The Late Great Mark Dailey
There isn’t an awful lot that I can say about the passing of Mark Dailey that hasn’t already been said by people all over Toronto since the news broke yesterday afternoon. The man was an institution in and of himself, and certainly a caring and beloved local figure. And although I wasn’t lucky enough to get to know him personally, I can say with pride that he was a friend of the family. He will be missed.
He was, after all, an undeniably integral part of the Toronto landscape. It’s hardly an overstatement to say that Dailey single-handedly branded CityTV as a personable station and a part of the Toronto community. It was an underdog station in its early days, more on “our” side than “their” side, and that’s got everything to do with Dailey’s affable on-air personality. Even as the company got bought out, and the station went downhill as fast as it went corporate, Dailey remained its voice and maintained its character.
That’s why it was such a shame, on a side note, that his passing received only belated coverage on his own network. If you’re like me, and you were reluctant to take the early reports on Twitter at face value, then you weren’t going to find any early confirmation on CityNews.
Indeed, to hear my sister tell it, more than an hour of TV “news” about the weather and the royal family unfolded before Dailey’s passing got so much as a mention. If that’s the case, then it’s a shame, and hopefully not too much of a sign of how far the station has fallen.
At any rate, it’s got to be said that if Dailey had to die, and obviously we all do, then at least we can take an odd sort of comfort in the fact that he died at fifty-seven. There’s something strangely touching about that.
“Very soon now,” Torontoist says, “there will be no more advertisements with Dailey intoning ‘Citytv. Everywhere,’ in his usual fashion, and the world will be a little less grand.”
Personally, as I mentioned last night, I’d like to see the network keep using his voice in their promos. I mean, Dailey stuck by the same company for thirty years, despite an apparent wealth of offers from stations across Canada and around the world. The least CityTV can do to honour his commitment, much less his memory, is keep him on the team in some small but significant way.
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I’d disagree on City’s response – the 6 o’clock news last night was taken over by a half hour long tribute, not even breaking for any commercials, which I thought was a nice touch. I thought it was well put together and made me wish that I’d known more about him beyond the voice. It even included a tribute from a certain police chief.
He will be missed – and I too, hope that City keeps the voiceover.
Well, that I’m glad to hear. I did try not to be too hard on them, because I did see a lot in the way of tribute later in the evening – although I didn’t know about the 6:00 PM block, and in light of that, I take it back.