Remembering Rick Howe

Former talk show host Rick Howe, a well-known voice and personality in Halifax radio broadcasting, has died. He was 69. His death was reported Thursday morning on CityNews 95.7, which Howe retired from in 2021. Howe had been battling cancer, which had forced him to retire just short of marking 50 years behind the microphone. This is a conversation with long-time broadcaster and former colleague JC Douglas about the legacy and impact of Rick Howe.

https://www.saltwire.com/halifax/news/former-halifax-broadcaster-rick-howe-dies-at-69-100934471/

Episode Transcript

(00:05):
Over the years, it was thatmusic and the good Morning Nova Scotia that
greeted listeners across the region. RickHowe was a broadcasting icon, a legend
in many ways, and as Ifound out this morning, as many of
you did, he had passed awayat the age of sixty nine after a
long battle with cancer. In fact, it was that diagnosis a few years

(00:28):
ago that led to him hanging upthe headphone, so to speak, just
shy of fifty years behind the microphonehere in Atlantic Canada. I had reached
out to a former colleague of hisfriend, Steve Murphy, you may know
him from CTV, and unable tojoin me to talk directly to Rick how

(00:48):
he did send me this statement,which reads Rick how was an original,
out spoken, often controversial, butnever unkind. In fact, he was
a man of extraordinary good nature,advocated for truth. It was a voice
for justice. You can completely authorwhat you heard was who he was.

(01:08):
He was also a persistent reporter withan act for getting to the heart of
the matter. As Steph Murphy says, I've known Rick since I was sixteen.
He was twenty one. I thoughthe was old. He was forty
seven years He was an early mentorand teacher, and might not have had
the career without his encouragement and guidance. He was a very good man sympathy

(01:30):
to Yvonne and their family, andI wanted to share some of my thoughts,
and I also wanted to hear fromsomeone else who worked closely with Fort
Howe over the years. This isthat conversation. This is my podcast,
This is Thinking out Loud. I'mSheldon mccleopp The things that most people probably

(02:06):
didn't know about Rick how His realfirst name was Eric. His tagline,
if you're not outrage, you're notpaying attention, he borrowed that from the
Raging Grannies. And what was mostsurprising of all is how deep his love
for von went. He called herevery single morning before he went on the
air. And I know a lotof people knew the public persona of Rickau,

(02:30):
but he was a very private man. And J. C. Douglas,
thank you for speaking to me aboutRick. How How long did you
work with Rick? Yes? Andalso the expert don't forget the expos loved
and still has loved the expos.I've seen his bubble head collection. It's
amazing. How long do you probablyabout a dozen years, I think at

(02:51):
the Big Palace when he was workingfor the chum Stations and I was working
with Newcap, but we we workedtogether very closely couple of stories, I'll
get into that. And I gotto know him at a different point of
his career. In fact, heinterviewed me when he was working at CJCCH,
so it was the first time Iever had real contact with him.
Knew him through rt NDA or rtDNA. And then when he and I

(03:15):
were working briefly together at ninety fiveseven around twenty ten, it was after
CJCH had closed, so he wasworking as a reporter very briefly. And
then in twenty fourteen, the companyasked me to fill in for him in
the summer first two week vacation.So that's really when I first got to
meet Rick. How what was yourfirst impression of him? My first impression

(03:38):
of Rick was not good because Ithink before I knew him really as a
professional, I knew him on theice and on the ballfield, and he
was a very competitive baseball player anda tough hockey player. Even though he

(03:59):
was he was like ninety five yearsold at the time, at least he
looked at. He was the onlyone on the c j H team with
gray hair who were gray on thesides anyway, And and I was the
young buck, and he was atough so and so and yeah, but
I mean that's the way he that'sthe way he played, he played the

(04:19):
way he directed news. You know, he was he was tough, and
he was competitive and and later,of course I got to love him for
all that, But at first itwas it was like, I don't know,
like that, oh guy. Sofunny to think back kind of.
And there was rivalry. He asyou mentioned, he was fiercely competitive.

(04:42):
But he had a tremendous love forthe job. For radio. It was
it was his passion. There wasno question about it. Oh my god,
Yeah, it's funny. He showedme a photo one time of him
with tremendously long hair in I thinkit was the Northern New Bruns of radio
stage. Maybe he se c KBCand Bathurst or something like that, as
a black and white photo of himbehind the board as a rock and roll

(05:03):
disc jockey. And I remember bugginghim for air checks and I never did
hear an air check. And Iwould love to have heard Rick Haw on
the air doing the rock and rollthing. One thing, I'll guarantee you
it is somewhere in a box inhis home because he did he was a
self affect pack rat. Uh.And that's yes. I've seen some of
his collections, but it's funny thatthat hasn't come up. But I have

(05:25):
to bug Yvonne at some point inthe future about air checks from from Rick.
He had this. He had awealth of knowledge about a lot of
things, and he had a hugenumber of contacts in the industry. In
fact, he had this this duettank filled with phone numbers and contacted from
it and we we jokingly referred toas the Dead Sea scrolls, and he

(05:46):
held on to that. He wouldgo, I've got that person's phone number.
He was just amazing that way,and he'd remember people's phone numbers.
And one of the things that wasmost surprising I think for for most is
that doing an early morning talk show, he would call people. He wait,
but he'd called people at six o'clockin the morning and say, hey,
will you be ready to come onthe show later today? And you
know, just the dedication of theto the profession. Yeah, he was

(06:08):
incredibly well prepared. And I thinkthat was what one time I saw him
vulnerable, which is one thing youdon't see a lot from Rick Hal,
was when he was considering taking overthe talk show, and I think it
might have been from Brian Phillips atthat point on CJH. And he was
like, I don't know if I'mprepared to handle any discussion of any topic
at any time. And I said, man, I don't. I know

(06:30):
few people more prepared to do thatthan you. And I was glad he
went ahead and did it because thatI was a real you know this this
market needed a host like like yourselfand like Rick Hal on the radio doing
the talk shipping by the way Montrealexpos clock. I thought it just showed
that off as well. He'd bevery proud of me at Montreal Canadians Montreal

(06:51):
look at that. He even hashis switch to I can't wear Canadians stuff.
I'm being a Bruin fan yeh diarhoctwhere the Canadian's paraphernalia. But the
expos Yes, we're good. Oneof the many I guess stories or perspectives
that Rick brought was that he himselfwould say, you never know what is

(07:15):
going to excite people inflame people orencourage them to be a part of the
conversation, and he was so goodat that. In fact, I was
working with him when he decided togo with a one hour talk show every
single day where he would have peoplecalling in and some days it would be
the entire show. And just theway that people responded to him. I
was curious about how you feel becausewe have gone through a transition, we

(07:36):
have seen a change in the mediumand the way that people interact with it.
What does that say to you aboutthe person that Rick hal was.
Well, you know, you mentionedthe outrage line, which I used to
poke him for because I thought theway things are becoming, I think we
need less outrage and more reasoned debate. But he was kind of like,

(07:59):
nah, show biz and uh,And you know I appreciate that, I
really do, and he made itvery It's funny because when I get off
the air and see one hundred anddrive home, I'd always be thinking,
Oh, I'm gonna listen to thenew album by whomever, And I'd always
get stuck listening to his talk showbecause once it was on, and it
was on in the radio, Icouldn't turn it off. It was always

(08:20):
gripping, and yeah, I lovedit when he got feisty. I would
always I'd always text them or emailand say, oh, I love the
outraged ric out Keep keep giving methat outrage rick out. And occasionally I'd
send him other little points and stufflike that, and I'd like, I
would love to hear it weaved intothe conversation in the next ten or fifteen
minutes, and I thought, that'scool. You never credited me, but

(08:41):
it was always fun to hear somethinglike that. But yeah, I think
he was a man of the people. Really. He liked to hear all
sides debated, but it was verygood at making his case for what he
believed in and the man, youknow, he's kind of guy. He
would fight for justice and love thatabout him. You mentioned something that I

(09:03):
did hear from him directly, whatwas It's showbiz first, but the passion
that undercut that, that was thefoundation of everything. He's every single conversation
he had. And he did havea passion for politics, which is you
know, I think in some caseslost on people these days, how much
of a commitment he had to atalking about politics, empowering people and holding

(09:28):
the powerful to account. Yeah.You know, it's interesting because the last
few years when we've visited mostly athis home in down the South Shore,
which they got a he and Yvonnejust picked out a lovely spot right across
from the ocean, and it wasjust a beautiful spot for him to spend
his recovery time. And whenever Ivisit, man, we get it the

(09:52):
longest discussions on politics, and hewas just as feisty and as as passionate
about it as ever, which waswonderful. He never lost that. But
you know, and I was justlistening to him and Steve Murphy talk or
Steve Murphy talk on the on thetalk show a few minutes ago. We
were talking about the Mass Casualty Commission, and that's something that Rick and I

(10:15):
spent a lot of time talking about. And I know he was in touch
a lot with Paul Polango and andand and and he may have had some
influence in that commission actually coming about, which I thought was absolutely fantastic on
his side. I mean that hehe advocated for the families of those victims,
and and and that's the kind ofthing that I mean, you know,

(10:37):
Rick just felt it was would beSo, you know, how could
this province not push to the mdegree. There's never going to be a
hopefully a worse story than that outof this province. So I mean,
the very least he could do wasadvocate for them to to at least get
a commission. I know he wasa little disappointed with its outcome early.

(10:58):
I think in the end his passion. Boy. Here's the story from our
New Cap days. Because there wasa short period of time when the talk
show on c JCH had moved overto seven eighty Kicks Country, the AM
station NEWCAP AM station that I wasprogramming at the time, and this is

(11:18):
two thousand and one, And becauseI think c JH had become the team
team nine to twenty and so therewas no rumor really for a hotline show
on it, a non sports showon it, And so I was his
boss sort And on the day ofnine to eleven, and before his talk

(11:41):
show went to air, which wasI think around noon or one in the
afternoon, at the time, I'dbeen getting a fair amount of pressure,
particularly from the other side of thehall, to watch how in sandiury Rick
show would get that day. Ithink they were nervous that callers would start

(12:03):
talking in racist terms, you know, because that sort of you know,
presented itself that day, and wehad no idea what was going to happen
on nine to eleven. I mean, everybody was like braced because something more
could go down, and they wereafraid that, you know, this would
lead to some kind of turmoil righthere in the city or what have you.

(12:26):
So I took to Rick the decisionthat we weren't going to take any
calls from callers that day. Itwould be a news and information program a
day more so than a caller feedbackand an interactive show. And he was
not happy with me, and that'sthe one thing he held against me for

(12:46):
years and years, And I remembersaying to him at one point, I
don't know five ten years ago,that you know, Rick, I have
to apologize for that day because itwas the wrong decision, absolutely the wrong
decision. I know, you wouldhave handled it professionally and you would have
known exactly where to and how farto go. And the fact that I,
who had no knowledge of the newsbusiness, you know, stop that

(13:11):
from happening. I was. Iwas sorry about that, and he was
very good about it. He didn'tmention. I don't think he mentioned me
by name and mouthed off about that. In his first book, he only
mentioned about us having water gun fightsin the hallway, so that was that
was good. I like that hedid. He did talk about how it

(13:31):
didn't well, it wasn't as muchfun as it was back in the day,
And I think that's a respective alot of people will bring to a
lot of different medium or careers.Is that, you know, when everybody's
on the rise, everybody's trying toget together, and everything's running on all
cylinders, and there was time tohave a bit of fun. It's a
business. Now it's a serious business. But he still took some time to

(13:54):
find the glimmer, the high spotsor the he forever in search of the
best club sand which forever, ohmy god, you know where he What
he introduced to me for clubs andaverages was the Westcliffe Diner on Bears Road
because he loved the floor show ofthe husband and wife who probably still run

(14:18):
the place. And we just squabbledat each other at full volume and sires
you're there for lunch, which Ireally appreciate him doing that. I got
to take other friends there because that'sthat's very entertaining and knowing Rick, it
probably didn't hurt that it's probably oneof the most affordable places in the city.

(14:41):
The money he didn't spend on wardrobe. Yeah, yeah, just just
a good soul. And I don'tknow if if is there a final thing
you want to say, or amemory you have, or perhaps something that
I know. I hate to putyou on the spot, but you been
a long you know. Just uh, it's funny because he he's a private

(15:07):
guy, and uh, I don'tthink so. Yeah, I hear you.
J C. Douglas, thank youfor this. I want just to

(15:31):
Vonne and their extended family all thebest. I will be down before too
long to see those those folks.And yeah, we lost a good one.
Yeah boy, it's been a toughyear so far. Yeah. Absolutely.

(15:52):
My takeaway, and I mentioned thisto someone else in the business this
morning, is that you need tojust follow some of Rick's direction, do
what you'll love for as long asyou can, but don't wait till you
retire to chase your dreams. AndI think he got a lot out of
life. He did, he did, and the end, yeah, I
think he he would. He feelsthat he's lived a good one, so

(16:15):
yeah, absolutely, Jase Douglas,thank you, Thanks Pal, have a
good day. Yes, let's doit. Let's do it again tomorrow.
I hope you'll join the same badtime, same bad channel. For Jennifer
Casey, I'm Rakhal. Have agreat night, and remember, if you're

(16:36):
not outraged, you're not paying attention.