West Coast Chapter

Tony Tighe, Radio Broadcasting ’79

I’ll never forget the day in August 1976 that changed my life.

My parents had just been transferred from St. John’s, Newfoundland to CFB Trenton. I was 19 and, after finishing my semester at University in St. John’s, I joined the family in Trenton. At my mother’s urging (isn’t that always the case) I drove to Loyalist College and asked about enrolling. I hadn’t even read the course calendar until I was sitting in the registrar’s office. I flipped to Radio Broadcasting. Suddenly the On-Air light clicked and I said, "I know how to do that." While my dad was stationed in Kapuskasing, Ontario, the high school had a radio club and I spent two years doing a school radio show once a week. I didn’t realize you could go to school to learn broadcasting so I walked upstairs to meet Brian Olney and after a short interview he said, "I’ve got one opening left in the class. It’s yours if you want it." So began my career in broadcasting.

I made the volleyball team and got involved with the outdoor education program. I actually helped Greg Gavin (Loyalist’s Director of Athletics) promote the program by producing a slide show with music about our canoe trips to Algonquin Park. (Don’t ask about running the van off the road.) In a short time, I landed a part-time weekend job at CKWS in Kingston. For the next year-and-a-half, I hitch-hiked, took the bus, got rides with friends (Rose and her little Mustang) and eventually drove myself to and from Kingston every weekend. Now that I had some money, I also hooked up with a couple of roommates and moved into a new apartment building being built on Palmer Road. A lot of students moved in there and it became quite the party place. After the first year of college, I landed a summer job with the grounds-keeping crew at Loyalist, while still working weekends in Kingston. Yes, many of the trees and shrubs and a lot of the grass got their start with my hands. During my second semester, a job opening came up at CJBQ in Belleville and News Director, Mike Beaston gave me a chance. Oh, there were a few hiccups as I juggled my new job with trying to finish college and my very active social life. However with Brian Olney’s help, I was able to finish the program and received my diploma.

In August of 1979 I applied to some radio stations in the West, and accepted a job in Cranbrook, B.C. I packed up my 1974 Maverick and Randy Quinn and I (he was a DJ on CJBQ) headed west, stopping at towns along the way where Loyalist radio grads were working. Cranbrook is where I met my wife Anita and we had our first child, Mike. In 1983 it was on to Penticton, B.C. and then on to CFCN Radio in Calgary in 1985. I worked in radio until 1989, winning several RTNDA awards and a National Radio award (Nellie) for investigative and feature reporting. Then there was a job opening upstairs in a TV station and I worked at CTV Calgary until 1999, developing the position of a full-time consumer investigator and eventually anchoring the weekend news. In 1992 my wife had a second child, Breanne. I crossed the street to join Channel 7, now Global TV, and continued my consumer reporting until I became the co-anchor of the evening news until 2005. I returned to consumer reporting and still fill in as anchor when needed.

I am very involved with several literacy-based charities in Calgary. I help organizations like Literacy Alberta and Calgary Reads develop communications and PR programs. I read for Voiceprint, a national reading service for the blind and visually impaired and I am a tutor with a grade one student in the Calgary Public Library, Read with Me program. I read and write for a living and it’s my way of giving something back.

I have recently re-connected with the Alumni Association and I will be running a Western Alumni Chapter. I look at it as an opportunity to trade stories and connect with people you haven’t seen in a while – and of course help new grads with job opportunities in the west. I will also be a contact for any grads looking for jobs in broadcasting. I still keep in touch with old friends and classmates and I continue to meet other Loyalist grads regularly. It’s been 30 years since I first pulled up to Loyalist and got the last opening in the radio class. To this day, my time at Loyalist is a highlight in my life and I wouldn’t be where I am without it.

Western alumni members interested in becoming involved can contact Tony at ttighe@globaltv.com or by phone at 403-235-7795.