Maybe it’s because he’s the type of person who can land on his feet easily. Just recently, in January, he became a part-time news anchor for Global TV in Montreal.
“It’s different from having done what I’ve done for so long for so many years, but I’m definitely enjoying it,” Holder said via a telephone interview on June 24th. He also pointed out that there isn’t really a lot to do as an anchor, except maybe to write the script. With radio, there’s more research to do, guests to book, and so forth.
Even aside from Global, his resume is nothing to sneeze at. He has been heard on the radio and seen on TV for over thirty years. He was a reporter for CFCF 12 in Montreal from 1986 to 1988. Later on, he was the host of Soul Call on CJNT (CH) from 2000 to 2009, and he’s done Just For Laughs hosting duties for CBC and Showtime, just to name a few of his credentials.
Holder Tonight
But perhaps he is best known for being the former host of Holder Tonight on CJAD 800 in Montreal. This was a gig which lasted 20 years, and, for three of those recent years, the radio show was also simulcast on CFRB 1010 in Toronto. Unfortunately, that all came to an end in August of 2009 when CJAD let go of a number of their on-air staff, including Holder.
But when asked about how he feels towards his old station CJAD, he doesn’t have much to say.
“Nothing really; I mean they’re a radio station to do with what they want and that’s exactly how I felt when I was there, even though I was there for 20 years,” Holder said. “They’re off my radar; I haven’t really given them much thought.”
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On the subject of his fans who are upset with CJAD, he has a bit of a mixed reaction.
“It is very very touching, but, at the same time, it is somewhat misguided... again very appreciative of all the fans and what they have to say, but it’s like when you listen to sports radio stations and you hear people talk about how certain players should be traded either from or to their teams, and when they make those trades, [the callers are] always one-sided and unreasonable in the favour of their team. That’s not how business works. That’s not how a team works. That’s not how radio stations work.”
Bottom line is that Holder bears “no resentment whatsoever” to CJAD. In addition, he decided there was nothing stopping him from continuing to produce a radio show on his own.
“I decided that just because the radio station can take away the frequency, that doesn’t mean they can take away the show. That’s me. That’s who I am. I will continue to do it.”
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The show was relaunched online as The Stuph File, and while the new version is no longer on a Montreal radio station, ironically, it has been picked up for over-the-air coverage on 88.2 World FM New Zealand and Gold 90.5 FM in Singapore. He estimated that he has about 80,000 listeners a week with CyberstationUSA.com and, along with New Zealand and Singapore, over 100,000 a week overall.
Speaking of new terrestrial coverage, one can’t help but wonder if he was ever offered a job at CKRK K103 in Kahnawake, given the tendency for some former commercial radio personalities like Ted Bird, Laurie and Olga to end up there.
“There have been some rumblings, but that’s about the extent of it,” Holder sort of half-confirmed about the K103 possibility. “My name keeps coming up, as do others...”
His Favourite Moments
So why does his name keep coming up? It may be that he’s just a natural talker.
“I spent all my time talking to a tape recorder,” he said describing himself when he was nine. “All the kids were outside playing ball hockey and I was on the balcony doing play-by-play.”
Not surprisingly, he would go on to interview people for a living. His work on Soul Call, included interviews with Sinbad and Russell Peters. On Holder Tonight, he interviewed Helen Wagner and other cast members of As The World Turns, one of his favourite TV shows. His favourite celebrity interview, so far, has been with Cloris Leachman “because she’s just so gosh darn funny.”
But in reality, his favourite interview of all time was with a non-celebrity, three non-celebrities to be precise. He once did an hour-long segment featuring three war brides.
“When people think about that greatest generation, they automatically think of the men who went off to war, but there’s a lot to be said for the people that they left behind.”
Holder’s Stuph Lives On
So just like the nine-year old who would rather talk to a tape recorder than play ball with other children, he is still talking to whoever will listen. He is still talking to fascinating people and sharing those stories with the world. The media outlets may have changed, but Peter Anthony Holder hasn’t, and he just keeps on doing what he was meant to do.
The Stuph File can be heard at:
Sources:
Personal Interview with Peter Anthony Holder
TheStuphFile.com
Steve Hatton - Steve Hatton is a Montreal-based freelance writer and journalist who covers the television industry, including TV show reviews and media ...
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