Rock Radio Scrapbook

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Talent: ROBERT HOLIDAY (newscast)
Station: CFTR Toronto
Date: November 12, 1979
Time: 3:24

At 11:53 p.m. on Saturday, November 10, 1979, a Canadian Pacific freight train derailed in Mississauga, Ont., spilling large quantities of caustic soda, chlorine, styrene, propane and toluene - an environmental nightmare. What followed was the largest peacetime evacuation in North American history. In the hours and days ahead 250,000 residents of Mississauga would be told to leave their homes for safety reasons. Some would not return until the following Friday, November 16, when the city was declared open again.

Local radio coverage of the accident was excellent. Most stations had fully staffed newsrooms at the time and competition was fierce to get the story fast and right.

Hear a brief sample of that coverage with Robert Holiday on CFTR here.

(The Bill Dulmage Collection)

More 1979 airchecks here!

RETURN TO ROCK RADIO SCRAPBOOK