Longtime radio broadcaster Rick Howe dead at 69

Rick Howe, a legendary radio broadcaster whose voice was familiar to many Nova Scotians, has died at age 69.

CityNews 95.7, Howe's former employer, announced his death Thursday morning. A story on the radio station's website says the longtime journalist died of cancer.

Howe got his start in radio in the 1970s and became a fixture of the airwaves across the Maritimes, reporting and commenting on the region's biggest news stories for five decades.

"In my mind, he was a local David Attenborough," said Katie Hartai, who worked with Howe on his popular talk show, the Rick Howe Show, for five years. "You know, he had this lovely voice that just made you want to turn up the volume on your radio."

She said Howe was a natural when it came to talk radio, never struggling to fill three and a half hours of air time on his daily show. She said he booked all his own interviews and always had informed opinions about the latest news opinions he was always willing to share.

Hartai said callers usually started queuing up at least 10 minutes before the start of Howe's "open hour."

"You could always count on his loyal listeners to call in, who have literally been following him for decades and decades, and they would always want to to call in and just have a chat with Rick," she said.

Howe was recognized for his aplomb as a broadcaster with several regional journalism awards, and a lifetime achievement award in 2012 from Canada's Radio Television Digital News Association.

He wrote a weekly column for The Daily News newspaper for eight years, and authored three books of non-fiction.

Decades of mentorship

Hartai said she considered herself lucky to be mentored by Howe, who gave her some of her first on-air opportunities.

"I really, really looked up to Rick. He helped me grow in so many ways. And he wasn't afraid of correcting me, which I honestly love that about him."

Hartai was not the only young journalist to be taken under Howe's wing.

More than 40years ago, a 16-year-old Steve Murphy also learned about radio journalism from Howe.

"In many respects I maybe owe my career to Rick," said the former CTV News anchor.

"I walked into a radio newsroom as a high school kid and knew nothing about news and nothing about how stories were identified and how we do all the things we do. And Rick was one of the people who took the time to instruct me in all the basics," Murphy said.

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Murphy and Howe met at a radio station in New Brunswick in 1976 and remained friends as their careers followed parallel paths to Nova Scotia.

Murphy said the good-natured, engaging persona Howe presented on air was "100 per cent authentic."

"The guy you heard was the guy. And I can tell you this, having known him for nearly 50 years, the guy he was till his last day is the guy he was on the first day I met him."

Quirky sense of style

Dan Ahlstrand, news director of CityNews 95.7, also noted Howe's consistency, not just in his character, but with his style. Howe wore variations of the same outfit for almost every occasion.

"It was called the Rick Howe uniform. A pair of well-used jeans, usually a Hawaiian shirt the louder the better and the older the better and that ball cap I'd known Rick for 14 years and I only have ever seen him not wearing that ball cap once in my entire life."

Howe retired from broadcasting in 2021 and moved from Halifax to the South Shore of Nova Scotia with his wife, Yvonne Colbert, another icon of Atlantic Canadian journalism.

In a statement to CBCNews, Colbert said her family is devastated by his death.

"His first love was his family. His second was journalism and his talk show, as evidenced by the huge outpouring of respect, love and admiration by his many listeners and friends. We all really appreciate the thoughts and kind words."

In spite of his battle with cancer, Howe remained busy in his retirement, authoring two of his three books, and returning regularly to the airwaves of his former station as a guest to comment on the news.

A lasting legacy

Ahlstrand said Howe's commitment to journalism will be an important part of his legacy, but he thinks his former colleague's "gigantic heart" will also leave a lasting impression.

"I don't want to say he was a big cuddly teddy bear because that's not who he was, but he really had a warm personality when he was off the radio."

Howe is survived by his wife, three children and two grandchildren.