My Summer Lair Chapter #36: How Well Do You Know Your Medium?
Christopher brings up this point 20 minutes into our phone conversation but it’s an insightful question; that answer underscores and determines the philosophy behind your work. Christopher’s work includes songwriting, a writer (like books and such) and of course before all that…being an on-air personality at MuchMusic (Canada’s music video channel…our MTV), where he and J.D. Roberts (yeah the guy on Fox News!) were among the first VJs back in 1984 when MuchMusic launched.
Christopher has penned the witty and wonderful Is This Live?: Inside The Wild Early Years Of Muchmusic a book that documents those MuchMusic days through the stories and experiences of the VJs and the bands whose videos were aired and interviews were broadcast. It was the wild west of television days.
My favourite moment is on page 109 with Christopher all excited to be interviewing George Harrison an actual Beatle!! After the interview is over George Harrison: “looked around at the ongoing chaos that was MuchMusic, and in typical understatement, added, “This is a very casual program.” hah! Amazing.
It’s always the newness…the wild west aspect where there are no limits, no boundaries and taste is subjective but for the most part accepted. In newness you have weight, value and impact. Eventually newness settles into rules and regulations; taste is patrolled and controlled. You can’t do that becomes the official motto. Replacing the former motto: go nuts, do whatever you like. You’ve moved from downtown to the suburbs.
That’s the story of MuchMusic (and Social Media went through a similar transition).
And it’s the story of Christopher Ward.
Chris Ward @ W • T • F
Host Sammy Younan
Recorded: Monday January 16, 2017 at 6:00 pm (at Girth Radio)
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