Veteran Newfoundland broadcaster for VOCM, Elmer Harris, has died.
A long-time radio broadcaster for VOCM has died at the age of 71.
Elmer Harris joined VOCM (a privately owned station known for its connection with the average working-class listener; whose call letters could stand for “voice of the common man”) as a rookie reporter and worked his way to vice president and assistant to the president. In 1978, Harris was the first Newfoundlander elected as the national president of the Radio-Television News Directors Association of Canada, and, the man who discovered another Newfoundland journalist, Rex Murphy. As VOCM News Director, Harris related that he was impressed by Murphy’s vocabulary and ability to twist a phrase, so hired him as a student to write daily five-minute editorials, as well do some reporting.
Harris retired from VOCM in 2000, and seven years later won the RTNDA Lifetime Achievement Award, for being “a forward-thinker who moved VOCM and its network newsrooms into the technological age early when he introduced computers in the 70’s and a website by the mid 80’s.”
Harris was well known for his public service commitments.
A long-time radio broadcaster for VOCM has died at the age of 71.
Elmer Harris joined VOCM (a privately owned station known for its connection with the average working-class listener; whose call letters could stand for “voice of the common man”) as a rookie reporter and worked his way to vice president and assistant to the president. In 1978, Harris was the first Newfoundlander elected as the national president of the Radio-Television News Directors Association of Canada, and, the man who discovered another Newfoundland journalist, Rex Murphy. As VOCM News Director, Harris related that he was impressed by Murphy’s vocabulary and ability to twist a phrase, so hired him as a student to write daily five-minute editorials, as well do some reporting.
Harris retired from VOCM in 2000, and seven years later won the RTNDA Lifetime Achievement Award, for being “a forward-thinker who moved VOCM and its network newsrooms into the technological age early when he introduced computers in the 70’s and a website by the mid 80’s.”
Harris was well known for his public service commitments.
