Five voices who defined Toronto television
Their soothing tones helped establish the brands of local TV in the pre-digital years
Back in the wild west of television’s analog days, local and national broadcasters often used a station personality to be their “voice,” an aural distillation of their brand who would appear in all promotional materials: sign-offs, coming attractions, warnings of technical difficulties, etc.
Sadly the practice has now been mostly disbanded, but many TV viewers will forever associate certain channels with certain phantom voices
Here are five great examples of names you might not know but voices you will certainly recognize from Toronto’s rich broadcast heyday of the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s:
Bob Boving, CBC The voice of CBC from 1985 until the early 2000s, Boving’s era began after the CBC scrapped its exploding pineapple logo and generic “This is CBC” station identification and went all-in for a proper “voice.”
Promoting everything from Degrassi and Danger Bay to Anne of Green Gables and The Nature of Things, Boving’s most memorable work was surely his perfectly suited sonic blasts on Hockey Night in Canada. More than 200,000 promos and commercials later, Boving is still in the business and has even worked on SNL. A true vocal legend.
Ken Ryan, Global Television Network Global TV’s claim to fame in the 1970s was daily screenings of The Love Boat, and all credibility might well have been lost at sea had it not been for the punchy voice-overs by Ken Ryan, narrator of the goofy game show Bumper Stumpers. Ryan remained the voice of Global until the ’90s, when the network also ditched its cheesy but emotive saxophone theme and went voiceless, a trend that sadly affected most broadcasters at the turn of the millennium.
John DeLazzer, TVOntario DeLazzer was involved with TVOntario, from almost the beginning when it was known as the OECA, hosting a youth program called COPE, which explored everything from addiction to bullying, appearing during telethons and helping out in program acquisition. But it will always be his soothing voice that epitomized the golden years of TVO. Everything from Polka Dot Door to Doctor Who, Saturday Night at the Movies to rare Australian imports and scary things from Eastern Europe (the likes of which will never be seen on TV again) were always cued up, and classed up, by the dulcet tones of John DeLazzer.
Dave Devall, CFTO Best known for serving almost five decades as CFTO’s reliable weatherman; beloved for his backwards writing on the decidedly lo-fi Plexiglas and serving up mostly correct forecasts. Always the sprightly voice of CFTO: everything from Kid’s Corner with Uncle Bobby in the early morning (“That’s all for now, kids!”) to the station’s sign-off in the middle of the night. CFTO is now known as CTV Toronto, but for many it will always be Devall saying, “This is CFTO Channel 9, Cable 8 in Toronto!”
Mark Dailey, Citytv Mark Dailey wasn’t just the voice of Citytv, he was “The Voice”: Toronto’s narrator who could go from serious to scary to hilarious in a matter of seconds. He was “Everywhere,” taking over vox duties at Citytv from 1983 until his untimely death in 2010, after which the station has never quite been the same.
It’s almost impossible to imagine the anarchic Citytv from the ’80s and ’90 s without the sardonic wit of Dailey, his basso prof undo simultaneously elevating B-movies, Toronto intersection sand slow news days to legendary status. R.I.P., vocal god.