After an incredible 50 years with the station, Roger Ashby has announced his retirement from the CHUM 104.5 Toronto morning show.
Ashby’s last broadcast will happen Dec. 5 and aired live from the Sheraton Centre Toronto Grand Ballroom.
“I don’t think I could have done it for this length of time without you,” Ashby told his co-host of 30 years Marilyn Denis following this morning’s announcement. “I have mixed emotions, I mean I’m going to miss all of you guys.”
“I want to thank all of the listeners…people who have said my parents listened to you and now I listen to you and you’re like family. When someone says that to you, it’s the highest compliment.”
Ashby joined CHUM in 1969 after starting his career at CKOC Hamilton. He began his career at 1331 Yonge Street on the all-night show and eventually was given the 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. shift, replacing Johnny Mitchell who had moved into management at CHUM FM. For 16 years he cranked out the hits on 1050 CHUM before moving across the hall to take the reigns of the CHUM FM morning show.
Ashby has been with the show through several different hosting lineups including the Roger, Rick and Marilyn Show featuring co-host Rick Hodge, which ran for 20 years. From 2008-15, Darren B. Lamb joined the show. New co-host Jamar McNeil came on board earlier this year. Ashby was inducted into the Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame in 2010.
Over the next few weeks, the morning show will look back at some of Ashby’s career highlights culminating in the Dec. 5 live broadcast that will feature celebrity guests recounting memories from his half-century in Toronto radio.
Ashby told listeners he’s not getting on his horse and riding off into the sunset, saying “there will be other projects.”
“Roger Ashby is quite simply a radio legend, and a luminary of Canada’s music industry,” said Randy Lennox, President, Bell Media, in a press release. “He is a model of excellence and consistency in radio broadcasting, and upholds that gold standard every time he sits behind the mic. We wish him the very best in his retirement, and thank him for 50 incredible years at CHUM.”
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