John Stall

A little self indulgence in this space as I reflect on the life and talent of Canadian broadcaster Keith Rich who passed last week at the age of 80. 

I began my radio career as Keith’s technical operator in the early 70s at 590 CKEY. It was my first radio job, I was in my early 20s at the time and he was in his mid 40s. There was a 25-year age difference between us. He was a major mentor to me.

I loved radio and I came to love him and his extraordinary talent. My love for radio intensified because of Keith’s unique communicative skill.  His natural ability to speak one on one through a microphone to millions of people who felt as though he was speaking only to them was extraordinary, and in my view is the essence of radio -  talking “to” people not ”at” them.

Wally Crouter had the talent (it’s no accident he sustained a huge audience for 50 years), so did Arthur Godfrey and Johnny Carson … but in my view and personal experience, Keith Rich was king in an era when just talking to people through the radio and keeping them company was it.

Keith and I worked closely together as a team on the Morning show at 590 for about about eight years. We became very close friends. We travelled on vacation together, spent time with each others’ families, flew together in planes that he owned and piloted throughout Ontario and into Florida on occasion. Then came the time when I wanted to progress and to make the move to “the other side of the glass” as a broadcaster. It was a move he thought I shouldn’t make because he didn’t think my voice was any good for radio and tried to discourage me. “Alright,” I said to him, “then I’ll become informed and knowledgeable like Charles Templeton, Pierre Burton, Stephen Lewis and Joe Morgan (who were our colleagues at the time). “I will become so informed,  creative and develop so many contacts, that it won’t matter what the voice sounds like, what I have to say and how I say it, I told him, (like I was asking permission ) might make up for the timber of the voice trying to say it.  He had his doubts, but gave me his blessing.  That was almost 30 years ago.  

We stayed in touch on and off throughout the years. We were last together five years ago when he came over to the house to share my 50th birthday. He praised the voice as “distinctive.”

Although radio broadcasting has evolved like all other aspects of life,  the uniqueness of his talent during his time was as good as it gets. 

In the words and Lyrics of current Canadian country singer Brad Johners latest hit: “Like Coca Cola and Levi Straus, Johnny Carson and Mickey Mouse … lots of things are imitatable - but nothing beats an original.”

This entry was posted on Friday, November 30th, 2007 at 4:24 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.