Don't be surprised if Justin "Drex" Wilcomes brings a bit of Howard Stern to CKNW Radio

The Australian-born broadcaster will launch his new show in early September.

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      Justin Wilcomes is an anomaly in the North American world of talk radio.

      At 35, the Australian-born broadcaster is younger than most. He lives in New Westminster, not in an expensive penthouse along Coal Harbour or in an exclusive neighbourhood in West Vancouver.

      The man known simply as Drex insists that he's not rich and that he's not a political junkie.

      Over the phone with the Straight Drex doesn't come across as a right-wing copycat of Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck.

      "We live in a multicultural melting pot, don't we?" Drex says. "And I've talked about it many times on the radio."

      One of his biggest gripes is a North Vancouver-based group called Putting Canada First, which loathes the sight of Asian languages on signs in Canada.

      Drex says that after he criticized the group on CFOX FM, it argued that it's a not-for-profit organization.

      "You know what?" Drex responds to the Straight. "The KKK is also a not-for-profit. We live in a city where everyone is from somewhere else. Even if you were born here and grew up [here], your family is from somewhere else. No one is from Vancouver, but we alll want to live here because it's an amazing city."

      Drex has been working in radio since he was 15 years old—a job he landed because his mom was dating the manager of the station.

      Early next month he'll reach his dream of hosting a talk show when he takes over the 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. slot on CKNW Radio (980 AM). He quips that his move from from CFOX to 'NW means he'll no longer play records by Nirvana and Soundgarden.

      Whether he succeeds or fails, one thing is certain. He'll never be seen as a member of the establishment, unlike recently retired CKNW morning hosts Bill Good and Philip Till.

      "If it looks like bullshit, I'm going to tell you it's bullshit," Drex says defiantly. "I don't like spin. And generally if you read it enough, you can tell when something has been spun. I'm not buying into that crap anymore and I don't think people in Vancouver want to buy into it anymore. They want the truth and they want someone to stand up for them."

      This attitude explains his distaste for politics, which he calls a "big game of spin".

      That said, Drex still plans on covering the biggest story of the day on his show, even if it involves elected officials.

      He hopes to train the show's attention on people affected by the events he's discussing.

      "We're going to see if we can come up with solutions and we're going to hear from everybody," he promises.

      In the process, Drex may rebrand a station that has, for many years, been seen as the voice of old white guys in Vancouver.

      That's despite the presence of Simi Sara and the more recent addition of Michael Eckford as a host.

      "I'm not a rich white guy with rich white guy problems, so I'm not going to talk to other white guys about those problems," Drex says jokingly.

      When asked what those problems might be, Drex repeats his mantra about finding solutions for ordinary folks.

      His liberal inclination is occasionally on display on his Twitter feed, which includes a blast at televangelist Joel Osteen as a "snake-oil salesman".

      Among his likes are Burgoo, Vancouver Canadians games at Nat Bailey Stadium, and the Doug Coupland show at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

      He ranks the gum-covered bust of Coupland on Howe Street as his favourite part of the exhibition, calling it "gross, but very, very interesting".

      "When I was at the FOX, I wanted to take some cameras down and see how much it would cost me to get someone to lick it," Drex says. "Legal said 'no'."

      Drex studies radio closely

      Beneath his light-hearted facade, Drex is a serious student of broadcasting.

      When asked about his inspirations, he first mentions Stan Zemanek, a take-no-prisoners Aussie who hosted late nights in his home country.

      Zemanek, who died of a brain tumour in 2007, was a hard-right winger who routinely called his critics idiots, oxygen thieves, half-wits, and numb nuts.

      In North America, he cites shock jock Howard Stern, Opie and Anthony, Bill Carroll, Danny Bonaduce, and Bob Rivers as broadcasters he admires.

      "A lot of people who were Stern haters for the longest time are starting to see the other side of him as a television personality on America's Got Talent," Drex says. "Everyone always passed him off as a rude, crude individual, but I don't think that's really accurate."

      Like Stern, Drex wants to ask questions that others might not dare to bring up on the radio.

      "I think people know when they get interviewed by Howard Stern or even agree to be interviewed by Howard Stern, they're going to be asked something they probably don't want to answer, but they answer it anyway," he says.

      But Drex says his biggest influence of all has been his dad, who worked as a butcher for 40 years. "He deals purely with logic and always sees...the light at the end of the tunnel. Take a problem to this guy and he already knows the solution."

      Drex's dad and his stepmom are working with aboriginal communities in Australia's Northern Territory. While Drex may have become more broad-minded as a result of his father, he says that his upbringing along the Sunshine Coast of Queensland also shaped him.

      He compares this part of Australia to B.C.'s Sunshine Coast, where people tend to be more open to new ideas.

      In early 2013, he achieved some notoriety across B.C. when he asked Premier Christy Clark if it's better to be a MILF than a cougar. It was a Howard Stern–like question and it cost him his job at a Courtenay radio station, the fourth time he'd been fired in his broadcasting career.

      Drex says he understands why some people might think his question to the premier was out of line.

      However, he also points out that to those who understand the nature of his job, "it was totally within the realm of possibility of me asking it."

      He acknowledges that the MILF comment defined him in the minds of British Columbians and this annoyed him for about six months.

      "That's now part of me, so whatever," Drex says. "I'm not going to let it affect me. I've worked very hard to do this job because I really enjoy it."

      So what's the biggest misconception about Drex? "That I've been doing this [broadcasting] five minutes. I've been doing this 20 years. Talk radio was always my end game. I just had to figure out how to get there. The guys at CKNW gave me a great opportunity."

      Best of all, he doesn't have to wear a collared shirt on the job.

      Comments

      6 Comments

      john

      Aug 17, 2014 at 10:04pm

      I'm one of those middle of the road 'older white guys', and having heard Drex a few times on weekends, I'm definitely looking forward to the change.

      James Blatchford

      Aug 17, 2014 at 10:44pm

      Strikes me as a bit of a cowboy, but I'm willing to give him a chance. Clearly 'NW are rolling the dice here.

      Plan B is to play Alarm Force ads all day long. Oh, right...they do that now.

      Beatriz

      Aug 18, 2014 at 4:03pm

      Hi Charlie, should be interesting I'm not a person really interested in listening only to those who share my beliefs , so yeah, bring "Drex" on. BTW, New Wesrminster is a cool city filled with character houses and parks and of course plenty of colourful people, Cold Harbour you should not spend much time there it can make you mentally Ill as it stands against anything natural, the latest from that freak show I couldn't believe it and went WTF! they ripped off the side walk grass in front of their high end empty buildings and installed fake grass that one made with chemicals that is greener , never grows, doesn't need water, weird and getting weirder in ghost town.

      Willy

      Aug 18, 2014 at 8:16pm

      Not much of a change on CKNW really, just a rejigging of shifts by staff already on-air, with the only exception being the addition of Dreck, er, Drex. Sadly, the glory days for the "Top Dog" are long gone, with listenership down and revenues shrinking. Those in the Corus management team who think this revamping will magically reverse the trend and bring in a whole new batch of trendy young listeners that'll be appealing to advertisers, the disappointment experienced when they get the data from the next few PPM's (ie: ratings periods) may be overwhelming. Ask those under 35 if they listen to AM radio and you may be hard-pressed to find many that even know what AM is.

      Disgusted

      Aug 21, 2014 at 7:29pm

      I've listened to Drex, who took over for Sean Leslie recently.
      Considering this was a slot that is usually dedicated to BC poli, I was disappointed to hear a lot of nyuck nyuck dope jokes.

      And I'm not talking about the Premier. Sigh. Not sure what he and Eckford bring to the station---seees a lot of their 'opinion' is about three miles wide and one inch deep. I'm especially not keen on Eckford's puffed up rants---they seem overwhelmingly simple minded. #nodisrespecttobenaffleck

      It's stunning to think about hoe few civic or political affais shows there are in this city. i guess everyone is too busy biking down to the poutine food trucks to care.

      Jon McComb, Simi Sara and the times that Mike Smyth subs for someone will be what I'll be listening to---sadly, the 'Top Dog' seems to be bottom feeding now.

      Tuning Out

      Apr 10, 2015 at 10:06pm

      Long time listener tuning out because of Drex Live and to a lesser degree, Mike Eckford. They rant for the sake of ranting and bring nothing to the issues beyond the research on Google on the topic 90 seconds before they go on air. Easy to rant and blow hot air into a controversy. A lot tougher to be objective and bring substance!