Gilles Proulx, 82, celebrates 60 years of radio career

Gilles Proulx celebrates his 60th career on Wednesday. At 82, the man of radio and television has no intention of retiring.

“I even intend to continue, if of course my health allows it and they want to keep me,” he said Tuesday during a telephone interview.

He hopes that retirement will come one day. But not now. “I guess I’m not rambling yet,” he said.

Present on Thursdays with a column published in the pages of quebec newspaper Y montreal dailyon QUB radio on the Richard Martineau show and on CIQI-FM, the history buff is surprised to still be there.

“Decades go by like years, years go by like months, months go by like weeks, and weeks go by like days. Thanks God. I am still healthy. I am still very, very privileged to be in this industry,” he said.

six decades of history

The one who celebrates his career anniversary began his radio adventure on October 5, 1962 on the airwaves of the CKBM-AM station in Montmagny. He had offered his services at the stations of La Pocatière, Rivière-du-Loup, Matane, Baie-Comeau and Saint-Félicien.

“I went there all embarrassed, on tiptoe, not ready for anything, to ask to audition. Returning to Montreal, I received a telegram from the CKBM station offering me $35 a week. That’s how it started,” she said.

It is in Montmagny, near Lévis, in the Chaudière-Appalaches region, that he performs on Mondays and Thursdays in the program le Clock radio on CIQI FM.

“It’s a sentimental attachment to this place where I started,” he said.

Sixty years of radio are six decades full of stories. A record that qualifies as impressive.

His career positions during the Amerindian crisis and during the last referendum are among his moments, with his meetings with Fidel Castro, Brigitte Bardot, Juliette Gréco, Jacques Brel and Pope Benedict XVI in Rome in 2008.

“A meeting with Fidel Castro is not forgotten. They are human experiences rich in memories and that do not fade in the corridor of my memory.

A constant renovation explains, according to him, this longevity.

“I also attribute my success to my loud mouth and annoying a lot of people. I improvised a “stubborn” freethinking radio, at the time when Pierre Pascau, Jean Cournoyer and André Arthur were emerging. It was like forming a club of loudmouths who disturbed and pushed. The success of the ratings allowed us to hang on for a long time,” he said.

His passion and knowledge of the history of civilizations and his love for Quebec history have also allowed him to stand out.

• Listen to Gilles Proulx’s comments every day during the live broadcast of the Proulx – Martineau meeting at 10 am via QUB-radius :

back after retirement

Gilles Proulx officially retired on August 7, 2008, after hosting the show on midday newspaper for 24 years on CJMS, CKAC and on 98.5 FM.

He returned to the service when he was approached in 2009 to write a weekly column in Le montreal daily and in The Quebec Journal.

“I thought it was going to last a year or two, maybe three. It’s already been 13 years,” she said.

• We will highlight the 60 year career of Gilles Proulx on Wednesday morning on the Richard Martineau show, listen live via QUB-radius.

a full life

• Born on April 5, 1940 in Verdun.
• He began his career as a radio announcer on October 5, 1962 at CKBM-AM in Montmagny.
• He hosted the program Grands Dossiers Historiques in 1998 and 1999 on Canal D.
• For 24 years, between 1984 and 2008, he presented the Journal du midi program on CJMS, CKAC and 98.5 FM.
• He was a professor of communication at the University of Montreal from 1979 to 1991.
• He has published several books, including New France: What You Should Have Taught Yourself (2015), The diaries of a tireless traveler (2017) and The memory that was stolen from you (2019) published by Editions du Trunk.