Longtime Vancouver CBC radio broadcaster Rick Cluff dead at 74

By Staff The Canadian Press

Former CBC radio journalist and personality Rick Cluff, who was the longtime host of The Early Edition morning show in Vancouver, has died at the age of 74. Cluff is seen in a radio studio in an undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-CBC, Wendy D, *MANDATORY CREDIT*. GAC

Former CBC radio journalist and personality Rick Cluff, who was the longtime host of The Early Edition morning show in Vancouver, has died at the age of 74.

The public broadcaster says Cluff died shortly after being diagnosed with cancer.

Cluff was host of CBC’s Radio One’s top-rated morning show from 1997 until he retired in 2017.

He was inducted into the football reporters’ section of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame and Museum in 1999.

The Radio Television Digital News Association of Canada gave him its lifetime achievement award for the West region in 2018.

The association said at the time that Cluff’s greatest contributions were in local radio, through the impact he had on audiences, decades of quiet mentorship and his community leadership.

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“As the host of The Early Edition, Rick helped make CBC Radio One B.C.’s No. 1 radio station, always providing a fair forum for discussion and discovery in our community,” the association said in a statement announcing the award recipients.

The CBC says Cluff retired from his 41-year career with the broadcaster in 2017, after undergoing a quadruple heart bypass.

It says he is survived by his wife, son, daughter and five grandchildren.