Whether it fills the car during the daily commute to work or is the soundtrack to the morning routine at home, Darren McPeake’s voice is likely familiar to every Squamish resident. The popular morning show host and music director at Mountain FM is the same off air as he is on; at turns impossibly cheery, personable and humorously self-deprecating. The Chief sat down with McPeake for a chat about his sunny disposition, living in Squamish and the future of radio. What follows is an edited version of that conversation.
Q: How the heck do you stay so cheery all the time on air?
A: We all have our moments, but I really look forward to coming to work every day. I find it thrilling still to talk on the radio. I love sharing music with people and I have the freedom to do that. I love hearing people’s stories and when they interact with us. It is a fun way to be a part of the community.
Of course, there are some days I come in and think I don’t really have the energy to do this, but I end up having a really good day anyway. The difficult thing about doing these morning hours is you have to be disciplined in bowing out of the party early and that can be really hard. My alarm goes off at 3:45 a.m. – you never get used to that.
Q: You don’t like it when people call you a DJ, why?
A: I am a broadcaster. A lot of people refer to us as DJs, but Red Robinson, who recently retired, was a DJ. There are legitimate DJs and they mix records and they do a really good job of that. That’s a skill; they are musicians in a way. We are broadcasters.
Q: We have this image of radio hosts choosing the music and playing it live on air, does that still happen?
A: At any radio station today the music program is chosen the day before. It is all laid out and all mostly on computers. Everything we play – music and commercials – all comes off of a computer. Thirty years ago this room would have been filled with records and maybe CDs – now it is all loaded up into a big hard drive.
Q: What are some of the craziest things that have happened to you on air?
A: I worked nights at The Q in Victoria when I started out and I sometimes felt like a bartender because you would get the same people calling you. They were usually just lonely people, maybe who had too much to drink. They would call a lot and they just wanted someone to talk to. But I have always felt like in radio you make the listener the star – the music and the listener.
Q: What about your computer systems going down and that kind of thing?
A: Oh sure. Things can go horribly wrong. The first time I was ever on air was Christmas Day when I was 18. I was the high school intern and that was my big break – in the late 1980s. We went off the air because of a snowstorm. I didn’t know what to do, so I called the program director. He was having Christmas dinner with his family and I had to call him up, “Can you please help me?” And then engineers got involved.
Q: How did you ever get over the fear of coughing or choking on air?
A: That is the beauty of live broadcasts. It makes you human. People always say, “Aren’t you afraid of stuttering, blanking out or getting it wrong?” I always say it is part of being human and the beauty of radio. That’s why I think radio is so much more powerful than TV, because we are allowed to be human. It is not as polished – it is fun and spontaneous.
Q: Tell me how you ended up in Squamish?
A: I grew up in Ontario. I loved skiing and music, especially Toronto radio stations.
I came out here for a summer in 1988 when I was 18 and got a job bussing tables. I went back to school that fall, but my brother followed me out and he has been a ski instructor here for about 30 years. I always came back either to work or hang out. Eventually I went to BCIT for their broadcast program. Then I ended up in Victoria, then California for eight years; then after I got downsized I came to Whistler for a vacation and met my wife. She was on a career break of her own and was taking a ski lesson from my brother. I followed her back to the U.K. for three years. I insisted on moving back to B.C. We first went to the Kootenays and then this job opened up in 2013.
Q: What do you like about Squamish?
A: It is really the lifestyle. The ability to go for a mountain bike ride or a day of skiing whenever you want, when most people would have to work to save up for a trip to do that. The people here are pretty cool too – everyone is so outgoing and driven here. It doesn’t take much to make me feel guilty for lying on the couch if you want to take a break!
Q: What do you do for fun?
A: My wife and I love to ski and mountain bike. I love binge-watching shows. The last thing I binge-watched was Gypsy with Naomi Watts and I am looking forward to Stranger Things.
Q: What will the future of radio be?
A: The future of radio will be bringing back personalities as opposed to just voices. You have to put on a show. There has to be content there. It has to be fun and you have to have something to say.
I just hope it always remains free, especially in your car. That is the only thing that scares me is this talk of radio one day not being available in your car, which I think is ridiculous – they have to keep that.
Q: Who do you like to interview most?
A: Celebrities can sometimes be really protective and sometimes disappointing. I think really anybody is a joy to sit down and talk to, it is just you have to pull from them more than just them talking about whatever it is they have planned.
