Year Born: 1937
Year Died: 1999
Year of Induction: 2000
Pioneer – Member of CAB Hall of Fame
McCausland, Reg (1937-1999)
Reg McCausland was a dedicated broadcaster. At the age of 14, he broke into radio in the city of his birth, working “after school” as a control operator at Roy Thomson’s CFCH in North Bay, Ontario. Reg developed as a radio engineer, a talent which took him to Sudbury in 1953 to work on the installation of equipment for CKSO-TV which won the race to become the first private TV station in Canada. From this assignment, Reg went to Kingston’s CKWS-TV which began broadcasting in 1954. His next job was as Chief Engineer at CKOX Woodstock, Ontario, established in 1956, and thence to CKLB in Oshawa where he met his wife Jean, the station’s accountant, and they married in 1958.
In 1964, the McCauslands moved to Cornwall, Ontario, where Reg was appointed Chief Engineer of CJSS. When CJCH-AM Hailfax was purchased by CHUM Ltd. in 1966, Reg accepted an offer to become its Chief Engineer, a post he held for eight years.
On August 1, 1974, Reg arrived in St. John’s Newfoundland to take up the position of Director of Engineering for VOCM and its network of radio stations throughout the province – in Baie Verte, Carbonear, Clarenville, Grand Falls and Marystown. Fate would decree it to be his last assignment. Reg succumbed to cancer on October 10, 1999.
Recalling Reg’s almost-quarter-century with the venerable station, Joseph V. Butler, its owner and president, paid tribute on his passing, saying he would be missed by not only his family but by the staff of the VOCM network – and by the entire broadcasting industry across the country. He said that Reg had made a lasting contribution to the industry in the area of emerging broadcast technologies – “he was in every sense a pioneer, developing and bringing into operation equipment and functions which were completely new to broadcasting”.
A friend commented that “Reg’s technical abilities combined with his general knowledge of the broadcasting industry and his stamina, allowing him to work around the clock when circumstances dictated, made him a most valuable engineer”.
A large part of his community service in St. John’s was devoted to assisting churches in the city. Reg was the volunteer engineer of VOWR, the venerable station established in 1924, operated by the United Church. He also acted as a member of the board. On request, he serviced at no cost, public address systems installed in other St. John’s area churches.
An Icon for many years, Reg served on CAB technical committees and was the recipient of the Central Canada Broadcast Engineers’ “Engineer of the Year” award.
Posthumously, on November 14, 2000, Reg McCausland was inducted into the CAB Broadcast Hall of Fame.