Howie Vickers interview, 2000

As I wrapped up my daily radio career on CISL's Wakeup Club this week in 2000, I took the opportunity to catch up with some of the friends I met along the way. Howie Vickers and I go all the way back to around this time in 1958 when he and his group The Four Quarters opened for Ritchie Valens at the old International Cinema Theatre on Vancouver's Granville Street.

I worked again with Howie on CBC Vancouver's "Let's Go" from 1964-1966. This was not your typical dance party show. The program involved local talent and ended up being an excellent showcase for promising newcomers.

The Vancouver Sun's Les Wedman wrote, "If producer-director Ain Soodor isn't grooming Red Robinson to host a teen-age show, he should be because this venerable DJ turned 'Let's Go' into the swingiest of shows at the weekend in the unavoidable absence of regular host Fred Latremouille. Having an array of strong talent to back him up didn't hurt Robinson any, and if that's what teenagers like musically they got it for the first time in the series."

Wedman was also partly responsible for my demise on the show. By late 1965 he was having second thoughts. His Vancouver Sun column stated, "Teenage shows don’t have to be run by fellows their own age — Dick Clark and Red Robinson, for example. But it helps to have someone in charge not yet of voting age." I was 28.

In this interview, Howie and I reminisce about our time on "Let's Go", the Ritchie Valens shows, and Howie's experiences with the C-FUN Classics and the Collectors. Thank you, Howie, for being a friend all these years!

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