Harry Sedgwick (1895-1959)

Harry Sedgewick

Year Born: 1895

Year Died: 1959

Year of Induction: 1982

Pioneer – Member of CAB Hall of Fame

Sedgwick, Harry (1895-1959)

This dynamic leader of the fledgling broadcasting industry, Harry Sedgwick, established a record which would go unchallenged as the President/Chairman of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters for 14 consecutive years – President from 1935, and Chairman from 1941 to 1948.

After serving in France in WW 1 with the Canadian Field Artillery, Sedgwick became an accountant and joined the Allen Theatre chain. When Allen was merged with Famous Players, Sedgwick became General Manager of its Eastern Division.

He resigned from F-P in 1933 to accept the position of General Manager of Canada’s leading radio station, CFRB, Toronto. He was elected President of CFRB in 1939. Harry Sedgwick was the man for the times, and as the elected head of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, he fought long and hard to preserve the role of the private broadcasting industry in Canada. At CFRB, he began his 15 years of leading the station by developing talent and programming that made CFRB one of the most repected in Canada.  By 1942 he was President of CFRB and Chairman of the Board of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters.

In 1948 Harry Sedgwick stepped down as President of the CAB and as Chairman of the Board of CFRB, but remained on the Board and a shareholder.

He died in 1959.

Harry Sedgwick was inducted posthumously into the CAB Broadcast Hall of Fame in 1982.

Written by J. Lyman Potts – April, 1996