Orville Pulsifer, on April 14. Pulsifer was the Program Manager at Halifax’s 960 CHNS in the early 1960s, working alongside General Manager Fred Arenburg, when it made the change from MOR (Middle of the Road) to a News Talk / Rock format. The station rocketed to #1 and stayed there for more than a decade. Pulsifer first joined the station part-time in 1956 as a news reader. He was promoted to News Director in 1959 and then Program Manager in 1961. He was appointed to the station’s board of directors the following year.
Harry Maunu, 73, on April 8. Maunu started his broadcasting career in Kelowna, before joining CHEK-TV Victoria as an investigative reporter. The BCIT graduate was one of the first journalists to cover the War in the Woods as protesters were arrested for trying to stop clear-cut logging in Clayoquot Sound in the ‘80s and ‘90s. He was also one of the first to report on residential school abuse, and the disappearance of four-year-old Michael Dunahee in 1991. Watch CHEK’s tribute here.
Carrie Hunter, 83, on April 5. Hunter led the Banff Television Festival (now known as the Banff World Media Festival) for 17 years as its Executive Director, growing the festival into one of the premiere television and media gatherings. She began working with the festival from its launch in 1979. Prior to joining the venture, Hunter was a features writer at the Calgary Herald. Following her time with the festival, she moved to the West Coast where she became a minister, working at the White Rock Centre for Spiritual Living in Surrey and founding the Agape Centre for Spiritual Living in Vancouver. She most recently had been serving as a senior minister at the Centre for Spiritual Living in Victoria. The Banff World Media Festival will honour Hunter with the inaugural Carrie Hunter Emerging Talent Prize at this year’s event.
Dianne Newman, 69, on April 1. Best known for her 19-year run with Vancouver’s News 1130 (CKWX-AM), from 1992 to 2011, Newman started her broadcasting career at Mountain FM (CISQ-FM / CISW-FM) in Squamish and Whistler. She then joined 1040 KICKS (CKXY-AM) Vancouver from 1989 to 1992, before landing at News 1130. In addition to her broadcasting career, Newman entertained frequently at Legion 142 in Kitsilano, performing with her brand Groove Therapy. Since parting ways with Rogers Sports & Media in 2011, where she was last heard in the morning co-anchor chair, she had been a narrator with Descriptive Video Works in Vancouver, providing audio descriptions of filmed content for the visually impaired. Read more here.
John B. Murphy, 82, on March 4. Murphy worked in radio for over 50 years, 30 of those as General Manager of VOCM St. John’s, NL from the 1970s until 2010. Murphy, who started his broadcasting career at CKCM Grand Falls in 1963, also served as chair of the VOCM Cares Foundation, The Boys and Girls Club, The Canadian Liaison Council, and the Lion’s Club where he was awarded the Melvin Jones Fellow for dedication and humanitarian service. He was also key in building the Admiralty House Communications Museum in Mount Pearl. He was inducted into the Newfoundland Amateur Hockey Association Hall of Fame in 2009, after years in the play-by-play booth calling senior hockey games across the province and the Allan Cup at the national level. Murphy retired from VOCM in 2013. Upon his passing, Newfoundland & Labrador Premier Andrew Furey presented the family with a provincial flag—one that flew at half-mast on the day of Murphy’s passing.
