Art Andrews, CBC announcer

[Dan Say]

ART ANDREWS, 70 / BROADCASTER, SAILOR
Broadcaster told Newfoundland about loss of the Ocean Ranger
He was known for his voice - and for his venturesome sailing

http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090828.
OBANDREWS28ART2004//TPStory/Obituaries

by JOAN SULLIVAN

Special to The Globe and Mail

August 28, 2009

Art Andrews's work in TV and radio made him a household name, while his voice
is immortalized as announcing to Newfoundland that the Ocean Ranger was lost.
But his spirit may be best exemplified as a venturesome sailor. He loved
nothing more than being on the water.

Art Andrews and his younger sister Joan were born to Gordon and Violet
(Evelley). Both parents were teachers. Mr. Andrews was born in St. John's but
grew up in Trinity East, attending St. Andrew's, a one-room schoolhouse. After
graduating in the early 1950s he enrolled in a radio technology course in
Montreal; broadcasting had long fascinated him.

"As a child he was always listening to the radio," said his sister. "He was
always picking up different stations." He entered the field on the technical
side but his natural presence and good voice meant he soon found himself on
the air.

He spent three decades in broadcasting, as a TV show host and radio news
announcer. Art Andrews Dance Party (CJON-TV 1964-1968) aired when there was
very little local TV, and the daily show, shot live and scheduled for
teenagers to watch after school, was a major hit. The format included live
music, dancing contests and skill- testing questions.

"He'd do things like show people a photograph of a band, and if they could
identify it they'd win a prize," said Derek Pelley, who was a Dance Party
audience member before becoming a founding member of the Newfoundland
folk-rock band Figgy Duff. "I won a Bobby Curtola album."

The exposure for such groups as The Sandels, The Deltones and The Ducats was
invaluable.

And while some broadcasters could be dismissive of the bands and their music,
Mr. Andrews "was very genial," said Mr. Pelley, "which was also what he was
like as a person."

Mr. Andrews would sometimes sign off by saying, "the foregoing has been a work
of Art."

He also hosted Reach for the Top on CBC TV.

In the 1970s and 1980s he moved to CBC Radio's The Morning Show when it began
to shift from a music-news-weather format to an information template that
focused on interviews.

He was the news announcer, delivering many important stories, but one in
particular stayed with him. He remembered Feb. 15, 1982 as "a terrible
morning, a terrible storm."

Many of the CBC staff had to be picked up by four-wheel drive vehicles because
they couldn't get out of their driveways.

The first thing Mr. Andrews did on entering the studio was check the
teleprinter; there was one line: The Ocean Ranger is missing.

The news team scrambled to get information, and just before the 9 a.m.
signoff, they reached Mobil Oil's head office in New York and the loss was
confirmed.

Mr. Andrews went on the air and said, "The Ocean Ranger is missing."

He later worked with Radio Noon before retiring. Then, along with his wife
Louise, he established a well-known tourism business in Trinity, which
included The Dock Restaurant, in a restored 300-year-old fishing premises, and
The Dock Marina, featuring Atlantic Adventures boat tours on his sailboat
Atlantic Adventurer.

He was an accomplished, attuned sailor, going for regular two-week sails up to
Notre Dame Bay, or along the South Coast to St. Pierre.

"He was an inspiration to our generation of sailors because he was the first
to venture out of Conception Bay," said Ches Drodge, who began sailing with
Mr. Andrews in 1974.

"He went further up to Bonavista, further out on the ocean, and we followed
him."

Mr. Andrews's navigational skills were exceptional, Mr. Drodge said. Before
electronic tools, "it was all chart work. Compass, time, distance.

"You could always rely on him to get you through the heavies. In the fog he
always seemed to know where he was."

He could also direct his crew through complicated manoeuvres.

On one sail, timing a dawn approach to the dangerous Baccalieu Tickle, Mr.
Andrews instructed his crew to execute a heave to, a tactic that slows a
boat's forward progress and that, it turned out, he had only studied, never
done before. It worked perfectly.

Another night, in Trinity Bay, the engine overheated and there was no wind.
The boat began to drift towards the Horse Chops, with their 30-metre cliffs.

Mr. Andrews knew that any wind would come to them off the cliffs themselves,
so he directed the crew to put out the sails and stand by, as he went midship
and listened. "And then he said, 'Ah, we got it,' and we sailed down Trinity
Bight and it was beautiful," said Mr. Drodge.

"He just liked the adventure. It was all about adventure. Newfoundland's
seacoast is the best in the world for coves and harbours and he always wanted
to go to the next cove or harbour."

ARTHUR G.T. ANDREWS

Arthur Gerald Thomas Andrews was born in St. John's on June 23, 1939. He died
Aug. 20 in St. John's. He was 70, and had been diagnosed with lymphoma last
year. He leaves his wife Louise and daughter Amy.