Hugh Arklie

CJNU Director

I was born in Winnipeg's North End, and raised in the then-independent City of West Kildonan. I fondly remember the radio stations of those days in the '50s and '60s, and listening to them on a tiny rocket shaped radio under the sheets when I was supposed to be sleeping.

Upon graduation and marriage, Val and I moved to rural Manitoba. We lived in Beausejour, Selkirk and Morden. Two children, now adults, were born in Morden. Today we live on a small acreage near Birds Hill Provincial Park.

I trained as a chartered accountant and am still a member of that profession, but now I serve the non-profit community as the executive director of the Thomas Sill Foundation, a major fund granting institution which works throughout the province.

I like old cars as well as old music. Cars from the '30s, '40s, '50s and '60s match my taste in the music of these decades. Does it get any better than driving an old collectible car with old memorable music on the radio?

One course per year at the University of Winnipeg (currently a combined major in Environmental studies and Anthropology) is keeping me from making much progress on a model train that I am building. The visual theme of the train layout will reflect the '50s and '60s.

I would be happy to live in the present if the cars had some character, railway locomotives were not all the same red, black and white and if I could whistle along with the music.

Now where did I put that little rocket radio? It's almost bedtime, and after so many years there is finally a radio station - CJNU - worthy of that radio.