Cal Waddington
Cal Waddington was the first CBC announcer in the Dawson radio station when CBC took over broadcasting from the Royal Canadian Corp of Signals in 1958. He was assisted by Terry Delany. Local staff were “Wee Willie” Anderson, Denis Mackie, and Alwyn “Taffy” Williams.1) Waddington moved to Whitehorse soon after. In the late 1950s he played the drums with Al Oster on “Midnight Sun Rock,” a song that was later included in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. Waddington remembered a glance from Oster that said “quiet down boy” when he wanted to rein in someone, like the drummer.2)
Cal and Norma Yardley were married in the early 1960s. They bought Norma’s parents lodge at Dezadeash in the fall of 1967. Norma’s brother Kirk continued to run the garage for a while and then sold out to the Waddingtons.3)
In 1971, the Waddingtons sold Dezadeash Lodge to Delbert Lein and Heintz and Katie Eckervogt from Germany. The lodge burned on the same day that the deal was signed but the partners estimated the cost of building a new lodge and still bought the business. The Waddingtons started a business in photography and documentaries and purchased property closer to Haines Junction where their children, Kurt and Kris, were going to school. When Kluane Park was expanded, the federal government bought Cal's acreage and home as housing for one of the park rangers and he and Norma moved back to Whitehorse.4)
Waddington had been employed with the CBC for fifteen years and had worked up to the job of producer, so he was able to get his old job back, and he started A.V. Action producing films and documentaries.5)
Cal Waddington received a 1996 Heritage Award from the Yukon Historical and Museums Association in appreciation of his treasure trove of interviews collected over the years.