Fred Davis 6 July, Front Page Challenge, Perspective

[Dan Sayg]

In July 6 1996, Fred Davis died. Best known as the moderator of CBC-TV's long-running Front Page Challenge, he began his broadcast career by winning a scholarship to Lorne Greene's Academy of Radio Arts in Toronto. It was 1946 and Fred had just completed four years in the Canadian Band of Allied Expeditionary Forces. Completing his year of radio training, he joined CFRA Ottawa as an announcer and was promoted to Program Director in 1949. The National Film Board hired Fred in 1953 as a commentator for their On The Spot aka Perspectives series. While there, he married the writer of one of the scripts he was reading, Jo Kowin. She was a successful filmmaker, comedy writer and producer, employed by the CBC. With her encouragement, Fred began as a contract broadcaster for the CBC in 1956.