John Richard Cluff (June 27, 1950 – July 2, 2024) was a Canadian journalist who hosted the

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

Vancouver morning program ''The Early Edition'' from 1997 until 2018. He was a member of the

Canadian Football Hall of Fame The Canadian Football Hall of Fame (CFHOF) is a not-for-profit corporation, located in Hamilton, Ontario, that celebrates achievements in Canadian football. It is maintained by the Canadian Football League (CFL). It includes displays about the CFL, ...

and recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Radio Television Digital News Association.

Early life and education

Cluff was born in

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 ...

, Ontario on June 27, 1950. His father was a former Air Force radio host, performer, and record producer in Toronto. After being kicked out of school in grade 10, Cluff later attended college as a mature student. He attended

Seneca College Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology, branded as Seneca Polytechnic since 2023, is a multi-campus public college in the Greater Toronto Area and Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. It offers full-time and part-time programs at the baccala ...

and the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

where he worked at the student radio stations. After attending graduate school, he earned a position with the CBC. When Cluff began working at Seneca's student radio show, his father discouraged him from thinking of radio as a career. He was especially opposed to the CBC "because the CBC is full of left-wing communists. And radio is a dead-end career."

Career

Cluff began his career at CBC in 1976 as a radio journalist focusing on sports. As a sports journalist, he covered eight Olympic games and five Commonwealth games. Cluff was one of the few journalists allowed to enter Moscow and Prague during the World Hockey Championships at the time of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

. Cluff was sent as a reporter to the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

in Atlanta, where he reported for two hours on the

Centennial Olympic Park bombing The Centennial Olympic Park bombing was a pipe bombing attack on Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, on July 27, 1996, during the Summer Olympics. The blast directly killed one person and injured 111 others; another pers ...

with limited preparation. Upon his return, the vice presidents of CBC asked him if he would host his own show. He was later asked by Susan Englebert to take up a three-year position in Vancouver as host of ''The Early Edition,'' which was later extended. Cluff began his 20-year career as host of ''The Early Edition'' in September 1997. In 1999, he was inducted into the

. In June 2017, before announcing his retirement, Cluff underwent open-heart surgery after living with hereditary heart disease. In December 2017, it was announced that Stephen Quinn would replace Cluff. In 2018, he was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Radio Television Digital News Association.

Personal life

Cluff and his wife had two children. He died from cancer on July 2, 2024, at the age of 74.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cluff, Rick 1950 births 2024 deaths Canadian talk radio hosts Canadian sports journalists Deaths from cancer in Canada Journalists from Toronto Seneca College alumni University of Western Ontario alumni 21st-century Canadian journalists 20th-century Canadian journalists