Walking the Path

I’ve never really thought much about Peter Gzowski. I’m a bit too young for the voice of Canadian morning radio for 30 years. I only knew him as the author of numerous copies of The Morning Side Paper which sat on my uncle’s shelf in London. And those were books I thought “too adult” (IE boring) to read – and I read everything even as a kid.

The only time I ever remember listening to him was on a car trip with my Dad up to Ottawa when I was 17 and going to tour the university where I would eventually do my undergrad degree. I don’t really remember having an opinion on him at all. I just remember turning on the radio and wanting to listen to him because I thought that’s what journalists did and I wanted to be a journalist.

After reading Robert Fulford’s review of a new Gzowksi biography I realize that I missed out on a great personality and like that two-volume biography of Pierre Elliot Trudeau that sits in my box of books unread — somebody I’m going to have to learn about through the printed page.

And that’s sad. I can’t really blame myself for not knowing these things at the time. I was 18 when Gzowski retired from Morning Side and I’ve become a devoted follower of its unfortunate Sunday morning-only successor, The Sunday Edition with Michael Enright, but I still feel a lot like I should have been aware that there was a great voice just a little bit farther up the dial and maybe I should have turned away from the alternative rock station for a few hours each day to enjoy it.

I’ve taken the Trudeau book out of the box now and placed it in my pile as my next book to read. I may have to appreciate Trudeau through the page but at least I can. I’ll be sure to grab the bio of Gzowski when I’m back home in October too.

J.