Many consider Bryan Olney to be the most talented and popular on-air personality in the long history of Kingston’s CKWS 960 AM radio. Olney passed away last week at the age of eighty-seven on Manitoulin Island, where he had lived for the past twenty years.

Olney arrived in Kingston via Timmins in the late 1950’s and was a fixture on local radio until the early 1970’s, when he left CKWS 960 to run the Broadcast Journalism program at Loyalist College in Belleville.

In that era, CKWS had a remote studio at the Kingston Centre where he would broadcast live and curious listeners would gather to watch him do his show. Olney hosted regular sock hops at local high schools and also did a live weekly broadcast from the popular A&W restaurant on Bath Road (where they delivered your food right to the car window).

On CKWS-TV he hosted the immensely popular weekly ‘Teenage Dance Party’, high school kids lined up to filled the TV studio, many local bands played and the show also featured live performances from hot Canadian artists like David Clayton Thomas and Bobby Curtola. Somehow Olney found the time to front a couple of popular Kingston bands, The Monarchs & The Chevrons.

A career highlight for Olney was meeting The Beatles. It happened after Olney became one of the first deejay’s in North America to play a Beatles record on radio. In October, 1963 he played The Beatles single ‘She Loves You’, and it became a big hit in the U.S. a few months later.

CKWS radio obtained the first Beatles record through RCA Victor, even though The Beatles record label was Capitol Records. RCA had a plant in Smiths Falls pressing the group’s vinyl records for Capitol Records, and they got a copy of the single off to CKWS.

The Smiths Falls plant pressed every Beatles record sold in Canada in 1963 & 1964. They made more than one million units of Beatles LP’s, EP’s and 45’s. The plant was so busy had to add a third shift – running 24/7 and employed well over 300 people.

The Beatles popularity exploded in February,1964 when 73-million people tuned in to watch the band perform five hits on The Ed Sullivan show. Just one month later, the CKWS ‘ Sensational 60’ hit parade chart featured the top six songs all by the Fab Four – the most requested and best-selling singles in Kingston.

Olney gave The Beatles heavy air play to the delight of Kingston teens as they churned out hit after hit. Olney and his radio colleagues at CKWS decided to start a campaign to have the City of Kingston name The Beatles ‘Honourary Citizens.’

Over 3,500 local teenagers signed on and it was presented to Kingston Mayor Bill Mills. The mayor admitted he had never heard of The Beatles, Olney said, “ask your kids.”

Mayor Mills got onboard and Kingston planned to honour the kids from Liverpool at their Labour Day shows at Maple Leaf Gardens on Monday September 07, 1964. The Beatles played two shows at the Gardens, the 4 o’clock show did not start until 5:30pm and the 8 o’clock show began at 10pm.

There were 16,500 screaming teenagers jammed into the Gardens for each show and by  all accounts the crowd was so loud you could not even hear The Beatles sing.

The Beatles held a press conference between shows, and they allowed Olney and Mayor Mills a moment to meet John, Paul, George, and Ringo up close and personal.

The Beatles likely had no idea what it all meant, but during a brief ceremony in front of the national press, each member of the band received a Key to the City along with a plaque naming them ‘Honourary Citizens’ of Kingston. A brief photo-op followed, but the newly minted ‘honourary citizens’ never did make a trip to Kingston.

The Beatles (like Elvis and The Monkees) were also stars on the big screen. The movie ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ came to town in late August ‘64, dozens of young people began lining up in front of the  Biltmore Theatre on Princess Street at 6am for the afternoon matinee.

It turned into a long day, the matinee presentation was delayed by two-and-a-half hours while the film reel arrived late by bus from Toronto.

Beatlemania was at a fever pitch here and across Canada. At Kingston high schools students were rushing off to get ‘Beatles haircuts’, all the rage for teenage boys.

On Bryan Olney’s afternoon ‘Platter Parade’ rock ‘n roll radio show – he pumped out The Beatles multiple chart toppers -with a new onceappearing on the charts what seemed like almost weekly.

Looking back we can credit ‘Kingston’s Oldest Teenager,’ Bryan Olney, for sparking Beatlemania in Kingston.

• With files from Kingston Radio Rewind