The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum » Peter Dickens RIP

Centerline · January 16, 2022 5:34 pm

From Dave Agar's twitter Sunday afternoon, [color=inherit]Dave Agar[/color][/url] [url=https://twitter.com/dave1agar]@dave1agar For any longtime radio listeners I have been told by a reliable source who spoke to the family that noted Toronto news anchor and colleague Peter Dickens has passed away at age 93. 1958-1972 at 1050 CHUM. 1977-1994 at CFRB 1010. #radio

Last edited by Centerline (January 16, 2022 5:39 pm)

RadioActive · January 16, 2022 5:49 pm

That's a shame. He was a great newsman and he served for a very long time on the Toronto airwaves. The great ones can never be replaced.

Doug Thompson · January 16, 2022 6:15 pm

Peter's passing really got to me. I last saw and spoke with Peter at Dick Smyth's memorial service a few months ago. He was my favourite CHUM newsman when I was a teenager listening to the station and when I got to work there in 1965.

This is too sad. Here's one of Peter's CHUM announcements when a Toronto pedestrian was killed. These promos were known as "The Black Flag Is Flying".

You can hear it here.

Last edited by Doug Thompson (January 16, 2022 8:08 pm)

John D · January 17, 2022 12:09 am

I am so very sad hearing this news tonight. I had the pleasure of working with Peter at CHUM & CFRB. I was blessed twice. He was an amazing talent and such a sweet man.

R.I.P. Peter

Citypulse News 15 · January 19, 2022 5:14 pm

RIP Peter. One of the great radio voices!

Dale Patterson · January 20, 2022 12:12 am

Wasn't he also at CFGM, between CHUM and CFRB?

Dale Patterson · January 22, 2022 5:15 pm

Obit for Peter Dickens...

https://www.legacy.com/ca/obituaries/thestar/name/peter-dickens-obituary?pid=201204026

Dale Patterson · January 22, 2022 8:19 pm

Dale Patterson wrote:
Obit for Peter Dickens...

https://www.legacy.com/ca/obituaries/thestar/name/peter-dickens-obituary?pid=201204026

Last edited by Dale Patterson (January 22, 2022 8:20 pm)

John Elston · March 25, 2026 9:16 pm

Peter Dickens always treated me with respect when our shifts met early mornings on CFRB. I appreciated that a lot.
I have been out of the loop in recent years with a lot of radio colleagues, and only just now have heard of Peter's passing. It seems we just missed each other at CFGM as he left in mid-1977 for CFRB and I came to CFGM at the beginning of August that year.
I must also say the same for another veteran newscaster at the time, Torben Wittrup. I really enjoyed his company when our shifts met in the evenings.
Taylor Parnaby's passing was also something I didn't hear about for quite some time. I was always treated well by him. The last time I spoke to him was by telephone to thank him for giving me the opportunity to work with what I considered the best radio news team in Toronto.

mace · Yesterday 12:24 pm

John Elston wrote:
Peter Dickens always treated me with respect when our shifts met early mornings on CFRB. I appreciated that a lot.
I have been out of the loop in recent years with a lot of radio colleagues, and only just now have heard of Peter's passing. It seems we just missed each other at CFGM as he left in mid-1977 for CFRB and I came to CFGM at the beginning of August that year.
I must also say the same for another veteran newscaster at the time, Torben Wittrup. I really enjoyed his company when our shifts met in the evenings.
Taylor Parnaby's passing was also something I didn't hear about for quite some time. I was always treated well by him. The last time I spoke to him was by telephone to thank him for giving me the opportunity to work with what I considered the best radio news team in Toronto.

I remember those names very well. That was back when CFRB was truly "Ontario's Authoratative News Voice" Today? Not at all.

RadioActive · Yesterday 12:40 pm

mace wrote:
John Elston wrote:
Peter Dickens always treated me with respect when our shifts met early mornings on CFRB. I appreciated that a lot.
I have been out of the loop in recent years with a lot of radio colleagues, and only just now have heard of Peter's passing. It seems we just missed each other at CFGM as he left in mid-1977 for CFRB and I came to CFGM at the beginning of August that year.
I must also say the same for another veteran newscaster at the time, Torben Wittrup. I really enjoyed his company when our shifts met in the evenings.
Taylor Parnaby's passing was also something I didn't hear about for quite some time. I was always treated well by him. The last time I spoke to him was by telephone to thank him for giving me the opportunity to work with what I considered the best radio news team in Toronto.
I remember those names very well. That was back when CFRB was truly "Ontario's Authoratative News Voice" Today? Not at all.

Hard to be an authoritative news voice when you no longer have a newsroom. It wasn't always this way.

67GreenRambler · Yesterday 12:59 pm

The last authoritative news voice I recall is Dzintars Cers.

Binson Echorec · Yesterday 1:35 pm

RadioActive wrote:

A few things strike me as I look at this picture:
1. Even knowing radio was king at the time, this sure seems like an incredibly bloated cast for a morning show. Please tell me that some of these people had other duties - Peter Head doing two reports on Fridays feels like a tough salary to justify to me, even then.
2. Who cares about Air Freight that much? Reminds me of the Wally anecdote: "This will be of interest to those who own golf courses..."
3. With such a bloated cast, when did they ever have time for guests lol?

Last edited by Binson Echorec (Yesterday 1:41 pm)

mace · Today 7:50 am

Binson Echorec wrote:
RadioActive wrote:
A few things strike me as I look at this picture:
1. Even knowing radio was king at the time, this sure seems like an incredibly bloated cast for a morning show. Please tell me that some of these people had other duties - Peter Head doing two reports on Fridays feels like a tough salary to justify to me, even then.
2. Who cares about Air Freight that much? Reminds me of the Wally anecdote: "This will be of interest to those who own golf courses..."
3. With such a bloated cast, when did they ever have time for guests lol?

Back then they were an MOR station. On his way to work from Oakville to Toronto my dad would drive me to the Islington subway station to get to my summer job. Naturally the radio was locked on 1010. Just for fun, I decided to count how many songs actually got played in an hour on the Crouter Show. With the news, weather, sports, traffic reports and extremely heavy commercial load, the total was four! Extremely horrible music, to a teen. I prayed for commercials. Anything but that ghastly music!!

mace · Today 7:55 am

That "Wally And Friends" photo would be after 1974. That is the year Jack Dennett passed away. He certainly would have been in the photo.

Binson Echorec · Today 1:53 pm

mace wrote:
Back then they were an MOR station.On his way to work from Oakville to Toronto my dad would drive me to the Islington subway station to get to my summer job. Naturally the radio was locked on 1010. Just for fun, I decided to count how many songs actually got played in an hour on the Crouter Show. With the news, weather, sports, traffic reports and extremely heavy commercial load, the total was four! Extremely horrible music, to a teen. I prayed for commercials. Anything but that ghastly music!!

Good call on the MOR - still seems like an awful lot of people for one show - what did Joe Irvine do for the other three seasons of the year? "Winter Road Reports" should've easily been handled by Henry Shannon in his traffic duties.