{{Short description|Canadian public broadcasting executive (1923–2019)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2019}} {{Use Canadian English|date=October 2019}} {{Infobox person |name = Margaret Lyons | honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|CM|size=100%}} |image = Margaret Lyons.jpg |caption = |birth_date = November 21, 1923 |birth_place = Mission, British Columbia, Canada |death_date = {{death date and age|2019|10|4|1923|11|21}} |death_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada |other_names = Keiko Margaret Inouye |known_for = |occupation = Radio executive |alma_mater = McMaster University |nationality = |awards = Order of Canada }} '''Keiko Margaret Lyons''' {{post-nominals|country=CAN|CM}} (née '''Inouye'''; November 21, 1923 – October 4, 2019) was the first female vice president of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). She is known for her role in the CBC's "Radio Revolution", a populist revamp of the CBC Radio network which resulted in programs such as ''Quirks and Quarks'' and ''As It Happens''. Lyons was designated a Member of the Order of Canada in 2010 for her work in broadcasting.
==Early life and education== Lyons was born Keiko Margaret Inouye on November 21, 1923,<ref name="Houpt2019" /> in Mission, British Columbia,<ref name="Nikkei"/> to Japanese immigrants Yoshinobu Inouye and Teru Tsuji. In 1942, Lyons and her family were forced to leave Mission due to a mass expulsion of Japanese-Canadians from the area.<ref name="Houpt2019"/> The family settled in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where Lyons did domestic work.{{r|Crean1987|pp=323–4}} In 1944, Lyons moved to Hamilton, Ontario, and worked as a maid at McMaster University while completing her high school diploma. She then attended the university and earned a degree in economics. After graduation, she married fellow student Ed Lyons<ref name="Houpt2019"/> and relocated to London, England.{{r|Crean1987|p=323-4}}
==Career== Lyons began working as a typist for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in 1952. A year and a half later, she became a producer for BBC's Asian current affairs service, where she worked for six years.<ref name="Houpt2019"/>{{r|Crean1987|pp=322–4}} In 1957, Lyons interviewed Lester Pearson following his receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize, and he encouraged her to enter the Canadian journalism industry.<ref name="Houpt2019"/> Accordingly, Lyons moved to Toronto in 1960{{r|Crean1987|p=324}} and became a public affairs producer for CBC Radio. She was soon promoted to supervisor.<ref name="Houpt2019"/> Lyons headed CBC Radio's current affairs department and directed the AM radio service before being promoted to vice president of network radio in 1983, becoming the first woman vice president at the CBC.{{r|Crean1987|p=324}} Within the CBC, Lyons held a reputation of "benevolent ferocity"<ref name="McLean1984"/> and was affectionately referred to as the "Dragon Lady".<ref name="Houpt2019"/>{{r|Crean1987|p=324}}
During the early 1970s, Lyons was tasked with revitalizing CBC's struggling radio service, which, according to Barbara Frum, had become "ponderous, a sort of university of the air{{nbsp}}... it talked down to people and was patronizingly intellectual".{{r|Stursberg2012|p=218}} Aiming to create a more informal and entertaining atmosphere, Lyons hired several young producers and hosts, including Frum, Mark Starowicz and Peter Gzowski.{{r|Stursberg2012|p=218}} Lyons incorporated pop and rock and roll music<ref name="Boyd1985"/> into her programs and eliminated lengthy documentaries.<ref name="Houpt2019"/> Under her leadership, CBC produced influential programs like ''Quirks and Quarks'', ''As It Happens'' and ''Morningside''. This populist reimagining of CBC Radio was termed the "Radio Revolution".{{r|Stursberg2012|p=219}}
Lyons's changes were met with controversy:{{r|Stursberg2012|p=219}} producer Val Clery complained that Lyons prioritized marketing over content,<ref name="Houpt2019"/><ref name="Clery1978"/> and newspaper critics accused Lyons of pandering to yuppies<ref name="McLean1986"/> and turning the CBC into the "Burger Queen of public broadcasting".<ref name="Boyd1985"/> Supporters called Lyons "formidably brilliant"<ref name="Boyd1985"/> and commended her for saving CBC Radio from a "suicidal" trajectory.<ref name="McLean1986"/> Lyons was remembered by CBC executive Peter Herrndorf as "arguably the most important and the most influential CBC radio executive in the past 60 years" and one of the network's greatest talent developers.<ref name="Houpt2019"/>
In 1986, Lyons moved back to London, where she worked as Director of European Operations for the CBC. Lyons retired from the CBC in 1991 and returned to Toronto.<ref name="Nikkei"/>
Lyons was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters by McMaster University in 1996. The university's Lyons New Media Center is named for her.<ref name="Houpt2019"/> In 2010, Lyons was made a Member of the Order of Canada for her achievements in broadcasting.<ref name="order"/>
==Personal life and death== Lyons (née Inouye) married Ed Lyons in 1949.<ref name="Nikkei"/> She had two children, a son and a daughter.<ref name="Houpt2019"/> Lyons served on the McMaster University Senate for six years and volunteered for local historical preservation societies and Japanese cultural organizations.<ref name="Nikkei"/><ref name="order"/>
Lyons underwent medically assisted death in Toronto on October 4, 2019.<ref name="Houpt2019"/><ref name="MCM"/>
==References== <references>
<ref name="Houpt2019">{{Cite news |title=Margaret Lyons, 95, was an influential executive who sparked CBC's Radio Revolution |author=Houpt, Simon |work=The Globe and Mail |date=October 11, 2019 |access-date=October 14, 2019 |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/article-margaret-lyons-95-was-an-influential-executive-who-sparked-cbcs/ |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20191015050003/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/article-margaret-lyons-95-was-an-influential-executive-who-sparked-cbcs/ |archivedate=October 15, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> <ref name="order">{{Cite web |title=Mrs. Keiko Margaret Lyons, C.M., B.A., D.Litt. |author= |work=The Governor General of Canada |date= |access-date=October 14, 2019 |url=https://www.gg.ca/en/honours/recipients/146-8364 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20191014193119/https://www.gg.ca/en/honours/recipients/146-8364 |archivedate=October 14, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> <ref name="Crean1987">{{cite book|author=Susan Crean|title=Newsworthy: The Lives of Media Women|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-WdGFcCHZzUC|year=1987|publisher=Formac Publishing Company Limited|isbn=978-0-88780-150-1}}</ref> <ref name="Nikkei">{{cite web |url= http://www.centre.nikkeiplace.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/HM_Daruma_Answer-Keys_Print-at-Home.pdf |title=Keiko Margaret Lyons (Inouye)|author=Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre |work=Nikkei Place |accessdate=October 16, 2019 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20181212213729/http://centre.nikkeiplace.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/HM_Daruma_Answer-Keys_Print-at-Home.pdf |archivedate=December 12, 2018}}</ref> <ref name="Stursberg2012">{{cite book|author=Richard Stursberg|title=The Tower of Babble: Sins, Secrets and Successes Inside the CBC|url=https://archive.org/details/towerofbabblesin0000stur|url-access=registration|date=April 5, 2012|publisher=Douglas and McIntyre Limited|isbn=978-1-926812-74-8}}</ref> <ref name="McLean1984">{{cite news |last=McLean |first=Ross |title=CBC Radio: the Dragon Lady's lair |work=The Globe and Mail |date=March 31, 1984 |page=A7 |quote=Lyons rejoices in a reputation of benevolent ferocity within the CBC, and is widely – and usually admiringly – known as the Dragon Lady. |id={{ProQuest|1237575848}} }}{{Subscription required}}</ref> <ref name="McLean1986">{{cite news |last=McLean |first=Ross |title=Lyons' roar was needed at the CBC |work=The Globe and Mail |date=March 29, 1986 |page=11 |quote=To suggest – in the foolish shorthand of her least tolerant foes – that she has been driven by a felt need to embrace a yuppie listenership, is to misread her motivations entirely. She has simply responded to research within and without the CBC demonstrating that the corporation was contentedly failing to reach or serve a widening segment of the Canadian public. Such a drift was suicidal. Adjustment was necessary and relatively urgent.|id={{ProQuest|1143945702}} }}{{Subscription required}}</ref> <ref name="Clery1978">{{cite news |last=Clery|first=Val|title=CBC pap seen destroying last oasis in radio wasteland|work=The Globe and Mail |date=January 17, 1978 |page=7 |quote=May I, as a former executive producer and one of Margaret Lyons' early victims, add a little more detail? [...] Quasi-popular programs [...] exist only as costly monuments to Miss Lyons' remote patronizing attitude to listeners. The same philosophy, that hype and packaging are more important for boosting audience figures than content, has permeated current affairs programming also.|id={{ProQuest|1238206107}}}}{{Subscription required}}</ref> <ref name="Boyd1985">{{cite news|last=Boyd|first=Denny|title=Did she turn a top radio service into a Burger Queen?|work=Vancouver Sun|date=December 4, 1985|page=3|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/495100344/|accessdate=October 16, 2019|quote=The Sun's Marjorie Nichols describes her as "formidably brilliant". An Eastern newspaper critic has called her "the woman who took over the best all-brow radio service west of the BBC and turned it into the Burger Queen of public broadcasting".|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191016171534/https://www.newspapers.com/image/495100344/|archive-date=October 16, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> <ref name="MCM">{{Cite web |title=Remembering Margaret Lyons |author= |work=McMaster University Daily News |date=October 15, 2019 |access-date=November 2, 2019 |url= https://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/articles/remembering-margaret-lyons/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20191102120850/https://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/articles/remembering-margaret-lyons/|archivedate=November 2, 2019}}</ref>
</references>
==External links== * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elkrJJUw3LY A Tribute to Margaret Lyons—documentary] * [https://vimeo.com/338320855 Interview with Margaret Lyons for the Sedai Oral History Project]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyons, Margaret}} Category:1923 births Category:2019 deaths Category:Canadian radio executives Category:Canadian women business executives Category:Canadian people of Japanese descent Category:Members of the Order of Canada Category:BBC people Category:Canadian Broadcasting Corporation people Category:McMaster University alumni Category:People from Mission, British Columbia Category:Deaths by euthanasia Category:Suicides in Ontario