Bill Adams

Birthplace
Hanover, Ontario

Birthdate
June 12, 1957

First Media Job
News Director, CFBQ AM, Parry Sound


Bill Adams was born in Hanover. His family moved to Sudbury in 1962 and so Bill considers Sudbury his hometown. He attended Lasalle Secondary School graduating in 1976. Then in 1980 he earned a Bachelor of Applied Arts Degree in radio and television from Ryerson University in Toronto.

His first job in his chosen profession came in August of that year when he was hired as News Director at CFBQ AM. The station was a 250-watt broadcast undertaking in Parry Sound, Ontario. It eventually grew into a 50,000-watt FM operation as CKLP. As a humble beginning in his successful career, Bill was a one-man operation in the newsroom collecting local news with regional and national wire service stories added. He anchored morning and mid-day newscasts. In 1981 he moved to Cambridge, Ontario joining the news team at CFTJ AM.

In January of 1984 it was back to his hometown of Sudbury. CKSO Radio News Director Ralph Murray hired Bill as a news reporter, often anchoring news and sports broadcasts for both CKSO AM and CIGM FM. For nearly every broadcaster, there’s always a big moment waiting upon their return to their hometown and that’s being on the air for the first time. Even for a seasoned broadcaster who has paid the dues of the business and developed a proven track record within towns and major markets, it’s still a big deal, a momentous event in which one’s first words over a live microphone can be heard by family, life-long friends and old acquaintances. It was no different for Bill having grown up listening to CKSO Radio and watching CKSO TV. In spite of a high school guidance councillor who told him he was not suited for the news broadcast industry Bill had come home with the success of his dreams and career.

During his time back in Sudbury, Bill met the love of his life, Paula, at a place known as Cortina Café in 1985. Paula herself is a Sudbury native. They married on June 13, 1987. That year brought along another pivotal change in the new couple’s lives as Bill accepted a position in the newsroom at CFPL Radio in London, Ontario. Bill and Paula moved to that city where, similar to Sudbury, he worked as a reporter and anchored news and sports casts for Radio 98 and FM 96. Meanwhile Paula had launched her own career as a lawyer serving London and focusing on real estate law, wills and estate planning, powers of attorney and business law. Bill and Paula raised their family in London.

Bill’s time in London radio spanned some nearly 14 years when he and several coworkers fell victim to the ‘big broom’ following new ownership in 2001. At that point Bill was semi-retired, at least in the broadcasting game.

With time on his hands, Bill was commissioned to compile a richly illustrated book, “Of Heroes, Helmets and Hoses”. It traces the London Fire Department from the bucket-carrying volunteer brigades to a modern operation that costs that city over $31 million a year to operate with a staff of some 400.

Unexpectedly, Bill Adams found himself back in the news chair. In 2002 a former CFPL news colleague, Jerry Daniel, who was then News Director at CKOT Easy 101 and Country 1510 in Tillsonburg, had suffered a heart attack. Jerry asked Bill if he would take over his morning newscasting shift while Jerry was convalescing at home. What was suppose to be temporary developed into a nine-year run! The early mornings and hour’s commute each way took their toll and Bill was not happy about the amount of time he was kept from his family. The decision to leave the Tillsonburg job came with mixed feelings, but in the end was a no-brainer in putting those long days behind him. In May of 2011, Bill was once again retired from the broadcast business. His friend, Jerry, was never able to return to work and passed away in June of 2008.

Looking back on Bill Adams’ news career, he was afforded countless opportunities to cover every kind of news story from municipal governments and school boards to sports and breaking news. He has interviewed thousands of people from Premiers and mayors to toddlers and protesters. Adams contributed to the award-winning CKSO radio news coverage of a mining accident near Sudbury. On the morning of June 20, 1984 a seismic event registering 3.5 on the Richter scale struck Falconbridge Mine. It caused a major collapse of tons of rock and timbers down No. 5 nickel mine shaft. Nearly 200 miners were trapped. Four of them never made it out. The sensitive, delicate and thorough coverage of the mine accident earned CKSO a Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) coverage award.

While in London, Bill also contributed to award-winning coverage of a tornado near that city in 1990.

Though retired from broadcasting, Bill continues to lead an active and busy life volunteering in the community with The Oakridge Optimists being one of his greatest passions.

Having a career in law generates an amassment of paperwork. With Bill’s wife Paula having long established her practice in London, so did she accumulate reams of ‘hundreds’ of pounds of documents, files and records, and they continue to ‘pile’ on and up. Bill can some days keep himself very busy at what he lightheartedly refers to as Bill Adams Warehousing managing the storage of these legal papers and making reference as to their location in repository.

With a life-long passion for writing, Bill continues to work at various projects including a novel.

From the time in which Bill was less than a month old, he has been on the waters of Georgian Bay every summer. His parents were boaters and enjoyed their time extensively cruising Georgian Bay and the North Channel and spending a great deal of time on the waters in the Britt area. Today Bill and Paula are carrying on the tradition of Georgian Bay life with a cottage further south in Georgian Bay Township. Bill, Paula and family and friends make the most of their summer paradise for nearly six months of the year. Their children are grown with a son working towards a career in sports administration and two daughters working in Toronto.