John Sykes has passed away

John Sykes has passed away

Postby radiofan » Fri Nov 22, 2013 8:44 am

I just got word this morning from Brian Antonson that Radio West charter member John Sykes passed away last Tuesday. John spent many years in radio in both Montreal and Vancouver.
John's health had been failing the past few years. In mid October I got an email from him saying he had had a mini stroke and wouldn't be able to attend the Radio West GTG.

Condolences to John's family and friends.

Image

SYKES; John. Oct. 28, 1938 ~ Nov. 12, 2013. John passed away peacefully on Tuesday, November 12 at Abbotsford Regional Hospital with his family by his side. He will be missed by his wife of almost 50 years Barbara, daughters Brenda (Yoshi) Kawasaki, Cindy (Lyle) Olafson, and cherished grand- children Kris, Bryanna, Nicole, Steven, Troy and Alex. He is survived by his sister Cathy (John) Johnson, brothers Mike (Trudy) Sykes and Chris (Beth) Sykes, brother-in-law Doug (Sue) Burford and his nieces/nephews. John was an avid sports fan having spent many years as a radio announcer. Barb shared his love of sport as they spent many days on the golf course. John's deep love and commitment to his family will be greatly missed. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in John's memory to the 2014 Ride to Conquer Cancer (Kris or Nicole Olafson-Super Dave's Team). Special thanks to the incredible Dr. Meloche, and nurses on Cheam 3 for their care and compassion.

http://www.missioncityrecord.com/obituaries/
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.
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Re: John Sykes has passed away

Postby Russ_Byth » Fri Nov 22, 2013 8:59 am

Very sorry to hear this.
I never met John in person, but always appreciated his dedication to the business he loved through his posts here.
My sincere condolences to his family and friends.
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Re: John Sykes has passed away

Postby Jack Bennest » Fri Nov 22, 2013 9:25 am

Thanks for sending me the link radiofan.

I want to digest this a bit. Will miss John but I realize that he was older and a lot of my older friends will move in this direction.

I worked with John, I socialized with John but had no relationship with family.

Sykes - the sports guy.

Barbara - all the best.
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Re: John Sykes has passed away

Postby PMC » Fri Nov 22, 2013 10:18 am

I will miss John for his many perspectives. A great news guy !

Condolences to his wife and family.
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Re: John Sykes has passed away

Postby tuned » Fri Nov 22, 2013 10:57 am

I have great memories of a very enthusiastic and warm human being. Sounds like he left a great legacy with his children and grandchildren. My condolences to them.
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Re: John Sykes has passed away

Postby Rob Collins » Fri Nov 22, 2013 12:53 pm

Rest in Peace John.
Condolences to John's family and friends.
Regards,
Rob Collins
When it comes to horsepower, too much is just enough.
Objects in mirror were not fast enough....
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Re: John Sykes has passed away

Postby hagopian » Fri Nov 22, 2013 1:51 pm

This came as a dreadful shock.

Mr. Sykes and I just missed each other at CKVN.

My sincere condolences to his Wife, Family and friends....as well as his extended "radio" family.

John....RIP.
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Re: John Sykes has passed away

Postby Anotherwpgguy » Fri Nov 22, 2013 3:07 pm

I'm sorry to hear this too.

John was at CKVN when I arrived there and was "a good fella" to work with and had a great deal of experience behind the microphone.

His presence here on the forum was always pasionate and I enjoyed him expressing his point of view.

I can imagine myself as a young whippersnapper looking through the glass from the Master Control Room and envision at him at the newsroom mike now ...... rest in peace John, you left an impression among us.

AWG
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Re: John Sykes has passed away

Postby radiofan » Fri Nov 22, 2013 4:05 pm

What an all-star team of news people CKVN had in 1970 - 71. John Sykes, Bob Ireland, Del Archer, Jon McComb, Don Ramsden (I'm sure I've missed a name or two) plus Jim MacDonald doing a daily two
hour talk show. They even had a couple of News Cruisers on the street. This line up would put a modern day News/Talk station to shame!

This was a Top 40 station that didn't really generate a lot of ratings until CHUM took over in 1973.

John was also PD at CKVN for some time in 1971, between Terry David Mulligan nand Simon Ginsberg. John brought Dean Hagopian to CKVN for mornings, a position that didn't last long after Skykes
left for the Grosvenor Hotel.
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.
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Re: John Sykes has passed away

Postby jon » Fri Nov 22, 2013 6:01 pm

Shocked is the word I would use when I heard of John Sykes passing this morning. I had never realized that he had been having health problems. Though I had kept in touch with him by e-mail for the last 5 years or so.


radiofan wrote:What an all-star team of news people CKVN had in 1970 - 71. John Sykes, Bob Ireland, Del Archer, Jon McComb, Don Ramsden (I'm sure I've missed a name or two) plus Jim MacDonald doing a daily two
hour talk show. They even had a couple of News Cruisers on the street. This line up would put a modern day News/Talk station to shame!


And that was after they blew a lot of great News people out the door when the "Voice of News" (the VN in CKVN) format died. Barrett Lawrie, George Sillery and Barry Bell are three that I met over the two years at CJAT, CHQM and CHQM, respectively.

All these years later, I'm guessing that is why there were so many young Newsmen who got started in 1969-70, more often than not filling vacancies left by those more experienced voices that CKVN hired.
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Re: John Sykes has passed away

Postby Jack Bennest » Fri Nov 22, 2013 10:01 pm

The list of talent so far mentioned makes me think of a much larger list of real pros on all stations operating in the 60's to 80's.

All gone - I was a whipper snapper, left the business at 37. Sad in a way - but the way the globe turns.

John had a meteoric rise - made a couple of sports related decisions and then he was gone too.

I worked with John at 'OR - great days at my first Vancouver station (Theatre Under the Stairs) - always liked Sykes - always felt good about CJOR.

See you later John :wave:
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Re: John Sykes has passed away

Postby jon » Fri Nov 22, 2013 10:35 pm

Jack Bennest wrote:The list of talent so far mentioned makes me think of a much larger list of real pros on all stations operating in the 60's to 80's.

My point was that, for a moment in time, at CKVN's height of "almost all news-ness", they seemed to have the vast majority of the best News talent in Vancouver.

Sure, there were lots of loyal and/or well-paid News folks that they didn't get, like Warren Barker to name one, but the parade of News talent that called 1900 W. 4th home at some time during 1969 or 1970 is totally mind boggling, to me at least.
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Re: John Sykes has passed away

Postby radiofan » Fri Nov 22, 2013 10:58 pm

The most bizarre move made by the owners of CKVN at the time was when they dropped the all news format and threwa ton of talent nto the street.

At the time (March 1970) Top 40 music returned to 1410, there was a lengthy newspaper strike at The Sun and Province.

Could there have been a better time for an all-news station to make some traction?

Maybe with no newspapers, there was no material to use on air!
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Re: John Sykes has passed away

Postby Eldon-Mr.CFAY » Sun Nov 24, 2013 3:38 am

Greetings,
So sorry to hear this. Sure have been a lot of fairly well known people pass away in 2013. Also I heard that the flu, bronchitis etc. have hit a lot of people in British Columbia, Northern California and other parts of the west coast in the past 4 weeks. Hope you are feeling okay!!! I am so sorry to hear that John Sykes passed away and condolences to his family!!! Although I may not have agreed with all John's postings I certainly agreed with some of them. That includes some of his comments on the Canucks etc... I WILL TRULY MISS READING JOHN'S POSTINGS ON RADIO WEST. REAL SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT THIS. I REMEMBER JOHN FROM VANCOUVER RADIO YEARS AGO AND MAY HAVE A FEW AIRCHECKS OF HIS BROADCASTS TOO.

INTERESTING THAT A SISTER OF OUR ROOM-MATE OUT IN LANGLEY HAS BEEN IN VANCOUVER GENERAL FOR THE PAST TWO OR THREE MONTHS AND SHE IS FROM ABBOTSFORD. SHE IS SLOWLY IMPROVING AND HOPEFULLY WILL BE MOVED BACK TO ABBOTSFORD SOON!!! MRS. CFAY WAS VISITING HER ONCE A WEEK UNTIL SHE CAME DOWN WITH THAT TERRIBLE FLU FOR THE PAST TWO WEEKS OUT IN LANGLEY. HAVE BEEN EXTREMELY CONCERNED ABOUT HER!!! CAN HARDLY WAIT TO GET BACK OUT THERE FROM ONTARIO AND JUST WRAPPING UP A COUPLE OF BIG FINANCIAL MATTERS HERE!!! OF COURSE I HAVE HAD AND HEARD ENOUGH IN THE DAILY NEWSPAPERS AND ALL NEWS RADIO IN TORONTO CFTR 680 ABOUT MAYOR ROB FORD, ITS BEEN UP TO MY YING YANG IN HEARING IT!!!

ANYWAY HOPE YOU ARE FEELING OKAY, STAY WELL AND TAKE CARE ESPECIALLY WITH THE STRESSFUL CHRISTMAS SEASON COMING UP!!!

73s Eldon
Bye . . Mr. CFAY "Frequently On The Frequency"
The CFAY Website: http://cfayradio.wordpress.com
CFAY Radio: http://tinyurl.com/l9qqmh
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Re: John Sykes has passed away

Postby cart_machine » Sun Nov 24, 2013 3:49 am

Horrible news. I hope his passing was peaceful.

When I arrived at CJJC, the Sports Department had been eliminated (other than NW Bruins play-by-play). Mail for the department kept being stacked up unopened on a desk next to the news area and much of it was addressed to John. He was gone at that point. So we never got to work together.

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