For decades, Bruce Bowie was a regular voice on the airwaves in Edmonton, enjoying a 47-year career.
Originally from Piapot, Sask., Bowie started at CHED in 1974 at the age of 20.
Bowie was the only person at 630 CHED, now 880 CHED, to be a DJ in the station’s rock and roll years and to host a news show after it changed to the current news and talk format.
He left CHED in 1985 to go to to the FM side at Corus radio Edmonton, where he hosted on 92.5.
He then moved to Calgary before returning to Edmonton to host the CISN Morning Show for many years.
In 2010, he returned to host the CHED Morning Show again, and retired in 2019. During his time on the airwaves, his career took him around the world to places like Bosnia, Tahiti and Swaziland.
The radio legend died at the age of 72 after being hit as a pedestrian by a vehicle in Niagara Falls, Ont., back in November.
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Former colleagues never expected to have to read his obituary.
“It hit very hard,” said 880 CHED news manager Eileen Bell.
“It devastated me to know that he had passed away.”
His family had been keeping the information private while grieving, but is now allowing the sad news to be shared.
Bowie leaves behind his wife Maria, sons David and Daniel (Heather), and granddaughters Ava and Peyton.
In lieu of flowers, his family would ask for donations to be made to the Hope Mission, a place that was close to Bowie’s heart.
Three times he lived on the streets of Edmonton in order to gain an understanding of the struggles of those without a home.
“It started as him, you know, sleeping outside in the street to get a bit of a sense of the experience of homelessness and raising money and awareness,” said Brenton Driedger with the Hope Mission.
“Then that morphed into the radiothon that lives on to this day.”
Sarah Ryan has more on how Bowie is being remembered in the video above.
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