Broadcasting legend and a veteran of CHUM Radio for 45 years, Bob Laine, will be posthumously inducted into the Canadian Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame on Friday, March 23, 2024. Laine’s memory and career will be honoured with the Allan Waters Broadcast Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his outstanding success in broadcasting. The induction ceremony will take place during the Canadian Radio Music Awards luncheon being held at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel.
“Bob Laine is inextricably woven into the fabric of the CHUM Radio legend”, said Duff Roman, retired head of CHUM Radio. “As an on-air personality, he personified the exuberant baby boomers who were coming of age in Toronto in the 60s. Later, as a senior executive, he did a lot of heavy lifting for CHUM and nothing fazed him. He was always cheerful – a genuinely warm and wonderful individual and a great comrade-in-arms. I am honoured to call him my friend.”
“Bob Laine was more than just a great friend for 46 years, he was also a wonderful mentor to me and to many other fledgling broadcasters over the years,” remarked Doug Thompson, CEO of Douglas Communications Inc. “As a teenager, I used to keep my transistor radio under my pillow and fall sleep listening to Bob all night on CHUM, never dreaming that one day, we’d be working together and become chums ourselves. Bob’s passion for radio was just as strong at the end as it was at the beginning of his career. He was simply the best.”
Bob Laine began his broadcasting career at CFRS in Simcoe, Ontario in 1957 but quickly moved to CHUM Toronto where he would ultimately make his mark as “The Voice”. CHUM’s undisputed King of All Nights, he was best known as the overnight disc jockey on 1050 CHUM during the 60’s – a legendary time for the station as it revolutionized the AM signal in Canada by introducing a rock and roll format. For a decade, he entertained listeners as Bob “The Night Creature” Laine introducing his show with the signature line “Good morning world, this is Bob-O. Good morning Bob-O, this is world.”
For 15 years, Laine operated the CHUM network of stations in Winnipeg before returning to Toronto to become Director of Special Projects and later Vice President for CHUM Limited. In this position, he was instrumental in launching the CHUM Radio Network, which he managed until his retirement in October 2024. Not long after retirement, Laine took on the task of assembling and organizing CHUM’s vast collection of archives, which would become the CHUMuseum.
At the time of his death on August 31, 2024, he had been serving on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Broadcast Museum Foundation as its Chairman. He was also a longtime member of Variety Club where he worked on many of the organization’s annual television fundraising programs and Chief Barker in Winnipeg.
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