As I look back, it was pretty brave of Ted Rogers and Keith Dancy to let me turn CFTR into a laboratory.
the station was crawling with talent, but it was the backstage folks, Keith Elshaw, Sharon Henwood, Bruce Devine, Roger Klein, and Rick Moranis, who made it happen.

As I was saying in Chapter XXII, (A Happy Ending) right after getting our good rating book, I headed to LA for a radio convention.
However, you can only celebrate so long, so it was now time to get back to work. 

We were in uncharted waters, and because the sound was all in my head, I needed to communicate with the staff as often as possible.
The way I chose to do it was by having lots of staff meetings.

There was no need to tie up the boardroom because my office was large enough to have them in there 
Before each meeting, I’d set up the folding chairs theater-style, and once everybody was seated, I’d begin with some opening remarks.

I tried to keep meetings as light and short as possible, but when you have guys like Rick Moranis and Sandy Hoyt there, keeping it light was not the problem.
Keeping everyone focused was the problem. The meetings would start out smooth enough, but then Rick and Sandy would get into with each other, and pretty soon, everyone would be laughing hysterically. (Rick and Sandy are pictured above) 

Even I had difficulty staying focused because occasionally, the pretty promotion person would sit down right in front of me.
As I began my remarks, she smiled before slowly sliding down in her chair until revealing that she’d recently gone “Brazilian.” Try not to focus on that, baby!

Much to my surprise, the next thing that happened was I was promoted to the position of Station Manager.
Thankfully, my boss Keith Dancy had the sales part covered because I wasn’t what you would call sales-friendly. 

Years later, when my brother Reg became the Program Director of CFTR, the Sales Manager, after meeting him and hearing his name, he said, you’re not related to that prick George Johns, are you?”

Shortly after being appointed the Station Manager, I decided to take the family back home to Winnipeg for a short vacation.
Once there, I popped into CKY to see the old gang, but when I arrived at the station, they were all leaving for a press conference, so I tagged along.

The press conference was for Bobby Hull because the Winnipeg Jets were presenting him a check for a million dollars for jumping to the World Hockey League

Not only was it fun to hang with my CKY pals at the conference, but I also got to see some folks I knew from the other radio stations.
One of them was  Don Slade from CKRC, who had been at my going away party when I left Winnipeg to become the Program Director of CKOM in Saskatoon.

When he spotted me, he came right over and asked, “George, how are things going in Saskatoon?”
When I said I was no longer there, he said, “Aw, that’s too bad; what happened?”

When I told him that all was good and, in fact, I’d just been made the station manager of CFTR in Toronto, his pained expression turned to one of disbelief. 

The last time I saw Don, I was a board op who somehow had gotten a job as a Program Director in Saskatoon.
The journey from board op in Winnipeg to station manager in Toronto had taken four years, which didn’t seem that fast then, but now I’m more amazed about it than Don was.

My deal came with a brand-new Pontiac Grand Prix, which had a spectacular stereo system.
One day I decided to check out the stereo, so I took a ride on the QEW and 

As I was driving alongside Lake Ontario, I turned on CKFM which was the only FM station in Toronto that played a little pop music now and then.
When I dialed them up, they were playing “Does Anybody Know What Time It Is” by Chicago.

Wow, it sounded so good that I couldn’t help but think, “I’ve just heard the future; you talk on AM, and you play music on FM. Got it!
Hello America, how are ya?”