It is with great sadness that I share with the group the passing of my father Captain Bob Rice a morning personality from the golden age of then 590 CKEY.
He passed away suddenly at home in Newton Robinson at the age of 72 with my Mom Deirdre, his wife of 49 years, at his side. He joined 'EY in 1961, left in 1964 and rejoined in 1969. He was part of the morning team that included Keith Rich, Robert Payne, & Dini Petty (later Dianne Pepper)his role was broadcasting the morning traffic reports piloting first a helicopter and later on a Skymaster airplane logging over 11,000 hours until 1984 when he suffered his first heart attack and was relocated to a studio in the CN Tower where he remained until he left 'EY in 1987, when after a management change they decided to turn the station in a different direction which was not something he was comfortable with.
After leaving CKEY he remained active writing columns, developing radio programs and continuing as the announcer of the International Air Show at the CNE and in 1997 started his own company BDRJ Marketing Concepts developing websites for different hotels, B&B's and tourist attractions which he continued until his death.
His years at CKEY were easily some of the happiest years of his life, he was a well liked celebrity and did a lot to give back to the community as well. He will be greatly missed.
In his own words:
"There were no other morning 'teams' at that time and, over the next few years, Keith, Robert Payne, Dini and then Dianne, and I found the show evolving into a 'team' show rather than just Keith the "Morning Man". We were encouraged to stretch the envelope and for many, many years it was a pleasure to get up at 4:00am and anticipate what nonsense we would get into over the next few hours. There were no scripts, everything just came off the top of our heads."