BY RICK PUSIAK
The local broadcasting and francophone communities have lost a veteran radio announcer who was known in many circles as Sudbury?s on-air gentleman.
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Robert Perreault, pictured with his wife and daughters, was morning man on the French-language radio station for many years. |
Robert Perreault died Monday at the age of 60. He had been battling cancer for some time.
Family and radio were everything to ?Bob? (as he was known to his many anglophone friends).
He had a way of crossing cultural and linguistic boundaries and even if a radio listener couldn?t understand a word he was saying, a certain warmth could be picked up on the airwaves.
Perreault handled literally every job a radio station has to offer during his almost 40-year long career.
Born in Montreal, Perreault was first hired at a broadcasting facility in Ville Marie in northwestern Quebec, not too far from the Tri-Town area.
He was soon hired by the founder of CHNO radio, Baxter Ricard, to work as an announcer at Ricard?s French-language Sudbury station CFBR AM.
Perreault was still with the ship and master of the morning shift when CFBR was sold to Pelmorex, renamed CHYC and moved to 98.9 on the FM dial.
He signed off for the last time about two years ago.
CHYC program director Sylvain Boucher said Perreault wasn?t obsessed with ratings or audience share. He treated everyone he met and all broadcasters as friends ? no matter which station they got their pay cheque from.
Perreault didn?t talk down to listeners or come across as an academic with an ego. He geared his show to the ?average Joe.?
A good example was Perreault?s annual New Year?s Day program that he started 30 years ago.
?He wanted to bring people together on New Year?s,? explained Boucher.
?He started taking calls from people, giving them the microphone and letting them wish happy New Year to whoever they wanted to.?
This year the show was dedicated to his memory, and CHYC has vowed to keep the tradition going.
A 30-minute tribute show for broadcast on CHYC will also be produced in the near future and will include the remembrances of people who knew Perreault.
The well-liked announcer is survived by his wife Denise (nee Lavoie) of Guilletville, and daughters Josee Perreault-Doudard and Isabelle.
A mass of Christian burial was held Thursday morning at St. Marguerite D?Youville Church in Val Therese. Visitation was held Wednesday at the Co-operative Funeral Home on Lasalle Boulevard.
Donations to the Northern Cancer Research Foundation would be appreciated.
