Waving Goodbye & Good Luck

The city is poorer today; a voice which's easy timbre and friendly tone has enriched the fabric of our metropolis' mornings for almost 25 years is leaving for Calgary.

We will all be worse off for the departure of Terry DiMonte, who is, as they say, a class-act. His brand of humour is warm & friendly, yet sarcastic & cynical. He is kind to people who are respectful, but is unafraid of telling off callers, listeners or public figures who he feels have been disrespectful, cruel or just plain stupid. His close relationship with cohost Ted Byrd has made listening to CHOM's morning show a pleasure - less a case of listening to the radio than a case of listening in on a very funny, sometimes very serious & very comfortable conversation between friends.

The true measure of Mr. DiMonte's contribution to the city is the effect he's had on innumerable charities and small businesses who, through his on-air endorsement, have seen an influx of contributors and customers; his voice has helped hospitals, like the Montreal Children's Hospital - an institution whose annual fundraiser has seen the radio host spend neary 12 hours on the air in an effort to keep the donations coming; the Sainte-Justine Children's Hospital; the Westmount Palliative Care Clinic; he's helped charities aimed at aiding the poor and charities aimed at helping our Veterans; he's helped groups who've worked to help children's sporting initiatives; he's plugged small companies like Mersen(sp?) tires & his friends' Centre Hi-Fi franchise.

DiMonte inspired responsibility and charity in us during his run at CJAD and CHOM and gave us a hell of a morning to go with it; he is without a doubt one of the best good people to ever come out of our great city and Astral Media's shameful greed and inability to realize the value of their assets has sent him to Alberta of all places.

He will be sorely missed, in Montreal, and I promise that once he has begun his show at Q107 I will post a link to that radio station here, that we all may listen to his show.