Peter Jennings died. Biog of father
Dan Say
http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/personalities/personalities.php?id=57
has a standard staff picture of Charles Jennings.
A more informal picture is found when you search
http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/ and look at the
cache of an earlier page.
This is G o o g l e's cache of
http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/personal/hof/jennin_c.html as
retrieved on 2 Dec 2004 14:33:58 GMT.
This cached page may reference images which are no longer
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To link to or bookmark this page, use the following url:
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( and there is a standard bio of Peter Jennings too.)
Canadian Communications Foundation : The history of Canadian
Broadcasting.
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Pioneer
Jennings, Charles (1908-1973)
Charles Jennings was the first Canadian radio announcer to achieve
public recognition from coast-to-coast for his presentation of
the news. Reading a 15-minute news-and-weather "package"
especially written by Canadian Press for the Canadian Radio
Broadcasting Commission's nightly 10.45 (EST) newscast, Charles
quickly established himself as one of Canada's foremost
broadcasters.
Charles was born in Toronto and educated at North Toronto
Collegiate followed by Trinity college, University of Toronto.
But he said formal education irked him and, half way through
college, he accepted the lure of the microphone, taking an
announcing job in 1928 at CKGW Toronto. GW stood for Gooderham
and Worts, the distillery that owned the radio station. His job,
he said, was to broadcast "the glad message of Gooderham and
Worts" across Lake Ontario to the United States, then under
prohibition, where it arrived concurrently with moonlight cargoes
of Canadian whisky.
He worked briefly in New York then returned to Canada and joined
the CRBC (forerunner to the CBC) where after two years he became
chief announcer. In 1939 he became supervisor of program planning
- in 1943 right hand man to Ernie Bushnell, director general of
programs - in 1953 director of programs - and in 1955 assistant
controller of broadcasting. In 1959 he was made general manager
of regional broadcasting and became vice-president of the CBC in
1964. He retired in 1971, two years before he died, leaving his
wife, Elizabeth, daughter Sarah, and son Peter, who even then was
becoming a household name with ABC news.
The man with a voice to vie with Lorne Greene's, who started as an
announcer and ended as a vice-president, always believed that
programming was the one thing that mattered. He was a nationalist
with an aversion to what he called creeping Americanism.
Among the major stories he covered during his career were the
arrival of the first dirigibles in Canada from England, the
maiden voyage of the first Empress of Britain, the inauguration
of President Roosevelt and the 1939 tour by King George VI and
Queen Elizabeth. For years, Charles announced Toronto Symphony
Orchestra programs. He pressured the CBC to provide the Toronto
Conservatory of Music with an electronic music studio.
Around the CBC he was sometimes known as The Squire because of his
height, florid complexion and liking for tweeds. He was also
known as a practical joker, especially liking to prick pomposity.
After retirement, when he thought the CBC was getting
over-serious about political correctness at the Toronto city
council, he dispatched a protest telegram from his hobby farm at
Lucerne, Que., saying the Donkey Association of Western Quebec
objected to the use of 'horsepower' in CBC programs. It was
signed Charlotte and Apricot Jennings. Charlotte and Apricot were
his two donkeys.
In 1978, Charles Jennings was elected posthumously to the Canadian
News Hall of Fame.
Jerry Fairbridge - April, 2002
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CBC :Percentage share of radio listening by format by province -
Fall 2004.
Canada 11% | NL 10% PEI 25% NS 17% NB 15% PQ 11% Ont 9%
Man 10% Sask 10% Alta 7% BC 17%
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