Founder of ATV’s Live At 5, Dave Wright, dies at 82
Posted Feb 17, 2011 12:18:06 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Retired Canadian broadcaster Dave Wright, founding host of ATV’s Live At 5, died today at age 82, his family says.
Wright worked in radio and television in the 1950s and 60s, moving to Nova Scotia in 1976 to host The Hotline on CJCH radio. He also began a half-hour program on ATV called Dave Wright’s Notebook, which current CTV Atlantic anchor Steve Murphy says was unique for its time in the region.
“I guess it was infotainment, in a sense, but it was the first sort of newsmagazine program that we’d ever seen on television in the Maritimes,” says Murphy. “And it, over the years, grew into what is now Live At 5, which was a creation of Dave’s, and he was the founding host of the program, and really the architect of most of the programming techniques, many of which we’re still using today.”
“Wright insisted there be no anchor desk, so he could walk around the ATV newsroom introducing reports and debriefing reporters at their desks,” according to a Wikipedia biography of Wright. “This casual, conversational approach, unique in television at the time, made Live at Five the highest rated television news program in Eastern Canada.”
Wright was recruited to Boston to anchor the evening newscasts for the CBS affiliate. He had a heart attack in 1987 and required quadruple bypass. He insisted the operation be recorded, and the resulting documentary earned Wright an Emmy Award nomination.
Dave Wright eventually returned to Halifax and ATV. Battling depression, he retired with his wife Audrey in 1993 and moved to Ontario. Wright recovered from depression and developed a web site and blog focused on “Positive, Productive and Profitable” retirement.
His son Gord announced via Facebook that Dave Wright passed away in the morning on February 17, 2011 after his long battle with cancer.
