Red Robinson’s name was synonymous with rock ’n’ roll in Vancouver.
He hosted Vancouver’s first rock ’n’ roll radio show on Nov. 13, 1954, when he was 17 years old. He was MC of the first rock ’n’ roll concert in the city, Bill Haley and the Comets, on June 27, 1956; MC of the Elvis Presley show at Empire Stadium on Aug. 31, 1957; and MC at the Beatles gig at Empire Aug. 22, 1964.
Like many pioneering rock ’n’ roll disc jockeys, to a local audience he probably was big as the stars he introduced. Unlike many DJs he kept at it, remaining on the airwaves until he was 80. But his health had declined after the death of his wife Carole in 2020.
Saturday his family announced that Red had died after a short illness. He had turned 86 on March 30.
Robert Gordon Robinson was born in Comox and moved with his family to east Vancouver when he was five. He fell in love with radio as a kid.
“I used to listen to Jack Cullen here in Vancouver,” said Robinson in 2017. “And he was just wild, he was all over the place. I thought, man, if I could do something like that I’d be the happiest camper on the planet. And I ended up doing it. Jack was my guideline, he was my mentor.”
He broke into the radio biz with typical daring-do.
“Al Jordan had a teenage show in the afternoon on CJOR called Theme For Teens, and he took phone calls,” Robinson recalled.
“I noticed in The Vancouver Sun that Jimmy Stewart was in town, so I called Theme For Teens (and imitated him). ‘Oh, h-i-i-i Allan, it’s Jimmy Stewart.’ And they believed me.
“I called in a couple of days later as Peter Lorre and it twigged on Al Jordan. He said, ‘Did you do Jimmy Stewart?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ So he said, ‘Come on down and be on the show.’ So I used to appear on his show, doing impersonations and little skits.
“Al left and program director Vic Waters said, ‘We had a discussion in management and we thought you should take (over the show).’ So I did.”
Robinson started off doing half an hour a day, and within six months was doing five hours. Rock ‘n’ roll was exploding, and Robinson rode the wave. He was so popular, 10,000 kids showed up at the Kitsilano Showboat to watch him spin records.
He was everywhere: doing radio, MC’ing shows and writing music columns for the newspapers. He had some great stories from the early days, when acts often toured in travelling shows with multiple artists.
He met, interviewed and befriended everybody, from Bill Haley to Buddy Holly to Johnny Cash and Elvis.
“The best gig I saw had to be Elvis,” he said. “There was nothing like it beforehand. He was the first guy to rent stadiums. I’d MC’ed shows, but standing in front of 20,000 people was nerve-racking.”
In 1959 he moved to Portland, and went on TV. But then, like Elvis, he was drafted into the U.S. army.
He came back to Canada in 1961 at CKWX. At various times he was a program director, had an advertising agency, and even promoted shows.
He teamed up with Les Vogt for a Roy Orbison tour, which did very well. So they gave Orbison a bonus, and Orbison was stunned: he said it was the first time any promoter had ever done that.
Red’s early days in radio became the subject of a popular musical, Red Rock Diner, and he wrote or co-wrote several books, including Rockbound: Rock and Roll Encounters, Backstage Vancouver (with Greg Potter) and The Last Deejay (with Robin Brunet).
He was very close with his wife Carole.
“We met in ’62,” he said. “It was a blind date, and instantly it happened. People that don’t believe in love at first sight are wrong — it was with me.”
The couple had three children. He is survived by his daughters Kellie and Cheri, and predeceased by Carole and his son Jeff.
Robinson was in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the B.C. Entertainment Hall of Fame, and was a member of the Order of British Columbia.
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