Dan Sys, 72, on Oct. 14, after a decade-long battle with cancer. The founding editor of the Canadian Radio News column, Sys began contributing to publications like Whites Radio Log as far back as the mid- to late 1960s, joining the International Radio Club of America (IRCA) around that time. In addition to his monthly summary of regulatory changes at Canadian radio stations, he operated a Facebook page for many years, up until Meta’s news ban in Canada which drove him to publish on RadioWest.ca. While his chosen career was that of a traditional mailman for Canada Post, radio was Sys’ passion. He was well-known for his collection of station memorabilia, and in particular stickers. He also held an interest in tracing long distance radio reception on AM.
Doug Saunders, 71, on Oct. 13, following a long illness. Originally from Kenora, Saunders arrived in Nova Scotia in 1972 where he spent the bulk of his four-decade radio and television career, initially joining CJCH Halifax and later Oldies 96 CHNS, where he hosted mornings. He joined CBC in 1973, and is arguably best known for anchoring sports, alongside news anchor Frank Cameron on “Maritimes Tonight,” in addition to covering Olympic, Commonwealth and Canada Games for CBC-TV nationally, among other events. Following his retirement from CBC in 1995, Saunders pursued his passion for harness racing. Already an owner, he operated a standardbred horse breeding farm in Middle Musquodoboit throughout the 1990s and went on to become general manager of Sydney’s Tartan Downs. In 2007, he reignited his interest in radio, becoming the first full-time morning show host at the launch of Glace Bay community station, The Coast 89.7 (CKOA-FM), in addition to hosting the “Juke Box Saturday Night” program. He retired from the station in 2014, but continued to call Glace Bay home for the last two decades of his life.
Rossi Cameron, on Oct. 6. Born in Markham, ON, Cameron spent her early years on Baffin Island, before the family relocated to Moosanee, ON and eventually Edmonton. She landed her first job in broadcasting at CJCA community radio in 1965 as a single mother of four, who had left an abusive marriage. Starting out in the accounting office as an admin assistant, Rossi landed a job at the Edmonton Journal in 1968, where she developed into a reporter with a keen sense of social justice and was an early ally of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples. In the late 1960s and early ’70s, she began to shine a light on the impact of residential schools, racial discrimination, and social and economic inequity. She went on to pursue television news as the lone woman reporter in the CBC Edmonton newsroom, often pushing back against misogyny and sexism. Retiring with a reputation as a dogged investigative reporter, Cameron suffered a stroke in 2016 and worked to regain her speech.
