680 CJOB founder’s daughter visits the station

The name of Jack Blick is hard to avoid around 680 CJOB.

The Winnipeg talk radio station’s office and studios are located on Jack Blick Avenue, Blick’s face appears throughout the building in framed photos of CJOB’s history, and even his initials – ‘JOB’ for ‘John Oliver Blick’ – are in the station’s call sign.

Although Blick died in 1981, CJOB staff received a first-hand connection to Winnipeg radio history Wednesday when Blick’s daughter, Barbara Berg, made her first-ever visit to the station.

Berg, who currently lives in Manhattan, N.Y., was visiting her old hometown, and decided to stop in to check out the current iteration of her dad’s creation – where she was greeted with a large, framed photo of the man himself.

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“I had no preconceived idea, no idea what it would be like to come here,” said Berg.

“I didn’t think about what my reaction might be, I think I just reacted. I am quite overwhelmed with a lot of good emotion and memories. I see a lot of faces that I remember from my childhood.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I didn't think about what my reaction might be, I think I just reacted. I am quite overwhelmed with a lot of good emotion and memories. I see a lot of faces that I remember from my childhood."

Berg, who was born in Winnipeg during the flood of 1950 – as family lore tells it, the doctor who delivered her arrived by boat – said she’s happy to see her father’s memory being preserved and that his dream of starting his own radio station remains alive.

Blick, she said, originally staffed CJOB exclusively with war veterans, many of whom had experienced frontline combat.

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“It’s a beautiful feeling for me, it’s a very personal, lovely feeling to see (photos of) my dad,” she said.

“I think he would be, as I am, overwhelmed with emotion that this has carried on so long, and that he’s spoken of so well.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I think he would be, as I am, overwhelmed with emotion that this has carried on so long, and that he's spoken of so well.

“I think he would be very, very honoured.”

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