Humble & Fred
Humble & Fred is a Toronto-based Canadian radio show, featuring co-hosts "Humble" Howard Glassman and Fred Patterson, which has aired on a variety of Canadian radio stations since 1989.
History
The program began in 1989 on CFNY-FM as a morning drive time show. In its initial format, Glassman was the sole host while Patterson was a sports anchor, although as the duo's comedic banter became an increasingly prominent feature of the show Patterson was eventually promoted to a full co-host. Glassman briefly left CFNY for CKFM-FM in May 1991, only to return 19 months later at the end of 1992.[1][2]
The duo remained with CFNY until 2001, when they moved to sister station Mojo 640 and were replaced on CFNY by Dean Blundell. They can be seen in the 2003 documentary film Flyerman, which features footage of the duo broadcasting live to air at Mojo.
The duo subsequently moved to CKFM (Mix 99.9) in August 2003. In August 2005, Patterson was relieved of his duties with Mix 99.9 (though he remained under contract), with struggling ratings cited as a factor in the station's decision to shake up the show. The show was rebilled as the Humble Howard morning show. However, in July 2006, the show was removed from the schedule and replaced temporarily by Steve Anthony. Mad Dog and Billie took over the slot on a permanent basis on August 8, 2006.
When Patterson was released from the show, there was significant curiosity about the true story behind the occurrence. Glassman was not able to say anything on the air, but he did offer contact information for his personal BlackBerry and readily invited those curious to contact him for the actual story.
Content
One of the regular occurrences of the Humble & Fred show was its annual "Gift of Christmas" show, the last few of which were broadcast from the Courthouse restaurant in downtown Toronto (the shows had previously been broadcast from the Horseshoe Tavern and other venues). The last Christmas show on terrestrial radio took place without Patterson on December 23, 2005. Longtime performers on the Christmas shows included comedy group the Doo Wops, and various members of Barenaked Ladies. On December 22, 2006, the 17th annual Humble & Fred Christmas show was made available from the duo's website as a free podcast.[3]
Comedian Pete Cugno was also associated with the show, for which he recorded comedic commentaries and satirical songs.
As of 2003, the show had been named Best Morning Show in Canada four times by the Canadian radio industry.[4]
Internet
In October 2011, Humble and Fred launched a new show, broadcast through the internet as a podcast.[5]
Return to radio
In June 2012, Humble & Fred joined CIKR-FM to fill-in on the morning show for the summer.
In January 2013, the duo announced a deal with Astral Media which will see them produce a late-night comedy show, featuring a mix of new and previously podcasted material.[6] The new program will initially air on Astral's two comedy-format radio stations, CHAM in Hamilton and CKSL in London, as well as on CFRB in Toronto, with potential for syndication to other stations.[7] According to Rob Farina, a senior executive with Astral Media, "It's with great trepidation that we are partnering with Humble & Fred. We hope for the best, but expect Humble & Fred to bring nothing but heart ache and lawsuits."[7]
In May 2014, Humble & Fred got into a mini-controversy with the Sirius XMs flagship show, The Opie & Anthony Show. "Opie and Anthony aren't funny but Jim Norton is..." caused a mainly one-sided mini brouhaha. The duo were worthy of mention on the O&A panel discussion on a May 23rd Jocktober show where Opie's fans defaced and overloaded Humble & Fred's website and Facebook page. The four morning hosts made up on the May 28th show when Humble & Fred called into O&A to discuss the misunderstanding, morning radio and the city of Toronto.
References
- ^ An Interview with Humble Howard
- ^ Spirit of Radio page for Humble Howard
- ^ Toronto Mike's blog
- ^ "Humble & Fred jump to The MIX". Broadcaster Magazine, July 9, 2003.
- ^ "Humble and Fred are coming to wreck the Internet!!!!". Canada Newswire. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
- ^ "Humble and Fred land new radio gig at Newstalk 1010". Toronto Star, January 11, 2013.
- ^ a b "Humble And Fred Return To Radio Via Astral Media, CFRB". Mediabase, January 14, 2013.