Former Kamloops radio host Stan Bailly dies of complications from COVID-19 at 74

Kamloops, B.C., musician Henry Small has been staying in Florida for holidays with his family, but the recent loss of his longtime friend is adding a layer of sadness to his Christmas.

Stan Bailly, who co-hosted the radio show Hank and Stan In The Morning with Small on Kamloops-based CIFM Radio from 1993 to 2018, died Saturday in hospital at 74 of complications from COVID-19.

The show —  which aired weekdays from 6‒9 a.m., and consisted mostly of music but also some current affairs interviews — could be heard across the Thompson, Shuswap and Fraser Canyon regions, including Kamloops, Clearwater, Barriere, Chase and Lytton. 

The show ended with Bailly's retirement in 2018. Small retired the following year.

Small, a singer-songwriter and rock performer, says he first met Bailly, who was a fan of his music, at a Kamloops nightclub in the late 1980s, shortly after marrying a local woman and moving to Kamloops from Los Angeles.

He says CIFM initially invited him to work with Bailly on several arts-related show segments and eventually assigned him to co-host the morning show. 

Small says he's still grieving after learning of Bailly's death from the family.

"It's very difficult — he was a gift. We were good friends. We had all kinds of fun together on the radio," he said. "Outside of radio, we just became like one person [and] really can't have one without the other.

"I will carry him with me for the rest of my life."

Originally from Kamloops, Bailly started his career in broadcasting in Williams Lake in 1968, the same year he graduated from the Broadcast Communications program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology in Vancouver.

He returned home in 1987 to work with CIFM as a morning radio show host. 

CIFM programming director Cheryl Blackwell, who worked with Bailly for 25 years, remembers him as a man dedicated to radio and music — so dedicated that he once hosted the morning show with a fractured leg before heading to hospital.

"It's hard to imagine how somebody would love radio that much, but he truly did," she said. "He always was willing to go above and beyond for the company and for his co-workers, and he was always up for going out for a drink and just sitting there and talking and having fun."

After retirement, Bailly set up his own business as a DJ at weddings, graduations and other kinds of parties across Kamloops.

Tara Holmes, who once backfilled Bailly as the show co-host while he underwent kidney transplant surgery two decades ago, remembers him as a man full of happiness.

"He was a 14-year-old in a 74-year-old body," she told host Doug Herbert on CBC's Daybreak Kamloops. "You wouldn't come across somebody who ever met Stan that didn't like him … Stan really was one of those people that every single person loved."

Holmes adds that Bailly always smiled even during his four months in the intensive care unit where he passed away from complications due to COVID-19.

LISTEN | CIFM's Tara Holmes remembers former radio host Stan Bailly's legacy

Bailly's daughters, Danielle and Melyssa Bailly, say their dad was fully vaccinated against the virus but died of pneumonia and other organ dysfunctions.

Danielle remembers Bailly as a tolerant father.

"I was a hippie and a travelling gypsy when I was in my early years," she said. "I swear to God it was like 55 times, and he helped without complaining every single time to move all my stuff."

"We weren't the easiest daughters to raise but he never gave us a hard time or made us feel [any less]," Melyssa said.

The sisters say Bailly had said he didn't want a funeral, so they're planning a celebration of life in the spring or summer. 

"I just want him remembered for having fun and loving life," said Danielle. "He just didn't want to have anybody feeling awful. He never judged anybody. He was such a kind human being."