Thomas Ranald "Ran" Ide, (February 20, 1919 – October 23, 1996) was a

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 ...

educator and the founding Chairman of

TVOntario TVO Media Education Group (often abbreviated as TVO and stylized on-air as tvo) is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario ...

Biography

Born in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, he received a degree in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

and served in the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

during

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 ...

. Ide first got involved in broadcasting while he was a teenager in Saint John,

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

and had an after school job doing

movie review Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: journalistic criticism that appears regularly in newspapers, magazines and other popular mass-media outl ...

s at a radio station.David Lancashire, "The Godfather who made a network tick", ''Globe and Mail'', June 21, 1979 After the war, he became a high school teacher in

Port Arthur, Ontario Port Arthur was a city in Northern Ontario, Canada, located on Lake Superior. In January 1970, it amalgamated with Fort William and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay. Port Arthur had been the district seat of ...

and eventually became principal of Port Arthur Collegiate Institute and then, in 1965, superintendent of schools in the area. In 1966, he was appointed director of educational television at the Ontario Ministry of Education by then Minister of Education

Bill Davis William Grenville Davis, (July 30, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was a Canadian politician who served as the 18th premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985. Davis was first elected as the member of provincial Parliament for Peel in the 1959 provincia ...

. His unit bought air time from the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

and produced 150 programs in the first year. He helped create the

Ontario Educational Communications Authority TVO (stylized as tvo), formerly known as TVOntario, is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It operates flagship station CICA-DT (channel 19) in To ...

serving as its first chairman from 1970 to 1979. OECA launched its own television station in 1970, CICA, broadcasting from Toronto; by 1979 what had become TVOntario employed a staff of 400 and had transmitters across the province reaching 85% of Ontario's population and 88% of its schools. Ide faced controversy in 1978 when he backed the production of ''The Jesus Trial'', a series in which historical scholars staged a mock trial of Jews for the murder of Christ. The series was acclaimed by theologians and academics but was criticized by the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

archdiocese in Toronto which pressured the provincial government to cancel the series. It aired but, the next year, the government of

cut TVO's budget for the first time. After retiring from TVO in 1979 Ide chaired the federal Department of Communications Research Advisory Board, the Science Council of Canada's Communications board and served as acting vice-president of planning at the

. In 1995, he was made an Officer 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 ...

. He died of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

in 1996. Former Premier Davis delivered a eulogy at Ide's memorial service.William G. Davis, "Nurture TVOntario in founder's memory", ''Toronto Star'', November 20, 1996

References

External links

1919 births 1996 deaths Businesspeople from Ottawa Canadian television executives Ontario civil servants Officers of the Order of Canada Television pioneers TVO executives {{Canada-tv-bio-stub