{"id":573675611,"date":"2021-01-27T16:47:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-27T22:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/metro\/2021\/01\/27\/remembering-ray-torgrud"},"modified":"2021-01-27T16:51:33","modified_gmt":"2021-01-27T22:51:33","slug":"remembering-ray-torgrud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/metro\/2021\/01\/27\/remembering-ray-torgrud","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Ray Torgrud"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former CKY and CJAY TV host Ray Torgrud was born in Red Deer, Alta., on June 28, 1930. In 1947, he became a newspaper correspondent for three different sources and began his broadcasting career at CKRD radio in Red Deer.<\/p>\n<p>During the 1950s, Ray worked at various broadcast outlets in British Columbia and Alberta, including<\/p>\n<p>CHCT Calgary, which was Alberta&rsquo;s first TV station. In 1960, Ray and his wife Karen tossed a coin when he was offered a job at a brand new Winnipeg TV station. The coin said no &#8211; but they still came to Winnipeg.<\/p>\n<figure class='wp-caption fl photo'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/04\/e-comm-stjames-morris-supplied-Jan27.jpg?w=1000' data-pswp-srcset='https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/04\/e-comm-stjames-morris-supplied-Jan27.jpg?w=320 320w, https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/04\/e-comm-stjames-morris-supplied-Jan27.jpg?w=600 600w, https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/04\/e-comm-stjames-morris-supplied-Jan27.jpg?w=1920 1920w' data-pswp-width='1800' data-pswp-height='1386'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img src=\"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/04\/e-comm-stjames-morris-supplied-Jan27.jpg?w=1000\" alt=\"Supplied photo\nBetty-Jewel Canning and Ray Torgrud, on-air personalities for CJAY TV (later CKY) pose for a promotional photo in the 1960s.\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='dynamic-caption'>Supplied photo\nBetty-Jewel Canning and Ray Torgrud, on-air personalities for CJAY TV (later CKY) pose for a promotional photo in the 1960s.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>On Sat., Nov. 12, 1960, Ray introduced CJAY to Winnipeg, on channel 7. The first show it aired was <em>Panorama 7<\/em>. The station was located west of Winnipeg Stadium and was separated from the then-open-air Polo Park Shopping Centre by an open field.<\/p>\n<p>The Moffat family purchased the station in 1973 and changed its call letters to CKY. During the &rsquo;70s, Ray and Jack Wells anchored the station&rsquo;s 6 p.m. news show. He also hosted the current affairs program <em>Today&rsquo;s World<\/em> for 27 years, covering a lot of interesting topics.<\/p>\n<p>The first local TV drama was CJAY&rsquo;s <em>Silent Orbit<\/em>, which was produced by Al Johnson. Seventeen CJAY employees, including Ray, Bob Burns and Jackie Davidson took part in the production.<\/p>\n<p>In 1961, Ray participated in telethons to raise money for Rainbow Stage and the Kiwanis Club and these television fundraisers went on to become regular parts of Winnipeg&rsquo;s TV landscape. In 1980, he took part in a national telethon inspired by Terry Fox&rsquo;s Marathon of Hope to raise money for cancer research.<\/p>\n<p>Also in 1961, CJAY became affiliated with the all-Canadian CTV television network.<\/p>\n<p>In 1964, Ray, Shirley Gingell, and Stew MacPherson televised the Red River Exhibition parade and presented the history of the Ex.<\/p>\n<p>During his career,&nbsp; Ray interviewed many famous people including former U.S. vice-president Hubert Humphrey, singer Tanya Tucker and the Osmond&nbsp; family, among others. During the blizzard of March 4, 1966, he improvised and filled air time by interviewing fellow CJAY employees.<\/p>\n<p>Away from work, Ray, Karen, and their children Laine and Julie resided in St. James-Assiniboia. He enjoyed family life and never seemed able to turn away a stray cat, so his daughter Julie nicknamed him &lsquo;Bert Rand&rsquo; after infamous Winnipeg cat lover Bertha Rand.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Over the years, Ray became known as the voice of CKY. When he retired in 1992, he was the last of the original CJAY broadcasters.<\/p>\n<p>During a farewell interview by Sylvia Kuzyk he recalled one guest&rsquo;s comment that &ldquo;we are all here to serve.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Ray served his family, employer, and community well. He died on Nov. 6, 2010.<\/p>\n<p><em>Fred Morris is a community correspondent for St. James. Reach him at <a href=\"mailto:fredmorris@hotmail.com\">fredmorris@hotmail.com<\/a><\/em><\/p><div class=\"collageplus\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":295041521,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"_classifai_error":"","_classifai_text_to_speech_error":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,21,12],"tags":[],"education-subject":[],"media-literacy-topic":[],"post_topic":[],"content_type":[24],"class_list":["post-573675611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-correspondents","category-news","category-metro"],"acf":{"short_title":"","seo_title":"","deck":"","story_tag":"","byline":"Fred Morris","updates":null},"apple_news_notices":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/metro\/2021\/01\/27\/remembering-ray-torgrud","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Remembering Ray Torgrud","url":"http:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/metro\/2021\/01\/27\/remembering-ray-torgrud","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/metro\/2021\/01\/27\/remembering-ray-torgrud"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/04\/e-comm-stjames-morris-supplied-Jan27.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/04\/e-comm-stjames-morris-supplied-Jan27.jpg"},"articleSection":"Community Correspondents","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"feedloaderapi"}],"creator":["feedloaderapi"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Our Communities","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2021-01-27T22:47:00Z","datePublished":"2021-01-27T22:47:00Z","dateModified":"2021-01-27T22:51:33Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"Remembering Ray Torgrud\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\\\/our-communities\\\/metro\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/27\\\/remembering-ray-torgrud\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\\\/our-communities\\\/metro\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/27\\\/remembering-ray-torgrud\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\\\/our-communities\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2022\\\/04\\\/e-comm-stjames-morris-supplied-Jan27.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\\\/our-communities\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2022\\\/04\\\/e-comm-stjames-morris-supplied-Jan27.jpg\"},\"articleSection\":\"Community Correspondents\",\"author\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"feedloaderapi\"}],\"creator\":[\"feedloaderapi\"],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"Our Communities\",\"logo\":\"\"},\"keywords\":[],\"dateCreated\":\"2021-01-27T22:47:00Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-27T22:47:00Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-27T22:51:33Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/winnipegfreepress.com\/p.js"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/04\/e-comm-stjames-morris-supplied-Jan27.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"deck":"","byline":"Fred Morris","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573675611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573675611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573675611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295041521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573675611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573675611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573675611"},{"taxonomy":"education-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/education-subject?post=573675611"},{"taxonomy":"media-literacy-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-literacy-topic?post=573675611"},{"taxonomy":"post_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_topic?post=573675611"},{"taxonomy":"content_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_type?post=573675611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}