Tom Peacock
b.
d.
Tom spent the best part of his life as a broadcaster working
in radio and TV in Nanaimo, Santa Barbara, Seattle, and Vancouver. He is
remembered for his years with the
***
Former
C-FUN ‘good guy’ and CKWX DJ Tom Peacock died Saturday (
***
One of the original C-FUN Good Guys has died.
Tom came to
Tom was always a homespun kind of guy, and no
matter what his position as an executive, he never became anything other than
the down home guy he was. He will also be remembered by Canucks fans as the
best PA announcer the club ever had. He provided his incredible voice to all
Canuck home games and he was one of the best in
Tom leaves a legacy: his partner Carole, his two
sons Greg and Bradley and his grandchildren. Over the years in radio in
***
Historical Notes based on newspaper articles:
Appointment by
***
April 7/89 Vancouver Sun
They were filling the champagne
glasses at CKNW Thursday while over at rival CKWX it was time to get out the
smelling salts.
After six years at CFUN - which
did not make a bid to renew - the broadcasts of B.C. Lions' games are going
back to 'NW.
No details were announced other
than the deal is for three years beginning with the upcoming '89 season.
"Frankly, we're in shock over
here," commented 'WX station manager Tom Peacock. "We had a copy of
their bid, just like they had of ours, and I felt we blew them out of the
water. It's a major shock."
Lions say they set up a radio
rights committee to gather information which was forwarded to the board.
"It was our understanding the
committee recommended our bid, but the board overruled them," said
Peacock. "We felt we had an outstanding totalpackage which had some very
exciting concepts. We were going to involve CFUN and CKVU in some of our
promotions. I know they (the Lions) will be getting $50,000 less by turning down
our bid.
"It looks like we got
blindsided by a political decision."
"It's our belief that CKNW is
best suited at this time to help us ensure we realize our objectives with
regard to radio coverage," said Lions' new executive vice-president Stu
Kehoe.
No on-air broadcasters have been
announced, but the former CFUN team of J. Paul McConnell and Tom Larscheid are
now both employed by the New Westminster-based station. Also available is
former 'NW football play-by-play man Jim Cox.
Had 'WX won the rights they planned
an on-air team of Ron Barnet and former CFL quarterbacking great Condredge
Holloway.
***
The band "BAD BOYS' hailed
from Haney, BC -- a Vancouver suburb. Local radio personality Tom Peacock of C-FUN
recommended a name change to ease the fears of female fans' mothers. From the
pages of history a more conservative handle -- that of a 19th-century
fur-trading consortium – ‘Northwest Company’ band was born.
***
Elmer Tippe: "I started on the all
nighter, 12 to 5:30 a.m. I had quit the station in Langley and I was going to
try music full time, but an advertising agency I was with, McDonald/Farey, had
CKWX as an account. Farey was invited to their Christmas party and he and ('WX
program director) Tom Peacock got to talking. They had switched to country in
'74 and Tom said he was looking for a good all-night man. Mr. Farey said 'why
don't you talk to Elmer Tippe, he knows country music.' So I gave Tom a call
and that was it."
These were still the days, albeit some
of the last days, of freewheeling radio, of the true on-air
"personality."
"Tom left it wide open when he was
there. Where, hey, if you've got somebody you want to talk with on the air, you
just go ahead.
***
Vancouver
Sun
Greg
Douglas April 15/06
SHORT
HOPS: Senator Ray Perrault and Tom Peacock -- a couple of gladiators in
Perrault,
who was appointed by Pierre Elliott Trudeau as minister of state for fitness
and amateur sport in 1982, worked with Peacock and other high-profile community
leaders as part of a Molson Breweries pitch to land a major league baseball
franchise for
***
Bob
Bye passes
Former
CKWX general manager Tom Peacock recalled his long association with the veteran
DJ.
"Bob
was a wonderful man and a very special human being," said Peacock.
"He had a connection with the audience and a charm that crossed all
demographics. He had a genuine bond with his listeners and it wasn't done for
the money. It was done because Bob Bye truly loved people."
***
Province
Oct 8/93
It's
quite a story.” It was probably around '75," remembers past general
manager of CKWX Tom Peacock, of the day a woman named Charlie Galbraith came to
him with a plan for a country music awards show. They were to be called
Charlies. "She had a lot of energy. She had rented the Commodore and had this
thing all going, about a month and a half out, and she came to see me in a
panic. She needed promotion, she needed organization. People were accusing her
of being on an ego trip by calling them Charlies. "What actually took
place at the awards show, which was very successful, was …we brought in Danny's
(Romanuck, a then recently deceased and much-loved local fiddler) parents from
the Prairies. The place was all decked out with the Charlies and there was a
false front on the (stage) and she came up and made a speech and pulled a rope.
It fell off and it was called the Dannys. "Within weeks, Galbraith and
Peacock spearheaded that initial success into the BCCMA and for years things
went swimmingly. Membership and credibility grew, Molson's sponsored the Dannys,
and life was good.
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