Happy Birthday Red Robinson

[radiofan]

Happy Birthday to Vancouver broadcasting legend Red Robinson.

There's 78 candles on Red's Birthday Cake today.

Have a great day Red, and thanks for entertaining us for 60+ of those 78 years!

[tuned]

Having worked with Red at various places over the years I second that! Even if you aren't a fan you have to respect his accomplishments in broadcasting. *cue Birthday by The Beatles*

[CubbyCam]

Happy Birthday to the red head... The older I get, the more I come to appreciate Mr. Robinson!

[Russ_Byth]

Happy Birthday Red!

[jon]

Listening to Red Robinson's appearance on the last hour of Dave McCormick's last hour on CFUN in 1962 is the closest thing to a time machine that I've ever experienced. For that, I thank you, Red and Dave.

Happy 78th birthday, Red. Likely the same number as the RPM of most of the records you were playing on your first show on CJOR on the day after Remembrance Day in 1954!

Hard to recall exactly after all these years, but I'm pretty sure that I knew the name "Red Robinson" when I first turned on the radio to CFUN in early 1962, several months before Red arrived as Dave was leaving for Fresno, to work for Ron Jacobs. But I don't think I knew much about Red. What I am sure of is that I did not know that CKWX was (still) playing Top 40 in 1962. And no one I spoke to at school did either. Any fellow students who listened to the radio listened to CFUN.

Thanks to Red, I heard a lot of pre-Beatles British artists and songs that were not generally played elsewhere in North America. Cliff Richard and Helen Shapiro, in particular. Cliff's version of "Lucky Lips" is the first one that always comes to mind.

Even more so, it was only in the last couple of decades that I realized that "She Loves You" was NOT the Beatles' first hit in North America. It was on CFUN. A careful look at http://vancouvertop40radio.com shows that "She Loves You" hit #1 on CFUN on December 21, 1963 and stays there through the January 11, 1964 chart. January 18th sees the Beatles' version of "Please Mr. Postman" hit #1, followed by "I Want to Hold Your Hand" on January 25th, finally being replaced at #1 by "All My Loving" on March 7th.

For that, I also thank you, Red. You can say that CFUN listeners voted those songs to #1, but if Red hadn't been playing the Beatles as early as he did, most CFUN listeners would not have heard them and voted for them.

[PMC]

All of the best Red