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Andy Barrie
METRO MORNING - WEEKDAYS FROM 6 TO 9 AM

Andy's broadcast career started at summer camp in Maine, in 1954. He was nine, and his public address system had five watts. Since becoming host of CBC Radio 99.1's Metro Morning in September, 1995, he's had fifty thousand watts at his disposal. Andy at camp

Andy rediscovered his childhood fascination with radio while studying theatre at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. After university, he served the usual apprenticeship: staff announcer here, street reporter there, finally getting his own program with Metromedia Radio in Washington, D.C.

Andy was given conscientious objector status by his local draft board during the Vietnam War. Like all C.O.s, Andy trained as a combat medic. In 1969 he received orders to be shipped to Vietnam. A conversation with his brother, a career officer who had just come back from two years there, confirmed Andy's decision to leave the U.S. for Canada. He expected to be a pariah in his new country, but was quickly accepted.

Andy Barrie
He was introduced to CJAD Radio in Montreal, and when one of the station's long-time commentators resigned in protest during the October Crisis of 1970, Andy was named as his replacement. It was an exciting time to be a journalist in Quebec.

Andy also put his acting skills to work in Montreal, playing the staff psychiatrist in sixty-five episodes of CBC-TV's Family Court.

In 1977 Andy moved to Toronto and a new job at CFRB. He also tried television, working as an anchor, reporter, and editorialist at Global Television. He was described as one of the "most credible anchors in television" by broadcast veteran Ross McLean, but felt constrained by the medium, and returned to CFRB. The Andy Barrie Show was the top-rated radio program in its time slot in Toronto for years.

The offer of the host's chair at CBC Radio 99.1's Metro Morning came at the right time for Andy Barrie. He'd been at CFRB for the better part of sixteen years, but had always been a closet CBC Radio listener.

Andy is married to Dr. Mary Barrie, director of the School of Continuing Education at the University of Toronto. They have one daughter, who's in university in the Maritimes.

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