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In no particular order, Julie James is the Assistant Program Director, Music Director, and an on air host at CHFI. She also oversees music for the Adult Contemporary radio stations at Rogers, and is an imaging voice for a number of them as well. For many years Julie and I worked at the same companies at the same time. We both moved out west to become program directors at about the same time. We left Standard Radio sat about the same time. We both programmed but got got into radio because of our love for music. One of the things I did not know about until we re-connected on this podcast was the struggle of being away from family. I can relate having lost my father to cancer very quickly in 2008, while being many miles from home.
In this episode Julie and I talk about working from home, having to adjust while doing multiple radio tasks including imaging, music programming, music meetings, and building a home office. It's the little things like an extra monitor or a chair to endure prolonged periods of work. I also asked Julie about the AC format and how it has evolved over the last few years, some of the tools she uses to help make music decisions and what it all takes to keep great radio stations sounding awesome. We also talked about her time in Edmonton and London, Ontario programming and her eventual move back to Toronto where she has worked with Rogers since 2009.
You are also going to hear the name Greg Simpson appear early in this episode. Greg was one of Julie's instructor's at Fanshawe College and many remember him form radio, as a song tracker, or Canadian Music Week organizer. (I'm adding "teacher" to the list now) Greg passed away June 15th, 2020.
Julie also shared one of her Spotify Playlists which she curates to listen to some new music. Now you too can listen like Julie. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4EqvgTceuIK1q7HfCTo0TJ?si=zudwruThRxyrM24mwE5hVg
Julie mentioned that she is a big fan of Rob Thomas - I was thinking about the Matchbox 20 cover of Time After Time the other day.