His voice is famous across Collingwood, and this year he’ll be celebrating 30 years behind the microphone.
John Eaton, co-host of 95.1 The Peak’s morning show Talk of the Town, started his career with Corus Entertainment in 1992 but he recalled being drawn to broadcasting much earlier in his life.
“Even as a kid, I would make tapes of me doing pretend radio shows. I would make up fake commercials,” said Eaton in an interview with CollingwoodToday.ca. “I never thought of it as a career then, but I would make up my own jingles.”
Eaton grew up in Scarborough. When he was 18 and trying to decide what he was going to do with his life, he gravitated toward music.
“I was burned out with academics and my science, math and technology marks weren’t great,” he said, with a laugh. “I was looking at maybe going on the road with the band I was in. I didn’t want to take the chance on my lack of musical expertise. Working in studios, the coolest guy was the one producing the recording session.”
“I took the guy aside and asked him, ‘How do you get this gig? Because everyone else is here for free but you’re getting paid,’” recalled Eaton.
That conversation is what led Eaton to pursue a career in broadcasting. While attending post-secondary at Centennial College, he says he gravitated toward radio production because it married his passion for music with his attraction to the commercial side of the business.
“I liked telling stories, but to a very specific purpose – so like commercial writing, production, video and movies. They’re all different types of storytelling. I was hooked,” he said.
For his first seven years in broadcasting, he worked for KEY 590 (CKEY-AM) in Toronto. In 1992, he was approached by Corus in Peterborough to join their team. He worked for CHEX TV, the WOLF 101.5 FM and 980 Kruz and was there from 1992-1999.
“The lucky thing for me is, I’ve done so many different jobs,” he said.
While in Peterborough, Eaton was a marketing director while also learning sales, on-air work, commercial writing and production.
“When Collingwood needed a new general manager... I had a wide skill set where I could step into all the other parts of broadcasting. They asked me to come here for three years to turn things around and said after that, I could go back to Peterborough or Toronto,” said Eaton
“It didn’t take me long to fall in love with Collingwood and South Georgian Bay,” he said.
When the three years passed and Corus asked Eaton what he wanted to do, he told them he still had more to do in Collingwood and opted to stay.
“I kept doing that so eventually, they stopped asking,” said Eaton, with a laugh.
Looking back on some of his experiences in those early days, he says technology was not as compact as it is now.
“If you were to do a remote broadcast, we did them on cell phones. And the cell phones were huge! I thought it would be great to do an interview at the Canadian National Exhibition on one of the rides,” said Eaton. “It was called the Polar Express. It spins in circles so fast.”
“I didn’t realize with the centrifugal force that the anchor transmitter... I had to hold it in the air because it was being pulled and I thought my arm was going to rip off,” he said.
Eaton also is still active with music in his spare time. He is a member of three different local bands: cover band Strange Potatoes, the Shipyard Kitchen Party and Touch of Vinyl.
“What inspires me is people’s reaction, bringing people together and having a good time,” he said.
Celebrating 30 years with Corus this year, Eaton takes time to mentor young up-and-coming talent that may be interested in the radio game.
“It’s the attitude you bring to the job. Especially when you start in radio, the pay isn’t very good. You should work to your talent level,” he said. “You should also bring the attitude to accept change. Especially in a world so filled with technology. The world is so different since I left school in terms of technology. If I didn’t embrace that attitude, I think I would have been forced out or would have left the industry,” he said.
Eaton says working to learn all parts of the radio business, as opposed to just his part, has also served him well over his career in understanding the big picture.
“Be a sponge to learn everything. Don’t say, ‘I’m an announcer. I’m not going to learn how to write commercials.’ Because when you go to read those commercials, you’ll be better at it,” he said. “Have the attitude to understand all of what’s going on. It’s a team. You can’t win in isolation.”
Overall, Eaton says he’s grateful for all of the talented people he’s been able to work with over the past 30+ years.
“The first time I ever did a morning show was here. This has been, by far, my favourite spot to do this show in this town for this radio station,” he said. “It’s nice to be able to round out a career here.”
Looking forward, Eaton’s plans are open-ended.
“I’ve had no plan, ever. Maybe that’s been a benefit,” he said. “It’s a sweet spot right now. I have no desire to go anywhere, but you never know how things happen.”
