Humble & Fred
| Genre | Talk Comedy |
|---|---|
| Running time | 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., Monday through Friday |
| Country | Canada |
| Home station | Canada Laughs |
| Hosted by |
Howard "Humble" Glassman Fred Patterson |
| Starring | Show staff |
| Created by | Howard "Humble" Glassman Fred Patterson |
| Air dates | since August 1989 |
| Opening theme | "Icky Thump" by The White Stripes "Straight Outta Compton" by N.W.A "Tighten Up" by The Black Keys |
| Ending theme | "Where It's At" by Beck |
Humble & Fred is a Toronto-based Canadian radio show, featuring co-hosts "Humble" Howard Glassman and Fred Patterson, which has aired on a variety of Greater Toronto Area radio stations since 1989.
What eventually became the Humble & Fred show got initiated in 1989 by the incoming CFNY-FM program director Danny Kingsbury who wanted to stabilize the station's morning show situation that had been in flux ever since longtime Pete & Geets show went off the air in 1987. After the aging duo left, the slot was taken over by 27-year-old MuchMusic VJ Steve Anthony who did the morning radio show in parallel with his music television job; due to a non-competing clause in his MuchMusic contract, in order to take the CFNY offer, he had to obtain MuchMusic's permission. Different factors — such as having to fill the beloved morning duo's shoes, choosing to devote more attention to his TV job than his radio gig, and maintaining a party lifestyle that on multiple occasions resulted in him missing work in the morning as well as facing a situation in which the radio station suddenly switched to a Top 40 format — led to Anthony's relatively quick departure from CFNY by the end of 1988. A number of hosts were then given the morning slot, including Scot Turner and Randy Taylor, none of whom panned out either, which is when the newly arrived program director Kingsbury began looking for a more permanent solution.
CFNY's morning show instability during the 1987-1989 period reflected the station's management and ownership turmoil that began after longtime program director David Marsden got moved to the director of operations position in 1987. Taking over the PD post was his longtime deputy and on-air personality Don Berns who continued the "Spirit of Radio" concept that Marsden himself largely created and fostered over the years. However, the station's corporate parent, Selkirk Communications (itself going through a process of being sold to Maclean-Hunter media conglomerate), wasn't happy with the way things are at CFNY, letting Marsden go during 1988 followed by ordering a format change to Top 40 hits late in the year and installing general sales manager Jim Fonger to oversee the switch by promoting him to Marsden's post. The switch resulted in a tarted up playlist that suddenly included acts and tracks like Madonna, Michael Jackson, Bon Jovi, Janet Jackson, George Michael's "Monkey", etc. — something unthinkable up to that point. Berns resigned his program director duties shortly though staying on as DJ, and even though the format change quickly resulted in station's overall listener ratings increasing from CFNY's average 500,000 to 700,000, research showed this new audience to be mostly composed of those who listen for very short periods of time that were thus of limited appeal to advertisers. Since it failed to bring in new revenue, in addition to alienating CFNY's loyal listener base, the Top 40 experiment was discontinued by summer 1989, only seven months after implementation. By this time, Selkirk Communications' sale to Maclean-Hunter had been finalized and the new owner ordered a return to the alternative format along with bringing in new management that included new director of programming and operations Reiner Schwarz and new program director Danny Kingsbury.
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