Edmonton AM host Mark Connolly retires after 37 years with CBC
Connolly’s CBC career included roles as a sports reporter, news anchor and radio host
Anyone lucky enough to have spent time around Mark Connolly knows the story of how he got his unconventional start at CBC.
Connolly was 14 years old and helping his father, Mike Connolly, with the family janitor business when he first walked through the doors of the old CBC Edmonton building on 75th Street.
Between mopping floors and emptying garbage cans, Connolly got a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the broadcasting business. He thought it looked pretty fun and enrolled in NAIT's radio and television arts program.
It was the beginning of an impressive broadcast career, spanning more than four decades and 37 years working at CBC. After the last 12 years hosting the city's top-rated morning radio program, Edmonton AM, Connolly can turn off his 3:45 a.m. alarm. He retires on July 31.
During his career, Connolly has become the voice of Edmonton, always a passionate supporter of the city and northern Alberta, said Stephanie Coombs, CBC Edmonton's director of journalism and programming.
"Whether he was covering the Olympics, interviewing guests on Edmonton AM or meeting people at community events or live broadcasts, it was always clear that this place, and its people, holds a very special place in his heart," said Coombs. "I know that our listeners felt that with Mark and it's why he connected so well with them."
Connolly never did finish that NAIT degree. He was a few credits short when he got a broadcast job in Fort McMurray, doing play-by-play for the Fort McMurray Oil Barons hockey team, alongside now Senator Rodger Cuzner. Connolly worked in private radio in Fort McMurray, Red Deer and Edmonton before starting a part-time weekend job at CBC Edmonton in 1988.
For his first 22 years at CBC, Connolly was a sports reporter, a job that took him to athletic events around the world. Connolly remembers being in the newsroom and getting a very important phone call that would shape his career. He was going to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
"I was almost speechless," Connolly recalls. "I stood up to take the call. It was just one of those moments in your life that you know everything is going to change."
Connolly covered 12 Olympic Games in his career, calling tennis, sliding sports and cycling. He also covered numerous world championships, the Commonwealth Games and the Pan Am Games.
Olympic bobsledder Helen Upperton remembers Connolly as a journalist who athletes respected and enjoyed talking to. They first met when Upperton was a 22-year-old athlete at the 2004 World Championships in Bavaria.
"I remember him being really knowledgeable about the sport and really passionate about the athletes and amateur sport in general, which I think a lot of people would say about Mark Connolly," Upperton said.
The pair went on to call bobsleigh together during the 2014 and 2018 Olympics. Upperton trusted Mark as a mentor, a friend and a calm presence when things went sideways.
Like the time when Upperton's husband, Jesse Lumsden, was racing in the four-man bobsleigh at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. Hopes were high for team Canada to get on the podium. The men had a solid start in their second heat of the day. They zipped down the track at speeds exceeding 100 km/h when the sled came out of turn 11 slightly wrong and flipped, skidding upside down on the track.
"He [Connolly] reached over and put a hand on my arm because I think he knew I might swear during the broadcast," said Upperton. "I just took a breath. He gave me a second to collect myself and we continued on."
Connolly took the lead during the broadcast and they made it to a commercial break. Connolly turned to Upperton and said, "You did great."
Upperton thought, "No, you did great, thank God you were there."
In between his Olympic adventures, Connolly's leadership and good-humour was a welcome part of the Edmonton newsroom.
Connolly began co-hosting the CBC Edmonton supper-hour news with Portia Clark in 2010. Kate Scroggins, now a senior broadcast producer at The National, was starting her career at this time. Scroggins recalls Connolly's mentorship as she was learning the ropes during her first full-time journalism job.
"Mark has an impressive way of putting those around him at ease and building up his colleagues to bring out their best," Scroggins said. "He's generous with his time, advice and even his things. My father still has a CBC Sports winter jacket that Mark passed on. It made me the star of Christmas gift giving that year."
Connolly's generosity extended beyond his colleagues in the CBC building. He was the face and voice of many fundraisers over the years. He had a passion for charities supporting children and sports, including Kids with Cancer, Free Play for Kids and KidSport, where he served as a board member for six years and still volunteers.
"We are truly grateful to get the opportunity to work alongside such a reliable, generous and kind-hearted volunteer," said Dayna Josdal, executive director of KidSport Edmonton.
"Mark always shows up with big ideas and an even bigger heart. Because of Mark, more than 25,000 kids had the opportunity to grow through the power of sport, regardless of their family's financial circumstances."
Current CBC radio listeners will know Connolly best as the host of Edmonton AM, a job he started in 2013. Almost immediately, Connolly knew this job was a great fit. He loved the intimacy of radio and how invested people were sharing their stories with him.
In his retirement, Connolly will sleep in, play even more golf and spend time with his wife, Alyson, and his two sons.
But Mr. Edmonton will still be a force for good in his hometown. In August, Connolly plans to call the Servus Edmonton Marathon and will host a charity dinner for The Man Van, a mobile men's health clinic run by the Prostate Cancer Centre.
"I'm not going to be sitting in a rocking chair," Connolly said. "I plan to work, but what form that will take, I'm not sure. People will still see me out in the world, doing different things."