Whistle Radio and the Spirit Hockey Club have been working together since 2005 and are now proud to promote that we have a road crew that follows the Spirit to all their games. Our hockey crew members are: Rick Callaghan (AKA the Stash), Brenda Masson, Tyler Van Veghel, Dave Smith, Nicole Wills, Shawn McGovern, Daryl Macklem, Ryan Fabro, Ivan Harris, and Gary Burke.
This extensive, talented group brings you the best in hockey action. SPIRIT HOCKEY right here on 102.7 WhiStle Radio or on the internet at www.whistleradio.ca. For a full list of regular season games check of the Spirit schedule at: stouffvillespirit.com.

Fresh is a brand new show on Whistle Radio hosted by Brenda Masson every Wednesday morning from 10:00 to noon. Fresh is a refreshing talk show which features guests from around the community talking about what’s on everybody’s minds and also about things you may never have thought about. For more details click on the “Shows” tab.

Night Flight – Jazz show –hosted Jim Corrigan; produced by Joe Sarino – 10:00pm Fridays

Nite Out (with Mike Burns) – Hosted by Mike Burns and produced by : Tara Donaghey: Local entertainment magazine 7:00pm Thursdays

A Space in Time – Hosted and produced by: Larry Wilson – Wednesdays @ 11:00pm

Who Was That? Hosted by Harold Hutching; produced by Tara Donaghey. A special edition of the Sounds of Stouffville. Wednesday at 5:00pm

by Sandra Bolan, Stouffville-Sun Tribune. September 1, 2010.

Take a peak inside Dave’s Jukebox and you’ll find everything from Aretha Franklin to Stevie Wonder, Elvis to Carl Perkins and Jimmy Vaughan to Queen and the Ramones.

No one can accuse the man of loading the jukebox with only one genre of music.

“Let’s say I don’t like everything equally, but I realize that I have an audience that wants to be entertained and as long as the quality of the music is good, the musicianship, then I’ll play it,” said Dave Booth, the voice behind Dave’s Jukebox, which airs Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m. and repeats on Wednesdays from 7 to 10 p.m. on WhiStle Radio.

The Stouffville resident wasn’t always so open-minded about music. Back in the 1960s, when Mr. Booth was growing up in Harrogate, Yorkshire, it was all about rock ‘n’ roll music.

“It was just the first music I’d ever heard that meant something to me,” Mr. Booth said. “Up until that time there was no teen culture. … There was a clothing style to go with it, there was a dance to go with it. It was very exciting.”

Earlier this year, Mr. Booth, 69, received an honorary award at the Porretta Soul Festival, in Porretta Terme, Italy, for 10 CDs he created for Bear Family Records entitled Sweet Soul Music, which covered soul music from 1961 to 1970.

Although creating the compilation was a labour of love, it had its challenges.

“I sat in my basement and I listened to all of (the records) and I had to make choices,” he said. “And it was difficult and I phoned my friends and (asked) what do I choose? I’m leaving off Aretha Franklin – she had three big hits in one year. I’ve got to leave two of them off. What do I leave on?

“Eventually I just had to back away from it and say that’s it, it’s done, I’m not going to touch it. And I must have been on the right trail because I won this award.”
Little Richard and Fats Domino were Mr. Booth’s heroes and before he could say goodbye to his teen years, Mr. Booth already decided he wanted to be a DJ.
Although America was the musical mecca of the early 1960s, Mr. Booth opted to immigrate to Canada instead.

“I didn’t have enough moxie to go to America,” he said. “I was too naive to do all that, but I had friends who had immigrated to Kitchener.”

So at the age of 20, Mr. Booth moved to Canada. The upstart DJ got his first radio gig at a Canadian air force base in Northern Quebec, where he was posted as an MP.
After three years, Mr. Booth left the military police and returned to Kitchener.

Not as naive as he was three years earlier, Mr. Booth convinced a Kitchener radio station to let him do a one-hour show once a week on Friday nights in exchange for washing and waxing the floors and taking out the garbage.

“I didn’t get paid. They got my service for free, but I got on the air,” he said.

The show eventually went up to four hours a week.

“I asked to get paid and they told me to get lost,” he said.

So he did.

But after an ownership change, Mr. Booth returned to host a show entitled Kaleidoscope from 1971 to 1976 that was a mishmash of music from both sides of the pond. But for one-hour at the end of every show, he would play the blues. In order to separate Dave Booth from the guy spinning the blues, he created an alter-ego – Daddy Cool.

The Daddy Cool Show eventually took on a life of its own and moved to CFNY, a fledgling, free-form station based out of Brampton.

“Without tooting my horn, it became quite a legendary blues show in Toronto,” Mr. Booth said.

Then one day in 1988, CFNY executives informed Mr. Booth he would have to adhere to the station’s revamped policy of playing only new music.

“I said no, I don’t think so because I was playing real authentic blues,” he said. “I’ve always had this problem, you know, I kind of have standards.”

After 20 years off the air, Mr. Booth returned to the radio airwaves, this time with WhiStle, Stouffville’s community station.

“I had always said that if I went back on the radio I wouldn’t want to be trapped just doing a blues show. I’d like to do a mixed music show. I’ve always been a fan of all kinds of music.”

“I think WhiStle Radio will be fine,” said interim chair Stephen Sword, noting that the station’s landlord had agreed to extend the current rental period until the end of February to give the board time to regroup and consider future funding strategies.

Peter Fraunberger, who handles media relations for WhiStle, said the station is alive and well and on the air, and the mood is upbeat. However, he would like to see more support from the Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville to ensure its long-term viability.

“I’m a little disappointed that the town hasn’t embraced this idea of a radio station. Most of the smaller communities surrounding us have received about 99 per cent (of community radio station operating costs) from their town financially, or been offered a location.” Last year, WhiStle Radio asked for $10,000 and was given a one-time grant of $2,500.

“It’s a totally volunteer, non-profit organization,” said Mr. Fraunberger. “We’ve dipped into our own pockets to keep it running because we believe so strongly in it.”

A special fundraiser will be held Feb. 4 and Feb. 6 from 6:30 to 10 p.m. in the Stouffville Spirit lounge upstairs at the old Stouffville arena on Ninth Line North. Tickets are $5 and beer and wine will be available.

Bill Perrie, Canada’s ‘pub guy’, will host live broadcasts of his popular WhiStle Radio show, The Pub, from 6:30 to 7:15 p.m. on both nights, and guests are invited to enjoy the Spirit in action following the show. Donations to WhiStle Radio will be gratefully accepted.

Listeners are encouraged to take out a $20 annual membership or to renew lapsed memberships by dropping into the studio at 6280 Main St. You can tune in to WhiStle Radio at CIWS 102.7 FM.