January 27, 2002

8:50 AM

Peter Gzowski, Canadian broadcaster, died a couple of days ago. Listen to an old interview with Stuart McLean on CBC Radio RealAudio at noon EST from Toronto, 1pm from Winnipeg, 2pm from Calgary or 3pm from Vancouver. Gzowski and McLean are the voice of the Canadian spirit.
posted by Geo (9 comments total)

I got hooked listening to Peter Gzowski on the car radio on frequent business trips to Canada in the 80s. I used to schedule meetings to maximize drive time when he was on.
posted by Geo at 8:55 AM on January 27, 2002

the voice of the Canadian spirit.
eh?
posted by quonsar at 8:56 AM on January 27, 2002

"the voice of the Canadian spirit.

Uh, english Canadian spirit, tabernac.

posted by lupus_yonderboy at 8:59 AM on January 27, 2002

I listened to him in the late 80's too, when I had business that took me up near the border. The pictures from your third link are the first I have ever seen of him. Funny how sometimes the mental image you have of someone actually is close to the real person.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 9:02 AM on January 27, 2002

I'll miss him. Gzowski was a delight.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:59 AM on January 27, 2002

I listened to the McLean/Gzowski interview earlier this afternoon. It was priceless. For those who are interested, the tributes continue today with a special edition of Cross Country Checkup also on CBC Radio.
posted by sanitycheck at 10:08 AM on January 27, 2002

Gzowski was a remarkable guy: shy and fierce, humble and attentive. I am going to miss him.

The CBC (which Gzowski referred to as "The Ministry of Truth") has been home -- despite itself -- to some extravagent originals. I grew up listening to Al Maitland, Bob Oxley (who I still think of as Bah Boxley), Barbara Frum, Max Ferguson, and the incomparable Allan McPhee.

I'll never forget the live Christmas Day broadcast when Ferguson and McPhee got drunk on the air. Stories about McPhee are legion. Apparently he once ran a hose from his car's exhaust pipe into the office window of a hated producer!

I remember another live broadcast by Leon Cole. Normally, the picture of calm, he suddenly became very agitated. It turned out he was in a glass sound booth with a bee, and is violently allergic to bee-sting. From coast to coast (or sea to sea to sea, as Jean Chretien is suddenly fond of saying), we got to listen to Leon reporting on the movements of the bee and then explaining in an aside to his mother that the bee had been captured and he had not been stung!
posted by 327.ca at 12:18 PM on January 27, 2002

I used to listen to Gzowski a lot on Radio Canada International's rebroadcasts on shortwave of domestic CBC programs. I studied Canadian broadcasting when I was in college in Pennsylvania, and Gzowski was my regular morning listening on the shortwave. I always thought that his Morningside was the second best program on CBC (first was Sunday Morning, before it started to suck when it got subsumed under the This Morning name). I listened to the first hour of the tribute program hosted by Shelagh Rogers on the shortwave the other day; she did a nice job with it.

I had my name mentioned on Morningside once back then, too. Wish I could remember the details. Something about a contest where they wanted people to write in about something or other, and my entry was one of the ones they talked about. I listened to the program, but I'll be damned if I can remember what it was about so many years later....

As for Alan Maitland, I still try to tune in to RCI and CBC every Christmas Eve for "Fireside Al's" reading of The Shepherd. Sends chills down my spine every time. Maitland had the best radio voice ever.
posted by geneablogy at 7:35 PM on January 27, 2002

Here's another American who got hooked on Gzowski while on trips to Canada. I loved the way he interviewed people, how the interviews really seemed more like friendly conversations that listeners were privileged to be able to hear. Even the first time I heard him, when I didn't know his name and knew absolutely nothing about him, I could tell he was someone quite special. Sad to hear he's gone.
posted by schmedeman at 1:38 AM on January 28, 2002