Ted Blackman (February 17, 1942 – October 2, 2002) 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 ...

media personality in the

Montreal, Quebec Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

area. Blackman's career started as a

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

at high school and teen club dances in the 1950s. After high school, he sold his records and equipment to one of his friends, Donald Tarlton (aka Donald K Donald), who later became Montreal's premier promoter and

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

impresario. Blackman began his career in journalism in

Toronto, Ontario 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 ...

with

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in 1961, covering three

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. The Maple Leafs compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the A ...

championships as well as several

Grey Cup The Grey Cup () is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested between the winners ...

s. In the mid-1960s he moved back home as a sports reporter for the ''

Montreal Gazette ''The Gazette'', also known as the ''Montreal Gazette'', is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper which is owned by Postmedia Network. It is published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the only English-language daily newspape ...

'', where he covered a variety of events prior to becoming the chief writer for the expansion

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos () were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in the National League (baseball), National League ...

baseball club. During this time he was widely credited with creating nicknames such as "''Le Grande Orange''" for outfielder

Rusty Staub Daniel Joseph "Rusty" Staub (April 1, 1944 – March 29, 2018) was an American professional baseball player and television color commentator. He played in Major League Baseball for 23 seasons as a right fielder, designated hitter, and first base ...

and the bleachers at

Jarry Park Stadium Jarry Park Stadium ( ) is a former baseball stadium, home to the Montreal Expos (now Washington Nationals), from 1969 Montreal Expos season, 1969 through 1976 Montreal Expos season, 1976, located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Expos were Major ...

as "''Jonesville''" in honour of long ball hitter

Mack Jones Mack Fletcher Jones (November 6, 1938 – June 8, 2004), nicknamed "Mack The Knife", was an American Major League Baseball left fielder who played for the Milwaukee / Atlanta Braves (1961–1967), Cincinnati Reds (1968), and Montreal Expos (19 ...

. In 1971 Blackman began his dual role in the Montreal media working for

CJAD CJAD (800 AM) is a commercial radio station operating in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The station has an English language news/talk radio format and identifies itself on-air as ''CJAD 800''. Owned and operated by Bell Media, it has a daytime power ...

800 AM radio. He worked in various roles in Montreal radio over the next thirty years in sports and programming, primarily at CJAD. He also had stints as a morning man at rival CFCF from 1979 to 1981, and The Team at its Montreal

Team 990 CKGM ('' TSN 690 Montreal'') is an English-language AM radio station in Montreal, Quebec, owned by Bell Media Radio. Formerly an affiliate of sports radio network " The Team," it was one of three stations to retain the sports format after the ...

(an all sports station). He also penned a daily news column for the ''Montreal Gazette''. In October 1984, the ''Montreal Gazette'' suspended Blackman from his columnist position for having taken a job with radio station CJAD. The case was brought to labour arbitration.The Montreal Gazette – Google News Archive Search
/ref> Blackman died in hospital on October 2, 2002 from complications of a

liver transplant Liver transplantation or hepatic transplantation is the replacement of a Liver disease, diseased liver with the healthy liver from another person (allograft). Liver transplantation is a treatment option for Cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease and ...

References

External links

CBC obituary
1942 births 2002 deaths Anglophone Quebec people Canadian columnists Canadian Football League announcers Canadian radio hosts Canadian sportswriters Montreal Gazette people Writers from Montreal Liver transplant recipients Jewish Canadian journalists {{Canada-radio-bio-stub