Ralph Lockwood

The Birdman
When it comes to the classic Top 40 radio "one-man show" morning host, look no further than to the legendary Ralph "The Birdman" Lockwood on Montreal's 980 CKGM.

Lockwood was born in Hazleton, Pennsylvania on December 10, 1939. He got his start in the broadcasting business hosting a nightly polka show in the early 1960s.

He made his Montreal radio debut in 1968 hosting AM drive at Top 40 outlet 1470 CFOX, but left in 1971 and landed a job on a morning show in West Palm Beach, Florida. Returning to Montreal in 1972, Lockwood quickly became one of the city’s top morning hosts at CKGM. His arrival on CKGM mornings was a key element in the station's unprecedented popularity and success during the '70s and signaled the beginning of the end for CFOX.

Ralph with his traffic reporter Mary Ann Carpentier, 1974
He was like a cross-between Groucho Marx, WC Fields and Don Rickles all rolled into one and he didn't have that radio disc-jockey kind of voice, he was kind of the guy at the bar telling the jokes at happy hour.

A fast-talking, cigar-smoking wisecracker, his taglines caught on with Montrealers. How’s your bird? How’s your old oiseau? That’s what she said at the Bell Canada picnic. Don’t forget to put on your Côte des Neiges.
Lockwood is behind the mic at CKGM on July 3, 1973. [ LISTEN ] (5:41)
On this aircheck, along with Ralph, veteran newsman Robert Vairo and sultry traffic reporter Terri Stacey are also featured. Hear Ralph cleverly use a fictional phone call from (then) Expos' baseball hero Boots Day to set-up his latest joke and throw it to Professor Frydock for a couple of laughs as well.
Ralph leads off during this CKGM composite from 1973. [ LISTEN ] (9:33)

Lockwood voiced his own fictional sidekicks — Professor Frydock, Dorion Smith and a caricature of Mad Dog Vachon. An early morning institution, he had a penchant for corny one-liners and double entendres — and doing his show shirtless. One morning, he played Rainbow Connection by Kermit the Frog over and over, claiming he had locked himself in the studio.

Bar-B-Barn
Lockwood was also known for his quirky television commercials — he donned a barrel for a Dorion Suits ad, and for the Bar-B-Barn restaurant, he devoured succulent chicken and ribs for 30 seconds without uttering a word.
He left CKGM in 1981, but remained a Montreal media mainstay.
He became CFCF radio’s afternoon show host before moving to TV as host of a daily morning show on CFCF-TV. For a time, he was also the the play-by-play caller on the Montreal Concordes’ CJAD football broadcasts, and host of a weekly football highlights show on CFCF-TV. In 1985, CKGM, hoping to revive its flagging morning show, hired Lockwood for five years at a six-figure salary. But the effort failed and Lockwood was fired in 1987.

A year later, Lockwood returned to the United States to host the morning show on WSBA, a station in York, Pennsylvania, not far from his hometown. He worked there for 11 years, going on to do radio consulting and public relations.

Although he eventually leaves Montreal to return home to Pennsylvania radio in 1988, Lockwood is still fondly remembered by all today as the master of the one-liner and of the latest groaner, always delivered with impeccable timing and often with back-up assistance from his zany cast of characters.

Mention "Ralph Lockwood" and legions of Montrealers still today recall the Birdman's daily greeting of "How's Your Bird?", which he also delivered, tongue firmly in cheek, in Greek, Italian, Polish and French.
Ralphie tried to return to Montreal to visit once a year, usually on his birthday, which he celebrated with old friends and colleagues at Montreal's legendary ribs and chicken eatery, The Bar B Barn. Let us not forget that yummy Colt cigar for breakfast either.

In an era when AM radio flourished in Montreal with a variety of legendary morning men like George Balcan, Ted Blackman et al, Lockwood was in a wacky, politically incorrect class all his own.
Ralph (right) and friend Marc Denis, 2014

In a 2002 interview with the Montreal Gazette, Lockwood said: “I miss radio like crazy — except when I listen to where it’s going, with all the bitching and complaining. I saw it as a nice vehicle for entertaining people. I made it like a bubble. It was my escape. And, geez, I miss the Bar-B-Barn.”

Lockwood died on January 12, 2020. He was 80 years old.

Some materials found on this page were originally published by the following: Montreal Gazzette, Rock Radio Scrapbook.