John Drainie, was called the “greatest radio actor in the world” by Orson Welles. He began his career in radio with CJOR, CKNW and CBU in Vancouver and was a major player in CBC’s Golden Age of Radio. John Drainie was most famous in Canada for the CBC radio role of Jake in W.O. Mitchell’s…
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Vic Waters was born September 9, 1918. Vic started in radio in 1938. He was taking a wireless-telegraphy course at Sprott-Shaw and was asked by an instructor as to whether he could copy Morse code at 35 words per minute and he said “yes”. CJOR wanted to be first with unchallenged accuracy in its reporting…
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Bob Smith was best known as host of “Hot Air” – his jazz-focused show on CBC Radio. The program, premiered in 1947 and became the longest running show on the network. Bob interviewed virtually all the jazz stars that came through Vancouver, and people would wait for his familiar sign-off: “God bless jazz fans everywhere.”…
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Robert Gordon Robinson (RED) was born in Comox, BC on March 30, 1937. He received his early education at King Edward High School in Vancouver. Red was spinning the hits on Vancouver’s CJOR while still in high school in 1954. He was the first DJ to play rock’n’roll music on a regular basis in Canada. In 1957, Red moved…
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Bill Richardson was born in Winnipeg in 1955. In 1976, Bill received his B.A. from the University of Winnipeg. He graduated with a Master of Library Sciences at UBC in 1980. He then worked as a children’s librarian for six years, before turning to writing and broadcasting. He has written more than a dozen books including “Bachelor Brother’s Bed &…
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