Nora Young is logging off after more than 30 years as CBC’s preeminent voice in technology journalism.
Young retires as CBC News’ Senior Technology Reporter, but she started her career with the public broadcaster in 1993 as a columnist on short-lived CBC Radio Saturday afternoon show Brand X, going on to become the founding producer and host of Definitely Not the Opera (DNTO), which ran on CBC Radio 1, concurrent to CBC Radio 2’s Saturday Afternoon at the Opera.
Young left the pop-culture show after eight years to focus on technology as a columnist for afternoon radio and CBC Newsworld, in addition to producing several documentaries on contemporary culture for programs like IDEAS and The Arts Tonight.
In 2007, she pitched CBC Radio show and podcast, Spark – a weekly guide to tech, trends, and fresh ideas. In addition to emerging technology, the show explored the human relationship with that tech, including ethics, design, and psychology. After 17 seasons, the show came to an end in 2024, the same year Young was recognized by The Gracie Awards as Best Host for her work on Spark. She had previously been recognized with an honorary doctorate from Wilfrid Laurier University.
Her projects outside the CBC have included indie podcast, The Sniffer, which Young co-hosted alongside Cathi Bond, and authoring The Virtual Self: How Our Digital Lives Are Altering the World Around Us.
“Nora’s gift was to make emerging technology and the seismic change it can sometimes bring upon us both accessible and understandable,” said Brodie Fenlon, Editor-in-Chief of CBC News, in an internal announcement. “She approached every story with genuine curiosity, openness and a comforting calm that was impossible to ignore.”
Young’s last day in office, prior to retirement, is today.
Her last story – The web is being redesigned for AI. What does that mean for human readers? – recently aired on CBC’s The National.
