Red

As you can see, this is the Vernon Apts on Hastings Street. The one I was telling you about on Wednesday. It was built in 1920.

Every time I do a search on Red Robinson, I find more webpages and more information. For conflicting dates, I post the ones on Red's website since I figure that Red would know the dates.

As I stated on Wednesday, Red kind of retired in 2001 although his radio show still broadcast on 650 CISL on Sunday mornings. In 2007, Red made the jump from AM to the FM dial for the first time with the radio station 1049 FunFm.

In 2011, the radio show, the Red Rock Diner returned to its home of 650 AM from noon to 4 on Sundays. Hmm. I think it is time for me to listen to the radio again!

I have mentioned some of the awards the Robinson has won but there are more.

In 1956, a Province newspaper poll named Red as Disc Jockey of the Northwest.
In 1969, the B.C. Association of Broadcasters named him Broadcast Performer of the Year.
It was in 1981 that the Canadian Association of Broadcasters inducted Red into the CAB Quarter-Century Club.
He received two awards in 1991. One was the Record Magazine's second inductee to its Broadcaster Hall of Fame and the other was the North Vancouver Centennial Award "100 Distinguished Citizens".
In 1992, the Government of Canada recognized Red's achievements and he became the recipient of "Canada 125" Achievement Medal.
1994 was the year he was appointed a "Vancouver Museum Honorary Ambassador" on its centennial.
The "Entertainment Hall of Fame" inducted Red into his halls and his name in "STARWALK".
And I have already mentioned the "Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame" in Cleveland, Ohio.

Red has hosted the Timmy's Christmas Telethon since its inception and on the 11th Annual telethon, the B.C. Lions' Society for Children with Disabilities named one of the Easter Seal house after him. This was done in honour of Robinson helping to raise over $22 million up to 1988.

Another report I read from Rockabilly.com states that Robinson has received twenty awards from the BC Lions' Society for Children with Disabilities and has helped to raise over $75 million for the charity from 1976 to 1996.

In 1988, he was proclaimed founding president of NABS (National Advertising Benevolent Society), West Coast Chapter. This society represents the entire advertising community on the West Coast.

Robinson served as director of the Broadcast Executive Society - B.E.S. Western and as a Director of the West Coast Chapter of CARAS.

A scholarship was established in Red Robinson's name at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. This scholarship provides an annual reward to a needy student looking for a career in broadcasting.

This building on Commercial Drive was built in 1928.

Are you getting tired yet? Reading all the accomplishments of people like Red Robinson and Terry David Mulligan and others like them have made me aware of a very important fact. In order to gain just a smidgen of their success, I got to work my butt off! (Which is fine because my butt should be smaller anyway! LOL)

To honour Red, his career achievements and his humanitarian efforts, the Great Canadian Gaming Corporation opened the Red Robinson Show Theatre at the Boulevard Casino in Coquitlam. This is a beautiful, 1100-seat theatre that can be used for a variety of purposes.

The acts the theatre attracts are spectacular. Whoopi Goldberg, Air Supply, Joe Walsh, the Charlie Daniels Band and many others. Nazareth has played there a few times and in 2008 I saw one of my favourite acts, Poison, perform there.

Have you enjoyed my three-day look at one of North America's music pioneer's? Whenever I decide to look into someone like this, I am fascinated by the little details I discover - some of which never make it into a blog entry. I also look at what they have done to become the  successes they are. As I said, I gotta work harder! (and smarter.)

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Vancouver, Red Robinson, Red Robinson Show Theatre, Rock 'n Roll, British Columbia

Really Red!

This building is on Hastings Street. There is an empty lot on the one side and then Vernon Apartments. Vernon Apartments was built in 1920 and people I have talked with think this building was built at the same time. This is how 1180 East Hastings looked a few months ago.

Monday we talked about Red Robinson from 1953 to 1963. When we left, Red had gotten married and was program director for C-FUN radio station - a position he held until 1968 when he left to become operations manager at CJOR. If you remember from Monday, this is where it all started for a sixteen-year- old Red Robinson in 1954.

Red is credited with being the first DJ in Canada to regularly play rock 'n roll. He was also the first to play Elvis Presley records and he MC-ed the Elvis concert at Vancouver's Empire Stadium in 1957. Seven years later,  Robinson was the MC for the Beatles show at the Empire.

From 1963 to 1966, Red also hosted a TV show on CBC-TV entitled Let's Go (also known as Music Hop) where he introduced viewers to Canadian rockers such as Terry Jacks, Randy Bachman, The Collectors and so many more.

In 1971, he returned to CKWX as a morning show host. Red also hosted a coast-to-coast trivia show on CBC-TV called Trivia Challenge in 1979 and '80. The show inspired a group of contestants to create the game Trivial Pursuit.

Red hosted the morning show at CKWX until 1983 - racking up a station record of twelve years - then from 1985 to 1993, he was heard as host of Reunion, a cross-country oldies show.

In collaboration with Peggy Hodgins, he authored a book about the history of rock 'n roll in Canada. In 1980, he hosted and produced the Gavin Report Convention. This was the first time the prestigious event had ever been held outside of the USA.

However, the entertainment field wasn't the only arena that Red Robinson shined in. In 1969, he founded Trend Advertising (it later became Palmer Jarvis Advertising). The first client this new advertising agent had was McDonald's Restaurants of Canada. Red was the first to appear in a McDonald's TV commercial and was the company's first agent.

Another advertising venture that Red was part of was Vriak Robinson Advertising. It was a fourteen year partnership with Stephan Vriak that led to one of the biggest advertising agencies in Vancouver. In 1987, Vriak Robinson Advertising merged with Hayhurst Communications Ltd and became Vriak Robinson Hayhurst Communications Ltd.

For Expo 86, Robinson presented the 'Legends of Rock 'n Roll' and brought forty-one rock 'n roll giants to the Expo Theatre. Among those were Fats Domino, Ray Charles, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis and the Righteous Brothers. It was a 13-week series, which is unprecedented for bringing together so many Hall of Fame stars to one venue.

In 1989, Red returned to TV as host of Red's Classic Theatre on Bellingham's KVOS-TV. The show was a long running one, lasting until 2001.

Robinson has met and worked with many major personalities. His recorded interviews top 650 performers! The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland recognized Red Robinson in 1994 and elected him as a pioneer disc jockey. There are only three such honours bestowed on Canadians and 90 overall. In 1997, Red was inducted into the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 2000.

Are you ready? The next six photos are of the renovated 1180 East Hastings! Someone has done a great job!

It was in 1993 that Red started to build his top-rated morning show on 650 CISL/Vancouver and although he 'retired' in 2001, Robinson continued to broadcast his show Sunday mornings.

I have more to tell you on Mr. Red Robinson and I will do so on Friday. Until then, I hope you find the beauty around you.

On a literary note, I have reduced the price on the eBook versions of Mystique Rising and The Bond, A Paranormal Love Story.

Karen Magill, Vancouver, Red Robinson, C-Fun, Rock 'n Roll, British Columbia

Red Robinson

I was watching Global BC the other day and a legend was on. Red Robinson. I decided it was time that I ensured that my readers knew about this local treasure. So, with the help of Wikipedia, BC Radio History and Red Robinson's website, I gathered some information to share. Boy, did I find information!

Robert Gordon Robinson was born on March 30, 1937 in Comox, British Columbia. At some point, he moved to Vancouver and Robinson went to King Edward High School at West 12th and Oak Street. (As you may remember, I have written on the school and a reader had informed me that the school was destroyed in a fire.)

Robert used to call in to radio station CJOR "Theme for Teens" show and do imitations of Jimmy Stewart and Peter Lorre. At the age of 15, Robinson would hang around CJOR in the basement of the Grosvenor Hotel. A young broadcaster by the name of Al Jordan, who was not much older than Robinson, allowed the young man to write scripts for the show. It was 1953 and Jordan could see that the younger man was a natural.

Jordan left the station a year later, moving to Penticton to work for the new station CKOK. Jordan's replacement, Rod Hume, turned out to be a stroke of luck for the young Robinson. One day, not long after Armistice Day, Hume failed to show up for a shift and the station manager, Vic Waters, told the 16-year-old Robinson to show what he could do. That is just what Red did!

Robinson did well and was offered a job which paid $35 a week - thirty dollars less than that which the other, more established DJs, made. For three years, Red could be heard from 3:30 pm to 6:00 pm; 9:00 pm to 9:30 pm and 10:00 pm to 1:00 am. His success grew as he played that new, rockabilly music and he not only garnered the attention of listeners but also from the competition. When the station manager, George Chandler, was approached about giving Robinson a raise, Chandler said, "let him go".

So, Red went to work for the 50,000 watt station, CKWX where manager Frank "Tiny" Elphicke paid the young man a lot more money. And Robinson did what every red blooded Canadian young man would do with an influx of monies. He bought himself his first car - a shiny, red convertible with a mobile radio to do broadcasts. This Ford Fairlane cost Robinson $3100. 

In 1959, Portland and KGW Radio/TV seduced Red with a $22,000 offer and he went south. Red spent two years across the border - six months of those were spent serving in the US Army at Fort Ord. That was the law at the time.

In 1961, Red Robinson came home and went back to CKWX. However, Elphicke had passed away and the station wasn't the same. So, he left there and became program director for C-FUN. He was there for six years and worked with such people as his old friend Al Jordan, Brian Forst, David McCormick, Tom Peacock, Fred Latremouille, Ken Chang, Brian Lord and others. From '64 to '66 were the years that CFUN started to get some real competition from CKLG. 

On a personal note, Red married his wife Carole in 1963.

Anyone who knows me knows that I love stories like this. My older brother once paid an ultimate compliment by telling someone that I was "a rocker chic from a way back" and my novel Mystique Rising is a paranormal adventure that deals with the injustice of music censorship. I love hearing how people like Red Robinson brought the music to our ears.

I have a lot more to tell you about Mr. Red Robinson. After all, this was only one decade! So tune in Wednesday for more!

I hope you find the beauty around you.


Karen Magill, Vancouver, Red Robinson, C-Fun, Rock 'n Roll, British Columbia