Golf Ontario was saddened to learn of the passing of 2012 Lorne Rubenstein Media Award winner Wally Crouter on March 28 at the age of 92.
After spending more than 50 years on air before his retirement in 1996, Wally Crouter was best known as Canada’s longest serving radio morning host. As the beloved morning voice of Toronto’s CFRB 1010, Crouter had the number one radio show in Canada with a weekly audience reach of more than 629,000 listeners.
Born in 1923 in Lindsay, Ontario, nine-year-old Wally broke into radio as a boy soprano in 1932. After serving overseas in the Second World War, he joined the Army Show and worked in allied services radio in Britain, Rome, Paris and North Africa. After his discharge in 1946, he returned to Canadian radio as an announcer at CHEX in Peterborough before coming to Toronto to join CFRB in 1946. Crouter was inducted into the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1996.
As an avid golfer, Crouter’s love of the game was well known to his listeners and he could often be found on the course with golf legends such as Sam Snead, Al Balding, Moe Norman, and Arnold Palmer. He was credited with helping to raise millions of dollars for charity through many different endeavors including his fundraising golf tournaments.
Golf Ontario sends condolences to Crouter’s family and friends.