Author: Vancouver History

January 1 Norm Grohmann got into radio at CHWK in Chilliwack in the 1950s, and joined CKNW today. For four decades he cut a goofy swath through local radio in a range of voices, culminating in a daily bit with NW’s morning man, Brian ‘Frosty’ Forst, where he played a vast variety of people—none of them normal, all of them loud and funny—discussing the weather.

January 6 Frank (Francis James) Burd, newspaper publisher, died in Vancouver, one day short of his 92nd birthday. “He was born,” writes Constance Brissenden, “January 7, 1870, in Muskegon, Michigan.

January 2 The Ubyssey, the student newspaper at UBC, was named the best college newspaper in Canada. Editor Keith Bradbury accepted an award from the Canadian University Press organization. Later in 1963 Bradbury will publish an exposé on undercover RCMP agents spying on student political groups.

January 26 Actor Paul Johansson was born in Vancouver. He made a TV commercial sensation a few years ago as a hunky Coca-Cola delivery guy bringing a load of Coke into an office full of panting ladies.

January 11 A newspaper called the Vancouver Times appeared, with retired general Victor Odlum as publisher. The paper had a very short life.