Longtime Winnipeg radio host Larry Updike ‘most intelligent, yet funniest guy’ By: Eva Wasney Posted: 4:50 PM CDT Thursday, Jun. 20, 2024

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This article was published 20/06/2024 (854 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Larry Updike was a beloved local radio personality, ordained minister, talented musician and lifelong advocate for the most vulnerable members of society.

Updike died early Thursday morning following a diagnosis of leukemia and a brief battle with colon cancer. He was 69.

News of Updike’s death spread quickly on social media — where he was an active participant — and was met with an outpouring of photos and stories from the many friends, fans, public figures and colleagues with whom he connected during a 40-year career in broadcasting.

He leaves behind his wife of 33 years, Mary-Ann Updike, and son, Gordon.

Born in Ontario and raised in a religious and musical household, Updike was ordained at the age of 21 and began working in radio to supplement his ministerial income. He moved to Winnipeg and, in 1982 landed a show on 97.5 FM, where rock radio host Tom McGouran had recently been hired. From the outside, the pair may have seemed an unlikely duo.

“We immediately clicked,” McGouran says. “(He) was the most intelligent, yet funniest guy I’ve ever known.”

They worked together as co-hosts of the Tom and Larry Show for more than a decade, bouncing around to different stations as a team.

Updike would go on to host CJOB’s popular morning show before retiring briefly from the industry to become a spokesperson for Siloam Mission. He later returned to the airwaves as the voice of Up to Speed on CBC Radio.

He was inducted into the Manitoba Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2009 and is a Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee Medal recipient for his work with the War Amps.

The Tom and Larry Show reunited in 2014 as a podcast recorded daily in McGouran’s kitchen. Both were between gigs at the time, but the podcast was short-lived, as the broadcast format had yet to make a splash among mainstream listeners.

McGouran describes his longtime friend and colleague as a multifaceted person who had strong, but open-minded opinions and a knack for both the entertaining and informative sides of the job.

“That’s just a testament to his talents — to be able to switch gears in that way,” he says. “He was a goddamn legend.”

That dynamism was apparent in the wake of 9/11, says CJOB co-host Brian Barkley.

“Of course, we stopped chatting and the show was all very, very serious — we honestly didn’t know what to do,” Barkley says. They kept things on the morning show respectfully sombre for several days.

“People started to contact us and said, ‘Could you make us laugh again?’… It was moving, the fact that people needed to have that levity back in their life.”

“He was a goddamn legend.”–Tom McGouran

Barkley, the station’s traffic reporter, co-hosted the morning show with Updike for nine years. Five days a week, after each show, they headed over to The Nook Diner on Sherbrook Street to grab a bite to eat.

“We would have great fun during breakfast but we’d also talk about ideas for the next morning,” Barkley says. “We just had this great, great relationship.”

The pair remained friends beyond the studio, with Updike officiating the wedding of Barkley’s daughter and playing concerts at the family’s home.

“We’ve had 25 house concerts and his was the only one to get a standing ovation,” Barkley says with a laugh.

Updike played music from an early age and rekindled his love of performing, rhythm guitar and classic country music in retirement with his band, the B-Side Apostles.

Eric Boorman met Updike for the first time 11 years ago during a friendly jam session facilitated by mutual friend Greg Glatz.

“We played for about an hour and then realized we all had these silly grins on our faces,” Boorman says. “This really worked.”

Glatz moved away and Boorman and Updike continued on with the Apostles, playing covers of Hank Williams and Merle Haggard in local lounges. They quickly realized they were courting the wrong audience.

“We started connecting with personal-care homes and retirement centres and that became our calling,” says Boorman, who plays drums.

The band averaged 200 shows a year and played what would be their last show at Westhaven retirement home earlier this month. The concerts had a profound impact on the artists and audiences alike, Boorman says.

“These memories came flowing back to these folks every time we (played) and that became almost like a ministry,” he says, adding Updike always liked to include at least one southern gospel tune in the setlist. “Larry had a deep-down faith in God and that showed when we played.”

“Larry had a deep-down faith in God and that showed when we played.”–Eric Boorman

Updike also carried on his passion for broadcasting in retirement, sharing hundreds of videos on YouTube about current affairs, music and personal interests.

Premier Wab Kinew extended his condolences to Updike’s family and friends during an unrelated news conference Thursday afternoon.

“I had the immense privilege of getting a chance to work with him when I was a journalist and, in particular, during the flood of 2011,” Kinew said. “It’d be live on the radio and one of the great things about Larry is that he was such a pro. He had, like, the flow and natural ups and downs of interesting conversation and he wasn’t just reading a list of questions. He was making radio and was so good at it.”

— with files from Nicole Buffie

eva.wasney@winnipegfreepress.com

X:@evawasney