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June 5, 2017 1:39 pm  #1


RIP Clint Nickerson

I’m more sorry than I can say to relate the news that Clint Nickerson passed away over the weekend.
 
Clint spent over three decades in Toronto radio and TV, most of them at CFTR (twice!) a year at a pre-sports CJCL, where he was P.D., and more time than I can count as a producer at City TV in Toronto.
 
Clint, a lifelong smoker, had been diagnosed with lung cancer just three weeks ago, after apparently starting to cough up blood. He was rushed to the hospital in Victoria, B.C., where he’s been living for many years, but they couldn’t save him. He and his wife, Alisa, had just marked their anniversary a few days earlier.    
 
The funeral is apparently going to be private, but at some point there will be a celebration of his life. It was a life very well lived and he had a profound influence on many careers, including mine. I hadn’t talked to Clint in a while but we kept in touch and it was always great to hear that terrific deep radio voice. I will forever regret I won’t be able to hear it anymore.
 
He was a wonderful man and was way too young to go. He was only 66. 

 

June 5, 2017 1:46 pm  #2


Re: RIP Clint Nickerson

Sorry for you loss of a friend and colleague RadioActive!

Sad to see another local media person pass away!

 


The world would be so good if it weren't for some people...
 

June 5, 2017 2:25 pm  #3


Re: RIP Clint Nickerson

RadioActive wrote:

I’m more sorry than I can say to relate the news that Clint Nickerson passed away over the weekend.
 
Clint spent over three decades in Toronto radio and TV, most of them at CFTR (twice!) a year at a pre-sports CJCL, where he was P.D., and more time than I can count as a producer at City TV in Toronto.
 
Clint, a lifelong smoker, had been diagnosed with lung cancer just three weeks ago, after apparently starting to cough up blood. He was rushed to the hospital in Victoria, B.C., where he’s been living for many years, but they couldn’t save him. He and his wife, Alisa, had just marked their anniversary a few days earlier.    
 
The funeral is apparently going to be private, but at some point there will be a celebration of his life. It was a life very well lived and he had a profound influence on many careers, including mine. I hadn’t talked to Clint in a while but we kept in touch and it was always great to hear that terrific deep radio voice. I will forever regret I won’t be able to hear it anymore.
 
He was a wonderful man and was way too young to go. He was only 66. 

Clint was also a newscaster at Broadcast News for a time in the early '80s. R.I.P.
 


"Life without echo is really no life at all." - Dan Ingram
 

June 5, 2017 2:36 pm  #4


Re: RIP Clint Nickerson

Back in the early 1970's Mr. Nickerson came to see a friend of his at the radio station where I was employed...   



We met while he  was visiting his pal and for some reason he took a shine to me too.

He had his buddy tape me one night...(I can still see him switching the tape on while I was on the air) and that tape led to a phone call and job interview.

I didn't get the job but the entire situation gave me a greater confidence that perhaps I had what it took...

I had seen pictures of Mr. Nickerson online recently and it was obvious something was wrong...

He hadn't aged well...   

And now this...

My sympathy to his family and my heartfelt thanks for his long ago interest in an 18 year old kid...
 


  
 

June 5, 2017 5:40 pm  #5


Re: RIP Clint Nickerson

Here's a rarity I found in my archives - I believe it's the very first piece Clint ever did for the nationally syndicated documentary show "Sunday "Sunday" way back in 1980. He went backstage at the Jerry Lewis Labour Day Telethon in Las Vegas, a story that includes interviews with Wolfman Jack, David Hartman and Ed McMahon. I think it was one of his favourites. And yes that is the legendary Don Parrish doing the tag at the end. 

Behind The Scenes At The Jerry Lewis Labour Day Telethon

Last edited by RadioActive (June 5, 2017 5:55 pm)

     Thread Starter
 

June 5, 2017 8:29 pm  #6


Re: RIP Clint Nickerson

I first met Clint in the early seventies at CFTR/CHFI when I began working as a board op.  We hit it off right away and became close friends when i was asked to help produce and edit a documentary that he and Robert Holiday were working on.  Clint had gone to Dallas to attend a conference on assassinations in the US and came back with hours of tape.  He then spent days and weeks going through it all to pick appropriate clips and writing scrips.  He and Robert then entered the studio where I recorded their voice overs.  Then, a box of grease pencils, rolls of editing tape and many hours later, "Thou Shalt Not Kill" came together.  He was so proud when later that year it won Billboard Magazine's award for best radio news documentary.

After a disagreement with management, I departed CFTR and ended up doing manual labour jobs for the better part of two years.  I had just about given up hope of ever working in radio again when I heard through the grapevine that Clint had started at City.  Having never worked in television, I didn't expect much from the phone call I was about to make but after I explained my situation he said, "well you can edit!!"  I said, "ya but I've never edited video"  "Don't worry about that"  he said.  He arranged an interview and I was told "you have three months, if you're no good, you're back on the streets".  After a year of video tape editing, I became what was for me a childhood dream, an ENG cameraman, a career that lasted thirty one years!  I have Clint to thank for that.

He will be truly missed.


 

Last edited by Citypulse News 15 (June 5, 2017 8:30 pm)

 

June 5, 2017 8:49 pm  #7


Re: RIP Clint Nickerson

What a brilliant piece of work.  I wonder if Lesley Webster was producing it at that point?  Sunday Sunday and CFRB Sunday for that matter were must listens for me, as both a news junkie and a radio production one.

Damn that takes me right back to the days of sitting at the back of the room watching these folks put this stuff together, cutting tape and getting 24 tracks out of a 4 track recorder .

RadioActive wrote:

Here's a rarity I found in my archives - I believe it's the very first piece Clint ever did for the nationally syndicated documentary show "Sunday "Sunday" way back in 1980. He went backstage at the Jerry Lewis Labour Day Telethon in Las Vegas, a story that includes interviews with Wolfman Jack, David Hartman and Ed McMahon. I think it was one of his favourites. And yes that is the legendary Don Parrish doing the tag at the end. 

Behind The Scenes At The Jerry Lewis Labour Day Telethon

 


Madness takes its toll.  Please have exact change.
 
 

June 5, 2017 8:52 pm  #8


Re: RIP Clint Nickerson

Thou shalt not kill..

Outstanding work.

Citypulse News 15 wrote:

Clint had gone to Dallas to attend a conference on assassinations in the US and came back with hours of tape. He then spent days and weeks going through it all to pick appropriate clips and writing scrips. He and Robert then entered the studio where I recorded their voice overs. Then, a box of grease pencils, rolls of editing tape and many hours later, "Thou Shalt Not Kill" came together. He was so proud when later that year it won Billboard Magazine's award for best radio news documentary. 

 


Madness takes its toll.  Please have exact change.
 
 

June 6, 2017 8:30 pm  #9


Re: RIP Clint Nickerson

On behalf of Clint and Robert, thanks Iain!.......Clint Nickerson and Robert Holiday early seventies

Last edited by Citypulse News 15 (June 6, 2017 8:38 pm)

 

June 6, 2017 8:42 pm  #10


Re: RIP Clint Nickerson

On our daily walk today I was telling my wife the story I posted earlier in this thread about the time I met Clint...

We're all in a battle with Mother Nature and Father Time and to my knowledge they are undefeated...











 




 

Last edited by unclefester (June 6, 2017 11:22 pm)


  
 

June 7, 2017 2:31 am  #11


Re: RIP Clint Nickerson

I just heard the news of Clint's passing today and I thought I'd add my own from the very very early years, long before he moved east.

Clint and I both started out at CJVI in Victoria at about the same time. This was back in the day when you all you needed to work in the business was desire and the willingness to work for next to nothing.

Yes, Clint had that annoying deep voice even back then and not being blessed as he was I should have rightly hated him, but it just wasn't possible. Instead, Clint became a best friend, roommate and my best man when I married.

I think the only time Clint and I ever disagreed was on the topic of just which one knew more about the music of the day. We'd spend hours in the record library playing the fewest bars possible of 45s and challenging the other to not only name that tune, but name the writer and the label. I don't think we ever fully concluded who reigned supreme, so I suppose it'll have to be a draw now. Still, it's an enduring memory all these years later.

God, it seems impossible that we were ever so young. We both hoped to be legendary DJs and instead both ended up in news, having followed separate paths to arrive at the same place.

I saw Clint off and on over the years and although we lived thousands of miles apart, I always considered him a good friend I could rely on. Just knowing he was out there was always a great comfort.

When a friend and co-worker of mine moved east with hopes of breaking into TV, I told her to give Clint a call and mention my name. Even though he was some big time TV guy, I knew Clint would help her in anyway he could to get the lay of the land. No, Clint didn't hire her, but behind the scenes he helped get her started in a TV career that lasted just shy of 20 years. 

Even though I left broadcasting behind me many years ago, some nights I still dream about it. Usually, I'm just starting a newscast when I discover I have no copy in front of me and I desperately try to ad lib the news. Maybe next time I have that dream Clint will be there with the copy in hand to rescue me and because I'd love to see him just one more time.

 

June 7, 2017 7:25 am  #12


Re: RIP Clint Nickerson

Clint was one of my PD's; when I was at CJCL; during the Robert Holiday period.  Quite a team there with Jerry Howarth and Joe Bowen; both working in the sports department; during the off season.  Clint was a very smart man and had an infectious smile.  He and Robert attended our 10th wedding anniversary ceremony at our home.  A long time ago.  I lost track of him; when he went back out west to Victoria.  I'm so sorry to hear of his passing.  He was one of the "good" one's.

https://www.pugetsoundradio.com/2017/06/06/59785/

Last edited by John D (June 7, 2017 7:54 am)

 

June 7, 2017 8:21 am  #13


Re: RIP Clint Nickerson

I knew Clint well back in my CFTR production days. He was kind and considerate, loved to help people, very smart and had a great sense of humor! Regretfully, I lost contact after leaving radio in the 80s. Love to have a cold one with him one more time. What a loss. I guess the good really do die young.

 

June 7, 2017 8:49 am  #14


Re: RIP Clint Nickerson

I'm sure his wife will appreciate all the sentiments expressed here. She knew what a remarkable man Clint was, but she may not know how many lives he touched. His obituary is now online and it reads like a life well lived. 

Clint Nickerson Obit

     Thread Starter
 

June 7, 2017 3:17 pm  #15


Re: RIP Clint Nickerson

There is a terrific article (and a great pic) about Clint, mentioning some things I didn't know about him, published in the Victoria Times Colonist newspaper.(They say he was 65, his wife insists he was 66.)  

Definitely worth a read for friends and fans of the man who was something of a stickler for accuracy, so much so that he occasionally referred to himself in my presence as "Nit Pickerson."

Big wit and a big heart.

Golf-loving broadcaster helped launch The New VI in Victoria 

     Thread Starter