Puget Sound Radio

News update from our radio friend Chuck Benson of the Oceanside Media Club and organizer Jim Archibald...

In addition to being a frequent presence on CNN, Lizza had been The New Yorker's Washington correspondent since 2007. On Monday, seemingly out of the blue, the magazine announced Lizza's termination.

Starting Jan. 2, CBC's Stephen Quinn steps into the hosting chair of flagship morning show The Early Edition, while Gloria Macarenko helms the popular afternoon show On The Coast.

After a quarter of a century as Calgary’s favourite morning radio trio, Don Stevens, Joanne Johnson and Jamie (the Coach) Herbison are splitting up.

Wally Desjarlais has taken a medical leave and as a result we have made some line-up changes.

We lost a couple of very good ones in Edmonton over the past few weeks. If I listed all their accomplishments in this column I’d need the full Page 6 and likely half of Page 7, too. Chuck Chandler was one of Edmonton’s most colourful media guys … and he worked at several radio stations in town but his main claim to fame was working with the powerhouse 630 CHED in the heyday of Top 40 radio. Also Fil Fraser, (pictured)

Happy Birthday to Brenda Lee, Jermaine Jackson, Rita Moreno, Donna Mills, Teri Garr and comedienne Mo’Nique. Radio around the world carried the abdication speech of the UK’s King Edward VIII; Alan Waters purchased Totonto’s CHUM 1050; Victoria’s CFMS was transformed into ‘The Ocean 98.5’; the CBC announced the cutting of 378 jobs; ABC-TV aired the first of Bing Crosby’s 17 Christmas TV Specials; and Tom Selleck was seen for the first time as ‘Magnum PI’ on CBS-TV. Notable obits include sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar, radio & TV host Robert Q. Lewis, and Canadian TV vocalist Wally Koster, Details and ALL the Dec 11th milestones INSIDE.