I listen to Kathleen Petty on the Ottawa Morning Show on CBC radio every morning. Just for a little while…from the time I wake up til the time I get up. Maybe half an hour or so.
The last time I remember feeling any kind of attachment to a radio personality was as a little kid, when General Grant would march me off to school each morning. FORWARD, HO! (Does he still do that? Does he still exist? Does anybody know what I’m talking about?)
Anyway, I was saddened a few months ago to hear Kathleen Petty would be moving back to Calgary in August, to be closer to family and to take over the CBC morning show there.
I was even sadder today when I found out that she’s not going home to Calgary after all. At least not right away. She says she is facing a “significant health challenge” and feels she can face it better here than there. She’s going to stay in Ottawa for the next while, while she takes care of whatever it is. (I feel like I know exactly what it is. But she’s not saying, so I won’t say.)
I’ve been thinking about her all day, and I know a lot of other people have too. It’s funny how you can feel like you know someone you’ve never even met, and find yourself genuinely caring about them.
Friday morning is her last show in Ottawa. They’re having an on-air going-away party for her. I’ve been thinking about how the tone of the party might change in light of this news about her health, but I know she won’t allow it to degenerate into a Kathleen Petty Pity Party.
You can tune in here between 5:30 and 8:30 in the morning.
I love Kathleen Petty, and many other CBC personalities too. I got to *know* Kathleen really well when we had the bus strike because I would listen every morning on my one hour walk to work each day. She is one of the best interviewers I have heard. I wish her health first, then much happiness in Calgary. She will be missed in Ottawa.
I too have been thinking about Kathleen today. Funny how you get so attached to those disembodied voices coming out of your radio. Everything you wrote, I thought of today. Well, except the General Grant bit. Sorry, I grew up in another town!
I listened with sadness to the last programme this morning. The tributes were wonderful and obviously genuine. She mentioned her health problem, but didn’t reveal what it was. The programme was upbeat and great fun.
At the beginning I disliked her voice and laugh, but that didn’t last long. Her amazing interviewing skills were so perceptive, and no one, absolutely no one, got away with trying to pull the wool over her eyes. She could show up a phony within five minutes.
She held it together for most of the programme, but couldn’t help showing her emotion at the very end.
She’s one in a million, and I hope so much that her health problem is soon dealt with successfully.
I wonder why people don’t say what, specifically, their health issue is? If it involves body parts we are squeamish about, it is even better to talk about it, like Alfredsson now does with mental health issues. Get it out there! Take the mystery out of it! The colon cancer folks are trying to do that with cute and clever ads featuring bums that blush. Anyway, it’s just me, I guess. I’m willing to talk about anything!
I was so sad to hear Kathleen was leaving Ottawa for Calgary. I listen to her every morning and feel I know her – kind of like a friend – and that sounds silly. I cannot stop thinking about her since news of her change in plans. I hope she beats the crap out of whatever health challenge she must fight.