— Terry DiMonte (@TerryDiMonte) May 28, 2021
Unless you’ve been in a coma, you’re aware that Friday was Terry DiMonte’s last day at CHOM. There are several news stories about it, so instead of writing yet another summary I’ll just point you to the coverage:
- Montreal Gazette (also interviews with T’Cha Dunlevy and Bill Brownstein)
- Journal de Montréal (plus this story)
- La Presse (also this column from Marc Cassivi)
- Le Devoir
- CTV News
- Cult MTL
It’s quite the tribute that all three French-language dailies wrote stories about DiMonte’s departure. You don’t normally see such news cross the language divide. But DiMonte also made it a point to acknowledge and honour the city’s bilingual nature, even choosing a song by Harmonium as his final song.
I compiled a playlist of songs that aired during his final show here:
If you didn’t listen, CHOM has compiled clips of the final show, which was filled with guests including Ted Bird, Patti Lorange and Justin Trudeau, plus his regular columnists. Here are the links to those segments:
- Terry Mosher
- Ted Bird
- Peppermint Patti
- Bill Zacharkiw
- Pierre Houde
- Justin Trudeau
- Chris DeBurgh
- Terry’s parents
- Final words on air
It’s still unclear what the future is for both DiMonte and CHOM. DiMonte launched his new website on Friday, which talks about a “next chapter” in the fall. And though he plans to disappear from social media and take the summer off with his wife, it seems pretty clear he plans to remain active afterward. His website teases an interview video series, which is something he’s tried before.
As for CHOM, Pete Marier will be stepping into the big chair at least temporarily as of Monday. He would definitely be a leading candidate to take the job permanently, but there are various options available.
Thanks Steve.
Your articles are always interesting but this one one Terry is very special.
All the best to you
Sue
Steve, my hat is off to you for putting together this post. It was a labour of love and respect. I’m impressed and thanks for doing the heavy lifting.
Nice to have the playlist, thanks! And let me point out also that, on top of the coverage from the papers that you mention, there was mentions of Terry’s final show on the 2 most listened-to morning radio programs: Paul Arcand’s show on 98,5 FM, and Patrick’s Masbourian’s on Radio-Canada
Unfortunately I couldn’t find the Arcand clip online.
Already A BIG iMPROVEMENT With Bad Pete doing the Morning Show!!! Who knows how much more of Dimonte I could take of Dimonte with his constant “My Wife”.., Everybody knows he married already don’t need a reminder.. Was going to turn it into a “drinking game” if it keep on…Pls CHOM Management actually play some REAL MUSiC instead of the constant shovelling of Dimonte’s over the hill has been music PLEASE!!! –
Good grief, no to Bad Pete. Please leave him on Saturday and Sunday evenings.
Tuned in once since he took over and have not tuned in again. Talk about over using the word “Man”.
Time for some new blood,
Well, Keith you are brave to state sentiments of likely quite a few listeners about Terry’s recent marriage. I admit it could bring an occasional sigh, when repeated so much. I imagine that many newly weds repeat the “My Wife” or “My Husband” phrase perhaps a bit too often. Think back, if you can, about any “new” relationship(s) you have had. I think you are being a bit harsh with your comment about “shovelling Dimonte’s over the hill has been music”. I don’t think he had/has too much choice about what is played. I did notice an uptick in Paul McCartney since his marriage, though. If it bothered you so much, you could have switched to another station. Try being a bit more considerate, Keith.
I have to say that Terry went out with class and style, and bringing back the old friends was certainly a highlight of the whole deal. It’s a rare occasion when Bell managed to control themselves and not micromanage the whole deal.
The cynical (realistic) me says that Bell knew they couldn’t just yank Terry off the air without dealing with major repercussions, so they allowed and even encouraged this long goodbye process. It certainly kept them from having to handle the fall out of a sudden departure.
For Terry’s future, it’s honestly bright as can be. A summer off for a guy who rarely had more than 2 weeks off ever is going to be a really good thing. Returning in the fall to perhaps a more interesting future of following his enjoyment of interviewing people will be interesting to follow up with. I am sure he will appreciate not having to get up in the middle of the night to do it.
CHOM? While Bad Pete is the obvious default choice at this point, I think that someone else brought up the biggest question of CHOM in and of itself. Will Bell use the departure of Terry as a spring board towards a national rock station branding? They could certainly use the next few months to lay the ground work and then spring the return to school surprise on us all. National level programming after 7PM, in the middle of the day, and perhaps even all weekend could fundamentally change the players and shake it all up.
No mention of Kim Rossi anywhere
I’m not worry about Terry , I know he will remain active and that’s good for me! Enjoy your summer Terry!
As for CHOM, I’m guessing that it depends what Bell have in mind. The idea of a common rock brand seems logical but for me there’s some issues with that idea.
1- Who is listening to the rock stations? I’m talking about the ratio men/women and how old is the average listener for each stations. not sure the active rock stations (CJAY,CFBR and CHTZ) is listen by the same group of people compare to CHOM .
I think that Bell’s priority when they create a network is having a specific group to advertise, just look at what they did to Énergie in 2017, they wanted something to target men between 40 to 54 and so they turned Énergie into a “Cité Rock MonOncle” ,the perfect companion to Rouge aka “Cité Rock Matante” that target women in the same age group. It might be a cliché but I really think that Bell don’t care if Énergie is not #1 overall in the ratings, doing well in that “MonOncle” advertising group is all that matters to them.
Bounce looks a lot like Énergie, from the logo to the description you gave about it, so I wouldn’t be surprise if they want to target the same group.
2-Being in Montreal, CHOM have much more restrictions , so they would have to consider this if they plan a national rock brand.
With that said , the person I would like to see as CHOM ‘s Morning Man is Pierre Landry , I’m sure he got what it takes. Yes I know he’s CHOM music director but I would love if he could be music director AND morning man.