photo courtesy of Anthony Bliss
"Tarzan Dan" Freeman
- Afternoon drive/evenings CKAR Oshawa ON 1980-82;
evenings/weekends CFFR Calgary 1982-83; evenings CFCN Calgary 1983-88; evenings
CKXY Vancouver 1988-90; p.m. drive and evenings CFTR Toronto 1990-94;
nationally syndicated countdown The Tarzan Dan Top 20 1993-94; p.m. drive CHOG
Toronto 1994-96; On the Air, Everywhere with Tarzan Dan Canada 3000 Radio
1994-96; a.m. drive CKDX-FM Toronto 1998-99; Hits Around The World Air Canada
Radio 1998-2002; p.m. drive CISS-FM Toronto 1999-2003; swing/production CHUM
AM/FM Toronto 2004-05; a.m. drive CHSU-FM Kelowna
2005-current
***
In 1988, Tarzan Dan did some
Winter Olympics coverage for CTV, then left for a
***
Tarzan Dan never has a bad hair
day. The credit doesn't just go to his collection of 75 baseball caps, which is
growing, nor to his collection of follicles, which isn't. It's more a matter of
attitude.
Tarzan Dan is just up -- when
he's meeting kids, racing through the halls of YTV in
Now in his third year on the
national cable channel, the onetime Calgarian was
known as Dan Freeman when he first turned up at the AM radio station now known
as MIX 1060.
He did fine just as a voice,
but the entertainment scene definitely gained something when this unorthodox
performer decided to call in at the fledgling YTV after it put out the word it
wanted a video jockey.
He found a crowd of applicants,
all waiting their turn to perform, many of them clearly crafted in a
traditional TV image.
"I auditioned for it like
everybody else, says Freeman over lunch during a vacation in
"I kept looking at all the
people walking up to the microphone like they're God's gift to television. And
there's me, Mr. Dorky Pants.
Team took notice
So Dan did what came naturally
and put some gusto into it. The hiring team took notice.
Viewers have taken notice, too.
You might think they'd get seasick watching the Hit List host leaping around as
if the object of the game was to make the camera operator work for every penny
of his paycheque.
But rather than reach for the Gravol, many of them seize a pen and postage stamp and
express their affection. The letter count averages 1,500 a month, he says.
Record Magazine has declared
him Canadian announcer of the year four times in a row, starting in 1990, even
though the description "announcer" doesn't really do it, either.
Tarzan Dan prefers the job
title of "personality" because it makes more sense.
"Personalities drag you
into the radio and they drag you into television. Announcers just introduce the
music.
Years before YTV hired this man, he was a nighttime radio personality in
He got his start here in 1983,
before he shaved his head and before he got the idea of adopting the name of
Edgar Rice Burroughs' famous fictional character.
"A bunch of us were
sitting around a restaurant, he recalls. "Somebody
said to me, `Your show's untamed. It's like a jungle.' The name Tarzan came up, and the proverbial light bulb switched itself on over
Dan Freeman's head. "Hey, cool, he recalls saying.
Good career move. It was a good
career move.
"Even if you couldn't
remember my name, I can do a Tarzan yell and you know half my name. You can
mention it to anybody from any part of the world and they know who Tarzan is.
***
Tarzan Dan, not surprisingly,
follows his own bizarre fashion formula.
Some of his shirts, in fact,
are "too crazy for some people," admits the radio and television
personality who's known as Dan Freeman in real life.
"If you buy something with
its own style it will never go out of style and never come into style,"
observes Freeman, host of YTV's The Hit List and a
broadcaster on CFTR.
The 28-year-old, who was a top
radio announcer in
Freeman favors a laid-back look
with a "funky twist" for every occasion. A perfect example of this
concept is his favorite suit - a "nicely draped" black number
festooned with fishbones designed by
"That store carries a lot
of interesting clothes," says Freeman, who updates his wardrobe there
about every three months.
The clothes he wears on The Hit
List are designed by European manufacturers, Double Duty. "When I wear one
of their printed silk shirts, people always ask me where I got it."
Since Freeman's dress for
success code is a pair of jeans and a "cool shirt", it isn't
surprising that his favorite menswear label is
Comfortable Chewan
jeans are a mainstay of his wardrobe. Made in
Two years ago he visited
Lasting Impressions, an image consultant in
Freeman says he is just as
flamboyant as his alter ego, Tarzan Dan. "The style that I've always
exuded with my personality is outrageous on the cutting edge."
He likes to top off his outfits
with one of 15 baseball caps, a collection he started two years ago when he
began shaving his head to disguise the fact that he was losing his hair.
Cherished items include hats from the
"When he gave me the
beret, Tom said I was psycho enough looking that this hat would look normal on
me."
BC Radio History
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