With Ted Bird and Tasso Patsikakis on board Hudson/St. Lazare's the Jewel FM is already a hit!

Editor's Note: Due to technical difficulties The Jewel programming, including the debut of Tasso, has been delayed until April 9.l

You must hand it to the folks behind The Jewel RadioNetwork. Part of the Evanov Radio Group, there are presently eight Jewel stations across the country and the latest has landed at 106.7 FM and serving Hudson and St. Lazare.  Now this is quite extraordinary for two small towns on the outskirts of Montreal’s West Island  having their very own radio station.

Ted Silver, who once upon a time ran Q92  (now  The Beat 92.5 FM), is the program director for this newest entity along with Jewel sister stations in Ottawa, Rockland and Hawkesbury and the man has clearly not lost his golden touch. Not only did he sign the

Ted Bird

legendary Ted Bird as morning show host (5:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.), but beginning April 8 Paul “Tasso Patsikakis” Zakaib makes his return to the airwaves as the host of his own 10 a.m. to Noon show. That is followed by the syndicated John Tesh Show.  Bob Coley steps in from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. with a  local drive home show.  Then comes a program called The Lounge.

Silver notes that the Jewel features an adult contemporary variety format featuring the best of yesterday and today. He calls it  easy listening, light and refreshing.”   The target market is Hudson, St. Lazare, Vaudreuil and most of the West Island. Evanov operates two other licences in Quebec: CHRF-AM, Radio Fierté, the world's only French language commercial radio service dedicated to Montreal's large and diverse LGBT community; and   CFMB AM, the city’s only multi-ethnic broadcaster.

I have already made a habit of tuning into Bird via my computer in the office weekday

mornings. One never gets tired of his great sense of humour. Now we can look forward to Tasso and his zany cast of characters, from Jacques Parizeau to Jean Chretien. Sure I’d

love to have him back on the air with Aaron Rand, but that is not in the cards for now. “We had talked to Tasso about doing our morning show,” Silver said. “In the end of course we went with Ted, but I am really happy to bring him aboard. We worked together at Q92. He will be entertaining. That is for sure.”

Ted Silver and Tasso

I reached Tasso and he is quite excited about the new venture.

"I'm going to try to do a little of the old and as much music as I can't play," he joked.   "They are a top heavy music station, but I assume they brought me on to add a bit of colour. When I was at MIKE FM, I learned how to bring my characters on and talk to them as if they were in the studio.  This should be an easier task at the Jewel.  I won't do weather or anything without a twist if possible and I'll be doing some odd stories as well, hopefully with an interview or comment from persons involved.  It's going to be something new for them and a new challenge for me."    
Both Bird and Tasso reside on the West Island.

Silver said that the feedback from The Jewel 106.7 is quite impressive for a station that has only been on the air for a month. “We have done some contests and our advertisers have really been surprised by the response,” he said. “People are listening.  We have been air testing since November, so that has helped attract an audience.”

Sylvia Asche Bullard

With local news during the morning and afternoon drives with Tanya Armstrong and Sylvia Asche Bullard, Hudson and St. Lazare are getting some great exposure.  As Silver points out, this is a growing area. The Suburban recognizes this which is why we have added this to our circulation area.

I shared with Silver my thoughts that a local sports talk show, perhaps airing late night, would be a great addition to the schedule. “Never say never,” he responded.

Right now the team from The Jewel 106.7 FM are working out of the Hawkesbury station – about a 20 minute drive. “We would like to establish a studio in Hudson or St. Lazare,” Silver said. “It is something we are working on.”

AM 600 Radio station announces big news: Aaron Rand and Andrew Carter move over

From today's print edition of The Suburban.

AM600, Montreal’s new English language radio station owned by industry veteran Paul Tietolman, will announce later today that both Andrew Carter and Aaron Rand have left CJAD and will headline a star studded lineup of notable personalities.

Aaron Rand

Tietolman  has hired radio veteran Steve Kowch as general manager and program director and Wayne Bews, late of 925 The Beat FM,  as sales manager. The interesting twist here is that Rand will host the morning show while Carter will do the drive home.

“I really missed mornings,” said Rand, who will bring back Paul “Tasso Patsikakis” Zakaib as his on air sidekick while Suzanne Desautels will also depart CJAD and handle weather and traffic. 

“These last few years doing afternoons at CJAD have been just great. I have not caught up with my sleep and I am ready to rise again at 3:30 a.m. weekdays to go to work.

Carter, meanwhile, said that it was his idea to switch shifts. “I have been doing mornings for more than a decade and it really takes it toll on you,” he admitted. “I am looking forward to sleeping in and staying up late again.”

Tietolman confided to us that his mid-morning show will feature a tête-à-tête between former politicians Gilles Duceppe and Yolande James. “A separatist and a federalist debating the issues each day will be ‘must listen to’ radio,” Tietolman said.

Paul Tietolman

Early afternoons will be anchored by Dan Laxer, who lost his full-time gig at CJAD a few years ago. Following Carter, Suburban editor Beryl Wajsman’s Last Angry Man returns to Montreal radio from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.  Talks are reportedly underway between Tietolman’s team and TSN 690’s Conor McKenna to bring a provocative late night sports talk show back to the local radio scene. “Montrealers crave for the days of Ted Tevan,” Tietolman said of the late shock jock sports rap host. “We just know there is an audience for that.”

Overnights will belong to Peter Anthony Holder and Sol Boxenbaum, once fixtures on CJAD. Claude Beaulieu and Murray Sherriffs will head the news team.

Over at CJAD, it appears that Barry Morgan is in for a promotion to replace Carter in the mornings. Dave Kaufman will fill Morgan`s Noon to 3 p.m. shift while Dan Delmar will take over the drive home show. Jay Farrar will step in for McKenna if he moves to AM600.

Tietolman plans to launch AM 600 in June, along with  French language talk and sports stations. 

What is my reaction to all of this? Well folks, today is  April 1. It has been a few years since The Suburban was published on this date, providing me with the perfect opportunity to say “April Fool’s” to all of my readers. Sorry, but I just could not resist.

THE REAL STORY: Tietolman does indeed plan to open three radio stations. He has Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approval to go on the air with an English language talk station at the AM 600 dial and two French language stations, one for talk and another for sports. When I reached him he preferred not to get into too many details. But he wants to make it clear that this radio trio will become a reality. When it does, perhaps some of my April Fool’s musings will actually occur.  What do you think? 

GLOBAL TV AND THE BEAT: Last fall I invited  Jessica Laventure, Camille Ross and Richard Dagenais from The Global Morning News and Cat Spencer, Sarah Bartok and Natasha Hall The Beat 92.5 FM to the English Montreal School Board Career Fair. After doing an interview with them for The Suburban video section, I suggested that on April 1 they change places for the ultimate April Fool's joke. Well, today they do so in style and Camille even gave me some recognition on the air.

Here is the photo I took of Jessica,  Richard, Camille, Cat and Sarah which inspired the April Fool's joke.

Here are Cat and Sarah on Global.

And Richard,  Camille and Jessica on The Beat

Below are comments from the main players.

It's nice to see pros at work and that's exactly what the team at The Beat 92.5 are all about; seeing them at work, you realize Cat, Sarah, Natasha, Sammy and Paul are - Montreal's perfect mix!"

Richard Dagenais

"Any opportunity to spend time with the Team over at the beat is something to look forward to. They are a group of incredibly hilarious, charismatic and talented people."

Camille Ross

"It's easy to see why the Beat Breakfast with Cat and Sarah is Montreal's number one Morning radio show. I felt immediately comfortable with Cat, Sarah and Natasha. Nothing creepy, I just... smelled their hair and followed them home. You know, normal closeness."

Jessica Laventure

Thanks to the Global Morning News team for making us look good! Don't tell my boss but those 10 minutes on morning television made me realize how easy we have it in radio. No lights, no camera...(but plenty of action)!

Cat Spencer

Sometimes, things happen that make you scratch your head & wonder what just happened! That's exactly what we hoped to acheive with our little switch-a-roo. Thanks to the entire Global team for making this April Fools prank come to life...and for making me appreciate even more so how a full face of makeup is not required for morning radio. ;-)

Sarah Bartok

We tag teamed with Camille and Richard from Global to play a little April Fools joke on all our listeners..Cat and Sarah took over TV while Camille and Richard took over the radio: