My thanks to Gord Lansdell of Northwest Broadcasters as the source of the sad news that my old friend and CJOR and CKWX broadcaster Bob Gillies lost his battle with cancer December 15 at age 84 in Atlanta.
He was CKWX AM 1130’s first all-night host, as the deejay behind the semi-classical Concert Under the Stars.
Following his work in Vancouver in the 1950’s, he was prominent at CKGM and CFCF radio and TV Montreal in the late 50s and ’60s before moving to the U.S., where he enjoyed a successful career as a writer and singer of commercial jingles for radio and television.
He also wrote and performed songs for motion pictures in Los Angeles. He was an actor and comedy writer for many Hollywood television shows, most notably for Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In in the late 1960s.
Rest In Peace, old friend. You and I were part of a golden era in Vancouver radio, which unfortunately has long passed.
Rest in peace Bob. I will always remember the many times we talked in 1965 as we walked from St. Laurent college to CKGM radio station downtown Montreal. It was an age of amazing music, innocence, hopefulness and energy. I wish we could time travel.
Poor bugger , should’ve had a family
[…] ride – for just the first year as it turned out – was the clean-cut and camera-friendly CFCF DJ Bob Gillies with whom McKenna had great chemistry. (Gillies, one of the featured DJs in my book Rock […]
Though our relationship hailed back a lot of years I well remember the laughs and work Bob and I shared – one of the funniest guys I ever knew – we used to do multi- voiced productions at CKGM.
Neil Shee