Doug Collins is retiring from broadcasting after 55 years in business, including 51 in Kamloops (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

DOUG COLLINS RETIRING

Collins leaves broadcasting with great memories, pride in Kamloops growth

Oct 25, 2021 | 4:25 PM

KAMLOOPS — For 51 years in Kamloops, he was a staple on your radio in the morning, airing the daily news headlines to your home or car.

However, Doug Collins has made the tough decision to put the microphone down and retire from the airwaves.

“I hadn’t planned on having to leave suddenly, but physically it just wasn’t happening anymore. My mind was good, but my body said, ‘No, time to rein it in,” noted Collins.

The 73-year-old Collins arrived in Kamloops on April 6, 1970, coming to the River City from Penticton. He made Kamloops his home and, over time, became a radio legend in the market, lending his voice to the mornings.

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“I always liked doing the morning show, the morning news run,” he said. “It’s been the best part of the job for me.”

Collins has been recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Radio-Television-Digital News Association and was named Broadcaster of the Year by the B.C. Association of Broadcasters in 2009. He was also honoured in 2019 with the Freedom of the City, which is given to a valued member of the community.

As a newsperson, he’s had front-row seat in many of the city’s major events of the last half century, including the historic flood of 1972. While many of his news memories are negative, there were many positives along the way.

“In the 1972 floods, when everything was kind of doom and gloom and the water was rising, I remember our TV operations manager at the time, Dave Somerton, we were out every night keeping track of the situation,” said Collins. “But we’d also take food and coffee out to the workers that were on the flood lines. That was really satisfying. The frontline workers who were trying to save half the city.”

Since arriving 51 years ago, Doug has seen Kamloops grow immensely, nearly doubling in population from 58,000 in 1976 to now where the city is pushing 100,000.

“I think the growth of Kamloops has been pretty steady and not so ‘hustly and bustly’ as Kelowna’s was,” he said. “They kind of grew out of control very quickly, at least in my mind, and so now I think we’re reaping some benefits of that. We’ve grown more slowly and we have a city that we can be proud of.”

While Doug will miss the news business, he won’t miss the early wake-up call.

“I know I will enjoy not having to climb out of bed at three o’clock in the morning to get ready to go to work,” he said. “If I wake up in the middle of the night, I won’t have to worry about how much time I have before the alarm goes off. If I want to read for a while or whatever, I can, and I can roll over and go back to sleep.”