Sunday, September 5, 2010

The Dean Blundell Show - The End of an Era

I’ve been a long time listener of the most listened-to morning radio show in the GTA - that of course is the Dean Blundell Show on 102.1 The Edge (CFNY-FM) owned by Corus Entertainment, which consisted of three hosts named Dean Blundell, Jason Barr, and Todd Shapiro. I’ve met the guys as a fan on a few occasions at previous Sausagefest events, and at the Walter Gretzky Ball Hockey tournament.

I had the opportunity last month to attend the 3rd annual Sausagefest, which is hosted by the Dean Blundell Show. After Sausagefest ended on Friday September 20th, the hosts of the show went on an "extended vacation." On Monday or Tuesday the following week, the links and pictures to Jason Barr on The Edge official website were taken down. I noticed this on the Wednesday when I wanted to find out when the show was going to return on the air. Apparently, it turned out that Jason Barr was let go from his duties at the radio station. Many reliable media sources have confirmed that on the Tuesday that Jason Barr was fired (not laid off) from the radio station. There have been many outside, and often unreliable, media sources that have been covering this news. WELL, I want this to be my chance to somewhat set the record straight.

While I was at Sausagefest, I noticed a few peculiar things going on. Dean had mentioned earlier in the week, and during the event that there would be more events with the edge personalities that evening, but I never saw any of it happen. For instance, I'm not sure if this was a “VIP only” thing, but I heard that Jason was suppose to do private readings with Psychic Nicki with audience members and not a word of that was mentioned after the live broadcast - which makes me think that Jason may have refused to do that.

Also, I saw him at the concert portion of the evening with (I believe) was his wife and they didn't look very happy. Both of them seemed to have left about half way through the concert, and Dean and Todd were nowhere near him for most of the night. I had my suspicion that something was going on - it looked like that Dean and/or Todd may have had a confrontation with Jason earlier that evening.  There was also rumours going around that Dean and Jason had a falling in their personal lives and Jason was let go on the request of Dean - that may have also been a possibility, Jason and Dean tend to keep much of their personal lives secretive to the public, so we as an audience would not have to listen and be involved in any of their personal conflicts.

On Friday September 3rd, the second day that Dean and Todd were back on the air, during the call-in segment of the show with Psychic Nicki, a caller mentioned that he was missing a friend named Jason and was wondering if anyone has seen him. Dean and Todd jumped on it said that he was no longer with the station and that they weren't allowed to comment on it - they also addressed this at the end of the show again.

I really hope that Corus allows Dean and Todd to mention something a little more “legit” in terms of what happened. However, Corus may just wait until the media hype lightens, but I believe the audience will try and find some means to persuade someone from Corus to explain what happened. We as loyal listeners of the show should have some right to know what went on last month – unless that’s the nature of the entertainment industry and "we don’t need to know anything."

As a Dean Blundell Show fan, I will continue to listen to the show as much as I have in the past. It might take all of us a while to adjust to this new era of the show, but I’m sure Dean and Todd will make things better again (even though Todd can be a douche nozzle on the show and in real life, and I sometimes can't stand listening to him). I've heard rumours that they might bring on a third person to the group (some names that have been thrown around are Josie Dye, Meatus, Adam, or Darrin).

In conclusion to my rant, I really do wish Jason all the best and we will dearly miss him for his extremist views on life, the voice-of-reason, common-sense, and to show us that goats are indeed fun.  I also wish Dean and Todd all the best and hope the show continues to for many years to come.

From the words of Jason...

Balls.