Glad Klassen Voiceovers

09/10/2025

She was my inspiration in my early years of broadcasting. 🎙️
…now these decades later, I find myself living in the same neighborhood where Barbara grew up.

Barbara Frum was one of the most respected journalists in Canadian history.
So well-known, she was parodied on many shows including CODCO, The Raccoons and Canadian Sesame Street.
Three decades after her death, she is still revered by many.
This is her story.

Barbara Frum was born in Niagara Falls on Sept. 8, 1937. In high school, she served on student council. She then went on to study history at the University of Toronto.
After she graduated, Frum started to do volunteer work and write for the Toronto Star as a freelancer.

In 1971, she began to host As It Happens on CBC Radio. Her skills as an interviewer made her one of Canada's most popular journalists. She hosted the show until 1981. Frum also hosted the TV talk show, The Barbara Frum Show, on CBC TV from 1974 to 1975.

On July 11, 1982, Frum began to co-host The Journal with Mary Lou Finlay. The show included short documentaries, science news, sports stories and interviews. Frum's skills as an interviewer were seen when she spoke to high profile individuals like Nelson Mandela.

On The Journal, Frum became one of the most famous journalists in Canada. That fame led to parodies. On CODCO, Greg Malone portrayed her by using the catchphrase "But are you bitter?". Frum and Malone (dressed as Frum) later presented a Gemini Award together.

She was famous enough to be parodied on children's TV as well. On The Raccoons, she portrayed a version of herself called Barbara LaFrum who interviewed Cyril Sneer. The Muppet Barbara Plum, who hosted The Notebook on Canadian Sesame Street, was also inspired by Frum.

In her career, she was awarded four ACTRA Awards, the National Press Club of Canada Award for Outstanding Contribution to Canadian Journalism and the Order of Canada.
Canada was shocked when on March 26, 1992, she died of leukemia. She was first diagnosed in 1974.

The day she died, nearly the entire broadcasts of The National and The Journal were devoted to looking at her life and career. Since her death, she has been heavily honoured. The atrium of CBC's building in Toronto is named the Barbara Frum Atrium in honour of her life.

A branch of the Toronto Public Library carries her name. Due to her love of gardening, the Barbara Frum Day Lily was named for her. She was featured on a stamp from Canada Post in 1999.
In 2022, she was inducted into the Canada's Walk of Fame.

I hope you enjoyed that look at the life of Barbara Frum.

If you enjoy my Canadian history content, you can support my work with a donation at 👇
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/craigu

Sources:

Canadian Encyclopedia: https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/barbara-frum
Mount Pleasant Group: https://www.mountpleasantgroup.com/en-CA/General-Information/Our-Monthly-Story/story-archives/york-cemetery/Barbara-Frum.aspx
Jewish Women's Archive: https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/frum-barbara
Canada's Walk of Fame: https://www.canadaswalkoffame.com/inductee/barbara-frum

09/09/2025

Read it slowly.

08/19/2025

08/15/2025

✨👣✨

08/10/2025

08/09/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/15w9iibp6y/

Just 2 of the 400+ voices created by the brilliant Mel Blanc.

07/29/2025

When CJOH-TV first went on the air in March of 1961, the new station's on-air team included a young man by the name of Peter Jennings, co-producing and conducting interviews for the station's late night news program.

Producers, recognizing Peter's handsome youthfulness, soon enlisted Jennings as host of a program called "Club Thirteen", a dance show imitating Dick Clark's "American Bandstand".

Peter Jennings, born July 29, 1938 — 87 years ago today — was son of prominent CBC radio broadcaster Charles Jennings, who had moved the Jennings family to Ottawa when the CBC transferred him here in the early 1950s.

Peter struggled academically during his brief tenures at Lisgar Collegiate, Carleton University and the University of Ottawa. Jennings confessed that he was always bored with school. "I loved girls. I loved comic books. And for reasons I don't understand, I was pretty lazy".

Peter's first job was as a bank teller for the Royal Bank of Canada, who transferred him to Prescott and then to Brockville. where Peter joined the news department of CFJR radio, at the age of 21.

After a year back in Ottawa at CJOH-TV, the fledgling CTV network hired the 24-year old Jennings as co-anchor of its late-night national newscast.

While reporting for CTV, Jennings was the first Canadian journalist to arrive in Dallas after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963.

In 1964, Jennings was sent by CTV to cover the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It was here that Jennings was offered the job of correspondent with ABC News.

In 1965, Jennings was appointed the anchor for ABC's nightly newscast at age 26, the youngest-ever U.S. network news anchor, a record that still stands today.

Peter Jennings remained with ABC news until 2005 and passed away that year from lung cancer at the age of 67.

Jennings' numerous honours included 16 Emmys, two Peabody awards and the Edward R. Murrow lifetime achievement award.

A week before his death, Jennings was notified of his induction into the Order of Canada, an honour his daughter came north a few months later to accept on his behalf.