Year Born: 1934
Pioneer
Drew, Dick (1934- )
Dick Drew was born October 2, 1934 in Edmonton and raised on a small farm near Morinville, AB. He left home at age 14 and sailed the world, working as an oil tanker deck hand. At age 19 he gave up sailing and travelled to Montreal, where he took a day job as a service station attendant, and began taking night courses at Sir George Williams College.
In the sixties and seventies, he served as General Sales Manager of CHML/CKDS-FM and GSM and General Manager of CHAM in Hamilton. He also was GSM/consultant for CFRN AM/FM in Edmonton. Over the years he was marketing consultant to some of Canada’s leading corporations; founder of Drew Marketing & Productions Ltd. — one of Canada’s leading producers of syndicated radio programs and promotions; creator, host, and script writer of the daily radio series “The Canadian Achievers” — for 14 years one of Canada’s most successful syndicated radio programs, heard daily coast to coast on over 150 radio stations. He also has authored two books — one a bilingual school textbook and the other “The Canadian Achievers” a 60,000 copy best seller.
In 2006 he launched “The Canadian Achievers” as a weekly syndicated newspaper column. He also wrote a “Canadian Achievers” column in Broadcaster magazine where he shone the spotlight on broadcast industry achievers.
Dick was one of Canada’s most respected and in-demand public speakers and conference leaders. He was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Silver Jubilee medal for community service work in 1972. He is a Life Member of The Association of Kinsmen Clubs and, in 1986 was named one of Canada’s “50 Men of Influence” by Influence Magazine.
Dick purchased CKAY radio (later CJSU-FM) in Duncan, B.C. in 1979. He sold the station to his son Cam in 1999, a year before the station’s move to the FM dial.
He went on to focus his attention on family, his personal services marketing company and the Rotary Club in Duncan, which he originally joined in Hamilton in 1977. As a Rotary member, he has held positions of President, Conference Chair, Assistant Governor, Governor Nominee, Paul Harris Fellow and Centennial Governor.
Written by Pip Wedge – March, 2007