Radio veteran Tom Jeffries – who spent time on-air in Vancouver, Ottawa, Toronto and Halifax over a more than four-decade career – has passed away.
Jeffries got his first taste of broadcasting at University of Victoria campus station UVIC Radio (CFUV-FM) in his hometown of Victoria in the early 1960s, when he sat in for a friend who couldn’t make his show.
“As soon as I saw the lights…and realized I could play records and have fun, I was hooked,” Jeffries told the late Mike Cleaver in a 2010 interview.
That led to work as a part-time announcer at CFAX and CKDA, beginning in 1967. He detoured to CKPG Prince George in 1970 where he hosted all-nights, before arriving in Vancouver in 1972 and his first stint at CFUN and CKVN.
The son of a career naval officer and no stranger to moving around, the young announcer headed east to CFRA Ottawa in 1974, and then CFTR Toronto, before making his way back to CFUN, where he helmed middays and afternoon drive from 1978 to 1986. He went on to join the CJCH Halifax morning show from 1986-90, once again returning to the West Coast and a 10-year run in afternoons on Vancouver’s CKKS-FM. Jeffries later helmed mornings at CKBD Vancouver from 2001-03, stepping in following the passing of friend Rick Honey.
His last turn in radio was at CKNW Vancouver, where he hosted the CKNW Weekend Morning News and filled-in on Housecalls, starting in 2008, going on to host Talk to the Experts. He retired from radio in September 2010 after more than 43 years on-air.
Jeffries worked with a who’s who of talent over the years, including Lowell Green, Ken ‘The General’ Grant, Jim Brady, Daryl B, J. Robert Wood and Bob Magee.
“What it comes down to…is the reason if I’ve had any success in this business is the people I’ve worked with,” Jeffries said in the same 2010 interview. “Everybody along the way has always taken the time to say ‘you need some help? I’m here for you.’ What a business. And that’s why I still love the business right to my core.”
Among other pursuits outside radio, Jeffries taught in the BCIT Broadcasting program and served as a back-up weatherman at BCTV (now Global) in the early 1980s.
He was married to fellow radio personality and performer Julie Brown, who passed away in December after a battle with ALS.
