Derek's Recollections:So in 1977, I went to the student radio station – radio Carlton, which has had the most influence on me in
my life. If I hadn’t gotten radio Carlton, which was CKCU FM (which was the only student station in North America that had a commercial license, and it had a hundred thousand watts of power.)
Once I got into the radio station, I became obsessed. I was a terrible student. I hardly ever went to class. I spent all my time at the radio station – and they would have an awards banquet every year at CKCU and I won Rookie of the Year,
I’ve always looked that Rookie of the Year as my diploma from University because, after four years, I dropped out. Out of a possible 20 credits. I got 11. I’m the classic University Dropout. So the Rookie of
the Year meant a ton to me because it made me the person who was at the top of all the people that had gone through the program In that particular year.I say over and over again if I hadn’t had CKCU, I wouldn’t be doing any of the stuff I do today. I learned work ethic. I learned to work with some amazingly creative people, understood how to actually work in teams, and learned how to become a producer and all kinds of things.
I didn’t know what those terms were at the time but that’s what that Rookie of the Year thing gave me.
Everybody talks about how different it was in the opportunities were back in the 70s and you know, there was all kinds of stuff and you could just walk into to get a job – but that was never my experience. You actually still had to work as hard then as you do now. It wasn’t as easy as it seems
I think the same thing still applies if you want to get good. You got to work hard. You have to work with good people. You have to learn. The opportunities will present themselves.
Derek's Role: Student, Producer, Performer
