Robert Joseph McAdorey (July 24, 1935 – February 5, 2005) was a

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

television and radio broadcaster, most noted for his roles as a radio DJ for

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

radio station CHUM in the 1960s, and as an entertainment reporter for the

Global Television Network The Global Television Network (more commonly called Global, or occasionally Global TV) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English language, English-language terrestrial television, terrestrial television network. It is currently Canada's se ...

in the 1980s and 1990s."DJ Bob McAdorey dies at 69". ''

North Bay Nugget The ''North Bay Nugget'' is a newspaper published in North Bay, Ontario, Canada. The paper is currently owned by Postmedia. History The paper was launched in 1907 as the ''Cobalt Nugget'', during the silver boom at Cobalt, Ontario. It was acqu ...

'', February 8, 2005.

Background

McAdorey was born and raised in

Niagara Falls, Ontario Niagara Falls is a city in Ontario, Canada, adjacent to, and named after, Niagara Falls. As of the Canada 2021 Census, 2021 census, the city had a population of 94,415. The city is located on the Niagara Peninsula along the western bank of the ...

. He attended Stamford Collegiate, where as a Catholic he was one of just two students exempted from the Protestant school's religious classes, alongside the Jewish Barbara Frum.F.F. Langan, "BOB McADOREY, BROADCASTER: 1935-2005". ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', February 9, 2005. He got his start in broadcasting with local radio station CHVC as a copywriter and advertising announcer.John Law, "Stamford's Famous Faces: New Communications Centre honours Barbara Frum, James Cameron and Bob McAdorey". ''

Niagara Falls Review The ''Niagara Falls Review'' is a daily newspaper distributed in Niagara Falls and also serving the nearby towns of Fort Erie and Niagara-on-the-Lake area in Ontario, Canada. The paper is owned by Metroland Media Group, a subsidiary of Torst ...

'', April 27, 1995. While at CHVC, his quick thinking salvaged a

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

broadcast that was going awry; the announcer playing

Santa Claus Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Chris ...

was drunk and behaving obnoxiously, to the point that the actress playing Mrs. Claus was refusing to work with him, and McAdorey immediately jumped in to play "Sammy Snowflake" so that Santa could be pulled off the air. Within a few weeks, he was the station's new on-air morning host. He subsequently worked in various other media markets including

Dawson Creek Dawson Creek is a city in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. The municipality of had a population of 12,978 in 2016. Dawson Creek derives its name from the creek of the same name that runs through the community. The creek was named after ...

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, and

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as The Royal City, it is roughly east of Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Ontario Highway 6, ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. While in Guelph, he also served a two-year term on Guelph City Council.Jim Wilkes, "Crazy farmer from Gormley hands out orphaned pebbles". ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

'', March 26, 1976. In his early career he was often described as looking like

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer, songwriter, and musician who was a central and pioneering figure of rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texa ...

, while as he aged he was occasionally mistaken in public for

Kenneth D. Taylor Kenneth Douglas Taylor (October 5, 1934 – October 15, 2015) was a Canadian diplomat, educator and businessman, best known for his role in the 1979 covert operation called the "Canadian Caper" when he was the Canadian ambassador to Iran. With ...

CHUM

McAdorey joined CHUM in 1961 as the afternoon host and program director. In this role, he became one of the most influential radio personalities in all of Canada in the era, with the ''

Toronto Telegram ''The Toronto Evening Telegram'' was a conservative, broadsheet afternoon newspaper published in Toronto from 1876 to 1971. It had a reputation for supporting the Conservative Party at the federal and the provincial levels. The paper competed wit ...

'' writing in 1966 that "Bob McAdorey, whose face is as well known in Toronto as Mayor Givens, has the most power to dictate what

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...

Ontario teens listen to." McAdorey and his CHUM colleagues Mike Darow, John Spragge and Garry Ferrier sometimes performed together as a pop vocal quartet called The CHUMingbirds, who recorded the single "Brotherhood of Man" for release on

Quality Records Quality Records was a Canadian entertainment company which released music albums in Canada on behalf of American record labels. They also released recordings by Canadian artists. The company operated between 1950 and 1985 with offices in Toron ...

in 1964. In this era, he was also the host of the teen dance show ''Hi Time'' on CFTO. When the station moved to a more strictly formatted, less personality-centred sound in 1968, McAdorey left the station, and later worked at

CFGM CFIQ (640 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial Radio broadcasting, radio station licensed to Richmond Hill, Ontario, Richmond Hill, Ontario, and serving Greater Toronto, Southern Ontario and Western New York with a talk radio, talk format known a ...

and

CFTR Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) is a membrane protein and anion channel in vertebrates that is encoded by the ''CFTR'' gene. Geneticist Lap-Chee Tsui and his team identified the ''CFTR'' gene in 1989 as the gene lin ...

.Jim Bawden, "'Mac' led heady days of CHUM rock radio". ''

'', February 7, 2005.

Television career

McAdorey joined the fledgling

in Ontario in 1976 on contract producing humorous pieces for Global's newscast, and hosted a late-night satirical news commentary show, ''Mac'', from 1979 to 1980. Beginning in 1981 he appeared as co-anchor with John Dawe and Mike Anscombe of the station's ''News at Noon''."Global's entertainment force, Bob McAdorey, retiring after 25 years". ''

Waterloo Region Record The ''Waterloo Region Record'' (formerly ''The Record'') is the daily newspaper covering Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada, including the cities of Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener, Waterloo, Ontario, Water ...

'', July 6, 2000. The show's concept was to reinvent the idea of a noon-hour newscast, adding entertainment and lifestyle features instead of just rehashing the headlines; by 1983 the show was being hailed for its "three nice guys" vibe and was attracting unusually strong ratings for a noon-hour newscast. McAdorey was briefly fired from the station in 1983 for filing a report which management deemed inappropriately humorous and unprofessional, but was hired back within days after many of the station's viewers called and wrote letters in protest. He was also a contributor to the station's other newscasts as an entertainment reporter. From 1991 to 1997 he also hosted ''Entertainment Desk'', a half-hour daytime entertainment news show. In 1995, when Stamford Collegiate launched a new media production program, it named a production studio in honour of McAdorey, alongside facilities named in honour of Frum and another famous alumnus,

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker, who resides in New Zealand. He is a major figure in the post-New Hollywood era and often uses novel technologies with a Classical Hollywood cinema, classical filmmaking styl ...

. In late 1996 he was forced to take a medical leave of absence for several weeks after suffering a head injury in a fall. In July 2000, he retired, against his wishes, from Global due to the station's policy at the time of

mandatory retirement Mandatory retirement also known as forced retirement, enforced retirement or compulsory retirement, is the set age at which people who hold certain jobs or offices are required by industry custom or by law to leave their employment, or retire. A ...

at 65.Jim Bawden, "Mac's not ready to go ; Entertainment newsman reluctantly retiring after 26 years with Global network". ''

'', July 28, 2000. McAdorey returned briefly in 2001 to give movie reviews, but spent most of his final years in

Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario Niagara-on-the-Lake is a town in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the Niagara Peninsula at the point where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario, across the river from New York (state), New York, United States. Niagara-on-the-Lake is in the R ...

Death

In February 2005, he died in a hospital in

St. Catharines St. Catharines is the most populous city in Canada's Niagara Region, the eighth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2021, St. Catharines has an area of and 136,803 residents. It lies in Southern Ontario, south of Toronto ac ...

after a prolonged illness, at the age of 69. He had one daughter, Colleen, who was married to McAdorey's television colleague Jim Tatti. His wife Willa, and two other children, predeceased him. He was also the uncle of Michelle McAdorey, a singer and songwriter who led the band

Crash Vegas Crash Vegas was a Canadian folk rock band which formed in 1988, and achieved moderate success in the early 1990s. Biography The band was formed by Michelle McAdorey and Greg Keelor of Blue Rodeo in 1988, who were also in a romantic relationsh ...

in the 1980s and 1990s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McAdorey, Bob 1935 births 2005 deaths Canadian radio hosts Canadian people of Irish descent People from Niagara Falls, Ontario Canadian television news anchors Canadian infotainers Guelph city councillors