Yukon who is who

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Malcolm Ronald Angus “Ron” McFadyen (1942 – 2023)
	
Ron McFadyen was born in Victoria, British Columbia to parents Mac and Donna McFadyen.((“Malcolm Ronald Angus McFadyen (Ron).” //The Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 28 July 2023.)) Ron started his career as a broadcaster at age fifteen with CKEK in Cranbrook, British Columbia. He did a show after school and on weekends. After school he got fulltime jobs in Saskatoon and Regina, Saskatchewan. He came north to help put CKRW on the air in November 1969. He needed a break by 1971 and went to work at Murdoch’s Gem Shop and learned to make gold jewellery.((Genesee Keevil, “The final sign off.” //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 1 May 2009.))

Ron started working for CBC Yukon (CFWH) in 1973. He went to all the Yukon communities and covered the Arctic Winter Games from the mid-1970s until 1996.((Genesee Keevil, “The final sign off.” //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 1 May 2009.)) He read the morning local news and reported on sports and outside events.((Stephanie Waddell, "Final sign-off looms for veteran broadcaster." //Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 24 April 2009.)) McFadyen took up running and started competing in the Klondike Road Relay. This led to special reports on the event, with insights from a participant. In 1991, Ron won the Media Person of the Year Award from Cross-Country Canada in recognition of his promotion of Yukon cross-country skiers. He won Sport Yukon's Media Person of the Year Award eight times for his commitment to reporting Yukon sports. He was inducted into the Sport Yukon Hall of Fame in 1996 for his dedication to the promotion of Yukon sports.((“1996, Ron McFadyen (Media).” //Sport Yukon,// 2019 website: https://sportyukon.com/programs/hall-of-fame/1996-ron-mcfadyen-media/))

When McFadyen was assigned to the sports beat at CBC, he put children’s voices on the air. He thought community radio was the best thing he could cover.((Pam Buckway, “Ron McFadyen Puts Down the Mic.” //What’s Up// Yukon (Whitehorse), 20 April 2009.)) In 1996, he was offered a severance package during a downsizing of CBC Yukon. It was two months after he was diagnosed with leukaemia.((“Former colleagues mourn Yukon radio legend.” //The Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 28 July 2023.)) In 1999 he was back at CKRW, heading up the newsroom. McFadyen retired in 2009, after fifty years in radio.((Pam Buckway, “Ron McFadyen Puts Down the Mic.” //What’s Up// Yukon (Whitehorse), 20 April 2009.)) 

McFadyen was a founder of the Yukon Amateur Radio Association (YARA) and the association put up their first receiver on Haeckel Hill in the 1970s.((Genesee Keevil, “The final sign off.” //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 1 May 2009.)) In 2014, McFadyen was the vice president of YARA which had about thirty members. There were over fifty ham radio operators in the Yukon at the time and they often worked together during emergency situations or when the Northwestel equipment failed. They helped YG Health and Social Services when the Korean flight was diverted into Whitehorse during the 9/11 crisis. Hundreds of people needed translators, medicine, and other things and the phone lines were too busy. They helped in 2004 from Swift River when fire threatened.  In 2014, the association owned and operated twenty-two repeaters, three of them on mountaintops above 2,100 metres.((Myles Dolphin, "A dependable backup when disaster strikes." //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 8 October 2014.)) One of the receivers was in McFadyen’s back yard. He won a volunteer award in 2009 for his work with the amateur radio association.((Genesee Keevil, “The final sign off.” //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 1 May 2009.)) YARA covered from Dawson to Skagway. The group provided safety communications for the Kluane Chilkat International Bike Relay and the Klondike Road Relay.((Myles Dolphin, "A dependable backup when disaster strikes." //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 8 October 2014.))

Ron McFadyen won many awards for his community service. Friends remember him as having inexhaustible energy which he maintained into his 70s.((“Former colleagues mourn Yukon radio legend.” //The Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 28 July 2023.))