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Frank Peers, 98, former head of CBC Public Affairs, was an academic with a passion for public broadcasting. Upon graduation from the University of Alberta, Peers became assistant director of Extension for the U of A, leading to a venture that involved forming public affairs discussion groups around CBC radio broadcasts. Four years later, he joined the public broadcaster and rose to the top of the Public Affairs Department. In 1963, Peers joined the Political Economy Department at the University of Toronto, and in 1969 published The Politics of Canadian Broadcasting on the CBC’s history. He followed that up a decade later with The Public Eye: Television and the Politics of Canadian Broadcasting. Both remain standard references on the history of the public broadcaster. Frank retired in 1983.
Alexander “Alex” Rankin, 89, on Oct 31 in Calgary, AB. Rankin started at CKUA Edmonton in 1946 as a recording engineer and doing continuity. A political junkie at heart, he eventually became the local political reporter covering city hall and the legislature. In 1955, he moved to CFCN (now known as CTV Calgary), starting out as the city beat reporter. He rose through the ranks to become news director in the early 1960s, leaving in 1967 to become an editor at Oilweek Magazine until his retirement at age 62. In the pre-internet age, Rankin was passionate about statistics and kept a set of index cards on every oil well in Canada. His job with Oilweek also garnered him invitations to travel including a series of oil exploration tours to The Arctic.
