McNorgan, Pat

My life after Riverdale:

I joined the air force in the fall of 1968. Took my training in Cornwallis and Borden before being posted to Cold Lake. Once there, I got involved with the base radio station. I enjoyed it so much I decided to leave the service and become a broadcaster.

I worked at a number of small radio stations in Western Canada before returning to the East for a job at CFGO in Ottawa in 1974. By this time I was using my on-air name of Joe Evans. My boss at the GO14 gave me the name. I was doing the all night shift at the time and he thought the over night workers could relate to the working class name of, "Joe". In 1977 I was thrilled to land a mid day shift at CFOX in Montreal. See FOX was the station I listened to during the Riverdale years (you too?) so to get a chance to be on the air there was a real treat. I also became friends with Dean Hagopian, one of the jocks at the FOX during the 60's.

I met my wife, Gisele at CFOX. She was the General Manager's secretary. It took a while for the romance to get going but eventually the sparks flew! We've been married for 26 years. I moved to CJFM FM96 also in Montreal after CFOX was sold to the all news network, CKO.

Probably the highlight of my radio career came about with a job at CKLW, the Big 8 in Windsor/Detroit. CKLW was one of the most prestigious top 40 stations in the world and another one that I had grown up listening to. I spent six years at CKLW and loved every minute of it. Gisele and I started our family there as well, Heather being born in 1981 and Tom in 1984.

Again a station sale prompted me to look for work in 1985 and I ended up here in Winnipeg broadcasting for CKY. In 1989, I got back into the air force reserve with my old trade, air frame technician. I have continued working for both the air force and radio ever since.

In 2000, I did the morning show at Magic 99.9 for a couple of years. When that station was sold (story of my life) I took on my current assignment as deputy historian at 1 Canadian Air Division in the Heritage and History department. (Mr. Haydock would be proud - oh wait, he was geography wasn't he?)

So nice to be in touch with the Riverdale crowd. I sure have great memories of the school and my classmates. I still brag about our school too (Beach Boys, "Be True to Your School"). We had more pretty girls in Riverdale's '68 grad class than any other high school around!

Pat