CKOC o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2006-05-06 published
MacDONALD,
Robert
K. "
Bob"
'The world has lost a tremendous human being, a loving friend
and humanitarian' (S. Jukes, 2 May 2006.) Robert K. (Bob)
MacDONALD
died May 1 at the Joseph Brant Hospital in Burlington at the
age of 78. A veteran Canadian broadcaster, 'Mr. Mac' was a retired
Vice-President of Armadale Communications. An elementary school
teacher by training, he began his broadcasting career in 1950
as an announcer at
CFAR in Flin Flon, and later went on to work
at CJGX
Yorkton and
CKCK
Regina. At
CKRC Winnipeg, he became
General Manager, a position he subsequently held at
CKOC
Hamilton
before being named as Vice-President at Armadale in 1988. During
the course of his career, he discovered and trained many young
men and women who achieved success in prominent positions across
Canada. Bob was a member of the Canadian Association of Broadcaster's
Half Century Club and a former president of the Central Canada
Broadcaster's Association. He supported and held positions with
several charitable organizations including the Arts Council and
the United Way of Hamilton. He was a devoted husband to Margaret,
cherished father to Sandra and Sara, and beloved 'Grampa' to
Christopher.
Bob was the 'little' brother of Max
MacDONALD of
Edmonton and
of Glenn MacDONALD and Doreen
MORISON, now deceased.
He was a unique and special uncle to an extended network of nieces
and nephews. Years ago, Bob had the opportunity to speak at length
with Pierre Trudeau following a small gathering of broadcasters.
Upon leaving Trudeau remarked, 'you are a very interesting man.'
For family and Friends, this comment is so indicative of Bob's
character and the fact that he never stopped learning, exploring,
and helping others. His special humour, gentle nature and unique
style will always be remembered with love by family and Friends.
We wish to extend our deepest thanks to Gus and Anja
SONDERMEYER,
to a very caring and compassionate physician, Doctor Kathy
THOMPSON/THOMSON/TOMPSON/TOMSON,
and to 'Auntie Helen'
(MacDONALD.)
Bob so appreciated the visits
of his many Friends who traveled from near and far to spend time
with him during his recent hospitalization. We also want express
our sincere thanks to the nursing staff of 5 South and special
caregivers, Gabrielle, Uta, Lydia, and Marie. Family, Friends,
and former colleagues are invited to a very informal open house
in celebration of Bob's life at the family home in Burlington
on Saturday, May 27th from 2-5 p.m. If desired, donations in
Bob's name may be made to the 'Rebuilding Health in Rwanda Project'
at the University of Western Ontario in London (c/o Foundation
Western, Alumni Hall, London, Ontario N6A 5B9).
C... Names CK... Names CKO... Names Welcome Home
CKOC - All Categories in OGSPI
CKOY o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2006-04-28 published
Pat MARSDEN,
Broadcaster: (1936-2006)
Canadian Football League play-by-play specialist and radio host
lived life large. He stiffed a Nevada casino over a gambling
debt, took a swing at his boss and was bailed out of jail by
Brian MULRONEY
By James CHRISTIE with files from William
HOUSTON,
Page S9
It was part of Pat
MARSDEN's profession, as a caller of football
play-by-plays and a radio host, to be a storyteller. But the
Ottawa-born broadcast star didn't just tell entertaining tales
he often starred in them.
Citing his Irish heritage, Mr.
MARSDEN was alternately provocative,
funny, obstinate, sentimental, pugnacious and -- until he stopped
imbibing in recent years -- always willing to buy an adversary
a drink while he hammered away with his opinions. "He had to
get out of here because he couldn't get a rum and coke," his
wife, T.A.
MARSDEN, told radio station The Fan 590 yesterday
morning from Sunnybrook Hospital, minutes after his death.
An eight-year stint as co-host of The Fan morning show was the
last stop in a career of more than four decades behind the microphone
or in front of the camera. Mr.
MARSDEN even parodied sports broadcasters
as a television actor, sporting a slicked-down comb-over, a loud
plaid jacket and talking in exaggerated tones as he interviewed
calamity-prone stuntman Super Dave Osborne (a.k.a. Bob Einstein)
in a 1992 series.
He is best known for his play-by-play coverage of the Canadian
Football League telecasts and Grey Cup championships in the 1970s
and 1980s. He also worked as host of the 1972 Canada-Soviet Union
hockey summit series telecasts. His longest stint was 19 years
with CTV's Toronto flagship station
CFTO, where he had a reputation
for marching to his own beat. In a 1986 Globe and Mail interview,
Mr. MARSDEN said bluntly, "Nobody tells me what to do and nobody
tells me what to say, on or off the air. I developed a thick
skin a long time ago and I don't care how people would like me
to act. I won't be dull and I'll always have self respect." He
declared that he would always be himself.
"He did it his own way," said long-time colleague Fergie Olver,
who knew Mr.
MARSDEN could make connections at the high and low
ends of the social scale. "He was the only guy who was thrown
in jail in Regina on a Friday night, and then he went to Montreal
where he was thrown in jail again, and [former prime minister]
Brian MULRONEY bailed him out."
Indeed, when Mr.
MARSDEN signed off for the last time in May
of 2004, Mr.
MULRONEY phoned the station from Europe to congratulate
him on his career.
Pat MARSDEN was an Ottawa native who started a career in radio
as director of
CKOY. He went on to become the long-time sports
director of
CFTO, returning to radio at
CFRB after a stormy exchange
with CFTO news and public-affairs vice-president Ted
STEUBING
over a technical problem. Mr.
MARSDEN reportedly lunged across
Mr. STEUBING's desk to scuffle with the boss.
He also worked with Bill Watters on TSN's The Sports Page. "Whenever
I was with him, it would be 30 seconds and I'd either be laughing
at me or laughing at him, or with him," said Mr. Watters, who
had seen the lighter side of the broadcaster.
After Mr. MARSDEN retired and moved to Florida, Fan 590 executives
sought him out in 1994 to fight a desperate ratings battle for
Toronto listeners. He'd been out of the market some eight years,
but The Fan program director Nelson
MILLMAN said the station
had pursued him to gain credibility for a new format.
"We'd come through two seasons of labour stoppages in sports&hellip
we were floundering. We had Bob
McCOWN in the afternoons and
we needed to fix the morning show. Pat gave us some stability
in 1994 and 1995. He was the right guy in the right place at
the right time. He was a character like no other and he represented
sport in this town."
At The Fan, Mr.
MARSDEN at first paired with the hip and younger
John DERRINGER.
Both men were from the right side of the political
spectrum, both had ties to the United States and an antipathy
for prime minister Jean Chrétien.
Yet their chemistry was not great. Mr.
MARSDEN had come from
an era of radio crooners and crop reports, while Mr.
DERRINGER
from a culture of rock radio. There was more dissonance than
charm in their old-young mix and Mr.
DERRINGER ultimately departed.
He was replaced by Don
LANDRY, another young foil for Mr.
MARSDEN.
"Pat and Don were much more opposites politically and in outlook
toward life," said Mr.
MILLMAN. "
That made for better chemistry
than someone who often agreed with Pat's political outlook. When
sparks fly, that's entertainment."
Mr. LANDRY's comedic aptitude lightened the mood and ratings
began to climb for an odd couple that could laugh at each other
and at themselves. "Half the people loved it, half asked me 'why
do you pick on Pat so much, '? Mr.
LANDRY said. "Good chemistry
or bad chemistry is a question of taste, but he was loved. By
now, he's probably found Pierre Trudeau and is bawling him out
for what he did as prime minister."
That scenario would be a stretch of the imagination. Mr.
MARSDEN
and Mr. Trudeau wouldn't fit in each other's version of heaven.
Hell, possibly.
"Nobody's perfect, but nobody wore his imperfection as well as
Pat MARSDEN,"
Mr.
DERRINGER said. "The smile, the laugh, the
ability to keep things on an even keel was always an inspiration."
Mr. MARSDEN commuted from his Florida home for the first few
years of his Fan 590 job, rooming in Toronto weekdays and flying
home weekends to the United States, always returning with gripes
about Canadian gasoline prices, the non-functioning escalators
at Pearson Airport and former Mr. Chretien's lack of support
for U. S foreign policy. Later, Mr.
MARSDEN and his family eventually
moved back to Toronto.
The station opted not to renew his contract in May 2004. Rogers
Communications, which owns the station, had the option of picking
up three more years on a five-year pact that has been paying
him $300,000 annually, but declined. They paid him off with six
months remaining in his 2004 contract and Pat
MARSDEN didn't
complain.
"Getting up at 4 o'clock is so tiring, you can't function properly.
I'm not at all disappointed.
"If they don't want you, they don't want you. I'm finished with
the business. It's like you don't matter any more. That's fine.
No use worrying about it. You take what comes along in life.'"
Mr. MARSDEN lived life large, enjoyed a party, loved his rum
and his outings to casinos. In 1981, he managed to borrow $30,000
(U.S.) from the owners of the casino at The Dunes Las Vegas hotel
in Nevada and signed a series of markers when his money ran out.
He then left three cheques, two of them postdated. Back in Toronto,
he stopped payment on the latter pair. The casino owners took
him to an Ontario District Court -- and lost. Judge James
TROTTER
said that Nevada's gambling laws and demand for payment were
"unenforceable in Ontario," and that Mr.
MARSDEN's cheques were
an "illegal consideration" under Ontario's Gaming Act.
Gambler though he was, Mr.
MARSDEN knew he had no chance of beating
cancer. He was diagnosed after visiting his doctor about a pain
in his lower back. Lung cancer was found and it had spread into
his bones. He had been a smoker since a young child "but I have
no regrets. I'm 69 and I've had a good life with lots of laughs
and lots of Friends. Lots of great memories."
"I started smoking when I was four years old," he once said in
an interview with The Globe and Mail's William
HOUSON. "
Somebody
said to me, 'Christ, where the hell did you grow up, in Mississippi?'
No, but I had an old uncle who thought it was hilarious, as he
and his pals sat around the kitchen table having a beer, if I
would come in and have a smoke with them. That's when I started.
I never quit."
While in hospital, he received phone calls from generations of
broadcast colleagues and sports reporters. He was visited by
Leo Cahill (former Toronto Argonauts coach), and Scotty Bowman
(retired National Hockey League coach) and
by Brian KILREA, the
long-time coach of the major-junior 67's hockey team in Ottawa,
where Mr. MARSDEN grew up.
"The only thing I can say is, don't feel sorry for me," he said.
"I've had a terrific life and a terrific wife and great children,
and I'm delighted with the way my life has gone.
"I would have liked for it to have been a little longer, but,
you know, you reap what you sow."
Pat MARSDEN was born in Ottawa, November 8, 1936, and died of
lung cancer in Toronto yesterday. He leaves his wife, T.A., daughter
Taylor, son Connor, and three grown children from his first marriage:
Mike, Patti-Lee, and Ruth Mary.
C... Names CK... Names CKO... Names Welcome Home
CKOY - All Categories in OGSPI