John Edgar Webster, (April 15, 1918 – March 2, 1999) was a Scottish-born

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

journalist, radio, and television personality, regarded as "king of the

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

airwaves" from the 1950s to his retirement, in 1988.

Early life

Webster was born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, the son of a Clydeside ironturner. He left school at age 14 to enter into newspaper businesses as a teenager. He worked in Glasgow and on

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was na ...

. When

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

broke out, Webster joined the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

and rose to the rank of

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

, with most of his six years' service spent in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

Media career

After the war, Webster immigrated to Canada. He covered the labour beat for the ''

Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published s ...

'' newspaper. In 1953, he began to work on commercial radio in the

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

format, which had its origins in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

before it spread to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Webster made his mark broadcasting shorthand transcripts of testimony during a probe into corruption on Vancouver's police force. His City Mike show on CJOR achieved some fame covering the issue. He left CJOR and moved his show to

CKNW CKNW is a news/talk formatted radio station in Vancouver, British Columbia, owned by Corus Entertainment. It broadcasts on an assigned frequency of AM 980 kHz, and is unusual in that it is a 50,000-watt, Class A station broadcasting on a region ...

. In the 1960s, he had 186,000 daily listeners and a $100,000 salary. In 1963, prisoners at the BC Penitentiary were foiled in an escape attempt and took hostages. At the prisoners' request, Webster acted as a mediator between hostage-holding prisoners and the authorities and helped resolve the stand-off. In 1972,

Jim Pattison James Allen Pattison (born October 1, 1928) is a Canadian business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he holds the position of chief executive officer, chairman and sole owner of the Jim Pa ...

lured Webster back to CJOR. Then in 1979, at the age of 60, Webster moved his radio show to television, where his familiar expression '9 am prrre-cisely' became his trademark. His hour-long TV interview program ''Webster!'', which was seen weekdays at 9 am on BCTV and then-sister

CHEK-TV CHEK-DT (channel 6) is an independent television station in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, serving Vancouver Island and Greater Vancouver. The station is owned by the CHEK Media Group, a consortium made up of station employees and local in ...

and from 1986, at 5pm proceeding the nightly news hour on BCTV, frequently dealt with British Columbia politics. Shortly after the final BCTV show aired in April 1987, Webster and the TV station donated the videos for all nine years of his shows to the BC Archives. In 1990, Webster joined the long-running CBC TV program

Front Page Challenge ''Front Page Challenge'' was a Canadian panel game about current events and history. Created by comedy writer/performer John Aylesworth (of the comedy team of Frank Peppiatt and John Aylesworth) and produced and aired by CBC Television, the se ...

as its permanent fourth panelist until the show's cancellation in 1995.

Recognition

In 1987, he was inducted into the Canadian News Hall of Fame. In 1988, he was made a Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

. In 2017, the 150th anniversary of Canada, Webster was profiled in Vancouver newspapers as one of the most notable 150 British Columbians.

Jack Webster Foundation

In 1986, more than 1000 people attended a salute to Webster upon his retirement. This event resulted in the creation of the Jack Webster FoundationJack Webster Foundation
/ref> to promote and honour excellence in journalism in British Columbia. Each year, journalists judged to have outstanding work receive a Jack Webster Award (known as a "Webster"), a glass statue and a cash prize that has become the hallmark of journalistic excellence in British Columbia. The awards have grown from a single "Reporter of the Year" in 1987 to thirteen awards today for best news, best feature and best community news reporting (print, radio, and TV awards in each of the three categories) as well as recognition for excellence in the categories of business reporting, science reporting, commentary, legal journalism, Chinese-language news, and the

Bruce Hutchison William Bruce Hutchison, (5 June 1901– 14 September 1992) was a Canadian writer and journalist. Born in Prescott, Ontario, Canada, Hutchison was educated in public schools in Victoria, British Columbia. He married Dorothy Kidd McDiarmid ...

Lifetime Achievement Award. The Foundation also awards fellowships and six annual student reporting awards.

Works

* 1990 - ''Webster!: An Autobiography''

References

External links

The Jack Webster Foundation

Webster! 279 videos of his broadcasts from Royal BC Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Webster, Jack 1918 births 1999 deaths British Army personnel of World War II Canadian columnists Canadian political journalists Canadian talk radio hosts Canadian television talk show hosts Journalists from British Columbia Members of the Order of Canada Journalists from Glasgow People from Vancouver People with Alzheimer's disease Politics of British Columbia Scottish emigrants to Canada Vancouver Sun people British Army officers Canadian Screen Award winning journalists