Morning host Terry DiMonte leaves Montreal

Morning host Terry DiMonte leaves Montreal

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Terry DiMonte will laugh his last laugh on CHOM tomorrow, the morning man confirmed yesterday.

As rumoured on Monday, the popular radio personality will leave for Calgary to host a show on Q107, where he is tentatively scheduled to start in January. The Calgary station also features a classic-rock format.

DiMonte's replacement at CHOM on Monday will be Rob Kemp, who leaves Mix 96's afternoon slot. DiMonte's on-air sidekick, Ted Bird, will continue on the CHOM morning show with Kemp, as will Kim Rossi.

DiMonte said he had been in contract negotiations with Rob Braide, vice-president and general manager of CHOM, Mix 96 and CJAD, and Bob Harris, CHOM's program director. While DiMonte remained unsigned, Q107 offered him an attractive deal, he said.

"Despite my emotional and physical attachment to Montreal, despite the fact that Montreal is a part of every fibre of my being, I had to take that emotion and put that a cote for a minute," DiMonte said.

"I'm going to be 50 in January and I've been offered a deal that I honest-to-God could not turn down, that really secures my financial future over the course of the next five years."

According to DiMonte, CHOM management had presented him with a contract that contained some language he had reservations about. Management, he said, did not seem eager to secure his continued employment with the station.

"It got to a point where they stopped asking me questions about it and I stopped asking them questions about it, which was not a good sign," DiMonte said. "There wasn't any acrimony. There wasn't really much of anything."

DiMonte insisted that the company's attitude, rather than dollar figures, precipitated his departure.

"(Management has) always been fair to me - I don't feel duped in any way, shape or form. They did what they thought was best for the business and I had to do what I thought was best for me. Money has never been an issue. But for the longest time (Ted and I) were favourite sons in the building, and the shine seemed to go off that," he said.

"We've been good soldiers. We've conquered every format and we've had a ball the whole way through."

Braide said DiMonte was offered a generous increase months ago and seemed satisfied, but decided not to sign.

"Terry's departure is the best thing for both parties," Braide said. "He has been a huge part of the Montreal landscape for the past 23 years. He and I had a lifetime friendship. Terry is a man who has always risen to challenges, and he sees this move to Calgary as an exciting challenge. It's a highly competitive marketplace, and he will have to be on the balls of his feet - which is the way Terry likes to work."

Braide described Kemp as "a younger DiMonte. He's got that warmth and easygoing style that Terry had when he started off," he said.

DiMonte, who has been on morning radio in Montreal - on Mix 96, CJAD and CHOM - for 23 years, said it was difficult to make the decision and leave family behind without being emotional.

"My regret is that I couldn't ride out into the sunset in my home town," he said.

"I pictured myself celebrating 25 years on morning radio here, but it's not to be. It's the old `Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.'"

http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=1f320696-470a-4595-9406-6724034f1f95&k=30165

When you're a pro like Terry DiMonte, you exit graciously - no daggers out

MIKE BOONE
The Gazette


Friday, November 23, 2007


Wouldn't it be great if, about five minutes to 10 this morning, Terry DiMonte turned into Howard Stern and told his listeners how he really feels about leaving Montreal?

This is how I'd script DiMonte's CHOM sign-off:

"And finally, I have three words for this station's new owners: Kiss my Astral."

Of course, no such uncharitable sentiments will pass his lips. DiMonte is too much of a gentleman, too much of a pro to soil his own nest, even as he prepares to fly away.

DiMonte graciously heaped praise on his successor, Rob Kemp, who takes over CHOM mornings on Monday. Kemp, who turned 35 yesterday, is younger than DiMonte. And to the undoubted delight of Astral Media, new masters of Standard Radio, Kemp won't earn as much as his illustrious predecessor.

In his penultimate broadcast, DiMonte was at pains yesterday to create the impression he is eager to begin a new job and a new life in a new city. It is time, he said, for "one more adventure."

In January, the intrepid adventurer will turn 50. This isn't an age when the average Joe - and the essence of DiMonte's persona is his average Joeness - seeks new challenges.

A friend who worked in Calgary offered DiMonte some sage advice: "Don't buy a corduroy cowboy hat."

And lose the beret. DiMonte will have to purge his act of all the uniquely Montréalais cultural references he's honed and polished through almost 25 years of doing radio in this city.

"Anything from the east is still a bit suspect," my friend says. "When I went out there, we were known as UFOs: Unwanted F-----g Ontarians."

DiMonte will not alienate anyone. He has learned a lot - including adaptability - since leaving home at 18 to take his first radio job in Churchill, Man.

DiMonte's idol was George Balcan, and he modelled his style on that of the perennially top-rated CJAD morning man. The term "easy listening" is pejorative as a description of music but it's the best kind of morning radio.

It's not off-Broadway political theatre, where, as a wag observed, "The audience is required to enter on its knees and you then hit them in the face with a bag of s--t."

The morning radio audience doesn't seek catharsis or revelation. They want to know what to wear to go to work. And they like the familiar, soothing voice of a nice guy easing them into another day. Morning radio hosts are guests in people's bedrooms and kitchens - and if they're smart, they wipe their feet and watch their language.

Balcan was smart, and so's DiMonte. The CHOM morning man couldn't be edgy if he tried - and he's disinclined, by nature, to try.

DiMonte has the act down. He succeeded the legendary Balcan on CJAD and then made an effortless return to FM rock.

His career has not been an unbroken string of triumphs. We can be thankful the demise of DiMonte's Channel 12 show preceded the advent of HDTV, and there won't be a boxed set of Fighting Back DVDs any time soon.

DiMonte is a radio guy - and a damn good one. Like Balcan before him, DiMonte excels at making a very difficult job - bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, 5:30 to 10, five days a week - sound easy.

Balcan's retirement was treated as a milestone in the history of Montreal broadcasting. CJAD staged every honour short of a ticker-tape parade.

DiMonte's departure has occasioned considerably less fanfare. The early-week Gazette story by Bernard Perusse was confirmed on Wednesday and DiMonte will do his last show this morning. He says he wanted a low-key goodbye. But a remark toward the end of yesterday's program belied the notion that he's pleased.

"She's quick and dirty, she is," DiMonte said, alluding to the short span of time between announcement and adios. When sidekick Ted Bird responded by observing, "Well, that's the business." DiMonte said: "I'm a grown man and a professional. Je comprends." Or, as they say in Calgary, "I understand."

- - -

Worst place to be if you're a Montreal celebrity?

On a billboard.

The Canadiens plastered the handsome face of Maxim Lapierre all over town in September. After his underwhelming training camp, the team farmed Lapierre out to Hamilton.

Astral Media's autumn promotional campaign for CHOM features the smiling faces of Terry, Ted and Kim. Do they make airbrushes that big?

http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=a8164aae-08a6-4813-b4c5-dee17ee1e8b3

Personellement, beaucoup de souvenirs s'envolent vers l'ouest. Il fut, pour ma part, un grand morning man, qui savait conjuger la clientèle Anglo et Franco. So long Terry, we will miss you!

Citation :

DiMonte graciously heaped praise on his successor, Rob Kemp, who takes over CHOM mornings on Monday. Kemp, who turned 35 yesterday, is younger than DiMonte. And to the undoubted delight of Astral Media, new masters of Standard Radio, Kemp won't earn as much as his illustrious predecessor.

Quels étaient ses chiffres ? Est-ce qu'on remplace un gars qui ne tirait pas fort et qui coûtait cher par un gars qui tirera peut-ête plus fort pour moins cher ?

il y a longtemps que je n'écoute plus CHOM mais ça ma fait de la peine pareil.est-ce que too tall est encore là? mea années de célibat sont loin maintenant...

http://www.chom.com/node/386037

puis est-ce que jeme trompe quand je pense que Paul Beauregard collabore maintenant avec Jacques Plante sur XM?

Tant qu'à reculer dans le temps...

On dira ce qu'on voudra mais CHOM a au moins le mérite de mettre des vrais gens de radio en ondes...

j'ai maintenant 42,étant jeune quand arthur n'était pas en onde j'étais "plogué" sur CHOM

idem sauf que moi j'ai juste 40 ans

C'est dommage que Mr DiMonte ne soit pas bavard, j'aurais bien aime savoir si il y a un aspect politique a son processus décisionnel.

A bien y pense un Anglo bien installé dans sa communauté, qui quitte Montréal pour l'ouest Canadien ça laisse toujours a réfléchir...ya peut-être plus qu'une question de $$ derrières tout ça, mais nous ne le serons jamais.

faut savoir lire son contrat se terminait et la négociation n'allait pas très bien...il s'est fait offrir une montagne de $ dans l'ouest alors qu'ici on voulait le couper.dans le fond il a fait un GIP de lui sauf qu'il a du changé de ville,question de marché.

Et pour répondre à Monsieur Desrosiers concernant Too Tall à Chom,il est effectivement toujours à l'antenne de chom le week-end de midi à 18h00 !

C'est pas Paul Beauregard c'est Denis Grondin fait dire prophète.

Qui est prophète? Pourquoi est-ce que j'écouterais un pseudo?

Je ne sais pas qui il est.

L'objectif n'est que de porter à votre attention une affirmation.

Canada1 a écrit:

C'est dommage que Mr DiMonte ne soit pas bavard, j'aurais bien aime savoir si il y a un aspect politique a son processus décisionnel.

A bien y pense un Anglo bien installé dans sa communauté, qui quitte Montréal pour l'ouest Canadien ça laisse toujours a réfléchir...ya peut-être plus qu'une question de $$ derrières tout ça, mais nous ne le serons jamais.

jean desrosiers a écrit:

faut savoir lire son contrat se terminait et la négociation n'allait pas très bien...il s'est fait offrir une montagne de $ dans l'ouest alors qu'ici on voulait le couper.dans le fond il a fait un GIP de lui sauf qu'il a du changé de ville,question de marché.

Le problème immédiat est apparemment de nature purement contractuelle. Il semblerait que les offres de contrats de CHOM aient subies une «astralisation» étant donné l'achat par Astral des stations de Standard Radio.

Au-delà des questions contractuelles, l'imposition de Kim Rossi il y a quelques années comme co-animatrice n'a probablement pas aidé les relations entre Terry DiMonte et la station. C'était probablement le début de la fin de DiMonte... le signe qu'on ne tenait plus à lui. Il faut savoir que Kim Rossi a pour principale qualité d'être la femme... de Bob Harris, directeur de la programmation de CHOM.

-- Le couillon anonyme

Couillon anonyme a écrit:

... Il faut savoir que Kim Rossi a pour principale qualité d'être la femme... de Bob Harris, directeur de la programmation de CHOM.
-- Le couillon anonyme

Co-animer avec la femme d'un boss.......

Dans un autre ordre d'idées, il y a eu toujours un petit nuage noir au-dessus de Terry DiMonte. Des allusions jamais précisées circulaient depuis longtemps au sujet de son mode de vie -- ne me demandez pas de préciser, je n'ai pas plus de détails -- et ses liens par rapport à Rob Braide, vice-président et directeur général des stations anglophones d'Astral à Montréal. Braide a toujours été un «fan» de DiMonte... à tout le moins jusqu'à récemment.

Voir les messages suivants sur Radio In Montreal, un groupe de discussion anglophone et dont le modérateur n'a pas la réputation de laisser les propos diffamatoires en ligne :
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/radioinmontreal/message/4478
(surtout à la fin du message)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/radioinmontreal/message/13626
(surtout au début du message)

DiMonte espérait faire de la radio parlée et il a eu sa «chance» en 1998 lorsque George Balcan a pris sa retraite de CJAD. Mais c'est toujours difficile de remplacer une légende vivante. DiMonte faisait bien dans les sondages mais beaucoup de gens le supportaient mal. À mon humble avis une bonne partie du problème était que beaucoup d'auditeurs le voyaient comme un animateur FM, convenant à un poste musical et non un poste sérieux comme CJAD. Un séjour dans un autre marché, entre son passage à Mix 96 et son arrivée à CJAD, l'aurait probablement mieux servi.

En 2002, quand Standard a acheté CHOM-FM, Braide avait déplacé DiMonte à CHOM dans l'espoir d'aider à relancer cette station; DiMonte avait demandé et obtenu que Ted Bird et Glenn (Thumbs) Repas le suivent à CHOM. Thumbs s'est fait foutre à la porte en août 2004...

Une lecture attentive de l'article retranscrit par Canada1 (message initial de ce fil de discussion) révèle des commentaires intéressants de Braide, tels que «He and I had a lifetime friendship» (notez le temps passé), et sa description de Rob Kemp comme étant «a younger DiMonte. He's got that warmth and easygoing style that Terry had when he started off» (qui laisse entendre que DiMonte ne serait plus chaleureux comme il l'était à ses débuts).

Certains commentaires de DiMonte sont aussi intéressants : «But for the longest time (Ted and I) were favourite sons in the building, and the shine seemed to go off that» et dans une moindre mesure «We've been good soldiers. We've conquered every format and we've had a ball the whole way through.»

On dirait que des facteurs interpersonnels ont peut-être joué un rôle dans le départ de DiMonte, et pas seulement ceux relatifs à Kim Rossi.

-- Le couillon anonyme