Peter Warren (born 1941) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

investigative journalist Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...

private investigator A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI and informally called a private eye), a private detective, or inquiry agent is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private investigators of ...

, former

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

host and member of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters' Hall of Fame.

Biography

Born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, one of three sons, himself, Tim Warren and

John Warren John Warren may refer to: Medicine * John Warren (surgeon) (1753–1815), American surgeon during the Revolutionary War * John Collins Warren (1778–1856), American surgeon * John Collins Warren Jr. (1842–1927), American surgeon, son of John C ...

. Warren worked briefly as a junior sports reporter on

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was na ...

after being expelled from

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2–19 independent, day and boarding school for boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a public school, it began as the College of God's Gift, founded in 1619 by Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn, with the original purpose of ...

and then completing his education at Reigate Grammar School. He then moved to Canada where he wrote for various

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

s including The Calgary Herald, The Toronto Telegram, The Winnipeg Tribune (columnist),The Saint John Telegraph-Journal (columnist), The New York Standard. He has also written for Maclean's magazine, The Globe and Mail, The Manchester Guardian, TIME Magazine, and was a staff writer and columnist with The Hong Kong Star. He celebrated 50 years in Canada (all as a journalist) on Nov. 10, 2009. Warren rose to fame as an "open line" radio talk show host, a career he would enjoy for 35 years, the longest such tenure in North America. Warren moderated the popular '' Action Line'' morning talk show on

CJOB CJOB (680 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is owned and operated by Corus Radio and airs a news/ talk format with news and sports programs. CJOB and its sister stations, CFPG-FM, CJKR-FM, and CKND-DT, ...

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

from 1971 to 1998;. He moved to Victoria, British Columbia and hosted a syndicated weekend radio program, '' arren on the Weekend' from 1998 to 2006. In March 2006 he left radio to concentrate on his work as an

probing

cold case A cold case is a crime, or a suspected crime, that has not yet been fully resolved and is not the subject of a current criminal investigation, but for which new information could emerge from new witness testimony, re-examined archives, new or re ...

s and

wrongful conviction A miscarriage of justice occurs when a grossly unfair outcome occurs in a criminal or civil proceeding, such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. Miscarriages are also known as wrongful convictions. Inno ...

s. An outspoken critic of the Canadian justice system, Warren had in the past used his show to campaign on behalf of

wrongfully convicted A miscarriage of justice occurs when a grossly unfair outcome occurs in a criminal or civil proceeding, such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. Miscarriages are also known as wrongful convictions. In ...

persons such as

David Milgaard David Milgaard (July 7, 1952 – May 15, 2022) was a Canadian man who was wrongfully convicted for the 1969 rape and murder of nursing student Gail Miller in Saskatoon and imprisoned for 23 years. He was eventually released and exonerated. Up u ...

, Steven Truscott, James Driskell,

Thomas Sophonow Thomas Sophonow (born March 1953) is a Canadian who was wrongfully convicted of murder and whose case was the subject of a major judicial inquiry. Sophonow was tried three times in the 1981 murder of doughnut-shop clerk Barbara Stoppel. Sophonow s ...

and on behalf of the families of victims of alleged serial killer

Robert Pickton Robert William "Willy" Pickton (born October 24, 1949) is a Canadian serial killer and former pig farmer. He is suspected of being one of the most prolific serial killers in Canadian history. After dropping out of school, Pickton left a butcher ...

. The final edition of ''Warren on the Weekend'' aired on March 5, 2006.

Career highlights and trivia

Throughout his career, Warren has been noted for his bold editorials, aggressive interview style and nose for detective work. He has donated personal archives to the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Canadian Prime Minister The prime minister of Canada (french: premier ministre du Canada, link=no) is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the confidence of a majority the elected House of Commons; as such ...

s head-to-head. Former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau once said that an interview with him "was worse than

Question Period Question Period (french: période des questions), known officially as Oral Questions (french: questions orales) occurs each sitting day in the House of Commons of Canada, in which members of the parliament ask questions of government ministers (i ...

." *He has gone

undercover To go "undercover" (that is, to go on an undercover operation) is to avoid detection by the object of one's observation, and especially to disguise one's own identity (or use an assumed identity) for the purposes of gaining the trust of an indi ...

as a prisoner in a federal

penitentiary A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correcti ...

and as a patient in a

psychiatric hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...

for investigative purposes. In 1980, after establishing a daily world-exclusive radio interview with Iranian students holding 52 hostages in the American Embassy in Iran, Flora MacDonald, Canadian foreign affairs minister, telephoned and asked him not to air the following day's scheduled broadcast—and, later, the world found out why: in what became known as "the Canadian Caper," six American diplomats were smuggled out of the Canadian embassy with government-endorsed phony Canadian passports and whisked by air to Zurich. After infiltrating a Ponzi (Pyramid) Scheme meeting at the Marlborough Hotel in Winnipeg, Warren produced a three-part series for The Winnipeg Tribune which resulted in the very first legislation against such practises in North America—for which he was later honored by the University of Mississippi journalism department. *Four escaped convicts once gave themselves up to him on-the-air. *In the 1980s, he carried on a lengthy correspondence with convicted child serial killer

Clifford Olson Clifford Robert Olson Jr. (January 1, 1940 – September 30, 2011) was a convicted Canadian serial killer who confessed to murdering 11 children and teenagers between the ages of 9 and 18 in the early 1980s. Murders Christine Weller, 12, from ...

. *Child pornographer Robin Sharpe was a three-time guest on his show. *His on-air demeanour was occasionally gruff. ''"Get on with it!"'' became a trademark phrase he used to prod callers. *In October, 1999 the

Canadian Broadcast Standards Council The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) is an industry funded self-regulating organization created by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters to administer standards established by its own members, Canada's private broadcasters. The coun ...

found that Warren was in breach of the

Canadian Association of Broadcasters The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) is a trade association representing the interests of commercial radio and television broadcasters in Canada. It is co-located with the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council in Ottawa. It was first e ...

Code of Ethics Ethical codes are adopted by organizations to assist members in understanding the difference between right and wrong and in applying that understanding to their decisions. An ethical code generally implies documents at three levels: codes of bus ...

when he stated on-air at

CKNW CKNW is a news/ talk formatted radio station in Vancouver, British Columbia, owned by Corus Entertainment. It broadcasts on an assigned frequency of AM 980 kHz, and is unusual in that it is a 50,000-watt, Class A station broadcasting on a regi ...

that "

Born-again Born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelicalism, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is distinctly and sep ...

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

are the scum of the earth."''CKNW-AM re The Peter Warren Show ("Born-again" Christians)''
– Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, British Columbia Council, CBSC Decisions 98/99-0277, Decided October 14, 1999 *He is a former

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

and accredited

boxing judge A boxing judge is responsible for judging the results of a boxing match, with as many as three judges typically present at ringside to score the bout and assign points to the boxers, based on punches that connect, defense, knockdowns, and other, mor ...

, and has interviewed

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...

and

Rocky Marciano Rocco Francis Marchegiano (September 1, 1923 – August 31, 1969; ), better known as Rocky Marciano (, ), was an American professional boxer who competed from 1947 to 1955, and held the world heavyweight title from 1952 to 1956. He is the onl ...

. Warren has also dabbled in stage acting and narration for film and television.

Awards and honours

*Canadian Association of Broadcasters' Quarter Century Club *The

Province of Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

's Order of the Buffalo Hunt *1992: 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal *1997: Broadcaster of the Year, Western Association of Broadcasters *1999: Inducted to the Canadian Association of Broadcasters' Hall of Fame

Notes and references

CAB Hall of Fame bio

WAB award recipients

External links

Official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Warren, Peter 1939 births Living people Canadian talk radio hosts Canadian radio journalists Members of the Canadian Association of Journalists Canadian investigative journalists People educated at Dulwich College Canadian newspaper journalists Canadian male journalists Canadian magazine journalists