Longtime Nova Scotia broadcaster Frank Cameron dead at 85

Frank Cameron, whose iconic career in Nova Scotia broadcasting included the CBC, has died. A Facebook post from his former employer Seaside FM announced his death on Saturday.

Cameron was 85. He ended his radio career of more than 60 years in November when he retired from the Eastern Passage-based radio station.

The post from Seaside FM said his death will leave “a void that is impossible to fill.”

“Frank’s dedication to his craft extended beyond the radio waves and the written word,” the post said.

“He was a tireless volunteer in his community, always ready to lend a helping hand or a friendly ear to those in need.”

Cameron got his first broadcast job right after high school at CKEC in New Glasgow, N.S.

He moved to Halifax in 1959. He worked in private radio before moving to the CBC in the 1960s, where he hosted Frank’s Bandstand.

In his time at the CBC he also anchored the evening news, hosted morning and afternoon radio shows and delivered the weather.

After retiring from the CBC in 1995, he worked at CHNS in Halifax for 10 years before starting at Seaside FM in 2005.

Don Connolly, Cameron’s colleague at CBC for decades, said although he knew Cameron had not been well for some time it came as a shock to hear that he had died.

“There are probably very few people almost anywhere who had a longer career in broadcasting and who loved it better than Frank did,” Connolly said.

“Maybe there’s a spot for him at the celestial radio station, maybe the morning man beyond the Pearly Gates. I’m sure he’d like to be doing it again.”

Gail Rice, another longtime broadcaster in private radio and Cameron’s colleague at Seaside FM, hosted a four-hour show with him when he retired in November.

“He loved it and he was a great newsman in his day with CBC television,” Rice said.

“He covered it all. He was very knowledgeable. We always think of his music knowledge but he was a very bright and very knowledgeable broadcaster and certainly a real pro.”

Rice said his legion of fans over the years will miss him dearly.