A memorial fund has been set up in memory of legendary radio personality and programmer Bob Mackowycz, who passed away May 29 after a brief illness.
Best known for his time at Toronto’s Q107 (CILQ-FM), which he joined in its first year of operation in 1977, and where he went on to create “The 6 O’Clock Rock Report” and “Psychedelic Sundays,” Mackowycz also spent time with Standard Broadcasting, CKFM, CFRB and The Fan 590 (CJCL-AM), among other stops. He also consulted widely, eventually becoming a co-owner of Shore 104 (CHLG-FM) Vancouver, which was sold to Astral Media in 2012.
Mackowycz’s family is directing donations to The Unison Fund, a registered charity that provides mental health counselling and emergency financial support to music workers in times of hardship.
Longtime family friend George Stroumboulopoulos, who worked under Mackowycz at The Fan 590, made a special appearance at Radiodays North America last week to pay tribute to the industry veteran and read a statement from the family.
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“He loved the vibrancy of the medium, the immediacy, the surge of energy that you get and the surge of energy that you give when you crack a live mic,” wrote his son Bob Mackowycz, Jr., in a tribute read by Stroumboulopoulos.
“Macko Sr. was an artist and his medium was radio. He harnessed the energy of life and married it to the theatre of the mind and that was his secret insight — that radio is an art form with its own magical powers.”
“There are incredible people in this room who are part of a long beautiful story of radio in this country and for so many of us the line draws directly back to Bob Mackowycz, Sr.,” added Stroumboulopoulos.
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