Who will be Terry DiMonte's sidekicks? Dan Laxer?

Who will be Terry DiMonte’s on air partners when he returns to the CHOM FM morning show on Monday, January 9? When I spoke to him last week from Calgary he was not quite sure.

For most of his year on the Montreal airwaves, DiMonte was partnered with Ted Bird. They made a spectacular team. Four years ago it was the Terry, Ted and Kim Show – Kim being Kim Rossi. DiMonte now makes it clear that Rossi’s presence was forced upon him. He was not getting along at all with station management at the time, then under the direction of Standard Radio, and decided to leave town.

“I was so burnt out  and tired when I left,” DiMonte said. “I had such a horrible and adversarial relationship with the guy running the station at the time that I was having difficulty sleeping.  I was simply being treated terribly. So I left and Calgary looked like it would be the place I would go to and retire one day.”

Two years ago Bird quit the CHOM morning show, then co-hosted by “Pirate” Pete Marier and Chantal Desjardins, claiming that he could no longer work with then program director Daniel Tremblay. He would end up resurfacing on K103 FM, the Mohawk  Station.

Wouldn't Dan Laxer look good with Terry?

Bird has told all who wish to listen that he has no plans on returning to CHOM, even though  there is new management in place and his pal DiMonte is back.

DiMonte seems to agree. "Ted is one of my best friends," he remarked. "He is clearly very happy where he is now."

I would personally recommend that  DiMonte keep Desjardins as part of his team and add someone familiar with all of us who has a sense of humour. Who better than Dan Laxer, recently cut loose by CJAD but still pleasing listeners once a week on The  Trivia Show.  My second choice would be comic Joey Elias, host of the CJAD Comedy Show and one of the funniest guys in this city.

Will DiMonte embrace the social media phenomenon, which was not so much of a factor when he left? “I suppose so,” he said. “I had a crew from CHOM come to Calgary to do all kinds of taping with me. I expect that will find its way on the internet.”

Take a look at the slimmed down DiMonte here on a clip from his Q107 morning show broadcasting from a radiothon: