Heather Wright/The Independent

George Hayes came to Sarnia in 1986 to work during the day and have “a normal life.” He stayed in the city and on the air, putting down roots in the community he’s loves.

Friday, the long-time co-host of the FOX-FM morning show said goodbye, retiring after 26 years hosting the morning show – 18 of those with Sarah Woodley – and decades in local radio.

Hayes began his radio career in Woodstock in 1981, by 1984 he was in Leamington. Two years later was offered a job at CKJD in Sarnia to a hosting shift in the daytime.

“We bought a house and I got a job offer in Kitchener about a year after and I didn’t want to go, I didn’t want to move and I figured that I was going to be able to put down roots,” Hayes said between greeting well-wishers during his final show at Global Donuts in Sarnia.

“I always had the desire to maybe work in London because it was closer to my family. But Sarnia has been the place and once you live in Sarnia you understand it’s a good place to live.

“I grew up on a farm and I grew up in a town generally of like 8,000 people. Sarnia wasn’t too big for me, right? It was just right around 70,000 – kind of where it is right now – with all these things that this kid didn’t grow up with like a beach and golf courses and stuff like that. I was able to expand my life here and I realized I just would never be a big city kid.”

There have been a lot of changes in radio since Hayes began in 1981; from cueing up 45’s on a turn table, to two-track cart machines which can be erased – sometimes accidentially – to CDs and then digital music. And there were changes in remote broadcasting, like Hayes final show from Global Donuts, also evolved. “I did my first remote on a CB radio at CKJD.”

Hayes says, over the years women have played a larger role in broadcasting. “When I started, it was very rare to have a woman on air – on the morning show especially…The other thing that’s changed is the acceptance of women’s music on the air.

“In 1984, I went to Leamington; we had a rule that we couldn’t play two female songs back-to-back so that’s something that has massively changed.”

Hayes himself has evolved in his career.

When he started in radio, Hayes figured: “I would be funny on air and play music. It’s been far more than that.”

The broadcaster said the art of good communication became very clear after he was fired from the FOX-FM in the mid-90s and spent several years working and talking with people instead of to them behind the microphone. When he had an opportunity to return to Sarnia radio, Hayes said, that time talking with people made him a better broadcaster.

And the community connected with Hayes’ new style. Listeners would come up to him and tell him they would set their morning routine to the rhythms of the show, knowing if they were out of the shower by the time Hayes was doing the birthdays, they’d be on time for work.

“The greatest honour I have is being part of people’s routine,” he said.

“It has been a great honour to have you in my life,” Hayes told his co-host as he signed off for the last time. “It has been a great honour to have this job in my life. It has been a great honour to have this city in my life.”

Hayes says while he will miss being on radio and the coworkers he now calls family, he’s looking forward to sleeping past his normal 3:30 am waking time.

And what will he do in retirement? “I get this blank piece of paper and I get to create something for the rest of my life, and I’m going to take my time to figure it out what that is.”