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The Sunday Magazine·THE SUNDAY EDITION

Remembering Peter Gzowski's Morningside, which went off the air 20 years ago this week

Over his 15 years as host of the much-loved radio program Morningside, Peter Gzowski talked to powerful politicians, artists and pundits, and people with passions - moose-calling, jam-making, even shirt-ironing. The program was unabashedly, un-apologetically, unmistakably Canadian.
CBC Radio ·
Peter Gzowski at the Morningside microphone. (CBC Still Photo Collection)

Twenty years ago this week, one of CBC Radio's best-loved programs signed off for the last time.

Peter Gzowski chose Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan for the finale of Morningside, which aired on May 30th, 1997.

Over the course of his 15 years as host, Peter did not shy away from controversial issues. But he also introduced us to people who did not have a home on any other radio program: a military captain on the proper technique for ironing a shirt, a woman who was a champion moose caller, and a child who talked candidly about the challenges of living in two houses because her parents had split custody. 

There was a cliché in Radioland that Morningside stitched the country together. That may be why it was parodied from time to time. But it is also why it was loved. It was unabashedly, unapologetically, unmistakeably Canadian.

Sunday Edition producer Talin Vartanian, who was a producer on Morningside for nine years, created this audio portrait of the Gzowski years.

Click 'listen' above to hear the tribute. 

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