Andrew Stuart McLean, was a Canadian radio broadcaster, humorist, monologist, and author, best known as the host of the CBC Radio program The Vinyl Cafe.
11 Facts About Stuart McLean
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Stuart McLean was educated at Lower Canada College and Bishop's College School in Quebec.
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Stuart McLean admitted to feeling like an outsider to the other students at the private school, feeling neither athletic enough nor smart enough to fit in.
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Stuart McLean was a sponsor of the YMCA's Camp Kanawana, establishing a charitable fund to provide financial support for underprivileged youth to attend the camp, and served as honorary colonel of the Canadian Armed Forces' 8 Air Maintenance Squadron at CFB Trenton.
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Stuart McLean first joined CBC Radio as a researcher for Cross Country Checkup in 1974, later becoming a documentarian for the radio program Sunday Morning.
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Stuart McLean won an ACTRA Award in 1979 for "Operation White Knight", his Sunday Morning documentary about the Jonestown Massacre.
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Stuart McLean was a professor of journalism at Ryerson University from 1984 until 2004, when he retired and became a professor emeritus.
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When he died in 2017, former students of Stuart McLean recalled how he concerned himself with their success in the journalism industry.
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Stuart McLean often reported for CBC news programs The Journal and The National, where he focused on human interest stories, talking to "regular people" and delving into their often funny or poignant experiences.
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In 1994, Stuart McLean launched The Vinyl Cafe as a summer series featuring stories about a fictional second-hand record store.
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One day after his death in February 2017, a tribute special hosted by Michael Enright under the title Canada's Storyteller: A Tribute to Stuart McLean, aired on CBC Radio; it was repeated the following Sunday in The Vinyl Cafe's former timeslot.