DARYL MACLEAN
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Why an autobiography on Daryl M? Hey, I'm only 37 years old, yet I still feel like I'm 27. I guess this is Phillip Trout's way of making me think. I was taught to listen more than talk about myself. Dale Carnegie says the most important thing a person wants to talk about is himself. So I ended up being a listener. As a result many people I know think I'm a great friend to them because..... I listen. Just another gem from "How to Win Friends & Influence People". I read that book the first time when I was 15 years old. I have to say that it influenced my life more than any other book to date. So....here we go. Turning the tables. I'm going to tell you about me....and you're going to listen. This is going to be fun.
I'm a Maritimer. Most people assume if you're from the East Coast of Canada you fish in the ocean all day, only eat codfish & boiled potatoes and say "eh bye" a lot. Just like all Californians surf and talk " valley girl " like " gag me with a spoon ". Stereotypes can be very misleading. Can't they? I'm from a small rural community called Ohio. It's about 10 miles from the booming town of Antigonish, Nova Scotia. I grew up on a small farm. We raised our own beef, pork, poultry and milk. Just enough for ourselves. Both of my parents worked, and I did a lot of work around the farm. I believe the responsibilities of being a farm kid instilled a lot of positive ethics in me. Either milk the cow when you get home from school, or get your ass kicked. In the summer we picked strawberries & blueberries. In the fall we did the hay. In the spring we collected sap to make maple syrup. There was always something to do. My sister and I used to wonder what "city kids" did with their time. I guess they just sit and watch tv a lot. We actually felt sorry for them. Fishing in the Ohio River, about a five-minute walk from the farm was a favorite pastime for me, and of course swimming in Dan R's hole. I played hockey and baseball and enjoyed all the activities of any Canadian kid. But there was something a little different about young Mr. MacLean. .......
From the time I was three years old I can remember being fascinated with the radio. It seemed to offer a warm comfortable feeling for me. I got a tiny transistor radio for my fourth birthday, and I was hooked. I went nowhere without it. I can remember listening and picturing in my mind what was happening at the radio station. The announcers would be in a big square (not unlike the Hollywood Squares ) they would introduce the song, and of course the singer would be there live in the spotlight. After the song the announcer would come back on and a commercial would play. And that would be announced by another man in another square. I guess as a four year old I was getting television and radio mixed up a bit. But somehow I knew, even that early on, that I wanted to be on the radio.
A childhood fantasy grew to be a teenage passion. In the daytime we could only get 2 AM stations. My hometown station CJFX in Antigonish, and CFCY in Charlolettown PEI. FM was still a pipe dream. But at night....wooohooo! Stations from New York, WHN, WNBC, Boston...WHTH, Halifax.CJCH and what seemed like hundreds more boomed in to MY RADIO. By now a much better Sony. By now I was fascinated. These jocks were amazing to me. Even on my little station CJFX, I was in awe of these people. I remember the first announcer I ever saw. I was in a convenience store and I heard the booming voice of Gus MacKinnan. But......he looked nothing like what I imagined!! Just a short little man with a brushcut. I didn't know whether to say hi or just stand there in awe. Being a bit of a chicken at the time, I chose the latter. I knew if I was going to make it in radio I had to get braver.
I'm 15 now. I'm nervous. The Voice of Eastern Nova Scotia...CJFX is looming ahead of me. I'm at the bottom of the looooong driveway. I'm walking up the hill. I've never been in a radio station before. But I know if I can get my foot in the door maybe I have a chance. I speak to the receptionist. "Is Mr. Rafuse in ?" He is. Oh my God. I've heard this man on the radio since I was a child. What'll I say? I'm ushered into his office. He sticks out his hand, I shake it, but my hands are all sweaty. " So what can I do for you Daryl?" he asks. "Well I noticed your lawns haven't been mowed recently and I..uh wonder if you need someone to cut them for you?" "Well as a matter of fact we do need somebody to do it. Our last kid quit a couple of weeks ago. Can you do it tomorrow?" Woohoo!!! I'm in! "Yes sir." So that momentous moment marks my initial entry into the glamorous life of radio. It was hot, hard on the back, but worth it because it lead to other exciting events...inside the station.
By now I'm in high school. Don't worry we're going to start moving fast. It's grade 10. Us country folk are being bussed into town to the big school. My first big break is just around the corner. It's the first day of the school year and I'm a little scared. We slowly are introduced to all the new kids from town. Bruce Hill, Jeff Hiltz, John MacKenzie, Philip Rafuse.....PHILIP RAFUSE!!! holy sh*%t. I wonder if he's Bruce's son? Well as it turns out Philips dad was the general manager of CJFX. Sadly though, about six months previous Mr. Rafuse had passed away from a massive heart attack. But, Philip's brothers Peter and Paul were still working at the station. On air personalities. This could be my big break. Eventually Philip and I became friends. I worked up my courage to ask him if I could visit the station and meet his brothers. He agreed. My first visit was on a Friday night. I remember the smell the most. If you've ever been in a radio station in the 70's you'll know what I'm talking about...maybe. Stale cigarette smoke and reel to reel tape. It's hard to explain. Maybe with the right combination of musty record albums, fresh paper of the teletype, coffee and overheated broadcast equipment you can. I met Paul Rafuse that night. And he gave me the tour.
Paul and I grew to become friends. Both he and his brother Peter took me under their wing and let me hang out at the station....after hours of course. I learned how to use the board, cue records, record carts etc. It was nice to get a view from the inside. My first on air experience came in October of 1979. I happened to meet the sports director at the station on one of those late nights. We got to talking, and he recognized my hunger to do something...anything. As a result, he offered me a chance.
When our high school hockey team was playing at home, I was to call the station from the arena and give a full recap of the game. It would be recorded and used on the air in the news and sports that evening and next morning.
My next step up the ladder came in the spring of 1980. At that time CJFX was still an affiliate of the CBC and carried some of the networks" programming late at night and Sunday evenings. Having received word that they needed someone to operate the board, and just "be there" to make sure the network feed got on the air, I was their man!! It started off just on Sunday nights, and eventually 3 or more nights during the summer. The best part was that I....yes Daryl MacLean got to be on the air live. After the national news I got to break in and give the local news, sports and weather. Pretty cool for a 17 year old. Eventually I got to do the all-night show every Saturday. Wow, now I was a celebrity. People started complimenting me .....gee recognition! That can be good and bad. I got a new nickname as a result of my crack news coverage skills. It seems there was coupe-detat in some South American country. Being as worldly as I was, the naive country boy gone big city, I thought it was pronounced ( koop). Of course I had to repeat it for the next 3 news broadcasts. The next day I was fondly known as Koop. That was a fun year at CJFX.
My passion for radio and broadcasting continued through school. I, along with a couple of friends created the new radio station that broadcast through the entire school. We even sold a few commercials to a few local stores. By the time graduation rolled around I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I applied for and was accepted to Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto in the radio & tv broadcast program.
So, you may ask, why in God's name 20 years later, are you not on the air? Good question! Let me explain briefly. Ryerson was great. I had talent. But....circumstances come into one's life that we sometimes cannot control. Without going into great detail, I had to curtail my time at Ryerson to 2 semesters. A very negative situation at home, one alcoholic parent, a divorce ( my parents ) One parent having to go to treatment and a lot of other crap. I had to pack up, go back to Nova Scotia and help set things right. I had to be there for that parent. I neglected to mention that during these teenage years I had started up a somewhat successful DJ company. Doing dances, weddings, etc helped pay my way to university. At the time I left for Toronto I had 3 systems in operation.
Not bad for an 18 year old. I decided to pursue that business temporarily until I could get hired on back at CJFX. Unfortunately, the fellow I trained to take over for me when I left had moved into a full-time position. I was SOL so to speak.
They say you can never go home. I know what that means. The farm was sold, my family was split up. Nothing was the same. I got some mobile DJ bookings. I got a full-time gig at a little club for a few months, but grew tired of the small town life. In April of 1983 I headed back to Toronto. I worked selling advertising for a small agency that went out of business a couple of months later.
Desperate for employment, I answered an ad for a DJ at a strip bar. The rest of the 80's are pretty much a blur. I worked at numerous dance clubs as well as strip bars and made a living but not much of a life. I found the love of my life on numerous occasions, but still haven't married. By 1990 I was sick of the lifestyle of nightclubs and the whole environment.
By 1990 it was time for a change. And what a change. I became an Amway distributor!! Can you believe it? I saw circles (the marketing plan ) began drawing circles and guess what? I actually became quite successful. I was able to retire from the nightclubs and build my own business. From 1991 to 1996 I made more money than I ever did before in my lifetime. I bought a Cadillac, took vacations and enjoyed the good life. Unfortunately it didn't last. A relationship breakup was the start. My business suffered, I lost momentum, and the money began to slow to a trickle. By June of 1996 I returned to being a DJ again. Although I forced myself to believe that I wanted to be a Diamond in the Amway business, the truth is, my dream was still to be in radio. Working in a strip club may not be as exciting or glamorous as being on the air, but at least I was making a living using my voice. Hardly a day goes by when someone doesn't say " man, you've got a great radio voice".
Finally, (I guess I've been droning on a bit....sorry ) here we are today. July 12, 2000. Having realized that life was passing me by, and if I ever am going to get into radio it's time to start NOW. I thought about going back to college. But after finding out the truth about the placement rates in the industry, I began to have doubts. I'm 37 years old for goodness sakes. I fired up the old Packard Bell computer, punched up "radio schools" in the search engine, and what do I happen to find? The Apprentice-Mentorship organization. After reading the information I immediately called Mr. Trout. What he said made sense. "Get around people that have what you want....and learn from them." This is what I was taught by many of the millionaires in the Amway business! Find your dream and pursue it. Well, my friend, I do have a dream. And I will do whatever it takes to make it in radio. I'M READY!!
