On air or off, gentle radio host always the same

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This article was published 14/01/2010 (5963 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A longtime Winnipeg radio personality was being remembered Wednesday for his ease in front of a microphone.

Red Alix, who spent 30 years as the host of the morning show on CJOB Radio, died at Grace Hospital on Tuesday. He was 83.

"There was no difference talking to him one-on-one and what he said on the air," said fellow broadcaster Roger Currie, who succeeded Alix when he retired in 1991 and now works at CKRM in Regina.

"He was completely unvarnished and genuine. He’d talk about his tomato plants or his hemorrhoids, it didn’t matter. That’s why people connected with him."

CJOB’s sports director, Bob Irving, hailed Alix as a man without airs or ego.

"He was a great communicator who everybody could relate to," Irving said.

"He was a delight to work with, always happy, upbeat and with a great attitude."

At its peak in the 1970s, Alix’s show was said to attract one in three radio listeners within its range. He was famous for his feature Beefs & Bouquets, during which he handed out on-air compliments and gentle rebukes to whatever people or institutions he felt deserved them.

Born on a Saskatchewan farm as John Joseph Alix, he got his nickname for his shock of red hair. He got his start in radio in his home province in 1948 and was hired by CJOB in 1955.

Except for a four-year break, during which he worked in the U.S. briefly then returned to Winnipeg to try the hardware business, he remained as ‘OB’s morning man until he retired.

In all those years, his morning show was always No. 1 in the ratings.

"He had an affable way of approaching life, on and off the air," said Brian Barkley, ‘OB’s traffic reporter and morning show co-host.

"I remember the first office Christmas party we attended. My wife was pregnant. He came up to her, said, ‘Young lady, it looks like you need to dance,’ and he swept her around the floor."

Alix retired to his acreage near St. Francois Xavier with his second wife, Kathy, where they raised horses.

He and his first wife, Babe, who died in 1987, had five children.

The funeral is slated for 11 a.m. Monday at Westwood Community Church, 401 Westwood Dr.

morley.walker@freepress.mb.ca