From 1992 to 1998 my life was about writing, editing, composing pages and taking photos
Picture posted on Facebook by former publisher brings back memories from a different era
By
Mark Schadenberg
Facebook
is great – a social media way to maintain connections with friends and
colleagues from different times in your life.
Live
everyone else reciting post-party pictures or prose, I enjoy seeing what is
happening in your world.
I
have Facebook friends I have rarely seen since high school.
Last
week, a former publisher of the Woodstock Sentinel-Review named George Czerny
posted a paper clipping of myself as sports editor, along with then city editor
Alison Downie and reporter Susan DeRyk.
I
have many terrific memories of my seven or so years at the Sentinel, arriving
in early 1991 to be a sports reporter and departing in October of 1998 to begin
my now 17 years in real estate with Royal LePage.
George
Czerny hired me as he knew I was a dedicated media person, but my background
until that time had been radio broadcasting – both on-air and advertising
sales.
I
had graduated from Fanshawe’s radio broadcasting program in 1987 and
immediately fled to Muskoka to work for Joe Duchesne in both Huntsville and
Bracebridge. I was at CFBK in Huntsville when the station transformed itself
from AM to FM, but the programming remained the same with adult contemporary
music through most time spans, but country on Saturday morning, and lots of CBC
programming with an affiliation that included airing World News At Six, As It
Happens, Air Farce, Quirks & Quarks and other programs. I arrived in
Muskoka as a full-time announcer and returned south to Woodstock four years
later in advertising sales.
My
return to Woodstock, therefore, was to join K-102 in sales and not as an
announcer.
HIGH
SCHOOL DAZE
If
you turn the radio dial back to 1984 and CKDK 1340 AM, I would debut as an all-night
show announcer while still in high school. I remember all the names of the personalities
then -- Dave Taylor, Ken Curtis, Robert Palmer, Tim Westra, Greg Kelly and Mark
‘In The Dark’ Taylor. The news director was Ian Crichton.
The
1340 AM switched to K-102 in the summer of 1986. I know because I was the last
announcer to do a full on-air shift on CKDK AM. The station was in a transition
under the ownership of Gord Marratto or simulcasting or testing the FM signal
for a few weeks, and I was on the air the final night before the official
change to FM. The control room was jammed with people, jam on bagels and orange
juice in champagne glasses.
That
summer was interesting as I would work the day-light hours dichotomy -- production
studio and paint brushes (Summer student busy with renovations and recording
music to carts) in the daytime, and then go back to 290 Dundas Street at about 11
p.m. for the all-night gig.
More On The S-R
Back
to 1991 and my arrival at The Sentinel-Review.
Even
in my short seven years, lots of evolution took place, including composing all
pages on computer instead of on large easel-like tables. In 1991, reporters
were required to spend significant amount of time in the dark room, both
rolling film into the cartridges and often also developing film.
Even
today, I chat with Walter Manning when I see him about the old days of
newspapers and cropping photos, and even cutting and pasting stories together
with the headlines. Walter was one of three people in the composing department
in those times along with Rick and Lorraine.
Sadly
as news happened from a newspaper as the Guelph Mercury announced it would no
longer be printing an actual paper, I reminisce about The Sentinel-Review and
its terrific news crew from Bill Scriven to Alison Downie to my first city
editor Keith Pierson. The small daily newspapers were the stepping stone to
larger publications and many from the Woodstock office certainly climbed the
ladder. Here’s more names for long-time Woodstock people to recall – Geoff
Dale, Eric Schmeidl, Kathleen Harris, Phyllis Coulter, Sue DeRyk, Hilary
Machan, Annemarie MacQueen, Randy Cantera, and two accomplished
photo-journalists in Mike Campbell and Jason Ransom. More name remembering – five
sports reporters in my tenure – Chris Abbott, Jeff Tribe, Dave Jull, John
Gelman, and the very talented Scott Utting.
Whether
it be open-wheel auto racing updates from Aaron Povoledo, track and field
results from Catherine Bond-Mills, or Gators fastball and national team
accomplishments of Brian Paton, it was always an opportunity to tell the
stories of others. The tedium was also rewarding, such as high school sports,
minor sports, and Slo-Pitch Central. Yes, there was an era when The Sentinel
had coverage of slo-pitch, women’s fastball and Piranhas swimming results on a
regular basis and daily for the local hockey and ball leagues.
I’ll
be honest, among my recollections, the most significant quote contributing person
I interviewed for local content would have been Navy Vets hockey coach Dave
Bogart. The local Junior C team was a dynasty at the time and the team sadly
also provided my most difficult writings – stories surrounding the death of
player Dean Sorensen in a single-vehicle car accident.
There’s
never enough space to fully describe life as a sports writer in Woodstock in a
time span when local coverage was paramount (The news team covered township
councils and school boards much much more than today’s quantity), but it is
easy to pass along the idea that I was rewarded by my dedication and work ethic
at The Sentinel-Review, and today continue my media ways as a hobby on Rogers
TV with the Knights broadcasts.
LINKS:
Mark Schadenberg, Sales Representative
Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)
Royal LePage Triland Realty Brokerage
757 Dundas St, Woodstock
(519) 537-1553, cell or text
Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter: markroyallepage
Facebook: Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland
Discussion . . . Direction . . . Determination . . .
Destination
