Les McLaughlin

Les McLaughlin began his broadcasting career with CBC Northern Service in Whitehorse, Yukon. He started as summer relief in 1962 and was a full-time announcer operator from 1964-1968. He was the Northern Service producer in Montreal from 1968-1980, moving to Ottawa as the producer/head of the Ottawa production unit from 1980-1995.

The Northern Service production unit was established in 1980 as the result of minor downsizing at the CBC Northern Service short-wave headquarters in Montreal. It was decided that a news and current affairs presence was needed in Ottawa to provide northern listeners with substantive stories  about events on Parliament Hill, in government departments and in the many non-governmental agencies with headquarters in Ottawa.

The unit was composed of McLaughlin as producer, a technician, a production assistant and a senior news editor. It was located at the Chateau Laurier Hotel, home to CBC Radio in Ottawa since the 1930s. The studio was on the 8th floor in an unused storage area. The unit provided daily news and current affairs items fed to northern locations via satellite. The team catered to specific requests for story coverage from northern producers and also generated material from their own information and sources.

In addition, the unit produced broadcast recordings (real records) featuring northern singer-songwriters such as Charlie Panigoniak, Susan Aglukark, David Gon, Hank Karr, Itulu Itidlouie and many others. Once recorded, their music was released for non-commercial airplay – first on vinyl LP and later on CD. Eventually, 55 LPs and 11 CDs were produced.

The unit also developed and produced the CBC True North Concert series and was involved with special events coverage like national constitutional conferences, the Arctic Winter Games and other major pan-northern events. The Northern Service production unit was closed after 15 years in 1995.

An interview with writer, photographer and filmmaker Richard S. Finnie.

An interview with sailor and Hudson's Bay Company trader E.J. "Scotty" Gall.

An interview with sailor and Hudson's Bay Company trader Lorenz A. Learmonth.

An episode of the CBC's Between Ourselves describing the manhunt for Albert Johnson, the Mad Trapper of Rat River.

An interview with Alexander Stevenson, Hudson's Bay Company trader and later, the Administrator of the Arctic.

An interview with journalist and author Frederick B. "Ted" Watt.