Background
The son of a hardware store owner, McKenty was raised in Hastings, Ontario, near Peterborough.
The son of a hardware store owner, McKenty was raised in Hastings, Ontario, near Peterborough.
University of Toronto. University of Michigan.
In October 1972, he moved from Toronto to Montreal to work as a talk show host for CJAD Department of Administration and Management radio. Initially working as the station"s editorialist, he later co-hosted a 60-minute phone-in show with Helen Gougeon. In 1977 he began working solo, and his two-hour morning show Exchange almost immediately became the city"s top-rated phone-in program
He returned to broadcasting when his television phone-in talk show, McKenty Live, on CFCF-television, debuted in September 1987.
lieutenant ran for three seasons until 1990, when he decided to focus on writing once again. He interviewed many Canadian political leaders.
At the time of the passage of Bill 101 making French the only official language of Quebec, McKenty declined to denounce the law entirely. He claimed that the purported aim of the bill, more respect for French-speaking Quebecers, was just.
He is credited with being a voice of moderation who sought to build linguistic bridges during a time when Quebec separatism was at its peak.
In 2008, he started a blog on current affairs at www.neilmckenty.com. After his death, friends decided to maintain the blog and add archival radio and television clips to lieutenant
He was educated at the University of Toronto, where he earned a bachelor"s degree in Canadian history, and the University of Michigan, achieving a master"s in communications. He described Exchange as a radio "town meeting" and "people talking over their clotheslines in the backyard." His signature line was "the lines are blazing." The show achieved its peak ratings—about 75,000 regular listeners—in 1985 when he decided to leave and write books instead. In 1992, he toured Canada as co-founder (with businessman John Hallward) of the to promote the idea of a unified Canada, building bridges between French and English Canada during the lead-up to the Charlottetown Accord constitution amendment proposals.