Emotional last days for Stan and Hank as retirement nears for Bailly

Oct 24, 2018 | 10:14 AM

KAMLOOPS — It was an emotional last show in the CIFM studio for Stan Bailly and Henry Small, who have been having fun together for the last 25 years. 

It was Bailly’s second-to-last show before he turns off the mic for good on Thursday. 

“I had way too much fun, way too lucky over the last 31 years, the last 25 with Henry,” he noted after the show on Wednesday. “It’s been crazy, it’s been fun, it’s been exciting. I’m going to miss a lot of this. But I think it’s time.”

Stan’s ride on radio began in 1968 in Williams Lake, where he spent two years. Originally from Kamloops, Bailly returned home in 1987 to CIFM. He jokes that radio was his last-ditch effort to start a career. 

“I hated my job,” Bailly laughed. “I don’t want to do this for the rest of my life. I won’t mention what job it was, and I said ‘there’s got to be an easier way and I worked hard at it. A lot of failure at first, a lot of getting laid off and fire. Finally we struck gold and found Henry.”

Stan and Hank met in the late 1980s. Henry was playing at a local venue and Stan, a superfan of his, was determined to meet him.

“I was at a club in town here back in the ’80s and I heard somebody say ‘Henry Small’s here’ and I said ‘What?! Henry Small’s here!’”

They hit it off and Stan welcomed Hank onto the show. Now, after 25 years together, Stan and Hank will be no more, and on Wednesday that reality hit both of them. 

“It’s been 25 years. You couldn’t have a better job,” noted Small. “Entertaining people, you don’t think of it when you’re doing it, but now that we’re at the end of it, it’s like without Stan, there’s no Henry.”

While Hank will remain for the transition period, he knows it’s the end of an era. 

“I feel blessed that the guy was here because without him, who knows. And now that he’s retired, I don’t have to buy him drinks anymore,” he joked.

Bailly plans to spend his retirement travelling with his wife Debbie, but he’ll miss the good times together.

“I’m going to miss Hank for sure, so we’ll be hanging out together and doing stuff together.”

The last show on Thursday will take place in the CFJC-TV studio and be broadcast live on television from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. with special guests from over the years who got to know Stan and Hank. The live show will also be streamed on CFJC Today.