Up in Ontario

RIP Lister Sinclair

I read yesterday morning the sad news that Lister Sinclair had died over the weekend: CBC broadcaster Lister Sinclair dies.

Tod Maffin has a nice tribute, Farewell, Mr. Sinclair, where he shares some of his recollections of working with the man so closely identified with the CBC Radio program Ideas.

My own memory of Lister Sinclair is coincidental with my own discovery of ideas and Ideas. As the lightly accented host, Mr. Sinclair introduced and presented some of the most memorable radio I've ever heard from 9 to 10 o'clock on weeknights.

When I discovered Ideas I was a university student living in Winnipeg, discovering at the same time all the great undergraduate ideas of the liberal arts and Renaissance. Ideas seemed the perfect compliment to my academic strivings - a show that presented in hour-long increments the big ideas of our time.

Barring a hot date, some social event or some athletics, in my brain I had a standing appointment to check out what they were playing on Ideas every weeknight. Lister Sinclair was the reliable, trustworthy voice introducing the ideas, making them accessible, bracketing the heavier, deeper moments of the broadcasts with his short, clear-headed linking pieces.

When Paul Kennedy took over as host of Ideas as few years ago I felt like I'd lost a friend. Would Ideas be the same? Would it carry on its high standards? Thankfully it has been a great transition, but that moment demonstrated for me how affecting Lister Sinclair had been on my little auto-didactic experiment.

So thank you to Lister Sinclair for his many years of hard working sharing ideas.