*Allan Waters,the founder of CHUM Limited,passed away Saturday
(12/3)morning at the age of 84. Even though in ill health,Waters
only fully retired from the company in October of this year,when he
left CHUM's board and was named an Honorary Director. Prior to
that,he had been the Chair and President until December 2002-when
his son Jim Waters succeeded him as President and Ron Waters became
the Vice Chair;at that point,he remained on the Board of Directors.

Waters was the founder of CHUM-AM(1050)and in the
1950s,revolutionized Canadian radio by switching the station to a
top 40 format. As noted by CHUM-FM news anchor Jeff Howatt,the on-
air staffers didn't like it at first-going to the extent of sneaking
in other songs to play-but Waters solved that problem by tossing
everything but what he wanted the announcers to play out the back
door.

Eventually,CHUM grew into one of Canada's top media companies-it
now owns 33 radio stations(in not only Toronto,but also
Edmonton,Brock ville,Ont.;Ottawa,Vancouver,Victoria,Windsor,and
Winnipeg-among other stations),12 TV stations(most notably CITY-TV
in Toronto and the A-Channel(formerly NewNet)network throughout
Ontario,along with CityTV stations in Calgary,Edmonton,Vancouver and
Winnipeg),and over 20 speciality TV networks(MuchMusic,CablePulse 24
and Space the most notable).

In his lifetime,Waters was inducted into three halls of fame(the
Canadian Association of Broadcasters Broadcast Hall of Fame,the
Canadian Music Hall of Fame,and the Canadian Music Industry Hall of
Fame),and received many honors(including from the RTNDA and the
CAB's Gold Ribbon Award for Broadcast Excellence).

A private service will be held for the family.
MilkmanUnlimited.com is reporting that there will be a public
memorial on December 7th at the Westin Harbour Castle Conference
Centre's Metropolitan Ballroom. It adds that in lieu of flowers,
donations can be sent to this address:

The CHUM Charitable Foundation
c/o The CHUMCity Building
299 Queen Street West
Toronto,ON M5V 2Z5

On a personal note: For the past few years,I've donated whatever
loose Canadian change I've accumulated over the year to the CHUMCity
Christman Wish. This year,it'll be donated in memory of Waters.

Also of note: CHUM-FM's website(http://www.chumfm.com/ )does make
mention of Waters' passing,and you can listen live;Howatt's report
was airing at the top of the hour for most of the day.