Barbara Frum: Remembering “The Journal”

The late Barabra Frum, host of "The Journal" on CBC from
1982 to 1992, was recently inducted into the Canada's Walk of Fame.
Source: https://niagarafalls.ca/
living/arts-and-culture/wall-of-fame/2008-barbara-frum.acwof
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It was a news program that taught me more about different things than I can remember.

“The Journal” debuted on CBC in 1982, immediately following the “The National”, which was the network’s signature newscast.

I was thinking about “The Journal” recently, when I heard that Barbara Frum, one of its hosts, is being inducted posthumously to Canada’s Walk of Fame.

“The Journal”
“The Journal” was ground-breaking from the start. When it dawned in 1982, it was anchored by two female  anchors – Mary Lou Finday and Barbara Frum. Finlay I knew from hosting “Live It Up”, which was a show I watched religiously on Channel 13 on the peasant vision dial on Thursday nights. Frum, I had never heard of, but my world then did not include CBC Radio or anything beyond Channel 7, 13, 9; CJOC, CHEC and LA-FM radio; and the occasional newspaper.

As I later learned, Frum had written columns for the Toronto Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, and Saturday Night magazine. She had also hosted “As it Happens” on CBC Radio, so she was well known.

The show seemed to go into more depth on specific issues, but also delve into pop culture, arts, science and other issues. It was a newsmagazine as opposed to a news broadcast.

Barbara Frum hosted it from 1982 until her death in 1992 from leukemia.

She was 54.

By the book
A few months ago, I read a biography of Barbara Frum, written by her daughter Linda, and it revealed a lot of interesting things about her mother’s life and career.

Frum seemed to die far too young, and I always thought it seemed so sudden and out of the blue. It turns out, according to her daughter’s book, that Frum had been diagnosed with leukemia years before she debuted on “The Journal”. I find it inspiring and heroic that she did the entire run of that show while battling a serious illness that ultimately took her life.

Moreover, when she died in 1992, the show went with her, going off the air that same year, as part of a re-design CBC was doing with its primetime newscast.

The book went into a lot of detail about her Jewish faith, and how important that was to her. In part that, and her parents’ experiences, informed her drive to record her family history, which was something I can relate to.

At one point Linda Frum talks about her mom’s passion to record that history. It was driven by a fear that her relatives and ancestors would disappear from existence if their stories were not told. I feel that too.

Something that I always knew, but the book reinforced was that Frum, the journalist, always sought to find out the truth. Although, even as a teenager and young adult I did not always agree with her stance or approach, I respect anyone seeking to find the truth and inform people.

Another thing the book revealed, that was rarely evident with her TV persona, was the sense of humour she had. That was common back in the 1980s, when journalists were serious about serious issues, straight-faced, and rarely if ever inserted themselves into their stories directly, like they do now.

What I learned
A few things stick out from “The Journal”. One was a piece they did on an up and coming comedian, an impressionist who could bend and contort his body into the shapes of the celebrities he was impersonating. His name was Jim Carrey.

Another one was the coverage of the Meech Lake constitutional accord. It started out to be, seemingly, a done deal, but eventually unraveled and came apart at the seams. There were those who believed its demise would lead to the break up of the country. Frum was one such person, and she let that show sometimes during her interviews. As we can see, the accord died in 1990, and Canada is still in one piece in 2022.

Parting thoughts
Barbara Frum was a Canadian icon. Not only was she an incredible journalist, but also a trailblazer. According to the Canadian Walk of Fame, she is cited by many as an inspiration and the first one to shatter many barriers for women in her field.

Because “The Journal” was on so late for a junior high and high school kid, I only really got to watch it on Friday nights, holidays, and summer and Christmas breaks.

Still, she was that familiar face informing me about an important issue of the day, or maybe something that was just interesting.

Reading Linda Frum’s biography of her mother just added another layer to my respect and enjoyment of Barabra Frum.

She was another part of the tapestry of pop culture in the 1980s, and dserves her induction to the Canadian Walk of Fame for all she did to advance the cause of women and journalism.

I will never forget her either.