RADIO HOST REFLECTS ON FOUR DECADES
From his early beginnings to memorable moments, Bruce Kenyon talks life on the air
When he was 15 years old, Bruce Kenyon’s voice started to change, as it does for all teenage boys. One of his buddies’ older brothers, who worked at a local radio station, was impressed with what he heard.
“He told me, ‘You have a pretty good voice for radio,’” says Kenyon.
On Tuesday morning, the 62-year-old reflects on a life behind the microphone, a stellar four-decade career that’s taken him across the country and into Canadians’ homes as a trusted voice on current trends and stories of the day.
Earlier that morning, Kenyon, whose tenure as the morning host with New Talk Radio 770 wraps up in August, welcomed Gord Gillies, longtime Global News Hour co-anchor, as the man who will take over the chair he’s sat in each weekday morning in Calgary for the past 17 years.
“It was emotional but not as bad as I thought,” says Kenyon, who says he’s been thinking for some time of closing this chapter of his life. “I think it’ll sink in more when I’m closer to my last day in August.”
If there is one reigning emotion for Kenyon these days — in fact, for most of the past four decades — it’s gratitude.
“I’ve been so incredibly lucky,” he says. “I’ve had so many benefactors who have helped me along the way, I’ve had bosses who trusted me and a wonderful wife.”
Growing up in Scarborough, Ont., the second of four children in a typical middle-class family, Kenyon’s route to his vocational bliss was, as so often is the case, rather circuitous.
“I did all the things you do when you’re young, worked in a warehouse, backpacked across Europe,” he says. “But being told I had a voice for radio, well, it stuck with me.”
After his travels, Kenyon signed up for a six-month course in broadcasting and soon found himself working as an operator at a Peterborough, Ont. radio station.
“It was just a matter of working your way up and getting some lucky breaks,” he says of the journey that took him to Edmonton and Montreal before landing in Calgary in 2000 to join the team at what was then called QR77.
His earlier radio life was as a music man, playing discs while interviewing the likes of Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Bachman and Ted Nugent. “Ted was one of my best interviews,” he says of the controversial rocker.
Like those of us with the good fortune to land careers in which you meet extraordinary people both unknown and world famous, Kenyon admits it’s hard to name the most memorable off the top of his head.
“Every day, it’s almost like I’m this hamster on a wheel — bang, bang, bang and then it’s done,” he says of the fast-paced routine.
Still, there are moments that do stand out for him, such as the morning he was on the air in September of 2001 and airplanes crashed into the Twin Towers of New York City or the dark day in Edmonton in 1987 when a tornado killed 27 people.
Those difficult days take their place along shows such as the one he did from London’s Abbey Road in 1992, on the 25th anniversary of the release of the Beatles’ iconic Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album.
While his smooth voice is what got him in radio in the first place, Kenyon credits his curiosity and interest in all kinds of people and issues for making it a successful career. “There are a lot of people with wonderful voices out there who wouldn’t be good on radio,” he says. “It gets you in the front door, but you have to have the personality for it.”
Once he’s finished his last stint on the radio, Kenyon plans to relocate to Victoria with Jill, his wife of 31 years. It’s the right time, he says. “I like to golf, play hockey, go to the movies,” he says. “But, to be honest, I am a bit frightened to leave all this behind.”
After all, as much as his loyal audience will miss him, Kenyon will miss them more. “My loyalty has always been to my listeners,” he says.
“I feel sorry for people who don’t love their jobs.”
I feel sorry for people who don’t love their jobs