Lowell Green, best known for his more than five decades as a talk show host on Ottawa’s CFRA, has passed away at age 89.
Green died suddenly on Saturday, according to a statement from his family.
The son of The Family Herald editor H. Gordon Green, Lowell grew up in Arthur, ON, prior to attending Macdonald Agricultural College at McGill University.
He started his radio career in Brantford, followed by stops in Sudbury and Montreal, before landing at CFRA in 1960 as the station’s farm reporter. By 1966, he was hosting the long-running Greenline, developing a reputation for promoting “common sense” and his “island of sanity” as he guided listeners through the issues of the day.
He briefly stepped away from radio in the 1980s – during which he founded the Ottawa Sunday Herald (predescessor to the Ottawa Sun) – returning to CFRA in 1993 with The Lowell Green Show, which he hosted until his official retirement in early 2016. He continued contributing to midday program News and Views with Rob Snow until restructuring at Bell Media in late 2019. He went on to launch podcast “The Island of Sanity” in 2020, which ran through 2022.
“His contributions to Ottawa and to Canada include a campaign to save the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill; a campaign encouraging his listeners to send bottles of polluted water from the Rideau River to Queen’s Park, which helped lead to the formation of the Rideau River Conservation Authority; his Fire Arms Safety Association, which saw thousands of people join after a shooting at St. Pius X High School; a fundraising campaign to send Robert (Robbie) McRuer to the United States for specialized medical treatment that helped save him from a life-threatening illness; and his Unity Rally ahead of the 1995 Quebec separation referendum, which drew over 100,000 Canadians from outside Quebec. He will also be remembered as the co-founder of Big Brothers (Ottawa chapter) and the Help Santa Toy Parade, as well as for his work to modernize and renovate the Saint Vincent and the Élisabeth Bruyère Hospitals,” his family said in their statement.
Green’s accolades are many, including receiving an RTNDA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006 and a Gold Ribbon Award For Outstanding Community Service from the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB).
He authored 10 books over the years, including “Amazing But True! 150 Fascinating Stories About Canada” which was nominated for the Governor General’s Pierre Berton Award in 2017 and received a Canada Book Award
Ottawa mayor and former CFRA host Mark Sutcliffe wrote in a post to X that he grew up listening to Lowell, before he became “a colleague and friend for 20 years.”
“He was a groundbreaking talk show host and a proud Canadian,’ wrote Sutcliffe. “My deepest sympathies to his family, his friends, and his many listeners who will miss him greatly.”
