B.C. Entertainment Hall of Fame
  
By Red Robinson
Special to the Sun

Monday, July 07, 2008


   Jack Webster
Photo:Courtesy of
vancouverbroadcasters.com

Most people think of the late Jack Webster as a journalist, a talk show host, an editorialist and a reporter. Jack always preferred the title reporter. However, he was more than all of this. Webster was, in my opinion, a true journalist but also an incredible entertainer. His radio and television shows always featured his wry wit.

Jack Webster's impact on local media is well known. He set the pace for all media presenters. Webster was born in Glasgow in 1915. He worked for newspapers in that Scottish city and also on Fleet Street in London. As a young man he joined the British Army when the Second World War broke out and rose to the rank of major and spent most of his six years of service in the Middle East. At war's end he emigrated to Canada and Vancouver where he covered the labour beat for the Vancouver Sun. In 1953, he moved from the Sun to radio and CJOR where his editorial comments were titled "City Mike" and were heard many times each day.

But, it was the Tupper Enquiry into corruption in the Vancouver Police Department that put his name permanently on the map as one of Canada's foremost reporters. He would go to each day's hearings and race back to the radio station to read the latest developments from his shorthand notes as no tape recorders or cameras were allowed.

He won many international awards for his coverage.

When talk radio was being born in Vancouver (before anywhere in North America) CKNW radio convinced Jack that he should try this new format.

He was reluctant but succeeded beyond his wildest expectations. In 1979, at the age of 60 Webster moved his radio show to television where his familiar expression "9 a.m. precisely" became the moniker for his show. (One of his guests, Shirley Maclean, thought he resembled Archie Bunker. ) In 1987, he was inducted into the Canadian News Hall of Fame. In 1988, he was made a member of the Order of Canada.

Jack passed away in 1999. His impact on media lives on. His name deserves the honour of being included in the B.C. Entertainment Hall of Fame as a true pioneer.

Visit me at http://www.redrobinson.com

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