CBC Radio swept all three Science-in-Society Journalism Awards in the radio category from the Canadian Science Writers Association. The awards honour outstanding contributions to science journalism in the Canadian media. Winners were Derek Stoffel for “Chernobyl: 20 Years On”, Jim Lebans, Jim Handman and Bob McDonald for “The Science of Happiness”; and Anna Marie Tremonti, Joan Webber and Dick Miller for “On Thinning Ice,” broadcast on The Current.

The latest issue of the excellent Ryerson Review of Journalism has a profile of CBC Radio’s Toronto morning show host Andy Barrie. It’s a great, in-depth read.

Here’s the opening paragraph:

“Andy Barrie pulls up in a taxi to the Front Street entrance of CBC’s downtown Toronto fortress at approximately 5:30 a.m. After settling the fare with his long-term driver, who jokes that Barrie has paid for at least 10 per cent of his mortgage, the king of morning radio grabs his copies of The Globe and Mail and Now, a Toronto alternative weekly.

“He shuffles toward the doors, letting a few flyers fall out of the papers. Then the soft-bellied man with pure white hair passes through the restricted-access interior gates. He takes the elevator up CBC’s tower to the third floor and heads to his desk.

“Amid family photographs, books, notes and a computer, there is a little black pillow with white lettering that reads, “Everyone is entitled to my opinion.” A large picture of Barrie as a young boy at Camp Skylemar in Naples, Maine, shows him wearing headphones, leaning over a microphone. As the camp’s radio host for “The Wake-up,” the nine-year-old played records, gave ball scores and led “camp chatter.” Barrie’s desk also boasts a plaque congratulating him for 10 years of “outstanding contribution to the success of Metro Morning.” These are not empty words of praise. He is the voice of the morning show ranked No. 1 in Canada’s largest city.”

Also very much worth reading in the same issue is a profile on Carol Off and a full piece following the team of Quirks and Quarks as they put a week’s show together.