Interview with Donn Kirton

The following appeared in the Interlake Chatterbox, July 19, 2016. Donn and his late wife, Norine built their St. Laurent home in 1993 and moved permanently in 1996. Donn often says “This is paradise. I have so many wonderful and friendly neighbors”. Finally, Donn is proud of his Metis heritage. His grandfather married a Gladu who was half French and Native. He was the emcee for the Metis Pavillion at Folklorama. This being a Metis community makes me feel right at home.

I was born in St Boniface Hospital and raised in Winnipeg. My mother gave my name is Donny, Little Donny which was changed by my father to Don and recorded by Mother Superior as Donn, and that’s the way its been all my life.

I was turfed out of high school in grade ten right after we had won the city championship in football. I took a course in refrigeration when a job opened up to have someone in Churchill. The government was re-photographing the North in conjunction with the DEW line, Distance Early Warning system. I became the Chief Refrigeration Engineer for the Department of National Defence – of course I was the only one! My job was to check the refrigeration. I started in the men’s rest area and had a beer. If it was cold – I knew it was good! Then I was off to the corporal’s lounge, then the Sargent’s mess and finally the officers’ mess. But I had no idea what I was doing. I was way over my head.

I often say – I’ve never worked a day in my life.  And it’s true, I just have fun!

Donn Kirton

The commanding officer for the air force base became a real good friend. He suggested, “Why don’t you join the air force? We’ll send you to university to take engineering and then go from there.” They flew me down to Winnipeg. But a doctor I knew there flunked me because I had gone from 195 to 245 pounds in 6 or 7 months. “No”, he says, “you wouldn’t be able to stand boot camp!”

So, then there was an ad in the Free Press – Wanted: radio announcer for North-Western Ontario. I applied. That was back in 1951. I had to cut an audition disc. They didn’t have tapes in those days. I remember one of my first commercials in a voice was much higher than now: “Farmers scrap steel is urgently needed by the Armed Forces. They hired me in Port Arthur at CFPA radio where I stayed for 8 months. But I was trying to get back home. On the way I spent another 8 months in Kenora before arriving at CKY in Winnipeg.

I often say – I’ve never worked a day in my life.  And it’s true, I just have fun! The people I worked with there were a lot of fun. That’s just the way you did things. Jack Wells and I ended up doing a morning show together. He didn’t know what to do or what information to give. So, I would point at the clock and he would give the time or I’d hold up a little piece of paper with the temperature on it. But we just had so much fun that I could hardly wait to get to work in the morning because I knew what was going to happen. And then all of a sudden within 4 or 5 months our morning show was number 1 in Winnipeg. I’ve been very fortunate in most everything I did or anywhere I’ve gone, I just managed to get big ratings.

From CKY, I was hired to run a new station in Fort Frances bought by the owners of CJOB and Investors Syndicate. We called it CFOB with the same format as CJOB. From there I met a chap from Iowa, who used to vacation at Sioux Narrows just north of that station. I got a call from him and sure enough there he was with a big pink and blue Cadillac smoking a cigar – what you might think was the typical American. He said, “Son we gotta have you down in God’s country. We need you here with us.”

I was very hesitant to go because I was quite happy in Fort Frances.  I finally went down to Iowa and it was kind of fun. Things were good but it was a daytime operation and that meant you could only be on air between sunup and sundown. In December and January, we signed on at 8:30 and off at 4:30 in the afternoon. So, I didn’t really feel like I was in radio.

One time I was in Winnipeg driving my mom home and I dropped in to CKY. They said, “Donn how about coming back? We could use a promotions manager.” So that’s how I changed direction but still also was on air half of the time. And that’s where I stayed until about 1970.

Lloyd Moffat, the owner of CKY bought a station in Calgary and took 5 or 6 Winnipeg guys to set it up and give it the professional touch. That wasn’t for me. I ended up getting a job as operations manager in St. John, New Brunswick at one of the Irving stations where I stayed for about two and half years working with Doug Burrows, one of my good friends from CKY.

I got a call from George Davies, who was the original programmer from CJOB inviting me back to Winnipeg and CKY. I returned to produce Peter Warren. Lots of other things were happening. An axiom of CJOB was “Working for Winnipeg”.  For me it meant a lot of on-location grand openings and such. This led to fundraising for the United Way, Children’s Hospital, the Humane Society and all the hospitals with their lotteries. I raised several million dollars and became known as the best beggar on the station. Essentially, it was taking from the community to give back to the community.

I had a gift of being able to look at something and see what it is they are trying to do, recognizing why the need was so great and then being able to present that to listeners. When I would get on air the phones would start ringing and people were making pledges and donations…it was great!

I’ve been very blessed.