Ted Bird, one of the veterans of Montreal radio, has flown the coop.
Ted Bird
The official word from CHOM, Pete Marier and the Bird Man himself is that Bird resigned from his morning show job.
I’d originally reported here that he had been fired. I’ll swallow my pride and retract that. My sources were wrong, and I relied too much on unverified information in repeating them. My apologies to my readers and to CHOM.
Bird himself confirmed Wednesday that he resigned from the station “for personal and professional reasons”:
Just for the record, I did in fact submit my resignation from CHOM for personal and professional reasons, which VP and general manager Martin Spalding graciously accepted. I no longer have an e-mail account at the radio station but if I owe anyone money or they want their driveway shovelled, they can reach me on my home e-mail at tesburp@live.ca.
It would be fair to say that there were creative and philosophical differences that took a lot of the passion and joy out of the process, and I’m not going to get up at 3am to go to a job that’s no fun anymore. CHOM is skewing younger and I’m getting older (51 this month) so it just didn’t feel like it fit.
Bird welcomes comments at his email address above, which he has asked me to share with his listeners.
The story is getting coverage in The Gazette and at CTV. Both are being flooded with comments from people who support Bird and others who support him being taken off the air.
Bird gave an interesting quote to The Gazette about the state of the industry, something I’ve heard a lot from other radio veterans:
Radio stations used to be owned by families. They were creative people with a passion and instinct for the business. Now stations are run by corporations. They’ve taken the craft out of the hands of the craftsmen. I have to work with creative people – as a collaborator – not be dictated to.
Following the usual playbook of pretending like people never existed when they leave, Astral wasted no time scrubbing references to Bird from CHOM’s website on Tuesday, even while ads showing Bird were still appearing. Bird’s blog and CHOM email have been deleted or disabled.
The move (or at least the announcement of the move) comes the day after Chantal Desjardins joined the morning crew. Desjardins moved over from CJFM (Virgin Radio 96) to replace Kim Rossi, who left for a new job in St. Catharines, Ont. Desjardins and Bird didn’t work a single show together as “Ted, Chantal and Bad Pete”.
The CHOM morning show was also in the process of finding a new name, running a contest asking for suggestions from listeners. That contest has suspended entries, though they will draw the grand prize on Friday for anyone who entered before the contest was rendered moot. For now, the show is being referred to as “Chantal and Bad Pete“.
On Wednesday morning’s show, Marier started by stressing that Bird resigned suddenly on Jan. 1 (though few people knew about it until Tuesday). He said he doesn’t know why Bird quit, but that it was for “personal reasons”. (He also took a shot at those pesky online rumours that are full of “BS”.)
Marier also said the station will be looking for a replacement for Bird, even suggesting that one would be in place by February.
That’s not to say Marier was quick to move on. He devoted a perfectly respectable 17 minutes of the first three and a half hours of the show (it was extended an hour because of the unrelated fact that afternoon host Rob Kemp has just had a baby). Considering this is a music station that’s lucky to get five minutes an hour to talk about stuff between music, commercials, news, traffic, sports and weather, that’s not bad.
Marier repeatedly stressed that Bird had not been fired (I feel guilty enough to want to send him flowers), and that there was no personal conflict between the two, who have long been friends (apparently some people suggested that Marier had something to do with Bird’s departure, which really makes no sense).
Listen to Pete Marier talk about Ted Bird on Wednesday morning’s show (MP3, runs 16:52)
Bird first joined CHOM 21 years ago as a news announcer, moving from CJFM. In 1993 he and Terry DiMonte moved to CJFM to take over the Mix 96 morning show. DiMonte and Bird later reunited at CJAD and in 2002 retook the CHOM morning show in a bid to bring the station back to its roots (and ratings).
You can get a taste of Bird’s history in this mini documentary about the morning show trio, back when it was Ted, Kim and Kemp:
Asked what he’ll do next, Bird was his usual wisecracking self:
I have no immediate plans, although my 8 and 10 year old sons, Charlie and Sam, want the three of us to set up an Internet radio station, where Sam suggests that some of our regular features include him falling down in the snow and hitting Charlie in the nuts with an apple.
Bird’s current and former colleagues said they were shocked by the news, which was given to employees in the late afternoon on Tuesday. Terry DiMonte, who teamed up with Bird for many years at three radio stations, called it a “sad day for Montreal radio.”
Well, they just lost me as a listener I guess. What good morning show host will i listen to now?
andrew carter
Well, I always listen to CBC or Radio-Canada in the morning. Only time I listen to commercial radio is for a rock fix when doing housework. Less and less, and not just because I’m older – there are few shows with good new innovative music except on community stations (which are very uneven – you have to know the show and the host).
Need a new station to listen to now. Bird was the only reason i tuned in
I just went back listening to CHOM as of this week, hoping the Kim(less) morning show would be more bearable. Ted was the smartest one on the show. What a pile of crap CHOM has become. Well back to The Buzz. Great work Astral.
are you absolutely sure he was fired?
I’m waiting to hear details. But his blog has been deleted and his CHOM email address is bouncing as undeliverable. Either he’s been canned or someone is playing a really mean practical joke on everyone.
maybe he just quit
so how do you justify your headline?~
they have a contest to name the new morning show . how about , down the crapper show.
That’s actually big news, even for a french guy like me. Bird was english voice for many of us.
Wonder if the Bird’s Eye View continues on ‘AD?
that’s it for CHOM as far as I’m concerned.Kemp should have stayed in morning show.what a mess they have on their hands now.it seemed weird that Ted was on an extended vacation yesterday and today as Marier said on air.with the new girl on the air yesterday,I found it a strange beginning for the new show.Maybe Ted will be on his way to Calgary to rejoin his buddy Di monte now.
Agreed, Ted, Kim and Kemp was the best morning show era (Merv rocked during that time as well!)
Bad Pete looks like Danny Bonaduche. Mr Bird will show up somewhere. Perhaps Corus?
http://cmongethappy.com/blog/uploaded_images/dannyBioPic250x386-733820.jpg
Well that sucks. It must of been something that happened off air that would have caused this. I’ve been a loyal listener to Ted Bird & whoevertheotherguysorgalsarewithhim and I didn’t see this coming. I found that there was a lot of renewed life in him since splitting with Terry DiMonte which had become a dirty-old-man routine. Didn’t Ted win favorite Montreal radio personality in the Mirror or something last year? Whatever the case, I gotta say, Ted, you will be missed.
CTV News reports that he actually resigned & was not fired…
It should be noted that “the failed Howard Stern experiment” on CHOM was far from a failure. I won’t bother everyone with all the details here but a little research would easily prove that statement wrong. Also Stern aired on CHOM in 1997/98 so obviously DiMonte and Bird didn’t replace Stern in 2002. Just want to get the facts straight.
You’re right. Though my calling the Stern experiment a failure wasn’t so much about ratings as it was about … well, about how I just don’t like Howard Stern.
Ted Bird also worked at CJAD before he & Terry returned to CHOM. Ted Bird replaced Ted Blackman as the morning sportscaster…
The Gazette says he resigned – but that could be Astral’s spin/PR. He was mysteriously gone for the past two days, but Pete/Chantal kept saying Birdman would return. I wonder if it was a salary standoff? Too bad though – he was the best part of the morning.
I heard he quit.
Either way it is another in a series of losses to Montreal radio! Satellite radio looks better every day!
Been listening to Satellite Radio now for over two years , I cannot live without it. I recommend it to everyone.
That’s it for me. Back to playing CD’s in the morning.
Find it funny Kim Rossi’s blog n stuff still accessible on chom site but all of ted bird stuff removed
I’d love to hear the “Bird Droppings” on this one…
He will be sorely missed, as he was, to me anyways, one of the VERY few “genuine” sounding radio man around. Everybody else sound like a never ending commercial.
Not sad here to see Ted & his arrogance leave the airwaves! Good riddance.
I like Pete!
Change is good!
This is truly too bad! The only reason I stayed tuned to Chom was because Ted was still there.
Will be tuning Chom out now.
Well, they just lost me as a listener. With Terry and Ted gone, two of the funniest guys on radio, CHOM’s just not going to do it anymore. This really sucks! I have to find another station.
The best period was Ted, Kim & Kemp. Rob brought out the best is Kim and Merv. The 4 of them were by far the most entertaining. Since Pete joined, there was strained banter, and it was been downhill from there… Ted will be missed and not easily replaced.
I can’t believe Ted is gone. Chom really sucks now. It sucked as soon as Bad Pete joined the show. Didn’t like him way back when and don’t like him now. Won’t listen to Chom anymore.
Ted Bird has a responsibility to his listners and followers,and to just pick himself up and leave without saying goodbye,is just very selfish,and inconsiderite.
It wasn’t his decision not to say goodbye. Radio stations usually prevent people from saying goodbye to listeners when they’ve been fired or have quit because of a dispute, because they can be unpredictable on air.
it is a shame that Ted is no longer with you.for myself i guess i will move on like them.losing Terry and Kim and now Ted . you guys really do not know what your doing with your station,shame on you!!!!! maybe you are getting a little to confidant.
I’ll Miss Bird Droppings And Revisionist History And The Birdman Himself.
I’ll Still be listening to CHOM At least there is still Sharon Hyland, Billal, Rob Kemp, Joanne Vrakas, Tootall , Randy Renaud , Bad Pete and Chantal Dejardins.
Luckily I Have a tape of CHOM From June Of 09 and has a segment of bird droppings on it :)
The Last Part of the 00s and very Early 10s for CHOM had alot of host losses. (Terry DiMonte, Kim Rossi, Jimmy Spencer and now Ted Bird)
I’ll Miss His “Pants” Jokes.
So Now Can i go skiing without pants?
I just hope he did not find out he has a terminal illness or family trouble.
Personally I think it would be great if he was to join up with Terry.Then again I am in my mid fifteys and can probably relate to these old coots better than the younger crowd.
I was pretty put out when Terry left but I could not blame him.I knew it would probably be just a matter of time before Ted would leave but I was hoping I was wrong.
CHOM and ASTRAL you have a serious problem.Nothing against Pete,Merv,or Chantal.In fact if you gave Merv a shot it might go a long way to help out the situation.
That’s it for me.
The ”suits” at chom have finally found a way to kill the morning show.First Terry, then Rob, Kim and now Ted.
They are scraping the bottom of the barrel with this ” leftover” Pete.A new name for the show ? How about “Poison Pete co-host killer show “
Gonna miss the The Birdman….especially @ 5:35 timeslot. Really made my day. Marier seems to be a decent guy and will give him a shot but Ted was out there man, funniest sob ever heard whilst sittin on the crapper!!
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Give me a break.. CHOM is going to find its way .. amazing how so many fear change ! New blood, new music,new crew. Someday soon the annoucement will be made that Ted Bed is on the new Q. BAD PETE,CHANTAL and whoever will try there thing. Does anyone really miss Dimonte??? REALLY ? Im still with CHOM .. always find my way back to CHOM.
Maybe he was sleeping with Tiger Woods, Just Kidding, I will miss Ted he was a fellow NY Giants fan
Terry Dimonte spotted in Mtl this weekend just before Ted “calls it quits” Hmm…..The New Q???? Terry and Ted back together!
Terry was here visiting friends and his folks who live in Cornwall.I am sure he had time to see MR.Bird too.
Does not mean anything. Terry comes out east during the holidays to be with family and friends. It was a pure coincidence. Terry only found out a couple of days ago himself as he posted something on is facebook wall : “Terry DiMonte sighhhhhhhhhhhhh” and only added that “its just something I found out that made me sad that will be public in the next day or so”…so again don’t read anything into seeing him in Montreal over the holidays. It would be great though if this were true but Terry is pretty happy out in Cow Town.
I hear from friends out West that Terry isn’t that popular with the “western crowd”. Wouldn’t it be great if he came back to Montreal.
Ted Bird will always be considered one of the best in Montreal Radio,along with George Balcan and Ralph Lockwood. I wish him all the best.
Anyone in Human resources knows that you should never let anyone go before Xmas, so before Bob Harris left with his wife Kim to Ontario,he must of left his own ied under Ted’s chair set to go off after New Years. His job with astral is to cut the budget and save money and that’s what he will be doing in Hamilton or where ever he is now.
Good Luck Ted
I guess this is your JFK on a boat
Like I said, we all make mistakes.
Oddly enough, I don’t see you writing that. Anywhere. I don’t see the words “mistake,” “mistaken,” “wrong,” “incorrect,” or “inaccurate.”
I do see this, though:
Yeah, you really went out of your way there to call attention to the fact that you might have been, oh, inaccurate with the facts as they actually existed. Try not to break a sweat.
But you’re a blogger, right? No need to hold you to a higher standard of accuracy like those in the actual media. Oh, wait…you are in the actual media. Forgot about that.
By all means, hold me to whatever standard you want. I got it wrong here, and my reputation takes a hit as a result. No amount of backtracking will fix that, nor am I trying to hide it.
Yes, but…
…hardly constitutes an admission as such. In fact, you don’t even use the word “wrong” anywhere in your original or updated post – you don’t even use “wrong” (or, as far as I can see, any synonym thereof) until it’s buried in a reply to the 34th (!) comment.
I’d be interested to know how many of the other commenters here posted their comments/replies under the erroneous impression – helpfully provided by your original, incorrect post – that he was fired?
This implies that, well, you think you were sort of right, when in actuality, it appears as if you were mostly wrong.
For someone who works in an industry whose entire business model is (ostensibly) predicated on the concept of accuracy – although nowadays it’s more about getting the story first than getting the story right – one might hope that you would have made a somewhat more obvious and noticeable correction/retraction and display at least some sort of contrition.
Fair enough. I thought it was clear, but I’ve updated the post to make it clearer. Please let me know if there is something more obvious I could do.
The corrected piece was posted at about 6am Wednesday morning, so you can calculate from that what comments were based on wrong information.
Another one bites the dust, Joanne Vrakas gone from the site
I’ve been working for many years now and usually get up @ 5:30am to make my way to work. As the years go on I seem to be finding it harder and harder to get up that early. What was making it more bearable was that Terry and Ted were up before me and waiting for me to dial into CHOM. Tuning into CHOM on my early morning drive to work and then tuning them in on my computer at work made my day get off to a great start. Rob Kemp, Kim Rossi and Bad Pete were great additions but the fact remains that Ted really made my day. Ted will be sorely missed and my morning drives into work will not be the same.
Best of Luck Ted.
Really, who cares!
I haven’t listened to the CHOM-FM morning show since Stern was removed. My car radio is tuned to WBTZ-FM (the Buzz) in the morning. How about that CHOM!
blogging about others peoples jobs is for suckers.
O.K. This is a gimme right? Because reading blogger who right about others then commenting about the blog is for……?
Not sure what the truth behind this is but this is a comment that was posted on CTV’s story about this: Darin “He’s moving to Toronto to join John Derringer on the morning show on Q107”
(http://montreal.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100106/mtl_bird_flies_away091005/20100106/?hub=MontrealHome)
Oh well, if it’s an anonymous comment on the Internet, it must be true.
Bird could very well end up at another radio station in Montreal or elsewhere, but the only one who knows for sure is Ted Bird, and he isn’t saying anything yet.
It’s a sad day for CHOM. I have been a listener for the last 20 years but it is time to move on. Rob, Ted and Kim had good chemistry. I hope that Pete learns how to work with a team instead of pushing his style on everyone else. If Pete doesn’t smarten up he won’t last long.
I absolutely LOVED The Terry, Ted and Kim show, stayed a listener when Terry was replace by Kemp, and tolerated Bad Pete’s arrogance, but now the morning show is no longer, Ted made that show work… I don’t know what has happened to CHOM, who knows who I will listen to now! Good luck to Ted and I hope to hear you on the radio again soon!
Go West TedMan! Who needs a man like that? Gross contests, he was moody, munching, slurping, antagonizing co-workers all on the air. nor will I miss those nasty domestics with wifey over the phone, as bad as Kim calling Mama in Ontario to get gambling tips.
The real pro on that show was Rob, I used to love getting ready to work, unfortunately, decent huiman beings don’t seem to get the recognition they are entitled to.
Besides, the day Desjardins came over to get introduced he asked her what experience she had, she answered him she used to do sports, in my book, his days were clearly numbered, I’m only surprised that he “got” it. Or maybe someone cuecarded him!
What is going on at CHOM/CJAD/Mix…. Ever since Astral took over they have all taken a turn for the worse!!!
Also noticed that Jimmy Spencer is no longer with Chom. What happened to him? If I am not mistaken, he came over from Team990.
And Bilal and Jo have got to go.!!
It’s all going down the crapper!
Does anyone think that PETE … pushed him out? or that he is Toronto bound? CHANGE just CHANGE.. in 48 hrs who will care?
No. Even if he wanted to, Marier wouldn’t have that power.
I think it’s a hell of a way to leave things. It’s unfortunate that Astral has put a gag order on things. Shame on you CHOM for treating Ted like a piece of trash after all he has done for your station and for CHOM fans. I won’t be tuning in ever again and I’m sure many other once loyal fans will turn there back in a similar fashion. You reap what you sow.
I am going to dearly miss Revisionist History and Bird Droppings. Now all CHOM is left with is droppings.
Fagstein, the mp3 on the blog cuts out after about 30 seconds. Why? I would like to hear what Pete had to say.
Ted, you were great and always made my laugh in the morning. I hope you get back on your feet soon. I knew this would happen after Astral bought CHOM.
I just clicked on it again to listen to it, and it goes right up to the end. It’s 3.9MB and should last about 16 minutes. Try downloading it to your computer and listening to it there.
R.I.P. CHOM
Long live the Birdman
Steve, I’m just curious why my comments to you, basically calling you out about posting the initial erroneous story claiming that Bird had been fired seems to have been deleted from the list of 67 “Comments” received by you about this story.
The comment about Stern is there. I don’t recall one specifically chewing me out for getting the story wrong, so it’s possible it got sucked into the spam filter or it just never got through. Feel free to post it again.
What is it with this little town? Good, bad… the man quit. Now move on. When teams get mixed and matched because members leave, chemistry is hard to maintain. But it’s time to shift out of the past anyway. Astral buying CHOM did it a favour, not a disservice. The previous regime dictated that the station run a strict playlist of a few hundred tunes, nothing else. How democratic! I love the music mix since the change. Tunes you never would have heard before. Pete’s a good radio man. Get on board! CHOM is still the same ol’ CHOM in so many positive ways. Ted’s okay. He’ll definitely get a job in another station. The town is just that small. – Peace
CHOM FM has become todays real world WKRP with “very bad Pete” playing the role of Johnny Fever……….a wannabe who never was. He is stuck in the past with his tired and boring lexicon and totally out of touch with the stations intended demograph.
His introduction of Chantal as a “cool rock chick” was embarrassing and cringeworthy. His cliche riddled commentary on anything he discuss`s insults the listeners intelligence.
Anyone remember Billy Crystals discussion with his station manager in City Slickers? As they discussed an irritating advertising jingle Crystal developed………. “whats wrong with it?”…………………….”it makes people want to change the station”………..thats Marier
You go on about BAD PETE… Hes a consumate pro. What knowledge of the man do you have? he reads 90% of the adds on the astral stations ! And as far as I know is always polite and genuine,when he gases up at my service station. KEEP ON ROCKING ON BAD PETE !
If you read my post properly you will see that i refer to his on air persona…….NOT his “pay at the cash” one.
If he`s the nice polite guy you say he is then that just makes his on air “character” even more plastic.
Why not be the REAL Pete instead of putting up the ridiculous charade of trying to sound “hip” and “groovy man”
Montreal radio has finally bitten the dust this week….The style that we all grew up with and continued listened is now gone…There was George..Ralph…Gord..Terry…Patti…and now Ted…they were and still are what Montreal radio was about…We had our own unique style far from our US counterparts and from down the 401 and beyond…We have now become real “commercial” radio..Ted was right when he said the “family creativeness” is no longer part of Montreal radio..Good luck Ted…keep well and hope to hear form you soon!
Oh…Astral, Corus, please dig out the old archive tapes and give them a listen..They may be passé, but it was “REAL” radio!