Sailing on local airwaves again

WE LEAVE it to the superior minds of editors to choose
names for columns, programs and assorted other outlets

for our various inspirations.

And thus the column Open
Lines came about for this news-
paper in the fall of 1989, My sug-
gestion had been to call it Ban-
nerline,the name of my company.
Managing Editor Timothy Ren-
shaw liked Open Lines. So we
compromised.

Just prior to that, I had reached
agreement with long-time col-
league Barrie McMaster to do a
15-minute daily program on
STAR-FM, based in the Fraser
Valley. I though t The Gary Ban-
nerman Show had a nice ring to
it. McMaster also had a name in
mind. Bannerline, in its STAR-
FM incarnation, will soon achieve
its second anniversary.

As my return to the industry
giant CKNW is now being struc-
tured, a daily editorial program is
to be part of the mix. Pregramm-
ing vice-president Doug Ruther-
ford volunteered the novel idea of
using my company name for the
show.

When I suggested that the use
of the name belonged to STAR-
FM, he countered with something
like: “Surely you own the name

.. it’s your creation?”’

As I’ve used it for almost 20
years, the copyright is doubtlessly
mine. But I conceded to Ruther-
ford that it was a CKNW inven-
tion.

Hal Davis, the programming
guru who shares with God the
awesome responsibility of having
inflicted Webster and Bannerman
on an unsuspecting public,
thought up the name.

When I was new to radio in
1972, Davis wanted to capitalize
©: my newspaper background. He
thought the name Bannerline
would be a clever tie-in between
the surname and the newspaper
credentials.

So, it’s a CKNW name. But
they can’t have it back — yet.

As widely speculated and now
confirmed, we are going home to
CXKNW. After an exhilarating
three years building a rnulti-
dimensional media and consulting
business, which will remain head-
quartered at Westview in North
Vancouver, we return to a station
that has never, in its history, been
better than it is today.

550,006 pecpie
work hard fo

protect Canada’s
endangered species.

Gary

Bannerman

OPEN LINES

The NW legacy evokes images
of The Rhythm Pals, Jack
Callen’s legendary knowledge and
collection of musical history, Bill
Hughes’ The Roving Mike (a
Guinness Book entry), Warren
Parker’s perpetually regenerating
newsroom, Webster’s City Mike,
Home to (Rick) Honey, the
abrasive Big Ai Davidson who
contrasted with the smooth cool
of Jim Robson in sports, and the
remarkable and enduring wit of
Brian ‘‘Frosty’’ Forst, as fresh
today as he was 20 years ago.

Part of that story hae been my
own. It spanned 16 yea:., prison
hostage incidents, guests ranging
from premiers, prime ministers
and two heads of the Central In-
telligence Agency, td luminaries
such as Muhammed Ali, Bob
Hope, Moshe Dayan and Aon
Landers. Hundreds of them, real-
ly.

The city used to be a
smorgasbord of open line radio.
Over the years my competition has
included the inimitable Webster,
Pat Burns, Barrie Clark, Ed Mur-
phy, Judy LaMarsh, John
Reynolds, Rafe Mair, Dave Bar-
rett, Terry Moore and many
others.

The winner in these honorable
competitions was always the
listener. And the radio stations
didn’t do badly either.

CKNW’s reward for being best
has been the devastation of all in-
formation competition except the
Canadian Broadcasting Corp. In
its quiet way, CBC’s numbers

Now! Skyline Sports does Mountain Bikes! For
casual Sunday cycling to hardcore off-road racing
— plus repairs, accessories and bikewear!

rival the higher profile commercial
station.

There will be industry jokes
about my return. In 1988, we
celebrated an anniversary: 15
years of fulfilling partnership and
12 months of sheer hell.

To these humorists I will res-
pond that CKNW is ‘‘under new
management,”’ and the station will
reply that their prodigal is ‘‘com-
pletely refurbished.’’

Neither statement is totally true
but we’ve had to marry two
businesses. They told me about
the enthusiasm they feel toward
their program team: Rafe Mair,
Bill Good Jr., Philip Tilt, Terry
Moore, Shirley Stocker and athers
behind the scenes.

And I reported to them about
my various corporate clients, BC
Ferries, the North Shore News
and STAR-FM — relationships
that will continue.

We have a plan. You will have
an opportunity to hear it evolve.

We can’t depart the topic
without reference to the ubi-
quitous but rarely seen J. Edward
Smith, one of the dominant
players in Canadian radio for over
a decade. He runs the radio por-
tion of the Griffiths’ media em-
pire, including CKNW.

Unheard from during three
months of occasional negotiation,
the ink hadn’t dried on the con-
tract before Ted Smith popped up
to say, ‘“‘Congratulations.’’ Like
the fighter pilot he once was, he
usually chooses to hide in the
clouds until either the danger
passes or it’s time to attack.

When Smith started the discus-
sions eons ago, we were lunching
with former ’NW program direc-
tor Rod Gunn, who had just
returned from a lengthy tenure in
Calgary. Gunn is now president of
CKNW.

It was a matter of public scut-
tlebutt at that time that I had
been exploring, on behalf of
others, the purchase of a radio
station.

When Gunn bluntly asked if I'd
like to come back to CKNW, I
chuckled audibly.

Informing him of my plans to
purchase a station, I said: ‘“‘Here I
am planning my new career as a
torpedo and you offer me a posi-

You can help too.

fo mai Phorm e ontoct

yl err 1673 C Avenue
Ottawa, pang Arse K2A 34
(613) 725-2494

BIKES, HEAD FOR THE SKYLINE
MONGOOSE .

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Sunday, April 28, 1991 -— North Shore News - 9

ge ON

tion on the battleship.”'

In a much later conversation,
my final analogy said it all: ‘J
have always been more interested
in painting the canvas than in
making the paint.’”

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