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CJOC 1974 Lethbridge - Ken Connors
Photo: Ken Connors in the on-air control room of CJOC AM radio in Lethbridge Alberta as it was in 1974. In the background a vinyl record is being played on the radio while the picture is taken.

In 1974 Ken Connors was offered to work for CJOC Lethbridge only after 4 months at 1090 CHEC in Lethbridge, Alberta. Bruce Davis who worked in sales at CJOC was instrumental in Ken getting the interview with Fred Filthaut and Bob Johnston, the program directors. Bruce and Ken worked at CFGP a year or two before.

RADIO CJOC-AM: Ken Connors now was doing the afternoon radio show at CJOC AM between 3pm-7pm playing the Top 40 Hits plus did some of the radio commercials. First day at CJOC was June 17, 1974.

TELEVISION CJOC Channel 7: Also part of his daily job he spent 3 hours each morning at CJOC TV, which was located in a different part of town. Besides doing the voice overs like "You're watching Channel 7 CJOC Television", "Coming up next on CJOC TV is.....", Ken Connors also did many on-camera commercials. That meant talking and moving in front of a camera reading cue-cards. At times memorizing lines and a bit of acting was required. He also hosted a Bingo Television show. "I remember going off script when doing the TV commercials for the Alberta Summer Games that were coming to Lethbridge February 11-23, 1975. While in front of the camera besides voicing the commercial I was also playing badminton in one ad, basketball in another etc. I was playing badminton/ basketball with another person off camera which was extremely difficult while having eye contact with the camera, but they were a success." Ken Connors.

"After hours, I couldn't listen to the radio or watch TV without seeing/hearing myself." -Ken

During the day the CJOC radio studios simulcasted the same music signal to both CJOC-AM and CJPR-AM Blairmore. That meant every commercial break there was one set of commercials for CJOC and another for Blairmore and even 2 different station jingles. In the studios there were 2 sets of cart machines and a lot more work for the DJ to keep track of what commercials were to run where.


CJOC 1974 featuring the Ken Connors afternoon show.
Another bit of Ken Connors afternoon show CJOC 1974.

Within a couple months of being at CJOC, Ken Connors had over 15 job offers from radio stations across the country from small stations to larger radio stations in Winnipeg (CKRC) and Regina (CKCK and CJME).

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