After years of telling other's stories, veteran journalist Fiona Christensen is the story.
The senior manager at CBC Radio Sudbury is retiring at the end of July after an impressive career that began more than 30 years ago in Timmins.
Christensen thanks country music icon Johnny Cash for her first big break in radio.
CBC Radio Sudbury producers saw a good story when Cash was scheduled to perform at the Archie Dillon Sportsplex and the municipality's public workers were on strike.
Known best for his country hit song, I Walk the Line, would Cash cross the (picket) line?
They contacted Christensen, who was working as a reporter at the local daily newspaper, and asked if she would go to the concert and appear on the radio the next morning to tell listeners what happened.
"They asked me if I had ever been on the radio before. I lied and said I had, but I hadn't.
"(But) I went to the concert and I investigated the labour dispute. There was no picket line to cross. I followed Cash back to the Senator Hotel and talked to him there. I talked to the public works employees and talked to the fans."
She was so nervous the next morning when she gave her report, she thought it was the beginning and end of her broadcasting career.
But it wasn't. She was offered a chance to freelance for CBC Radio although it meant she had to leave her job at the daily newspaper.
After a few years of freelancing, she landed a full-time reporting job with the CBC in Nunavut (formerly part of the Northwest Territories) in 1995.
"I learned a lot about Inuit culture there and made some tremendous friends. I was reporting at a time when Nunavut was being created. They were making big decisions … forming a new territory. It was an exciting time to be there," she said.
She was tempted to move east by a reporting opportunity in New Brunswick when CBC Radio opened its first English station on the North Shore.
"This coincided with the Burnt Church fishing dispute between Indigenous and non-Indigenous fishers over lobster rights," she said.
She was assigned the breaking story and her reports were picked up by the national news desk. Her abilities got noticed by management.
Soon, she was in Fredericton covering the provincial legislature.
"I loved every minute of it … but I got politics out of my system. The pace of it is that you never have time to think, but it was exciting.”
Christansen remembers a time when the media and politicians had a cordial relationship instead of the adversary one we sometimes witness today.
"There was a time when there was a lot of respect,” she recalled. “You can hold people accountable and you can ask tough questions, but you don't need to be rude. I am not comfortable with what I see these days."
Another opportunity came her way when a management position opened CBC Radio in Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut.
After eight years in Iqaluit, she moved to Sudbury as a senior manager on a one-year secondment that became permanent.
"I was excited to come back here because I had fond memories of the people I worked with when I was starting out."
She and her partner, David, plan to stay in Sudbury when she retires.
"I think Sudbury is the right size. A neat combination of hard rock mining and academia … a great hospital and close to Toronto."
Born in England, Christansen came to Canada as child with her parents and grew up in Toronto and Ottawa.
Her mom worked for National Health and Welfare and was responsible for nursing stations along the Hudson Bay and James Bay coasts.
"I used to come up to Timmins a lot as a jumping off spot to go visit my mom. I thought the North was beautiful and I was attracted to it."
After attending the University of Guelph — where she was editor of "The Ontarian," the student newspaper – Christansen got a job at the Timmins Daily Press.
"I truly loved it. It was owned by Thomson Newspapers at the time, which didn't have a reputation for paying incredibly well. But I got up in the morning and ran to work. I was so excited to be working as a reporter. It was what I had always wanted.”
Christansen, 63, still has the same enthusiasm for her work.
For the most part, she has worked behind the scenes in management at Sudbury but her influence has been considerable at the radio station that broadcasts throughout northeastern Ontario. (Up North, the afternoon drive current affairs program is broadcast across Northern Ontario.)
CBC Radio Sudbury has won numerous awards for its news and current affairs coverage, and has had Sudbury's No. 1 morning show for 14 years.
"I can't imagine what it is going to be like on the 28th of July and not go to work. To suddenly go from working at CBC and going 150 miles an hour down to zero," she said.
"People who have retired have said I need to chill for a while and find my groove. I am looking forward to new chapters."
Vicki Gilhula is a freelance writer. Journeys is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.
