
In 1996, Pat Burns died at age 75 and was inducted into the CAB Broadcast Hall of Fame later that same year. Although born in Montreal, Pat broke into radio at the BBC covering the world hockey championship in London in 1949. His arrival in Vancouver, at CKLG, saw his radio work overshadowed by his political activities. He became a North Vancouver alderman and ran for the CCF in Vancouver-Burrard. It was at CJOR, beginning in 1962, that his Hot Line program ("Burns on-line. Go ahead!") gained immediate attention, not just for his controversial style, but also for his ability to feature high profile and famous guests on his show. Shortly after a 1965 series of programs from Selma, Alabama, covering Martin Luther King's civil rights work, he was fired during a period when the Board of Broadcast Governors (BBG, predecessor of the CRTC) was receiving numerous complaints about Pat's Hot Line show. The BBG refused to renew CJOR's license until there was an agreement to sell the station to new owners. Pat returned briefly to newspaper reporting, but soon was on the air in Montreal before moving back to Vancouver, and continued to work well into the 1990s.

