George Gullen, Al Carruthers, & Rod Olson
Issue #100, 101, & 102
July 24, 2023
This edition of Sky Studio is dedicated to George Gullen
(and also includes recognition of Al Carruthers and Rod Olson)
who joined former colleagues in Sky Studio July 20, 2023
(Al, March 2023; Rod, July 2022)
George Gullen, radio sales for Gilder Broadcasting in the 1970s and 1980s, left for Sky Studio July 20, 2023, age 80, following a decline in recent years with Alzheimer's disease.
Russ Hilderley says, “Just learned we have another tube gone dark! George was Safeway manager prior to joining Gilder staff on Jerry Penny's sales team. Safeway closed the Sault store, but George and family were entrenched in Sault life and did not want to stay with Safeway, a western chain!
“He was the consummate gentleman. Our entire staff embraced his teddy bear personality. Jerry, John Chambers and George shared similar values and life skills. CFYN and CHAS-FM grew in customers’ preferences with excellent communication.”
John Chambers recalls, “I was introduced to George, my first day at CFYN in our first set of offices located in the old CKCY building on Queen across from the Gardens. I think from our first day together we bonded and became fast friends and partners in crime!
“Hijinks always seemed a part of everyday life in radio, and George, fun loving as he was known, was our resident prank puller! And one such example was our " Letters to Santa!"
“Each Christmas for about two or three years, George (Santa) and I (Ralph the Elf) would get together in our production studio with Dave Webb our prod manager and read actual kids’ letters that we taped for on air use later. Let me just say that sometimes, hilarity and zaniness would ensue (those were the letters that NEVER made it to air!) But we would get actual calls each December at the station from kids, who wanted their letters read by Santa and Ralph the Elf!”
Jerry Penny says he knew George would be well-liked by staff and clients. “I originally hired George to our CFYN sales team and knew from the start that he would be an excellent salesperson and a great employee. He was really liked by his fellow workers and by his clients. I am going to miss that smile he always had… Goodbye to my friend George.”
.....
Special Announcements:
From SooToday:
https://www.sootoday.com/obituaries/gullen-george-murray-7309274
From Arthur Funeral Home:
George Gullen Obituary - Sault Ste. Marie, ON (dignitymemorial.com)
In keeping with the Sky Studio theme of, ‘remember one, remember them all’, each current issue will include name(s) that recently have come to attention.
In this issue we add two more Sky Studio inductees who shared a CJIC 1050 microphone in the 1970s – Al Carruthers and Rod Olson.
Al did the all-night show at CJIC AM in the late 1960s/early 1970s and left for Sky Studio in March 2023. My (Art Osborne) recollection is Al left for CFCH radio in North Bay where I heard him doing afternoons when I arrived in that city to attend North Bay’s Cambrian College and its Communication Arts program. It wasn’t long before we were having a beer and Al told me the station was looking for a weekend staffer. Not long after that I was doing Saturday and Sunday evenings. I join many who have very fond recollections of Al was also always very supportive of me and others around him.
https://www.sootoday.com/obituaries/carruthers-ricahrd-al-7037250
A year ago, to the day almost at time of this announcement, ‘the Golden Jet of radio’ left for Sky Studio. Rod Olson left us July 23, 2022, at age 77.
He logged time in the 1970s as evening CJIC AM announcer and did some TV work. Those who recall the radio studios layout will notice the special announcement photo used – see photo and link below - was one taken of Rod in the AM studio with the CJIC microphone flag showing and the FM studio behind the glass.
The announcement refers to Rod as the 'Golden Jet' and Rod may have come to Sault Ste. Marie with that moniker or, as some will recall, it was attached to Rod by CJIC morning man and TV sports, John Rhodes. It was in the era when NHLer Booby Hull, with his sweeping blond hair and skating speed earned him the descriptor, ‘The Golden Jet’. In addition to his NHL time, Hull played for the Winnipeg Jets of the WHL. With Rod’s similar sweeping blond hair, it was a natural he attracted the Golden Jet of radio handle.
Joe Spina, who worked at CJIC as the same time as Rod and went on in later years to be a Member of Provincial Parliament for Brampton North in 1995, recalls, “I was doing the all-night shifts in AM after FM went to simulcast at midnight, weekends/ holidays and remember doing the morning FM show and looking through the glass and seeing John Rhodes on the AM morning show. One time I recall Rhodes saying, ‘Stayed tuned for the news at 10 with Rod Olsen, I mean Rod Charles. I don't know, we have so many rods on around here.’ I was killing myself laughing in my studio.”
Rod, known for his good and quick sense of humour, would have laughed at that too.
Special Announcement:
https://ottawacitizen.remembering.ca/obituary/rodney-olson-1085897510
