{{short description|Canadian radio broadcaster}} '''Neil McKenty''' (December 31, 1924 – May 12, 2012)<ref name="Globe obit">{{cite news| last =Hustak| first =Alan| title =Former Jesuit priest became a Montreal talk show legend| page =S7| newspaper =The Globe and Mail| date =2012-05-17 }}</ref> was an English-Canadian radio and television broadcaster and author.
==Personal life==
The son of a hardware store owner, McKenty was raised in Hastings, Ontario, near Peterborough. He was schooled at a Jesuit boarding school in Kingston, Ontario.<ref name="Gazette2">{{cite news| last =Boone| first =Mike| title =CJAD's Neil McKenty calls it quits: ''Exchange'' host trades in top-rated show for writing career| page =D5| newspaper =The Gazette| date =1985-07-10}}</ref>
He was educated at the University of Toronto, where he earned a bachelor's degree in Canadian history, and the University of Michigan, achieving a master's in communications.<ref name="Gazette2" /><ref name="about">[http://neilmckenty.wordpress.com/about/ About Neil « Neil McKenty Weblog<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
For fifteen years, he was a teacher and ordained priest with the Jesuit order. He was on the editorial staff of the Jesuit weekly America and wrote a much-acclaimed biography of former Ontario Premier Mitch Hepburn. In 1970, McKenty left the Jesuits and accepted a position doing public relations with the Special Olympics. He met his wife, Catharine, on the dance floor and married her just ten days later.<ref name="Gazette2" />
McKenty died at Montreal General Hospital on May 12, 2012, at the age of 87, after a short illness.<ref>{{cite news|date=2012-05-12|title=Former CJAD radio host Neil McKenty dies|url=https://montrealgazette.com/news/Former+CJAD+radio+host+Neil+McKenty+dies/6612099/story.html|newspaper=The Gazette|accessdate=2012-05-13}}</ref> A former colleague eulogized him as "one of the most complicated and interesting men who ever lived."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://blog.fagstein.com/2012/05/21/neil-mckenty-eulogy/|title = Eulogy for Neil McKenty: "one the most complicated and interesting men who ever lived" | Fagstein}}</ref>
==Broadcasting career==
In October 1972, he moved from Toronto to Montreal to work as a talk show host for CJAD AM radio. Initially working as the station's editorialist, he later co-hosted a 60-minute phone-in show with Helen Gougeon.<ref name="Gazette2" />
In 1977 he began working solo, and his two-hour morning show ''Exchange'' almost immediately became the city's top-rated phone-in program.<ref name="Gazette1">{{cite news| title =McKenty sidelined| page =A6| newspaper =The Gazette| date =2004-10-28}}</ref> He described ''Exchange'' as a radio "town meeting" and "people talking over their clotheslines in the backyard."<ref name="Gazette2" /> His signature line was "the lines are blazing." The show achieved its peak ratings—about 75,000 regular listeners—in 1985 when he decided to leave and write books instead.<ref name="Gazette2" /> He returned to broadcasting when his television phone-in talk show, ''McKenty Live'', on CFCF-TV, debuted in September 1987;<ref>{{cite news| last =Boone| first =Mike| title =McKenty's talent wasted on television| page =H2| newspaper =The Gazette| date =1987-09-30}}</ref> it ran for three seasons until 1990, when he decided to focus on writing once again.<ref>{{cite news| title =McKenty decided not to return| page =D2| newspaper =The Gazette| date =1990-06-23}}</ref>
He interviewed many Canadian political leaders.<ref name="about" /><ref name="canada">[http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/letters/story.html?id=9db9163b-2c2b-4b12-b6bf-c757e8253d09 Honour those who stayed<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
At the time of the passage of Bill 101 making French the only official language of Quebec, McKenty declined to denounce the law entirely. He claimed that the purported aim of the bill, more respect for French-speaking Quebecers, was just. He is credited with being a voice of moderation who sought to build linguistic bridges during a time when Quebec separatism was at its peak.<ref name="canada" />
In 2008, he started a blog on current affairs at [http://www.neilmckenty.com www.neilmckenty.com]. After his death, friends decided to maintain the blog and add archival radio and television clips to it.
==Bibliography==
He left radio broadcasting in 1985 to write ''In the Stillness Dancing: The Journey of John Main'', a biography of Benedictine monk John Main, published in 1986. It received mostly a positive response from critics.<ref>{{cite news| last =Boone| first =Mike| title =Neil McKenty's back - and this time he's live on TV| page =D6| newspaper =The Gazette| date =1987-05-29}}</ref> He went on to write a biography of Toronto mayor R. J. Fleming.
Together with his wife Catharine, McKenty (née Fleming) wrote ''Skiing Legends and the Laurentian Lodge Club'' (2001), an historical account of a social and skiing club in the Laurentian Mountains.<ref>{{cite news| last =Hustak| first =Alan| title =Early days of skiing fondly recalled: Laurentian Lodge members going downhill since 1924| page =J5| newspaper =The Gazette| date =2001-02-03}}</ref>
In all, McKenty wrote five titles, both non-fiction (the two biographies, a well-regarded memoir (''The Inside Story: Journey of a Former Jesuit Priest and Talkshow Host Towards Self-Discovery''), the skiing club history) and fiction (a murder mystery, ''The Other Key: An Inspector Julian Main Mystery'').
== Quebec Canada Committee == In 1992, he toured Canada as co-founder (with businessman John Hallward) of the Quebec Canada Committee to promote the idea of a unified Canada, building bridges between French and English Canada during the lead-up to the Charlottetown Accord constitution amendment proposals.<ref>{{cite news| last =Cunningham| first =Jim| title =Messengers will spread word| page =B1| newspaper =Calgary Herald| date =1992-05-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| last =Barrett| first =Tom| title =Anglophone sings praises of Quebec| page =B6| newspaper =The Vancouver Sun| date =1992-05-21}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| last =Laghi| first =Brian| title =Unity crusader detects new acceptance of Que.| page =E14| newspaper =Edmonton Journal| date =1992-05-22}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:McKenty, Neil}} Category:1924 births Category:2012 deaths Category:Canadian radio personalities Category:Canadian television personalities Category:Canadian male biographers Category:Canadian male novelists Category:People from Northumberland County, Ontario Category:Anglophone Quebec people Category:University of Toronto alumni Category:University of Michigan alumni Category:20th-century Canadian novelists Category:20th-century Canadian biographers Category:20th-century Canadian male writers