VANCOUVER, CA (CelebrityAccess) – A legend of radio, Vancouver DJ Red Robinson, passed away Saturday (April 1). His family announced the death in a social media post, saying he had passed away due to a brief illness. He turned 86 on Thursday (March 30).
The post reads:
“With deep sadness and broken hearts, we bring the news that our beloved Dad, Red Robinson, passed this morning at 8:15 am after a brief illness. We’re so glad we got to spend his final moments with him, and having his brother Bill there made it extra special.
“Most people knew our Dad as a rock’n’roll DJ, a TV personality, an ad agency owner, a spokesperson, or through his philanthropic work. He was larger-than-life in a lot of ways, but to us, he was a devoted father and grandfather, a loving husband to our late mom Carole, and a loyal friend to everybody.
“Red’s departure leaves a huge hole in our lives, as well as the lives of everybody he touched in the worlds of radio, TV, music and entertainment. An event celebrating his amazing life will be announced soon, and we invite you to share your memories here on Facebook.
“We can’t think of a better way to sum up Dad’s life than the lyrics to one his favorite Elvis songs, ‘If I Can Dream.'”
“Out there in the dark, there’s a beckoning candle… and while I can think, while I can talk, while I can stand, while I can walk… while I can dream, oh, please let my dream come true… right now.”
Robert Gordon Robinson was born in Comox and moved as a kid to east Vancouver when he was five – and fell in love with radio. He broke into radio pretending to be Jimmy Stewart. CJOR had a teenage show in the afternoons called Theme for Teens and the host, Al Jordan, took phone calls. Robinson knew Stewart as in town, so called in pretending to be … well, Stewart … and Jordan believed it. Jordan told him to come down to the station and appear on the show (after he called in days later as “Peter Lorre”).
After Jordan’s exit, the director, Vic Waters told Robinson that he was in as the new host. The Vancouver Sun reports he was so popular that 10,000 kids showed up to watch him spin records.
“I used to listen to Jack Cullen here in Vancouver,” said Robinson in 2017 to the Vancouver Sun. “And he was just wild, he was all over the place. I thought, man, if I could do something like that I’d be the happiest camper on the planet. And I ended up doing it. Jack was my guideline, he was my mentor.”
Robinson interviewed the “who’s who” at the time – Bill Haley, Johnny Cash, Buddy Holly, and the man himself – Elvis Presley.
“The best gig I saw had to be Elvis,” Robinson has said. “There was nothing like it beforehand. He was the first guy to rent stadiums. I’d MC’ed shows, but standing in front of 20,000 people was nerve-racking.”
Just like Elvis, Robinson was drafted into the Army after moving to Portland in 1959. He went back to his native Canada in 1961 at CKWX. The rest as they say, “is history.”
“Red Robinson was the most beloved rock DJ in Canada for nearly 7 decades,” says CelebrityAccess senior writer Larry LeBlanc. “From Vancouver he interviewed all the early stars of rock and roll, including Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, and Johnny Cash. He was a major force locally on radio, TV and eventually, dinner theatre. He was a close friend, and I completed a lengthy interview with him three years ago after he completed his autobiography. And he was still working from his downtown office then.”
Robinson is preceded in death by his beloved wife Carole, who he met on a blind date in 1962 and passed on in 2020 and his son Jeff. He is survived by two daughters, Kellie and Cheri.
RIP.
