Red Robinson
Dr. Robert "Red" Robinson OBC (born March 30, 1937 in Comox, British Columbia) is a Canadian disc jockey. He was the first disc jockey to play rock and roll music, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Early years. While still in high school in 1954, Robinson started working as a disc jockey at the age of 16 at radio station CJOR. His first record 'spun' as a professional DJ was "Marie" by The Four Tunes. He was one of the first DJs to play Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, and other Rock and Roll artists on a regular basis in Canada . In 1956, he won the Disc Jockey of the Northwest award from the "Province" newspaper in an audience poll, and he appeared frequently as guest host on the CBC Television network program "Cross Canada Hit Parade." Career. Robinson was emcee for the Bill Haley & The Comets 1956 appearance at Kerrisdale Arena, the Elvis Presley show at Empire Stadium in Vancouver in 1957 and for the Beatles in 1964. He also became the program director of two Vancouver radio stations, CFUN from 1962 to 1968 and CJOR from 1968 to 1970. Over the years, he worked at many radio and TV  stations in Vancouver and Portland, including CKWX, KGW, KGW-TV, CFUN, and the CBC, CISL (twice) as well as CFUN-FM. He also served in the United States Army until his honourable discharge. He has co-authored two books, "Rockbound" and "Backstage Vancouver." "Rockbound" is his personal accounts of early rock and roll. "Backstage Vancouver" looks at the rich history of entertainment in Vancouver. Robinson hosted the first television quiz show dedicated to trivia, titled "Trivia," on Vancouver CBC Television station CBUT for three years. This show inspired three panelists to create Trivial Pursuit. The name Trivia as applied to  a board game had already been copyrighted by Red and his business partner Jan Nablo. From 1976 to 1996, he hosted the annual "Timmy's Christmas Telethon" for the B.C. Lions Society for Children with Disabilities on a regional network of CBC affiliates in British Columbia, which helped raise over $75 million during his tenure as host. He hosted "Red's Classic Theatre" each Sunday at 9 p.m. for over 12 years on KVOS-TV. The program was broadcast from Vancouver to Seattle. On his program, he interviewed Tony Curtis, Charlton Heston, Debbie Reynolds, Mickey Rooney and others. In  total he hosted 618 shows. In 1995, Robinson and a host of pioneer deejays were feted at the opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. He was one of a select group elected by his peers in radio and records. As emcee of The Beatles' 8/22/1964 concert at the Empire Stadium in Vancouver, he came on the stage during The Beatles portion of the concert and interrupted the show at the behest of Brian Epstein because the crowd was getting too close to the stage. Red was going to make an announcement but before he  could, John Lennon told him to “Get the f**k off our stage.” Robinson was a feature writer for 20 years for Vancouver entertainment and television listings magazine "TV Week". He was also a partner in the Vancouver advertising agency Vrlak-Robinson. The agency had over $35 million worth of accounts when Robinson retired from the agency business. He had previously worked in the advertising industry in 1967, but when asked to move to CJOR, Jim Pattison insisted that he sell off his business and dedicated his energies to the radio station. At that time, Robinson had become the first  agency for McDonald's restaurants first entry into Canada. He became the first agency for the food chain and created their first regional commercial and appeared in it. Playwright Dean Regan wrote a play about Robinson's early days in rock and roll and titled it "Red Rock Diner." It played for a significant run twice in Vancouver as well as in Toronto and Kansas City, plus myriad other cities in Canada. Robinson was emcee at the Michael Bublé wedding reception held in Vancouver. The prestigious affair was attended by David Foster, Jann Arden, and Russell Peters. Red's definitive  biography "Red Robinson: The Last Deejay" by Robin Brunet was published in October 2016 by Harbour Publishing. Red Robinson retired from radio on August 27, 2017. Guests on his final CISL-AM show: longtime friends Bruce Allen and Pat O'Day. Robin Brunet's second book "Red Robinson: The Last Broadcast" was published in November 2019 by Friesen Press. The final show audio is archived at Red Robinson's Legends on Spotify (link below).