About Bruce
It all started at a little 50,000 watt blowtorch in Toronto. Really. At 17 I crossed the threshold at 1050 CHUM, Toronto and started pushing the buttons for some of the most respected names in radio.
I really wanted to be the guy on the other side of the glass, but in that first year I worked with the legendary Jay Nelson and learned what happens when you use theatre of the mind to have yourself murdered on the air: I was the guy who fired the (sound effect) shot when Chum jock Mike Cooper had himself killed as an April Fools stunt. I didn't realize there were that many police cars in Toronto at 2:00 in the morning ‘til then.
From there I moved around to various on-air positions starting at CJWA, Wawa, Ontario… (See, I didn't disappoint… There's the 5000 watt station… Actually it was closer to a thousand watts.) ...Woodstock, Ontairio; Halifax, NS and Hamilton, Ontario.
While I was in Hamilton, I got involved in a small town volunteer fire department. Now I had been bitten by two bugs; radio performance and the fire service. So I became a professional fire fighter with a department in the Toronto area and left radio for a time.
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Cadillac Lumber Fire
Just setting up at a million dollar lumber yard fire. That‘s me in the blue shirt at the back of the truck. We cut the fire off on that building on the left using the water boom on that truck. We basically stood in the way of it and dared it to pass. We won. |
Entertainment always seemed to beckon, though and I found myself filling my days off the fire department taking acting courses, booking the odd commercial and working quite a bit as a film extra.
A visit to an old CJCH, Halifax buddy, Gregg Lee while on a meal break from the CTV/CBS series "Night Heat" resulted in my being hired to do vacation relief shifts on 1050 CHUM… I'd made it to the other side of the glass at Chum.
On the fire department, I'd got involved in communications there, too. I got a fledgling effort at public fire safety education going. I also got involved in a well known fire fighter charity, the Muscular Dystrophy Association of Canada (MDAC).
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MDA Telethon Host Conference
With Jerry Lewis and the late Dan Gallagher at the 1991 MDA Telethon Host Conference, Sahara Hotel, Las Vegas. Dan walked through the airport on our arrival repeating “I wanna see men dressed up as women…”. Apparently he wanted to see Le Cage. He got a few stares, but nobody argued.
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During my long association with MDAC I sat on several advisory and functional boards, including the fire fighter advisory board which advised the associations national board and the Ontario telethon committee which headed up production of the show and on site events at the telethon venue. In 1990 and '91 I was the Ontario fire fighter spokesperson for MDAC and travelled the province promoting the cause with the campaign team; Angelo Mosca, and campaign assistants Micheal Smedley ('90), Jeff Preston ('91) and myself. I also co-host and anchor hosted segments of the MDAC Telethon for several years.
I still found time on the fire department to get involved in planning, training and designing systems for hazardous materials incident management and command systems for large scale disasters. I would end up teaching both subjects in addition to media relations fundamentals to fire service groups. The command framework for hazardous materials incidents still used in the Toronto area York Region is one I authored.
There's not a person who has spoken into a radio mic who didn't want to ”do commercials.” With my exposure to the world of acting, I understood that actors approached voice performance much differently that radio people did. With courses at places like Second City and with respected coaches such as Martin Doyle and Roland Parliament (Sailor Moon - director & voice of "Melvin.”; Zellers -"Zeddy”), I determined to add those skills to my toolbox.
In 1998 I left the fire department and returned to radio full-time at CHUM FM and 1050 CHUM, Toronto.
In August of 2000 I attended an audition at TSN as part of their search for a fresh imaging voice. I was told by TSN promo head Ted Endean that they'd already held one set of auditions and that I was the second last guy in the second round. Frankly he hadn't heard what he was looking for yet. He was looking for someone to represent TSN's thinking sport fan. The fan of golf and tennis, say, rather than the fan of the WWE or CFL football (represented by another, more aggressive voice.) We went in the studio and worked together on the approach. Somehow I replaced Ted's concerned frown with a smile by the end of the session.
There was yet one more, ”just to be sure" round of auditions and I was offered the part. An exclusive year long contract ensued as did an excellent working relationship with the promo production staff at TSN and CTV Sports. The guys who taught the ins and outs of working in the world of the glowing box from whence the TSN product emanates.
Over a year later, TSN decided to brand a little more definitively to a more aggressive style of imaging and no longer had a part for my less aggressive style.
So here I am with my tin cup… Throw a little something in, will ya?
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Compaq Computer Ad
This was a national full page print ad that ran for several weeks for Compaq servers. Y‘know... they‘re so fast that... Clever, huh?
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”Lie with Me,”
With actor Leslie Dowey, my character‘s wife in ”Lie with Me,” by Victoria Goring, Urban Spine Theatre, directed by Kelly Fanson, Toronto Fringe Theatre Festival, 1999. Lie with Me was based loosely on the story of Brandon Teena, a young woman who lived as a man and was murdered when she was found out.
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