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Vo l u m e 2 , I s s u e 2 3 , N o v 2 5 , 2 0 1 1 Story: Bram D. Eisenthal Photos: Daniel Cianfarra
Orla Johannes: Changing the tune of Montreal radio – Pass the crumpets, please! If you know anything about me from previous columns and features, you know how I feel about Montreal English radio. I won’t flog the horse here, but it’s a dying, suffering old nag and needs some rejuvenation badly. There ARE, thankfully, some promising signs, however, and one of the best things – Terry Dimonte’s return to Montreal from Calgary (he is about to become CHOM’s morning man again) and the savvy Aaron Rand’s rebound from a sinking Q-92 to grab the afternoon drive on CJAD, notwithstanding – is a personality you have heard, but know little about. That is about to change, as the vivacious and pretty lass with the dulcet Brit intonations reveals a whole lot more about herself than her radio traffic stints permit.
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Even her name, Orla Johannes, gives you some pause… then you hear her and, wow, you think, this is a very interesting, professional and effervescent young woman. Born in Rainham, Kent, in Southern England, Johannes reveals that this idyllic spot is known as the “garden of England,” so it’s no wonder she has blossomed so beautifully after taking root here on January 8, 1998… smack in the middle of the nowinfamous Ice Storm! It was a marketing job with Future Electronics on the West Island that drew Orla here to begin with, “after an interview in London with their glamorous human resources director Charmaine Huot,” she recalls. Orla was so concerned about the lack of electricity she actually overdressed her first day at Future, thermal long johns and all: “I almost lost five pounds from overheating,” she says with a laugh. “I quickly found my way, adapted well and fell in love with Montreal.”
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