Allan Slaight radio man, magician and co-founder of NBA’s Toronto Raptors
On my walk through Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto, not far from the mausoleum of department store magnate Timothy Eaton, I visited the resting place of Toronto media mogul John Allan Slaight.
Radio was in his blood. The young man from Galt, Ontario began his career as a radio reporter while also working briefly as a magician. It’s safe to say he learned a great deal from his father, Edgar, a lifelong newspaperman who started at the bottom and worked his way up, eventually owning Saskatchewan’s Moose Jaw Times-Herald and becoming co-owner of the local radio station, CHAB. Allan worked there as a cub reporter and on-air personality, hosting a jazz program called Spins and Needles.
A University of Saskatchewan dropout, Slaight didn’t waste time. After moving his young family to Toronto, he successfully turned around the struggling AM station 1050 CHUM. In 1970, he bought his first radio station, CFGM 1310 AM in Richmond Hill, transforming it into Canada’s first all–country music station. That purchase was made possible with the help of investment partners, including singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. Seven years later, he launched a new rock ’n’ roll radio station in Toronto—CILQ-FM, better known as Q107.
Slaight would eventually sell Q107 and go on to purchase Standard Broadcasting Corporation Ltd. from Conrad Black, a move that defined the next phase of his career. One of his most significant achievements during this period was revitalizing 1010 CFRB, ultimately transforming the AM station into an all-talk format.
By 2007, Allan Slaight’s media empire had grown to include 53 radio stations and two television stations. That year, he sold the company to Astral Media for $1.08 billion and turned his attention to full-time philanthropy through the creation of the Slaight Family Foundation.
A former Toronto Raptors owner, sleight-of-hand magician, author, and extraordinarily generous philanthropist, John Allan Slaight died in Toronto on September 19, 2021. He was 90.
1931-2021
“Coming James”
