{"id":36857,"date":"2025-09-18T15:29:26","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T19:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=36857"},"modified":"2025-09-18T15:29:37","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T19:29:37","slug":"over-250-fans-charmed-by-steve-paikin-and-bruce-dowbiggins-afternoon-of-anecdotes-at-aurora-town-square","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/over-250-fans-charmed-by-steve-paikin-and-bruce-dowbiggins-afternoon-of-anecdotes-at-aurora-town-square\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 250 fans charmed by Steve Paikin and Bruce Dowbiggin\u2019s afternoon of anecdotes at Aurora Town Square"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cAn Afternoon with Steve Paikin and Bruce Dowbiggin\u201d was enjoyed by over 250 attendees at Aurora Town Square on Sunday, September 7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emcee Andrew Applebaum, host of the podcast Toronto Legends, put the two Canadian media icons through their paces\u2014much to the delight of the audience which was amused and engaged by the trio\u2019s insights and showmanship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Tom Mrakas welcomed the audience and introduced Applebaum to get the show rolling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Mrakas was pleased by the turnout and the quality of the performers who took center stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s what we envisioned when we built the Square and the Performance Hall.  It\u2019s nice to have such talented people on stage. Steve, Bruce, and Andrew have all had fine careers in their fields.  This is a great place to spend a Sunday afternoon\u2014hearing Steve Paikin and Bruce Dowbiggin tell their stories.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stories were, indeed, engaging and Applebaum moved the two television personalities through their experiences in broadcasting. The sold-out venue suggested the staying power of these broadcasting legends and the audience enjoyed not only the comfy confines of Town Square, but the trips down memory lane as Paikin and Dowbiggin described their early days together at CBC Toronto as well as The Fan 590. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dowbiggin\u2014who aspired to be a playwright\u2014used self-effacing humor about how he seemed to fall into his sports broadcasting career. He wanted \u201cto be the next Arthur Miller, but when the money got tight, I took a job with TV Guide magazine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dowbiggin reflected humorously that \u201cevery Canadian living room in the 1970s featured a television remote and a copy of the TV Guide. My first big story was on Sugar Ray Leonard, I spent the day with CBS\u2019s Morley Safer, golfed with Fred MacMurray, and bet on the horseraces with Jimmy the Greek at Aqueduct.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His rapid ascension up the ranks of TV Guide led to a serendipitous moment involving the national broadcaster: \u201cOut of the blue, I got a phone call asking me to be on a panel on a CBC Radio Sports show.  I had no idea how to perform on radio, but things went well and then I was asked to be the Sports Anchor on CBC\u2019s 6:00 news show. I had no experience doing television, either, but they reassured me that they\u2019d teach me what was needed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After describing how he muddled through all three platforms\u2014print, radio, and television\u2014into national prominence, Paikin interrupted his former colleague and asked him point blank: \u201cDid you ever get any good at it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The audience erupted in laughter at the good-hearted jibe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dowbiggin smiled and deadpanned, \u201cI did win the Gemini Award two years in a row\u201d which elicited more applause from the appreciative audience who could see the camaraderie between the two media personalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dowbiggin described how he took over William Houston\u2019s sports rumors column at The Globe and Mail which was \u201cthe most-read column in The Globe and Mail.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had done TV, radio, and print and Bill didn\u2019t want to branch out so I was able to bring my guests\u2019 comments from the radio and TV shows into the column. This led to another opportunity to appear on the show of another Toronto sports broadcasting legend:  Every Friday, I\u2019d go on with Bob McCown to do NFL picks. Bob changed the sports in Toronto and made it more exciting. He had seven different personalities\u2014all of them tragic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The knowledgeable audience laughed at the reference to the mercurial McCown and Dowbiggin pivoted to mention a FAN 590 show entitled \u201cDouble Play\u2014DP for short\u2014standing for Dowbiggin and Paikin,\u201d and discussed his successful multi-year run with Paikin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reference served as a perfect segue into the famous TVO host\u2019s \u2018getting to know you\u2019 segment deftly moderated by Applebaum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Applebaum asked Paikin what his Eureka moment was that made him want to be a broadcaster, the long-time host of TVO\u2019s The Agenda regaled the audience with an anecdote from his freshman year at the University of Toronto\u2019s downtown campus: \u201cI was in first year at UT and I went to Hart House where all the university clubs were recruiting new members. There was a table for U of T Radio. That was my Eureka moment. I asked them if they had a play-by-play announcer for the hockey and football teams. They didn\u2019t and I asked them if I could do it. They said sure and suddenly I thought I could become the Foster Hewitt of the Varsity Blues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The appreciative audience chuckled at the historical allusion to the pioneering broadcaster and Paikin transitioned from his experiences in the broadcast booth at Varsity Stadium and Varsity Arena to a seminal journalism gig he took at a local newspaper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hamilton-born-and-raised Paikin had his heart set on covering sports that summer when he got home to The Hammer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI decided that I wanted to be in sports broadcasting and wanted to write sports stories as a summer replacement writer at The Hamilton Spectator.  The Editor gave me everything but sports.  He sent me to cover community activities, fires, school board meetings, chasing ambulances\u2014and it forced me to rethink. I got turned on to news coverage at the age of 19 and decided \u2018It\u2019s not going to be sports\u2014it\u2019s going to be news.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paikin described how he became a big Red Sox fan in 1975 during the great Cincinnati-Boston World Series and, after graduating from U of T, he decided to \u201cdo my Masters of Journalism degree at Boston University since it was the closest university to Fenway Park. After I returned to Canada in 1982, I got my first job at CFTR and CHFI covering City Hall. I was a one-man-band, carrying around my tape recorder, and editing my own audio recordings with Scotch tape as I prepared my on-air voiceovers.  My daughter thinks that I was living in the Stone Age.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The famous current affairs host cut his teeth \u201cas an anchor with CBLT and imitated Fraser Kelly. I also shared a dressing room with Bill Lawrence from Tiny Talent Time who was so supportive, especially if you had a bad day on air.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now retired after nineteen seasons as host of The Agenda at TVO, Paikin cautioned that \u201cI\u2019m not retiring; I\u2019m rewiring.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He spoke fondly of his final show: \u201cThe last guest on the show was my father who\u2019s 92 and took a bus and a subway to get to the show. After 19,000 guests, it was a nice way to end with my dad and I engaged in natural conversation. I had mentioned that when I signed my last three-year contract, that it would likely be my last. It\u2019s important to leave a job before they fire you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paikin spoke warmly about his new broadcasting gig\u2014The Paikin Podcast\u2014and described his plans to do a 75th anniversary documentary on Bill Barilko\u2019s Stanley Cup-winning goal in 1951, made famous by the Tragically Hip song \u201cFifty Mission Cap.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Paikin and Dowbiggin continue to be multiplatform journalists.  Dowbiggin has authored eleven books and his next one \u201cis going to be a book of poetry that I\u2019ll self-publish.\u201d The famous sports broadcaster\u2014who plied his trade in Toronto and Calgary\u2014will return to his creative writing roots in his twelfth publication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stories about the past and their connection to the present made Paikin and Dowbiggin inspirational guest speakers at Town Square on Sunday afternoon\u2014much to the delight of the 250 appreciative fans in attendance.  Applebaum observed this connection during the various facets of the afternoon gathering: \u201cIt was a great example of this new kind of event\u2014not only was it about the sharing of their career highlights, but the audience offered great insights during the Q and A session and, later, at the meet and greet in the Square and in the Library. Everybody enjoyed the stories and it was a two-way street as so many people shared stories with Steve and Bruce that they enjoyed hearing. As one of the audience members noted, \u2018After COVID, we\u2019re all hungry for this kind of connection.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Jim Stewart
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAn Afternoon with Steve Paikin and Bruce Dowbiggin\u201d was enjoyed by over 250 attendees at Aurora Town Square on Sunday, September 7. Emcee Andrew Applebaum, host of the podcast Toronto Legends, put the two Canadian media icons through their paces\u2014much to the delight of the audience which was amused and engaged by the trio\u2019s insights […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":36858,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2025-09-18-06.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9At","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-06 18:11:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36857"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36859,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36857\/revisions\/36859"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}