Long Live Rock and Roll
The Story of Ellie O’Day
Canada’s First Major Market Female DJ:

Part Two

After achieving what was considered impossible by becoming the first woman in to blast rock
music on Canadian radio, Ellie left CFOX in 1980 for Phantasmagoria, a record store and music
hub in Vancouver. “I quit CFOX over sexism and their resistance to new music. Until I could land
another radio gig, Phantasmagoria was stimulating work. It paid better than radio and my indie
bands contacts meant I was in charge of the consignment singles. Staff discounts were also
attractive”.
But leaving CFOX was just the beginning. In 1981, she began writing for the Georgia Straight,
another pioneer position she held down for 8 years. As Charles Campbell remembers: “At the
Straight, covering local music scene in a credible and informed way has been, since the
beginning, a cornerstone of the Straight’s success. Writing about music, though, has generally
been a job for the boys. Music remained a field for boys for way, way too long, particularly
given that we imagine it as progressive. Ellie was always a quiet champion for another path, just
by being there.”
Ellie was a fan of CFMI and made her move when Tim Burge, who had been opposite her on
evenings when she was at CFOX, got promoted to Program Director. “In radio they always say
that you live and die by your ratings, and I kept beating him”. With Tim’s spot open on CFMI,
she went for the vacancy, opting for weekend mornings so she could continue with her
freelance work.
“CBC Radio One found me while at Phantasmagoria and started hiring me for reviews and
commentaries.”
Laurie Mercer, whose time in the Vancouver scene was spent as an agent, concert promoter,
band manager and co-founder of the Pacific Music Industry Association (PIMA), told me: “I
knew of her long before I met her. I was a record collector and big music fan, so I had heard DJ
Ellie, either on CKNW or the Fox or elsewhere. Her warm tone, her chatty insider-ness, her
obvious knowledge and – most of all her openness to NEW music and sounds and trends made
her one of my (and many others) radio friends. A trusted source. I was always looking for new,
exciting, intelligent or adrenalin-boosting music. As a voracious reader it was always great
listening to someone who was erudite, who enjoyed information, who paid attention to tidbits
of detail. And she had the left of center social vibe that was important to me.”

But the glass ceiling wasn’t entirely broken.
“I was a regular contributor of interviews with touring artists to Switchback, the weekend teen
show on CBC TV, in the early to mid-80s. Richard Newman stepped down as host, and auditions
were set up. I asked for an audition, and my producer actually said, ‘We weren’t thinking of a
girl’, and indeed, men had been hosting in the past. I said ‘You can’t do that. I want to audition’.
So, I got my first audition. I recall making up a schtick around a feature on the show called The
Dictionary Man who, in a trench coat, would lurk in corners of the CBC building and introduce
vocabulary. For my piece I picked ‘resonance’. I wasn’t successful; a male high school student
was hired.”
Her work with indie bands came the other way around. When the B-Sides approached her to
manage their band, she said ‘I can’t yell to get my way or your way like (talent agency rep)
Bruce Allen does.’ Their response: that’s why we wanted you. They were convinced she’d make
a good manager but she wasn’t so sure.
Regardless, she was a reluctant manger and only managed two bands: Stubborn Blood, and
Nick Chursinoff and the Drop Dolls. But as she acquired more skills, she realized she could offer
limited management services to more bands, which included Sandy Scofield, The Stoaters,
Roots Round-Up, and The Dots. She published a monthly newsletter with their updates, which
was the beginning of her PR work.
“I never went on the road with any bands. I wasn’t even keen about hanging out backstage. I
liked being right up front and screaming my heart out! By this time, I’d been to London three
times, gathering interviews with all the hot new British bands, which aired on CFMI and in the
Straight and other magazines.”
Ellie may have only managed two bands, but she handled publicity, promotion and career
development for dozens of musicians and record labels for almost two decades. Here’s where
her degree in Ethnomusicology comes in; the artists on her roster played everything – jazz,
contemporary jazz, acoustic jazz, vocal jazz, folk, country folk, Celtic, Celtic folk, world music
and classical. She understood nuance. She handled tour publicity, CD releases, grant
applications, and festival bookings.
“Then came Expo 86. I was able to sell some stories to two or more English-speaking countries. I
got my teeth fixed. Then in 1987, broadcasters laid off freelancers. For some months I worked
for ProCAN (the precursor to SOCAN, the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers
of Canada) where I learned to read a publishing contract. In shorter succession I worked for
CJOR on the morning show team, and on CHRX playing ‘oldies’ on air. Finally, I became the
Program Director at CKWX. I hated it. But another round of lay-offs dealt with that.

“Eventually both bands I was managing split up. I began teaching at colleges part-time, mostly
about the music business, and did some work doing tour publicity, record releases and
tracking.”
In 1990, The Pacific Music Industry Association (PMIA) was founded. It had a difficult start, as
co-founders Laurie Mercer and Maureen Jack (Jack of Hearts Productions) were outliers in a
music town dominated by Sam Feldman and Bruce Allen. The idea was to set up an industry
association. Unravelling the history of this organization is complicated. However, the two of
them got it off the ground. Once the non-profit was created, they needed someone to take
over as Executive Director.
Says Laurie Mercer: “The Board decided to come up with a list of potential candidates to take
over as ED who was ‘right’ to represent our industry and could be trusted to take our ‘baby’
(the PMIA) into the future. Some bad blood and mistrust needed to be bridged to get a truly
effective organization that could legitimately represent the entire industry. Ellie was the only
real choice. Beloved by all, conscientious, energetic, articulate, organized and available. What
more could we want!”
Ellie spent 10 hard but valuable years with PMIA, often working 70-80 hours a week developing
music contacts and resources while meeting with politicians and government agencies. She
published the annual Canadian Pacific Music Industry Directory, produced a compilation album
of west coast world music, wrote and edited the Pacific Music News, ran a monthly forum for
managers, and produced the West Coast Music Awards.
Ellie promoted, nurtured and coaxed the music scene to be its best self. And her work was well
received and admirable. But she had a sense that the musical momentum was waning. But, just
around the corner something new was coming.
“By the time I stepped down from PMIA in 1999, the local indie music scene had lost steam. I
was delighted to encounter an indie theatre scene that had all of the giddy recklessness, energy
and collaboration that the music scene of the late 70s to 90s had. There are plays from the
2000s that still thrill me – and unlike my CDs, I’ve never had the opportunity to see them again.
That’s resonance!”
And like the day she picked up the phone with an offer to come to CKLG, she got a phone call
from visionary arts producer and Push Festival founder Norman Armour inviting her into the
theatre world. The next 25 years of her working life began.