BY HEIDI ULRICHSEN
After nearly 34 years in broadcast journalism, CBC Radio Sudbury veteran Barry Mercer is hanging up his earphones and retiring. His last day at the Mackenzie St. broadcast station is today (Dec. 30).
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Barry Mercer, a familiar voice to CBC Radio listeners in northeastern Ontario, is retiring today. |
?I?ve been with the CBC for long enough, and I?m fried to a crisp. I?ve got nothing more to say. For a radio guy, that?s pretty bad,? he says, laughing.
?I think that it?s time for me to go out the door. I remember my dear old dad saying anybody who had 35 years with one company should be out the door anyway, so that?s what I?m going to do.?
Mercer, 52, was still a student when he was hired by the CBC in 1972 as a summer relief radio announcer in Goose Bay, Nfld. That temporary job eventually morphed into a full-time position.
As a young reporter, Mercer was so excited about his job that his co-workers said he should bring in a bed so he could sleep at the radio station.
He moved to Sudbury in 1985, where he?s worked as the host of Points North, the co-host of the now-defunct program Radio Noon, and most recently, the chase reporter for Morning North.
Mercer is responsible for tracking down at least one guest for the morning show before it goes off the air at 8:37 am. He?ll miss both his colleagues and being on the radio when he leaves.
?I love it. Sometimes you come into the studio in the morning, and you hit the floor running, and there?s a big story breaking,? he says.
?I also like to throw snowballs (during the outdoor weather report) and generally make sure that (Morning North host) Markus Schwabe knows his place in the radio world.?
One of the perks of being a reporter is meeting famous people. Mercer has interviewed celebrities such as Sir Edmund Hillary and Sarah McLachlan.
But he enjoys talking to ordinary people just as much.
?I?ve met people in outport Newfoundland that I just absolutely fell in love with. The CBC afforded me a chance to meet an awful lot of people, and I think I was good at getting them to tell me their stories,? he says.
For the most part, Mercer has avoided major on-air goof-ups. But there was one memorable instance where a good part of Newfoundland heard him sing an Elvis Presley song.
?It was just a matter of my training. I had the microphone open and live, but I just didn?t know it at the time. I was listening in a pair of headphones, and Elvis was doing such a good job that I thought I?d sing along with him.?
The broadcaster has no plans for his retirement beyond painting the interior of his house, ice fishing and spending time with his wife and two university-aged sons.
