CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — One of the most recognizable radio voices on P.E.I. will celebrate a career milestone today.
When Dave Holland sits at the microphone this morning on Ocean 100, it will mark 50 years almost to the day since he got his start on radio.
“It’s hard to believe,’’ Holland said in an interview on Thursday. “It doesn’t seem like 50. I can still remember getting off the train in Newcastle, N.B., in September 1969. I was only 20 years old.’’
The 70-year-old broadcaster was born in Toronto but has lived on P.E.I. since 1972. His first day on the air was on Sept. 29, 1969, just a month after Woodstock and two months after Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. The Vietnam War was still in progress.
A graduate of Career Academy in broadcasting, he worked from September 1969 to July 1970 at CKMR in Newcastle and moved to Campbellton, N.B., where he stayed until April 1972 when he moved to Charlottetown and joined CFCY. He was actually traded to Charlottetown for another announcer, Kirby Ward.
“I think (Campbellton) also got a couple of mikes and maybe, a tape recorder thrown in as well,’’ Holland jokes with a sense of humour that is familiar to all who know him. “Somebody said, ‘You’ve got to go down to the Island, you’re going to love it there. They’ve got beaches’. Obviously, I came down and never left. That was April 1, 1972.’’
When Holland thinks back over the half century of work, he said there are almost too many names to mention when he it comes to people who made an impact on his career — Loman MacAulay, Jim (Jimbo) Cross, Rick Green, J.P. Gaudet, Jim Ferguson, John Eden, former CDP track announcer Ed Watters, former Guardian editor Bill McGuire, station engineer Walter Corney and Frank Lewis, a former station general manager.
“Loman was the first guy I ever met on the Island. Loman was my first program director. Great guy. Learned a lot from, him but you learn a lot from everybody you work with.’’
And, Holland said he never would have got this far without the support of his wife of 39 years, Nancy, or his three children, Jennifer, Jamie and Stephanie.
"You're on the road a lot over the years, not to mention working on holidays and weekends, and (Nancy) was always there to keep things running at home. She always gave me a long leash.''
The medium has certainly changed over time. When he started, radio stations used reel-to-reel tape recorders and played music on cartridges. Then it was records followed by CDs in the 1990s. Today, everything is computerized.
Holland, who spent many of his years on the sports beat, said the highlight of his career would include interviewing hockey legends like Gordie Howe, Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretzky. He wishes he had gotten a chance to interview Muhammad Ali whom he considers the greatest athlete of all time.
When asked who he’d still like to interview, Holland quickly says Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg.
“I think she’s onto something,’’ he said. “The rest of us old people have got to get with the real world and realize things are changing.’’
When asked how long he plans to continue in radio, Holland simply says: “As long as they want me.’’
Big dates:
Dave Holland lists the following as the most memorable days of his 50-year career:
- Sept. 11, 2001
- FLQ crisis in Quebec, Oct. 18, 1970
- Hurricane Juan, September 2003; post-tropical storm Dorian, September 2019
- Bombing of Province House in Charlottetown, 1995
- Two World Series wins by the Toronto Blue Jays, 1992-93
- Tampa Bay winning the Stanley Cup, led by Murray Harbour, P.E.I.’s Brad Richards, 2004
Ocean 100 is planning a big anniversary show in Holland’s honour this morning while Red Shores will recognize the broadcaster with a special pace on Saturday.
