Alex J. Walling, 77, on Nov. 25. Walling’s journalism career began in 1965 as a newspaper reporter in Quebec City. After moving into radio, he landed at CHNS Halifax in 1972, hosting the city’s first full-time sports talk show on Sunday nights. As the station’s first full-time sports director, he travelled to numerous sporting events, including the 1972 Summit Series (where he was one of two journalists who got access to Paul Henderson) and was a mainstay on the sidelines of Atlantic University football games. In 1984, he started CKWK 1340 AM in Corner Brook, NL as president and general manager of Western Broadcasting. That was followed by a stint in Swift Current as GM of CJGL-FM. In 1988, he accepted the role of the inaugural sports anchor on independent television station, MITV (now Global). Concurrently, he founded the Atlantic Media Institute in Halifax, teaching the basics of radio, television, print and photography. Walling also worked for nine years as TSN’s Maritime correspondent and wrote regular column “A.J.’s Atlantic” for TSN.ca. He could also be seen from 1994-2000 on weekly sportstalk show “A.J., Harv & Company” on Eastlink television. In retirement, he secured a licence for Queens County Community Radio (CJQC-FM) in Liverpool in 2009. After suffering a stroke in 2011, he sold his interest in the station. He later hosted a morning show on Cobequid Radio Society community radio station, CIOE-FM, in Lower Sackville.
Lorna Jackson, 77, on Nov. 4. Jackson started her broadcasting career as a researcher and producer at CBC Edmonton, working on public affairs programs like CBC Access, Marketplace, Take 30, and Information Morning radio. After a stint at CBC Regina hosting Saskatchewan Today, Jackson married colleague Allan Bonner, relocating to Toronto in 1980 where she became the first female co-host of The World at Eight with Rex Loring, read listener letters on Peter Gzowski’s Morningside, anchored Canada at Five, The World This Weekend, As It Happens, and hosted children’s program Anybody Home?. Jackson additionally hosted regional music program, Music Around Us, for 14 years and contributed narration to The Nature of Things, among many other programs. She retired from the CBC in 2007.
Ron Harrison, 82, on Oct. 14. Best known for his long career as a director for Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC), Harrison started his career with CBC in the early 1960s, initially as a copy clerk and later in finance. He eventually joined CBC Sports as a script assistant, before moving into the position of production assistant mentored under the legendary first HNIC producer-director George Retzlaff. Harrison was transferred to Vancouver as producer and director of the network’s West Coast sports hub, including special event coverage, Stanley Cups, Grey Cups, and Olympic Games, among many other sporting events. In the 1980s, he joined Molstar Communications as Vice-President, which produced the HNIC broadcasts for CBC. Over the course of his career, Harrison earned two Emmy Awards, two Gemini Awards, and a Career Achievement Award from Sports Media Canada in 2007.
