CJDC's Mike Michaud in Globe & Mail

[jon]

I thought it made more sense to start a new thread rather than continue the existing one at viewtopic.php?t=2123

MIKE MICHAUD, 78: BROADCASTER

Voice of Peace River country took to the air for nearly 50 years

Raised in booming Dawson Creek, he got his start in family radio at 19 and kept going for half a century

F. F. LANGAN

Special to The Globe and Mail

October 6, 2007

Mike Michaud's voice carried across the Peace River country, booming from northern British Columbia across the border into Alberta. For 50 years, he was the most familiar voice in the region, broadcasting on CJDC, which his family owned until a few years ago.

"He had a great set of pipes. With that voice, he could have gone anywhere. He had offers but he always wanted to stay here," said Grant Mitton, who moved to Dawson Creek, B.C., to work as an announcer for Mr. Michaud.

There were many others who started their careers at the small station, including Calvin Kruk, the current mayor of Dawson Creek, who went there to work as a disc jockey and salesman for both the radio and TV station.

Mr. Michaud took to the air at different times of the day over the years, but most people remember him at noon, always signing off with his signature line: "Take care, now."

Many listeners compared his voice to that of Canadian newsman and actor Lorne Greene. Mr. Michaud himself used to tell a story about speaking on the telephone one day to Mr. Greene. The actor said, "You sure sound like me."

A small-town radio station is not a licence to print money and the Michaud family worked hard to make a go of it. Mr. Michaud's brother Henry worked there, and most days, Mike and his wife Verna would be at the station for a full 12 hours, starting at 7 a.m.

"We loved the business. We had a passion for it and made it work. When we left [they sold the station in 1997], we had 78 per cent of the local radio audience," said Mrs. Michaud, who began working at the station in 1960.

Her husband was on the air for just an hour or two each day. But behind the scenes, his list of tasks ranged from managing the operation to producing and voicing radio commercials for local businesses such as Safeway, McDonalds and City Furniture. He made the radio station part of the community.

"Mike Michaud was the type of person the old BBG [Board of Broadcast Governors] and the CRTC loved to give broadcast licences," said Lyman Potts, a retired broadcasting executive who is a broadcast historian. "He was involved in the community. He was hands-on. Today, most stations are run by remote control, based on a format that sounds the same."

Mr. Michaud was born at Pouce Coupe, B.C. His father, Wilfrid, was from Drummondville, Que., and his mother Marie was from St. Arsent. The two met in St. Boniface, Man., and decided on a life of adventure. They headed north and west, arriving in Dawson Creek.

After a few years there, they owned a hotel called the Dew Drop In. It was a small hotel in small town, but as luck would have it, it was perfectly placed for the coming boom.

Dawson Creek is mile zero of the Alaska Highway. Its official title was the Alaska Canada International Highway, shortened to Alcan. The road had been planned since the 1920s, but after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States wanted a quick link to Alaska. A project that was planned to take 10 years in peacetime was built in less than a year.

Construction was a military operation. More than 11,000 U.S. soldiers passed through Dawson Creek on their way to construction outposts. The town's population grew to as many of 25,000, twice what it is today. The Michauds decided it was no place for their two sons, who were sent to a boarding school in Alberta. But they were soon back in Dawson Creek.

It was around this time that Mike took up boxing. Friends say it was easy to see why he was a natural as a fighter: He was six feet tall, solidly built and had fists few people could forget.

"He had huge hands. I remember when he first hired me at the station, he reached out to shake my hand. I hoped he wouldn't crush it, and I'm 6 foot 3, and his hand enveloped mine," Mr. Mitton said.

For a while, he boxed in Vancouver, where his trainer told him to stop holding back and unleash his powerful right fist.

"Mike always said he was worried what would happen if he hit someone really hard. He took his trainer's advice and he knocked his opponent right out of the ring," Mrs. Michaud recalled.

After returning to Dawson Creek, he ran his own boxing gym but soon started to work for CJDC, which was started just after the war, and bought by the Michauds in 1947.

Mr. Michaud started work there on Dec. 15 of that year, a few weeks after his 19th birthday. He was always a broadcaster, but he also worked running the station and acted as its general manager. A television station was added in 1959.

Owned at times by the Okanagan Skeena Group and Telemedia Radio, it is now a Standard Broadcasting possession. Mr. Michaud wanted stay on as an announcer until he reached 50 years on the air - he was only a few months shy of the mark - but the new owners wanted the Michauds out the day they took over.

He enjoyed driving his Harley Davison motorcycle on the road that made Dawson Creek famous. He also loved to garden and raised begonias outside his front door. He always kept fit, and was in perfect health until diagnosed with a brain tumour in June.

MIKE MICHAUD

Joseph Wilfrid Leverne (Mike) Michaud was born Nov. 28, 1928, at Pouce Coupe, B.C. He died of a brain tumour Aug. 25 at Dawson Creek. He leaves wife Verna and children Richard and Janet.

[skyvalleyradio]

Mike used to use the handle "Mike Leverne" when hosting his noon mid-day show on CJDC. Yet another fitting tribute to a great small-town broadcaster & areally nice guy!

[Rob Collins]

Mike, if you looking down from Heaven snooping around the RadioWest dot ca site keeping tabs on everyone who passed Verna's receptionist desk, into the Music Library, around the corner to the Control Room having a blast with an armful of 45's, Thanks for giving me my first job on air.

Your Noon-Hour Farm Reports sponsored by UGG with you reading "live copy", I still have on tape. And what a voice, thundering as mentioned across the Mighty Peace River Country.

Thanks for allowing me to ramble on and on, playing what I wanted.

The 2-years working with you, well, I've got a huge lump in my throat and with heart pounding, all I can say is..Thanks for letting me turn the red lite on just outside the studio door.

By the way Mike, you where the best dressed man in all of Dawson Creek.

I'll always remember your suits with your first class attitude.

Remember the days I would do the show from the Tourist Information Centre following your Noon-Hour Show and you would share a recent joke with me down the line while the commercials ran, I'll always remember those days.

What a family, and I was surprised that your brother Omar was not mentioned in the above story, only Henry, another first class gentlemen.

I could go on and on however, think I'll dig up some of those early air-checks and visit days gone by at 1350AM CJDC, Dawson Creek.

Mike Michaud, your cheerful attitude about life was contagious. Cheers,

To Verna and the family, condolences and I trust that life is being kind to each one of you as you continue your "walk of life"

Regards,

Rob Collins