The Windsor Ontario City Council has unanimously approved $100,000 — interest from the city’s Arts Endowment Capital Project fund — for a life-sized statue of Rosalie Trombley, legendary music director of famed Top 40 radio Station CKLW, also known as The Big 8.
The Windsor Star reports the statue was designed and sculpted by Windsor artist Donna Mayne, the statue will depict Trombley in bronze leaning against a monolith number ‘8’ carved in granite. The statue’s proposed location is within the Festival Plaza footprint, and it’s anticipated to be ready for installation by April 2023.
“It would not be an overstatement on my part to say that my mom, our mom, is really a legend when it comes to the history of AM Top 40 radio in North America,” said Tim Trombley, son of Rosalie Trombley and current director of entertainment at Caesars Windsor.
“She led the way, CKLW led the way, in breaking an innumerable number of artists.”
Trombley joined The Big 8 as a switchboard operator in 1968. She would later become the station’s music director and was eventually among the organization’s top executives.
The small Windsor station’s 50,000-watt signal reached far and wide and, for a time, was one of the most-listened-to stations in North America. Through her programming choices, Trombley was responsible for boosting the careers of musicians who would become household names, including Bob Seger, Alice Cooper, Gordon Lightfoot, The Guess Who, and many more. She became known as the “girl with the golden ear” for her ability to recognize a new hit track.
She was given a special achievement award at the 2016 Junos. She died last November at age 82.
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