Yukon who is who

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Dennis Mackie (1919 – 1972)
	
Dennis Mackie grew up in Kitsilano, British Columbia. He had a grade eight education, and he left his job in a Vancouver foundry to go north.((Betty Mackie, “Dawson City Radio Pioneer Dennis Mackie.” //The Yukoner Magazine,// Issue No. 19, October 2001: 17-18.)) Dennis Mackie arrived in Dawson from Vancouver as a teenager in the late 1940s. At that time, the volunteer radio station had just been formed by two men stationed there with the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals. They dropped a line out the window of the Pearl Harbour Hotel and broadcast to the town without a call sign. Dennis volunteered as an announcer-operator and became active on the executive. Most of the programs in the early days came from stacks of American Armed Forces 16-inch disks that ran about a half hour each and there were lots of 78s.((Elizabeth Mackie, "Dennis Mackie: A Yukon radio pioneer." //Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 4 January 2002.))
	
Mackie worked as an oiler on a dredge near Dawson following his service in the Second World War. During the next season, Betty Mackie and their two-year-old son moved to Dawson to join him. Betty was working in the ticket office of a train terminal in Vancouver before she moved up to be with Dennis.  That year, Dennis had to leave his work on the dredge because he had a bleeding ulcer that hospitalized him. He was transferred to Sixty Mile Camp as a cook's helper as that would be less stressful.((Betty Mackie, "Klondike memories: the gold dredges." //The Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 18 July 2003.))
	
The Dawson Corp of Signals radio station obtained the RCA record service and every Christmas after 1952 they broadcast shows like Amos & Andy and Jack Benny. The station moved from the Pearl Harbour Hotel, to the Army Signal station, to the old government liquor store, and finally to the Old Territorial Administration Building in a room next to the post office where Dennis was the postmaster. CFYT had live broadcasts and Dennis hosted //21 or bust// and taped live events to broadcast.((Elizabeth Mackie, "Dennis Mackie: A Yukon radio pioneer." //Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 4 January 2002.))
	
The Klondike Tourist Bureau, later the Klondike Visitors Association, was formed in 1951. They sponsored Klondike Nights during the summer and hosted Crown and Anchor, Blackjack, Faro, and later a poker table was added. Patrons paid admission and got some phony money to play with. Prizes included spoons with gold nuggets on the handles. Mackie read the Shooting of Dan McGew for the pantomime that followed the gambling. The local orchestra would end with evening with dance music. There was no coffee or food, and everything ended at midnight. In February, the people involved elected officers and Mackie was elected chairman of the Board. With funds raised from Klondike Nights, the organization bought the Palace Grand for $1,000 from Giovanni Castellaran. In 1958, the group made repairs to the Arctic Brotherhood Hall and renovated Robert Service Cabin. Those who could took Klondike Nights to Mayo and put on an evening of entertainment with the proceeds going to the IODE. Then the group chartered a plane and took the show to Fairbanks to participate in their Golden Days celebration.(("Arctic Brotherhood: social crossroads of the North." //The Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 19 July 2002.))
	
In November 1958, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC) assumed the operation of CYFT, "formerly known as the little 100-watt station with 50 volunteer announcers." As manager of the station, Dennis decided that the station's accrued funds should be donated to the students' association and to the swimming pool and to buy radios for the hospital. The official takeover occurred on 12 November 1958 and shortly after that Dennis resigned as postmaster to accept a position with the CBC-CFYT.  During the summer months, Dennis read "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" every Saturday evening for the volunteer Klondike Tourist Association. The CBC renovated the radio studio in the spring of 1959. Fuelled by caffeine, nicotine, and sugar, Dennis was a versatile and dynamic broadcaster.((Elizabeth Mackie, "Dennis Mackie: A Yukon radio pioneer." //Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 4 January 2002.))
	
In 1960, Mackie was transferred to Fort Smith as the CBC announcer-in-charge of the radio station. The town did not have the community spirit of Dawson, so the Mackies joined the Legion for their fun. After a two-year assignment, the radio station became a relay transmitter and Mackie was transferred to Yellowknife for a two-year period as the area manager for the Mackenzie District. Mackie was then transferred to Whitehorse for a year, and his //Mackie in the Morning// show was very popular. His last assignment was at the CBC station in Vancouver starting in January 1966. Mackie died suddenly at age 53 while on his annual fishing trip in Chase, British Columbia.((Betty Mackie, “Dawson City Radio Pioneer Dennis Mackie.” //The Yukoner Magazine,// Issue No. 19, October 2001: 17-18.))