A familiar voice on your morning drive to work is saying goodbye.
After nearly 26 years as host of the morning show on Blackburn Media's 99.9 The FOX, George Hayes is retiring.
The 62-year-old Ingersoll native moved to Sarnia in 1986.
"I started in Woodstock at my first radio station in 1981, moved to Leamington in 1984, spent a couple years there and wanted to progress, and there was an opening here in Sarnia the old CKJD and I've lived here ever since," said Hayes.
Hayes' introduction to succeeding as a disc jockey and properly cueing and loading an LP came at the hands of DJ Cliff Lorimer, who was blind.
"He was kind of legendary in radio," said Hayes. "He had the distinction of being the guy who was the MC for the Rolling Stones benefit concert for the CNIB in Oshawa back in the late 70s. They had to do it because Keith was caught with drugs at the border, and they made them do a benefit concert instead of putting anybody in jail."
After joining CKJD, which went on to become CKTY in 1988 and eventually COOL 106.3, he moved to afternoons on 99.9 The FOX in 1989.
Hayes was let go from The FOX in 1992, which he said he's thankful for as it allowed him to do other things.
"You have to understand when I say that I was happy to get fired in 1992, I went off and did jobs I didn't particularly like," he said. "I might have learned a lot, and I may have made more money, but I didn't like it as much as radio. Even though the alarm goes off at 3:30 in the morning, I think I would rather that happen than go back and do something else. It's kept me in perspective on radio, and kept me grounded in the sense that I never took this job for granted."
Hayes was hired back in Sarnia in 1999 to do the afternoon show on K106.3 before moving to The FOX morning show in 2000, replacing host John Harada.
Since his first days spinning 45s in Woodstock, to sharing his mornings with Sarnia-Lambton residents, Hayes said he's always enjoyed the immediacy of radio.
"The first time I see there's a traffic tie-up on Modeland Road I want to be able to tell somebody about it," said Hayes. "Or school buses are cancelled, because that to me was the best that radio can do, that immediate thing that told people what they needed to know, and to me that's my happiest part as I look back at my 26 years."
The morning show announcer also served as FOX Program Director from 2001 to 2019, at which time he became Operations Manager, leading the Sarnia branch and its staff through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the years, Hayes said there have been many advances in technology from records, to carts, CDs, and now digital formats, but one thing has held true.
"As we morph into more people broadcasting from outside of market into a local market, news and journalism will be even more important because that is where the local content truly will come from," he said. "It's regrettable it kind of goes that way, but I'm happy to say that I hope that companies invest in journalists and storytellers."
Hayes said he has no immediate plans for his retirement, other than maybe getting some sleep.
"I think I've just gotten up to a 3:30 alarm enough over the years and I don't know who I am actually, because for 26 years, I've been kind of like always kind of tired. I don't know who I am totally rested," he said.
The hunt is on for a replacement for Hayes on The FOX morning show alongside Sarah Woodley, who has been Hayes' co-host since 2008.
For his last morning on-air November 21, Hayes and Woodley broadcast from Global Donuts on London Line, a familiar spot over the years for the morning duo.
"It's been a pleasure for me to get up early and do these things for 25, 26 years," said Hayes. "I had no high expectations in radio when I got into it. For me to have gone back over the years and be a part of peoples' lives everyday, to do the kids' birthdays, to let them know about traffic problems, to being valuable to their lives in one way shape or form has been the greatest thrill for me. I'm going to miss that."
