Born and raised in Welland, Ont., Randy Owen''s award-winning broadcasting career began with two consecutive awards for having top mark in radio class at Niagara College. While a first year college student, he began working evenings and weekends at 1470 CHOW, his hometown country music station.Eventually, Randy worked his way up to mid-day announcer and music director.
Randy spent nine years working the afternoon drive at CKGL and went on to become music director. In 1988, he became the first person to win both national Canadian country music awards (RPM Big Country Awards, Canadian Country Music Association) for on air personality in the same year.
Starting in 1997, Randy went national for three years, hosting the popular cross Canada country music request show "Cryin'', Lovin'' or Leavin''" via satellite.
Randy came to Tillsonburg and Country 107.3 in October 2007, bringing with him a wealth of experience and his love of country music, from the old to the new, from the classics to today's hits.
A career highlight came in October 2009 when he was the emcee for the Walters Family performance at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville (see photo).
Randy has interviewed a long list of country music personalities as well.This list includes Johnny Cash, Garth Brooks, Vince Gill, Faith Hill, Waylon Jennings, Shania Twain and many, many more!
Join Randy mornings from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm.
Two years ago today, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and my friend, Terry Sumsion passed away from esophageal cancer. A few weeks earlier, I had visited him at his home so he could personally hand me his new CD, "Encore." At one point, while we were alone in his living room, he asked me to write his obituary. It was the kind of request you didn't want to hear, but you knew sooner or later it would come down to that. I started to write after that but had a hard time trying to finish it.
Then it happened. While at a Tri-County Jam in Tillsonburg, Ont., sitting with Al Ross, whom Terry had considered to be a brother to him, Al took a phone call out in the hallway. We had known Terry wasn't doing well. Coincidentally, Bob Derer, a friend of Terry's, was on stage singing one of Terry's songs, "Friendship Train." Al came back into the room and sat down. I looked at him and asked if that was the phone call. He said yes. Without saying another word, we sat there and cried, and soon left. Some of Terry's friends at the jam were planning to get together and asked me to come along. I couldn't. I had a job to do and a promise to keep. I went back to the radio station and finished writing, not necessarily an obituary, but my tribute to my friend. I was there the whole night until the sun came up. During those hours, Al emailed me a ton of pictures of Terry. I forwarded them to the guy who does our website. We waited until it was OK with the family to post that tribute and announce on the air that Terry was gone. In the days that followed, I was pleasantly surprised to find that my tribute to Terry had been published on several websites and newspapers. My sincere thanks to those who did. That tribute is still on our website two years later. Click on the link below and when it comes up, I hope you'll click on the picture and watch the slideshow set to his song "Dance With Me." Thanks for your friendship, Terry, and thanks for the music. We all still miss you.
http://www.country1073.ca/community-events/terry-sumsion-tribute.html
Four years ago today, Dan Seals passed away at his daughter's home in Nashville at the age of 61 of complications from lymphoma. As England Dan, of the pop duo England Dan & John Ford Coley, he scored several huge pop hits in the 1970's. As a solo country artist after that, he had 11 #1 country hits, nine of them in-a-row! He once told me that as a kid, he and his friends used to go to the Texas Theater in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas, Texas, the theater where accused JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested!
Happy 79th birthday today to singer, songwriter, guitar player, steel guitarist, author, banjo picker, fiddler, blues harpist, long-haired, hippie, weirdo and snake-charmer Dick Damron--or as Dick would say, it's the 29th anniversary of his 50th birthday! Born in Bentley, Alberta (and spending most of his time these days in Mexico), he's recorded over 25 albums and won numerous awards and has even been inducted into the International Country Music Hall of Fame in Beaumont, Texas. In 1985, while co-hosting the Canadian Country Music Awards in Edmonton with Charley Pride and Carroll Baker, Dick won the CCMA Entertainer of the Year (pic of Dick, Charley and Ma Henning)! Happy birthday, Dick and thanks for all the great music!
One year ago today, Tommy Hunter performed his last show on his Final Tour, at the John Labatt Centre in London, Ont., his hometown. I was there for the show and ran into some old friends outside before the show: George Hamilton IV and Donna & LeRoy, who had been part of Tommy's CBC-TV show for so many years. Performing in Tommy's band were Darren Walters, of The Walters Family, and guitar great Steve Piticco. After the concert, George IV was the MC for a fitting tribute to Tommy, which featured surprise appearances by Donna & LeRoy, Bobby Curtola, 91-year-old Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion and many others. It was a very special and fitting way to turn the next page on Hunter's career and life. It was also his 75th birthday that day. Happy birthday, Tommy, and thanks for some great memories and music! 
