Kim Calloway passes

Stories and info about those no longer involved in the industry

Kim Calloway passes

Postby Russ_Byth » Thu Aug 22, 2013 4:06 pm

I'm very sorry to say that Kim passed away this afternoon in Kelowna General Hospital.
The lung and liver cancer were aggressive.
I was able to see him this morning, and he was struggling.
RIP my friend.

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Re: Kim Calloway passes

Postby hagopian » Thu Aug 22, 2013 4:15 pm

If there is any consolation Russ, and dear friends of Kim, is that he didn't suffer too long. Truly a blessing.

I am very sorry for the entire Calloway Family, his Fiancee and his many friends and fans.

You all have my sincere best wishes and Kim, well done, sir.

You were a PRO. FOR 50 YEARS!

RIP
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Re: Kim Calloway passes

Postby CubbyCam » Thu Aug 22, 2013 5:27 pm

Thank you Russ for keeping us up to date. I have to echo what Hagopian said... The best that can be said is it was relatively quick. Kim was a great example to all of us in the biz... and one of the ones I looked UP to. My condolences to all his family and those who were close. I miss him already.
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Re: Kim Calloway passes

Postby Jack Bennest » Thu Aug 22, 2013 5:32 pm

Sad, very sad.

Thanks Bites for keeping informed.
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Re: Kim Calloway passes

Postby Mike Cleaver » Thu Aug 22, 2013 5:49 pm

So sorry to hear this.
I've known Kim for decades and he was one of my more interesting interviews.
He'd just recently lost his mother as well.
Condolences to his family, his fiancee and his many many friends both in and out of radio and to everyone who will miss his voice, talking and singing.
He also published great pictures on Facebook which I enjoyed seeing just about every day, related to music, jazz and blues, old cars and airplanes and many others.
RIP my friend.
Mike Cleaver Broadcast Services
Engineering, News, Voice work and Consulting
Vancouver, BC, Canada

54 years experience at some of Canada's Premier Broadcasting Stations
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Re: Kim Calloway passes

Postby J Kendrick » Thu Aug 22, 2013 9:29 pm

Damn ... That's not the news I wanted to hear...

My very deepest condolences to all of his family, friends, his fiance, and colleagues.

Godspeed, Kim. It won't be the same place without you.
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Re: Kim Calloway passes

Postby drex » Thu Aug 22, 2013 11:03 pm

Extremely saddened to hear of Kim's passing this afternoon, I only met him a few times while I was in Kelowna, but he was a stand up guy, and an exceptional broadcaster.
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Re: Kim Calloway passes

Postby Russ_Byth » Fri Aug 23, 2013 5:46 am

Last Tuesday, August 13, Kim Calloway came into the radio station and wrote what would turn out to be his last story. It was his recollections of the Okanagan Mountain Firestorm in 2003. It was in the form of a Letter to the Editor - Russ

(After more than 50 years on air as a radio reporter, news anchor and talk show host, Q1031's KIM CALLOWAY is retiring from the airwaves. While many of Kim's ea...rlier radio glory days involved covering on site events like the Bobby Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King assassinations, sitting around with Pierre Trudeau, going face to face with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, hanging with Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison and Robbie Robertson and Ronnie Hawkins and so many more--Kim was equally thrilled to be a big part of Kelowna's 2003 Firestorm coverage, exactly ten summers ago. Here's the Firestorm on radio, from Kim Calloway's perspective.)

It was, of course, still CKOV-AM, and we were still much into talking to and with our many Kelowna listeners.

Today I still get feedback from how much good CKOV, it's staff and it's listeners did for the community as those great flames either hoverered overnight along the Mission ridges--they made the community smell like a huge ashtray as we'd look outside. We were all inside our Lakeshore Road studios at Lakeshore and Cook, technically just inside a 'forbidden' equipment zone. But the authorities saw the need for a local talk radio station to be kept alive, and we were it.

Pretty much 24/7, myself and many others stayed on the air, interviewing our own listeners at night, but also talking often with then-Premier Gordon Campbell, the late great MLA Sindi Hawkins, then-Senator Ross Fitzpatrick and his spouse Linda and son Gordon, who had lost grapes in a fire-singed field.

Ordinary..well let's call them extraordinary listeners, called us to help locate horse trailers to move desperate animals as the big flames got closer. And when real fires started to happen with at least 234 Kelowna homes destroyed, I remember how calm I needed to be on air, with 30,000 people evacuated, some of them twice. No one got hurt, no fenders dented on an old lift bridge, so maybe the calm approach helped. I'd forever like to think so.

People, I learned evacuated strange things, not knowing if their house had burned down. One lady, nothing but duffels of photo albums; memories. When the real fires hit, Gerry Zimmermann and his KFD crews became national heroes: they could have run the wanted-to-retire Chief for PM..and oh yes, Mayor Walter Gray, often interviewed nationally (ask him about his wet-at-the-knees CTV interview) did get his new bridge--ol' K.C. would never stop braying about a better evacuation route, a newer bridge,at the news briefings.

Ten years on, we're all still gun shy about any kind of smoke. Some people still refuse to rebuild. But a decade later, I remain incredibly proud over how you, Kelowna--and me, local now retired reporter and his many reporter colleagues, showed the world how our city kept it together, and did our community proud. Thank you all for an opportunity to fully report, in 2003, for the city I call my home.

Kim Calloway
Kelowna
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Re: Kim Calloway passes

Postby jon » Thu Aug 29, 2013 12:08 pm

Really nice article on Kim Calloway in the current weekly newsletter of Broadcast Dialogue:
http://radiowest.ca/bh/bdaug292013.pdf
On Pages 4 and 5, by legendary CHUM Producer Doug Thompson.
(requires Adobe Reader or other pdf document reader)
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Re: Kim Calloway passes

Postby Russ_Byth » Tue Sep 03, 2013 11:54 am

For those in the Okanagan who would like to attend, there will be a Celebration of Life for Kim this coming Friday, Sept. 6.


Kim Calloway's Celebration of Life

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Friday, September 6th, 2013
5:00 – 7:00pm

Kelowna Community Theatre
1375 Water Street

5-6pm Mingling, Music and More

6pm Emcee – Bob Mills
Presentations – Sharon Shepherd, Jasmin Doobay
Presentations – open mic

If you would like to share an acoustic song or a story of Kim, please contact:
Jasmin Doobay 250-717-7572 or jasmin@power104.fm so we can add you to the list
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Re: Kim Calloway passes

Postby Russ_Byth » Fri Sep 06, 2013 7:38 pm

Just wanted to wrap things up by saying it was a wonderful Celebration Of Life for Kim this evening.
I'm terrible at guessing crowd numbers but I would say at least 125 people turned out.
They included the current and a former mayor of Kelowna - radio folks from the 'competition', a few television and print folks and lots of people that Kim obviously touched over his 20 years here.
It was a great program and there were a lot of laughs.
Here's to you Kim! :coffee2:
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Re: Kim Calloway passes

Postby CubbyCam » Fri Sep 06, 2013 7:55 pm

Thanks for keeping us up to date through this tough time. We who worked with Kim here on the lower mainland much appreciate it. Wish I could have been there. R.I.P. Kim... I'm sure there's a Studebaker or two wherever you've gone. :-) :occasion5:
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Re: Kim Calloway passes

Postby arthurdent » Fri Sep 06, 2013 9:17 pm

Thanks for the updates, Russ. Wish I could have been there with everyone, Kim was one of the good guys.
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