FOUNDER OF CHUM LTD. PASSES AWAY Grant Robertson – Globe and Mail Allan Waters, the founder of CHUM Ltd. who created Canada's first Top-40 radio station and built a media empire that included launching the country's first music video channel, died Saturday at the age of 84.
Mr. Waters death comes a little more than a month after he stepped down as director of the company due to failing health.
Jim Waters, chairman of Toronto-based CHUM, said his father died peacefully in his sleep in hospital surrounded by family. He served as chairman of CHUM until 2002.
Considered a pioneer in Canada's broadcasting industry, Allan Waters bought Toronto's 1050 CHUM in 1954 and introduced the country's first all-hits music format that now dominates the radio dial.
He is credited with developing commercial radio in Canada and blazing a trail in the country's specialty television sector with the creation of Much Music, which he built with Moses Znaimer into one of the company's flagship businesses.
"He laid down a foundation for all of us over his many years running the company," Jim Waters said. "It's my intention.... and the intention of all the rest of us to keep those principles going forward. That's what he would want more than anything."
Though CHUM is often rumoured as a takeover target in Canada's ever-shifting media scene, Mr. Waters said his father never wanted the family-run company to be sold.
"Whenever anybody would say the word 'sell,' my father would just bristle," Jim Waters said. "It was always his hope that his children would get involved in the business. My brother [vice-chairman Ron Waters] and I certainly don't have any intention of selling the company, that's for sure."
After starting CHUM with one radio station, his father never thought the company would grow as big as it has, Jim Waters said. It now employs 3,000 people across 33 radio stations, 12 television channels and 21 specialty channels, including Bravo.
"I think that CHUM has always been on the leading edge of doing new things and Dad was never afraid to take some risks," Jim Waters said.
"I'm not sure that anyone thought when he bought 1050 CHUM that it ever would have grown to what it is today. All of us that work at CHUM are happy to have played some kind of role in the great expansion of the company over those 50 years."
A member of the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame, Allan Waters was also the first broadcaster to be honoured with the Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award for contributions to the sector.
"He was always pretty humble about everything. He just kind of went about his business. He was always quick to deflect the success of the company to the people that worked at CHUM," Jim Waters said.
Memorial services will be held Wednesday in Toronto. |