CBC radio personality Rick Cluff dead at 74

Rick Cluff, one in every of British Columbia’s most beloved radio personalities, has died.

Cluff handed away following a brief battle with most cancers days after marking his 74th birthday. 

A consummate broadcaster, Cluff introduced his pleasant voice and large character to CBC Vancouver in 1997 and helped flip The Early Version into the No. 1-rated morning present within the aggressive Metro Vancouver radio market.

Cluff admitted he was scared on his first day on the job in Vancouver, after making the transfer from Toronto the place he had spent twenty years with CBC radio sports activities.

However his skill to attach with individuals, real curiosity and sharp journalistic instincts helped endear him to a rising legion of listeners, which peaked at over 1 / 4 million per day in his 20-year run as host.

In a 2007 profile marking his first decade at CBC Vancouver, Cluff confessed he by no means spent a lot time considering the dimensions of his viewers or place on the prime of the radio rankings.

“If I thought of that it might drive me loopy,” he mentioned. “So it is simply the one particular person [I imagine] I am chatting with, whether or not it is a she or he of their automobile or their kitchen. That is the connection I develop with them.”

Shiral Tobin, a former producer of The Early Version, remembers Cluff as a very good particular person and gentleman to the core.

“He really obtained pleasure from elevating and training others to seek out their path to success as journalists,” mentioned Tobin, now CBC Vancouver’s journalism and programming director.

“He mentored many individuals who got here by way of this system, typically quietly and privately, but all the time in a significant and real method.”

LISTEN: Rick Cluff interviews Terry Fox on Day 9 of the Marathon of Hope in 1980 

Cluff counted overlaying the announcement of the Worldwide Olympic Committee awarding Vancouver and Whistler the 2010 Winter Video games and broadcasting because the 9/11 World Commerce Centre assaults unfolded as two unforgettable moments in his radio profession.

“[9/11] occurred at about 10 to 6 our time. We have been nearly to go on the air,” mentioned Cluff in 2007.

“I bear in mind telling people who should you’re listening, rise up and switch in your tv as a result of what is going on on in New York now could be actually going to have an effect on the best way we dwell and life as we all know it.”

Cluff and The Early Version staff earned various awards, together with for his or her protection of the Robert Dziekanski tasering at Vancouver Worldwide Airport, B.C. schooling strife, and protests over gentrification.

His sports activities broadcasting profession additionally drew honours. In 1999, Cluff was inducted into the Soccer Reporters of Canada part of the Canadian Soccer Corridor of Fame. As a former participant, soccer — and particularly the CFL — held a particular place in his coronary heart. 

In addition to broadcasting from Gray Cups, Tremendous Bowls and Stanley Cups, “Cluffer,” as his sports activities household referred to as him, additionally travelled the world to cowl Canadian groups and athletes at eight Olympic Video games, 5 Commonwealth Video games and too-many-to-mention world cups and world championships.

Following a 41-year profession at CBC, Cluff retired in 2017 after present process quadruple coronary heart bypass surgical procedure. 

In a narrative marking the event, Vancouver Journal author Matt O’Grady requested Cluff about becoming a member of the general public broadcaster in 1976, in opposition to the recommendation of his father.

“I talked to Peter Mansbridge about this just lately,” Cluff instructed O’Grady. “The alternatives we have had — we actually did work in the course of the golden age of broadcasting. I walked throughout Checkpoint Charlie, I stood within the DMZ in Korea, I used to be behind the Iron Curtain within the Seventies. It actually has been a exceptional profession.”

Cluff leaves behind his spouse Cecilia, daughter Mallory, son James and 5 grandchildren.