Rick Wile, 72, on March 24. Nicknamed “The Bear,” Wile spent 40 years as a sports broadcaster. A graduate of the Confederation College Radio & Television Arts program, Wile was on-air in Thunder Bay and Winnipeg, before arriving in Kamloops where he spent the bulk of his career as sports director at CHNL Radio, including serving as the voice of the Kamloops Blazers through the 1980s and ‘90s. In addition to his work on-air, he supported the local sports community as a coach, player and official for Interior Men’s Slo-Pitch League. Wile retired from CHNL in 2017. He was inducted into the Kamloops Sports Hall of Fame that year, the first media member to enter the hall.
Thom Leonard, 65, on March 22. The longest-serving morning show host on Seaside FM (CFEP-FM) Eastern Passage, NS, Leonard hosted the community station’s morning show from 2001, up until recently. He was also the inaugural host of Saturday evening show “Candlelight & Memories,” modelled after former CFDR Dartmouth show “Candlelight & Wine.”
Rodger Brulotte, 79, on March 20. Born in Montreal, Brulotte initially worked in the sales and marketing departments for the Montreal Expos, starting in 1969. He’s credited with contributing to the creation of the Youppi mascot, among other initiatives, before he went on to join CKAC as colour commentator, alongside Jacques Doucet in 1984, and later RDS as the team’s play-by-play announcer in 1990, up until its demise in 2004. Brulotte later called Toronto Blue Jays games, alongside Doucet, on TVA Sports. With his infamous “Bonsoir, elle est partie” embedded in the collective memory of fans, his broadcasting career spanned more than 55 years.
Tod Elvidge on March 15. Elvidge was a producer with CBC Radio, based in Vancouver, for 34 years, starting in 1975. Among other programs, he was the inaugural executive producer on CBC’s “The Debaters.” He additionally served as producer on 16 seasons of “Randy’s Vinyl Tap,” hosted by Randy Bachman.
Hugh Winsor, 87, on March 14, following a stroke. A four-decade member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery, Windsor was a long-serving columnist with the Globe and Mail and one of the original correspondents for flagship CBC-TV public affairs program, The Journal, as well as a Canadian contributor to British newspaper The Independent. Winsor also served as a journalism instructor in Tanzania and was a founding director of policy think tank, the North-South Institute. He received the Charles Lynch Award from his press gallery peers in 1998 and was made a member of the Order of Canada in 2005. Among the organizations he was active with were the Canadian Journalism Foundation, World Press Freedom Canada and OXFAM-Canada.
Ed Doyle, 90, on Jan. 22. Doyle worked in both radio and television news, starting in Montreal in 1958, before moving on to CKCO-TV in Kitchener from 1963-69 and CHCH-TV Hamilton and CHML Radio from 1983-93. At CKCO-TV, he contributed to broadcasts as a member of the “Scan Clan” alongside colleagues like Larry McIntyre. He went on to seek office, serving as a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995-99, representing Wentworth East, and serving as the 35th speaker of the Ontario legislature. He opted not to seek re-election in 1999.
