Around 1970, he crossed the border into Canada to work for Toronto’s CKFH, CHUM and CKEY, and Vancouver’s CFUN.
Behind the WDRC mic speaking of Christmas Through The Years in 1968. [ LISTEN ] (4:28)
|
 |
CHUM 1970, Roger Ashby, Tom Rivers, Johnny Mitchell, Chuck McCoy, John Rode, J. Michael Wilson and Jay Nelson.John is playing records at CKFH on November 11, 1969. [ LISTEN ] (31:05)
CKFH switched to an oldies format in 1973 before completely abandoning rock when it became a country station in 1975.
Here's John behind the mic at CHUM on September 3, 1971. [ LISTEN ] (17:48)
Rode entertained at five different Toronto stations, numerous outlets south of the border and even did stints in Vancouver and Alaska. But he's probably best remembered for the many years he spent at CHUM.
With his prior experience in the radio industry as a broadcast engineer, radio personality, radio station manager, computer programmer, and system and software designer, John founded John Rode Data Systems in 1984 to create computer systems specifically for the broadcast industry. In 1993 the company was renamed MediaLAB and taken over by Mediastats, Inc., a telecom information research firm near Toronto.
Here is John at CILQ (Q-107) Toronto on May 22,1977. [ LISTEN ] (59:41)
Rode was Q-107's original morning man, followed by Murray Smith in late mornings and program director Dave Charles in early afternoons. Then it was John Donabie in afternoon drive, Mary-Anne Carpentier in evenings and Scott Marwood on the all-night show.
In 2007, John was senior vice-president and chief information officer of both companies and, as the head of technology, designed and supervised the creation of all in-house computer and communication systems. He was also the chief designer of the MediaLAB administration software product line.
Some materials found on this page were originally published by the following: Rock Radio Scrapbook.
