Features
Former CBC TV host Reg Sherren tells of his time with the mother corp.
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By MARTIN ZEILIG
For “a freckle-faced, red-headed kid growing up in small-town Western Labrador,” who sort of stumbled into his profession, former CBC reporter Reg Sherren sure made a name for himself.
He ended up travelling the world and telling stores for CBC’s flagship news program, The National, as well as hosting the popular TV program, Country Canada.
“That plan certainly wasn’t part of any plan I was aware of,” he writes in this entertaining, insightful—in a number of ways – and anecdote laden memoir: “That Wasn’t the Plan: A memoir by Reg Sherren”
But, then life so often turns out that way. Physicists might even say it is due to the randomness of existence. Others would call it fate.
Reg Sherren is a popular commentator, writer and freelance producer. A two-time Gemini and Canadian Screen Award nominee, Sherren has also been the recipient of numerous journalism awards from the New York and Columbus international film and video festivals, as well as the Radio-Television Directors’ Association, says his brief bio. He lives in Winnipeg.
Sherren got his first job at age 15 as an announcer on a radio station in his home town, where his father was one of the iron-ore mine managers. It was the same station that, as he writes, “offered the ability to escape,” because radio stations from “faraway places would find their way skipping across the Labrador sky: CFGO Ottawa, WOR New York or WBZ Boston.”
He had absolutely zero training for the job.
“For my first show I was given some very brief instruction by the fellow on the air before me, a guy who called himself Buffalo Bill Cody,” the author writes. “He looked the part like Wild Bill Hickok with his long hair, moustache, cowboy hat and fringe jacket.”
Being on the air was only one of the teenager’s duties. He also had to make sure all the garbage cans were clean for Monday morning, and change the paper on the teletype machine.
It was a good training ground, or at least an introduction, for the future broadcast journalist.
After graduating from high school, Sherren studied journalism at Canadore College in North Bay.
“It was a fabulous place to learn,” the author says.
Sherren started out his professional career as the main television news anchor at CKPR-TV in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
“Four years flew by as I honed my craft, even eventually making a little more money, and I landed my first byline—my name on a network radio report on forest fires in Northwestern Ontario, pounding out on teletypes across the system,” he writes.
Thunder Bay was also the place where he met “my beautiful future wife, Pamela Tennant” – the weekend anchor at CKPR and a daily reporter.
“She left before me, taking a reporting gig with CTV Edmonton,” Sherren says. “Not long afterwards, I chased her west, landing a job at CBC Calgary.”
Over the years, Sherren would cover stories that “crisscrossed” Canada. He also did everything from guest hosting network radio shows like Cross Country Checkup to reporting from war zones.
He found so much history, so many characters and so many stories to tell throughout his varied career with CBC.
Among the many vivid “behind-the scenes” stories Sherren shares are about riding on the back of a humpback whale; a journey down “the world’s longest ice road” in a solar-powered car, visiting Nagaski, Japan with a former Canadian solider, John Ford, who was a Japanese prisoner of war during the Second World War and who had lived through the second atomic bomb ever dropped in wartime—in Nagasaki; doing an item for a Remembrance Day (November 11) special on The National on Nichola Goddard, a Captain in the Canadian Armed Forces, who was the first Canadian women to be killed in combat (during a tour of duty in Afghanistan); researching a story about First World War hero Francis Pegahmagabow, the most highly decorated Aboriginal soldier in Canadian history; interviewing Roberta Bondar, the first Canadian woman in space; and much more.
Sherren writes that he had a “long-standing commitment to chronicling our country’s military service.”
He also praises many of his colleagues and other fellow workers at the CBC, such as local television producer Cecil Rosner, for their support and creative initiatives over the years.
His modus operandi never wavered: “When approaching people to do interviews, to let you in, you must be 1) professional, 2) truthful and, above all, 3) respectful. I never lie or try to fudge what the call is about.”
Sherren left the CBC, after some four decades as one of their top journalists, at the end of December 2017.
He writes that he misses the idea of the CBC, “but then, I had been missing that for some time before I left. What leaving has empowered me to do is share a few observations about the state of public broadcasting in this country.”
Sherren maintains that CBC stories are more urban based, and the country isn’t being reflected like it used to be on the TV, the internet or even the radio.
“People pay their taxes,” he writes. “Their taxes pay for the CBC.”
He recommends, among other things, that CBC.ca should decommercialize. He suggest that instead of selling advertising, set up a news wire service like Reuters or CP to help the privates survive, or at least transition.
Sherren also calls on the CBC “to be the champion of maintaining diversity of voices in all broadcasting/media communities, not playing a role in their demise. And it should seriously think about ending relationships with entities like Facebook.
“Take chances. Don’t be afraid of failure. Give the future a chance. Develop shows from the inside. Be the CBC.”
Some of his suggestions, especially maintaining diversity, seem to be happening now in the CBC.
“The CBC helped me grow as a journalist and as a human being,” Sherren says. “It gave me and my family a wonderful life and allowed me to travel the world to bring you stories. Together we explored everything from the best to the worst that Canadians, as a group of people on this planet, have to offer. For that I will be eternally grateful.”
That’s a pretty good journey for a wide-eyed, ambitious and talented fellow from Wabush.
That Wasn’t the Plan: A memoir by Reg Sherren
Published by Douglas & McIntyre
350 pg.
Features
Musings from Dizengoff Street – by Bruce Brown
(August 8, 2026)
Outside Basimta Café in Central Jerusalem. Love the red shirt against a tiny sea of black. Not sure I am shrugging because of the ultra-orthodox uproar over a Jerusalem café operating on Shabbat or the lack of an ultra-orthodox uproar over a Jerusalem café operating on Shabbat. For the last six weeks Israeli headlines shouted about the cafe chaos. With the ultra-religious blocking entrances and storming the café. While shouting ‘Shabbos! Shabbos!’ Upsetting the secular amongst us just wanting to enjoy our Saturday iced matchas. So the wife and I thought we would check it out. And. Yes. Buy something to support the business. Uproar. Not. Blocked entrances. Not. Storming the café. Not. Albeit there were police barriers separating the devout protesters from the coffee drinkers. The protesters being just a few dozen black clad, pious Jews. Mostly teenagers. And yes. Shouting ‘Shabbos! Shabbos!’ Certainly underwhelming in its reported mayhem. Reminds me of the famous saying misattributed to Mark Twain – “If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you do, you’re misinformed.” But I did enjoy my iced matcha.
(August 6, 2026)
Here we go again. Another round of forever negotiations. As someone who negotiates for a living. The way things are going in the straits. If I had to recommend a book on the subject to a new hire. Between The Art of the Deal, A Presidential Edition by Donald J. Trump or The Real Art of the Deal by the Mullahs of Iran with a special forward by the IRGC. Well. I would choose the latter.
(August 3)
Bravo Yoav Segalovitz, Liberal Yesh Atid MK and Monsour Abbas, United Arab Ra’am MK and party head. For breaking a glass ceiling where a Jewish lawmaker joins an Arab political party. No less a political earthquake in my little shtetl. Which can significantly impact coalition block arithmetic and posturing and strategy in the upcoming elections. Now Ra’am can be considered a legitimate ‘Zionist’ partner when forming coalition blocks and potentially pushing the ‘center left/right’ party over the 60 seat majority threshold. In our crazy parliamentary democracy defined by a multi-party (about fourteen!!), proportional representation system. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, Israel’s proportional representation model of governance is the best parliamentary democracy system except for all other forms of working democracies. Stay tuned for more amateurish political musings as we move towards Israel’s 26th national election – five of them held since 2019.
(August 1)
Although both sides say they are open to diplomacy. Neither really trusts the other. And American military action, or its threat, continues. I read headlines in the middle of the night -it’s a nervous habit lately– that the Dynamic Duo of Trump and Netanyahu may again strike in unison. Possibly this weekend. Yikes! Prompting me, at 2:30 AM, to dash around the house stocking my safe room. Bottled water. Canned food. Medicines. Documents. The beat goes on….
If it’s crazy here. It’s insane in Italy. With a recent online ‘Jew Hunt’ in the Milan area. Before being removed, the digital forms urged reportings of Israelis and Italian Jews staying in local hotels. The infamous Global Sumud Movement -yes, the one coordinating ‘peace and humanitarian’ flotillas to Gaza- was somehow connected. Although they deny involvement?! This deranged decree was looking to identify Zionist tourism and Zionist neo-colonization in Italy. I’ll stick with stocking the saferoom.
Then there’s New York Mayor Mamdani, a Global Sumud Movement supporter, threatening to arrest Prime Minister Netanyahu if he comes to New York. But since discovered he has no legal right for such a grandstanding, antisemitic, anti-Israel, anti-Western, anti-democratic antic. Maybe Mandami should be arrested! Or at least impeached. For being a grandstanding, antisemitic, anti-Israel, anti-Western, anti-democratic mayor.
Here’s a post Bruce sent us Friday, July 31:
WARTIME MUSINGS
Should credible threats against FLOTUS and ‘FSOTUS’ (first son..) not be justification to attack first.
As for yesterday’s summit. Netanyahu really can’t win. Explainer. If Trump now attacks without victory its ’cause of Netanyahu. If Trump now attacks with victory its ’cause of Trump. And, in Israel, if Trump doesn’t attack -victory or not- Netanyahu failed in his eighth meeting with Trump. And if Trump does attack -victory or not- half the country will vilify Bibi anyway. Missing a permutation?
Ya. I know. Kinda’ need a definition of victory for that musing to work.
And here in my little shtetle. We go to sleep unsure if there will be a code red in the middle of the night. And if not. We wake up thinking it will be tonight. How do you define stress?
Seemed like an appropriate way to end this musing.
Bruce Brown is a former Winnipegger who made aliyah to Israel over 35 years ago. Bruce first began writing for us – in his own inimitable style, in 2012, during what was known as “Operation Pillar of Defense.” His occasional musings on aspects of life in Israel that were far from what you’d typically read in other reports from Israel were hugely popular – both in the print Jewish Post & News and on this website.
We’re now glad to report that Bruce is back writing for us – this time on a regular basis. We will post Bruce’s reports as they arrive – with the date of each post at the beginning of that post.
Here’s some information about Bruce – and awards he’s received for his writing:
Bruce Brown. Canadian born. Now living in Israel (for a long time). Bruce works in Israel’s hi-tech sector by day and, in spurts, is a somewhat inspired writer by night. He received the American Jewish Press Association’s award for writing excellence in 2019 and 2025. And wrote the 1998 satire, “An Israeli is….” Bruce’s musings are political, social, economic and personal. With lots of biting, contrarian, sardonic and irreverent insight.
Features
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Features
Israel pavilion ambassadors – then and now
By BERNIE BELLAN Given that Folklorama is on again and the Israel pavilion – Shalom Square, is in full swing, I thought it timely to resurrect an article I first posted to this website in August 2023.
But before reading that article, I wanted you to see who this year’s ambassadors are for Shalom Square:
It was back in 2023, however, that I set out to answer a question that I had asked our readers to help answer: Where was the very first Israel pavilion located? Some readers had thought it was the Golden Age Club, which used to be located on Pritchard and Salter. But others weren’t so sure. Here then is what I wrote back in August 2023 – when, with the help of a librarian at the Winnipeg Public Library, I was able to solve the riddle of where the first Israel pavilion was located:
It was earlier in August 2023 that I had raised a number of questions about the history of the Israel pavilion at Folklorama.
Among those questions were: Where was the first Israel pavilion located and when did the Israel pavilion actually become a permanent fixture in the YMHA on Hargrave (before moving to its current home in the Asper Campus)?
As part of my search for answers to those questions I turned to David Cohen, who had long been the coordinator of the Israel pavilion when it was located on Hargrave, but who didn’t step into that role until 1975.
David thought that the Israel pavilion hadn’t moved to Hargrave until 1974, but he wasn’t sure where the first Israel pavilion had been located.
I tried to find information using the Winnipeg Public Library online digital archive. In case you didn’t know, anyone with a library card can access the library’s online archive. You can also have access to newspaperarchive.com through the library’s digital archive. Newspaperarchive.com is an invaluable reference tool for journalists especially – or anyone wanting to access old newspaper archives, for that matter, but ordinarily you would need a subscription to newspaperarchive.com in order to use it. For some reason, however, the search function in the Winnipeg Public Library’s digital search engine didn’t produce results when I entered the word “Folklorama.”
As a result I called the Winnipeg Public Library for assistance and received great help from someone by the name of Louis-Phillipe. After taking my information, Louis-Phillipe phoned me to say that he had found out that the library had compiled a file of press clippings related to Folklorama going back to the very first year, 1970.
Further, Louis-Phillipe said, he had found a list of the 22 pavilions in that first year of Folklorama, along with where they were located. It turns out that the Israel pavilion was actually located in two different venues that first year: the Rosh Pina and the Shaarey Zedek.
The next day I also heard from reader Phyllis Dana, who confirmed that the Israel Pavilion had been in both synagogues. Phyllis also remembered that the only food served that first year was honey cake.
But the pièce de resistance came when I heard from reader Marilyn Breitman (née Stitz), who now lives in Calgary, when she phoned me on Monday, August 21 (which is when she received the August 16 issue of the paper with my story about Folklorama).
Marilyn told me that, not only did she remember that the first Israel pavilion alternated between the Rosh Pina and the Shaarey Zedek, she had actually been the female representative of the Israel pavilion that first year. Her title, Marilyn said, was simply “Jewish.”
But, as you might also recall, the entire confusion over where the first Israel pavilion was located began with an email I had received from Roz Greenfeld, who had written to correct my mistake when I had written in the August 2 issue that the Israel pavilion had been located in the YMHA from the very beginning.
Roz pointed out that, in 1971, the second year of Folklorama, the Israel pavilion was located in “Council House” or, as it was better known, “The Golden Age Club,” on Pritchard and Salter. How did she remember that? Roz was the female representative of the pavilion that year. Her title, as I found out was “Miss Judea,” she said.
So, if the Israel pavilion was located at both the Rosh Pina and Shaarey Zedek in that first year of Folkorama, and in the Golden Age Club that second year, where was it after that?
It was left to Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada archivist Andrew Morrison to come up with the answer to that question. Andrew informed me that the Israel pavilion did indeed move to the YMHA in 1972 and remained there for the next 25 years, until it moved to the Asper Campus in 1997.
There was a further footnote to the story, which is when I decided to try my luck with the Winnipeg Public Library’s online archive one more time. This time, rather than searching for “Folklorama,” I tried searching for old copies of both the Free Press and the Tribune from August 1970. I did manage to get results for the Tribune and when I entered a specific search within the Tribune I found a picture of all the famale representatives of pavilions – in bathing suits.
It turned out – and this was corroborated by both Marilyn Breitman and Roz Greenfeld, the female representatives had to parade in unison – in bathing suits, as part of Folklorama festivities. Each year, as well, a queen of Folklorama was chosen. Neither Marilyn nor Roz was made queen, both of them told me, although Roz was voted “Miss Congeniality.”
In addition to finding out about the early days of the Israel pavilion, I also learned that the Chai dancers were not regular performers at the Israel pavilion in those early years – as they eventually did become. Chai performers would dance only one night in those first years, with other entertainment the other nights.
I did enlist Andrew Morrison’s help once again and did find that Chai performed only one evening during the first few years of Folklorama – from 1970 to 1976. In 1977 Chai began performing every night of Folklorama, but there were other performers on hand as well, including Jerry Maslowsky and Rabbi Yosel Rosenzweig. In 1978 the Chai Folk Ensemble was the featured entertainment every evening; however, a notice that appeared in our paper did say that whistler Harvey Pollock would “be on hand” to entertain – whatever that meant.
While some may wonder of what earth shaking importance all this is, I ask: Isn’t it fun to look back in time – for just a little while, instead of worrying about more immediate problems, such as global warming, inflation, terrorist attacks in Israel, and whether Donald Trump will be president while he’s in jail?
