by albertaboy4life » Wed Oct 20, 2010 7:36 am
Welcome Mr. Wood. I still miss hearing your daily commentary.
I think Howard Langdale joined CFCN Radio in early to mid-1966 after Gary Parkhill went to CKOC in Hamilton.
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Dean of morning radio dead at age 63; [FINAL Edition]
Bill Musselwhite, Calgary Herald. Calgary Herald. Calgary, Alta.: Mar 31, 1996. pg. A.3
(Copyright The Calgary Herald)
Howard Langdale, dean of morning radio to thousands of Calgarians, is dead.
Langdale, 63, died Friday while driving in the downtown area. Police believe he suffered a heart attack, which resulted in his car crashing into a light pole. Neither city paramedics nor Foothills Hospital trauma physicians were able to revive him.
Langdale's stepson, Scott Hounslow, said his father was on his way home from the Saddledome, where his grandson Kailen had played in an exhibition game between periods. ``He was very happy that evening,'' he said.
Langdale's boss, CKMX vice-president Gary Russell, said Calgary had lost a radio legend.``Howard was a wonderful man,'' he said in a radio station press release. ``He will be dearly missed.''
The broadcaster grew up in Regina, and his first job in radio was at Regina's CKRM in 1953. He worked in Winnipeg and Ottawa before signing on with Calgary's CFCN -- now CKMX -- in 1966.
In 1981 he left CFCN and, after a short-lived late-night talk show on Calgary 7, he retired from broadcasting.
An avid golfer, he retired in earnest in 1992, spending much of his time in Arizona with his wife. In September 1995, he got a call from Russell, who was putting together a new format featuring pop and jazz from war and post-war eras.
Russell was told Langdale was the man he needed.
Langdale agreed to come out of retirement and his familiar voice went on the air Dec. 1. He missed a few days because of heart trouble, but easily nailed down the morning spot for lovers of Sinatra, Ella, and other famous singers of the era.
Bob Blakey, the Herald's TV columnist, described Langdale as an honorable man. ``It was a very important thing for him to come back into radio,'' he said. ``I think there were years where he felt out of it and missed it.''
Hugh Delaney, a childhood friend of Langdale , described him as ``a man who loved people and he was able to communicate that.''
He was a total professional, he said, ``a very dedicated kind of guy who really worked at his craft.''
Besides his wife Sharlene, Langdale is survived by stepson Scott, stepdaughter Sheryl Hounslow and three grandchildren.
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One piece not noted in the story was Howard's TV ads for Douglasdale Estates in Calgary after his CFCN Radio days. This was during a period when Calgary was not booming so real estate and new large developments were not particularly common. Amazing how Douglasdale doesn't seem so far "out of town" now.
Faster cars, younger women, older cheese, more money . . .