Pattison Kelowna Cleans House

What boggles my mind is why the CRTC would ever allow so many radio stations in a market the size of Kelowna? What are we looking at? 7 Commercial stations, then the CBC! Man, that doesn’t leave very much left of the pie. It’s no wonder Pattison is into Spring cleaning. Susan will be a great addition, considering she and Tarzan Dan Freeman were the morning hosts at Sun FM a couple of years ago. My, how time changes. Funny how Susan and Dan both ended up in Calgary, but didn’t work together in cowtown, however, they now both work for Pattison. What a ‘Twisted’ Dial we live!

“What boggles my mind is why the CRTC would ever allow so many radio stations in a market the size of Kelowna? ”

It boggles your mind ? LOL

Did you attend the CRTC public hearings held in Kelowna in 2007 ? If you didn’t attend, then why are you squawking about it now.

In November of 2007, the CRTC held (in my opinion) extensive public hearings here in Kelowna about the future of radio in this town. And both Walter Gray, then the front man for Sun Country Cable Vision, as well as Vista Radio, successfully argued that the Kelowna economy had grown enough to accomodate two new FM licences.

As I recall, almost every radio chain in the country was vying to get into the Kelowna market at that time !

So now, seven years later, it’s ironic that you guys all think that Kelowna isn’t “properous enough” for you ?

If Kelowna isn’t prosperous enough for you, then maybe you should ask the Premier of B.C. (who happens to be the MLA here.) why that is ? After all, it’s her job to make the Province more properous, is it not ? The Liberals must be held accountable, since they have been in power for over 10 years now, going back to Gordon Campbell.

The same goes with the current teachers strike, or is it a lockout ? Ms. Clark, then B.C’s Education Minister, essentially ripped up all of the existing BCTF contracts at that time. Whether she was ordered to do by Premier Campbell, we do not know for sure. But what we do know is that when Gordy tells you to jump, Christy goes, “yes sir, yes, sir, three bags full.” LOL

Meanwhile, these were not spurious arguments made, either (for the last two FM licences) , as Walter Gray is a long time Kelowna resident with very respected ties to the local broadcasting community for nearly 50 years. He is currently the Mayor of Kelowna, but is retiring this year after four terms as mayor and councillor. Ironically, Walter Gray retired from broadcasting as well as K-96. It was sold to Newcap.

So, what went wrong ? Well, by 2009, the Kelowna economy (and the whole BC economy?) eventually slowed down, considerably, especially under Mayor Sharon Shepard’s watch.

However, I think that Ms. Shepard was an unfortunate scapegoat in all of this. Nick Frost, the owner of Castanet Media, and previously, SILK-FM,, decided to “bankroll” a group of politicians to his liking (led by Walter Grey) and thus, Ms. Shepard got ousted at the last election, along with several other counsellours.

The real issue is that Kelowna has become a high priced retirement community where there are few jobs for young people, or anybody else for that matter, except for this tight-knitted group of eight or nine Kelowna families that seem to run everything ?

If you are an outsider to this group, basically, you are f*cked !

Meanwhile. commercial radio stations are also poorly managed and they are all trying to do the same thing ?

Naturally, the end result is failure for some of these radio stations.

It must also be noted that not everyone is floundering, here. in Kelowna. Nick Frost’s Castanet Media is said to be doing very well and CKKO-FM (now owned by Newcap) is also doing exceptionally well. alogn with Counry 100.7.

The main problem with Q-103, Power 104, (CKLZ) and CJUI 103.9 Juice is not really about the local economy or the market size, but about radio management people who are largely incompetant and have mismanaged those radio stations.

On that note, I find that the house cleaning at Pattison Kelowna to be a little weird for my liking ? So, they fired everyone at Q103, and yet, they keep Bob Mills and then reinstalled him, as PD.

is this the same Bob Mills who crashed the ratings plane that Rob Bye once handed to him at Power back in 2002 ?

At one point in this town, CKLZ was a ratings leader, with a whopping 20 percent market share. But, after Mills took it over, with a playlist largely stolen from CFOX. it kept going downhill and stayed downhill until like flight MH 307. it just dipped below the radar.

But somehow, Bob Mills seems impervious to ratings and nobody in Kelowna really understands why that is ! LOL Have you ever heard Mills on the air, He sounds gawd awfully pretentious and annoying, much like chalk squeeking on an easel and you wonder about that, as well ?

If Pattison Kelowna really wanted to clean house, they should have done the job right and simply fired everyone, just like they do at Jim Pattison Chevrolet Oldsmobile !

– HWNN

Bob Mills is one of the nicest guys, and smartest radio people I have ever come across in the business. Always cordial, with time for every single greenhorn with questions and seeking advice, while trying to get an out of reach at the time gig off him. A little eccentric, but I liked that too. Actually listening to tapes, and taking the time to comment on them, and try to help people grow. Almost every other pd threw them in the trash. Thank goodness HWNN shows up again with a two page “ohh look how smart I am..this is how, and why everything works in radio, and the teachers politics this time too! Hear Ye Hear Ye! The great HWNN knows it all again! You’d think you’d be spending your precious time curing cancer or something important, instead of spewing the same old know it all arrogant rhetoric on every comment.

The truth hurts, doesn’t it, anonymous ?

I’m glad that you think that Bob Mills is a swell guy and he reviews your demo tapes.

Did you ever work with this individual ? I once worked with Mills and what I saw was a darker side, a very arrogant and judgemental person who never fully appreciated what I did for the radio station.

As a matter of fact, he never took the time to review my own on air performances or sit down with me at all, so I find the fact that he reviews the demo tapes of strangers to be quite hypocritical !

Fortunately, other people in the business have given me the proper guidance and so, I have since transcended Mills.

Yes, Anon, seems the all knowing HWNN is also a hypocrite. From one of his long winded rants he wrote the following “Wow, the end of Dan Russell’s Sports Talk radio show – and possibly, his career – apparently also saw no shortage of defamatory, downright personal attacks and vulgar commentary, all hoping for one man’s total demise.”

I guess he feels his own words don’t apply to Bob Mills.

And this HWNN quote from the very same post ,”The whole “screw unto others” mentality that plagues this radio industry is just disgusting and no one should have to put up with it”.

Sorry should of been included in my original post because it’s the best quote of them all 🙂

Thanks for hijacking this otherwise intelligent “discussion” about Pattison Kelowna with your own unemployed deejay rant ! LOL

Bob Mills’ track record as PD at Pattison Kelowna IS the issue and it CANNOT be defended by his brainwashed disciples and/or subordinates, anymore.

Only people employed by him (or those who get a free aircheck review are defending him) – nobody else !

Bob Mills clearly needs to relocate to a small “one horse town” market like CJ timbuktu and learn the business of radio over again ? LOL

Then, after taking in the daily stinkey air smell of pulpwood in the one horse town, he might then come to his senses and learn how to be more humble! LOL

I might add that Mills and Pattison Kelowna squandered a GREAT opportunity to revitalize the country music genre that is being successfully propogated by David Larson at Newcap Kelowna.

If you dig into the history of Q103, a little bit, they were first a country music radio station, programmed by Mills and Bruce Davis. Then, about a year or two into their history, they abandoned the country format, completely, at who’s insistence, we do not know,, but someone in that building obviously didn’t like country music and it was likely Mills ?

When Newcap Kelowna eventually bought out GIANT-FM in Penticton, they then transferred the office to Kelowna and the rest (Country 100.7) is history !

What a delicious irony, though. During the last several rating books, Country 100.7 has clearly “kicked ass” over Power 104 and it must be seen as a huge embarrassment for Pattison.

The ascendancy of Country 100.7 also says much more about the skillset of PD David Larson, than it does Bob Mills.

Like I said, time for Bobby Mills to breath in some stinky air in the one station market.

-HWNN

Interesting you bring up the Pattison dismissal of country in Kelowna, because that same train of thought permeated in Kamloops with Pattison dropping B-103 Country. Nice to see the Indie NL realized there was a gap to fill, and thus they’ve done it with Country 103 and done it well!

“Yes, Anon, seems the all knowing HWNN is also a hypocrite.”

Not a hypocrite at all ! Since none of you Anonymous folks actually live here in the Okanagan, (and I do) maybe you outsiders should do your research about Bob Mills before you blindly defend him ! ( or worse, suck up to him ?)

Many, many, people in the Kelowna area are royally p*ssed off with local radio and therefore, Mr. Mills and his kind must be held accountable for that situation, since they helped contribute to the overall declining listenership !

http://forums.castanet.net/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=56906

Bob Mills remains one of the best, most knowledgeable PD’s that I have worked for. Smart enough to let the people he hired do the job they were hired for. I found him to be a remarkably kind individual, and he ALWAYS took the time to talk to newbies in the biz. Would work for him in an instant again. Oh, and I am employed, and have been for decades.
I think working under him for years at the very successful CJAY 92, and watching him move on to Canada’s second largest market to steer the ship at CFOX is enough research. ‘Nuff said.

It seems like these sort of boards always have at least one complete a-hole who fancies himself as some kind of keyboard warrior. What are your credentials HWNN, and what kind of achievements have you earned during your obviously bitter and lacklustre “career“? What stations have YOU successfully programmed LOL?

I think the saddest part of this is that, they gassed these people on Friday, and still have Erin all over their facebook and website. When you fire someone it’s only polite to take them off of all of your imaging. Have to say listening to Drew all by himself this morning, no co-host, reading his own news was depressing.

Not sure what kind of burr HWNN has up his rear, but Bob Mills is a veteran broadcaster. And a well respected broadcaster at that. Although I’ve never had the opportunity to meet him, I’ve heard of him and having reviewed his broadcast history bio from Vancouver Broadcasters.com, it speaks for itself.
Bob Mills – CHOR Summerland BC; signed on CIZZ-FM Red Deer 1987-92; Program Director CJAY-FM Calgary 1992-93; on-air CFOX Vancouver/PD 1994-2001; on-air/PD CKOV/CKLZ-FM Kelowna 2002-current

I’ll echo what Bob Steele said..record stands for itself…Kelowna’s just a ridiculous market..way too many stations for it’s poplulation, and especially it’s population that’s NOT retired !! When Power had those kind of ratings, it was before there was 8 stations in the market, and before Sun FM was SUN FM (previously country) they hit the right format at the right time, and the rest is history.

For those of you who don’t know (in other words, you’ve never worked there, worked for Bob, worked for Pattison.lived in Kelowna, or anything else) quit making comments based on what sounds like your own sour apples towards Bob..he’s a good guy and a quality programmer.

Isn’t it funny that the guy who’s bitching about me, was probably the worst broadcaster I’ve ever been associated to work (for a short time) with…and Yes I did fire him…only because the person who ever hired him had no idea what a broadcaster needed to be. Isn’t that right RJ? So you go ahead and continue your crusade to attack me but I will let my record stand as we kicked KIK out of the market in Calgary when I worked at CJAY 92…you can ask Bob Steele about that…and I will also ask you to check the highest ratings in CFOX’s history…oh that’s right I put the team together that amassed that…and what the hell have you ever done RJ? Oh, that’s right…got fired in Kelowna by me…nuff said! How’s your broadcast career going by the way? Been working lately?

Thanks for speaking up Bob.

there ya go, Bob Mills laid it down.

I met the guy once in 1997. Thanks Bob! Huge inspiration at the time to get into radio. hey, still employed in 2014!

“Oh, that’s right…got fired in Kelowna by me…nuff said!”

So, Bob Mills (or is it “Palliser”)

We only worked together at Power 104 for about 10 days, so how can you really form an opinion of me as a person and broadcaster. Your opinion of me is based only on the rumours and cheapshots of other people,

I think that you owe ME (and the rest of this board) a HUGE retraction, mainly because you have re-invented the facts, here, for your own political gain !

a) First of all, it wasn’t YOUR decision, alone, to fire me. That was a CKOV news department decision made solely by the News Director at the time, (Matt Cherille), who himself later got fired (and deservedly so) for telling then general manager Bruce Davis to “fuck off.” The confirmation of Cherille’s firing came from two former work colleagues very close to the radio station.

b ) There were no progressive meetings, training offered, or progressive warnings offered to me at Parttison Kelowna for me to improve as an employee, prior to the dismissal. You never met with me, once, either, to get to know me better, or neither did Matt Cherille.

I had put in well over 100 hours of overtime at the two radio stations for which I was not paid, but I never sued you guys for that, either. So, whoever is spreading rumours that I complained of money owed is pure defamation and a pack of lies.

c) The way that the firing was handled by Cherille and yourself was frankly completely disrespectful.

Neither you, Cherille or Bruce Davis appeard in person at the final dismissal interview.

What was that, Mr. Mills ? If you are such a thoughtful and “good guy” as many claim, why didn’t you meet with me at the final meeting ?

Instead, you and Chirelle got Kevin Rothwell, then the Assistant PD of CKOV/Power, to do your “dirty work,” to fire me on your behalf. which I think was very unfair to Kevin, who is a very nice man and was caught in the middle of this situation through no fault of his own.

THAT “no show” by you shows a certain cowardice on the part of you and Cherille , and a darker side to you, does it not ?

Meanwhile I, just want to say that since working for Pattison, 10 years ago, my broadcasting career is currently going real well. I work for a new broadcasting organization who has a great deal of respect for my abilities and talent and they treat their staff a LOT BETTER than how I was treated by you.

R.J. Smith

p.s I have since spoken to previous employers about the way that I was treated at Pattison Kelowna, and they are fall in agreement that I was NOT treated well at all !.

I vote for UFC 175 to be held in Kelowna Starring Bob Mills Vs Horse with no name. It’ll be billed as…… Bob I fired ur ass once dont make me kick it this time Mills….. taking on why the long face horse with no name. I’ll bring my Cart machine and play America. (you know which song) At the end of the song, the person that has literally demoralized the other person to a fragment of their original ego will win. I’m gonna tape it on reel to reel so no cheatin now you two!

This Radio Business sure sounds like a bunch of immature elementary school children.

Is this how it really is in your business? Thank god I’m not involved in it – this is brutal!

Inflated ego’s of people who loving hearing their own voice and immature adults. Unreal.

Grow up, gentlemen.

I would give my real name but I would get sued. I can say in all honesty, Jim Pattison was the WORST employer in my 40 plus year career. Pathetic.
The people in the building were OK, but the managers and Pattison himself were beyond the pale. I didn’t stay long. I had my lawyers get me out of contract and got out of radio, rather than deal with those horrible people. I am not surprised to hear of poor treatment.

[…] 97.3 The Eagle Comox/Courtenay stalwart Bob Jonstone is on the move, we’re speculating that he’s the new co-host for Susan Knight on Q103 […]

Bob Johnstone is one of the nicest and most dedicated guys I ever worked for and with. One of the guys who would never ask his people to do anything we wouldn’t do himself. I have seen Bob put in regular 12 hour days, and then host an evening event, call in weekends from an event to help his station stay local and aware. He is, on top of all that, thoughtful, funny, respectful and a great drummer. Best wishes Bob.

Met a lot of complete jerks during my time in radio. Bob Mills was not one of them.

One small note regarding Bob Mills and his radio history. There is no mention between CHOR (actually CKSP at the time) Summerland and the success he had turning CKOR-FM Penticton into CJMG-FM ’97 Magic FM’ in the late 1980s. I knew him briefly so I don’t have a lot to add regarding his personality, not that I would, anyway. I just wanted to include CJMG-FM to his list as I recall he had to ‘convince’ then radio station owner Ken Davis that MOR was not grabbin’ the kids’ ears.

Just came across this by accident and had to have my say. I ‘ve been away from radio for
20 years now, but had the opportunity to work with Bob Mills at Z99 Red Deer for 7 years from 88 to 95. Bob has and will always be a class act. His job history and results speak wonders for the man he is. Keep up the good work Bob.