CKUA RADIO INTERVIEW

CKUA Radio in Alberta has been a huge supporter of mine or many years.  This morning I had an interview on zoom with long-time morning host Grant Stovel.  We talked about my new role as Artist-in-Residence and Arts Ambassador and I told him about my project, "Everyone Has A Story."

GRANT STOVEL of CKUA Radio

What I loved about this short zoom call was actually a story Grant told me after the taping of the interview - where his love for radio came from. I didn't know this but Grant was not the first person in his family to gravitate to radio. His Dad, Dr. Bruce Stovel produced a blues show on CJSR.  He was also an academic who was a world renowned expert on author Jane Austen (who happens to be one of my wife's favourite writers.) I think Jenny has read Pride and Prejudice about a hundred times - I'm not joking and that's a conservative number. There is also a ragged, steam-warped copy of Sense and Sensibility that lives on the board that rests across the width of our clawfoot tub.

Grant began following his dad to the radio station to help his dad produce a show called Calling All Blues.  You can read about Dr. Bruce Stovel on his Edmonton Blues Hall of Fame page right here

A book was published in the memory of Dr. Bruce Stovel that highlights the marriage of Bruce's two passions -Jane Austen and American Blues music.  It is a book of essays written by Austen scholars intertwined  with lyrics of famous Blues artists.  Here's the link to the book.

And see friends, this is exactly what I'm talking about. Everyone does have a story and when we learn them we find connections with people, we feel closer to them than we did before.  I've known Grant for years and did not know this story about his dad.  Love it!