apr 27, 2019 4:43 pm

Does anyone have any photos of the building when CHED was there and how long ago did they move out? They likely had some decent sized studios if it was built in 1954 to house the station. Wonder if any local TV news reported on the demo?
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Re: Original CHED Building demolished

Postby jon » Sat Apr 27, 2019 4:51 pm

Well, a park is better than what was announced when Blue Cross bought the building in 2008:
"Alberta Blue Cross will be using this property for employee parking....Over the longer term, this property provides a potential expansion site for Alberta Blue Cross as it is next door to our existing office buildings."
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Re: Original CHED Building demolished

Postby jon » Sat Apr 27, 2019 5:02 pm

CHED left the Downtown building in late 1982, based on a December 1982 Edmonton Journal article on the station going AM Stereo, the second Canadian station to do so.

The article contains an interesting quote from CHED Promotion Director Danny Kaye: "In the next 15 years, there will be no such thing as a mono AM receiver".
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Re: Original CHED Building demolished

Postby jon » Sat Apr 27, 2019 5:10 pm

Image
Photo by Bob Coe, a CHED Newsman at the time.
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Re: Original CHED Building demolished

Postby freqfreak2 » Sat Apr 27, 2019 5:52 pm

paterson wrote:They likely had some decent sized studios if it was built in 1954 to house the station. Wonder if any local TV news reported on the demo?


One studio, about 20 by 30 feet, main control, production, and a news booth. And no, no local TV coverage of any kind. And I suspect the folks on Roper Road aren't even aware of the building's demise.

jon wrote:The article contains an interesting quote " ... there will be no such thing as a mono AM receiver".


We're now on the verge of not having AM receivers of any kind
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Re: Original CHED Building demolished

Postby paterson » Sat Apr 27, 2019 6:16 pm

Great information Jon and interesting. From the photo looks like a nice sized facility for the station. I know that CHED was Edmonton's number one station for years. And to be the most successful top 40 station in North America ratings wise is phenomenal! Take that KHJ, CHUM, CKLW, KFRC ,WLS etc. Is CHED in the rock and roll hall of fame..they should be if they are not.

When were the years for CHED in the top 40 format? Were they always a strong community/ personality/news organization or did they focus more on music/format? When did they start to slide in ratings as a music station and did they move to a softer more adult sound before the talk/news format.

Looks like CHED still does pretty good in the ratings with the current talk format. Thanks again Jon for the information.
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Re: Original CHED Building demolished

Postby paterson » Sat Apr 27, 2019 6:43 pm

Sorry and thanks freqfreak2 as well! :salute:
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Re: Original CHED Building demolished

Postby Don Stevens » Sun Apr 28, 2019 8:17 am

I worked at 630 CHED from 1966 to 1970 as Don Hamilton. The studios were in the basement of that building, I never once saw any part of the rest of the building. I think it was mostly used for storage. There were no windows, if you wanted to know what was happening with weather, you ran down the hallway, up the stairs and looked out the back door. One night I was doing the 9 to midnight shift, it was around 11 and it was a bitterly cold night. From the corner of my eye I saw fur. I thought it was a dog or some animal that was going to kill me. I turned around and there was a police officer in a buffalo coat standing in the control room behind me. He'd been walking down the alley behind the station checking doors and apparently I had left the back door unlocked. He was just checking to see if everything was ok. I wanted to hug him...but I wasn't sure you should do that to a police officer. However I did thank him for not murdering me. The studios were not great, but the station sounded incredible and was very proud to have been a CHED Good Guy and had the opportunity to work with Wes Montgomery, Al Anderson, Don Kay, Russ Campbell and Bob McCord. I was four years of my life I'll never forget, an incredible learning experience.
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Re: Original CHED Building demolished

Postby mike marshall » Sun Apr 28, 2019 9:32 am

Hi,
Here's another shot of the CHED building:

http://www.soundspark.com/NewSoundsparkScrapbook2.htm

While I understand the studio comments above from Don Stevens, I've always felt that radio stations can be like a
favourite Greasy Spoon: While the physical surroundings may not be ideal, when the food is great, all of a sudden,
the former isn't all that important.

Like Don, I loved working at CHED, and Master there remains one of my favourites. Everything was in reach, you
never had to move your chair. Tough to beat that!
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Re: Original CHED Building demolished

Postby Don Stevens » Sun Apr 28, 2019 10:32 am

If it wasn't for Mike Marshall leaving CHED for The Big 8 I never would have got the job. Forever grateful.
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Re: Original CHED Building demolished

Postby radiofan » Sun Apr 28, 2019 10:49 am

If you check today's Chart history, there's an April 28 1969 CHED Chart with Don Hamilton on the front of it ...

viewtopic.php?f=89&t=32109
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.
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Re: Original CHED Building demolished

Postby albertaboy4life » Sun Apr 28, 2019 11:39 am

Always great to see Mike Marshall on the site.

Hi Don, I grew up listening to you on C-JAY 92 and AM-106 in Calgary.

Here's a couple of Don Hamilton CHED jock sings from the Pepper Tanner Centennial and Fun One packages -

http://www.radiowest.ca/jingles19/chedhamiltonjingles.mp3

Sorry Mike, I'm pretty sure you were already at CKLW by the time CHED moved from Pepper Tanner's Sound of Feeling Good package to the Centennial package and certainly by the time they moved to the Fun One package.
Faster cars, younger women, older cheese, more money . . .
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Re: Original CHED Building demolished

Postby Marty Forbes » Wed May 01, 2019 6:57 am

Contrary to the first post - the CHED building was knocked down years ago and has been a parking lot since then - and the Il Portico restaurant was a different building. For awhile there was a nursing school on the second level of the CHED building and the guys would often 'borrow' skeletons and place them in the stations offices. I have a picture - somewhere - of one full bodied one sitting at Dad's desk with his famous pipe hanging out of his mouth while holding his Mickey Mouse telephone.
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Re: Original CHED Building demolished

Postby jon » Wed May 01, 2019 11:59 am

I should have done this long ago, but I finally checked and Il Portico was 10012 107 Street and CHED was 10006 107 Street.

In Bob Coe's 1958 photo, the smaller building on the right side of the CHED building is where Il Portico was, and is the building that was just demolished.

Both the CHED building and the one to the left of it, on the corner of 100 Ave and 107 Street, were demolished years ago.
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